The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-02-14
Girls Learn to Cook and Sew
At the Manual Training School
Practical Instruction Given in Two Important Arts Which Are Consid-
Which Are Consid.

question and work it out, without disturb
ance of the schOol-room quiet.
The sewing. classes are fully as interest
ing 10 the visitor as the cooking classes,
though the greater part of the interest lies
here in the work that is accomplished
rather than in the work that is being done.
In the majority of cases the girls who take
up the study of sewing in the school nave
never before attempted to Sew-Some, IN
deed, have never had a needle in their
hands. The work that is accomplished
before the end of the first six months is,
consequently, something Of a marvel,
both because of the rapidity with
cause of the youth and inexperience of the
little Decreases. The first half year of the
sewing course Is devoted entirely TO hand
work, and the dainty hand sewing, the tiny
stitches in hens, the exquisite hand-done
chain Stitch, the cunningly putin gussets,
the artistic darts, almost make one long
for the pre-sewing-machine days when
women did all their sewing by hand, and
needle work was consequently a fine art.
Each little seamstress fits herself out with
work basket and an array of needles and
threads, but the materials for her sewing
are furnished by the school. twenty-five
models are given during the first term and
books with each finished bit of sewing and
its requirements on the opposite page are
the fruits of that half year. A notebook is
also kept by each pupil with a full descrip-
ton of each piece of work. During this
half year each girl makes an apron by
hand. which is usually the elimination of
the terms work, though the especially
rapid and clever ones, who distance their
fellow-workers, are permitted to fashion
dainty lace handkerchiefs and corset COW
ers. In the second half of the year ma
chine work is taken up, and the twelve
machines in the classroom are kept busy
during most of the session hours. Each
girl in the class makes herself a complete
set of undergarments, a shirtwaist and a
wash dress, during the term and the fin
ished garments are admirable pieces of
neat and painstaking sewing. The pupils
are graded on a number of points, among
which is that of cleanliness. and, as no
article is permitted TO be Numbered before
being submitted for grading, the keeping
of the white garments spotless in this day
of omnipresent SCOT and dirt is a test of
cleanliness.
The number of little things. usually Greek
to the girl who just picks up" sewing,
learned by these little maids in their one
year of sewing is remarkable. They are
taught the proper way of sewing on hooks
and eyes and buttons-frequently impossi-
bilities to girls who are clever enough at
fashioning shirtwaists; the exact match
which adds the finishing touch to RULES
and any number Of other little things,
usually sighted by the average seamstress,
are part and parcel of the knowledge of
these young girls.
Mrs. Mary Elliott Davies, who has been
with the school since its beginning, is the
teacher of the advanced classes in sewing,
and the first year classes are taught by
Miss Emily NJ. Mccullough and Miss
Compton. Any number of other classes In
the school are, of course, open to girls,
but these two are the only ones whose
membership is entirely feminine. The classes
in typewriting have many girls among their
students, and the course, which is a two
year one, is thorough.
The Manual Training High School cele-
brates on the 18th of this month its tenth
anniversary and the day will be marked by
special observance in most of the classes,
as well as a general celebration. The cook
ing classes will celebrate the anniversary
by. giving a dinner to the members of the
School Board, and the entire menu will be
prepared by the members of the classes.