Los Angeles herald., 1907-08-21
NE WYORK ADOPTS PLAN
TO HELP WOMEN ON FARM
STATE BEHIND FOUNDATION OF
INSTITUTES FOR THEM
Housekeepers of Rural Districts VIII
Hear Lectures on Subjects
Pertaining to Home
Life and Family


mans club movement for the benefit of
the wives and daughters of the farmers
of New York is to be helped by the state
navment of expenses for lectures this
fall. The new organization will be called
woman's Institutes, modelled after the
farmers Institutes, which have been IN
successful existence for quarter OIL
century, fostered by the state department
of agriculture. The plan to bring the
country women together in CLUB meetings
to be held in various parts of the state
is the outcome of experiments made by
Miss Martha Van Rensselaer,, who for
five years has been conducting reading
course for farmers wives under the aus
pces of the College of Agriculture or
Cornell university. After leaving college
she was superintendent of rural district
schools in western New York, and there
learned what was most needed by coun-
try women and children to make farm
life more endurable and attractive. There
are more than 10000 women registered
this year as students in the reading cir
cles, and large number attended spe-
cial course arranged for them Dy Corneil
university last spring.
In the reading circles are discussed sub
iects dealing with home problems. The
circles are carried on primarily by PAM
phlets published by the college and sent
out monthly, are supplemented by the
best books dealing with the subjects out
lined in the pamphlets. One Of the
earliest and most successful topic was on
Saving Steps, and dealt with simple
methods of making work in the kitchen
less of a task. Descriptions and cost of
many inexpensive labor-saving devices
ing water, also detailed plans for pip
ing water into the house and construct
ing drains to carry it away. Dumb waiter
construction was explained and cheap
method of installing the lifts was given.
Sanitary improvements in the house and
simplified arrangements for the daily
routine of work were a feature of the
first of the courses. Home decoration,
amusements for the younger members of
the family and all the problems that be-
set the housekeeper living an isolated life
were discussed in the spirit of an inter-
ested friend. Miss Van Rensselaer, asked
for letters of experience and suggestion
from the women, and they came in such
numbers that it seemed good idea to
encourage the women of neighborhood
to form clubs and discuss the subjects of
their studies.
At the Meetings
Members Of the club usually come from
a radius of ten to twenty miles, and their
meetings are of so much interest that the
deepest snow of winter will not prevent a
large attendance. Lecturers from Corneil
university are frequently sent, either to
speak on a subject agreed upon or simply
to lead in discussions and to answer ques-
tions One of the most encouraging fea-
lures of the clubs was the opportunity
to bring before these women instruction
in WAYS of earning money by means OF
flower and bulb gardens, scientific methods
of raising chickens and marketing them,
teaching house industries of rug weaving
hn0
this sort of work was not alone in the
financial returns but in the value of hav-
ing interests outside the routine OF daily
labor.
The success of reading circles and
thet increasing number of clubs that
have been organized led Miss van
Rensselaer, to propose holding regular
annual Institutes for women, ana tne
commissioner of the state department
of agriculture authorized series OF
trial Institutes Mrs, Helen Wells OF
Syracuse was asked to assist In the
new enterprise, as she had been an ac-
tive director of woman's institutes IN
Canada, where the plan has developed
with amazing rapidity. Thirty thou
sand women belong to the ontario
branch alone, while many more thou-
sands are enrolled in the other Can
adian provinces. New York will be the
HrSL SIdIe 10 lnduS VI nIo VIZ R.'
already the National Association OF
Farmers Institute workers has ap-
pointed a special committee to intro
duce the plan in other states.
All the trial institutes in this state nave
been conducted by woman lecturers, and
before any of the meetings We're held the
agricultural department said they would
consider the experiment worth continuing
If the attendance averaged forty women
at each institute. AS 1t turned out, the
average was $50. and some of the meetings
were attended by 500 women.
Lectures and discussions are arranged
along three main lines that have to do
with the betterment of home life-the !