The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939, 1910-05-16
CHICAGO YOUNG WOMEN AS OFFICIAL HOUSEKEEPERS AND
BUDGET MAKERS FOR FAMILIES in SUBMERGED TENTH
CONTINUED from Page One.)

Then Miss Myrn BrOckett, head
Of the Mary Crane nursery, suggest
ed that one woman who would
Aheach housekeeping could cut down
the visiting nurse work. And now
she has added a family budget max
err to the department., who has
planned out menus OF savory food
that will satisfy family Of six on
43 cents day.
Some of the homes that Miss
Blank goes into are enough to make
anyone wonder where to start first
But she doesn't stand and wonder.
She goes right in as If she had al
ways lived there. She doesn't say
or look Heavens. What a dirty
place." She smiles and says, Lets
4 do this" or Don't you think we'd
better do that?" and in five min
utes the neglectful mother or the
untaught little mother are working
away with her as il their lives de-
pended on it, which is often true.
One of the homes Miss Blank
visited is what the nursery people
call hurdy-gurdy family. The
fathers name is Dominick IzZO. He
drives an old horse which he rents,
while his wife goes along to turn
the crank that makes the rafting
street piano play. Someone had
directed the children to the nur-
sery, so Miss Blank went to see if
she wasn't needed at their home.
She was.
The six little "Hurdy- Gurdys"
were at home in their two rooms.
The kitchen was the living room.
The stove door was broken and the
fire out. The floor was so Uttered
there was hardly room to step. The
table was piled with sticky dishes.
The smallest child sat in one corner
and tried to get his teeth through
the crust of loaf of bread. 1t was
II o'clock, but no sign of dinner in
sight
The inner room was muddle of
cluttered up beds. Under the beds
were the potatoes and onions.
In a minute or two Miss Blank
looked different person from the
blue cloaked girl who entered. A
big apron covered her completely.
A generous cap was drawn over her
hair. Her hands were slipped into
rubber gloves.
Hadn't we better wash the
Dishes she asked of Antonio. a Z
year-old girl who had been at the
nursery.
Antonio looked doubtful. Her
forehead puckered. She had seen
dishes washed at the nursery. and
knew how the nursery ladies did it.
Some people don't have no
soap" she said, with the pucker
still there.
Miss Blank went over to her suit
case. Out came the bar that was
needed. For that's just what the
suitcase is for. It's always full of
soap and disinfectants.
Well. In no time that house
looked like another place.
And Miss Blank has a system that
keeps her "hOmes" looking like
other places.
She has card for each family.
Each child is given certain tasks.
When she goes in on her inspec-
ton round she calls the roll And
the children race to see which can
give the best report. Backing the
stove and shining the dishpan are
the chief favorites in this house
work. The little girls love to make
them so bright they can see how
they look in them.
THE children are the best help
in the work." said Miss Blank "If
the mother can't understand me
they interpret and explain till she
does what they tell her to.
1--WE have a fund of brooms,
scrubbing brushes, pals, etc. If the
family can't afford them we loan
the money and let them pay when
they cay or give them outright"
Miss Ellen Woodward, the domes-
tic science expert, who is making
the family budget test, is a gradu-
ate of the Mary Hemmenway school
in Massachusetts. She is trying to
show the mother who earns from
81 to $3.50 a day how she can feed
her children so that they will keep
well. Her menus have enough va
riety to save the children from pick
ing up rotten fruit around markets
and stores that the home diet of
bread and coffee makes them crave.
There Is danger from scurvy UNI
less children get something fresh
now and then" said Miss Wood
ward. Especially at this time of
year green's are needed"
When Miss Woodward visits a
home she goes straight to the cup
board There she studies what the
family likes. She Is making the
menus to suit the tastes of all ma
tionalities.
One she has just finished is
shown in the accompanying table,
land is for an Italian family. 1t will
nOurish six persons with exactly
the number of calories needed, she
says. In this list she has given
the family more milk than Is Or
dinarily needed because the mother
is nursing a baby. and there Is
child 2 years old.