El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-07-15
Is Lifting Negro Girls
Earnest Work of One Woman Of the
Race Is EievatinE Hundreds
From Mental Labor.
- 81 Frederic j. HasIziH-
Girls
ASHINGTON. d. c. July

Nv % ser fE anu llf---- LAle --Nt7--
race by training its girls and
young women to be good cooks and
good Iaundresses is the purpose Of the
| National Training school for women
/ and girls-an awkward title for one or
J the most interesting experiments In Eo-
! catiOnal education yet made IN TINS
! country. The primary object Is not 10
] train girls to be servants. but TO tram
! them so that If they do become SeIN-
ants they will be good ones, and II Jhey
| become housewives in homes OF IhelI
! own they will be efficient there TO
l this end this school has subordlnatea
| the conventional three RS of the con
ventiOnal school to the unconventional
! three BIS of this particular school To
/ quote from the school catalog:
The aim is to make practical use OF
the three B's-the bible the baLhtub,
and the broom The bible is the text
book for all students, and by dairy
study and teaching students will be
brought to value il as the best guide
for action. The positive power OF the
bathtub in refining and developing
ones physical powers is dwelt upon
physical cleanliness is required The
broom holds third place IN Importance
in the practical scheme The negro
home is suffering more from the lack
of women who know how to make and
| maintain a home than anything else
Pedagogical Declaration Of Indepcn-
dence.
This is q part of the pedagogical
declaration of independence Of preSl-
dent Mamie H Burroughs, a remark
able young woman who has established
and built up this school unaided except
by those of her own race whom she
inspired to assist her Born In W ASH
ingtOn SO years ago she grew up among
her own people and attended the neglO
public schools of the national capital,
graduating from the High school IN
the academic course and taking also
course in a Business High school
With this equipment, she became a
StenOgrapher in the office Of q negro
newspaper published in Philadelphia
After working there q year she Went
in the same capacity TO Louisville 10
work in the office of the missionary
department of the National Baptist
convention, which is the negro branch .
of the Baptist church. She had more /
than a mere mechanical interest in her Z
work and soon rose to be secretary OF Z
the WOman'S missionary organization 3
She decided that the women OF her I
race were hOpelessly handicapped Dy .
their ignorance of the elements or {
good housekeeping. She decided that /
she would do something. When she an 7
uOunced her plan to build school 10 1
train hOusekeeQers she met with no .
encouragement The negroes said they /
had had enough Of industrial training I
and wanted no Hampton or IuSkeEce
for their girls. But she persisted and I
finally was given. with much relucL- /
ance. the privilege of establishing her /
school under Baptist auspices II she Z
would furnish the money.
Starts Without Dollar.
Without so much as a dollar she be-
gan. She decided that Washington was
the proper place for the school, mid /
way between north and south and /
easily accessible from the parts of the Z
country where most Of the negroes I
live. She found a site, an old farm /
house with a few acres around II that I
could be purchased for $500 That was I
n 1G0- first r1TTlnur of &L-LUN +
was raised by mail subscriptions So
licited from the Negro Baptist women /
The school was begun In the farm
Becomes a Success.
SIX years have passed The school
now has an investment Of $4,000, OF
which $4,000 has been paid one
building. costing SIS. 500 was donated by
two white women Every other penny
has come from negroes, and from the
earnings Of the school itself Most CT
the subscriptions were so cents or
dollar The largest was 5000 hun
dreds were Of only five cents
The girls are taught to cook, to sew, ]
to wash, TO scrub to be manlcures and
hairdressers and ladies' maids. They
are also taught how to 60 all these
things in a related and scientific man
ner, so that the joy of work well done
Is gained as prize Of industrial efflci-
ency,
''HOdeI HOme'' n Feature.
A feature of the school is the model
bone" II is the only thing in the T
school that is a gift from white peo-
pie Two Chicago women gave Miss
Burroughs $4,000 and she built the I
house It is a bungalow cottage affair
"a wide, deep hall with a fireplace
giving on a wide veranda and backed
with dining room, pantry and kitchen.
while there are four bed rooms above
stairs. Here the girls in the advanced
classes come TO demonstrate their
work under normal" conditions.
Four girls. impersOnatinE a man and
wife and two grown daughters will
work Next they viii be a man and
wife with one guest and one servant.
Then there viii be a family of father.
mother and three children entertaining
two guests over the weekend, and hav- I
ing one servant TO help them. Two
servants then viii minister the needs Of
a family Of six. and so on through all I
probable combinations
Must go Into Service.
Most OF the girls do 20 into service,
but the plan is to prepare them for
work at home for their own families as
Wei as for work at service for others
The elements of home making are in
sisted upon The girls are taught that /
cheap rugs and taWdTy furniture such
as the vast majority Of negroes buy
from InsIalment plan stores are not
the things most to be desired in max
ing home. They are shown that sim
pie things, bare floors, plain furniture
plain curtains, etc. are preferable to /
gorgeous dust catchers.
That one negro woman by her own
efforts should have built up such l
successful institution along radical 1
lines, and in the face of the disapprOval /
of her own people, is a most remark |
able thing, but not to be compared J
with the more remarkable effect upon /
the girls who have been through the I
school They are models OF efficiency
and turn their skill into money in in
creased wages without the slightest
difficulty
The broad scope of the institution |
lies Of course, in the hope that every
girl who leaves it becomes a mission
airy for life for the gospel of honest (
work and clean living-it is this hone ! ,
That IS builded on the three B's-the l ,
Bible, the bathtub and the broom.
IOmOrroW-PrOEress at Panama