The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1913-05-16

N'~AFO lo6CS CHuS III
The cause, in many instances, the in
efficiency and extravaganza of the
wife, whose unfitness for her respon-
sibility makes a continuance of the
partnership impossible. We ascribe
the dreadfully high rate of mortality
to the inscrutable wisdom of the Al
mighty" and for the lengthening roll
of the divorce court we blame the
Devil, who, / sometimes think, often
gets credit for misdeeds that should
be ascribed to other people Thus,
thousands of homes are wrecked
tens OF thousands of lives are ruined
hundreds OF thousands are made I'M
happy, because the home-keepers Of
our country have no training in the
greatest Of all professions, the pro
fessiol Of home-making and mother
hood: and only through such educa-
ton can present domestic difficulties
be solved, and the modern home made
to contribute all it should to happi-
ness and Well being
Is it not tyne for US to begin to APP
ply some hard, common sense to the
situation. and give the girls fighting
chance, by seeing to it that they get
training for the work that holds the
issues OF life and death?
Every business in the country is de-
handing trained workers, and getting
them, too, except the greatest of all
professions. Whatever happiness in
this or any other progressive age, the
making of a home, the care of chill
dren will ever remain the grandest
calling for women, the vocation to
which they will most willingly turn
under reasonable conditions, and | am
a most enthusiastic believer in giving
them the very highest and best edu-
cational development possible. be-
cause they are, and must ever remain
the home-makers, the home-keepers.
There is where We need the skilled
workers, the highly trained intellects,
The enlightened leaders, but | firmly
believe that the first essential of this
education should have a definite rela-
ti0n TO what-in ninety cases out of
every hundred-wili be the fife work.
certainly think that it is high time
that some earnest effort was being
made to give such training, rather
than devoting the greater part of
school life to the burden of languages
and higher mathematics that are of SO
little value to the average girl, and
are forgotten within so short a time.
Let us give the girls a chance to pre-
pare for the things of real life, and
let these be recognized as the first
essentials of a girls education-scien-
Itific cooking, sewing, household chem
istry practical sanitation, hygience-
for these are the things she must
know if she is to be a happy and sue
cessful home-maker.
Now, lest I be branded as a hope
less materialist, I want to say that |
think the cultural side of a girls ed
ucation should be developed along
with the practical, but confess to be-
ing dissatisfied with the heretofore
generally accepted definition of "cul-
tural education" Formerly it was
conceded that Latin, Greek and high
er mathematics had a corner on cul-
tural education, but thai idea is being
rapidly discarded in the rearrange-
modern progressive thought For cul-
ture | believe that i girl should have
thorough. appreciative knowledge of
the English language, English and
American literature. She should ac-
quire the habit of being conversant
with current events and things of
general interest and Importance toI
the world. She should develop the
power to think. to reason, to form in
dependent opinions upon such sub
jects She should be able to bring a
well-informing. reasoning mind to
bear upon questions of the day
In my opinion there is yet one more
thing essential to a girls education.
Every girl. whatever her station in
life. whether she is rich or poor, tai
tented or otherwise, should specialize
in some certain line of work. and be-
come so proficient in it that she can
make her own living by it, or find an
outlet for her energies in case the
home-making scheme fails to mate
rialize. And here l am speaking not
of what l think. nor believe, but of
what | know, I feel very strongly
upon this subject of turning a girl
loose in the world and on the world
with smattering of so-called cultural
education 1t is productive of meal
culable harm to both the girl and the