The Washington herald., 1914-05-01
Who's Who Among
Women
Mrs. Elizabeth H. Nef. and Her
Back to the Home" Clubs.
By MARY b. MULLETT.

BY MARY b. MULLE1T.
II you are feeling dismal over the fu,
ture Of American homes. just cast youI
eyes In the direction Of Cleveland. Ohio
When you have seen what Mrs. Eliza.
beth H. Nen is doing there. you will fee
more cheerful.
Two or three years ago Mrs. NefY be-
came the chairman OF the Oldest social
i settlement in Cleveland. 1t was called
the Central Friendly Inn. and had a
weekly attendance of about 300 boys and
girls. who went there chiefly for the rec
reation offered them. although ther<
were a few sewing classes for the girls.
Like most American cities. Cleveland
has a big problem in its foreign-bom
citizens and their children. Mrs. Neff
had been interested in this problem for a
long time She had been studying the
whole situation and she had come to a
definite conclusion.
She believed that the one thing these
people needed more than anything else
was to learn how to live rightly: that is.
how to have a decent and comfortable
home life. She realized that II was prac-
| tically hopeless to try TO teach the grown
ups. So she determined to begin with
the children.
She was a loyal d. A. R.. and it oc-
CURED to her that her chapter. the West
ern Reserve. might be induced to help
her. Mrs. Neff is the type Of woman who
easily makes converts to her own sin
cere enthusiasms; 50 her chapter read
ily fell into line
One club of little girls was formed: the
first of the home-makers' clubs which
now are being organized by the d. A. r.
all over the country. Its success was so
immediate that Mrs. Matthew T. Scott.
then president general asked Mrs. Neff
TO present the work at the national con-
vention of the d. A. r. in 1912.
As the result Of Mrs. Neff's idea, Girl
Home-makers of America are now num-
bered by hundreds. Inside of a year
from the time Mrs. NefT presented the
movement at the annual congress Of the
d. A. r. II had spread through seventeen
States. Since then IT has kept on grow
Ing so fast that she says those at the
head of it are finding 1t pretty hard TO
keep pace with II.
Mrs. NefT and her coworkers soon de-
cided that the children Of immigrants
are not the only ones who need to be
taught home-making The descendants
pretty nearly as helpless and ignorant be-
fore the domestic problem.
Mrs. Neff quotes a Judge who has
granted hundreds of divorces. and who
says that four-fifths of them were due to
the inability OF the wife to make a home
for herself, her husband. and their chill
dren. He stated that women who had
done housework beforeN their marriage
almost never appeared before him as ap-
plicants for a divorce. Even when house.
hold work is taught in the public schools
IT is. in Mrs. Nef"s judgment, given at
the wrong time.
e. -.
child can study home-making. in the
public schools. until she is twelve years
old. By this q pne. unless she has been
taught outside the school, her natural
instinct for keeping house has been
stified and other tastes have been formed
III she does happen to be in a school
where home-making is taught at ALL
and there are not very many of these
her Rste for it has to be reused TO life
after being allowed to become practically
dead. OF course. the results are not very
satisfactory. As a result of this system.
most girls leave school absolutely un-
trained in home-making. The conse-
quence is that millions OF young women
are almost starving. doing unskilled work
in shops and factories. while hundreds
of thousands OF homes are travesties on
the name
The D. A. r. is trying to check this
stampede from the fircside. We plan !
first to train the children of the immi- |
grants: next, to persuade the daughters |
OF the middle class that il is better to re-
main at home and to be good housekeep- |
ers than to trail of into clerkships and
positions of that sort.
The d. A. r. chapters are organizing |
circles, made up of the daughters and |
young relatives OF the members These !
circles have regular meetings with |
in home-making. including cook !
ing and all housewifely arts. At the end .
Of each period. honors are conferred on /
those who merit them.
"A third way of pushing the work is
by forming clubs among wealthy girls /
who may take up the work OF teaching
classes in home-making.
'All that we are doing is founded on
three cardinal principles: The lessons
should be begun during the formative
period of the child's life: the work must
be made attractive: and it must he so
thorough that home-maHing will be rec
ognized as a skilled profession and our
diplomas have a definite value all over
the United States.
The settlement in Cleveland has a
weekly attendance now OF $40. instead OF
The 800 with which Mrs. Neff began. She
has clubs in sewing. dressmaking. per-
sonal hygiene, crochet. rug making. and
care of a baby. in addition to the home
making courses. The youngest club.
called the Doll Housekecpers. is COM
posed of little girls from the kindergar
ten. They are taught how to live prop
,rly: but the lessons are fascinating play.
because they are carried out with a fam.
ly Of dolls and a great big doll house.
After a year in the Doll Housekeep-
,rs Club. the children are promoted to
he Martha washingtons. Here they be-
yin to learn real housekeeping. but with
Utensils made especially to fit their size:
ow tables. small chairs, a dwarf stove,
title brooms and mops. and so on. They
rave thirty-two lessons. with three pub
ic demonstrations. including the giving
II a simple party. The next year. the
Martha Washingtons advance to simple
And so they proceed. Mrs.
leff hopes to interest every chapter in
very State In the Girl Home-makers'
movement and. from present prospects"
The says. this will become an accomp-
ished fact"
Copyright. lsl4)
Poor means of transport and communi-
alton. antiquated methods Of mining.
III. I