Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-05-12
The Mamie Burroughs Idea
BY Frederic j. Haskin

!
being slightly retarded in her race toward
extinction by a unique school in this city.
Washington has within it's borders a
national training school for women and
| girls, where a large number Of oolored girl
are being taught how TO cook and keep
house. This surely is news Of national
| importance.
The school is scattered group Of
white farm buildings, surrounded by lawns
and gardens and set ON top of steep
hill The principal, Mamie Burroughs,
met us and offered 10 show us the plant. ,"
oIs it true that you are training girls TO
| supply the nationwide demand for do
| rnestic service?" she was asked.
| Mamie Burroughs smiled. well, we
have 100 girls here, and a good many Of
them are studying domestic science. Very
| few will 20 into private homes, but most
| Of the students who graduate here in do
rnestic science 20 out 10 teach other girls
all over the country, and this summer we
are going to raise s125,000, 50 that we
can teach $50 girls instead Of l2O.
This in the news angle Of the Burroughs
training school just now. IL needs more
money. and is a worthy cause 70 which all
may contribute. Having dispensed with
that. we can proceed 10 tell you, as Mamie
Burroughs told il, the story Of remark
able school, only one 81 its kind in world
SCIENCE on NEEDLE AND THREAD.
Ten years ago, she happened TO stop
in n little red schoolhousc IN Mississippi.
A dozen coIored girls of fourteen years werf
struggling with examples of longitude and
time. Ono girl, with not button on
her dress, safety pins and beauty pins
clutching at the gaps, shoes half laced, was
Of the blackboard She glibly explained
| that New York was at II degrees longi-
tude. and when IL was nine o'clock IN
New York il was SIX O'Clock sornswhere
else. She sat down victorious and breath
| lees, and the teacher asked the visitor
70 talk 70 the class.
Il am going 70 speak 70 ono bright little
/ pirl began Miss Burroughs diplomatical-
/ lv. Il want her 10 20 home and find the
! longitude n a needle, and the latitude q
/ some thread, and work out problem
/ with some buttons on the back q her
i dress and bring in the answer tomorrow.
/ Tie class pggled, and fingered their
+ untidy apparel, and promised I he VISITOR
/ went IN to tell them that education should
J fit them for life, and that neatness and
/ knowledge of domestic problems we're as
J necessary To their future welfare az ability
r. battle with higher mathematics.
f4Hf EJHfs Nl4t AIAto fOtAf 'NtF3
+ plainly that the people Of the rare were
not getting anywhere the right training
In practical things. and | decided 70 open
( nv own institution
Furthermore. she felt that her own
/ people should start it ard finance il alone
/ Nearly every Negro school In the country,
4 she had found, started by white people
i Mamie Burroughs had no money, but
I she found an old farm for sale cheap, on
/ the edge of the District Of Columbia, and
i she went out to ask her people for funds
Nickels dimes pennies. she accepted any
+ sun gratefully Tn two months che had
4 81 900 which paid the necessary cash de-
+ post, and in eighteen months she owned
/ the place.
MODEST START.
eve have been growing and lacking
i on ever since she explains. - first
+ we had just the one farm housa We
+ taught music, cooking and hair-dressing
4 in one room, and drew chalk lines On the
7 floor 10 show where the kitchen ended and
the diningroom began.
/ tBut the girls Of those pioneer days
/ were the strongest We ever turned out.
l They learned to do with almost nothing,
/ and every one Of them has gone out TO
/ help the colored people Of her com
! From tbat cid farm house the Ma
/ tional Trlining School for Women and
/ Girls has grown until now il has ten
/ teachers ard pupils from twentv-slx
states and even from Haiti and Africa
I one neat and efficient-looking girl was
/ pointed oEt as q native Of Queenstown,
Africa. She has heen at the school Tor six
wears. Now she is going back TO teach
f - -a ~,1rr,ies - -
/ African bush.
'.She viii make bricks without straw,
said Mamie Burroughs,
They call il the school Of the three
/ B's-Bible, hath and broom. Music,
millinery. typewriting, manIcurlng, Eng
+ lish, algebra and other subjects are taught,
+ They are the things that the pupils os-
I tensibly come 10 learn, but the school
+ sometimes disagrees On this subject.
One girl enrolled wlth the announce
ment that she would take music this year,
and next year, i there Was time, She 4 try-
cooking.
"No,' said the principal firmly, YOU
VIII take scruhbIng and neatness aud dish
+ washing and YOUR regular studies this
wear. and next year, if YOU have any time
! YOU can add some accomplishments.
Every girl in the school, regardless OF
whether or not she ) taking s domestic
+ science course, can, and does, scrub floors,
wash dishes, and ber clothes, and take
i care of her room.
Miss Burroughs tells Of a teacher who
asked wonderingly how one would APP
proach scrUbbing IN a school
Simple enough, she answered IF
the girl doesH Z know where 70 look for the
mop. lead her 10 Il
THIS matter-of-fact attitude she pur-
sues with luvarylng success. She had
jgst been away for 3 day or TWO, snd re-
turned that morning 10 ind 3 new pupil
decked out IN \ dress oi violent cc-ise with
red collar and cuffs She inquired and
found that the dress has been sent nv the
girl mother. I hat made It harder bat
the thing had To he done She called the
girl and explained that few people, re-
gartiieSs ot complexion, can wear any
amount Of 50 vivid pink. ard that unless
the material could be dyed, il Was best put
away The giTl was hurt az first, Tor the
dress was new and present from home