Sensible by Observer

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Jan 28, 1913

Sensible

By Observer

A MOTHER was asked why it was that her girls were so proficient in home work, cooking, baking, and all that pertains to good housewifery. Her reply was: “I have let my children work for me from the time they were babies and sat in a high chair beside me, while I baked pies or mixed bread. Of course they bothered me in my work, and teased me for dough, but that was the way they learned everything. And that is where mothers generally fail in this respect. They put the children off in another room, or send them out to play ‘out of the way,’ whereas these little ones might be taught right along. My little girls learned to make pies in this way. They had little pie tins and tiny mixing bowls, and their pies were made in exact imitation of mine. When I made bread they also made little loaves in their pans, and their tiny biscuits were as cute as could be. When I ironed they also ironed on a chair beside my ironing table, and their small fat-irons were put to good use on ironing day. So it was with all my work. They worked along with me, and it often was as much pleasure for me as for them, and they were always lively company. Among their toys for Christmas or birthday presents were those tiny imitations of my culinary tools as mentioned above; also little brooms, sweepers, tiny tubs, wringers, washboards, and the like. And the nearer they were like the real article, the better the little girls were suited. “When I made a pudding they had to watch the proceeding; when I cooked anything, or canned, or pickled, they helped do what they could. They were a bother many times. When I was in a hurry it took patience to answer their numerous questions, and wait on them; but it paid in the end, for my girls can do everything in the domestic line, and I am proud of them. Many a time when mother is late in getting home from some meeting or call, or when she is very tired or indisposed, what a comfort it is to know that these little girls, not yet in their teens, can get a meal as quickly, neatly, deftly, and as cheerfully as the most experienced and capable housekeeper of forty or fifty.”

One of the unfavorable features of this age of school-going, is the failure of mothers to educate their daughters in practical housekeeping. This is an irreparable loss to any woman, as she finds when she has to stand as the head of her own family. Her knowledge of science, art, and literature will never take the place of the knowledge of practical housewifery. This almost lost art in house education, is one of the most prolific causes of loss of health, happiness, and wealth. Of the two, the good, neat, agreeable, practical housekeeper and cook of ordinary intelligence, or the graduate of many schools, is the queen of the home. Mothers be wise.—Observer.