THE KITCHEN-GARDEN AT THE WORLD'S FAIR.
By Maria M. Vinton, M.D.
BY MARIA M. VINTON, M.D., NEW YORK CITY. AMONG the many interesting exhibits in the children's building at the World's Fair was that of the Kitchen-garden Association. To me the greatest element of interest in this exhibit was the fact that it was a live exhibit; that is, the kitchen-garden school exercises were gone through by twenty-four little girls, from six to eight years old, before an audience that was evidently much interested in their performance. These little girls came, I was told, from some of the best families of Hyde Park. When I tried to enter the room at a few minutes past three, the guard held up the chain across the door, and told me that only standing room outside of the windows was left. Fortunately for me, some of those inside did not remain through the exercises, and I soon obtained a seat. It seemed to me that the mothers who read Babyhood would be interested to hear of the kitchen-garden work, and so I was doubly anxious to see it, that I might tell you about it. The kitchen-garden work originated in New York, at the Wilson Industrial School, St. Marks Place, corner of Avenue A. Here two hundred girls are instructed in elementary English branches, and are taught sewing, kitchen-garden and cooking-garden work. One of the teachers there, seeing how little was known by tenement-house mothers and children about doing cooking and housework in the best and most economical ways, bethought herself of establishing a class on the plan of a kindergarten work, where, by means of playthings, she might teach these forlorn little ones how to do housework. I need not say that her plan was a great success, that the children not only enjoyed it hugely but learned to be of great help at home, and to be ready to go out into service and earn their own living when a little older. One result of this has been the formation of the "Kitchen-garden Association," with its headquarters in New York, and branches in Chicago and other cities, and the opening of many more kitchen-garden classes. It was the exhibition of this association that was to be seen every afternoon at 3 P.M. in an upper room of the Children's Building. This seems to me an eminently practical work, and one that many mothers might with advantage take up in their homes with their own little ones. All children play with their little dishes and household toys. How much more interesting it makes them to be taught to use them and care for them just as the "grown-ups" do! The twenty-four little girls who constituted the "exhibit" each wore over her ordinary indoor clothes a pretty white apron, long enough to reach the bottom of her dress, with long ruffled sleeves, and a low neck bordered by a wide ruffle, and a dainty Swiss cap; and very pretty indeed they looked, with their sweet, serious faces, bent only on doing their best in the class work. The exercises began by a march, accompanied by the piano and a song. The girls marched from the main room into a side-room and reappeared, each holding two wooden boxes containing the dishes to be used in setting the table for breakfast, the dearest little dolls' dishes you ever saw. The march ended around two kindergarten tables, each arranged with twelve small chairs. At the word of command the little maidens sat down and placed their boxes on the table. The larger box did duty for the dining room table and the smaller one for the sideboard. Each child had a small white linen tablecloth, which she arranged carefully on the table, while they recited in chorus the answers to the teacher's questions, telling how to fold the cloth, and how to spread it smoothly and squarely on the table. Then began the setting of the table, the little ones reciting something like this: "These are the knives and forks; a knife and fork should be put at each place, the knife evenly on the right hand, and the fork on the left, leaving a place for the breakfast plate between." The knives and forks were then laid nicely in order for four persons at each little table. "These are the napkins, to be used for wiping the fingers and the mouth when needed, and to be laid in the lap to protect the clothing from being soiled. They should be laid at the right hand of each place, beside the knife." And so it went on, the cups and saucers, cream pitcher and sugar bowl being arranged in the tray, and the silver coffeepot placed at the right hand of the hostess, the meat platter and carving knife and fork before the host, the glasses and breakfast plates at each place. Then a song was sung and the lesson was repeated, each child raising her dish as mentioned. "These are little breakfast tables. This is the coffeepot; it should be scalded before the coffee is put in. This is the sugar bowl; it should be filled when taken from the table. These are the knives. This is the fork. We eat with the fork, not with the knife. These are the breakfast plates; they should always be hot," and so on through all the setting of the table. Next came the clearing, learning how to collect the silver and the knives separately, to remove the glasses first, to pile up the breakfast plates, scraping the crumbs, etc., into the top one; how to brush and fold the tablecloth in the creases, that it may retain its fresh appearance. Our young housewives then marched out, singing, to reappear with cunning tin dishpans, and two kinds of towels, a fine one for glasses and silver, and a coarser one for the china ware. They played wash the dishes in the proper order, glasses first, then silver, then cups, etc., rinsed them in clear water, drained them, and dried them on the appropriate towel. Now the dishes were placed neatly in their boxes, and, the march striking up, were carried away to the side-room. The next exercise was sweeping, one of the prettiest, most active, and most enjoyable of all. The housemaids marched in with their little brooms and dusters, showed us how to arrange the tables and chairs before sweeping, to sweep and dust the room, when to use the dustpan and brush, dust cloth and feather duster, and to put the room in perfect order. They ended by forming a line, skipping about the room, and finally forming an arch of brooms, through which each couple must pass arm in arm. Here ended the lesson for that afternoon. On other days they learned how to build the474fire, how to air the bedding, lay off pillows and shams, turn the mattress in the air, spread the bedclothes, etc.; and all this to song and music, with real little dolls' beds, mattresses, and pillows. Think, my dear mothers, what fun we missed when we were young. On the whole, the world is a brighter place for children than when we occupied that position. Another lesson teaches cooking, and at the Wilson Mission the cooking is done with real fish, meats, and vegetables, and the girls may easily become good cooks. As a good cook always tastes her wares, the little ones end by eating up the good dinner they have prepared. They learn, too, how to buy meats and vegetables in the market. Another lesson teaches laundry work, with the accompaniment of song; and, last but not least, comes scrubbing. You can easily see what a useful school this has become to the tenement-house damsels, and how they have surprised their mothers by new ways of doing work, which have been adopted as soon as the good reasons for them were explained. How many of our daughters know these things? To many young housewives the training of their servants, a work that must be done unless they belong to the very wealthy, becomes a heavy burden, because they do not know the best ways of doing work themselves, and because they must often take green girls, fresh from Ireland or from untrained tenement homes. I think that many of you might repeat the kitchen-garden work and play among your own children, on those rainy days when they are so hard to amuse. Of course, a trained worker makes the best teacher, yet I am sure that any bright woman, who understands housekeeping and children, by seeing the workings of a class can easily become a successful amateur kitchen-gardener.—Babyhood.