_BUSINESS TRAINING FOR THE COUNTRY GIRL_
During a two-hour ride on a railway train the author had as a seat
companion a sixty-year-old farmer and stock raiser, whose specialty was
that of raising mules for the market. And what of definite information
this good husbandman possessed about the long-eared beast of burden
would fill a volume of considerable size. He knew just what time of year
the mule should be foaled, when weaned, when broken to the halter and to
work; how to feed and groom a mule in order to get the best physical
growth; how to train the animal so as to develop all the latent good
qualities and repress the bad ones.
After the natural life history of the faithful mule had been carefully
reviewed by the rural companion the conversation was turned to the
subject of girls. Had he a daughter? "Yes, twenty-two years old." What
did she know about money and the common affairs of business? "Business!
Mighty little any woman knows about business," said he. "We buy our girl
what she needs and have put her through the town high school. I expect
her to get married sometime. Her mother has taught her how to do
housework." Further than that the father seemed to know very little
about his daughter, and he showed plainly that he did not consider this
second topic of conversation half so interesting as the first one.
IS THE COUNTRY GIRL NEGLECTED?
Inquiry will prove that the foregoing case of parental ignorance and
indifference about the daughter is all too common, especially the
ignorance. It seems never to have occurred to many parents who have
growing daughters that unless the young woman have a fair amount of
knowledge of the value and use of money her future happiness and
well-being and that of her family are in danger of becoming seriously
jeopardized. It is a singular and yet lamentable fact that so many
American parents,--parents too who are intensely desirous that their
growing children have the best possible moral and religious
teaching--that these same good parents fail to understand how one of the
very foundation stones of efficient moral and religious life is
constituted of a definite body of knowledge of common business affairs.
They do not seem to realize that the young man or the young woman who
knows from experience just how money is earned, and how it may be
judiciously expended and profitably invested, is far on the way to a
high plane of moral and religious living.
However, there is probably no place of greater opportunities for
developing sober judgment in the growing girl than that afforded by the
ordinary farm home. For here the business management of the household
and of the farm affairs are practically merged. There is the further
advantage of a considerable variety of ways whereby the daughter may be
remunerated for what she does. But, how may we best interpret this
question? First of all, what in a practical sense is a satisfactory
business training for a young woman, a farmer's daughter in particular?
Do we desire that she become a shrewd money-maker and successful a some
sort of commercial life? Few would take such a position. But in order
that the young woman may be fully prepared to fill her heaven-ordained
place as the center and source of love and influence in a family, we
must provide that she be given just such instruction in the use of money
as will enable her to occupy her high position with the greatest
possible success.
WHY THE GIRL LEAVES THE FARM
Under the title above the Farmer's Voice prints portions of two letters
which help to throw not a little light on this much-neglected subject.
Miss Alta Hooper writes:--
"The one great cry going out from the people, and one also much in need
of an answer, is 'how to keep the boy on the farm.' It is very seldom
that the girl of the farm is alluded to, although it may be that she is
included, in a general way, in the great amount of literature concerning
her brother. But, take it from the farmer girl that she is a live one,
and unless money is coming into her pockets, unless she is comparatively
independent and has some interest to keep her awake, she isn't going to
'stay put,' but will get out where she can earn some money of her very
own, to buy the little things so dear to the hearts of girls; and she
will not be questioned and lectured and scolded over every little
expenditure.
"Oh, the girls on the farm have minds and pride and ambition just as big
as their brothers' too; and in many cases they are not given half a
chance to realize one iota of this ambition. It is then that a career
off the farm and away from the farm home appeals to them. Then the
thought comes that even though the salary to be earned may be small,
still it is all one's own, and there is no fear in planning where and in
what it shall be invested."
Likewise, Mrs. F. L. Stevens, writing for _Progressive Farmer_, says:--
"How often have we seen young girls leaving comfortable farm homes to go
into typewriting, clerking, or bookkeeping, in order to have their own
money. An allowance for personal expenses in the beginning would have
solved this problem. But the father has not seen it that way.
[Illustration: PLATE XXVI.
FIG. 33.--At a tender age girls are instinctively fond of doing such
work as is displayed here. Strange to say, some mothers deny their
little daughters the character-forming benefits of this childish
occupation.]
"It is not necessary that the daughter be given a monthly or yearly
allowance of so much cash, but the really better way, it would seem,
would be to start her in some special branch of work, say,
poultry-raising. Or perhaps she might be given a cow or a horse or a
pig, which would in time bring in sums of money by careful management;
and the business, a small one perhaps in the beginning, would easily
develop. Many young girls like to work in a garden as the produce is
always a good source of income and an interesting and educational work."
CERTAIN RULES TO BE OBSERVED
If we are to give up the idea that the young woman naturally possesses
the necessary business judgment, and to substitute the better idea that
she must be taught how to manage her own affairs; then, What are the
fundamental steps necessary to impart such instruction? It seems to the
author that they are these:--
1. _Teach the girl to work._--As was shown in a previous chapter, the
girl must be taught carefully and conscientiously how to work. Even
though she may be so fortunate--or unfortunate--as not to be compelled
to do any of her own housework, only a first-hand knowledge of how such
work goes on will enable her successfully to direct it. The strength of
our democracy is much dependent upon the character of our women. The
modern tendency toward the development of a leisure class among the
women and girls of the wealthier families is quite as much a menace to
social solidarity as was the older order of keeping women in ignorance
and servitude.
The problem of household help is much intensified because of the
disfavor with which the so-called better classes of women look upon the
vocation of the domestic employee. The necessary inequality of rank of
the home mistress and her employees is more a matter of tradition and
imagination than of reality. The social inequality which follows and
which drives many young women into less advantageous places of
employment will disappear just as soon as all growing girls are
conducted through a carefully planned course of work and household
industry. No farm parents can afford to deny the daughter the excellent
disciplinary results of careful training in the performance of every
ordinary household duty.
2. _Teach her business sense._--In cases where the growing boy or girl
is simply given spending money for the asking--or the begging--there
results a perverted idea of the meaning of money. A girl so trained
during her youthful years is inclined to take this same attitude toward
her husband in the future. That is, she will probably regard it as
necessary to beg for an allowance and deem it right and proper to spend
all she can obtain in this way. The seriousness of such relations
between man and wife is easily seen. But the growing girl can be taught
that money is merely a convenient unit of measurement of values which
are produced chiefly by means of work.
Advanced students of our social life are putting forth much effort to
solve the divorce problem. In their efforts to determine causes and to
provide cures for divorce, some of them have gone so far as to advocate
a school for matrimony, one of the ends being that of preventing
incompatible persons from entering into the life union. Among the causes
contributing to the divorce evil have been the radically different
ideals of the use of money on the part of the contracting pair. An
attorney of long standing experience with divorce cases says:--
"As a rule the woman who alleges non-support in her petition for divorce
reveals the fact, before the case is ended, that she is lacking in the
proper idea of the use of money, is often especially weak in knowledge
of how the family income should be spent if the family affairs are to go
on satisfactorily."
3. _Train her to transact personal business._--Then, begin early in her
life to teach the girl to transact business affairs that relate to her
personal interests and to the home life of women. Do not buy all the
little articles necessary for her, but allow her, with money reasonably
provided, to make her own minor purchases under your advice and
direction. The intelligent farmer knows somewhat definitely what his
yearly income and outlay are. Why should not his daughter be told how
these accounts run, in the usual year, and she then be asked to keep an
account of all her own personal affairs for a year? Such required
practice will do more than all the arithmetic lessons in the schools to
inculcate an intimate knowledge of the value of money in relation to her
own affairs--to say nothing of the good business judgment likely to be
acquired.
Thus the country girl may receive a better business training than her
city cousin whose nearness to the attractive stores and shops proves a
constant incentive for over-indulgence and wastefulness in the use of
money.
4. _Make her the family accountant._--As soon as she becomes old enough,
take the daughter into your confidence as regards the family expense
account. Make her acquainted with the items of income and expenditure in
detail. And also make it appear to her that the business of the home is
not being conducted satisfactorily unless some portion of the income be
set aside for the emergencies of the future.
At this point there is offered an opportunity to give the daughter some
much-needed business training. There is much being said of late by way
of urging the farmer to keep an accurate book account of all his
transactions. Out of the experiment stations have come published letters
and bulletins urging that such things be done and showing methods. But
the evidence goes to show that the majority of farmers do not find time
for it. So it will in many cases be found practicable to turn this
important task of bookkeeping over to the growing daughter. Among the
many benefits to be derived will be the excellent business training it
will furnish her. As a diversion from the common household duties the
accounting will prove most refreshing. And, then, the farmer will soon
find this service to the farm business so important as to justify him in
paying his daughter reasonably for the work.
5. _Miserliness to be avoided._--While the habits of a spendthrift are
perhaps above all things else to be avoided, a close second to this as
an evil practice is the habit of expending in a miserly and begrudging
manner. So, teach the girl to give her money willingly for all the
ordinary necessities and comforts of life and for such luxuries as the
conditions will reasonably warrant.
The far-sighted parent and the one really interested in the future of
his daughter will readily observe how much enslaved adults finally
become in the use of money. There are perhaps as many well-to-do persons
who are miserly because they cannot help it as there are improvident
persons who are spendthrifts because they cannot longer prevent it. Both
classes manifest the certain results of training and habit. In his
interesting chapter on the psychology of habit Professor James explains
so aptly how the man, long practiced in enforced economy, but at length
having ample means, goes to the store with the determination of paying
liberally for an article; and how he finally comes away with something
cheap.
A "golden mean" is therefore to be sought in training the girl in the
use of money. Not how to save at all hazards, but how to spend
judiciously, with conscious thought of the right relation between income
and outlay--this is perhaps the more acceptable ideal.
6. _Teach her to give._--While inculcating business ideas into the mind
of your growing daughter, guard against her acquiring a mere passion for
money-making and the accumulation of wealth. For example, one of the
best means of achieving this end would be to see that she gives a part
of her earnings to some worthy cause or other. Explain to her again and
again that she must keep up in her life a sort of equipoise of receiving
and giving, if the highest sense of inner satisfaction is always to be
her portion.
The young must learn sooner or later that there is other than a money
profit to be derived from the investment of money. Accordingly, it will
not be found difficult for the rural parents to point out to their
daughter some place merely where she may invest a small part of her
earnings in human welfare. An orphan child living in the neighborhood
may be sorely in need of a new dress or school books, a lonely and aged
widow may be cheered by the gift of a wall picture, a crippled child may
be accumulating funds for hospital treatment, or another person may have
lost heavily from flood or fire. These and many more like them may be
made the occasion of teaching the girl a beautiful lesson of sympathy
and sacrifice. And the sacrifice should come out of what she has
accumulated through her own small business enterprise.
7. _Teach the meaning of a contract._--It is often declared that women
fail to appreciate the obligations of a contract, that they will enter
into a strict agreement to buy an article or to pay for another and then
refuse to carry out such agreement. Merchants have been so often called
on to deal with this feminine change of mind that they have seen fit to
establish a custom of taking back at cost any article not found
satisfactory upon trial. This failure of women to adhere strictly to the
terms of an agreement has given currency to the opinion that they are
naturally dishonest. Weininger in his volume "Sex and Character" even
offers a line of questionable proof to confirm the correctness of the
opinion.
But Dr. G. Stanley Hall in many of his researches shows that falsehood
and deception are common and natural practices among ordinary children.
All forms of honest and fair moral and business practice are less
natural than acquired. They must have actual experience, and much of
it, as a basis for their becoming a permanent part of character. Hence,
the so-called dishonesty of women in relation to the obligations of a
business agreement--that is probably nothing more than a matter of sheer
ignorance. Farm girls are proverbially lacking in business practice and
in knowledge of the rights and obligations of a contract. It is
obligatory upon their parents to remove such ignorance through business
training.
8. _Prepare her to deal with grafters._--"The majority of his victims
were women," is the statement so often read in connection with the
fraudulent schemes of the exposed money shark. Millions of dollars are
annually taken from credulous women by the get-rich-quick money trader.
This polite form of theft has become so flagrant as to necessitate much
vigilance and many prosecutions on the part of the national government.
Widows and other dependent women are especially the sufferers.
The necessity of preparing the innocent young woman to deal with the
enticing business fraud is very apparent. Two or three matters must
especially be attended to in giving the required instruction. First,
take advantage of many occasions to explain to the girl just how a given
case is being worked, so that she may be on guard against such
allurements; second, it is well to advise the untrained young woman
against investing in any scheme of profit sharing that offers above a
good current rate of interest.
SHOULD THERE BE AN ACTUAL INVESTMENT?
Then, what if anything should be done in the ordinary farm home by way
of providing an investment for the growing daughter so that she may
daily have some practice in business affairs, as well as an income for
use in meeting her personal expenses? Before attempting to answer this
question, let us be certain that we have the correct point of view of
the growing daughter's ideal relation to the practical affairs in the
rural home. It seems to the author that there is only one safe rule of
procedure here and that is, whatever the investment,--if there be any at
all,--it must be understood that the ideal is one of developing the girl
into a beautiful womanhood and not one of making the investment pay in
the mere money sense of the term. In other words, the business of the
farm and the farm home must serve directly the highest interests of the
members of the household, even though money accumulations cannot, as a
result, go on quite so fast. Or, as we have put it several times before:
The farm and the live stock and all that pertains thereto must be so
managed as to contribute directly to the development of the high aspects
of character in the boys and girls, and not as materials which the
growing boys and girls are to help build up and multiply.
Now, if it still be insisted upon that the country girl have a definite
business relation to the affairs of the home, there are two or three
ways whereby this may be accomplished. One method is to give the girl a
fixed and reasonable sum of money for whatever she may do by way of
helping in the house. Another is that of providing a small investment in
something that may be expected to increase reasonably in value and
finally bring her a money return. Of the two methods of procedure
mentioned, it would seem that the first is the more desirable. If the
daughter be given an interest in anything like the live stock or some
farm crop, the thing will not appeal to her directly, and whatever
interest she may have in it will be a purely borrowed one. On the other
hand, if she be given a generous allowance for her services, and during
the younger years be trained in the expenditure of this allowance, good
results may be expected. Similarly as with the boy, the growing girl
must be taught to look toward the future. A system of restraints must be
placed against her tendency to squander her small income, and gradually
she may be trained to set aside a small portion of what she has with a
view to its being applied upon something of her own later in life. It is
perhaps too much to ask the girl to save enough money to pay her way
through college, but there are many advantages in training her to save
for a certain portion of that expense. Perhaps she may be able to buy
her own clothes.
It is not reasonable to assume that every well-trained country girl will
find it advisable to take a college course. So, instead of saving up for
college expenses, she may be taught to lay by something for the day of
her marriage and with the thought of helping equip a home of her own. As
a matter of fact, it is not a question of the specific purpose for which
the money may be set apart. The main issue is that of staying by her day
after day and week after week, and guiding and advising her until she
finally acquires good sense, mature judgment, and self-reliance in
regard to the business affairs that may be expected to constitute a part
of her life as a keeper of a home of her own.
_How the southern girls earn money._--One of the most interesting and
significant modern movements in behalf of juvenile industry is that of
the Southern Girls' Tomato Clubs, originated in 1910 by Miss Marie
Cromer, a rural school teacher of North Carolina. Thousands of young
girls are now participants in the new work, each one tending a small
plat of tomatoes and canning the produce for the market. One girl is
reported to have cleared $130 from one season's crop raised on one
fourth of an acre. The General Education Board and the National
Department of Agriculture have given liberal support to this
tomato-growing work.