LESSONS IN HOME-MAKING
While the men must work to get and keep the home, the wives and
daughters must, in a great measure, supply and guard the health,
strength, morals, and happiness of the family. Their responsibility is
great in all that makes for the development of the individual and the
community. The home is built on an ancient foundation among the white
population of this country, especially in the rural communities. The
Negro has had to learn the meaning of home since he learned the meaning
of freedom. All work which has to do with his uplifting must begin with
his home and its surroundings.
[Illustration: DOROTHY HALL
IN WHICH MOST OF THE INDUSTRIES FOR GIRLS ARE TAUGHT]
Those familiar only with the rural life of the North and West, where,
even in poverty, there are deep-grounded habits of thrift and comfort,
do not know what home lacks among great masses of the cabin-dwellers
of the South. Nowhere is there a nobler opportunity than that which
confronts the young women who are learning at Hampton and Tuskegee,
and other educational institutions, what home should be. The crowded
one-room cabin affects the moral and physical life of the family, it
slowly destroys the right inclinations given by nature to every child,
and develops a manner of life which, coöperating with other causes,
produces mental weakness, loss of ambition, and a shiftless disregard
of responsibilities.
It goes without saying that many of the young women who come to
Tuskegee need such training as will enable them to make homes that are
worthy the name. It is the need first at hand, and the school tries to
meet it in a practical way. The most liberal courses in literature and
the sciences, if they exclude all practical training that will help a
young woman to solve the problems which center around her own hearth,
will not help her to get what she needs most.
At Tuskegee she is given a thorough English education, she can go out
from the school and obtain a teacher's position in a field where the
demand is greater than the supply, but after all her duty begins at
home, and it would be worse than folly to overlook these essentials. It
is interesting to note, in this connection, that, after the household
training system of Tuskegee had been in operation for some time, the
need of similar education for young women whose natural advantages
were infinitely greater than those of the coloured girls in the South,
prompted the following announcement in the advertisement of what is,
perhaps, the most high-priced and exclusive seminary in Massachusetts:
"In planning a system of education for young ladies, with the view
of fitting them for the greatest usefulness in life, the idea was
conceived of supplementing the purely intellectual work by practical
training in the art of home management and its related subjects.
"It was the first school of high literary grade to introduce courses in
Domestic Science into the regular curriculum.
"The results were so gratifying as to lead to the equipment of
Experiment Hall, a special building, fitted for the purpose of studying
the principles of Applied Housekeeping. Here the girls do the actual
work of cooking, marketing, arranging menus, and attend to all the
affairs of a well-arranged household.
"Courses are arranged also in sewing, dressmaking, and millinery; they
are conducted on a similar practical basis, and equip the student with
a thorough knowledge of the subject."
A dozen years ago, I do not believe that any such announcement would
have been made.
[Illustration: LEARNING DRESSMAKING]
At Tuskegee there is a modest dwelling of four rooms, called the
"practice cottage." In the shadow of the massive brick buildings which
surround it, this cottage seems to have strayed in from some one of the
country roads around Tuskegee. But is has a trim and well-kept air,
such as all country homes can have, no matter how poor and simple they
may be. It contains a bedroom, sitting-room, dining-room and kitchen.
These rooms are comfortably furnished for family housekeeping, but
there is nothing in them that is not within reach of any Alabama farmer
who is able to make both ends meet.
Much of the furniture is home-made. The creton-covered chairs, divan,
and sofa are made from common barrels, which the girls are taught
to make into furniture in the upholstering department. This kind of
utility furniture has been so successful for ornament and comfort that
a good deal of it has been ordered by visitors for their Northern
homes. The floors of the cottage are covered with clean, cheap
matting and oilcloth, and the students are taught to make pretty and
serviceable mats from corn-husks. Whatever there is in the rooms is
in good taste, for pictures, wall paper, and humble adornment can be
worked out in good taste without extra cost.
The girls of the Senior class live in the "practice cottage" in turn,
four at one time, for periods of five weeks. They are able to put into
practice, under the supervision of Mrs. Washington, much that they have
learned in their school life of three or four years. This is not, in
reality, an "experiment station," for the girls are thoroughly equipped
to take charge of every department of the house, and they run it
themselves, being held responsible only for results.
They do the sweeping, dusting, cooking, washing, and ironing, sewing
if need be, and their own marketing. The family of four is given an
allowance of not more than three dollars a week for food, which they
invest at the school store and the school farm. With this allowance
they are expected to set the table for four, and to run their cuisine
through the week without any outside help. This seems a very modest
sum, but it is in fair proportion to the average incomes of the class
of people who need just such training. The girls are thoroughly
acquainted with the nutritive and appetising values of the foods which
will be available in their home neighbourhoods.
Distinguished visitors have been guests of the "practice cottage
girls," and have enjoyed the simple meals, skillfully prepared by the
hostesses, who make no extra preparations. On their small allowance,
and with the menu prepared in advance, they are able to entertain
without flurry or embarrassment. They have been taught that the truest
hospitality is in making the most of what one has to do with, and
offering no apologies for the absence of luxuries one cannot afford.
The "practice cottage" is well kept, and is an interesting picture in
miniature of the essentially practical side of the school gospel of
hard work with the hands as a part of a useful education.
[Illustration: BARREL FURNITURE
A thriving Tuskegee industry]
Of course, this cottage routine is not allowed to interfere with the
class work; and while they are testing their ability to manage a
modest, clean, attractive, livable home, the girls are pursuing the
studies they have selected to fit them for their several lines of
work after graduation. In addition to the training in the Academic
Department, these girls are learning trades, and, what is more
important, how to make homes for themselves or for others. In this
cottage the Senior girls round out their course by the practical
application of all the theories in household economy that they have
learned during the earlier years of their training. The course in
"Domestic Science" is perhaps worth outlining in part because it is
practical, and is designed to make the home an uplifting agency by its
daily operation and influence:
First year: Making and care of fires; care and adjustment of lamps
used for cooking; cleaning and keeping in order the tables, closets,
sinks, and pantries; care of material as it comes from market; washing
kitchen and cooking dishes, and care of baking-bowls, dish-towels,
and dish-cloths; cleaning painted and unpainted woodwork; washing
windows, sweeping and dusting; the proper use and care of utensils;
making breads without yeast; making biscuit, cornbread, sweet and white
potato, graham and oatmeal bread; muffins of each of the flours, and
combinations of rice or grits with them; making different kinds of
toast and using stale breads; cooking vegetables in simple ways. The
simplest forms of cooking meats; making plain, brown and milk gravies
and sweet sauces; cooking cereals and serving in various ways; also
cooking fish and eggs.
Second year: Care of silver, glass, china, brass and nickel; care
of table linen; laying table for different meals, waiting, clearing
table and washing dishes; cleaning oiled floors; lessons on providing
material for meals, and calculating cost. Preparing given menus, and
estimating time required in preparation; making yeast bread, brown and
white, rolls, muffins, coffee, spice and raisin bread. Soup-making,
with and without meat; purées from beans, peas and other vegetables,
with or without milk; stews, hashes, minces. Cleaning and cooking
chicken in various ways; bacon: boiled, fried. Making tea, chocolate,
coffee and cocoa.
The third year deals with the theory of foods, their source, selection
and composition and economic value, and the practice of principles
involved in different methods of preparation.
The fourth and final year covers the study of dietaries, including the
arrangement of bills of fare for daily living, in which the expense is
limited to fifty cents for each person, and dinners of three courses
for six persons.
[Illustration: CLASS IN COOKING]
In the school laundry the young women are taught the art of washing
and ironing according to improved methods. Two washers, an extractor,
a mangle, starcher, collar and cuff ironer, have been added to lighten
the drudgery. Drying-rooms and ironing-rooms provided with excellent
facilities afford means for thorough teaching. All of the washing for
teachers and students, including bed and table linen, is done in this
department. The course covers one school year.
It is the policy of the Institute to give special attention to
the training of girls in all matters pertaining to dress, health,
etiquette, physical culture and general housekeeping. The girls are
constantly under the strict and watchful care of the Dean of the
Woman's Department and the women teachers. Special rules governing the
conduct of the girls are made known to each girl upon her arrival. In
addition to the general training, they receive special practical talks
from various members of the Faculty on such matters as relate to the
care of the body, social purity, etc.
The course in household training includes such instruction as:--The
location and sanitation of the home. Furniture: its purchase,
arrangement, and proper care. Surroundings and their advantages.
Cleaning: lamps, beds, bedrooms, and general weekly cleaning. The care
of the dining-room: serving the table and the care of linen, silver,
pantry, dishes, and towels. The duties and manners of the hostess.
The furnishing and care of the kitchen. Marketing, and economy,
punctuality, and regularity in preparation of food. The sick-room: its
attractions and proper ventilation. Changing the patient's clothing and
bedding. Feeding and visiting the sick. Yards and outhouses: how to
keep clean and how to beautify. The housekeeper's personal appearance.
Dress: what to wear and the colors suitable.
The hospital and training-school for nurses were organised to provide
for the physical needs of the Tuskegee colony, and to equip young
women for efficient service among their people. A beautiful two-story
hospital building, with all modern improvements, has been finished,
with enlarged facilities for the care of patients. The facilities for
the training of nurses are excellent and the standard of admission
high. Graduates from the hospital are doing good work, many of them
holding excellent positions in the hospitals, schools and private
infirmaries throughout the South. The five Tuskegee nurses sent to the
front in the Spanish-American war were the only coloured female nurses
employed by the Government. The course of study covers three years,
but is so arranged that students of exceptional ability are able to
complete it in two.
[Illustration: AN OUT-OF-DOOR CLASS IN LAUNDRY WORK
At the Mount Meig's School]