CHAPTER IX Outdoor Work for Women
Seven years ago I became impressed with the idea that there was a wider range of industrial work for our girls. The idea grew upon me that it was unwise in a climate like ours in the South to narrow the work of our girls, and confine them to indoor occupations.
If one makes a close study of economic conditions in the South, he will soon be convinced that one of the weak points is the want of occupations for women. This lack of opportunity grows largely out of traditional prejudice and because of lack of skill. All through the period of slavery, the idea prevailed that women, not slaves, should do as little work as possible with their hands. There were notable exceptions, but this was the rule.
Most of the work inside the homes was done by the coloured women. Such a thing as cooking, sewing, and laundering, as part of a white woman's education, was not thought of in the days of slavery. Training in art, music, and general literature was emphasised. When the coloured girl became free, she naturally craved the same education in which she had seen the white woman specialising. I have already described our trials at the Tuskegee Institute, in attempting to get our girls to feel and see that they should secure the most thorough education in everything relating to the care of a home. When we were able to free them of the idea that it was degrading to study and practice those household duties which are connected with one's life every day in the year, I felt convinced that one other step was necessary.
New England and most of the Middle States are largely engaged in manufacturing. The factories, therefore, naturally give employment to a large number of women. The South is not yet in any large degree manufacturing territory, but is an agricultural section and will probably remain such for a long period. This fact confirmed my belief that an industrial school should not only give training in household occupations to women, but should go further in meeting their needs and in providing education for them in out-of-door industries.
OUTDOOR WORK FOR GIRLS
In making a study of this subject it became evident that the climate of every Southern State was peculiarly adapted to out-of-door work for women. A little later I had the opportunity of going to Europe and visiting the agricultural college for women at Swanley, England. There I found about forty women from some of the best families of Great Britain. Many of these women were graduates of high schools and colleges. In the morning I saw them in the laboratory and class room studying botany and chemistry and mathematics as applied to agriculture and horticulture. In the afternoon these same women were clad in suitable garments and at work in the field with the hoe or rake, planting vegetable seeds, pruning fruit trees or learning to raise poultry and bees and how to care for the dairy. After I had seen this work and had made a close study of it, I saw all the more clearly what should be done for the coloured girls of the South where there was so large an unemployed proportion of the population. I reasoned that if this kind of hand-training is necessary for a people who have back of them the centuries of English wealth and culture, it is tenfold more needful for a people who are in the condition of my race at the South.
I came home determined to begin the training of a portion of our women at Tuskegee in the outdoor industries. Mrs. Washington, who had made a careful study of the work in England, took charge of the outdoor work at Tuskegee. At first the girls were very timid. They felt ashamed to have any one see them at work in the garden or orchard. The young men and some of the women were inclined to ridicule those who were bold enough to lead off. Not a few became discouraged and stopped. There is nothing harder to overcome than an unreasonable prejudice against an occupation or a race. The more unreasonable it is, the harder it is to conquer. Mrs. Washington made a careful study of the girls and discovered the social leaders of a certain group. With this knowledge in hand she called the leaders together and had several conferences with them and explained in detail just what was desired and what the plans were. These leaders decided that they would be the pioneers in the outdoor work.
Beginning in a very modest way with a few girls, the outdoor work has grown from year to year, until it is now a recognised part of the work of the school, and the idea that this kind of labour is degrading has almost disappeared. In order to give, if possible, a more practical idea of just what is taught the girls, I give the entire course of study. In reading this it should be borne in mind that the theory is not only given, but in each case the girls have the training in actual work. Since the school year opens in the fall, the work naturally begins with the industries relating to the fall and winter. The course of study is:
First Year.—Fall Term.—Dairying.—The home dairy is first taken up, and a detailed knowledge of the following facts taught: Kinds, use and care of utensils, gravity, creaming. A study of stone, wooden, and tin churns, ripening of cream, churning, working and salting butter, preparation and marketing of same. Feeding and care of dairy cows.
Poultry Raising.—A working knowledge is required of the economic value of poultry on the farm, pure and mixed breeds, plain poultry-house construction, making of yards, nests, and runs.
Horticulture.—Instruction is given as to the importance of an orchard and small fruits, varieties best suited, particular locality, selection and preparation of ground, setting, trimming, extermination of borers, lice, etc., special stress being laid upon the quality and quantity of peaches, pears, apples, plums, figs, grapes, and strawberries that should be planted in a home orchard.
Floriculture and Landscape Gardening.—A study of our door-yards, how to utilise and beautify them. The kinds, care, and use of tools used in floriculture and landscape gardening. Trimming and shaping of beds and borders, and the general care of shrubbery and flowers. The gathering and saving of seed. Special treatment of rose bushes and shrubbery.
Market Gardening.—Importance of proper management of the home garden, its value to the home, selection and preparation of ground; kinds, care and use of tools, planting, gardening and marketing of all vegetables. Gathering of seeds, drying of pumpkins, okra, and fruits.
Live Stock.—Study is limited wholly to ordinary farm animals; the number and kind needed, how, when and what to feed; characteristics and utility of the various animals.
Winter Term.—Dairying.-The commercial dairy is the subject of study, and emphasis is laid upon the following: Use of separators, of which the school has two leading styles; churns, feeding, and care of the dairy herd, breeds of dairy cattle and their selection, butter-making, packing, salting and preparation for market.
Poultry Raising.—Special study of breeding and feeding. When, how and what kind of eggs and the breed of fowls to set; the period of incubation, poultry book-keeping, saving of eggs for market; an introductory of study of young chickens.
Floriculture and Landscape Gardening.—Trimming of beds and borders, mulching, tying, wrapping, and preparation of plants for the winter.
Winter decoration of grounds, the decorative value of native shrubbery; a study of window plants, their value in the home, halls and public buildings, their economic value, etc.
Market Gardening.—The selection of grounds and making of hotbeds, cold frames, etc., planting and managing of same, the raising of winter vegetables, marketing.
Spring Term.—Dairying.—Milking; a study of pastures, how to destroy lice and other parasites, the care of calves, the utilisation of waste in the dairy; laboratory work.
Poultry Raising.—A more advanced study of young poultry; brooders, sanitation of the house, runs, and of all the apparatus; egg-testing, moulting and its effects upon different breeds.
Horticulture.—Spring planting, trimming, budding, grafting, spraying, care of grape vines; the wire and post system of supports; spring layering and cuttings.
Floriculture and Landscape Gardening.—Renewing of beds and borders, seed sowing, special study of propagation by layers, cuttings, division of roots, bulbs, etc.; kinds and uses of fertilisers for this special season.
Market Gardening.—Preparation of ground, what and how to plant, special stress being laid upon the production of early vegetables for the home and market. Reproduction of plants by seeds and by division of numbers; water and its office in plant economy.
Live Stock.—Course includes the history, development, characteristics, standard points, utility, adaptability to climatic conditions; lessons on judging, care, selection and management of the leading breeds of horses, sheep and hogs.
Second Year.—Fall Term.—Dairying.—A more comprehensive study of milk and its constituents; weeds and their harmful effect upon dairy products; general sanitation of dairy barns; the drawing of plans, etc.
Poultry Raising.—Insecticides, how to make, when and how much to use, diseases of fowls and their treatment. A study of foods and their adaptability to different breeds, special study of turkeys and guineas.
Horticulture.—Root and stem grafting with active and dormant buds; formation of trunk and top starch, and its relation to the hardiness of fruits and shrubs, botany of the orchard, entomology; book-keeping.
Floriculture and Landscape Gardening.—Systematic botany, bouquet-making—harmony of colour, form and size of flowers; laying out of private and public grounds, roads, parks, walks, and streets; entomology of the flower garden.
Market Gardening.—Botany of the field and garden; physical analysis of soils and the improvement of clay and sandy soils; the depletion of plant food and its replacement by direct and indirect fertilisers; the source of carbon, nitrogen and oxygen. Draining.
Live Stock.—How to hitch and unhitch horses, the care of vehicles and harness, how to drive, the names of common diseases and treatment of sick animals; swine for profit.
Winter Term.—Dairying.—The weighing and recording of milk in a commercial dairy; the Babcock and other methods of testing milk; composition of cheese and its value as a food.
Poultry Raising.—Composition of the animal body; a special study of ducks and geese; brooders, ponds, runs, etc., by-products and their value.
Horticulture.—Forestry, botany, cryptogamic and systematic; nut culture; preservation of timber, the economic value of different woods; the relation of forests to climate, water supply, floods and erosion.
Market Gardening.—A study of the life-history of insects, injuries to stored grain, peas, beans, meal, flour, dried fruits; botany of the greenhouse, cold frame and hotbeds; the use of thermometers. A study of markets, library work.
Spring Term.—Dairying.—Cottage and Cheddar cheese-making, scoring of butter, bacteriology of milk, butter, and cheese. Judging of dairy animals by the score-card method, diseases of cows and their treatment; analysis of food stuffs.
Poultry Raising.—Physical and chemical study of foods, library work, fancy breeds, what and how to exhibit, the history and development of the industry. Heredity and the effects of in-breeding.
Horticulture.—Origin of new varieties by cross-fertilisation, hybrids, sports, atavisms and reversion, correlation between plants and animals, rejuvenating by pruning, grafting and scraping the bark, special diseases of both trees and fruit, and their treatment. Knot-growth, blight, gum excrescences and frost injuries; drying, preserving, making fruit syrups, etc.
Horticulture and Landscape Gardening.—Special designing in cultivated flowers. Origin of new species; bees and their relation to the forest and garden; the hiving of bees and after-management. A study of honey-producing plants; the economic value of the honey.
Market Gardening.—Relation of crops, geology of the garden, agricultural chemistry, good roads and their relation to the success and value of the farm, mineralogy and useful birds and insects.
I believe that all who will make a careful study of the subject will agree with me that there is a vast unexplored field for women in the open air. The South, with its mild climate and other advantages, is as well adapted to out-door labour for women as to that for men. There is not only an advantage in material welfare, but there is the advantage of a superior mental and moral growth. The average woman who works in a factory becomes little more than a machine. Her planning and thinking is done for her. Not so with the woman who depends upon raising poultry, for instance, for a living. She must plan this year for next, this month for the next. Naturally there is a growth of self-reliance, independence, and initiative.
Life out in the sweet, pure, bracing air is better from both a physical and a moral point of view than long days spent in the close atmosphere of a factory or store. There is almost no financial risk to be encountered, in the South, in following the occupations which I have enumerated. The immediate demands for the products of garden, dairy, poultry yard, apiary, orchard, etc., are pressing and ever present. The satisfaction and sense of independence that will come to a woman who is brave enough to follow any of these outdoor occupations infinitely surpass the results of such uncertain labor as that of peddling books or cheap jewelry, or similar employments, and I believe that a larger number of our schools in the near future will see the importance of outdoor handwork for women.
There is considerable significance in the fact that this year more than fifty girls have taken up the study of scientific farming at the Minnesota College of Agriculture, and have thus announced their intention to adhere to country life. The college has been in existence for the past decade, but girls have only recently been admitted. The character of the instruction available to the girl students is suggestive. The course presented emphasises the sciences of botany, chemistry, physics and geology, requiring, during the freshman and sophomore years at least, two terms' work in each of them. Boys and girls work together throughout two-thirds of the entire course, which includes study in language, mathematics, science, civics, and considerable technical work. In the courses for girls, cooking, laundering and sewing are substituted for carpentry, blacksmithing and veterinary science. The girls, too, give more attention to household art, home economy and domestic hygiene than to the business aspect of farming. It is happily the chief purpose of the college to awaken in its entire student body a keen interest in farming, farm life, the farm-house and farm society. Both boys and girls are taught to plan farm buildings and to lay out the grounds artistically. Considerable attention is given to the furnishing of houses, to literature, music and social culture, with the general thought of making the farm home the most attractive spot on earth. The result of the new movement is being watched with keen interest by agriculturists and educators. It is evident that, should it prove successful, the innovation will spread to other agricultural States. Its influence, one readily apprehends, is apt to be social as well as agricultural in character. Heretofore, one great drawback to farming, even in the North, has been the difficulty of keeping the farmers' sons on the farm. With trained and educated girls enthusiastically taking up the profession of farming, the country life will take on new charms, and the exodus of young men to cities will be materially lessened.