CHAPTER VIII 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
AN OUT-OF-DOOR CLASS IN LAUNDRY WORK
At the Mount Meig's School