Father and mother have the very simple obligation to furnish the place, raw material (books, tools, etc.), and encouragement.
Copyright, 1909, by Cheshire L. Boone
The Work of Girls in the Public Schools, Montclair, N. J. These Girls are only Eleven Years of Age
A Children's Garden gives Fresh Air and Sunshine, and Best of All, Brings Nature very Near. To Be Really Happy One Must Make Nature's Acquaintance
For these reasons, if for no other, the girl ought to have a permanent outlet for her native ingenuity and constructive skill in such crafts and occupations as are adapted to her strength, future responsibilities and possible interests. A home should comprise other elements than food and clothes, which are bare necessities; and though these may be expanded and multiplied, becoming in their preparation real art products, they alone are deficient in interest. Look over any well-ordered household, note the multiplicity of things it contains which are primarily woman's possessions, and collecting all one knows about them, the amount of real knowledge is surprisingly small. How much does the embryo housekeeper know about textiles, curtains, carpets, hangings, linens, brass, china, furniture? Where do all these charming things come from? Many of the hangings, table linen, embroidery, etc., are home products. They cannot be bought at all. The simple stenciled curtain which one likes so much draws attention by virtue of its personal quality. To have such things in any abundance the girl must create them, and this she is more than willing to do.
How may one explain the restful atmosphere of certain homes visited? How many housewives have intelligent insight concerning home management and administration; of simple domestic chemistry or sanitation? Yet these are vital elements in the domestic machine. One never mistakes a proper household, orderly, smooth running for the showy establishment—gay outside and sad inside. Even the most untutored child unconsciously responds to the healthy influence of selected material environment and conditions, when these are combined harmoniously. There are systematic ways of creating pleasant rooms, fine grounds, comfortable places for living, places imbued with the spirit of contentment. The people who produce such places are seldom the professional decorator, landscape architect, and hired housekeeper. It is the woman of the family, who, having practised some of the arts, or at least been their disciple, has learned to appreciate order and love beauty. Therewith comes an almost instinctive knowledge of how to use them to advantage. One can never really have beautiful baskets, pottery, sewing, gardens, until one has made them. One surely cannot appreciate the true worth of clean linen, a spotless house, and perfect routine anywhere so thoroughly as in one's own house. It naturally follows that the girl, like the boy, should be a producer, not a mere purchaser, of personal or domestic commodities. She may have unlimited means, but the place where she lives as a girl and the home she seeks to create in adult life will always be impersonal, detached, hotel-like, unless she personally builds it. She must know the structure, composition, and functions of inanimate things; this knowledge comes easiest and persists longer through use and experience.