THE COMING RACE.

Timaru Herald, Volume XC, Issue 13300, 31 May 1907, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE COMING RACE.

TRAINING OF MOTHERS.

IBy Professor James Long.)

The early training of the child and the formation of the bent of his intellect is the work of women. If all Englishmen were the sorts of good mothers, what a righteous nation ire should be. The average man—and he represents the vast majority—is the bread-winner, and far tori oftc-n sees little of his children. From th-* day of his birth to the commencement of liis terns, the child is the mother's. Hers is the hand that feeds and clothes, soothes and caresses, screens and encourages. She supplies in the nurture _ and education of her children a. phase of character which her husband lacks. In a good mother we find gentleness and faith, love and watchfulness, all of which are mote or less deficient in the character and eonduct of the father, who, perhaps unconsciously, regards* his role in relation to his family as one of provision and pro teetion. He leaves the administration of the nersonal care and culture to Iris better half.'

The character and conduct of the men of the future depend then chiefly on the character, conduct, knowledge and ex-

ample of the -women of to-day. If the woman is ignorant or vicious, how different the result in the future.lives of her children. The example- of a. bud father may tell, for it is unhappily too fruitful, but it is modified by the counter-example of a good mother. How much more serious, however, is the result of a mother's, bad example, for it is always before her children. How, then, should our girls be framed? I venture to suggest that next to living righteously they should be taught to value knowledge, not for the mere sake of helping their future children to wealth or position, but for the sake of its influence on their fellowmen. In a, word, of its value to humanity, for it is she who plans and encourages, and often develops a future of which the father has . not dreamed. Let us take the rural working class, in order to realise the importance of training girls. An example case, illustrating whathas been accomplished elsewhere, is* the reason which suggests this step. I have had the advantage of inspecting the great institution near Louvain, in Belgium, where 1,200 peasant girls are in course of training. The curriculum is broad, and in a sense exhaustive, for not only are the pupils taught class-room subjects, but practical subjects both inside, and outside the establishment, at a cost which is practically within the range of the whole of the self-supporting Belgian peasantry. What better plan could be adopted than that involved in the equipment-of girls with knowledge suited to the position which they may be subsequently called upon to occupy, especially as, in the case in point, that position in probably the very large majority of instances, be the wife of a peasant farmer? Among the practical subjects, "the girls are taught to bake the bread they consume, to make the butter and to handle the milk of the establishment in general, to feed the poultry, to cultivate the garden and the orchard, to wa=h the linen and to make their own clothing. What- subjects, indeed, are so suitable for the elementary education of the million, few of whom are able to pass to a higher stage, than cooking and laundry work, gardening, bee-keeping, milking the cows, mnking the butter .and cheese, preserving the fnvt and curing the bacon, dressmaking, and, in addition to the' ordinary scholastic subjects, the elements of sanitation, hygiene, and first aid ? The woman thus fortified 's indeed a helpmeet to many, nay more, she is well equipped for .the mental and practical training of her children, so many of whom. €Ten in this country, have teen led to aiu'pt a rural industry, owing to the fact that it was one in which their father M'as skilled or their mother deepiy interested. •

The .humbler homes of our people, are chieflv controlled by woman. If, however, I may judge from my own experience, the vast "majority of the wives in rural cUs-ti-K-ts, and V" 1 - My the remark applies still more strongly to those living in towns, have little knowledge of cooking and none of baking.' . If the; wife can u?e the needle' at all, it is with very little effect .in the manufacture of the garments of her children. With outdoor pursuits, the garden arid the live stock, she is unacquainted. Her knowledge of the value of food and money is extremely limited, while she has no'perception of the laws which govern health, the importance of light and of pure air and. water, or indeed of any branch of sanitation or hygiene. In spite of our boasted progress, I have lope observed a form of retrogre.~s-.ion among the working class£S of the countryside. ° Where the table was formerly provided with wholesome food—bread, <fhe produce of the farmer's wheat, and mn.de br th'- worker's wife; bacon chained from the home fed pig, abundance of prre, if skimmed, milk, from the f.-rm, and, fresh vegetables' grown in ik. <■< Lt:-<o garden —it is now furnished with baker's hi cad costing 50 per cent, more Hum. home-made, with imported bacon of inferior quality, with tea which has. baen stewed until it is unit for, consumption, or with cheap beer, largely the produce of sugar,' almost to the exclusion of those products which the forefathers of *he people provided for themselves. Less attention is paid to the ventilation of the *hom-°, to the drainage, and to all those ■detail; which make for health aud happiness. And to whom are we to look for improvement? My reply is, to the pro-perly-educated woman

If our law-makers were a? keen in relation to the practical, physical ;md moral education of the children of -Hie nation as iluy have beeri- in the building of : >- battle-ship, the cost of which would pstpblisli a dozen Louvain institutions-, we should long since have become a healthier and a lioppier people.