THE HOME.

White Ribbon, Volume 7, Issue 79, 1 December 1901, Page 10

THE HOME.

The Home Maker. The home maker must know a good leal about chemistry, because upon the chemistry of foods some of the greai problems of the day depend. If we grant that intemperance is really due to bad cooking, as many people seem to think ; and if we grant that our spiritual lives have more than definite relation to the kind of tissues that our bodies are made of; and if vi grant that our spiri tual devotion is affected to some extent by the activity of our lives, then the ,tudy of chemistry of foods becomes ot tremendous importance. She must know a good deal about physics liecause that is basal to the whole subject of ventilation, to the whole material side of the home. She must of course, be an expert in hygiene. Why, the daily health of her children depends upon her treating them rationally from the standpoints of hygiene; she

must give them the right fool at the right hours ; she must know when it is wise to sleep and how much clothing should be worn.

She may have something to do with the building of the house at some time; and surely the character of her life is related to the architecture ot her home, to the arrangement of its rooms, as well as to its external appearance. She should also understand the art of hanging pictures, and the laws of light and shade ; and these no less than the ideals of art which shall help to form her children. She must know a great ileal about music, because the poorer standards must not enter and permanently influence their small minds.

I have asked a number of women, who were acquainted both with business and with home life, if they thought a factory run on the same principles as those that govern the ordinary kitchen would succeed, with as little attention to convenience, to the utilisation of waste, etc. and they answered in the negative. I have asked a good many women whether they supposed that anybody had put the same kind of study into the construction and management of a kitchen that men have put, that men must put into business to secure its success, and which men have put into every other branch of productive labour. Everyone has again said “ no.” Is the kitchen less important than the factory, or is there less money expended in a kitchen than is made in a business. Is the kitchen a less factor in this age than is the factory ? I think not. More is in the hands of women who expend the money of the household in regard to the kitchen than there is money in relation to the factory, if one views it purely from an economical standpoint. Is it not, therefore, the duty of every woman to know about the kitchen before she get smarried.—“ United Presbyterian.”