Page:Hints for the improvement of village schools and the introduction of industrial work.djvu/8

4 The unthrifty habits of the poor, and their ignorance of plain household economy, had often painfully attracted my attention. The sick, I frequently found suffered severely from their food not being suitably prepared. How to feed as well as clothe a family of children off 12s. a week is indeed a problem of no easy solution, even with the best of domestic management; and where the housewife is ignorant of her duties, I find by actual observation, that the family meals very quickly settle down into an endless repetition of bread and cheese and tea. I am not, by any means, one of those who believe, that with proper economy the poor can live off air, nor do I put much faith in the comestible properties of nettles and young thistles lately recommended as food in some of the public newspapers; but with 12s. a week regular pay, and some £3 or £4 earned by the wife and children in harvest, or by hop picking, I conceive it practicable for the families of labourers (in this part of Kent at least) to fare far better than many of them are now in the habit of doing. How to impart to them the necessary instruction, and to improve their social condition, is a question more easily asked than answered; but it would clearly be a step in the right direction, to train the children of the present generation to a practical knowledge of domestic economy in its various branches.

The principle of introducing industrial work into girls' schools, is almost universally conceded, for there is scarcely a girls' school in the country where needlework does not form part of the ordinary instruction.

Now, on what ground, I would ask, is needlework alone of the various branches of industry to be admitted into our schools? Will the girls, when they grow up to be women, be required to do nothing but to make clothes; will not washing and cooking be as necessary as needlework? Nay! if clothing be not washed, perhaps the less of it the better; and if the food for the family be not wisely provided and tolerably cooked, not only the comfort of the home, but the health of the inmates will be seriously affected. The reason why all branches of industry, except needlework, are excluded from our schools, is, I believe, simply the imagined expense and difficulty of introducing them. Few persons, I believe, would deny that it is desirable to add some knowledge of domestic economy to the usual routine of reading, writing, and arithmetic; and in my opinion, the introduction of this class of instruction will be found the only effective remedy for the serious defects,—I might almost say, the lamentable failure,—of the present system of education.

Why is it, I would ask, that in spite of the millions of money that have been voted by parliament,—in spite of the increased number of schools,—in spite of the laudable exertions of both