February, 1S80.
THE WEST SHORE.
PLAYING AT HOUSKKKKl'INO.
The Boston correspondent at the Worcester
gives an sccount of a " Kitchen Harden,"
esUblishel for the benefit of poor girls at tho
North Knd, which wo aro snro will bo read with
interest. She says:
i 1,tchen harden' was lirat established
in New ork city by Miss Huntingdon, an
active workor in the mission to the poor. She
I " no spent hours of tliought by da
and night trying to devise somo means by whicl
ine uruugery ot tho toiling children might be
lightened, and they come to like the work that
uiuu ,le(, tnem Wltn weariness nn,i ,i,KIt
ino prooiem lor her was how to teach the mass
ui niWN to put courago into their drudgery.
A kindergarten solved the problem for her
Instead of blocks and balls and colored paper
there should ho brooms and dust pans ami little
v ,am' nteaol of lessons in geoinotry, there
should be object lessons in household work,
given on the Kroebel method, with music and
songs. She tried her plan with such success,
that she prepared a book with the iiiusio, the
lessons and tho household catechism that the
children learn, to bo used as a text book by
other teachers. She called her school a 'Kitchen
Garden, 'and her plan has already been adopted
by 13 of the New York churches for their
mission schools. Last summer a Boston lady
established schools here, at her own oxienso,
and they are now in excellent condition at
the Children's Mission and at the North Knd
Mission.
"A visit to one of them is very interesting
and amusing. Tho class that I saw wan of 24
little colored children, tho eldest In or II per
haps, and won the youngest quite capable of
helping a good deal at home. They had four
teachers one who played the piano or organ,
one who led tho singing, the priucipal teacher
who gave the instruction, and an assistant who
was learning the art of teaching. Tho lirst
lesson was bed-making. On the long tables,
with 12 children at each, were tov l.,u,i,
about two feot long, each with a mattress, two
sheets, two blankets, one spread, n holster, two
pillows, with pillow and shoot shams. The
children marched in to gay musio, and More
they began their lesson they sang together the
bed-making song:
When you wake in tho morning,
At tho flay dawning,
Throw oft tho Intddhig at lot It all sir;
Thon lhako ll tho pillows,
In wavua anil In billows,
Anil loavo thorn Mar windows, It tho day la quite fair.
r'nr boils mailo In a hurry,
A trot and a wurry,
Aro always unhoalthfiil and musty, 'tla mru;
Hut loft fnralrlnir,
I'alns taking anil caring,
And nno must sleep awootly, to kimw 11 ii pure.
Tho rules fur hod-making,
If ever forsaking,
You Hat to tho carelowand hurry them through,
They'll soon grow so matUal,
No hard and an flatted.
You'd wished you had listened and kept thorn iiille new.
"The beds are already made, and tho lirst
thing the children do is to prepare them fur
sleeping. Working together and keeping time
to music, they take off the pillows and shams,
turn back the spread, turn down the other
clothes, and make the bed ready for its occu
pant Then they take oir the clothes, putting
them on two chairs to air, turn the mattreas
over and round, and make the bed seientilically.
The rules are to make it urivf, mwirr and mnoulh,
and they are taught how to do this. The child
ren are not allowed to take a lesson unless or
until their heads, face and hands are perfectly
clean, and this rule has been so thoroughly en
forced, that the little bed-cloth, s. which have
been in use since June, are still unsoiled and
look as if they had just been dune up. The
questions and explanations take some time, aud
make a variety in the lesson.
" Then came washing lesson. Kach child
got her toy tub in which was a bag of clothe,
table and body linen, ooarte towels, anil colored
45
stockings, a wash-lioard and a lag of clothes
pins. No water is used ; hut the clothes aro
carefully sorted, the line ones washed, or apiiar
ently washed without tho board, then tho
ooarsor ones, and so to tho end, the proper
twist ill hand-wringing being insisted upon ;
Thon thi eWhes see nivi,.nrl.. 1 , V'..
A sweeping lesson is conducted in the same
inoroiign way, each child having a broom, a
brush, a feather duster, a cloth, a dust pan and
small broom. Of oourso there ia no limit to the
lessons that can lie given in this way. Miss
I! I ... I I. I .i . .
...... awiia a uuuk una nio songs ami music lol
those I have mentioned, for writ in.' t.alihiu nn.l
folding table linen, for dish-washing, ami for
oiuiinj lessens in molding hotter pats, biscuits
etc., anil lor rolling out cookies. Tho kitchen
garden is intended to ho a sort of probatory
. , ... swtwi, iitting iio pupils lor a oooh
ing school, or other advanced course of house
hold education.
" There is nothing in our present methods
of education to foster domestic life or household
employment. lo shirk work, go to school, am
.am mroiign a scries ot out-tloor excitements
n louim to no the daily routino of a majority
of children, way down to those whose out door
employment is only rough street play; and this
kitchen garden seems to bo a way to load them
io imcruavs at nomo, to wanting things in order,
and to a willingness to help put and keen them
mure cannor, no a child in the world w In
I 1. I.L . 1 1
hits mis. witu a mm in artislio satiatuctlon
at tho doll's bed which sho hss, with her own
hands, made so suuare ami aniooth and
jority of tho childrou are eager to try the same
k K grown-up ned at home. At any rste,
the classes are a plensaut sight, and tho phut is
M ... I. .....II O
fAHM Li kk. On a recent Similar avmlnw aha
Kuv. Washington Gladden had a talk with tho
hoys ol Spniigheld, Mass. lly way of prepare
uon no sent out a circular to IX) of t in
NMUptottOttl business moll, inuuirinu about their
I ... xt .i . .. T .. ...
noun a uiiriiig ine ursi years oi their lives. Mo
received US answers, and of thoso 74 replied that
they had had tho trainih" of farm life. ThsM
could not be a more ImiHifiil indication of Ik
prosperity of the country than an assurance that
7-1 out of SS boys in a community worn training
for the farm lint. It is a hard life; but it is an
independent lifo, it i favorablo to religious
Kionm .ui. i ciniivaiion oi i iirinlisn graces.
Corporations fail, maniifactiirini heroines dull
storekeepers ceaxt to do business, and the hum
of thu factory is stilled; stocks go down and
hanking houses close; but throughout all tl
panic and disaster the earth yields it fruits to
tho frugal and industrious laborer, There is a
narrow tendency maiiifcatcd by those engaged
in professional life to underrate the imKrtaiics
of life ou a farm; it is considered a half alive
ami dead sort of exiatenee; but what can be
dcador than tho imecuuioua, hard-worked
clerkships m the city, with exacting duties and
little or no time for leisure or recreation? Tho
hope of tho country, next to religion, lies in its
small farms, and consequently in bringing up
ine rising gem ration to work llie farm. Ilring
up your cnntirop wiiu jusi hlcss ol the mile,
pendonce, the resources, the utility of life on
the farm. Farm lifo means hard work, but
there is always time for rest and recreation, such
as is afforded by uo other occupation.
Hahitahy Khiuiha. -It is a popular error to
think that the more a man oats tho fatter and
stronger ho will become. To believe that the
more hours children study the faster they learu.
To coin In. le that if exercise is good, the more
violent the more good is done. To imagine that
whatever remedy causa on to fuel immediately
I" Iter ii good for the iyitem, without regard to
the ulterior effect.
" Mv wife," remarked a prominent maiiufaca
turer, "never attends auctions. Hho went once,
and seeing a friend at the opposite side of tlw
room, nodded politely, whereupon the auctioneer
knocked down a patent cradle, aud aikcd her
where sho wished it delivered. '
CUYING OVBB Sl'Il.T MI1.K.
There aro lome iieople so unfortunately en.
stituted that they cannot aa eaaily appreciate
the blessings that belong to them as thoae
which thev have missed. ., ,,. .,-. II..
groaning over somethtug lost, or donied, or
wasted, to the disparagement of tho goods the
gods havo provided. If a dish is broken or
garment rent, instead of quietly making the
best of it, sinao no amount of chafing or crying
will restore any injured aitiolo to it pristine
glory, they recur again and again to tho disas
ter, till ouo might suppose nothing lua than a
convulsion of nature would demand tuoh a hue
and ory, A stolen purso is a text nn whioh in
Unlit changes may be rung among this clatii
and one might beliovu that the loss of a night's
leep ofliild lie readily roairod by weeping and
gnashing of teeth, while the lamentations of
Jeremiah are weak cnmiiarod to the bewailing
they make over a ruined enterprise or a lleklo
lover. With all their howling, they only suc
ceed in publishing their misfortunes to a world
that thinks no bettor of them for suffering fail
uroi, and in annoying their friends, without
mending their estate or recovering tho lover.
"We have gains for all our losses," .ays the
verse, but surely the gain is not to be seeured
by making ourselves and everybody about us
miserable on account of our miahapai the on
who bears with fortitude calamities which, great
or small, are beyond her control, wins whatever
advantage there is to lie derived from tl,..m
and makoa adversities, no less than prosperity,
minister to hor development. If our friend
disappoint ns, bemoaning will not recompense
us; if "youth, the dream departs," deploring it
will only hasten the ravages of time) if moths
corrupt our furs, fretting will not aut aa an sx
terminator; though the early frost kills our
favorite roots, "for violets dead, the ..,.,..
showers can ne'er make grow again."
iiiiiougn wo are well aware that erying over
spilt milk is but so much wasted time and energy,
yet many of us prsetioe it with a total disregard
ii consequences, which would lie hernio If used
n a more unselfish cause. In thai maanwhila.
thoro is a sort of hnpoloa pleaaurn in sorrowing
over the spilt milk, which, however bin or
sour it may have seemed whet: our, become
all that milk ahnulil be the instant it leaves oar
grasp. " Hltiasings brighten as they tak their
flight," and sometime it is only wheu we have
lost a thing that we grow capable of estimating
its value, and discover how neeossary it was to
our well being. It IS co d comfort, tiorhan
but one which wu aro apt to hug, to reflect with
bitterness upon what a different aannet thn
world would wear for us if onrtaln pails of milk
w wot ol hail not miscarried; if Angelina hail
married old lloldpill, instead of a country nar.
0B if Aunt (loodeiiough hail remembered us
in her will, instead of the Keejce Islanders; if
the lover of our youth had proposed in person,
instead of trusting tender avowals to the mar.
cies of tho postman.
Warm tWlliim, If vou are aut to faal . bill v
Iress warmly at home. A wadded coat will ena
ble the chilly man to ait and work anywhir in
doors, aud so will an extra suit of thin llauoel
worn during tho whole of th aotivo day. Ju
lat anyone who doubts what wa say try th
very simple expedient, wheu tho I, illness be
cornea unbearable, of putting on his dresing-
gown over hi ordinary clothing, aud in lira
minutes he will l perfectly oomfortebl aud
rsuvly for work, while h will not suffer aa ho
(alleles h will, vi hen be UO out of doors. Til
popular notion upon that subject 1 a mr do.
fusion. You are nut strsngthnd for outdoor
work by shivering indoors, but rather weak
ened; habitual warmth, if not too great, bsing
one of the bet preservative of constitution!
strength. Always try to remain moderately
and haaJthfully warm.