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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (March 21, 1915)
THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAN, POHTLAXD, MAECH 21, 19TS. GIRLS' TRADE SCHOOL IS CALLED A BOON TO HOUSEWIFERY Addison Bennett Says That, Despite Unfitness of Building, Study of Cookery and Dressmaking Is Valuable Asset of City Industry of Students Proves Pleasant Surprise. r 11 ft -'- 1 j &?Snnn Grs o 7-rq,eg- ScsSaof j jo&jr , i u f j ' ". ' i Jirimiv vr a' nv w iv .TflW.. -J 111 I ' - t 'aiga " . lit."'-' ' " " ? P.r W' - wro- I 1 1 nil . . ' f to.'.-' nor-' w- : By tSyjbrr BY ADDISON BENNETT. Article No. 'J. IN my article last weak I said at the close that I would next take up the girls' trade school, which is con ducted in the old Lincoln High School building at Morrison and Fourteenth streets and which now is called the Lownsdale school, receiving that name since the building of the Lincoln High School structure on "West Park and Market streets. It is said by some that the old Lincoln building when erected was considered the model school build ing of the Northwest. I often have heard it said it was then, that was About 18S5 I believe, the finest school structure west of the Missouri. Be that as it may. a visit to this building now and a close examination of it will show that it is far out of date. Such a building would not be erortnH for school rjumoses at present. and it is surely unfitted for the uses of the trade school. Yet we are lucky to millionaire standing and working, and later taking her lunch by the side of the daughter from a very, very poor mother, and now sent here to gain knowledge so that she might obtain a position as a servant when I saw the very rich and the very poor, with all of the intermediate classes working, studying, learning and fraternizing all as equals, I thought that there was an instutition conducted in accord with the golden rule if ever there was one. And let me tell you that no corps of low-grade teachers could lay down any rules of discipline that would bring about this democracy of feeling and ac tions, no ordinary principal could se cure the co-operation of her teachers to such a degree as to accomplish tht-Be results. It takes diplomacy of a rare kind, and Mrs. Alexander possesses It, Half Time Given to Study. In the Course of Study, a booklet Is sued by the School Board explaining about the trade schools, I find in the ine imae a ' ina r,,r if w I girls" school only four trades or occu have even so good an edifice for ir mtirt.oi ui did not have it I am sure I do not know how the directors would be ame to house the eirls" trade school. ' If the hrA rnnms now occupied by the pri mirv overflow from' the Couch and Ladd schools could be vacated by those pupils and turned over ,to the use of the girls it woum De a great oenem and this additional space would allow the admission of some of the many who now wish to take Instructions thoro hut are barred for want of space. Mrs. Alevia Alexander is the principal of this school, and she has as able a corps of assistants as any school could wish for. At least two of the instruc tors. Miss LaBrie and Miss Lucia Schmidt, have national reputations, the latter principal of the millinery depart ment and the former in domestic science, her specialty being in lunch room work. As a teacher of millinery Miss Schmidt stands so high that her services during the vacation period are in demand all over the country. This Summer she will teach the teachers of the Chicago University. The Portland School Board was fortunate in securing the services of both Miss LaBrie and Miss Schmidt and will be still more fortunate if they retain them. Houarwlfrry Study BIk Aid. That term domestic science gets my poat. Housewifery more nearly fits. Bu I suppose the hifalutin term do mestic science was invented to befog the minds of the people, for a professor of plain housewifery could not expect as high a salary as a professor of do mestic science; yet the common, every day people for whose benefit we desire to teach ho occupation of conducting one or all branches of homemaking and homekeeping, would fully understand Its meaning. Let me say that the first thing that struck me favorably with Mrs. Alex ander's school, or perhaps I had better say the thing which struck me most forcibly, was the character and bear ing of the students. I expected to find a place filled with school girls, many of them perhaps gigglingly and gum rhewingly taking their lessons as 1 matter of course because their parents had sent them there. I never was more badly mistaken in my life. No girl is admitted below the age of 14 at the other end of it there seems to -be no limit, for I am sure I saw women there who are well past 50 years of age. Now take these middle aged or elderly women, many of them the heads of families, and think of their discovering at such a late day that they were deficient in knowledge as to cook ing or sewing were not able to con duct their households along modern lines. Just think of them dropping their pride and becoming schoolgirls again. Next I found there the daugh ter of poor people, very poor, who were going to learn a better way of home-making so that the insufficient Income of the household might be made to reach farther and yet supply more luxuries at least some luxuries. Rich Children Study, Too. Then another class. 'the daughters of sensible people, of mothers who had gone a little too far In allowing their daughters to sit in the parlor or gad the streets while mother did the work that mistaken policy of lettlng-mother-do-it then the awakening and the girl sent here for effective instruction. Or mayhap many of these young women are expecting to marry and the mother has found that the best and quickest way for the daughter to learn the art of homekecpiug Is in such a school as this. And still another class, and a large one. we find here the daughters of the rich and very rich people but people of sense. These people do not care to make servants of their daughters, nor yet household drudges. But they do know that their daughters ought to hnow how to conduct a home when they are called into one of their own. When 1 had pointed out to me tho daughter of a gentleman who la many times a pations mentioned sewing, cooking, millinery and home-making. (I have just observed that Superintendent Al derman often sidesteps the "domestic science" phrase). But it must be under stood that in this school, the same as in the boys' trade school, only half of the school hours are devoted to this manual training: the balance of The time is given over ' to book learning. But the studies always carry the stu dent along the lines of the occupation for which such student is being fitted. in tne case or tne girl 8 school, now ever, the four branches taught all real ly come under the head of homemaking. housekeeping, housewifery or domestic science call it w'hat you will. Every young woman ought to be grounded in at least the rudiments of sewing and cooking before her marriage. As she learns those simple duties in this school she may also apply her tal ents to becoming expert in making va rious garments or to the art of milli nery but the cooking department must be given attention in any event, as well as the studies from books, as mentioned before. It would be useless for me to under take to tell the reader just what Is being done in the millinery, tailoring and dressmaking lines. I can only say that there is actual, practical work being done by the students under the instructions of competent teachers. Take the millinery department. Easter is coming on and it is a sort of birth right that every girl should "hanker" for a new bonnent on Easter day. in the millinery room I found a few II 1 ... '.f - dozen' "lids" in course of construction: some still in the chrysalis stage of a few twisted wires: others with more or less straw or braid wrought over the wires; others farther advanced and the lining in, and so on up to a number of finished hats or bonnets. (I do not know enough about women's headgear to tell the difference). On these hats the most of the flowers were hand-made, fashioned by the stu dents themselves, and many of these flowers were really works of art, the roses made from scraps of silk being very, very beautiful. By the way, the student beginning to make artificial flowers at first makes them from pa per. Becoming expert in thus making them, she turns her attention to the practical art of real flower making. It must be remembered that the stu dent furnishes her own materials In all of the departments of this school. So economy is grounded in the mind of the student. If anything Is wasted it comes out of the purse of the' waster, and many of the purses there are by no means plethoric. It is, however, wonderful how much is accomplished at an insignificant outlay, the student being the beneficiary, for nearly every thing made in the school is made prac tically. No toys or models oh a small scale are made, so far as I could see, aside from the paper flowers. And they were by no means without value. Getting back to the Eastern bonnets. I had pointed out to me some that the teacher said would cost in any mil linery store from 112 to $15. Perhaps the cost of materials to the student would be but little more than f 1. If anybody could tell the difference when worn of the bonnets here made from (costing, and figuring on the cost. A more interested lot of girls and women could not be found anywhere than in this school. In the cooking school the Idea of practicability is further followed out. Superintendent Alderman says that the great trouble in all schools of this sort has heretofore been that the stdents were not taught to do their work in home conditions nor In practical quan tities. Here, and in all schools of the kind that are abreast the times, food is prepared with Just as little equip ment as possible. It is true, gas stoves are used, and many of the students will, as they go out Into the world as wives and mothers, not have such fuel. But it has been found impracticable to use any other sort of stoves in a school room. The student purchases the materials she uses from the storehouse run in connection with the school. She thus learns something about the art of shopping and purchasing and a good deal about values and prices. Then she prepares and cooks the food, and sells it or eats it or takes it home. It is hers to do wittr as she likes. Most of the food prepared is used at the midday iunch in the school, where It is served cafterla style, save the price is 5 cents each, usually three dishes being served. I noticed the boys and girls coming in from the primary room got a fine cup of flavored and sweet ened hot milk, a slice of bread and butter and a banana, orange or apple for a nickel. Time Short for Lunch Monday. The 300 girls nearly all lunch there, so it can be seen that much practical work has to be done every day, save Monday. It has been found that the time is not sufficient to prepare a Monday lunch under existing condi tions. There are various rooms used as lunchrooms. I "treated" Mrs. Alex-1 ander to lunch and we sat down with being fashioned, a group of girls, from t perhaps 200 girls In the old assembly one to 20, would be around It and the hall of the building. We had soup, teacher criticising, explaining. gug-1 bread and butter gee, I have forgot- those turned out by the high-class mil linery stores well, no one could tell the difference The teachers are just as efficient as any milliner In any place, much more so than 99 out of every 100 who call themselves milliners. Going into the dressmaking and tail oring departments, the students were found working in the same practical manner on dresses, coats or cloaks for themselves. They purchased the ma terials at the stores -dow n town. I saw. many splendid garments, some entirely completed, others in various stages of manufacture, but upon examination of these garments I found stitching as regular and as fine as stitching could be. Wherever there was a garment ten everything else except the flnt waffle I ever tasted. I had en tha girls hobnobbing over the waffle Irons and the teacher showing how they could be cooked to perfection and yet come out of the Irons without the least hit of sticking. 1 tell you, those w af fles were fine, as good as I ever tasted, and I am some ronnolweur on waffles make a nice fat ona myself oc casionally. Well, we had a splendid lunch, everything being Just to my taste then I footed the bill. We had lunched rather extravagantly. o the bill for the two of us was 1 cents. Keeling flush. I gave the cashier two bits and told her to hand the change to tha young woman who built the wafl'lea. Suppose we got back a little and go over some of my words again. I want to Impress upon the cittxens, fathers, mothers and taxpayers of Portland that this school Is run along practical lines, every department of It. The work la done as nearly as practicable under ordinary home conditions. Visit by Parents In Ashe. It Is not a play rhool. by a Ions; shot Let me tell you that a girl going two terms to that school I mean an average girl with average application and ordinary Intelligence would come thrqjiRh knowing as much as a girl graduating from the home of tho bent homekeeptng mother In existence. Of course, after all Is said and done, that is where housewifery should lie learned. We all admit that the mother should he the teacher of all branches of homemaking and homekeeplng. Alas, that It Is not more often the case! 1 am geing to dismiss the trades schools now with just a word of Invi tation I ask the parents to go up to those schools and see how the young folks are being taken care of and what they are learning. Remember this school Is one of our public Institutions, one of the latter day "frills" that has helped to run the per capita cost of the school district up and up and still mounting np. It Is true these schools ought to be unnecessary, would be If every parent were doing his or her full and complete duty. But they are nof, not one out of ten Is doing this. Hem you ought to remember that as your negligence has made such schools nec essary it is your "privilege" to pungle up some of the cost. Night Schools Gain Attention. As I am about to draw this article to a close my attention .Is called to the night schools conducted In both the boys' and girls' schools. Mrs. Alex ander has about 300 regular attendant), a large number of whom are "girls" of mature growth. During the term the registration in this department will be 700. It is true also that many of these are at the head of families. In the boys' school the night attendance Is largely made up of men who ro employed during the day. But I can not go Into further details, as I have already overrun my allotted space. It is a theme to write a book upon and Justice cannot be done in a brief or even lengthy newspaper article. In my first article on the school question I stated there would follow two others. At the time 1 thought I could treat of the trades schools in the first article. It has taken two. Po there may be a fourth article, as I have the financial question and the school building questions yet to take up. AIo the matter of what Professor Alderman calls the "home credits" system, of which, 1 believe, he was tho originator, but which has been taken up and put Into operation by most of the leaders of education In the country. This "home credits" question Is one of great Interest and I will go into It as a com mencement for my next article. AL L PLANTS ARE WEEDS IN FOREIGN LOCALITIES Pest-Ridden Lots That Bespeak of Slovenly Owners May Be Remedied by Plowing or Elimination of Conditions That Afford Growth. THE definition of a weed is a fruit ful source of speculation for jurists and botanists. Their prev alence and characteristics are dis cussed, their beauty and noisomeness are considered, but most of all a few remarks are made upon them In thefr bearing to the city beautifying cam paign now under way under the aus pices of the Rose Festival Association. Portland has its share of vacant lots awaiting the construction of houses. Until they are built upon, the customary method Is to leave them abjectly alone and that means to allow whatever will grow upon them to develop undisturbed. In "bringing lots to the salable stage of building sites, it ordinarily means that the forest is cut down, streets are graded and walks built During the grading some streets are cut. the top soil is removed and the parking smoothed over with sterile subsoil. Grading; Often Bring Weeds. If the excavation provides an excess of yardage, the surplus Is sometimes slipped upon the lots and all vegeta tion is not only destroyed but a poor soil is suffered to form the top layer. Being loose, it becomes an excellent area wherein seeds may germinate. First among those likely to occur are seeds of plants wafted by the winds, those washed into place by streams of water or carried .by the multitudinous means provided by the niceties of ad justment found in nature. Grading itself will bring upon the filled ground a host of weeds, and all that Is required to bring a crop to frifltion Is to leave the lot unmolested. The lot is usually allowed to remain free from any building improvement by reason" of the speculative element in volved. There Is insufficient incentive to improve it, and the municipal reg ulations are not always enforced. Weeds on Lots Not Uncommon. In a rapidly-growing community It is common to see whole blo'cks over grown with weeds. It Is unfortunately too common to see an unkempt lot, weed covered and disreputable looking, separating two well-kept house grounds. The conspicuous attention it attracts is due to the sharp contrast presented. Upon the Pacific Coast, as also upon the Atlantic, old-world species of weeds predominate, but in the Interior of the country native weeds are the most prevalent Most weeds first oc cur In cities and towns. Added to the foreigners are those native to the dis trict which have withstood the changed conditions from primitive times and ac quired a warlike habit Land near woolen mills is known to contain, weeds common in the districts from whence the wool was sent, the migration being accounted for by burrs caught in the fleece of the stock is certain to contain some at just the right stage for being successfully transplanted. All Plant Weed Somewhere. Near grain elevators are weeds com mon in the fields where the grain was grown, be that a few miles distant or across the seas. Weeds are not' an unmitigated curse. What beauty there is In a field of golden rod, chicory, wild asters, popples or buckwheat! Or as food for birds, or as their nesting places! Bees find a varied and large supply of honey In the flowers of weeds. Everjr cultivated plant Is a weed somewhere. A number of what we call weeds have flowers which would be considered anything but weeds were they produced on plants other than those we consider weeds. Camas lilies and epilobium are examples. The pollen of some weeds are vis itants with which hay fever patients are familiar. The volatile oils of some are poisonous like poison' ivy. The range of medical uses of weeds is well illustrated by the very large repre sentation given to them in materia medica. Attention here is intended to be confined to their every-day appear ances in the city, so the sole designa tion of their healthfulness is restricted to the healthfulness of what we com monly see rather than the products of part thereof. Barren Earth Lea HenlthfuL , Barren earth is not only more un sightly, but decidedly less healthful than a weed covered area. Plants give off oxygen and consume carbonic acid gas the reverse of the process of human respiration, hence they purify the air and make It richer for human consumption. This process only pre vails while the plants are green. When they die, become brown and dry, they cease their function of sanitation and purifying and are elements of danger insofar as they are fuel for fires. Weeds have numerous objectionable features. Odors are objectionable in some, skunk cabbage, stikweed and ragweed are some such. When dry, weeds are unsanitary in that they ab sorb oxygen and give off carbonic acid gas and thus parallel the breathing of persons and deplete the purity of the air; when dry they shade tne ground, causing It to become damp and sour and prevent the purifying and drying ef fects of sun and wind. Weeds harbor injurious insects and fungous and bacterial diseases of cul tivated plants. Many Insects injurious to garden and field crops also live on weeds, upon which the thrive and mul tiply, and thus keep up their numbers, ready to attack their favorite crop as soon as it is left unprotected. The con trol of insect enemies and fungous and bacterial diseases of field and garden crops is rendered much more difficult, and their extermination, in some in stances, is made practically impossible because they exist on weeds that are not subject to the care bestowed on cultivated crops. . In these parts, where wheat is grown i so abundantly, the romanticism as well as the etern realities of the peculiarity of a certain barberry playing host to wheat rust during one stage of its life history is of serious importance even though remarkably astonishing as well. So serious has the cultivation of this plant become, in Maryland that the farmers objected to the cultivation of the plant as an ornament in the Balti more parks. Weed Suggest Slovenline. Weeds suggest neglect both of re gard to appearance and to husbandry. Slovenliness Is apt to be ascribed to a person who suffers them to become rampant in his yard. It is a token of a low order of civic pride if the general public are indifferent to their preva lence. They are unusually ugly, re pellant, disreputable and signify care less abandon of little use to anyone. They may become a source of danger if not of certain Injury to tne com munitv. Public welfare demands the removal of elements dangerous to life and health. Why, therefore, is it not rea sonable to require the removal or de struction of weeds as soon as they stop growing. Health regulations often do reauire this, and an ordinance Is In effect in this city to require their re movaL Thus far It has not been very effective in changing the aspect of the city, but any shortcomings In methods of operation provided does not prove that the principle is unworthy. It would be, an excellent subject for the women's clubs to investigate for the nurnose of securing a reasonable ordl nance covering the topic and then to educate the public to sustain its en forcement. Plowing; Considered Remedy. Alberta section has advanced an ex cellent olan providing that vacant lots will be tendered to individuals rent free for the cultivation of IrUh pota toes and various vegetables. Appear ances, health and utility are all served with one stroke. Another metnoa would be to plow under the weeds and by discing and smoothing bring the surface to a reasonably smooth plane. then sow to white clover or to mn- grasses. ... Lots filled with sterile soil may not support grasses, and in such cases the white Melllot, white sweet clover," oould be sown. It grows several feet high, but has pleasant flowers, is uni form in height and should pay for cut ting it If sold for fodder. After flow ering, it should be plowed under, thus enriching the soil and preparing It for grasses. For grasses creeping bent various fescues, Kentucky blue grass, smooth brome grass and white clover are good on good soils. One or two cuttings a year with a scythe will keep the lot in presentable condition. In Canada, the eities by ordinance care for the parkings and assess the cost on the abuttors. Trees are planted., grass sown, water pipes installed and grass kept mown throughout the sea son. The enhancement upon the gen eral appearance of the city is decided. LOUIS, WAG. LANDS IN JAIL Rheumatic Liniment Given Rival With Penchant for Liquor. PITTSBURG, March 14. Louis Ruti always was a joker. Back as far as hii friend Ralph Zagowlts can remember, in the little town In the old country where they both were boys. Louis would always have his little Joke. Now Louis is in jail. His joke with Ralph once too often. Louis and Ralph were rivals for the hand of the girl back home. Intent upon earning a competence, so that they could marry, both came to Amer ica, both arrived on the South Bide, and both went to work In the same steel mill and at the same wage. There was the rub. The one who could offer the girl the most money was to have her. Their first year ended the other day and when both counted their sav ings they found they had run a dead heat Louis had in addition to his savings a case of acute rheumatism. Ralph had bis savings and a fondness for liquor. So Louis, the merry wag, actu ated by a desire to have a clear field for the woman in the case, offered Ralph his bottle of rheumatism lini ment, suggesting that it was liquor, Ralph's accusation says. After a doc tor had seen Ralph, the latter saw Joseph H. Jackson, Alderman, charg ing malicious mischief. Now Louis Is having his rheumatism treated by Jail Physician Ellis, as he could not furnish 3300 bail. Sweet Corn to He Planted Late. Corn should not be planted until the ground Is warm, as the seed will rot in cold, damp soil, or If planted too deep. Late In April Is early enough for first plantings and for succession plant every two weeks through May and June. Cover the first planting very lightly. Increasing the depth a little for the later plantinRs. For the early varieties rows should he three feet apart; for later large varieties, four feet and the hills two to three feet In the rows. COCOANUT OIL FINE FOR WASHING HAIR If you want to keep your hair In good condition, the less soap you us the better. Most soap and prepared shampoos contain too much alkali. This dries the scalp, makes the hair brittle, and I very harmful. Just plain mulslfled cocoanut ell (which Is pure and en tirely greaseless), I much better than soap or anything else you can use for shampooing, as this can't possibly Injur the hair. Simply moisten your hair mith water and rub It la. One or twe ta spoonfuls will mak an abundano of rich, creamy lather, and cleanses the hair and scalp thoroughly. The lather rinses out easily, anu removes every particle of dust, dirt dandruff and excessive oil. The hair dries quickly and evenly, and It leaves It fin and silky, bright fluffy and easy to manage. Tou can get mulsifled cocoanut oil at most any drug store. It Is vary cheap, and a few ounces Is enough to last everyone In th family for months.