But the educational
advantages are not to be compared.
A four years' course, two hours per week, gives a thorough grounding
in plain needlework, and girls are then capable of beginning
dressmaking, in they can reach a very reasonable proficiency when they
leave school. Whether they turn this to practical account in their own
homes, or make use of it in Clothing Societies and Needlework Guilds for
the poor, the knowledge is of real value. If fortune deals hardly with
them, and they are thrown on their own resources later in life, it is
evident that to make their own clothes is a form of independence for
which they will be very thankful. Another branch of needlework that
ought to form part of every Catholic girl's education is that of work
for the Church in which there is room for every capacity, from the
hemming of the humblest _lavabo_ towel to priceless works of art
embroidered by queens for the popes and bishops of their time.
"First aid," and a few practical principles of nursing, can sometimes be
profitably taught in school, if time is made for a few lessons, perhaps
during one term. The difficulty of finding time even adds to the
educational value, since the conditions of life outside do not admit of
uniform intervals between two bells.
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