Enough can be taught to make girls
able to take their share helpfully in cases of illness in their homes,
and it is a branch of usefulness in which a few sensible notions go a
long way.
General self-help is difficult to define or describe, but it can be
taught at school more than would appear at first sight, if only those
engaged in the education of children will bear in mind that the triumph
of their devotedness is to enable children to do without them. This is
much more laborious than to do things efficiently and admirably for
them, but it is real education. They can be taught as mothers would
teach them at home, to mend and keep their things in order, to prepare
for journeys, pack their own boxes, be responsible for their labels and
keys, write orders to shops, to make their own beds, dust their private
rooms, and many other things which will readily occur to those who have
seen the pitiful sight of girls unable to do them.
Finally, simple and elementary cooking comes well within the scope of
the education of elder girls at school. But it must be taught seriously
to make it worth while, and as in the teaching of needlework, the
foundations must be plain. To begin by fancy-work in one case and
bonbons in the other turns the whole instruction into a farce.
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