e in the suffering of weaker things
will never become a noble, generous, kind man--a gentleman.

HOUSE KNOWLEDGE FOR BOYS.

The Governor of Massachusetts, in an address before the Worcester
Technical School, June 25th, said some words that are worthy of noting.
He said: "I thank my mother that she taught me both to sew and to knit.
Although my domestic life has always been felicitous, I have, at times,
found this knowledge very convenient. A man who knows how to do these
things, at all times honorable and sometimes absolutely necessary to
preserve one's integrity, is ten times more patient when calamity
befalls than one who has not these accomplishments."

A commendation of "girls' work" from such an authority emboldens the
writer to add a word in favor of teaching boys how to do work that may
be a relief to a nervous, sick, worried, and overworked mother or wife,
and be of important and instant use in emergencies. A hungry man who
cannot prepare his food, a dirty man who cannot clean his clothes, a
dilapidated man who is compelled to use a shingle nail for a sewed-on
button, is a helpless and pitiable object. There are occasions in almost
every man's life when to know how to cook, to sew, to "keep the house,"
to wash, starch, and iron, would be valuable knowledge. Such knowledge
is no more unmasculine and effeminate than that of the professional
baker.

"During the great Civil War, the forethought of my mother in teaching me
the mysteries of household work was a 'sweet boon,' as the late Artemus
Ward would say. The scant products of foraging when on the march could
be turned to appetizing food by means of the knowledge acquired in
boyhood, and a handy use of needle and thread was a valuable
accomplishment."

Circumstances of peculiar privation compelled the writer, as head of a
helpless family, to undertake the entire work. The instruction of
boyhood enabled him to cook, wash, starch, iron, wait on the sick, and
do the necessary menial labor of the house in a measurably cleanly and
quiet manner. This knowledge is in no way derogatory to the assumptive
superiority of the male portion of humanity; a boy who knows how to
sweep, to "tidy up," to make a bed, to wash dishes, to set a table, to
cook, to sew, to knit, to mend, to wait on the sick, to do chamber work,
is none the less a boy; and he may be a more considerate husband, and
will certainly be a more independent bachelor, than without this
practical knowledge.