must be practical in this matter--we must never
overlook the need for parents to give home life an atmosphere of
charm. No one else can take their place in doing this. Hence it is
their first duty to make homemaking seem worth while.

The home must take the lead also in giving the idea of homemaking as a
definite and scientific profession. The school may teach the science,
but unless the home shows practical application of the scientific
principles, it would be much like teaching agriculture without showing
results upon real soil. Skillful teachers recognize the home as a
valuable adjunct to their school equipment and are able by wise
cooeperation to use it to its full value.

The home, in its character of laboratory for the school of domestic
theory, must possess certain qualifications. Like all laboratories, it
should be well equipped. This does not mean necessarily with expensive
outfit, but with at least the best that means will allow. It implies
that the home shall be recognized as a teaching institution quite as
much as the school. Like other laboratories, it must be a place of
experiment, not merely a preserver of tradition. The efficient
laboratory presupposes an informed and open-minded presiding genius.

[Illustration: Courtesy of L.A. Alderman
First crop of radishes and lettuce at the Alameda Park School,
Portland, Oregon, June, 1916. Even in the primary grades children may
learn much about the science of growing things]

[Illustration: Bringing exhibits to a school fair in Tacoma,
Washington. Skillful teachers who recognize the home as a valuable
adjunct to the school equipment encourage the children to make gardens
at home]

The greatest service that the home can render in the cause of training
girls for homemaking is probably close, painstaking study of its own
individual girl--her likes, dislikes, aptitudes, and limitations.
Home-mindedness shows itself nowhere so much as in the home; lack of
home-mindedness shows there quite as much. The results of such study
should throw great light upon the problem of the girl's future.
Combined with the observations recorded by her teacher during year
after year of the girl's school life, this study offers the strongest
arguments for or against this or that career. Frequent and sympathetic
conferences between parent and teacher become a necessity. There is
then less likelihood of opposing counsel when the girl seeks guidance
toward her life work.

It is quite