e
joy-giving not only because it would be efficient, but because it would
be inspired throughout by the noblest motives. There is, in fact, not an
hour of the day that may not be full of joyously productive labor, if
the Country Girl can take advantage of her present opportunities; and
there will soon be no excuse for her, since it is now becoming the
fashion in many States for most of the family to leave their farm for a
time in the depths of the leisurely winter and to hie away to the
university where the men listen to conferences on problems of business
and produce, and the mothers and daughters hear lectures on the
industrial and other features of the home.

Of this and other methods of special training for special work, some
thousands among the millions of country girls must avail themselves if
they will do their duty by their generation. At the basis of success in
any field lies the drudgery of preparation; excellence and reward are
beyond. The task of the household administrator is no exception to this
law of efficiency. The work is no haphazard matter, no question of luck;
housekeeping is emerging from the realm of medieval magic now.

Other things being equal, the one that has been trained for a work
invariably commands the higher salary. An investigation made by the
Department of Agriculture in the States of Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa,
showed that the men with no schooling had an average annual income of
$301, those with a common school education earned $586, while those that
were college-bred received $796. These figures tell the story and
impress the lesson that these sweet fruits grow high and that the ladder
to reach them is a superior education. If the Country Girl really is in
earnest in asking for further appreciation in the farm budget she must
train for the responsibility.

But where shall she begin?

The work of caring for and building up a home is so complex, there
is so much to it, that it is difficult to pin it down into a
curriculum. It really fits into every department of education. It is
science--chemistry, physics, mechanics; it is art--pictures, sculptures,
architecture, costume, color, form, proportion; it is pageantry, drama,
music; it is history--the family, law, records, relationships, eugenics;
it is literature--poetry, story, myth, folk lore, epic, expression,
drama; it is philosophy--conduct, the ends of effort, the individual; it
is religion--the mission of love, the ultimate thi