ardly be
over-estimated.

The boys also receive twenty lessons in the simpler forms of
sewing--darning, hemming, sewing on buttons. At the same time the girls
are taught the use of simple tools.

IV Domestic Science Which Domesticates

Beginning with the second grade the girls have domestic science while
the boys are at manual training. This domestic science has a truer ring
to it than most of the teaching which passes under that name. The
children at Oyler have a peculiar need for domestic science, because in
many of the homes mother works out, and even when she is not away her
knowledge of domestic arts is so rudimentary that she can impart little
to her daughters. So it comes about that the Oyler School seeks to teach
the girls all that they would have under intelligent direction in a
normal home.

Once each week they cook and once they sew, devoting from one-eighth to
one-fifth of their entire time to these activities. By way of
preparation for both cooking and sewing they are carefully trained in
buying. They must make the dollar go a long way--buying in season the
things cheapest at that time and preparing them in a way to yield the
maximum of return. For example, they are called upon in January to buy a
50 cent dinner for six persons. Laura Wickersham's cost list is:

Soup meat $0.20
Can of tomatoes .10
Spaghetti .05
Cheese .05
Bread .05
Butter, etc. .08
----
$0.53

Gus Potts, a mere boy, makes this suggestion:

Meat $0.20
Potatoes .05
Cabbage .05
Bread .05
Milk .04
Butter .05
Coffee .05
----
$0.49

In their cooking laboratory they learn to cook simple foods, one thing
at a time, until they reach the upper grades, where they must prepare
entire meals on limited allowances.

The sewing is equally practical. The girls learn to patch, darn, hem and
make underclothing and dresses. Then, going into homes where no
intelligent needlework has ever been done--where frequently a darning
needle is unknown--they teach the mother and older sisters how to sew,
until whole families, under the influence of one school child, improve
their wardrobe and reduce their cost for clothing. Certain sewing days
in school, called darning days, are sacred to the renovation of worn-out
garments which