TROISIÈME SECTION

— 410ami the gifts are appreciated. In our requests for appropriationswe ask to have a sum included for the purpose of starting alibrary that will be of practical value.The Cooking School.—The cooking school training coversa period of about four months, the morning class receivingeach week about fifteen hours of instruction and the afternoonclass about eight hours. The girls take to the work readily andmost of them learn to cook acceptably. During the summer,the cooking classes were able to prépare large quantities ofpickles, préserves and canned fruits, three dozen cans of whichattracted favorable notice in our exhibit at the State Fair.Careful instruction is given in the proper cooking, and thedainty and tempting arrangement of such food supplies as maybe found in the home of the ordinary laboring man. To thiscourse is added, as far as time and material allow, trainingin the préparation of such delicacies as girls employed in morewell-to-do families might be expected to prépare.The capacity of the room devoted to the cooking schoolat the présent time is limited to fifteen. Our rapidly increasingpopulation will necessitate either increasing the capacity ofthat room or securing an other room and an additional teacher,if ail our girls are to have the benefit of this training.The Laundry School.—The laundry course covers on anaverage from four to six months and is carefully graded.During the year, it has been found necessary to increasesomewhat the length of time both because of the âge of thegirls and because of the fact that here, as in other classes,the morning girls receive instruction fifteen hours a week andthe afternoon girls only eight hours. The work is ail done byhand, the laundry being equipped with no appliances otherthan those found in the ordinary home. The two rooms nowoccupied by the laundry are inconvénient in arrangement andinadéquate in their equipment. Plans are being discussed wherebythe partitions between the two rooms and the useless dryingbars may be removed to give us a large, well lighted, wellventilated room. With suitable apparatus such a room couldaccommodate double the number of pupils now registered.— 411 —The Model Sewing School.—To complète this course requiredwith the average class about fifteen hours a week for threemonths. Here the children are taught to use the needle intaking the différent kinds of stitches and the application ofthèse stitches to their various uses. There are about thirtymodels in the course. Each girl is expected to make the entireset, which with the printed directions for the same, she mountsin a book given her for this purpose. The girls prize thèsebook very highly. Some embroidery and a little basketry aretaught in this class.The Practical or Plain Sewing School course is next givento the pupils. In this class they are taught to use a sewingmachine and to eut and to make the clothing worn by thegirls in the school. As much time as possible is allowed topupils in this grade. Whenever conditions will permit, thisclass is also given some of the fine needle work. For the pastyear however, this has- been prevented as the rapid shifting ofthe population has made it impossible to keep our clothing upto the desired standard. There is great need of another sewingteacher who could give instruction in the use of the machine,the making of the underwear, aprons, ecc. This would enablethe présent class to make ail the cotton dresses, includingthose needed by the outgoing girls. This would relieve thesituation so that the dressmaking and tailoring departmentcould find time to provide each girl with one of the graycoats worn here.The Dressmaking Class.—The dressmaking class also hasabout a three months term. Here are made ail the woolen suitsgiven to each girl as she goes out for parole or on graduation;also the cadet gray coats worn by the girls on thegrounds. About one third of the girls become expert enoughto make their own dresses and about one in sixteen couldbecome a good dressmaker.There is great need for an industrial teacher who would beable to give instruction in manual training and in crafts whichare not taught here now. It is not désirable in the length oftime we expect to retain a girl in the school to add many