motion, are required for positions of trust and for supervision in any workroom. It was soon discovered that the girls entering the school know arithmetic in an abstract way, but are at sea when asked to meet the ordinary trade problems. They are inaccurate in reading and copying; they cannot write a letter of application, conduct correspondence, make out checks, or keep simple accounts. They are ignorant of the laws already made which concern them and of their own relation to future laws. They have no ideals in their trade life. They need to see the relation of their chosen trade to the country, of their work to their employer's success, the effect they may have in bringing about a better feeling between the employer and the wage-earner. A practical, immediately available business education is absolutely essential to make workwomen of executive ability. Therefore specific trade instruction in arithmetic, English, history, geography, and civics was planned to supplement and enrich the trade courses.

Steady progress has been made in determining the kind of cultural trade instruction which will best assist such young wage-earners. A new field in practical education had to be opened, and subject matter which could be of service in the workrooms selected from it. The many trades of the school had to be studied in order to know their needs. The work has grown more valuable each year and has proved itself to be a truly necessary part of the curriculum. A concrete evidence of its worth is the fact that many of the girls in slack seasons have taken clerical positions and have been complimented on their grasp of the subject, their orderliness, their ability to think, and their reliability. Naturally all departments unite to develop character in the students, but the Academic Department feels this to be a special aim. Pleasure in the subject of instruction, followed by mental and moral improvement, has indicated clearly that the academic dullness which is shown at entrance comes frequently from lack of motive in former studies. The interest is all the more encouraging as there are many handicaps in the teaching, for the students enter at any time, are graded by the trades they select, and are placed in the market as quickly as possible; hence the work cannot be uniform in its advance. Nor is the academic work a help to the girls in their business life only, for such subjects as the keeping of accounts, the consideration of the cost of living, and the value and price of materials are of direct use also in home life.

Trade Art Instruction

Courses in Trade Art were also organized as a fundamental part of the instruction. Each trade has its own art, and the school has tried to adapt the work in the studios to each different occupation. It recognizes that the art applied in dressmaking differs from that in millinery, and this again from that required for decorating jewelry boxes and calendars. It consequently offers each student the kind of elementary art training needed in her trade. The time is too short to develop designers, but it does help a girl to be more exact, resourceful, and useful in her workroom, and often enables her to make a higher wage. A worker who can place trimming, adapt designs to new purposes, stamp patterns, draw copies of garments, and combine color attractively is especially desirable in her chosen employment.

Health

The young wage-earner of New York is much handicapped by her poor physical condition; heredity, poor habits of life, and unsanitary homes show their effects upon her. The girls who come to the school are young enough to remedy many of their defects. In a few months they will be in positions demanding eight or more hours a day, in which they must strain every nerve and bend all of their energies to meet the standard brought about by trade competition. The Physical Department of the school studies the health of each girl and trains her to care adequately for it. The specific treatment needed by some of the students takes them many hours a week from their department work. While this has its disadvantages, it is felt to be more important to improve the physical condition than to develop skill alone when the health is too poor to stand the strain of exacting positions. It is often difficult at first to persuade parents that such close attention to health is necessary. The results, however, in the majority of cases have proved the wisdom of this procedure.

Immediately after entering the school and being assigned to a department each girl must report to the school physician. Beginning with the family history, a complete record of all the important events relating to her physical life is taken. She is closely questioned as to all bodily functions, and a careful record is kept of irregularities. Eyes, ears, teeth, nose, throat, and feet are likewise examined, and measurements are taken of height, weight, and the principal expansions. After the examination, instruction as to treatment is given, if any is needed.

The work in the gymnasium has three purposes: invigorative, reactive, and corrective. Every girl who is not restricted on account of physical defects takes the prescribed gymnastic work. Nor has this a physical effect only, for through the active games such qualities as judgment and accuracy, self-control, and the harmonious working with others are developed. Slow, uncertain, vague movements denote lack of mental quickness and strength. Motor activity, rightly directed, leads to poise of mind as well as of body. These girls live mostly in crowded localities of the city, where free exercise is unknown. The school aims, as far as possible, to supply the lack of wholesome outdoor life and give joyous active exercise. Talks on hygiene are a regular part of the work and aim: (1) to give each girl a knowledge of her body and of its functions which will enable her to care for her health in an intelligent manner; (2) to show her the relation of food and its preparation to her physical condition; (3) to establish in her mind ideals of correct living which can be made practical in her surroundings; and (4), recognizing the right and desire of every girl for amusement, to create a love for wholesome and simple pleasures that will take the place of the too strenuous and often unwise recreations which tend to undermine the health of the girl who works.

The Lunchroom and the Cooking Classes

From the opening of the school, hot soup, hot chocolate, or cold milk had been served daily, at two cents a cup, to those wishing to supplement the cold lunch which they had brought from their homes. The teachers also had an opportunity of buying a simple, hot meal which was prepared by one of their number, assisted by students who aided in the preparation, serving, and clearing away. At first the average girl felt she could not give much time to her trade training, consequently such time had to be devoted to making her able to command a living wage. The hope, however, that in the future the opportunity would come for offering increased domestic training was never forgotten. The opening at the school of a temporary workroom for unemployed women during the financial stress of 1908 provided them with regular work and pay. It was advisable also to serve nourishing lunches daily to these underfed workers. There was already a simple lunchroom in the basement of the school, containing such bare necessities as plain tables on horses, long wooden benches, a gas stove with four burners, a few cooking utensils, and a closet filled with inexpensive china. The complete cost of equipment had been $300.

The school was now, however, face to face with the need to feed daily more than 500 people—teachers, workers, and students—and yet no