Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, November 21, 1909, Page 19

*Y. W. C. AA. WHERE YOUNG WOMEN WORK, REST OR PLAY - f PAGES 1 TO 4, ) “ P PART THREE HALF-TONE Lot ) r:-—.v:—v-vr*i ‘THE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE. FOR ALL THE NEWS THE OMAHA BEE BEST IN THE WES1 v VOL. XXXIX—-NO. 23. OMAHA, Sl'NDA;’ MORNING, NOVEMBER 21, 1909. One of the Vital Elements of this Modern Club-Home is Its Homelike Kitchen, Where Mrs. Mary Smith Cooks Like Mother Cooked X 0O TS O8O o 0 0 2 O PO HRAIICTELT S0 O O B O CN O O RN S QL e D a6 O S BT S5 v Kb Al TP 5950 92 29995 [ .D.O.Q?. e, Oac’an e 2% o9, o2 m‘d‘\ A AT, AEIXIONEYIK 3 DT A N R ) e o] HE downtown club, with its conveniences and comforts, is no longer the exclusive privilege of the man. When woman invaded the flelds of business activities she started in the footsteps of her brother. The development of the modern Young Women's Christian association as exempli- fied by the institution in Omaha shows how far she has followed. Perchance the young woman’s club, the “Y" as she is likely to call it, {8 a bit more homelike than her brother’'s club. In fact, the institution supplies all of the attractive features of a home. It is nothing more than the projection of an ideal nome into the heart of the whirl of the downtown business district. Few clubs, however, could be found with so comprehensive a membership and less exclusive patronage. The shop girl at §8 a week may enjoy as many privileges as the millionaire's daughter, and they will both be found there. The peculiar simplicity of the organ- ization and the directness of the administration of affairs so controls the material aspects of the Young Women’s Christian association that it holds out equal advantages to all alike. Whether one's activities be confined to work or to play, the com- binations of conveniences and pleasure there have their appeal. Suppose that you spent a strenuous morning over the bargain coun- ter——it matters little so far as fatigue is concerned which side of the counter you stood on—wouldn’t a big, restful couch in a softly-tinted room, and a cup of tea with a bit of wafer hold out a persuasive at- traction to you? Suppose you sat in that “desk attitude” for four hours in the morning while a man dictated some thousands of words and figures into your notebook. A whirl with the punching bag or a horizontal bar might do a great deal to make the noon hour a real rest. Perhaps a very matter of fact and prosaic existence had starved out all of the poetry of your being. Then a place where dur- ing the noon hour you might actually revel in the refined good taste of good pictures and real music would add that variety which means actual interest in life. Food at the lowest possible price of the best quality and cooked and prepared “just like home'’ surely would win you away from cookies and pickles for lunch. It is in these things that the Young Women’s Christian associa- ‘ tion makes its first and strongest appeal. No Actual Charity 4Vith all that the Young Women's Christian association has to do, there is nothing that puts the institution in the actual attitude of giving. Every young woman who patronizes the institution can cept her share of the service with the full realization that she is paying for what she gets-—but she is not asked to pay for more. 8o it has come about that while to some it may mean an economy, it is to all & place where alone are available those little feminine tfpuches which mean comfort. To the outsiders the Young Women's Christian association is apt to bring up a mental picture of rather dry lectures and platitudes on the moral life. But the association is not alone content with pro- * viding so much of home life, it proceeds to teach those things which foake home-makers. At the Young Women's Christian association the gentle art of cooking from the basic facts to the last refinement of the chafing dish s taught. There the domestic learns to serve and the rich girl upon whom she waits at home is taught the mysteries that attend the con- cootion of the successful “‘rabbit” or lobster a la Newburg in the sil- ver brazler. The Young Women's Christian association is mother to them all. A special department finds proper rooming places for girls coming into the city and places many of them at work. The institution itself does not furnish domitory accommodations. The pursuits which pertain to material and physical betterment do not, however, predominate to the exclusion of the finer things of Mfe. Through the Young' Women’s Christian association the girl may learn of music, the lang es and fine arts. “The gymnasium suit is great leveler,” remarked Miss Florence D. Alden, director of the department of physical education, speak- ing of the soclal features of the work of her department. A view of the “gym' occupied by a class composed of the demure young women one sees across the desks of the downtown offices would be a mirth-provoking sight. The prim young miss who spends bustling hours in the offices will be seen there in the lively reaction of frivolous play—and it is good for her, too, says Miss Alden. Just Picture the Scene Picture a bevy of such staid young women engaged in “pasting” each other with a missle resembling a bean bag. Screams, squeals and glggles. In the gymnasium play hour they are all just little girls again. The probabilities are that a mud pie and doll department would even ve its chevms for them. They have put workaday life clear out Q‘ul-tenm for the time. In the introduction of “medicine ball” Miss Alden handed these girls some real exercise in a sugar-coated pill, and they take it and ke it Nobody is allowed to get lonesome in the gymnasium. They are altogether too busy. Them, too, many friendships are struck up there that prove of value, the leaders say, beyond all that formal effort would accomplish. - The training of the gymnasium embodies an agmixture of scien- tific drills as well, but only in such measure, combined with pla; that they do not prove irksome. There are plenty of wand drills, Swedish movements, classic and folk dances for grace of movement and the like, but they are not allowed to freeze out the fun. The spirit of this work is well illustrated a remark of Miss Alden, referring to the apparatus: ‘They call it & ‘medicine ball,’ " she sald. ‘“‘But that is & horri- ble, distasteful name. Why, it sounds almost like something that one had to take. hile the gymnasium offers relief for tedious hours and physical d pment of juore lasting benefit, the efforts of the Young Women's Christian assoclation extend beyond this. Classes in short- hand, arithmetic and business courses are offered to young women who would fit themselves for bettered conditions of employment. S2e SO AAG! iS008 2R e eseds Sinin A BN 0G5 Ol Class 0fS 10, .:.da}m.. O O Y R A P s T 'S, Even the elements of English find aftention. year fitted not a few foreign girls for a place in the industries of the city. Miss Mary McGowan is the instructor in the course in domestic There girls are taught how to keep peace in the family by making biscuits “like mother used to make,” or, if need be, to make a livelihood making biscuits for somebody else. knowledge of how and what to cook is imparted. students in the cooking department to do their lessons well, for each class consumes its own efforts after the operation of science. been performed. "We don’t have failures,” remarked Miss McGowan with feeling, when a bold interviewer suggested that this might prove too drastic a method for the students. Tribute to Mrs. Mary Smith The remarkable patronage which the dining rooms of the asso- ciation building draw is a tribute to the cookery of Mrs. Mary Smith, ‘whose home cooking has been an all-persuasive Young Women's Christian association for eight years past. s “It tastes just like home” {8 the way they deseribe Mrs. Smith's She has become & part of the institution and a personality cookery. This class has each The very valuable It behooves the cookery has argument for the All Pat 05 C oo O EECrd XT3 Sioved figo‘ iSOl ST B 07 O DT e v ony B PO ooy rons Bring Soiled DishesHere that every Young Women's Christian association girl has come to know. Surely that time-worn adage which sagely remarks that “the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach’ must apply equally well to his companion. Mrs. Smith's masterpieces are consumed by 600 or 700 people each day, and they all know Mrs. Smith, 'The passing glimpse of her standing over her work with knife or cooking spoon in hand is always assoclated with the memory of good things to eat. Ple, the kitchen fruit that has blossomed and reached fullest perfection only in the art of the American home cook, is a prime favorite with the Young Women's Christlan association people. 2 e 2850 I 0N 650 Think of it, 130 pies consumed at one noonday meal—that is the record of the dining room at the Young Women's Christian associa- tion. That means 520 pieces of pie, enough to feed half a regiment. They cut pie into four generous pieces at the “Y.” The “‘ple foun- dry"” at the association turns them out in all the designs known to the industry. They come in covered, semi-cqvered and open-face construction, creamy frosting and dainty crumbling, brown crusts. Whire Bhnd Children. Learn E'RE loining to walk, Mr. Nich- olson, we're loining to walk, and I can toin corders all by my lone."” The little boy who said that to the visiting principal in an uptownt school was not a convalescent or a cripple, but a chubby, joyous, healthy little fellow of 7, whose mother had always carried or wheeled him because she feared that he would acquire too many bumps and bruises if she let him walk about alone in the dark- ness in which he lived. She had always kept him at home and wouldn't send him to an institution for the blind, because she couldn’t bear the thought of his being away from home for five days in the week. She had tried to teach him, but the problem of Iittle Henry's future was troublesome. This fall a notice she received solved it for her. This notice, which was sent to all the known mothers of blind children in New York, said that cla: for the instruction of blind children would be opened by the Board of Education in five schools in the city; that In these classes the children were to be taught to read and write with the object of fitting them to work with seelng children in the proper grades. That the mothers of other little Henrys were walting for such an opportunity and ‘welcomed the establishment of a day school for their children is shown by the fact that all of the five classes, which are limited to ten puplils each, are well attended and that every day as the news spreads additional children seek admission. The scheme is an fnnovation in New York, Cineinnati and Cleveland this fall, but it has been practiced in Chicago for almost nine years and in Mil- waukee tor two. The New York work is in charge of Miss Gertrude E. Bingham, who has trained her corps of special teachers for this work her- self She has taken up with them the study of the psychology of the blind as well as the Braille and the four point system of reading and writing. She has managed the entire establishment of the five classes—three in Manhattan and two in Brooklyn—and has provided for a separate press where the books for this work are to be printed The text of the books is translated into the language of the blind and copied on brass plates. These are kept in stock and copies are made only as they are needed. They are bound by the printer himself and sent to the pupil direct from his shop. The books are about 12 by 8 inches and are printed on heavy brown paper, and four of them go to make up an average reader As all the children are at different stages of their education the variety of books needed is great and the printer is always busy. The purposes of these classes are mani- fold As already intimated, they are to af- ford an education to the child whose parents will not sedd him to an institution and who cannot aftord to provide private instruction, Not only are the children to be taught to be independent, but they are to be fitted also to enter into the work of their normal neigh- bors. Even before they have learned to read and write they attend classes in elocution, singing, nature study or pe *haps history, and a8 s00n as they are able they are sent into classes in composition, grammar and read- Almost to 7 See ing. Geography and arithmetic are usually the last subjects they learn because of the great amount of illustrative work which they involve. Diawing is also taught by means of upholstery tacks stuck into excel- sior cushions. The cnild feels the outline and tries to copy it, often with remarkable results. When the children are advanced into the regular school room the special teacher is not relieved of their care It becomes her duty then to help them with their home work and to make those things clear which the regular teacher can present only in such a way as to be intelligible to the child with seeing eyes. For instance, the day berove the geog- raply lesson, the special teacher having as- certained what countries, rivers, mountains and towns will be talked about, outlines a map on the blind child's cushion in uphol- stery nails and gives him a little preliminary lesson so that he may be familiar with the ground covered the next day in class If it is a new process in arithmetic that the cLil- dren are to learn the special teacher explains to her charge on his own pegboard just what the new | @ ciples involve. The work of the special teacher is to be the charts, the fllustrations, the map and the blackboard for the blind children under her care But this is only iu the case of the more advanced pupils, those who are exceptionally bright and those who have had some training either at an institution or at home. With many children who come to these classes the instruction must begin at the very begin- ning; often they must first be trained in the (Continued on Page Three.) B/ A S0 o STl S AL B o= o' cH e PR KA <l The appeal of the home-made pie is reflected in the statistics of the culinary department. When the “Y" served only the commercial bak« ery's product only eighteen pies were sufficient, now the average daily consumption is near to 100. A special privilege 1s granted in the use of the lunch room for those who carry downtown to work. Noonday meals off of the radiator in the back office have ceased to be a part of the daily routine of the working girl's life since she can have all the accommodations of a well-appointed dining room for one little penny. Attracted by such features as these many girls become interested In the educational and assoclation. Up in the domestic sclence department the cooking is done by carefully weighed formula. In the kitchen where Mrs. Smith reigns it is just plain cooking. The rules there are just to make good things to eat. Mrs. Smith just naturally cooks instinctively. She does it like every other woman under the sun does things—just because, Mrs. Smith has one all absorbing passion, cleanli- ness. One day she rushed up to an officer in charge: “That person, Miss —, has got to go. I've just now dismissed her. Oh, its something awful.” There was & buzzing about of ex- cited women in the business office. They gathered about to hear of this terrible thing that had been perpetrated. “Why, she actually stralghtened up her back hair right there in the kitchen door,” gasped Mrs. Smith. *I wouldn't have anything like that happen for the world, and right there in’ the kitchen, too.” That was all there was of it. The offending domestic had to go Just because her sidecomb had come loose. That 18 the way Mrs, Smith runs the kitchen. She is it. Saturday afternoon finds a concourse ot shoppers at the Young Women's Christian association. The habitues of the Saturday shop- ping habit are most kindly indulged by downtown club women. There the rest room is devoted to their purposes. The morning crush over the bargain counters can be followed by a nap. Then at 3 o'clock in the afternoon special refreshments in the way of tea and wafers are offered. A nap and a bit of food and milady is ready for the evening and the theater, and without a long trip to her home in the suburbs, Ban on Trysting Place The watchful women who interpret the alms of the institution have voted their disapproval of trysting places, too. By way of offering a substitute there is a special reception room where gallants may meet the young women for their evening engagements. By the way, It has proved an entirely successful idea, A course in fuss and feathers, dignified by the name of “Millinery VL," pertaining to the construction of the female hat from the mysteries of the wire frame to the external decorations of real crea- tions, is made a part of the work of the domestic arts department. The originator of thig course struck a mighty blow at the hat evil, which has caused so many family disturbances about the advent of the gladsome Easter season. “Every woman her own milliner;" there is a ring of real econ- omy in that. The conservation of resources will surely be subserved most nobly when hat-making becomes as elite and approved an ac- complishment as china painting The view of the Young Women's Christian association is not com- plete without a glance at the religious work department. The Bible study work of the institution is under the direction of Miss Theodate Wilson What is practically a normal school for the preparation of Sunday school teachers is the class for the training of Christian workers conducted by Mrs. Emma Byers, general secretary of the ex- ecutive staff of the association Foremost among the religlous events of the week at the Young Women's Christian association s the Sunday vesper service in the auditorium at 4:30 o'clock in the afternoon. Monthly meetings are held an the evening of the fourth Monday in each month.. On this occasion a supper Is always served, for the “Y"' is the women’s down- town club, lunches « religious work of the Young Women’s Christlan - R e e e L ‘ '“, ¥