“How do you solve a problem like Maria?” answered

Mother Janet Erskine Stuart, head of the order (1914) of the girls’ Teaching Sisters founded by Mother Madeleine Sophie Barat and brought to America by St. Philippine Duchesne, wrote this definitive book on the accommodations necessary to be made in methods of educating Catholic young women. Favored by the female Franciscans of Catholic Tradition. Mother Stuart says:

• "[We insist on] the teaching of handicrafts, training of the senses in observation. Development of knowledge, taste, and skills which are useful for life, and for girls especially on things which make the home."

• "Domestic occupations form in girls a habit of decision from the necessity of getting through things which will not wait….There is something in the material duties of home which heal and calm the mind and give it power to come back to itself….The work of the body is good for the soul; it drives out silliness as effectually as the rod….It is a great weapon against the seven devils of whom one is Sloth and another Pride."

• "The best mental development is accomplished under the stress of many demands. A touch of hardness and privation gives strength of mind and makes self-denial a reality; a little anxiety teaches foresight and draws out resourcefulness…."

• "When girls have by themselves brought to a happy conclusion the preparation of a complete meal, their very faces bear witness to the educational value of the success. They are not elated nor excited, but wear the look of quiet contentment which seems to come from contact with primitive things. This look on a girl’s face give a beauty of its own, something becoming, and fitting, and full of promise."

• "The services which are the foundation of all home life are in themselves the same in all places and times. There is in them something almost sacred; they are sane, wholesome, stable, amid the weary perpetual change of artificial additions which add much to the cares but little to the joys of life."

Wonderful womanly wisdom. Chapters on: • Religion • Character • Realities of Life • Lessons and Play • Math, Natural Science, and Nature Study • English • Modern Language • History • Art • Manners • Higher Education

165pp. color softcover. Glossary. Indexed.