less regularly “earned money,” even if they have not considered it necessary for their living.  An inquiry in a large, first-year high school class disclosed the fact that the girls of the class, quite as much as the boys, were thinking of their choice of vocation.  More avenues are open to girls to-day than formerly by which to earn their living outside of the family; but even the management of a home is a business as truly as the management of a farm or factory, and is an exceedingly important factor in the earning of the family living.

What part, if any, do you have in helping to earn the family living?

What have you done during the past year to earn money (a) out of school hours on school days, (b) on Saturdays, (c) in vacation time?  Tabulate the results for the entire class.

What vocation would you like to follow for life?  Why?

If you have not decided upon some one vocation, name several that seem attractive to you.  Why are they attractive?

What do you know about the opportunities and the qualifications necessary for success in the vocations you have named?  How may you proceed to find out more about them?

What vocations offer special opportunities for girls and women to-day?  How do these opportunities compare with those when your mothers were girls?

Make a list of the occupations of the fathers (or other members of the families) of the members of your class.

Make a list of as many occupations in your community (town or county) as you can think of.

DEPENDENCE OF THE PIONEER

Our dependence upon others for a living by no means ends with childhood.  There is no such thing as an entirely “self-made man,” by which is meant a man who has been successful entirely by his own efforts.  It is true that the primitive hunter and the pioneer farmer were independent of others to an unusual extent.  But their living was a meager one, and they could not accumulate much wealth.  The very land that a pioneer occupies, even though it is extensive and fertile, has little value as long as it is remote from centers of population.

Even if a pioneer laid claim to a large tract of land, he could produce little wealth from it in crops if he could get no help to cultivate it, or if he had no improved machinery (made by others); and whatever he produced, he and his family could eat but little of the product.  He could feed some to his few animals, and he would save some for seed; but anything that he raised above what he could actually use would have no value unless he could get it to other people who wanted it.  If he could not sell what he produced, neither could he buy from others what they produced to satisfy other wants than that for food.  So the kind of living a person enjoys, and the amount of wealth he accumulates, depend largely upon other people, and upon the community in which he lives.