44. FACE WASH.-A quart of milk and a quarter of a pound of saltpetre, beaten to powder; put in two pennyworth of oil of anniseed, one of oil of cloves, and about a quarter of a gill of the best white wine vinegar; put it into a bottle, and let it stand in sand, halfway up, in the sun, or in some warm place, for a fortnight, without the cork; after which, cork and seal it up.

50. WASH FOR A BLOTCHED FACE-Rose-water, three ounces; sulphate of zinc, one drachm. Mix. Wet the face with it, gently dry it, and then touch it over with cold cream, which also dry gently off.

51. OIL FOR THE GROWTH OF HAIR. - Rose
olive

petals, beat to a pulp, three or four ounces;
oil, three quarters of a pint. Macerate in the sun
or a warm place, in a covered vessel, for a week,
and press out the oil. Repeat the process with
fresh roses till the oil smells sufficiently strong, and

then filter.

52. PIANO-KEYS (TO RESTORE THE COLOUR OF THE IVORY). By applying saud-paper to the yellow keys of the piano the colour may be restored.

45. CHEAP BEER.-No production in this country abounds so much with saccharine matter as the shells of green peas. A strong decoction of them so much resembles in odour and taste an infusion of malt (termed wort) as to almost deceive a brewer. This decoction, rendered slightly bitter with the wood sage, and afterwards fermented with yeast, afford a very excellent beverage. The method is as follows:-Fill a boiler with the green shells of peas, pour on water till it rises half an inch above the shells, and simmer for three hours. Strain off the liquor, and add a strong decoction of the wood sage, or the hop, so as to render pleasantly bitter; then ferment in the usual manner. The wood sage is the best substitute for hops; and being free from 54. SCENTED POWDERS, TO PERFUME DRAWERS. any anodyne property is entitled to preference. By-Orris root, in powder, 1 pound; musk, 12 grains; boiling a fresh quantity of shells in the decoction before it becomes cold. it may be so thoroughly impregnated with saccharine matter as to afford a liquor, when fermented, as strong as ale.

46. SMOKY CHIMNEYS.-To know the cause of a smoky chimney is half its cure. In most cases it may be ascertained without difficulty, and a very simple remedy will be efficacious. Where the draught is sluggish, it may be accelerated by introducing cold air immediately in front of the fire. Say, for example, through a hole in the hearthstone, about six or eight inches in diameter, covered by a ventilator, and protected from cinders and ashes by the fender. Generally speaking, the air from underneath the floor will be sufficient; but if not, a greater supply can be obtained by constructing an air-drain communicating with a passage or with the external air. This plan has succeeded perfectly in curing smoky chimneys, which previously were unbearable unless the door was ajar.

47. BLEEDING AT THE NOSE.-Introduce a small piece of lint or soft cotton, previously dipped into some mild styptic, as a solution of alum, white vitriol, creosote, or even cold water. This will generally succeed; but should it not, cold water may be snuffed up the nostrils. Should the bleed ing be very profuse, medical advice should be procured.

48. SAGO SOUP.-Wash in several waters, and float off the dirt from six ounces of sago; put it into three quarts of good beef-broth; let it stew gently for rather more than half an hour, and stir it occasionally that it may not burn nor stick to the stewpan. A quarter of an ounce more of sago to each pint of liquid will thicken it to the consistence of pea-soup.

49. TO CLEAR VEGETABLES OF INSECTS.-Make a strong brine of one pound and half of salt to one gallon of water; into this place the vegetables (with the stalk ends uppermost) for two or three hours; this will destroy all the insects which cluster in the leaves, and they will fall out, and sink to the bottom of the water.

53. TO TAKE MILDEW OUT OF LINEN.-Wet the linen which contains the mildew with soft water; rub it well with white soap; then scrape some fine chalk to powder, and rub it well into the linen; lay it out on the grass in the sunshine, watching to keep it damp with soft water. Repeat the process the next day, and in a few hours the mildew will entirely disappear.

essence of lavender, 1 drachm; essence of bergamot, drachm; essence of lemon, drachm. Mix.

55. ANOTHER PERFUME FOR DRAWERS, BOOKS OR PAPER.-Take pure starch (powdered) any quantity; colour it with a little finely powdered rose pink, and perfume it with otto of roses, oil of rosemary, lavender, and neroli, letting the rose predominate.

56. TO MAKE EAU DE MILLEFLEURS.-1. Musk, ten grains; essence of lemon, one ounce and a half; essence of ambergris, two ounces; oil of cloves and lavender, of each one once; neroli and oil of verbena, of each, fifteen drops; rectified spirit, two quarts. Macerate in a close vessel in a warm situation for a fortnight.-2. Rectified spirits, one pint essence of bergamot, a quarter of an ounce; lavender water and essence of jasmine, of each, one ounce; orange-flower water, eight ounces. 3. Grain musk, fifteen grains; essence of ambergris, one drachm; eau d'ange, one quart. As before.

Mix.

57. ORIGIN OF DAHLIA. This beautiful flower was imported from China, of which it is a native, into Europe, somewhere about twenty years ago; and the Swedish botanist, Professor Dahl, was the first who cultivated, and made it known. It soon attracted notice in England, where, from the beauty of its form and variety of colour, it became at once an especial favourite. In 1815, about two months after the battle of Waterloo, it was introduced into France, and the celebrated florist André Thouin suggested various practical improvements in its management. The botanist Georgi had, shortly before this, introduced it at St. Petersburgh; and hence it is, that to this day the dahlia is known throughout Germany under the name of Georgina. It was at first supposed that the bulb of this lovely flower was edible; an idea which, at the period of its early introduction, greatly retarded its cultivation; so at least we learn from a recent remark on the subject in a foreign journal; as also that two of the most enthusiastic of the Parisian amateurs of this present day, Messrs. Chéreau and Dr. Marjolin, bave been known to expend in one single year 6900 francs each in the purchase of dahlias.

1

AUTHOR OF "PHILIP AND EDITH," "MILLICENT KENDRICK," "THORNYCROFT HALL," &c., &c.

CHAPTER IX.

THE JUNIOR TEACHER.

THE next day the pupils began to return, and with them came my two fellow-teachers, about whom you may be sure I felt sufficiently

VOL. VI.-NEW SERIES.

curious, inasmuch as I had to look to them for companionship so long as I continued an inmate of Clackington House. They were both young girls, though several years older than myself. Miss Richards, who was considered the chief authority in the schoolroom when both principals were absent, was a tall, pale, slim girl, reserved and quiet in her manners, of ladylike appearance, and possessing no small control over the turbulent young creatures who seemed gathered together into on family, for their mental torment and for our own. Mademoiselle w an impulsive, quick-tempered young lady, rather handsome, rather free-spoken, given to demonstrations, an Alsatian by birth, with, of course, an unmistakeable Teutonic accent;-her principal amusement consisted in abusing Miss Frances Hatton, and especially in deriding her French, which had been acquired in a Calais boarding-school. whither she had resorted for a six or a twelvemonth's sojourn-I cannot now be certain whether it was for the longer or the shorte period that she might be able to announce to the world that she had finished her education in France.

Now, though Mademoiselle's accent was necessarily Alsatian, she was thoroughly mistress of her own language, and Miss Frances's cortinual interferences with her instructions sometimes drove her nearly crazy; and it was the young lady's supreme delight to listen unawares when her principal was mincing out French rules, very much Anglicised for the benefit of her unfortunate pupils; and then, as soon as oppor tunity occurred, to give counter information, and prime the girls with idiomatic constructions, that astonished and then irritated Miss Frances Hatton to the very verge of frenzy.

But there was another person in the house to whom I have not ye referred, namely, Miss Hatton the older. Yes! there was a veritable Miss Hatton, some half-dozen years older than her Frenchified sistera Miss Hatton with great brown eyes, and brown skin, stout and short. and good-tempered looking; a Miss Hatton, who kept house, ani managed the servants, and nursed the invalids, and bore the blame all that went amiss in the domestic world. She it was who kept the s stores under lock and key, and gave them out to the servants, wh Miss Frances declared were more rapacious than any other servants i Christendom; it was she who presided over the schoolroom breakfast and visited the bedrooms every morning, and superintended the cooking of the dinner, and pickled and preserved, and made pastry, and mende. the house-linen, and looked after the maids on cleaning days, duster in hand, and was the presiding genius on washing day, or rather, it washing week; for as I soon learned, the things were put in soak of Monday, washed on Tuesday and Wednesday, ironed on Thursday and Friday, and distributed to their respective owners on Saturday.

I loved and admired Miss Ellis-her frank, engaging manners, an

her brilliant conversation won me in spite of myself; but I reverenced Miss Hatton. What was her real position in Clackington House I never knew; but Miss Frances queened it over her, as if she were— certainly not her elder sister, but a very inefficient paid dependant. The daily annoyances, the petty stings, the cruel inuendoes, and sometimes the violent attacks, to which Margaret Hatton was subjected, and which she bore with saintly meekness, made her a heroine and a martyr in my eyes. There was I, young and inexperienced, only a hireling working for her wage, frequently, I doubt not, committing errors, and making blunders of various descriptions, firing up continually at real or imaginary offences, and opposing my forces, inch by inch, With those of Miss Frances, who, of course, very soon cordially hated me. And there was Margaret Hatton, more than fifteen years my senior, conscientiously and even painfully doing the humble and arduous duties to which God in His Providence had called her, bearing without a murmur, and with scarce a token of resentment, continual neglect, unkindness, and injustice, and that too from a sister considerably her junior. At first it was all a mystery to me, but in time I discovered the secret of her serenity, and learned how it was that she whose daily life seemed a daily cross could go on her way unrepiningly and even cheerfully.

One morning I was in the dining-room, ruling account-books, under Miss Frances's inspection, the two sisters and Miss Ellis being both present; the children, I think were taking their regular walk with Miss Richards and Mademoiselle. Miss Hatton was at the side-board, replenishing her stock of biscuits and dried fruits; Miss Ellis was silently devouring a new work of great interest; and Miss Frances was correcting slate exercises, which she caused to be written at the rate of several hundreds a week. Her brow was knit, and her dark eyes were scintillating, as she snappishly drew her pencil across the erroneous answers; and her face was very white, as it always was when her temper was rising into effervescence: evidently a storm was brewing. She began presently: "Margaret, love, how many loaves have been consumed this week?"

"I am sure, dear, I cannot say at this moment; but it is easily ascertained, if you wish."

"Ascertaining," with a very strong stress on the word, "is not the thing, Peggy. Had I charge of domestic matters, I should know to a fraction the exact consumption from day to day: the servants take advantage."

"Really, Frances, I do not see how they can. I give out what I know to be quite sufficient, and they are obliged to make it do; they have no access to stores of any kind."

"Everything should be kept under lock and key. If I were house