allowing a dentist to fill any cavity which may occur in spite of all these precautions.

The best toothpick for cleansing the spaces between the teeth is also the cheapest-namely, that made from a piece of quill. This ought to be passed round and between all the teeth after each meal, which will also serve to keep off the tendency to form tartar. At night a brush with water only may be used with advantage, and where there is a strong tendency to decay between the roots, a piece of strong silk may be drawn backwards and forwards between each pair.

In order to remove the tartar, a brush, more or less hard, should be used every morning with some toothpowder on it, unless the enamel should be very thin indeed, in which case the powder should be avoided, as being likely to do damage by wearing that material away too fast.

When the gums adhere firmly to the teeth, and leave nothing visible beneath the enamel, the conclusion may be drawn that in point of health, the mouth is in a good state; but if they recede, they should be attended to. Tincture of myrrh is an excellent application for the purpose, and a mixture of it with a solution of chloride of soda and eau de cologne, in equal proportions, and used on the brush, will generally be efficacious, unless the general health is also greatly at fault.

When a cavity is actually developed, the sooner it is filled the better. When it is small, and has not opened into the natural cavity of the tooth, gold-leaf is the best material, the dentist previously cutting away the decayed matter, and pressing in the gold with great force. When, however, this cavity is exposed, gold is useless under ordinary circumstances, and the highest efforts of the scientific dentist are alone capable of making the tooth useful, and at the same time relieving its pain. In the present day, few dentists are able to effect this difficult task, but I believe there are some who succeed in almost all cases, and I know that it has been done in some few. The usual resource is the application of an amalgam of mercury with silver while in a soft state, which, moreover, sometimes arrests decay for many years, and also relieves the pain; but in most cases it fails in its object when applied in an advanced stage, and is unworthy of any strong reliance.

MISCELLANEOUS.

WE publish another receipt for Skeleton, or Lace Leaves, which is a prettier title, kindly furnished by a correspondent:

LACE LEAVES, OR SKELETON.-Soak healthy green oak leaves in water for twenty-four hours; during which time, draw leaves, birds, or anything else on card-paper; cut them out neatly, and pass over them a light sizing of glue, paste gum-arabic, or white of eggs. Then take the leaves out of the water, wipe and press them on the enttings you have just covered with glue. Let them dry together; and then strike upon the green leaf with a hard stiff brush. The leaf being softened by soaking, will soon present nothing but a web of little fibres resembling lace. The green portion remains fastened upon the cardpaper, and when unglued, is said to look like embroidery. PROLONGING THE BEAUTY OF CUT FLOWERS.-A recent author, E. A. Maling, states that for keeping flowers in water, finely-powdered charcoal, in which the stalks can be stuck at the bottom of the vase, preserves them surprisingly, and renders the water free from any obnoxious qualities. When cut flowers have faded, either by being worn a whole evening in one's dress, or as a

bouquet, by cutting half an inch from the end of the stem in the morning, and putting the freshly-trimmed end instantly into quite boiling water, the petals may be seen to become smooth and to resume their beauty, often in a few minutes. Colored flowers, carnations, azaleas, roses, and geraniums may be treated in this way. White flowers turn yellow. The thickest textured flowers amend the most, although azaleas revive wonderfully. The writer has seen flowers that have lain the whole night on a table, after having been worn for hours, which at breakfast next morning were perfectly renovated by means of a cupful of hot water.

CURE FOR EARACHE.-Take a small piece of cotton batting or cotton wool, make a depression in the centre with the finger, and fill it up with as much ground pepper as will rest on a five cent piece; gather it into a ball and tie it up; dip the ball into sweet oil, and insert it in the ear, covering the latter with cotton wool, and use a bandage or cap to retain it in its place. Almost instant relief will be experienced, and the application is so gentle that an infant will not be injured by it, but experience relief as well as adults.

TO CLEAN CLOTH GARMENTS.-Rub some soap upon the wristbands and collars, and dip them in boiling hot water or new made suds, and scrub them well with a brush. Then go over the dirty and greasy places in the same way. Get fresh suds and wet and brush the whole garment the right way of the cloth. Stretch the sleeves, pockets, pocket-holes, wristbands and collars into shape, the same as if ironed and put to dry. They will look as well as new.

PEACH LEAF YEAST.-Peach leaves, used in the same way as hops, make excellent yeast. They may be used fresh from the tree during the summer; but the winter supply should be picked before frost comes, and dried.

SOFT SOAP.-To one cake of the concentrated lye, add three gallons of soft water. Set it on the fire, put in four pounds of soap fat, and let it boil till quite clear. Empty into a barrel, and add twelve gallons of soft water. When cold it will be as thick as jelly. The concentrated lye can be had at almost any drug store.

EFFECTS OF SUGAR ON THE TEETH.-The children of sugar-growing countries have good teeth, although they almost live upon sugar in one form or other. Housekeepers must spare their allowance of sugar on some other ground than this. Children crave it, and ought to have a liberal supply, as it is a highly nutritious substance. It has also balsamic properties, and assists the respiratory functions. An inordinate quantity, of course, might derange the stomach.

INK SPOTS, HOW TO TAKE OUT of Linen or CALICO.Cut a lemon in half, and press the stained part close over one half of the lemon, until it is wet with the juice. Then place on it a hot iron, and the spots will soon disappear.

POMADE FOR CHAPPED ARMS AND HANDS.-Spermaceti, two drachms; white wax, one and a half drachm; sweet oil of almonds, half an ounce; Florence oil of olives, half an ounce; oil of poppies, half an ounce; melt all together gently, and beat into it four drops of the liquid balsam of Peru.

A SURE BOTTLE CEMENT.-Put a little isinglass in a cup, and brandy or whiskey sufficient to cover it. Let it dissolve near the fire. It must be used warm.

The juice of garlic, stamped in a stone mortar, and carefully applied to the broken parts of glass, etc., will cement them closely and permanently.

NATURE AND LOVE.

"And look through Nature up to Nature's God."

THE love of Nature, enjoyment in the beauties of the Seasons, these are good and pure pleasures of life, promoting health and cheerfulness, hope and piety. It is a Christian daty to cultivate the innocent feelings of joy and gladness, which come to us through the ministry of the senses, in the works of Nature. Such joy is the natural thanksgiving of finite beings to the Infinite goodness that provides so many precious pledges, even in this fallen world, of the Divine Love for us.

This sensibility to the beauties of Nature and of God's goodness through Nature is one of the loveliest characteristics of Genius; when possessed by a woman, it gives to her writings a charm far beyond the reach of Art, and seems to make the learning of the schools unnecessary. The perfection of this style is seldom reached. A recent example of great power as well as beauty has come to us from the pen of a French woman, Madame de Gasparin, whose work* we noticed in the February number.

Now we will give a few sketches of a morning walk, and what this authoress saw and thought in her ramble. Her residence was in the Department of the Jura, near Geneva. We should add that the time was near the close of May; we will call it

A WALK IN JUNE.

"In our country (in early spring) each flower in succession has its own absolute reign. First, white crocuses, then yellow primroses, then hyacinths, then golden ranunculuses. Toward the end of June then the valley is enamelled with every hue, radiant with every kind of brightness, each flower opening, displaying itself, scattering fragrance on its own account.

"There is, indeed, in May (or the first of June), at the very time I was taking this particular walk, a short season when green is the dominant tone; a harsh, and uncompromising green, without any softening touch of red or yellow, or any delicate silver light. This green is somewhat oppressive, I might almost say sad.

"It was so that morning. The grass I walked on had such a glowing brightness; the leaves of the hedge, whether hawthorn leaves, sweetbrier, willow, or alder, were all so varnished and brilliant, you could hardly look at them. On the mountain side, the bright verdure of the beech so prevailed over the sombre foliage of the pines, spread so lustrously and positively on every side, rose so boldly up to the pasture land, itself so verdant too, that, apart from the cupola of snow upon the very summit (of Jura), one could see nothing but this intense green, which seemed to repress (or sadden) thought.

whose lurid light still traverses the sky. Then we see things as they are, or rather as they would be, if the wondrous brightness of day, if perfume, harmony, blue atmospheric depths were all taken away from us and our Earth left bare. Everything becomes dry, hard, resolvable into problems, the positive solution of which destroys our last illusions. The task that charmed me with its time-speeding magic, it has no use, teaches nothing, is worth nothing! Those melodies which wafted me into realms of serenity, they are flat, monotonous, wearisome! My pencil nothing either! My friends, my beloved, that image closest to my heart; oh, it is here that the abyss yawns; here there is dead silence, and the demon speaks in his doubting voice- no one is indispensable to any other; you believe that you give happiness, others would give more; you think that were you taken out of their life, that life would be shattered. Not so. It would resume its course, would pass through other regions, other flowers, to blossom under other skies.

"I was going along, a bitter smile upon my lips, a bitter indifference at my heart, reduced to despair, as negation after negation fell on me like blows from an axe; when I chanced to raise my eyes and saw the country, saw it magnificent, exuberantly fresh; saw the barley-fields that promised harvest, the young bunches of grapes that promised the vintage; saw the tufted fields, the orchards, laden with fruit, the bees and the butterflies flying off in quest of pillage, the peasant going to his work. The earth is beautiful, I said to myself, the earth is good! Then I raised my glance up the mountain side, higher than the beeches, higher than the pines, higher than the chalets, than the pastures, up, up to the snow, up to that sparkling cupola whose white outline cuts sharply the deep blue sky, up to that region of Paradise! O ye heavens, ye are glorious! My God, thou art the mighty One, the Eternal! -Love! It is only that I have been ignoring all this while! The love of God, the love which came down to us, the love which defies time and space, the immortal, imperishable love thou hast put into the heart of man!

"Our years will pass, our faculties fade, our loved ones depart; nothing of us will remain save poor old withered bodies that drag themselves into the sunshine; all will die. No, all lives; love, though buried beneath the snows of age, love glows unextinguished. It breathes in wordless prayers, it looks back to cherished memories, forward to the land of promise. The face is wrinkled, the lips wear a smile the vigorous call childish, the eye is dull; we seem to have only a pale effigy. Do not think so; below the surface there are tears, strong hopes; there is a whole vast world; there is a human heart; there is the Infinite.

"Nothing that has ever truly lived is lost, nothing useless; not a sigh or joy, or a sorrow, which has not served its purpose. Our tears are numbered, the fragrance of our innocent pleasures mounts heavenward as a sweet-smelling savor. Let us take courage; honest labor, upright thoughts, healthy emotions endure. Let us give and love, become as little children, so shall we reach self-forgetfulness, that supreme possession, that dominion over the universe."

PORTRAIT OF AN "OLD MAID."

(From a Letter to the Editors.)

In a late number of your invaluable magazine, I read an article upon that unappreciated class vulgarly styled "old maids," a class, albeit, we say confidently, which for activity and usefulness has no superior; indeed, it might not be exceeding the truth to say surpassing any other. What class, let me ask, excites a better influence in literary pursuits, in domestic life, in the religious world? As teachers, as attendants at the bed of suffering, in all works of benevolence and piety?

One, two, or more of those much-to-be-respected ladies form an established "institution" in every community. In the list of teachers for the young, none are found more capable, more patient, more judicious, or more trustworthy of giving the first bent to the little minds committed to their care by anxious, oftentimes overtasked, mothers. Generally they are better fitted than those mothers themselves for giving the opening mind its first start on the way to expansion. Cultivated, refined, intelligent, religious, their whole time is at their own command for the pursuit of the occupation which may be their choice. We say a great blank would be left in any neighborhood or town wanting members of the sisterhood.

Let me recall one whose image is intertwined with our own early, pleasant memories; one who grew in beauty and happiness, the loved, only daughter of a truehearted, virtuous father, in a sunny nook on the banks of the lovely Connecticut River; her childhood knew no want, her early days were passed in ease and pleasure; her mind early trained to ways of culture, propriety, and refinement, her taste in unison with the beautiful scenery of her native state, and the expansion given by varied reading combined to form a character, and to discipline her for the career which, all unexpected, was before her.

Reverses fell upon that happy household; the stern hand of death removed that doting father; the loving, grief-stricken mother soon followed; the orphan children, a daughter and two sons, were thrown all at once upon their own resources. That State, proverbial for its number of teachers, seemed not to offer so wide a field for our young aspirant as the interior of New York at that time, whither, by urgent advice, she accompanied a matronly friend to "seek her fortune" in ways of usefulness. The residence chosen was not a mushroom village on some public highway or near some manufacturing establishment; but was an old, aristocratic town, the home of the wealthy, the cultivated, the high-bred. Here a home was made, a footing found, a path opened. Now, if you had entered a neat school-room, you would have met a figure, rather tall, well-proportioned, blueeyed, dark-haired, a handsome woman of perhaps twentyfive, graceful, dignified, and self-possessed; her little charge showing the effects of such a presence in their midst; quiet from respect, attentive to their duties from love to that kind teacher, no unruly elves were there; no strife, no contention, no struggle against the authority they were willing to submit to; in short, it was a rule of love, the government of the heart. Thus she moved among her duties, beloved by pupils and their parents, respected by acquaintances, and endeared to all by the sweet amenities of social and Christian courtesy. And this was no fitful resource; through summer's warmth and winter's cold, her task went on; year after year for successive generations was the daily toil performed. In that school for little girls there were no distinct profes

sorships, but the mechanical (if sewing and knitting can be so called, according to the old method, machines for those arts not then having been introduced) and the intellectual were supervised by one head.

Vividly can we recall the first essays of our tiny fingers in the varied domain of patchwork; all sewn "overhand," after being basted and handed over with many directions as to holding it "around the end of the finger, keeping the edges even, not taking the stitch too deep, etc. etc.; and to making a smooth fell and a hem without elbows in it." And then ascending the ladder to the higher branch of embroidery, directions in all the intricacies of "edging scallops with buttonhole stitch, working the leaves in satin stitch, the stems in laid stitch." Afterwards came our hesitating attempts at that manifold mystery, the alphabet! Oh, the perplexities of that first lesson, first step in the road to all knowledge! Well we recall the encouraging smile, the patience with our frequent failures, the cheering glance at the slightest success. We recall, also, the kindly suggestions as to the manner of holding the book or the work, as to gentleness, and kindness, and politeness of manner of pupils to each other, of personal neatness, of attention to the hair, nails, etc.-in short, of all ladylike and womanly deportment.

Then there was an unspoken influence in that obscure little upper room, whose impress is perceptible even to this day. I never knew a coarse, uncouth, or hoydenish girl leave that school; hundreds upon hundreds there Who shall estimate the benefits were of them, too. from such teaching-ay, even in the far future?

Nor was it confined wholly to feminine juveniles, this pleasant influence; cases there were where mothers persuaded their friend to admit their darling boys to these desirable precincts in company with their sisters, An eminent and for that the world is none the worse. lawyer in one of our largest cities recalls among his bright memories the genial smile of his first preceptress; and never failed, to her last days on earth, to send at Christmas a substantial evidence of that interest to add to the few comforts of declining health.

Another manly form in a great city will brush aside his heavy moustache, and tell his children how that, when sailing over mighty waters and travelling through many lands; when visiting far-off countries and sacred ruins; when treading the sandy desert or the classic shore; when bathing in the Dead Sea or ascending the Nile; when in the Coliseum or on the Pyramids; when at capitals or courts; when in contact with cardinals or crowned heads; when in the presence of noble dames or jewelled matrons; when associating with the rich, the learned, the great, the high and the powerful, his memory would often revert with pleasure to his first afternoon at school, whither his tottering steps were led by an elder sister, and he himself admitted by indulgence. The first hour's attention beginning to weary his little head, the tender-hearted preceptress bribed him with a piece of blue ribbon from the stores of her dainty work-basket. The relief of its interest being past, the little eyelids again begin to droop, when a lowly couch and pillow are improvised by the same delicate hands, prompted by that never-failing heart. Nothing will ever remove that deep impress of tenderness; like a drop upon the water, whose circle widens and widens, so do the influences of gentle acts expand with the memory. Alas for those whose early teachings are of an opposite character!

Many hours were found by this true woman, outside

that favored little room, for the enjoyment of social intercourse and for the exercise of taste and ingenuity. If any intricate pattern was desired to be marked on a counterpane, any more than usually elaborate dress trimming to be devised, any costuming to be studiously adapted for an academical exhibition, this authority must first be consulted. Was a young heir to a fair name to be carried, in presence of an interested circle of friends, to the baptismal font, her skilful fingers were sure to be called into requisition for embroidering the robe and the exquisitely finished linen cambric cap with which infant heads were necessarily shielded, by the custom of the time, from coming in contact with the air. And one thing well worthy of remark was that every effort of her skill was the best of its kind, was perfectly finished-a fact of no small importance in a day of superficiality like the present.

"Tas said by some, pretending to have had their curiosity gratified, that an early disappointment had been hers, that death had called from earth one who was to have been her companion. If so, the sorrow was all her own, and was never allowed to interfere with a conscientious discharge of duty or a dignified sweetness of deportment. No fretfulness or impatience was ever manifested. Those who knew most of her history averred that she had declined the hand and fortune of more than one high name on the world's stage. But such knowledge was gained from other lips than her own; none of the weak vanity which could boast of such a thing found a lodgment in her nature.

This "old maid" lived eighty-six years, lovely in her winter of life because she was so widely and warmly beloved, and only resting from her active good works during the last three or four years. These she enjoyed in the sweet sympathies of the Church, where she had been an ornament and a devoted servant of her Saviour till He called her to His Church on high.

KENNETH CLOSE.

OLD HOMER AS POET FOR LADIES.-The Odyssey has lately been translated anew by two celebrated English scholars. In noticing these translations, a British critic says that "The Odyssey" has been considered by very good authority as a ladies' book. Bentley says that "Homer made the Iliad for men, and the Odyssey for the other sex.' ,, Fenelon must have had some such notion of the fitness of things, when he chose for the subject of his prose poem (as French critics call it) the adventures of Telemachus in search of Ulysses. The English critic remarks that Fenelon's "classical epic was well known to most of the young ladies of the past generation. Calypso, and Circe, and the Sirens were old acquaintances of our respectable grandmothers, whatever they might have thought of them. Nausicaa and her Maidens, the Gardens of Alcinous, the Cyclops addressed by Ulysses, the Song of the Sirens-all well known amongst our national heir-looms of Art-assume considerable knowledge of the Homeric fable on the part of the public for whom they were painted."

The reviewer thinks the study of Latin and Greek is not declining in Great Britain. Plato has lately found three competent translators among the men, and "a fourth is now announced in the person of a young lady. Young ladies were lately seen with brooches of the severest classical type, bearing Greek mottoes, which must have occasionally puzzled an admiring cornet who left Eton early."

We think the study of languages is peculiarly appro

priate to the feminine mind, and more care should be given to this accomplishment.

A SUBJECT FOR REFLECTION.-In an article on the 'Characteristics of Language," we find the following assertions, which should be carefully considered. Are we really improving as we boast, or are we becoming a vulgar people?

"One observation cannot fail to strike those who compare the ancient classical languages with the modern, and that is the entire absence of what we call vulgarity in the ancients. And this is because wealth worship was comparatively unknown to them. We serve either God or Mammon, while with them Plutus was a very subordinate sort of divinity. The gentleman of the Greek was 'the man beautiful and good'; of the Romans, 'the perfectly finished man'; he was formerly, even with us, the gentile man or 'man of good family'; he is now, with the mass of people (in Great Britain), 'the well-off man, who does not externally disgrace his condition.' The Greeks and Romans had no name for 'snob' or 'rotûrier,' which showed that the thing itself, though it must have existed among them, had not become of the powers that be. In all the Greek and Latin authors, there are no such self-condemning idioms as 'How much is he worth?' and Combien épousez-vous?' between which it is hard to assign the palm of baseness."

Is not this Mammon worship incorporated in every popular idea of American gentility? Let us look closely to our notes of admiration when a rich man or woman is the subject of especial praise. We can never be a great nation unless we love and honor true greatness.

REV. JOHN WESLEY'S PORTRAIT OF HIS MOTHER.-"Take her for all in all, I do not believe that any human being ever brought into the world and carried through it a larger portion of original goodness than my dear mother. Every one who knew her loved her, for she seemed to be made to be happy herself, and to make every one happy within her little sphere. Her understanding was as good as her heart; it is from her I have inherited that alertness of mind and quickness of apprehension, without which it would have been impossible for me to have undertaken half of what I have performed. God never blessed a human creature with a more cheerful disposition, a more generous spirit, a sweeter temper, or a tenderer heart. I remember that when I first understood what death was, and began to think of it, the most fearful thought it induced was that of losing my mother; it seemed to me more than I could bear, and I used to hope that I might die before her."

LITTLE SEEDS AND FLOWERS.
True love is delicate and fears to speak,
But it may listen to the darling theme.

To calm the troubled heart is woman's office,
And this would angels do, were they on earth.
What fools are selfish men! what blinded dupes!
They starve the kindly virtues in their hearts,
Which would have made them blessed, to leave their
heirs,

Their thankless heirs, the means of pampering vice.
In the pure glories of eternal joy

What would the worshipper of Mammon find
To make his happiness? There'll be no gold;
No profit; ne exchange; no money coined:

How many here count wealth by other tale

Than gold or money's worth? Will it pass in heaven? It might be well to place some treasure there.

MISS S. J. HALE'S BOARDING AND DAY SCHOOL FOR YOUNG LADIES, 1826 Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia. This school is designed to give a thorough and liberal English education, to furnish the best facilities for acquiring the French language, and the best instruction in music and the other accomplishments. The moral training and the health and physical development of the scholars are carefully attended to.

References: Mrs. Emma Willard, Troy, N. Y.; Henry Vethake, LL.D., Wm. B. Stevens, D. D., Wm. H. Ashhurst, Esq., Louis A. Godey, Esq., Philadelphia; Charles Hodge, D. D., Princeton, N. J.; and others.

TO OUR CORRESPONDENTS.-The following manuscripts are accepted: "Two Dreams"—"Contributions" (in part)" Regina"-"Safe"-"The Grass-grown Road"— "What the Old Man said to the Fortune-teller"-and "A Dream of Long Ago."

These articles we must decline; some are well written, and one or two give promise of real genius. We cannot, however, encourage any one of the writers to pursue literature as a profession which will be remunerative. At present, there seems small demand for new books, and periodicals have many difficulties to surmount. The supply of writers is greater than the demand for articles. We hope this state of things will alter, will improve in favor of American authorship; those (and their name is many) who have written us for counsel on these subjects will please accept this summary in reply. We should be very glad to say to all who desire to write, "Go on and prosper." Then we should not have to give this list: "Clear the Track""The Great Magician"-"Why I am a Bachelor"— "Two Sonnets"-"Emma Hilton"-"Song"- -"Acrostic Lines" (very well on the "dedication leaf')-"Sabbath Morning Thought"-"Ode to Summer"-"Moonlight Hours"-"Our Compact"-"Hope"-"The Picture of Death"-"Morning"-"Joy Belis"-"The FortuneHunter's Rebuff"'-"A Sonnet"-and "A Sermon." "Belphegor" will please accept our thanks for the Charade.

Health Department.

CHILDREN, AND HOW TO GUIDE THEM.* WHAT A CHILD IS AND WHAT IT SHOULD DO. Now, a child consists, like ourselves, of a body and a soul. I am not going to say much about the guiding of the souls of children-that is a little out of my line-but I may tell you that the soul, especially in children, depends much, for its good and for its evil, for its happiness or its misery, upon the kind of body it lives in; for the body is just the house that the soul dwells in; and you know that, if a house be uncomfortable, the tenant of it will be uncomfortable and out of sorts; if its windows let the rain and wind in, if the chimney smoke, if the house be damp, and if there be a want of good air, then the people who live in it will be miserable enough; and if they have no coals, and no water,

From "Lay Sermons." By Dr. J. Brown, M. D. Published by Carter & Brothers, New York.

and no meat, and no beds, then you may be sure it will soon be left by its inhabitants. And so, if you don't do all you can to make your children's bodies healthy and happy, their souls will get miserable and cankered and useless, their tempers peevish; and if you don't feed and clothe them right, then their poor little souls will leave their ill-used bodies-will be starved out of them; and many a man and woman have had their tempers, and their minds and hearts, made miseries to themselves, and all about them, just from a want of care of their bodies when children.

There is something very sad, and, in a true sense, very unnatural in an unhappy child. You and I, grown-up people, who have cares, and have had sorrows, and difficulties, and sins, may well be dull and sad sometimes; it would be still sadder, if we were not often so; but children should be always either laughing and playing, or eating and sleeping. Play is their business. You cannot think how much useful knowledge, and how much valuable bodily exercise, a child teaches itself in its play.

HOW TO MANAGE CHILDREN.

To begin with their heads. You know the head contains the brain, which is the king of the body, and commands all under him; and it depends on his being good or bad whether his subjects-the legs, and arms, and body, and stomach, and our old friends the bowels, are in good order and happy, or not. Now, first of all, keep the head cool. Nature has given it a night-cap of her own in the hair, and it is the best. And keep the head clean. Give it a good scouring every Saturday night at the least; and if it get sore and scabbit, the best thing I know for it is to wash it with soft soap (black soap), and put a big cabbage-blade on it every night.

Then for the lungs, or lichts-the bellows that keep the fire of life burning-they are very busy in children, because a child is not like grown-up folk, merely keeping itself up. It is doing this, and growing too; so it eats more, and sleeps more, and breathes more in proportion than big folk. And to carry on all this business it must have fresh air, and lots of it. So, whenever it can be managed, a child should have a good while every day in the open air, and should have well-aired places to sleep in. Then for their nicht-gowns, the best are long flannel gowns; and children should be always more warmly clad than grown-up people-cold kills them more easily.

Then there is the stomach, and as this is the kitchen and great manufactory, it is almost always the first thing that goes wrong in children, and generally as much from too much being put in, as from its food being of an injurious kind. A baby, for nine months after it is born, should have almost nothing but its mother's milk. This is God's food, and it is the best and the cheapest too. If the baby be healthy, it should be weaned at nine or ten months; and this should be done gradually, giving the baby a little gruel, or new milk, and water and sugar, or thin bread berry, once a day for some time, so as gradually to wean it. This makes it easier for mother as well as baby. No child should get meat or hard things till it gets teeth to chew them, and no baby should ever get a drop of whiskey, or any strong drink, unless by the doctor's orders. Whiskey to the soft, tender stomach of an infant is like vitriol to ours: it is a burning poison to its dear little body, as it may be a burning poison and a curse to its never-dying soul. As you value your children's health of body, and the salvation of their souls, never give them a drop of