when it is put on thick, a deep violet hue (which | ust covering the hips. They were, for the most is the most prized) is the result.

The worthy mayor had some refreshments prepared for his guests, consisting of tea, cakes, confectionary, and the never absent saki. With the latter was served a kind of hot waffle, made apparently of rice flour. The civic dignitary himself was very active in dispensing those offer ings, and he was ably seconded by his wife and sister, who always remained on their knees in presence of the strangers. This awkward position of the women did not seem to interfere with their activity, for they kept running about very briskly with the silver saki-kettle, the services of which, in consequence of the smallness of the cups, were in constant requisition. The two ladies were unceasingly courteous, and kept bowing their heads, like a bobbing toy mandarin. The smiles with which they perseveringly greeted the guests might have been better dispensed with, as every movement of their lips exposed their horrid black teeth and decayed gums. The mayoress was uncommonly polite, and was good natured enough to bring in her baby, which her guests felt bound to make the most of, though its dirty face and general untidy appearance made it quite a painful effort to bestow the necessary caresses. A bit of confectionary was presented to the infant, when it was directed to bow its shaven head, which it did with a degree of precocious politeness that called forth the greatest apparent pride and admiration on the part of its mother and all the ladies present.

On preparing to depart, the Commodore proposed the health, in a cup of saki, of the whole household, which brought into the room from a neighbouring apartment the mayor's mother. She was an ancient dame, and as soon as she came in she squatted herself in one corner, and bowed her thanks for the compliment paid to the family, of which she was the oldest member.

As the Japanese officials no longer interfered with the curiosity of the people, there was a good opportunity of observing them, though hurriedly, as the commodore and his party were forced to return early to the ships. The people, in the small towns, appeared to be divided into three principal classes-the officials, the traders, and labourers. The inferior people, almost without exception, seemed thriving and contented, and not overworked. There were signs of poverty, but no evidence of public beggary. The women, in common with many in various parts of over-populated Europe, were frequently seen engaged in the field-labours, showing the general industry and the necessity of keeping every hand busy in the populous empire. The lowest classes even were comfortably clad, being dressed in coarse cotton garments, of the same form, though shorter than those of their superiors, being a loose robe,

*Thunberg.

part, bareheaded and barefooted. The women were dressed very much like the men, although their heads were not shaved like those of the males, and their long hair was drawn up and fastened upon the top, in a knot, or under a pad. The costume of the upper classes and the dignitaries has been already described. In rainy weather, the Japanese wear a covering made of straw, which being fastened together at the top, is suspended from the neck, and falls over the shoulders and person like a thatched roof. Some of the higher classes cover their robes with an oiled-paper cloak, which is impermeable to the wet. The umbrella, like that of the Chinese, is almost a constant companion, and serves both to shade from the rays of the sun, and keep off the effects of a shower. The men of all classes were exceedingly courteous, and although inquisitive about the strangers, never became offensively intrusive. The lower people were evidently in great dread of their superiors, and were more reserved in their presence than they would have been if they had been left to their natural instincts. The rigid exclusiveness in regard to foreigners is a law enacted by the government from motives of policy, and not a sentiment of the Japanese people. Their habits are social among themselves, and they frequently intermingle in friendly intercourse. There is one feature in the society of Japan, by which the superiority of the people to all other oriental nations is clearly manifest. Woman is recognized as a companion, is certainly not as elevated as in those countries and not merely treated as a slave. Her position under the influence of the Christian dispensation; neither the chattels and household drudges of but the mother, wife, and daughter of Japan are China, nor the purchased objects of the capricious lust of the harems of Turkey. The fact of the non-existence of polygamy is a terizes the Japanese as the most moral and redistinctive feature which pre-eminently charac

fined of all eastern nations. The absence of

this degrading practice shows itself, not only in the superior character of the women, but in the natural consequence of the greater prevalence of the domestic virtues.

disgusting black teeth of those who are married) The Japanese women (always excepting the formed, and rather pretty, and have much of that are not ill-looking. The young girls are wellvivacity and self-reliance in manners which come from a consciousness of dignity derived from the comparatively high regard in which they are held. In the ordinary mutual intercourse of friends and families the women have their share, and rounds of visiting and teaparties are kept up as briskly in Japan as in the United States. The attitude assumed by the women, who prostrated themselves in the presence of the commodore and his party, should be considered rather as a mark of their reverence for the strangers than as an evidence of their subordination.

D

We now give a full-sized section of the point | marked by buttonhole-bars; and the divisions lace collar which formed one of our work-table subjects last month. All the large flowers are worked in the sanie manner, the petals being

filled in alternately with a close and an open stitch. Most of the large flowers are outlined with braid: those not so worked have the edge

NETTED CHEESE OR CAKE D'OYLEY.

MATERIALS: The Boar's Head Crochet Cotton, No. 1, of Messrs. Walter Evans and Co., of Derby ; Steel Mesh, No. 10, and Bone one, half an inch wide.

then, still using the same mesh, net the second stitch of the round, then the first, the fourth, and then the third, and so on all round. Follow this by two rounds with the small mesh, then the wide mesh; miss one stitch, and work three in the next all round.

Four rounds must now be worked with the small mesh, and eight with the wide mesh; four more with the small, eight with the large, and finish with four rounds with the small mesh.

The netting is now completed. To make the D'Oyley up, wash and starch it extremely stiff. Then gather the four rounds done with the fine mesh, with the eight large rounds between, together; so that the large rounds form puffings, like the border of a widow's cap. It is an extremely pretty cheese-mat, and may readily be made of larger dimensions for other purposes. AIGUILLETTE.

LEAVES FOR THE LITTLE ONES.

LUCY'S FLOWER-PLOT.

BY HANNAH CLAY.

Mamma, you said that I might have a small bed in our new garden entirely to myself." "Yes, my dear, certainly; the oblong plot, close to the south wall."

Well, Mamma, will you please to come out and tell Hughie about it, or he will be sowing the flower-seeds in it; and I want to do thing myself now that it is dug."

where the Corrans had always lived until circumstances had induced their temporary separation and removal.

The furnished cottage which Mrs. Corran had taken for herself and her six children was prettily situated upon the cliffs near Port Le Waigne, and commanded a view of Ramsey and its crescented bay, across which was visible the far extremity of the Point of Ayre. A carriagedrive led up to the house, and a shrubbery surevery-rounded it. Behind was a small orchard of choice apple-trees; but no ground had been laid out either as a flower or kitchen-garden. This was felt as an oversight by both the mother and the young people-especially by Lucy, who had pleased herself much by the idea of gardening in her rural retreat, and had read all the gardening-notices she could meet with in the English papers that the post brought them from time to time. So as soon as the family had well settled down in their new abode, a small area of ground beyond the orchard was rented from a neighbouring farmer, and Hughie Quayle, a stout young Manxman who busied himself in such occupations, was sent for to dig and lay it out.

Mrs. Corran fastened off her thread; and leaving her work on the table, out of the reach of mischievous little fingers, went out with her eldest daughter to give instructions to Hughie, the Manx gardener, not to do anything further with Miss Lucy's own especial garden except to leave it nice and smooth for the little girl's operations.

Mrs. Corran was an English lady, the wife of a gentleman-emigrant to the gold-fields of Australia. During her husband's absence, which was expected to continue not less than three years, she had chosen to take up her residence in a furnished cottage in the Isle of Man; partly because of the cheapness of living there, and partly for the sake of her eldest son, a tall sickly youth on the verge of manhood; who had sadly outgrown his strength, and to whom the doctors had prescribed sea-bathing and constant outdoor recreation as his only hope of life. Already the prescription had begun to take effect; the roses faintly bloomed on his pale cheek, and his step grew light and active, while with his favourite sister Lucy he explored the recesses of the sweet Manx glens; or, taking his younger brother Henry with him on a bright summer-morning, bathed in some transparent pool among the rocks off Port Le Waigne.

Besides Paul, Lucy, and Henry, who were severally of the ages of sixteen, thirteen, and twelve, there were three younger children— Sophia, Maude, and little Charley, the latter of whom was yet in petticoats. The gaps in this numerous family had formerly been filled up by two brothers and a sister; who had slept since babyhood in the large cemetery near the town

The gravel-walks were soon made firm and even, with gravel from the bed of the river close by; a little wicket-gate, on either side of and trained so as to form a graceful arch overwhich a fine young laburnum-tree was planted head, was opened from the garden into the orchard before referred to; and the beds, raked fine and even, were being speedily filled with gay and fragrant flowers, when Lucy ran into the pleasant family-room where her mamma sat sewing with her younger children playing around bed entirely to herself." her, and urged her claim to "one small flower