34 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Pomcstlc ^Department. 



Maternal Ixfluexce. — The mental fountiiin is 

 unsealed to the eye of a mother, ere it has chosen a 

 ehannol, or breathed a murmur. She may tinge with 

 sweetness or bitterness the whole stream of future 

 life. Other teachers have to contend with unhappy 

 combinations of ideas. She rules the simple and 

 plastic elements. Of her we may say, she " hath 

 entered into the magazine of snow, and seen the 

 treasure of the hail." In the moral field she is a privi- 

 leged laborer. Ere the dews of morning begin to 

 exhale, she is there. She breaks up a soil which 

 the root of error and the thorns of prejudice have not 

 preoccupied. She plants germs whose fruit is for 

 eternity. While she feels that she is required to 

 educate, not merely a virtuous member of society, but 

 a Christian, an angel, a servant of the Most High, 

 how docs so holy a charge quicken piety, by teaching 

 the heart its own insufficiency ! 



The soul of her infant is uncovered before her. 

 She knows that the images which she enshrines in 

 that unoccupied sanctuary must rise before her at the 

 bar of doom. Trembling at such tremendous respon- 

 sibility, she teaches the little being, whose life is her 

 dearest care, of the God who made him ; and who 

 can measure the extent of a mother's lessons of piety, 

 unless his hand might remove the veil wliich di\'ides 

 terrestrial things ? 



"When I was a little child," said a good man, "my 

 mother used to bid me kneel beside her, and place 

 her hand \xpon my head while she prayed. Ere I 

 was old enough to know her worth, she died, and I 

 was left too much to my own guidance. Like others, 

 I was inclined to evil passions, but often felt myself 

 checked, and, as it were, drawn back, by a soft hand 

 upon my head. When a young man, I travelled in 

 foreign lands, and was exposed to many temptations. 

 But when I would have yielded, that same hand was 

 upon my head, and I was saved. I seemed to feel its 

 pressure as in days of my happy infancy, and some- 

 times there cams with it a voice, to my heart a voice 

 that must be obeyed — ' O, do not this wickedness, 

 luy son, nor sin against thy God.' " — Michigan Farmer- 



To KEEP Silk. — Silk articles should not be kept 

 folded in white pa])er, as the cliloride of lime used in 

 bleaching the paper will probably impair- the color of 

 the silk. Brown or blue paper is better ; the yellow- 

 ish smooth India paper is best of all. Silk intended 

 for a dress should not be kept in the house long 

 before it is made up, as lying in the folds will have a 

 tendency to impair its durability by causing it to cut 

 or split, particularly if the silk has been thickened 

 by gum. We knew an instance of a very elegant and 

 costly thread-lace veil being found, on its arrival from 

 France, cut into squares, (and therefore destroyed,) 

 by being folded over a pasteboard card. 



A white satin dress should be pinned up in blue 

 paper, with coarse brown paper outside, sewed 

 together at the edges. 



The best way of keeping ribbons is to roll them 

 round the blocks made for the purpose, and then 

 wrap them in soft paper. You can easily obtain a 

 few blocks from the stores where ribbons are sold. 

 The block should be a little wider than the ribbon, 

 that the edges may not bo injured. When j-ou have 

 wound it smoothly around the block, secure the end 

 of the ribbon with a little minikin pin. A large pin 

 will leave holes, and perhaps green ones. 



In rolling two pieces of ribbon round the same 

 block, iilaco the first end of the second piece under 

 the last end of the first piece, otherwise thei-c will be 



a ridge where the two came together. Take care, in 

 rolling, not to make the slightest crease. 



Never wrap silk or ribbon, or indeed any thing that 

 is to be worn without washing, in printed paper, as 

 the printing inlc will rub off and soil it. — MiM Les- 

 lie's House Book. 



|)outl/s iDepartmeut. 



One Thing at a Time. — Step among your neigh- 

 bors, reader, and see whether those among them who 

 have got along smoothly, and accumulated property, 

 and gained a good name, have not been men who 

 bent themselves to one single branch of business ; 

 who brought all their powers to bear upon one point, 

 and build on one foundation. It must bo so. 



Go out in the spring, when the sun is yet far dis- 

 tant, and you can scarcely feel the influence of his 

 beams, scattered as they are over the wide face of 

 creation ; but collect those beams to a focus, and they 

 kindle up a flame in an instant. So the man who 

 squanders his talents and his strength on many things, 

 will fail to make an imi^ression with either ; — but let 

 him draw them to a point, let him strike at a single 

 object, and it will yield before him. 



Two Ways of IIeauing. — A clergyman of supe- 

 rior abilities preached a sermon on a certain occasion ; 

 and on his way home, his wife said to him, " My dear, 

 that was a most miserable sermon ; I think the poor- 

 est I ever heard from j'ou." Some years after, he 

 drew at random from his pile, and found that lie had 

 hit upon this very sermon. He preached it again. 

 And as he was going home, his wife said to him, "My 

 dear, you gave us a most excellent discoui'se to-day. 

 I think I never heard you preach a better one." " My 

 dear," said her husband, "you are the stupidest 

 hearer I have ever known ;" and then told her what 

 she had said of this very discourse when he preached 

 it before. 



^caltl) !I)epartment. 



Bathing and Washing. — We have occasionally 

 published articles on the importance of bathing and 

 thorough washing. We now select from the Phreno- 

 logical Journal a most excellent article on the mode 

 of performing ablution according to different condi- 

 tions of the system. 



Bathing, with Directions fok adapting its Tem- 

 pehatuhe to the State of the Patient. — Of the 

 utility of bathing, a very considerable portion of our 

 communities are becoming so thoroughly convinced, 

 that thousands practise it now where one adopted it 

 ten years ago. The change is really astonishing. 

 Mothers, by thousands, bathe or wash their children 

 all over regularly. In the intelligent circles of Bos- 

 ton, for example, probably more bathe themselves 

 and children than omit it. And this health-promot- 

 ing practice is rapidly extending throughout villages 

 and towns, so much that an inquiry touching the 

 best forms of bath, their temperature, times, etc., is 

 becoming quite desirable and imjiortant. Hence this 

 article. 



Many, hearing cold ablutions so highly recom- 

 mended, try them, at first, perhaps, with benefit, but 

 afterward with serious injuiy, which they attribute 

 to the bath, whereas it belongs to the temperature. 



