256 
ladies’ department. 
Cages’ department. 
EARLY RISING. 
Volumes have been written upon the advantages 
of early rising—its influence in preserving beauty, 
and improving health. Many physicians recommend 
walking before breakfast, to young ladies whose 
healths suffer for want of exercise. In my humble 
opinion, the end would be obtained more effectually, by 
shaking their beds, with the chamber window open, 
or, in line weather, working for an hour in the garden. 
Many a young lady makes the experiment, walks 
the prescribed time or distance, and returns languid 
and disappointed, with aching head, wet feet, and 
snowy stockings dabbled alternately in dew and dust, 
until their original hue is more than doubtful. Many 
a youthful bard has sung the delights of wandering 
in the “ gray dawn of morning,” to stroll with his 
“ ladye love” “through the dewy mead,” to “shake 
the glittering dew-drop from the thorn.” All very 
well in their way, no doubt! though, not being a 
poet, I am so simple as to prefer letting the sun dry 
the grass, while I eat my breakfast, and agree cor¬ 
dially with the very sensible old gentleman, the only 
one of the rhyming fraternity, I believe, who has 
even alluded to the discomforts of such excursions. 
“ I love not early morning walks; I love not 
To get my feet wet •, and the bard who wrote 
The silly trash of brushing dew away 
To see the sun rise, hardly knew. I fancy, 
What the dew was made of, or the vile effect 
That frequent soaking hath on shoe leather.” 
Poetry, feeling, and good taste, have but one voice 
in regard to the benefits of early rising; but few of 
their votaries have dwelt as they might have done, 
upon the economy of time, that first, best gift of God 
to man ; and fewer still have noticed the effects pro¬ 
duced upon the mind, which becomes invigorated, 
and capable of greater exertion, and a more healthful 
tone of feeling, in exact proportion to the strength 
gained by the body. All know the truth of the vul¬ 
gar adage, “ An hour lost in the morning is looked 
for in vain all day and many mourn the neglect of 
these “ fair occasions gone for ever by;” yet none, 
except those who from long experience have reaped 
the advantages of early rising, are capable of appre¬ 
ciating them. The first hours of the day are un¬ 
questionably the best for study, and by those who 
live at ease should be devoted to serious reading, and 
the acquisition of useful knowledge. I know a lady, 
who, between the hours of five and seven, A. M., 
made herself mistress of the French language, and 
read the works of all the best historians, from Jose¬ 
phus to those of the present day. This was the em¬ 
ployment of the long dark mornings in winter; in 
summer she worked during the same hours in the 
greenhouse and garden, where every vine was trained, 
and every shrub was trimmed by her tasteful hand, 
until the whole smiled, a perfect paradise of sweets. 
The remainder of the day was devoted to domestic 
occupations, in which she excelled, and to society of 
which she was an ornament. 
Another 1-ady who, during a long life, rose at four 
o’clock, throughout the year, with whom I was on 
terms of intimacy and friendship, has often showed 
me the many large volumes which she had filled with 
copies of original documents of our early colonial 
history. The letters from which she drew them have 
almost crumbled to dust by the ravages of time and 
early neglect; the hand that copied them is moulder¬ 
ing in the grave ; but the volumes will long be con¬ 
sulted as books of authentic reference, by the anti¬ 
quary and the historian. After breakfast she had no 
time for literary pursuits, for then her husband, hei 
children, and her family concerns demanded and re¬ 
ceived her assiduous attention. She directed and as¬ 
sisted her servants; showing by example how laboi 
could be saved by timely thought and system. No 
dairy produced finer butter and cheese—no house was 
kept in more exquisite order—yet no one had more 
leisure for exercising the rights of hospitality; and 
over the whole she presided with so much dignity 
and grace, and her conversation was so varied and 
instructive, that her society was sought not only by 
the first in rank in our own country, but by nobles 
from other lands. 
An amusing instance of her habitual neatness, I 
will record for the benefit of some who may think 
daily sweeping unnecessary. A French gentleman 
while on a visit to her husband, cut his face with a 
razor, and wished to apply the well known remedy 
of cobwebs to staunch the blood. The lady was 
sadly at a loss—she did not like to say there were 
none in the house; so she permitted a search 
to be made in every nook and cranny, from the garret 
to cellar and sheds of her large and stately mansion ; 
but not a spider had been allowed to spin in peace 
and comfort. With all his French politeness, the 
guest could scarcely conceal his vexation, when at 
last, one of the boys rushed into the hall, crying out 
in great glee, “ Papa, I have found a cobweb in the 
stable !” His mother’s jurisdiction did not extend to 
that. 
I could mention many other instances of the won¬ 
ders wrought by stealing an hour or two from sleep 
in the morning ; but I must hasten to tell my young 
friends what country girls may effect, who have the 
active concerns of the homestead to attend to. The 
first step,. they must fix the good habit of going to 
rest by ten o’clock. Country visiters have all taken 
their leave long before that hour. This they will 
find to be the best preparation for the labors oi the 
next day; and after seven hours’ sleep, they will be 
ready to rise at Jive o’clock. In addition to the usually 
neatly arranged wash-table, every chamber should be 
provided wtth a tub at least 18 inches in diameter, and 
9 inches deep. In this, nearly full of fresh cold water, 
each should wash from head to foot, and rub well 
with a coarse towel, every morning in the year, be¬ 
fore they dress. The advantages are, perfect cleanli¬ 
ness, brightness of complexion, good health, and a 
complete cure for the lazy fever. There must of ne¬ 
cessity be a wash-bench in every kitchen or shed; 
but the use of it, as the only daily means of purifying, 
is much to be blamed, as the head and hands only can 
be properly cleansed, without undue exposure, and 
injury to the dress. 
The windows of the chambers should be thrown 
wide open, even in stormy weather, while the bed i? 
well shaken, and the room put in accurate order be¬ 
fore it is left. With the generality of our farmers" 
daughters, the morning brings nothing but the cheer¬ 
ful bustle of active employment, in which reading to 
advantage would be as impossible as it would be out 
of time; yet early rising is not the Jess necessary fos 
