ladies’ department. 
257 
the girls who like to enjoy leisure for intellectual 
ursuits in the after part of the day. The beds can 
e made as well before as after daylight—the bread 
set to rise—the pies made ready for the oven—and 
the comfortable, social breakfast prepared and eaten— 
the younger children bathed and dressed—and a 
thousand little odd jobs done which will wonderfully 
help on the more laborious work of the day. Wil¬ 
son, the Ornithologist, a poet of nature’s own form¬ 
ing, while dwelling with delight upon a scene in a 
Pennsylvania farmer’s kitchen, where every body 
was busy by candle-light, one cold morning, says: 
“ Even little Mary in the corner sits, 
And while she nurses pussey, nicely knits.” 
Who has not felt the real comfort of being before¬ 
hand with time, after an unusually early start in the 
morning ? how the day seemed to lengthen, and give 
ample time for everything to be done quietly ! What 
a pleasant spur was given to exertion, and with what 
satisfaction such a day has been looked back 
ipon ! 
Where the work is systematically arranged, there 
is a certain portion only to be done each day; for 
nstance, washing and churning never come at once, 
lor baking and ironing. Each -day has its appropriate 
tabor, and where the family is large, the girls should 
'ake regular turns, so that one should always be 
released from active employment, and take the work- 
msket or spinning-wheel, which would prevent any 
unpleasant bustle, if unexpected visiters arrived. 
But 1 here declare determined war against the plan, 
too often pursued, of giving all the sedentary em¬ 
ployment to the sister or aunt, who happens to be in 
delicate health, or is less robust than the others—this 
is cruel kindness! If she be really sick or disabled, 
nurse her tenderly, until returning strength allows her 
again to be useful; but beware of prescribing for 
symptoms instead of curing disease. Never lpt her 
indulge the languor which debility naturally produces, 
and which increases if not judiciously checked; but 
tempt her to exert herself in dry, light work, if it be 
only gathering and arranging flowers in the parlors, 
until she is actually tired ; and then, after giving a 
little nourishment make her lie down while she rests; 
but never permit her to sit down to sew or read until 
both mind and body are refreshed. 
After dinner in summer, and after supper in winter, 
there are always some unappropriated hours—I mean 
for those who have earned leisure by rising early— 
and this is the time when a course of reading can be 
gone through with. If there is no important sewing, 
several might be engaged in study; but even when 
the needle must be plied most earnestly, one could be 
spared to read aloud some well known chosen book. 
I do not like to anathematize all novels —but I will 
say that works of fiction never made great, good, or 
valuable characters; and the fewer read the better. 
No one can complain at the present day, of the want 
of books that combine utility with amusement. There 
is a wide range of history, travels, biography, and 
works on natural history and natural science, written 
in so attractive a way, that the only difficulty is to 
choose between them, or lay the book down when 
begun. Literature is cheap now, and the book of 
Knowledge is no longer sealed up from farmers, even 
in sections of country remote from cities. If the 
young people are early allowed to acquire a love for 
serious and valuable information, and these family 
reading parties are looked forward to as a recreation, 
not a task, we shall soon hear no more complaints of 
the insipid conversation of country girls. 
It would be a good plan for neighbors who are 
most congenial in spirit, to form little associations, 
and meet once a week or fortnight, at each other’s 
houses, to read, and improve themselves and each 
other by conversing on such subjects as are of real 
interest. If they love botany or mineralogy, they 
should bring specimens to compare and analyze. 
These intellectual pursuits need not preclude an ami¬ 
cable rivalry as to who shall rear the finest flowers 
and fruit, make the best butter, or the prettiest patch- 
work bed-cover ; for they should always carry some 
neat sewing to these meetings. The fingers need not 
be idle because the mind is exercising its powers. 
Knitting stockings and gloves and braiding straw are 
graceful and pleasant works, which can be done al¬ 
most as well without the use of the eyes, as with it, 
and therefore particularly well adapted for social 
meetings. The first mentioned I earnestly recom¬ 
mend to my young friends; for while amusing them¬ 
selves, they can make firm, strong hats for their 
fathers and brothers, which will outlast half a dozen 
bought ones—and for themselves, pretty, fine straw 
cottage bonnets, which, as they will cost nothing but 
the pleasant labor of making, may, after being worn 
for one season as best, be taken into daily use in 
place of the shapeless, tasteless, inconvenient sun- 
bonnets now worn, by which so many pretty faces 
are disfigured. E. S. 
To JUDGE OF THE QUALITY OF WHEAT FLOUR. - 
Take four ounces of the flour of wheat, separated 
from the bran; let it be mixed with water so as to 
form a thick paste, which must be thoroughly kneaded 
for a quarter of an hour. The paste is afterwards 
to be well washed, continually kneading it with the 
hands under the water, and changing the water from 
time to time. This washing and kneading are to be 
continued until the water no longer becomes white by 
the operation; the glutinous matter, which is of a 
whitish gray colour, then remains in the hands. If 
the wheat was sound, the matter is glutinous and 
elastic; if the wheat was heated, the matter will be 
brittle; if the wheat was in a state of fermentation, 
no glutinous matter will be obtained from it.— Fam¬ 
ily Receipt Book. 
To make Soap without Boiling. —Take one gal¬ 
lon of lye, strong enough to bear up an egg, to every 
pound of grease. Put the lye into your barrel, and 
strain the grease hot through a sieve or cullender. 
Stir this three or four times a day, for several days, 
or until it thickens. By this process you have soap, 
clearer and with much less trouble than in the old 
way. 
A Preventive of Chilblains. —The most effect¬ 
ual mode of guarding against chilblains is to accus¬ 
tom the skin to a moderate friction; to avoid cloth¬ 
ing the parts too warmly; to avoid still more care¬ 
fully sudden and great alterations of heat and cold; 
to take particular care not to go into a warm room, 
or near a fire, out of the cold air; and to wash the 
parts frequently in cold water.— Cooper’s Surgical 
I Dictionary. 
