ladies’ department. 3S 
Cabies’ department. 
HINTS TO MOTHERS. 
I have been very much gratified to see a portion 
of your columns appropriated to the contributions of 
the ladies ; but I regret that so few competent, tho¬ 
rough going housewives are unwilling others should 
derive benefit from their experience. Any in¬ 
struction in h.ousewifery would be of more ser¬ 
vice than they imagine ; for it is a lamentable fact 
that most young ladies have but a very superficial 
knowledge of housekeeping, till necessity compels 
them to learn. I do not believe there is any divi¬ 
sion of labor necessary for our support, which 
could be more benefited by good management, 
order, and punctuality, than that of the house ; and 
there is none in which a judicious system would 
contribute more towards our happiness and comfort. 
What is the reason that the daughters of some of 
our very best housewives, not uufrequently make 
improvident housekeepers, is a question 1 have 
often heard asked, but never satisfactorily ans wered. 
As far as my observation has extended, this diffi¬ 
culty is generally owing to their domestic educa¬ 
tion, and is of course chargeable in a great measure 
to the mother. In the first place, most mothers 
while their children are young, are obliged to per¬ 
form a large share of their own work, and find it 
much easier, as well as more expeditious, to do it 
themselves, than to superintend the tardy perform¬ 
ances of an awkward pair of little hands in their 
first attempts at housework. Consequently the 
young novice remains idle, or is constantly in 
school, until she loses all relish for useful employ¬ 
ment. Others may be silly enough, although they 
have always been obliged to work themselves, to 
conceive it derogatory for a young lady even to 
know how to work ; and I have known instances 
where the mother has labored as assiduously to pre¬ 
vent the necessity of her daughters taking part in 
the household services, as she would to preserve 
them from some terrible disgrace or calamity. From 
whichever cause the difficulty arises, the mother 
who willingly allows a daughter to marry with no 
other knowledge of housekeeping than has been ac¬ 
quired as a looker on, is doing her an incalculable 
injury, and deserves to be charged with a large 
share of folly and indiscretion, with half the unhap¬ 
piness experienced by an ignorant young house¬ 
keeper ; for it cannot be denied that much domestic 
discord has arisen from this very source. The 
young husband who had been bred to habits of 
order and punctuality, would feel his comfort very 
much abridged, if obliged to accommodate him¬ 
self to the irregularity of his household affairs, if 
left entirely to the care of ordinary hirelings, to say 
nothing of the addition of expenses. 
It is not necessary that a young lady should be 
drilled for half a dozen years in domestic service, 
in order to understand housekeeping; neither is it 
necessary that she should be deprived of reasonable 
recreation or amusement. If she has been accus¬ 
tomed to perform but a share in the different depart¬ 
ments of labor in a well regulated family, she will 
have acquired all the knowledge necessary for a 
beginner, without any greater effect than will prove 
most salutary to the health of mind and body. 
If ladies who have had some thirty or forty years’ 
experience in housekeeping would occasionally im¬ 
part a little of their experimental knowledge through 
the medium of agricultural journals, it would be 
highly appreciated by those who are just com¬ 
mencing on their “ doubtful pilgrimage.’’ I do not 
mean merely recipes for various kinds of cookery, 
but the best, easiest, and most economical method of 
doing all kinds of household labor ; in a word, we 
want “ Housekeeping made Easy.’* 
A Farmer’s Wife. 
Onondaga Hill. N. Y , Nov. 1847. 
THE EFFECTS OF COSMETICS ON THE 
SKIN. 
Soap containing a due proportion of alkali, 
exercises a solvent power upon the cuticle, a mi¬ 
nute portion of which it dissolves; but when it 
contains a small preponderance of oily matter, as a 
principal part of the finer kinds of soap do, it me¬ 
chanically softens the skin and promotes its smooth¬ 
ness. Almond, Naples, and Castile soaps are es¬ 
teemed for these properties, and milk of roses, cold 
cream, and almond paste are used for a similar pur¬ 
pose. To produce an opposite effect on the skin 
and harden the cuticle, alcohol, Bay rum, eau de 
Cologne , acids, astringent salts, &c., are commonly 
employed. The frequent use of hard water has a 
similar effect. The application of the last-named 
articles is generally for the purpose of strengthening 
or preserving any given part of the system against 
the action of heat, cold, moisture, &c., as sore lips, 
chapped hands, or chilblains; but in this respect, 
oils, pomades, and oleaginous substances are pre¬ 
ferable. 
Another class of cosmetics is employed to give an 
artificial bloom, or delicacy to the skin. Rouge 
and carmine are the articles most generally used to 
communicate a red color. The former is the only 
substance that can be employed, without injury, to 
brighten a lady’s complexion; though the latter im¬ 
parts unrivalled beauty, it leaves a sallowness to 
the skin which it is difficult to remove Starch pow¬ 
der may be employed to impart a white tint to the 
skin, and is perfectly harmless, as also is very 
finely powdered magnesia; but several metallic 
compounds sold at the shops, as trisnitrate, sub¬ 
chloride, and oxid of bismuth (pearl white), carbo¬ 
nate of lead (flake white), white precipitates, &c., 
frequently used to revive faded complexions, are 
not only injurious to the skin, but act as poisons, if 
taken up by the absorbents. The employment of 
liquid preparations, containing sugar of lead, which 
are commonly sold under the name of “ milk of 
roses,” “ cream of roses,” &c., is equally injurious. 
Another disadvantage of these white metallic pre¬ 
parations, is, that they readily turn black when ex¬ 
posed to the action of sulphuretted hydrogen gas, 
or the vapors of sulphur, which frequently escape 
from our coal fires. There are numerous instances 
on record, of a whole company being alarmed by 
the pearly complexion of one of its belles, suddenly- 
changing into a sickly gray, blue, or black. But 
after all, the best purifiers of the skin are soap and 
water, followed by the use of a coarse cloth, in¬ 
stead of the costly and soft diapers, that are com¬ 
monly employed ; and the best beautifiers are health, 
exercise, and good temper. C 
