At Sir Roderick Cameron’s beautiful Staten 
Islaud home the walls of the main hall are 
covered with blue .iean, put on like paper. 
There is a dado and frieze of dull red and 
gold, and the whole effect is charmiug. The 
rich, dull blue forms a most effective back¬ 
ground for bits of armor and the like. 
The opera in New York is gaining the in¬ 
terest of a menagerie, it seems. A prominent 
society woman, who attracted much notice 
through selecting a turtle as familiar pet. now 
takes this pleasing rent-ile into her opera box, 
where it reposes on a bed of hyacinths, She 
is also accompanied by a pet squirrel, If her 
example is to be imitated, the stockholders of 
the Metropolitan Opera House may find it 
necessary to add commodious cages, or dens, 
to the boxes, to accommodate the live stock of 
their box holders. 
If criticism or denunciation is of any avail, 
the immodestly low-cut gowns of fashionable 
women should soon lose their supremacy. 
Both Dr. Morgan Dix and the Rev. Heber 
Newton have denounced the fashion from the 
pulpit in no measured terms, while newspaper 
criticism grows severer every day. Dr. Dix’s 
words are particularly earnest and emphatic, 
and gaiu extra weight coming, as they do, 
from a conservative clergyman who counts 
some of the most fashionable offenders among 
his congregation. 
THE MONEY QUESTION. 
S. J. L. 
It is a topic that has received the attention 
of scores of writers; still it stares us in the 
face, and I see no remedy until that superior 
being, man, can be made to realize that 
women have a little natural common sense. 
It is truly wonderful what airs a iuou puts ou 
when discussing money matters with his wife, 
she having requested the small sum of 50 
cents a week for her personal outlay. He 
takes the high mora l ground that she has not 
the slightest conception of the value of money 
—(she certain ly has a most vivid conception 
of the want of it). He reproachfully calls her 
attention to tbe fact that he is a poor strug¬ 
gling piece of humanity, who is working ear¬ 
ly au<l late to maintain his extravagant fami¬ 
ly, and were it not for him what little proper¬ 
ty they had would be scattered to the four 
winds. In fact, she showed her improvidence 
by wishing for any money to spend, other 
than under his strict supervision. 
It is needless to say that, in nine cases out 
of ten, that very man, in less than half an 
hour, goes up town and spends foolishly what 
would lie sufficient to supply his wife’s modest 
request for two months. I do not wish to de¬ 
prive him of that pleasure, but insist upon his 
wife being given the same privilege. In the 
case of a woman with moue 3 r , how kindly her 
husband relieves her of the burden—manages 
it for her in the name of the family. But 
when she suggests that a small part of the in¬ 
terest be set aside for her special use, he is 
filled with horror or righteous indignation— 
Does she wish to deprive her family of food? 
Does she realize the ruin that would encom¬ 
pass them? etc. He is managing the property 
for her interest, and any well-balanced wo¬ 
man would be content. I do not doubt that, a 
business man could mauage an estate 
better than a woman who has never 
been allowed to buy her own dresses, 
but I have no reason to suppose 
that a. man could spread out 50 cents 
a week any more judiciously than the average 
woman. There are very few cases where a 
woman neglects her children’s wants if she 
has the means, rather going without herself, 
aud I am sure as much caunot bo said of the 
meu. When a man takes all his wife’s money 
and selfishly appropriates it to his own uses to 
lighten his labor, leaving all the ineouve- • 
nieuces for his wife to struggle with, when 
she requests a slight though necessary outlay 
for her convenience, he rewards her by an 
indifferent; "If you want it you’ll have to get 
it the best way you eau; I’ve no money to 
spend.” That man is a coward, aud his wife 
ought to turn into a female Quilp and treat 
him to a series of pinches. Right is right, 
aud who helps to get and keep property more 
than the wife? How often we hear men say, 
that a man does not lay up anything till he 
gets married. What is that but a recommend 
for the wife’s ability to save? 
I’m an old maid (now don’t all say, ‘‘I knew 
it”) without any prospects, but should my 
great uncle leave me a fortune, and I be the 
happy possessor of a mau (you see this is a 
case of “ifs”), I’ll have it distinctly under¬ 
stood that I urn willing to divide; he shall 
have half, but no amount of grumblings, 
huffiness or persuasion will wrench from this 
grasp uni half. I'm sure that is fair. I don’t 
expect him to give me half of his property— 
but why discuss impossibilities. My great 
uncle is still living, he has yet his fortune to 
make, and I caunot see even the ghost of a 
man in future store for me. Alas I 
HEALTHFUL SLEEP. 
E. G. T. 
The common causes of sleeplessness, are an 
overtired brain, and an empty stomach. The 
old-time prejudice about fasting for several 
horn’s before going to bed, like many other 
old wives’ fables, is no longer rigidly fallowed 
by sensible people. The writer has proved in 
many cases besides his own, that a light sup¬ 
per of plain food shortly before retiring will 
often prevent a wakef ul night, when nothing 
else but. opiates that should be shunned would 
produce the desired result. Of course it is 
necessary to use discretion and uot overload 
the stomach, or take anything except light and 
easily digested food, but it is folly to expect a 
good night’s rest with an empty stomach 
clamoriug for food. 
Excitement, worry aud auxiety, although 
they have their seat in the brain, interfere 
with the functions of the stomach, and in like 
manner anything that over-taxes or irritates 
the stomach, disorders the circulation and 
nutrition of the braiu. Overworked persons 
often resort to excessive smoking, or to tea, 
coffee or alcohol to stimulate their tired men¬ 
tal faculties. This is simply burning the can¬ 
dle at, both ends, as these stimulants taken in 
excess in themselves cause sleeplessness, while 
a recourse to drugs to conduit their effects is 
most mischievous and dangerous. Remove 
the cause laud iu tbe above case it can be 
done), and the effect, will generally yield to 
proper treatment. Exercise, which need not 
be of a violent character, or of undue amount, 
tends to produce healthful sleep, but walking 
in itself, if the mind he uot diverted will hard¬ 
ly produce the desired result. Undoubtedly 
Lord Palmerston’s cure for gout, horsebnek 
riding, is the best possible exercise for those 
whose minds are continually at work. Of 
course every mail cannot afford to keep a 
horse, but many a man sjieuds as much on 
tobacco, liquor aud drugs, as would suffice to 
pay for an hour’s daily exercise in the saddle. 
WOMANS BEAUTY.—AIDS TO NA¬ 
TURE. 
A. E. W. 
It has been said that if the proper study of 
man is mankind, the profitable study of wo¬ 
man is the preservation of her beauty and the 
care of her person. Great beauty is given to 
only a fortunate few, but there is never a wo¬ 
man so plain that she eanrot increase her 
plainness, eveu to the verge of repulsiveness, 
by neglecting tbe care of her skin, teeth, nails 
and hair. One would rather see a plain hand 
beautifully kept, with polished nails neatly 
trimmed, than a hand ‘’fit for a sculptor’s 
model,” with slovenly nails, and a suggestion 
that soap is excluded from the toilet. A wo¬ 
man of no special beauty, who has assiduous¬ 
ly preserved such very ordinary attractions 
as she may have been possessed of will be an 
agreeable object at forty, while her ouce much 
more beautiful sister, who has been neglectful 
of her charms, will be positively ugly. 
A good complexion is one of the greatest 
charms of any face, aud where nature has 
supplied this, in common gratitude one should 
do all in his power to preserve it. Cleanli¬ 
ness is a sine qua non, still water is most 
serviceable in moderate amounts aud at a 
moderate temperature. It is very fashionable 
for the heroine of a novel to lake a plunge 
bath every morning, but there are few women 
who cau endure a cold bath; a tepid one is 
much more comfortable and quite as health¬ 
ful. Very cold or very hot baths diminish 
the elasticity of the skin aud its power of re¬ 
sistance to external irritants, Soft water is 
better than hard, aud hard toilet soaps arc 
better than soft, potash soaps. If any powder 
must he used, let it. he a simple, finely-ground 
starch or magnesia; both of these are entirely 
harmless, and often act as a useful protection 
against dust and other irritating substances. 
The face should he washed night and morning 
with a small amount of soap, preferably tine 
toilet, after which apply a few drops of 
glycerine and rose-water. If the face is manip¬ 
ulated with a small quantity of olive-oil for 
five minutes night and morning, premature 
wrinkles will disappear. A too frequent ap¬ 
plication of alcohol (as in bay-rum, Floridn- 
water, cologne, etc.), makes the skin dry and 
brittle, and impairs its nutrition. An emol¬ 
lient bath will make the skin elastic, and a 
few drops of ammonia added will destroy any 
odor from perspiration. 
A preparation of bran and hurley used in¬ 
stead of soap will soften and beautif y the skin. 
Boil six pounds of barley and two of bran in 
soft water for several hours until tbe mixture 
becomes as thick as a heavy oil. Apply this 
to the surface of the body with a lluunel cloth, 
wash it off with warm water; rub in some 
almond-oil; take a quick bath and rub the 
skin thoroughly dry. If the hands are treated 
iu this way night aud morning they will soon 
~~~ ■ -- 
be soft and white. Even if your purse is a 
slender one, it will pay to make one visit to a 
manicure, and after having watched the pro¬ 
cess. you will, with a little practice and the 
same care, lie able to produce the same results. 
It is very difficult to keep long hair clean 
and tree from dandruff. Frequent brushing 
is, of course, a necessity, and the fine comb, if 
it is gently used, so as not to irritate the scalp, 
is also to be commended. A good wash is 
made from half a teaspoonful of salts of Tar¬ 
tar, and a few drops of ammonia dissolved in 
a gill of water, and well rubbed into the hair. 
To prevent dryness after washing make a 
lotion of an ounce each of rosewater and col¬ 
ogne and half an ounce of vinegar of eanthar- 
ides. Apply this to the scalp with a small 
sponge while the hair is wet. 
There is no better tooth powder than pow¬ 
dered orris root. Ouce a week use castile 
soap and once a month powdered charcoal. 
All of these are great helps in keeping the 
breath sweet. Coarse, white button-hole twist 
should be used after every meal to dislodge 
substances between tbe teeth. If a woman is 
wise she will never begrudge money .spent, at 
the dentist’s. Better buy less jewelry aud 
spend the balance in preserving your teeth, 
than to wear false teeth, and any amount of 
bracelets, rings, aud brooches. 
GOLDEN GRAINS. 
Labor is tbe girdle of manliness.— Canon 
Farrar ... .. 
Study the grace of silence when provoked. 
Resolve to defer repl y to another day. 
An open mind, an open hand and an open 
heart will fiud everywhere an open door. 
The real things are inside, the real world is 
the inside world. God is uot up, nor down, 
but in the midst. 
An idle, isolated life never gave strength to 
any human soul. Bonds and burdens are or¬ 
dained of God, and strength is found iu bear¬ 
ing uot shirking them... 
Every congregation preaches louder by 
action iu daily life than the minister can by 
words. . . 
Single-minded men always succeed. The 
wedge, says Carlyle, will rend rocks, but its 
edge must be sharp aud single: if it be double, 
the wedge is bruised in pieces, and will rend 
nothing.. 
W hen the forenoons of life are wasted there 
is not much hope of a peaceful and fruitful 
evening ... 
No woman is educated who is uot equal to 
the successful management of a family. 
Domestic Cooiroiraj 
CONDUCTED BY MRS. AGNES E. M. CARMAN. 
One (joocl resolution—not to make excuses. 
HOUSEKEEPING IN NEW ENGLAND. 
MARY WAGER-FISHER. 
The long life of the whale leads me to note 
an observation I made while iu New Englaud, 
which statistics may not confirm, that New 
England women live to a more advanced age 
than do the women of any other locality in 
the United States. According to the news¬ 
papers, quite a number bad seen a hundred 
birthdays, aud were still eujoyiug life very 
keenly. This would seem to indicate that econ¬ 
omy and frugality are not killing burdens at 
all events, and the sterility of the soil united 
with the thrifty look of the neatly kept homes 
—wooden houses, for the most part (minted 
white, a good many houses shingled all over 
—betokened the necessity of “ faculty ” iu a 
high degree, when every cent iu the dollar 
was looked at t wice before being spent. I saw 
small farmers in pantaloons patched like a 
crazy quilt, but very neatly done, and one 
feature of tbe dress of men and boys was sen¬ 
sible in the highest degree—they generally 
wore flannel shirts in lieu of cotton—much 
safer for the health and a saving at the wash- 
tub and ironing-board, that the women of the 
house certainly appreciate. This custom prob¬ 
ably has been born ol' the sea and the proxim¬ 
ity to the coust, aud ratified of late years by 
the fashions imported by tourists, who, how¬ 
ever "swell" they may be, put on flannel 
at the seashore. But for farm work, any¬ 
where, it should he preferred for all reasons 
to cotton or linen. 
One New England woman who was a direct 
descendant of Miles Standish—and to be a 
‘•direct descendant” of the Mayflower pilgrims 
is akin to an F. 1<\ V, in Virginia—took me 
through her house which she had planned: 
“every room had a closet but. one" —and she 
proceeded to tell me how she had managed 
for that one. She had iuveuted a portable 
closet, for which she thought she ought to 
have a “payteut”—as she expressed herself. 
It was a skeleton affair—simply a light wooden 
frame-work, strengthened with strips of 
boards, which served for shelves, and the out¬ 
ride neatly covered with cretonne, and was not 
a bad-looking piece of furniture iu the room. 
Vermont seems to furnish Massachusetts 
largely with butter, which we invariably 
found of good quality On Nantucket Island 
the claim is made that the milk of cows pas¬ 
tured there is the best in the world for inva¬ 
lids, because of the healing herbs which 
abound and which are eaten by the cows. 
On Martha's Vineyard we found the milk 
flavored with an “herb” that wo strongly sus¬ 
pected was garlic, which is so “healthy” that 
hotel men always wonder why one can’t enjoy 
drinking it. 
Brainy as New England may be, and un¬ 
doubtedly is, there is the same devotion to 
meat eating as everywhere in the United 
States. Apples were wasting under the trees 
iu great quantities, but never an apple did we 
once see on the tables, aud very rarely in any 
form cooked. Doughnuts were never lacking 
as a hreakfastdish—a Yankee evidently would 
as soon think of breakfasting without dough¬ 
nuts as without bread. The New Euglaud 
home-grown mutton is good, and the country 
people, l judge, use it far more than they do 
beef. It would seem that the people of the 
Atlantic coast, owing to the high price of 
beef, the long distances over which the cattle 
are transported, and the questionable condi¬ 
tion both of the cattle and the transported 
meat, would abstain far more than they do 
from beef eating. 1 frankly confess that the 
difference between the home-grown beef of 
the Pacific Slope and the market beef of the 
Atlantic is so great that I have come to re¬ 
gard the latter with aversion. If it were not 
that meat is the base of most soups, I should 
taboo it altogether. It seems but such a little 
remove from cannibalism to kill iuuoceut 
animals and then eat their dead bodies. 
The hotel keepers had their trials with sum¬ 
mer boarders. At one place all the women 
and children were gathering the moss that 
grew ou the rocks—the Irish moss of com¬ 
merce—ami all through the houseaud grounds 
were bits of moss strewn about. At another 
place the mania was for the fragrant, needles 
of the fir. which, when dried were used for 
stuffing pillows and cushions. The needles 
made a fresh, sweet pillow for the sofa or 
couch, and when inclosed in a case of pongee 
silk with a branch of pine embroidered on one 
side, it is really very charming along with its 
suggest!veness. Some women make the case 
like a bag, facing the inside of the top to the 
depth of a finger with brown sdk, aud running 
in a drawstriDg, tie with a brown ribbon. The 
pongee silk is washable and if the embroidery 
is done iu good silk, the cover can be cleaned 
readily. Of course, in resting one’s head on a 
pretty cushion one should have the discretion 
to make use of the side least ornamented. 
At one house where we visited, the hostess 
had for dessert one day a very nice, plain 
plum pudding which she had made a week be¬ 
fore. She said that on account of its keeping 
quality, she found it very convenient to 
have one always on hand for emergencies. It 
was hot, light, and fragrant, free from brandy 
or wine, and deemed to digest readily—quite 
unlike the plum puddings served on ship¬ 
board, wreathed in a blue flame and inspiring 
“ dreams most foul ’’— 
In a beautifully fitted up bed-chamber I no¬ 
ticed a peculiarity in the pillow furniture, 
that maybe common enough iu New England 
aud elsewhere, only I had uot before seen it. 
The great, square pillows,designed as supports 
for pillow-shuuis, were stuffed hard with hair 
or shredded husks, while across the foot of the 
bed were laid feather pillows of normal size 
for use in sleeping—only brought out from the 
linen closet when required. Of course for 
showa pillow stuffed witli hay is os good as any; 
but not for use, and there are comparatively 
few people who care for an extra large pillow to 
sleep on. New England has been the home of 
a great deal of handsome, old furniture, 
brought over from England and Europe iu 
Colonial times. Bric-a-brac dealers have their 
agents all through the country on the lookout 
for every thing quaint and old, from tea pots 
to spinning wheels, and some very curious and 
and beautiful things are to be seen in these 
shops. Of course, well-to-do New England 
families do uot part with their heirlooms, and 
in nearly nil old homesteads there are tables, 
chairs, side-boards and cloeks of mahogany 
of comparative antiquity. But families die, 
or become straitened in circumstances, and 
then the cherished furniture falls under the 
hammer of the auctioneer. New England is 
old-fashioned iu comparison with the West, 
“hackwoodsy” even. The women spend far 
less on dress—there is lei s rush ami hurry- 
more repose of character—a higher regard for 
honest work—less contempt for the peuny.aud 
honesty is not dead in that laud, for one hotel 
keeper, upon fiudiug that he had over¬ 
charged us in his bill, refunded the amount 
to us some days later, in postage stamps, in u 
letter. 
