Scotch Broth.-Put a pint of Scotch (not pearl) barley into a gallon of cold water, with a large carrot cut into dice, three onions, and three pounds scrag end of a neck of mutton; after a time, add three or four turnips, also cut into dice, and keep it stewing-not boiling-for six hours, skimming it frequently. Should water require to be added, let it be boiling. This is for a small quantity of broth. Before serving, add some parsley, chopped fine.

Boned Ham.-Soak a nicely-cured ham in tepid water, the night before you wish to cook it. Next day place it in a large boiler of water of the same temperature, and boil it slowly eight or ten hours. Take it up in a wooden tray, let it cool, and care. fully take out the bone; cut it clear at the hock, and loosen it around the bone on the thick part with a thin, sharp knife, and slowly pull it out. Then press the ham in shape, and return it to the boiling liquor. Take the pot off the fire, and let the ham remain in it until cold.

Boiled Leg of Mutton.-A leg of mutton for boiling should hang two days before cooking. Cut off the shank-bone, trim the knuckle, wash and wipe the leg very clean; plunge it into sufficient boiling water to cover it; let it boil up once; draw the pot to the side of the fire, and let it cool till nearly lukewarm; draw it forward again and simmer gently two hours and a half, never letting the water boil; put a tablespoonful of salt in the water, skim while cooking. Take a pint of the water and boil it in a saucepan till reduced one-half; add two ounces of butter, and a tablespoonful of flour, well mixed together, salt and pepper; stir all well together, and boil up once; pour over the mutton when dished. Caper-sauce should be served with boiled mutton.

Jellied Veal.-Take a knuckle of veal, wash it, put it in a pot with water enough to cover it, boil it slowly for two or three hours; take out all the bones -be sure to pick out all little ones-cut the meat into little pieces, put it back in the liquor, season to your taste with pepper, salt, and sage: let it stew away until pretty dry; turn it in an oblong dish, or one that will mould it well to cut in slices. This is a relish for breakfast.

Calf's Liver Larded and Roasted.-A calf's liver, vinegar, one onion, three or four sprigs of parsley and thyme, salt and pepper to taste, one bay-leaf, brown gravy. Take a fine white liver, and lard it; put it into vinegar with an onion cut in slices; parsley, thyme, bay-leaf, and seasoning in the above proportion. Let it remain in this pickle for twenty-four hours, then roast and baste it frequently with the vinegar, etc.; glaze it, serve under it a good brown gravy, or sauce piquante, and send it to table very

hot.

Steak Pie.-Cut up a pound and a half of fillet steak or rump steak, with two kidneys, previously boiled, two eggs boiled hard and cut lengthwise in four pieces, pepper and salt lightly, flour the steak and kidneys, place some of the meat and some of the egg in the dish, and a piece of butter the size of a walnut; add a teacupful of good gravy, seasoned with a teaspoonful of Worcester sauce; fill the dish with the remaining portions of meat and eggs. Cover with the paste, and bake slowly for two hours and a half.

Rump Steak and Kidney Pie.-Ingredients: Two pounds of rump steak, two kidneys, seasoning of salt, black pepper, and Cayenne pepper. Cut the steak into pieces about three inches long and two wide, and cut each kidney into six or eight pieces. Arrange them in layers, and between each layer sprinkle the seasoning. Fill the dish sufficiently to have a raised appearance. Pour in sufficient water

to half fill the dish, border it with paste, brush it over with water, and cover it. Ornament the top with leaves, make a hole in the centre, and bake in a moderate oven for two hours.

Mutton Cutlets and Tomatoes.-Trim from the cutlets a superfluous fat, dip them in an egg beaten up, and some pepper and salt; then roll them in bread-crums, and let them rest for a couple of hours. Peel some good-sized tomatoes; make an incision around the stalk end, and remove all the pips, taking great care in doing so to preserve the tomatoes whole. Lay them in a stewpan with a small quantity of good stock, a pod of garlic, some parsley and basil, mixed fine, and pepper and salt to taste; let them stew very gently till done. Fry the cutlets a nice color in plenty of butter; arrange them in a circle on a dish, and put the tomatoes in the centre, with as much of their gravy as is necessary.

A Good Mince for Patties.-Two ounces of ham, four ounces of chicken or veal, one egg boiled hard, three cloves, a blade of mace, pepper and salt, in fine powder. Just before serving, warm the ingredients with four spoonfuls of rich gravy, the same of cream, and one ounce of butter.

Beef Patties.-Cut up cold beef and season it with salt, pepper, a little mace, and any sweet herb you like, and cold gravy if you have it; if not, pieces of butter, and a little water with a teaspoonful of flour stirred in it. Make a nice plain paste, not very rich, roll it out the size of your pie-dish, and line your plate with it. Put the beef with some of the gravy in the centre of the plate, and fold the paste from each side to meet in the middle; pinch it together, prick the top with a fork, and bake it a light brown. Cheap and very nice.

CAKES, PUDDINGS, ETC.

Bohemian Cream.-Take four ounces of any fruit you choose, which has been stoned and sweetened. Pass the fruit through a sieve, and add one and a half ounce of melted or dissolved isinglass to a half pint of fruit; mix it well together; then whip a pint of rich cream, and add the fruit and isinglass gradually to it. Then pour it all into a mould; set it on ice or in a cool place, and when hardened or set, dip the mould a moment in warm water, and turn it out ready for the table.

Easy-made Pudding.—Take half a pound each of currants, flour, and chopped beef suet, four ounces of treacle, and a breakfastcupful of milk; add a little spice, mix well together, and boil it in a cloth or basin for four hours.

Teacakes-Put two pounds of flour into a basin, with a teaspoonful of salt. Rub in a quarter of a pound of butter. Beat an egg, and in it crumble a piece of German yeast the size of a walnut; add these to the flour with enough warm milk to make the whole into a smooth paste, and knead it well. Put it near the fire to rise, and when well risen, form it into cakes. Place them on tins, let them stand near the fire for a few minutes; put them into a moderate oven, and bake them for half an hour. They should be buttered and eaten hot.

Seed Cake.-Three-quarters of a pound of butter, three eggs, one pound of flour, three-quarters of an ounce of caraway seeds, three-quarters of a pound of sugar. Beat the butter to a cream. Add the caraway seeds and sugar and mix them well together stirring in gradually a teacupful of milk. Whisk the eggs, add them to the other ingredients, and beat again for five minutes. Mix a teaspoonful of baking-powder with the flour and add it by degrees, beating the cake well until all the ingredients are thoroughly incorporated. Put it into a tin lined with

buttered paper, and bake it in a moderate oven for two hours.

Queen Cake.-Wash one pound of butter in a little orange-flower water, and beat it to a cream with a wooden spoon; add to it one pound of finely-pow. dered loaf sugar, and mix in by degrees eight eggs, well beaten. One pound of flour dried and sifted, three-quarters of a pound of currants, a little nutmeg, and two ounces of bitter almonds, pounded, must then be stirred in, adding, last of all, a wineglassful of brandy. Beat the whole well together for an hour, and bake in small buttered tins in a brisk

oven.

Cream Muffins.-One quart of rich milk, or, if you can get it, half cream and half milk; a quart of flour; six eggs; one tablespoonful of butter; one of lard, softened together. Beat whites and yelks, separately, very light; then add flour and shortening, and a teaspoonful of salt, and stir in the flour the last thing, lightly as possible, and have the batter free from lumps. Half fill well-buttered muffin-rings, and bake immediately in a hot oven, or the muffins will not be good. Send to table the moment they are done.

Bird's Nest Pudding.-Take eight or ten goodflavored apples, pare and core, leaving them whole; place in a pudding-dish; fill the core with sugar and a little grated nutmeg. Then make a custard, allow. ing five eggs to a quart of milk, and sweetened to taste. Pour this over the apples, and bake about half an hour.

Sponge Pudding.-Butter a mould thickly, and fill it three-parts full with small sponge-cakes, soaked through with wine; fill up the mould with a rich cold custard. Butter a paper and put on the mould; then tie a floured cloth over it quite close, and boil it an hour. Turn out the pudding carefully, and pour some cold custard over it. Or, bake it, and serve with wine-sauce instead of custard.

Yorkshire Cakes.-Take two pounds of flour, and mix with it four ounces of butter melted in a pint of good milk, three spoonfuls of yeast, and two eggs; beat all well together, and let it rise, then knead it and make it into cakes. Let them rise on tins before you bake them, which do in a slow oven.

Spanish Puffs.-Put into a saucepan a teacupful of water, one tablespoonful of powdered sugar, half a teaspoonful of salt, and two ounces of butter. While it is boiling add sufficient flour for it to leave the saucepan; stir in, one by one, the yelks of four eggs, drop a teaspoonful at a time into boiling lard, and fry a light brown.

Boiled Oatmeal Pudding.-Pour a quart of boiling milk over a pint of the best fine oatmeal, let it soak all night, in a cool place, else the milk might turn; next day beat an egg in and mix a little salt with it; butter a basin that will just hold it, cover it tight with a floured cloth, and boil an hour and a half. Eat it with sugar; or oiled butter and salt. When cold, slice and toast it, and eat it as oatmeal cake buttered.

HINTS ON VARNISHING.

BEFORE beginning to varnish, it is necessary that the surface to which it is to be applied should be perfectly free from all grease and smoke-stains, for It will be found that if this is not attended to, the varnish will not dry hard. If the varnish is to be applied to old articles, it is necessary to wash them very carefully with soap and water before applying it. When it is wished that the varnish should dry quickly and hard, it is necessary to be careful that the varnish should always be kept as long a time as

possible before being used; and also that too high a temperature has not been used in manufacturing the varnish employed. It is likewise customary, when it can be done, to expose the article to the atmo sphere of a heated room. This is called stoving it, and is found to greatly improve the appearance of the work, as well as to cause the varnish to dry quickly. After the surface is varnished, to remove all the marks left by the brush, it is usually carefully polished with finely-powdered pumice-stone and water. Afterwards, to give the surface the greatest polish is capable of receiving, it is rubbed over with a clean soft rag, on the surface of which a mixture of very finely-powdered tripoli and oil has been applied. The surface is afterwards cleaned with a soft rag and powdered starch, and the last polish is given with the palm of the hand. This method is, however, only employed when those varnishes are used which, when dry, become sufficiently hard to admit of it. When it is wished to varnish drawings, engravings, or other paper articles, it is usual to previously paint them over with a clear solution of gelatine. This is usually prepared from parchment cuttings.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Rings that have stones in them should always be taken off the finger when the hands are washed, else they become discolored.

Oil paintings hung over the mantle-piece are liable to wrinkle with the beat.

To Clean Vegetables of Insects.-Make a strong brine of one pound and a half of salt to one gallon of water, into this place the vegetables with the stalk ends uppermost, for two or three hours; this will destroy all the insects which cluster in the leaves, and they will fall out and sink to the bottom of the water.

Salt.-To every person whose diet consists largely of bread or its equivalents, common salt is a positive necessity. It is a universal constituent of animal bodies, so universal that unless an animal can acquire it in one way or another that animal cannot live. Widely diffused all over the world, it is taken up, too, by the roots of vegetables, and may also be found in their ashes. Dietically regarded, salt is by no means in the same category with mustard, pep per, vinegar, and other condiments. These are not to be found in blood or muscle. Salt is. In one way or another, it is, in fact, the very essence of exist

ence.

To Revive Withered Flowers.-Plunge the stems into boiling water, and by the time the water is cold, the flowers will revive. The ends of the stalks should then be cut off; and the flowers should be put to stand in cold water, and they will keep fresh for several days.

Breathing through the Nostrils. An excellent suggestion is, that, when breathing air that is dusty, or bad smelling, or otherwise impure, one should draw the breath slowly through the nostrils. In this way the dust and other impurities are in part arrested in the moist and narrow nasal passages, and are prevented from being thrown upon the lungs. When we breathe through the mouth they are carried more directly thither. Many would lengthen their lives by resolutely breathing through the nostrils.

Paste for Scrap-Books.-Corn-flour makes the best paste for scrap-books. Dissolve a small quantity in cold water, then cook it thoroughly. Be careful not to get it too thick. When cold, it should be thin enough to apply with a brush. It will not mould or stain the paper. It is the kind used by the daguer reotypists on "gem" pictures.

THE CENTENNIAL THANKSGIVING DAY.

IN looking back upon the history of our country from the date of its independence, and, indeed, of its first settlement, the sentiment awakened in every reflecting mind is not so much one of exultation as of gratitude. We cannot but feel that as a nation we have been peculiarly favored, and that the lines of our people have been cast in pleasant places. Even the troubles and trials through which we have passed have been useful in redeeming us from errors, and in elevating and improving the national character. Every one, for example, must feel conscious that the late "financial revulsion" has been anything but an unmixed evil. The shock came just in time to put an end to an era of public and private extravagance, and to bring us back, by a sharp but salutary discipline, to the economy and plainness of living which should distinguish the people of a republic.

We need not now speak of the more evident blessIngs which have been showered upon our country, from the day when its feeble existence as a separate community began, to the time when a great and powerful people, occupying with their cities and farms, mines, and workshops, almost the whole temperate zone of our continent, have been able to invite all the nations of the globe to witness and admire their progress and achievements. On this topic, which has occupied so many minds, enough has been lately said by others, in better terms than we can command. There remains, however, one duty to be performed, to which perhaps sufficient attention has not been given. The thankfulness which is felt by all should have some public and national expression.

When the first Congress of the United States met in the city of New York, eighty-seven years ago, one of the earliest acts of the two Houses was, by a joint resolution, to request the President "to recommend to the people of the United States a day of Public Thanksgiving and Prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially in affording them an opportunity of peaceably establishing a form of government for their safety and happiness." This congenial duty was well performed by WASHINGTON, who, in a proclamation worthy of the occasion, "recommended and assigned Thursday, the twenty-ninth of November" (1789), "to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of the great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, that will be." The subjects of thankfulness are set forth in succinct but comprehensive terms-the "kind care and protection of Providence, which the people of this country had experienced previous to its becoming a nation" the happy conclusion of the recent war; the tranquillity, union, and plenty which had since been enjoyed; the peaceable and rational manner in which the people had been enabled to establish constitutions of government for their safety and happiness; the civil and religious liberty with which they were blessed; and the means they possessed of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge.

All these blessings have been perpetuated, in constantly increasing measure, to our own day. No one, surely, will deny that it will be a most becoming act for our national authorities to follow the example thus offered to them by the first Congress and President, and to carry it out to its proper end by establishing the day thus selected-the last Thursday in November-as an annual "Thanksgiving Day" for all time, while our republic shall exist. It is true that for many years the day has been thus appointed by our Presidents, with the general acquiescence of the people. But it will be surely better that what has thus come to be in part a national festival shall be so acknowledged and established by the highest legislative authority. If the day is to be properly and permanently a public holiday, such an enactment is needed, in order that public and private business may be regulated in accordance with it.

It is a holiday especially worthy of our people. All its associations and all its influences are of the best kind. It reunites families and friends. It awakens kindly and generous sentiments. It promotes peace and good-will among our mixed population. It gives a festival for the homes of all, and to the homeless it brings one day in the year of gladness and plenty. If only for the charitable feeling which it rouses towards the poor, the suffering, and the helpless, the day has a value beyond all expression.

We have two yearly holidays in our American celebrations; these are patriotic and political. Are not the sounds of war borne on the breezes of those festivals? One comes in the cold of winter; the other in the heat of summer; while the glorious autumn of the year, when blessings are gathered in, has no day of remembrance for her gifts of peace. Should not the women of America have one festival in whose rejoicings they can fully participate?

We make an appeal on behalf of the women of America, who see on Thanksgiving Day their sons and daughters reunited and their homes happy. They have deserved well of our legislators, if only for the sacrifices they have made and the substantial aid they have afforded to the noblest efforts of men. On behalf and in the service of womanhood, we be seech Congress to pass an enactment that will give to the people this Thanksgiving Holiday.

This subject has been laid before the House of Representatives, and bills in its favor passed the second reading and were referred to a committee, but the session ended before the act was reached. Should the present Congress fail to legislate favora-' bly before its last session closes, there is still a way opened for hope of success. We, the women of the United States, must unite wisely and patiently in a petition to the Forty-fifth Congress for this free, National Day of Thanksgiving.

THE LESSON OF THE EXHIBITION. THE Great Fair is approaching its last days, and the vast inclosure now filled with beautiful buildings, gay with flags, and noisy with the daily presence of a hundred thousand visitors, will soon be only a thing to remember. We may safely say that

no one who saw it in its glory will forget it to the day of his death. To the great majority of us to whom this is our first experience of a World's Fair, the Exhibition was simply stupendous. We were introduced into a new and wonderful world, of which the surroundings of our daily life, and even the ob jects we had casually encountered, made up but a small part. With a portion of the exhibits, such as those which filled the English section, the reading community was tolerably familiar, and their admiration had a touch of acquaintanceship. But for such a display as that which thronged the Japanese Department with wondering visitors no written account had prepared us; and even now wɔ are unable to call up any work on the "Land of the Mikado" which has done justice to the supreme excellence of design and of execution, to the magnificence in adornment and the exquisite originality of the great cabinets, bronzes, and vases from Arita, Tokio, and Yeddo.

In Machinery Hall, perhaps, the American visitor felt most at home. His foot was on his native heath; when he looked from the Corliss Engine to the acres of steam power, loom power, water power applied to the various wants of a community, he could feel a just pride in his country; for among the nations represented around him the United States held an undisputed leadership. Not even the English machinery could compete with ours.

But in the Main Building, the receptacle of the finished products of workmanship, we did not show to advantage. On this subject the truth should be plainly told; and we are glad to see that the newspapers with one accord have called the attention of the public to the contrast presented in Industrial Art between the American exhibit and those of England, France, Belgium, Japan, and China. It is not too much to say that our cardinal idea of decoration seemed to be to overlay the object with so much gilding and carpenter-work as to convey the impression of a great expense. No one is so direct and efficient as the American workman in making an article of simple utility, or using a labor-saving machine; no one goes so far astray in elaborate ornamentation.

The reason is not far to seek. In common with all peoples of Northern blood, Teutons or Saxons, we are deficient in the keen perception of beauty which seems innate in Southern Europe; and while our English kinsmen have recognized their weakness and devoted their most earnest efforts to artistic cultivation, we have been contented in our ignorance. But we are contented no longer; and the Exhibition may prove the beginning of a new era.

In our Table for last month, we briefly described just such a change in England. In the first half of this century, British industrial art was in virtually the same condition as our present state. The design of household furniture, pottery, ornamental objects of all kinds, was mean or ugly. Upholsterers and cabinet-makers filled the houses of their customers with flaunting ugliness or insipid mediocrity. The World's Fair of 1851 brought this fact clearly before the nation. The comparison between their exhibits and those of the neighboring continental nations was humiliating; and it became evident, even as a matter of profit, that artistic wares would find ready sale. A determined effort began from that day; the South Kensington Museum was established, with its multitude of schools; and in twenty years England, in the matter of industrial art, was as far in advance of the continent as she had been in arrear.

Why should not America date her upward move. ment from 1876? Certainly our workmen do not lack for ready intelligence. It only needs the systematic study of a collection like that at South Kensington

to imbue them with a cultivated appreciation of beauty. Already in our great cities, in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, similar museums and schools are established. We shall look back to the Exhibition of 1876 as the dawn of a new era.

LITERARY PENSIONARIES.

IN one respect the votaries of literature and science seem to be more fortunately situated in England than in most other countries. By law, new pensions can be granted every year, to an amount not exceeding £1200, to persons who have attained distinction-or, to use the official phrase, have rendered public services-in any branch of science or literature. Or if the person himself is dead, the pension may be granted to his wife or children. A list of the pensions granted during the past year has just been published, and comprises some distinguished names. Lady Caroline Wilkinson receives £150 a year, in recognition of the services rendered to science and archæological literature by her late husband, Sir John Wilkinson, well known for his works on Egyp tian and Oriental history. Sir John Brown (author of "Rab and his Friends"), receives £100 “in consid eration of his services to literature." Mrs. Emily M. Brooks, the widow of Shirley Brooks (the late editor of Punch, and author of many novels and other works), receives £100. Mrs. Catharine M. Banim, "in recognition of the services rendered to Irish literature by her late husband, Mr. Richard Banim," receives £50. Dr. Henry M. Rumsey, "in recogni tion of the long and able services which he has rendered to the public in connection with sanitary science," receives £100.

As these pensions are not mere largesses, like those with which lavish rulers reward their favor. ites, but are, in part, gifts of the nation in requital of what are felt to be benefits received, they must be deemed honorable alike to givers and receivers. Whether such pensions are the best mode of encouraging and rewarding literary and scientific labors, may perhaps be a question. But until some better way shall be devised, we must be content to approve and applaud the generous spirit in which the Eng. lish people now deal with those who devote themselves to these excellent but not very lucrative pur suits.

A LADIES' FIRE DEPARTMENT.-The students of Wellesley (Ladies') College, Mass., have a “fire de partment" of their own. The object is not merely to provide for the safety of this college, but to familiar. ize the students with the best modes of extinguishing fires. Twenty hand-pumps are distributed through the college building, each supplemented by six pails, kept always full of water. Every pump has its company of seven girls, one of whom is captain, and an other lieutenant. All the companies are drilled at convenient times in handling the pumps, forming lines, and passing the pails. The whole department is directed by a superintendent and a secretary. There are also hose companies, organized in a simi lar manner, for operating the great steam fire-engine. The idea seems an excellent one. Many seminaries for young men have no such organization as this, and they will do well to take pattern by Wellesley College.

EARLY CHRISTIAN FAMILIES.-It is announced that Lady Herbert, of Lea, has in preparation a work on the position of the wife and mother in the fourth century, in which she traces the resemblance be tween the domestic life of the present day and that of the early Christians. The subject is a novel one, and the work can hardly fail to be interesting.

AMERICA'S THANKSGIVING HYMN. WRITTEN FOR THE LAST THURSDAY IN NOVEMBER,

1872.

ALMIGHTY LORD of glory!

Our praise to Him we bring:
And chant our country's story,
Where GOD alone is KING;
His outstretched arm sustaining,
Behold the Mayflower come!
His mercy foreordaining

Our land for Freedom's home.
Though wintry darkness gathers,
And dearth and death prevail,
The faithful Pilgrim Fathers
Could look within the veil;
O joy amid the sadness!
They're free to do and pray,
And keep in sober gladness

Their first Thanksgiving Day.
These seeds of Faith and Freedom
God's Word hath wafted free;
O'er rocks outsoaring Edom
They reach the Sunset Sea;
And East and West uniting,
One family become;

With North and South relighting

Love's lamp-WE'RE ALL AT HOME!

With half of heaven above us,
An ocean on each hand,

We've room for all who love us,
And join our brother band;
Praising the Great All-Giver,
Our Home Feast we display,
And through the years forever
Keep free Thanksgiving Day.
In palace and in prison

Our Festival is one,
The witness CHRIST is risen—
Good-will for men begun:
Our hearts one hope rejoices,
Our souls in concert pray,

'Mid songs of choral voices

GOD BLESS THANKSGIVING DAY!

To be sung to the measure of Bishop Heber's hymn, "From Greenland's icy mountains." SARAH JOSEPHA HALE.

THE WORK OF AN ENGLISH LADY.

WE take this article from the Christian Woman, a monthly paper, edited and published by Mrs. Annie Wittenmyer, Philadelphia, No. 1020 Arch Street. We commend this excellent paper to our subscribers. The price is merely nominal, only fifty cents a year, post paid.

A CHRIST-LIKE WORK.

During the last six years, Mrs. Macpherson, of London, has gathered up out of the slums of that great city 2521 children, and brought them to Canada and secured for them comfortable homes. To accomplish this she has given the best years of her life, and crossed the ocean twenty-one times, with, on an average, 120 children.

These children of poverty and ignorance are doing well, and are looked after by this noble lady and her co-laborers with parental interest.

She lives in an atmosphere of peace and joy. Though she has blessed so many, she has found that "it is more blessed to give than to receive," and the praise of a covenant-keeping God is continually on her lips.

She says, "In the providence of our covenant-keeping God, and Father of the fatherless, we have again been permitted in peace to return from another visit to the adopted homes of our little ones. To his praise, who is the Answerer of prayer, we record that, 100,000 miles have been travelled in connection with these special charges in the past six years, and no storm or accident has been permitted to alarm, no death requiring the remains to be committed to the great deep. "All, all has been universal kindness: we have ever

experienced from the shippers (Messrs. Allen Bros.) and all in their employ the greatest attention, also from the employés of the railway companies-the Midland in England, and the Grand Trunk in Canada. One fact is enough: in the transit of thousands of children and their boxes, not one has ever been lost.

During the past year the Dominion Government chose four of their oldest officials to visit all our children (as their Blue-book records), 'deeming that from their experience they would be best enabled to judge of the condition, position, and prospects of the children in their situations.' The government are satisfied (as parents of the State) that our children are very carefully placed,' bringing out the fact we have recognized for several years-that, after training, and under twelve years of age, ninety-eight out of every 100 are doing well.

"To England this outlet for those friendless, parentless children is an unspeakable boon; to our Canadian colony it is equally so.'

MR. RUSKIN ON LADIES' ATTIRE.-Mr. Ruskin, who seems now to have taken up the part of general adviser and critic, gives some excellent counsel to young ladies on the interesting subject of dress. The following is an extract:

"Dress as plainly as your parents will allow you; but in bright colors (if they become you) and in the best materials; that is to say, in those which will wear longest. When you are really in want of a new dress, buy it (or inake it) in the fashion; but never quit an old one merely because it as become unfashionable. And if the fashion be costly, you must not follow it. You may wear broad stripes or narrow, bright colors or dark, short petticoats or long (in moderation), as the public wish you; but you must not buy yards of useless stuff to make a knot or a flounce of, nor drag thein behini you over the ground. And your walking dress must never touch the ground at all. I have lost much of the faith I once had in the common-sense and even in the personal delicacy of the present race of average Englishwomen by seeing how they will allow their dresses to sweep the streets if it is the fashion to be scavengers."

It is greatly to be feared that Mr. Ruskin's denunciation of useless knots and flounces and dragging dresses will prove as ineffectual as King James's counterblast against tobacco." The gradual diffusion of better knowledge and taste will alone avail to abolish these absurdities.

A NON-ALCOHOLIC HOSPITAL.-It is stated that for many years Dr. Nicholls, the experienced medical officer of the Hugford (Ireland) Poor-law Union, has refrained from prescribing alcoholic stimulants for any of the patients under his care. The result has been very satisfactory, the "death-rate" in his hosIn 1875 there were pital being remarkably small. "The cases (as forty-one fever patients admitted. the doctor states in his report) were generally of a bad type, and many complicated with pneumonia (inflammation of the lungs), and not a few followed by measles, scarlatina, and diphtheria," diseases which prevailed in that locality. Yet out of the forty-one all but two recovered-a result which the doctor attributes to his "non-alcoholic treatment."

TEACHERS' SALARIES.-The school authorities of St. Louis have concluded to make the experiment of "equal and exact justice" in the payment of their teachers, framing their scale according to mexit, without regard to sex. Women teachers receive the same salaries as men, when they do the same work. This is the true rule, and it is to be hoped that school-boards throughout the country will see the fairness of it, and follow the excellent example of St. Louis.

LADY STUDENTS OF LAW.-The faculty of University College, London, having consented this year to

admit ladies to the class in Roman Law, two young ladies availed themselves of the privilege, and pre