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Per Cent Starch (To to to Potatoes per cent)

67 to 70 50 to 61 52 42 to 43 Potatoes (75 per cent water) 13 to 15.

The large variation in wheat flour is due to processes of grinding. Varieties of wheat only vary about five per cent, but the old process of making fine white flour, used only the middle or starchy parts of the kernel, rejecting the gluten (nitrogenous and muscle-feeding). The whitest and highest-priced flour was, therefore, least nourishing, containing the largest per cent of starch. Modern invention has, however, reversed this, and the best "new process" flour contains the largest proportion of gluten. The old argument in favor of Graham, that it contained a larger proportion of nitrogen, and better supplied the body with muscle-making material, no longer holds good. Analysis shows that the best "new process" flour and Graham are almost identical in these elements. The only advantage left for Graham is the action of the coarser particles of bran (the outer shell and indigestible) on the coatings of the stomach, which is often salutary, but sometimes injurious to the delicate membranes. When flour and bread made from it contains one part nitrogen to four of carbon, it is nearly perfect food, and will sustain life. The substance which is of next importance in supplying carbon to the body is oil (which is chiefly carbon). The oils used for food are butter, lard, and fat of beef. Other oils, used sometimes in cooking, are nearly identical with these. They contain about eighty per cent of carbon, butter having the least. In grains, oil varies, being nine per cent in corn meal, six in oatmeal, three and a half in rye, and one to two in wheat. Oils and starch serve the same purpose in the digestive process; both are useful to supply carbon; neither nourish muscle. Starch is easy of digestion, requiring one hour, while butter is converted into chyme in three and one-half, mutton-fat in four and a half, and beef-fat in five and a half hours. This furnishes the best of reasons why fats should be sparingly used, especially in warm and moderate weather, when a sufficient supply of carbon is easily secured from vegetable foods. Besides, it is a well established fact that excessive use of fats in cooking cause an excessive secretion of bile, and this, in turn, causes a sensation like hunger and an increase of saliva. This is mistaken for real hunger. More food is taken, and indigestion and, later, dyspepsia result. An eminent authority says: "I believe it will be found the offending ingredient in nine-tenths of the dishes that disturb weak stomachs." Dyspeptics need to reject not only foods in which fats are mixed, but those in which they are a natural element, such as the yolk of eggs, liver, milk, rich cheese, etc. Yolks contain twenty-eight per cent of oil, and milk over three per cent. One condition only calls for the use of fats in daily diet: Long-continued exposure to excessive cold. One pound of fat furnishes as much carbon as two and four-tenths pounds of starch, or seven and seven-tenths pounds lean meat. When the moisture of the breath is converted to ice and freezes on the beard, the air has no watery vapor and is nearly pure, containing a large per cent of oxygen. To meet this in the lungs requires abundant carbon, and oils furnish this most readily. The best bread for cold weather is that containing most oil. Corn bread ranks first, oatmeal next, rye third, and wheat last. Of course comparatively few are exposed to the rigors of winter in civilized life, and brief exposure to cold is off-set by an increase of clothing, and ordinary diet furnishes a plentiful supply of carbon. For woodmen, soldiers, sailors, pilots, travelers, railroad men, and others exposed to long cold storms, especially when they can not exercise freely, should eat liberally of fat beef, yolks of eggs, and butter. Butter is the least objectionable of fats. Fat from salt pork and smoked bacon is less injurious than that from fresh pork. Beef fat is also much more wholesome than lard. Above all, let the cook remember that oils are physic, and next to poison, if not blended with substances which contain large quantities of starch, such as rice, mealy potatoes, and bread made of fine wheat flour. An ounce of lard and a pound of flour thoroughly blended in a loaf of bread is digestible, but the same amount added to corn meal (already rich in oil) would be fit food only for a Greenlander. The proper proportion of oil in food in ordinary circumstances is illustrated in milk, which contains three and one-half parts oil in one hundred. The next important element which supplies carbon is sugar, which is contained in greater or less quantity in all vegetable substances, and largely (five to six and one-half per cent) in milk. Sugar contains forty per cent carbon, the rest water. It seems to be first converted into fat, and then used in respiration. In moderate quantities it has no injurious effects. A part of sugar as ordinarily eaten passes into lactic acid, and aids digestion, but if too much is produced digestion is retarded.

There are two kinds of sugars in commerce, -cane and grape. The former is made from cane, maple sap, beets, corn-stalks, etc.; the other from plants which have an acid juice. Cane sugar contains twelve parts carbon to eleven of water; grape sugar twelve of carbon to fourteen of water. Sugars are changed by fermentation into carbonic acid and alcohol, but grape sugar is most liable to such fermentation, -cane sugar first becoming grape sugar by chemical combination with water. Pure cane sugar remains perfectly dry and unchanged in the air, while grape sugar attracts moisture, and becomes mealy and damp. Cane sugar dissolves more readily in water than grape, and hence tastes sweeter. Two pounds of cane sugar sweeten as much as five of grape. These facts give a hint to housekeepers of great value. Grape sugar, which is worth only two-fifths as much as cane, is used largely to adulterate the latter. The fine, floury "powdered" sugar is largely grape sugar, and is not only of much less value, but deteriorates more rapidly than pure cane sugar. Brown sugar, after standing for some time, absorbs water from the air, and becomes grape sugar. It is, therefore, the best economy to buy the best white granulated sugar.

There is another element of food which does not feed muscle, vegetable jelly, called pectine. This and pectine acid particularly abounds in fruits and berries. By the processes of ripening. the vegetable acids which are enclosed in little cells, burst out, are diffused through the mass of fruit, and manufacture pectine or jelly. Heat produces the same effect as ripening, and cooking is, in fact, only a rapid process of ripening. This jelly, when combined with sugar, goes to make up a variety of delicate articles, such as jellies and marmalades. They are nourishing, principally, on account of the sugar they contain, but are easily digested, cooling, and delicious. It should be mentioned that nearly all fruits are rich in sugar, -a ripe peach containing as much as an equal quantity of cane juice. There are some other substances which appear in less quantity in foods which seem none the less essential to health and life. One of these is phosphorus, which is an element of brain and nerves, and is wasted by mental activity and nervous excitement. The brain-worker demands a diet rich in phosphorus, and in such a form as to be easily assimilated. The food that best sustains a laborer in the open air is not the best for those who live among the excitements and exhausting demands on the brain, that are the rule in city life. For the latter, eggs, m most kinds of fish, oysters, lobsters, crabs, game, cheese, and, among vegetables the potato; and these foods are just what are craved by city people.

Another element is sulphur, which is required in the growth of bone and cartilage, the hair and nails. Of this there is so much in the yolk of an egg that silver is blackened by contact with it. Curd of milk and cheese are also rich in sulphur.

Iron is always present in healthy blood, and its absence-paleness-is an indication of illness. Most articles of food contain iron; in the juice of flesh, in eggs, and in milk it is abundant. Lime and salt are also ingredients in all food, the former making bone, and the latter playing an important part in the creation of the digestive juices. Lime is found in all grains, particularly in wheat and in milk, in form of subphosphates. Bread and milk are for this reason an excellent diet for growing children, as they supply not only heat and muscle, but lime that goes to supply the growth of bone. Salt also exists in many articles of food. Men and races grow in proportion to their skill in combining heat and muscle-producing foods. The hardy Scotch use oatmeal largely, which is rich in nitrogen. The Irish, who endure a large amount of hard labor on cheap fare, eat potatoes, oatmeal, cabbage, and milk, while the lime and phosphates are said to be derived from the "hard" water impregnated with lime. The English add bacon (heat-producing) to beans, rich in nitrogen, and to rice, which abounds in starch (carbon), add milk and eggs, which feed muscle. The Italian eats macaroni, which is principally starch, with cheese, rich in nitrogen. The use of chemistry in cooking is to teach how to supplement one kind of food by another which contains the essential elements which the first lacks. For instance, venison contains fifteen per cent nitrogen to fifty-two carbon, or as one to three and a half, while the ratio should be one to four or five. To make it perfect and satisfying food, we have only to supplement it with something rich in carbon, as wheat bread, oatmeal, potatoes, or rice. A farmer's dinner of salt pork and boiled cabbage is nearly perfect for an out-of-door laborer in cold weather. The cabbage is rich in nitrogen and the pork in carbon. It is a proper dinner dish, because it requires four and a half hours to digest, while a supper may be made on venison, which is digested in an hour. Beef has fifteen per cent of nitrogen, but is not so easily digested as venison, and is fit only for a breakfast or dinner dish. Wheat bread does not contain nitrogen enough for a workingman's diet, and butter eaten with it does not supply the lack. Some kind of lean meat is needed to make perfect food. The more active the life out of doors the nearer can health be sustained on a diet of lean meat only. Beans contain, next to meats, the most nitrogen, and are excellent food for laborers. The cabbage ranks next, and afterward come oats, wheat, and barley. The potato contains seventy-five per cent. water. An analysis of the dry matter shows one-tenth of it to be nitrogen, so that its nutritive value is nearly equal to wheat, while its great productiveness recommends it particularly to densely populated countries. A dozen large potatoes are equal to a pound of flour. The onion is very rich in nitrogen, -one onion being equal to three potatoes of equal size in nutritive value.

Milk contains all the important elements of food; yet adults need solid food. Add to milk eggs, rich in nitrogen, rice and sugar, rich in carbon, and you have a nutritious dish, easily digested.

Butter-milk is a wholesome drink, particularly in summer, as the nutritive power of the milk is but little reduced by the removal of the butter, while the sourness, due to the formation of lactic acid, aids digestion. Eggs contain a great deal of carbon, and are, for that reason, good food for cold weather. They are too concentrated for exclusive diet, and should be eaten with coarse food, or that which is composed largely of starch. In making cakes, the oil of the yolks of eggs used makes the perfect blending of lard or butter impossible, and hence unwholesome. For this reason sponge cake, which contains no butter, is less objectionable. Breads differ but little in these elements. Corn meal contains more oil and less nitrogen than others, and oatmeal is richest in nitrogen. The easy blending of the elements, and the tough gluten of wheat, make it the most available grain for bread. Wheat bread alone will support life longer than any other food except animal flesh. The proportion of nitrogen to carbon is one to five, which is nearly correct for a sedentary person. For active, out-door life more nitrogen is needed, and is best supplied by lean meats. The nutritive qualities of animals differ but little. Wild meats digest more easily than tame, though the time required varies with the age and condition of the animal. Flesh is a stimulating diet because it is force-giving and muscle-feeding. The animal has gathered from various sources and concentrated in its flesh the constituents which best meet the wants of our bodies in the most available form.

Applying the knowledge of the wants of the body, and of the elements of food to a bill of fare, and a wholesome breakfast demands strength-giving and muscle-making food. Nothing is more quickly available than beefsteak, and it is most digestible broiled. It is a diet for real workers. Eggs are nutritive, but less stimulating. These provide for the muscles. For heat, starchy food is demanded, but bulk is not desirable for breakfast after a long fast. Bread and cakes of wheat flour are best for the purpose, and fruits, raw or cooked, furnish the mild vegetable acid, which aids digestion. If coffee is taken at all, breakfast is the time, so that the stimulating effect may pass away before the hour of rest comes. An infusion of genuine coffee, not a decoction, is not injurious in the morning to most persons, and is beneficial to those exposed to changes of temperature.

Nothing appeases the appetite sooner than the juice of flesh. The barley gives a color and flavor. Following soup is roast beef, which feeds the muscles, and after it come the puddings, which abound in carbon, to give the fuel necessary to keep up the animal heat. Last comes fruit to aid digestion, with its agreeable acids. In summer less carbon should appear on the bills of fare, and blanc manges, creams, fruit puddings and pies, berries, and ripe fruits should make up the desserts.

In making a feast, the wise hostess would consider well what has been the employment of the guests. A party of fox-hunters, or wood-choppers, or surveyors, would require an abundance of meats, but a collection of artists and scholars would relish better a variety of delicacies and novelties. A sleighing party will devour carbon, but those who have sweltered under a July sun long for cooling fruits and the leanest of meats. The time when a feast is given should decide whether food, easy or difficult of digestion. should appear on a bill of fare, though such consideration for the health of guests is hardly to be expected of the average hostess. There are many women who spend but a small sum yearly on dress, but only a few on that little contrive to dress neatly, and closely enough to the prevailing fashion to make a ladylike appearance. Some are so mistaken as not to care how they look. This is a serious mistake, for a well-dressed person not only commands respect and consideration from others, but, from the consciousness of being becomingly dressed, feels better, has better command of all her faculties, and makes a much better appearance in any circle.. It is worth while for a man even to take special note of his dress when he has any important business on hand, and a thousand times more so for women whose success depends in a larger degree on an attractive exterior. In a man, genius may cause slovenly garments and habits to be overlooked. but no genius can make a slovenly or even carelessly attired woman attractive or successful. There is, among people of small means, too much neglect of personal appearance. The happiest people are those who make the best of adverse circumstances, instead of magnifying trouble and brooding over small miseries until they become mountains of tribulation. Because one can not afford the richest fabrics is no reason for dressing shabbily, or even out of taste. Taste costs no money, only a little study, a little exercise of the brain.

It is a great mistake to suppose that economy in dress means shabbiness; the one is commendable, the other odious. It is unpleasant to see elegant dresses worn after they have reached a point beyond neatness, but it is positively disgusting to see dresses which were poor in the beginning continued in service after they have become ragged and dirty. Ragged is a hard word to use in connection with ladies' apparel, but it is unfortunately true, that with some the dresses worn in home-life are far from neat and whole. Worn sleeves, torn breadths, and a fringe of ragged braid upon the bottom ought to condemn a dress. But when it reaches that state, some women think it is in just the condition to wear when there is no risk of its been seen by any other than the members of the family. Wise matrons, it is said, advise their sons to select rainy evenings for calling upon their young lady friends, SO that they may find out who are fit to be seen when not expecting visits. The visitors who find a charmer who is, on state occasions , beautifully clothed, wearing a slouchy, dirty wrapper, with trimmings half torn off and pinned up in places, no collar or ruffle, but a tumbled lace handkerchief knotted around the throat, and hair still in the torture of crimping-pins, and slipshod boots, with missing buttons, may be excused if they make a short call and never repeat it. Many a slatternly girl has lost a lover by allowing careless habits to fasten upon her. The time spent in keeping garments in perfect order, and thus preventing shabbiness, is well bestowed, for besides the comfortable self-respect conferred upon the wearer, the clothes reward the effort by lasting twice as long.

Gratifying good taste in dress does not necessarily involve a great expendi ture of money, for good effects depends less upon costliness of materials than (598) on the graceful and becoming designs into which they are wrought and the pleasing way in which colors are combined.

Women should make a study of the art of dress. Instead of extravagance it would promote economy. If each would study her individual style she would make few mistakes in buying, and find less temptation in the passing novelties and fleeting fashions that constantly ensnare shoppers with whom that constantly ensnare shoppers with whom dress is a matter of experiment rather than a science. Mistakes in dress consume a great deal of money, and purchases made without careful study are seldom satisfactory, and are sooner thrown aside than an article of dress which gratifies the sense of fitness in both wearer and beholder. Fitness is the foundation of correct taste, and dress should always be in harmony with its surroundings and with the age and condition of the wearer. A velvet dress with rich lace trimmings might be elegant and becoming upon a wealthy young lady at a reception, but a dress of the same kind would look strangely out of place at a country sewing society, worn by a young lady whose ordinary dresses were of calico. Its inconsistency at such a time and upon such a person, would be striking enough to hinder its exciting admiration. Poverty has no more galling sting than the fancied necessity for keeping up appearances; in other words, for sailing under false colors, and presenting an appearance which imitates that of richer acquaintances. It is pitiful to see women, whose good sense in other matters is unquestionable, wearing out brain and muscle in the agonizing struggle to give themselves and their families a look of ease and style that comes naturally to their richer neighbors. It takes not a little courage to say, "I can not afford it;" but it is nobler and truer to say it than to hide behind subterfuges, or more cowardly still, to incur unwarrantable expense rather than confess to poverty. "Put the best foot foremost," but never do it at the cost of self-respect. One who is poor should not degenerate into carelessness and shiftless ways; for if ever thrift and good management is needed, it is where money is scarce. There are some people who can make a dollar go twice as far as others, and this faculty, though natural to many, is as often an acquirement as a gift. It is the result of care, thoughtfulness, and an unceasing watchfulness, which is irksome enough until it is looked at in its right light and set down as a duty. Economy is not parsimony, although it has fallen into disrepute by being falsely SO called. That there is no disgrace in saving and no merit in wastefulness is a fact that should never be forgotten, and wise mothers who wish to fit their daughters for any sphere should carefully inculcate that idea. In older countries economy is a most commendable virtue. It is only here, where large fortunes are won with such magical rapidity, that a few weak-minded people pretend to despise it. There is a bald economy which shows its pitiful bareness in every point of dress, and there is an economy which struggles to conceal its devices and makeshifts by making everything appear to the best advantage. No one can dispute the fact that of the two the latter® is far the most graceful and praiseworthy. It costs more thought and effort to make garments stylish and pretty, but the well-dressed woman has her reward in increased selfrespect. One woman will make over a hard worn dress into a dreary gored wrapper unrelieved by trimming. Another will convert the same material into a jaunty skirt and basque, and from the apparently unusable portions decorate them in some tasteful way. Certainly the lady who wears the latter costume will be better pleased with herself, and grace the family table more satisfactorily to her friends than the other.

There are people who pretend to be too good to care for dress, and despise others for being fond of what they please to call frivolity. A close analysis of the character of such people would often bring to light far graver faults and weaknesses than a love for dress, which, kept within proper bounds, is not reprehensible, but rather commendable.

It can hardly be repeated too often that quiet dressing should be the rule for those who are unable to procure a variety of clothes. The wearer of a showy dress is so soon recognized by it, and she , as well as her friends, grows sick of it long before its term of usefulness is over. dark dress can be made stylishly and will be as dressy as a figured one, and A plain black or will not be remembered from time to time, even if it is worn on every occasion for a long while. Bright ribbons and fresh ruffles and laces will change and beautify the plain quiet dress, and give one a reputation for becoming and tasteful toilettes without its occurring to any one that the same old dress forms the basis of all the pretty changes. It is in making over an old dress that fancy material can be used to good advantage to freshen and piece out, but in buying and making a new dress, when the event is a rare one, it is infinitely wiser to buy it of a solid color and make it in an inconspicuous manner, not forgetting to get a sufficiently ample pattern to allow of a large piece to lay aside for future alterations and improvements.

Even a very poor lady may dress with taste, and a working-girl may show more of it in her simple dress than an extravagant and wealthy lady will in hers. In fact the ability to buy finery of all sorts, and gratify a strong fancy for decoration often leads to bizarre effects, which destroy the beauty of ex pensive costumes. One need hardly be afraid of offending good taste by dressing too plainly, provided the plainness is the perfection of neatness.

That, indeed, should belong to all styles of dress; for nothing so entirely takes away one's reputation for being well -dressed, as torn, soiled or shabby apparel or trimmings Not only that, but other unfavorable deductions as to character and habits are apt to be drawn of those whose habitual appearance is other than neat. People who are not rich can not afford to be careless, because clothes that are not taken care of will not last as long as those which are kept in order. not taken care of will not last as long as those which are kept in order.

A small outlay of money and a liberal expenditure of time and patience will keep even a meager wardrobe in good order, and will forestall the outlay of considerable sums. Eternal vigilance is the price of decency for poor folks. Garments often wear out faster when not being worn than when they are in use. Dresses crowded into a closet, and allowed to hang for days under the weight of a cloak or two or three other dresses, will not pass the carelessly tossed into a drawer, where there is a confused assortment of other articles , will not come out in good order for wearing again; and torn flounces, mended with pins, do not add to the durability of a dress any more than does putting it away with an accumulation of street dust on the bottom. Handsome dresses that are not often worn should be folded with extreme care, with every ruffle and plaiting in place. This plan is supposed to pre- , with every ruffle and plaiting in place. This plan is supposed to prevent the sagging of the drapery that is sometimes given by constant hanging.

Another way to prevent this is to hang it upside down occasionally by tapes pinned upon the bottom of the skirt; this reverses all the customary folds, and freshens the general appearance. Of course every bit of dust should have been previously wiped off, and for this purpose nothing is better than an old.. silk handerchief. The dress should be pinned up in towels or pices of old muslin, and laid away upon a shelf, or in a drawer, if an empty one sufficiently large is available. The importance of keeping dresses in shape when they are off the person is so well understood in Franee that many ladies who do not have maids of their own hire a professional expert to fold away their more elegant dresses. When, unfortunately, the closets of a house are not roomy enough to contain good dresses without folding too much, large pasteboard boxes may be ordered from any will soon save their cost by preventing injury to costly garments. As a rule, ny box maker or book bindery, which put away every article of apparel as soon as it is taken off. Dresses must be shaken and brushed, and if they have been worn in the street, thoroughly cleaned upon the bottom, then they should be hung up by loops sewed on the back of each armhole, and if possible allowed the full possession of the hook or nail, as hanging under or against other garments is no advantage to Adress. Shawls should be carefully folded in the original creases and pinned ap in a square of clean linen before laying away in a drawer. Cloaks must be brushed, and either laid in a long drawer or trunk and subjected to no pressure from other garments, or hung up by a loop on the back of the neck; or better still, cut a piece of wood something in the shape of a wooden yoke, such as is sometimes used across men's shoulders to suspend milk pails to, and fasten it up by a string tied in the middle and hang the cloak upon that. It will keep the back and shoulders in good shape. It is a good plan, in a large closet that is often opened, to have a calico curtain to protect that part of it devoted to cloth and woolen goods, as by contact with dust they soon grow gray and dingy.

Throwing a dress carelessly upon a chair with other clothes taken off at night, because it is only a common one is a very bad habit. Ordinary dresses are worthy of care, and pay for it by presenting a better appearance to the end. They should be brushed, shaken, turned wrong side out, and hung up in a closet which has a door to shut out dust, and above all they should be kept in good repair. Every rip and rent should receive attention as soon as it occurs, or a condition of shabbiness will ensue that will be a great obstacle to making the dress over when the time comes.

A clothes brush, a wisp broom, a bottle of ammonia, a sponge, a hand brush, a cake of erasive soap, and a vial of alcohol should form a part of the furnishings of every toilet. After all dust has been removed from clothing, spots may be taken out of black cloth with the hand brush, dipped in a mixture of equal parts of ammonia, alcohol and water. This will brighten as well as cleanse. Benzine is useful in removing grease spots. Spots of grease may be removed from colored silks by putting on them raw starch made into a paste with water. Dust is best removed from silk by a soft flannel, from velvet with a brush made specially for the purpose, or a piece of crape. Shawls and all articles that may be folded, should be folded when taken from the person in their original creases and laid away. Cloaks should be hung up in place, gloves pulled out lengthwise, wrapped in tissue paper and laid away, laces smoothed out nicely and folded, if requisite, so that they will come out of the box new and fresh when needed again. A strip of old black broadcloth four or five inches wide, rolled up tightly and sewed to keep the roll in place, is better than a sponge or a cloth in cleansing black and dark colored clothes. Whatever lint comes from it in rubbing is black and does not show. When black cloths are washed, as they may often be previous to making over, fresh clean water should be used, and they should be pressed on the wrong side before being quite dry. If washed in water previously used for white clothing they will be covered with lint. In securing clothing against moths, if linen is used for wrappings no moth will molest. Paper bags are equally good if they are perfectly tight, and so are trunks and boxes closed so tightly that no crevice is left open for the entrance of the moth fly. As the moth loves darkness, it will not molest even furs hung up in light rooms open to air and sunshine. Bonnets and hats also merit tender care, and should not be allowed to lie about and gather dust; but, after being taken from the head, should be dusted, the bows and trimmings straightened, and laid away in boxes. If the feathers seem limp and slightly uncurled, sometimes holding them over the hot air of an open register will restore them. Veils, neck-ribbons, and cravats will also keep fresh much longer if carefully folded up and laid away under a weight sufficient to keep them in place. Soiled ribbons, in most colors, can be restored by washing in alcohol and water, and, instead of being ironed, smoothed by being stretched tightly upon a board, held in place by pins, and wiped gently with a soft handkerchief once or twice in the drying.

Shoes even pay for good care. On taking them off do not leave them in the shape of the foot, but smooth them by stretching out the wrinkles and bending the soles straight. If buttons are lacking, sew them on immediately, and if other repairs are needed, have them attended to at once. Never wear a shoe with a single button off, as it destroys the shape. On old shoes the fit is greatly improved by setting over the buttons as far as comfortable for the foot. If the heels become worn down on one side, straighten them without delay, or the shoe will take a permanent twist. Gloves with many are greatly abused, which is a mistake, because to be well gloved contributes very much toward a lady like appearance, and unless one can afford a constant procession of new gloves it is desirable to keep the old ones in order. When taken off they should not be rolled together in a lump, as is the custom with many, but pulled and stretched lengthwise, and laid away in a box, like new gloves, without any folding. They should also be kept repaired, for if rips on the finger ends are neglected they soon get so large that in mending them it is impossible to restore the proper shape of the fingers. Kid gloves should be turned and the tears mended upon the wrong side; they can be sewed more neatly than upon the other side. When gloves are of poor kid, or where there is a weak portion which parts easily, it is well, instead of darning them, to work in an elastic lace stitch, with silk of the same color. This is done by making a succession of buttonhole stitches, catching one to the other till the rent is filled up. When soiled they can be cleaned at home as well as at a professional cleaners. Wash them in benzine, using quite a quantity, as it is cheap when bought by the quart or half gallon, being very careful to keep a good distance from the fire or any lamp, as benzine is very inflammable and dangerous. The common benzine is best. Perhaps the best plan is to let them soak for ten minutes in the benzine, then squeeze out the gloves, wash them out in a fresh cupful until the dirt has made the liquid quite dark, then rinse in a clean cupful. This last may be put away in a close bottle to use for soaking the next pair that is to be cleaned. Now pull them straight and rub with a soft handkerchief until dry. Place over them thin, soft white paper and iron them hard with an iron not hot enough to draw them. This puts a polish on them and makes them look like new. If too large they may be shrunk a little by using a hotter iron. Now place them in a towel and lay near the stove for two or three hours to remove all smell of benzine, and then place in the glove box with sachets of violet between them. It is an excellent plan, when one glove of a pair has unfortunately been lost, to preserve the odd one to mend with. It is not usual to patch gloves, but it often happens that a misfit can be remedied by inserting a V. shaped piece in the palm; for this and other contingencies a supply of odd gloves often proves valuable.

One of the most important things is economy in the manner in which money is spent for work. Many an overtasked woman, feeling it impossible to accomplish all her sewing without assistance, will employ a dressmaker to make and make over dresses, and herself wrestle with the weary, never ending accumulation of plain family sewing and repairing which could be done by cheap help. This is not good management, for professional skill is always expensive to procure, and the price paid for making one dress would be enough to hire a large amount of plain sewing done. Cutting and fitting dresses is not difficult with good patterns at command, and there is no reason why any one should hesitate to undertake her own dressmaking. It is an art one soon acquires and becomes very expert in after a little practice. Let a woman feel herself capable of making a dress fairly well, and what a vista of possibilities opens before her. Old garments that are not worth spending a penny upon can be put to good use if the owner knows how to fashion them herself. It is commendable to work over old clothes, and make them look as new and stylish as taste and industry can contrive. Never be contented with a simply decent old dress; but, if you can not afford a new one, take the time to make the old one tasteful and as near the fashion as can be. Perhaps some one will say you are foolish to spend time and strength on old material, but judge for yourself if it is not judiciously spent when it brings as a result a costume which gives you that comfortable feeling of self-respect that a pretty and becoming dress does not fail to confer upon the wearer. Even the most showy fashions of the present time favor remodeling and making over dresses. Two or three materials still enter into the composition of street and house dresses, and the greatest liberty of taste is allowed in the shape of overskirts and the modes of trimming. Basques, round waists, jackets and polonaises, all are seen upon new dresses. No one style seems to reign in any department of dress cutting, which is a great blessing to those who make their new dresses out of old ones. Another point which is of especial advantage to those who have real 'genius and skill in making over dresses is the fancy for individual novelties in costume. Ladies of fashion boast of having designed a dress which is unique and unlikely to meet its counterpart. Dressmakers rack their brains to invent styles which they can assure favorite patrons shall be repeated upon no other dress.

If abandoned garments, for which there is no immediate use in any form, were always wholly, or partially taken apart and laid away carefully, instead of being tucked away at random, they would make a better appearance when their opportunity for usefulness occurs.

In these days of mixtures and combinations there are few things which can not be made serviceable as trimmings or to assist in composing some of the costumes expert economists make up out of odds and ends. Every thing of the sort in a family should be saved with a view to usefulness in the future. There should be a receptacle in garret or store-room where large and small pieces may quietly bide their time out of every one's way. It is quite a treat to visit such a receptacle when the dressmaking time of each season draws near, and look over its resources. Many hidden and forgotten bundles will come to light, and be greeted as so much saving of money. Some old breadths may make a sham skirt to build a new dress upon, another fragment will perhaps make a facing or waist lining. A great deal of money is spent for such minor details of a dress, which might be saved and spent in a more showy manner, if strict attention were paid to treasuring up old possessions. Every thing of the kind should not only be saved but put away in good order. If an old dress is abandoned, do not hang it up in its worn out condition, but rip it all to pieces, clean the breadths, for if they are worth using at all, they are worth cleaning, and fold them neatly. Select all the best portions of other parts of the dress and serve in the same way. It is very disheartening to find material in a dirty condition when the occasion comes to use it, and if it is needed in a hurry, the chances are that something new will have to be bought to take its place. The best parts of old cotton underclothes may be dyed with family dye, and used for linings for dresses and children's clothes. For waist linings cotton cloth had better be left undyed. White linings are not in the least objectionable where corset covers are worn; on the contrary, they are the choice of many dressmakers.

In altering over old black silk dresses do not use a hot iron on them; sponge the pieces with a large sponge dipped in clear coffee, and then fold and lay away under a pressure as heavy as possible. The silk will come out looking almost like new.

An independent polonaise, for wearing with different skirts, is not an article of dress much advised now by dressmakers, because a certain uniformity is considered desirable in dress, but economical people can not afford to give up the useful garment which creates such a pleasing variety in a slender wardrobe. A black cashmere polonaise, for instance, or even a gray flannel one, can be worn over several skirts, and thus supply street and house costumes at little cost. Black is handsome, lady-like and irreproachable; and she who is not the fortunate possessor of one good black dress is really worthy of pity. The black dresses of to-day are frequently gay with colored trimmings, and the Persian cashmeres and brocades that are used in decoration really light them up wonderfully well; but if the purse allows but one nice dress, that one should, by all means, be all black, and depend for illumination upon the little accessories of ribbons, fichus, etc., which will make it more or less dressy as required. Every woman who cares for appearance-and every one ought to do that-ought, if she can possibly afford it, to own a good black silk dress. Alpaca is good; cashmere is better; other black materials are very satisfactory; but nothing gives one such a comfortable feeling of selfrespect as black silk. Silk is still very cheap, the fancy makes particularly SO.

It would cost a good deal to get a really rich plain black silk, for such a dress requires to be richer than one with a stripe, dot or figure, and will also need richer trimmings. Better no silk than a poor, flimsy, plain one, which soon turns shabby and betrays the purchaser's trust. Patience and practice work miracles in dressmaking, and the amateur will, in cultivating both, learn to study her own figure and bring out its good points in a way that no professor of the art will be likely to do.