THE AMERICAN GIRL AS A HOUSEKEEPER.

The charge is made against the American girl that she is not trained at home to do housework, but is dressed in good clothes, makes a weak effort to play the piano well, and does not rise above the vapidity of common "society." This is putting it too strongly, of course, and it will be found that the American girl is better informed in the mysteries of housekeeping than her critic supposes. What shortcoming there is in this respect is more the fault of the American mother than of the American girl.

In England, it is said, mothers of the higher classes commonly do their duty in requiring their daughters to learn all the details of housework. Where there are two or three sisters they take turns in looking after the household, each a week at a time or so. Mrs. Mary J. Holmes, the novelist, says to the American girls that when they learn to imitate their English cousins and are good housekeepers in their father's house, they will have achieved a greater success and be more worthy of the coming man than if, with no knowledge of housekeeping, they could paint the finest picture ever hung or execute the most brilliant piece of music ever written by Schubert or Mendelssohn.

After the critics have had their say, the fact remains that the American girl, let her be ever so neglectful of housekeeping in her "single blessedness," generally becomes an intelligent housekeeper in her married life, when her quick mind rapidly assimilates the lessons of experience while she puts in practice the advice of her elders.

GIRLLESS HOMES.

GOOD HOUSEKEEPING, published Fortnightly is the best book of the kind published. It ought to be in every house where there are girls.-Stark County Herald, Gladstone, Dakota.

But every house that has no girls ought to have them. Where girls are gathered together there will be boys, and it is for the good of these, "The Children of the Household," that GOOD HOUSEKEEPING is laboring. To attempt to do missionary work in a girlless home is too unpromising an undertaking even for GOOD HOUSEKEEPING to attempt, as Whittier's "Woman's smile and girlhood's beauty" quotation, may well stand side by side with the more frequently quoted one of "The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world." A "Girlless Home" is hardly worth an effort to save.

SCHOOL FOR SERVANTS.

Another reply to inquiry of a correspondent who wanted to know where house servants are school trained, comes to hand. The Sisters who have charge of the Old Ladies' Home on West Fifteenth street, near Seventh avenue, New York, are to erect a building near the Home, to be used as a training school for servants. It will be non-sectarian and in it any young woman can get instruction in the best methods of cooking, house cleaning, and so forth, free. There is promise of thorough instruction, and certificates will be given only to the proficient ones.

GOOD WORDS FOR GOOD HOUSEKEEPING. GOOD HOUSEKEEPING is full of good matter in its important field.-Evening Wisconsin.

GOOD HOUSEKEEPING occupies a peculiar place in its mingling of literary and practical articles, all of which are in some way suggestive of its special mission, which is both to help and to elevate home, and the housekeeping which creates the comfort of home, into their rightful eminence in the minds of American wives and mothers.-San Francisco Hotel Gazette.

LIBRARY LEAFLETS.

Classics for Home and School.

The reading published by Lee & Shepard for use supplementary to regular school readers, can be commended in terms of the highest praise for children's reading at school and home. It is finding place in many schools in New England and several of the books are specially praised by educators. Mrs. Jane Andrews has had the most unqualified success in writing books of this kind, and her "Seven Little Sisters who Live on the Round Ball that Floats in the Air," her "Seven Sisters Prove Their Sisterhood," and "Ten

Boys Who Lived on the Road from Long Ago to Now" are books of the most charming character, and in schools where we know that they are used for sight reading the children look forward to the time when the reading is to be done, with great expectations of enjoyment. The books are not merely delightful, they are also

instructive.

Among other volumes of "Classics for Home and School" are "A Kiss for a Blow," by H. C. Wright, a book containing numerous stories illustrating the spirit of peace; and "The Flower People,” by Mrs. Horace Mann," an illustrated volume about flowers. Another school book is Albert F. Blaisdell's "First Steps with American and British Authors," a book of 345 pages introducing the writers and the works of English literature to young people. It contains many selections that will entice the young reader into the practice of reading good literature, and has numerous biographical sketches of noted writers. Boston: Lee & Shepard. Price of the last book, 75 cents; "A Kiss for a Blow," 55 cents; "Seven Little Sisters," 55 cents. All for sale by the W. F. Adams Company, Springfield, Mass.

Margaret Regis.

To the young girls of the country, both in school and out, " Margaret Regis and some other girls " will be found very entertaining. The heroine is one of a number of merry school girls, full of life and spirit and ready for all innocent fun and adventure. The pictures of school life and its enjoyments, its gossip and methods, all furnish pleasing themes. The author is a firm believer in being happy under all circumstances and especially in youth. The reader is introduced to the heroine on the eve of her graduation. From school she goes abroad to prepare herself for her life workthat of a teacher. How her plans fall through, and how she makes an engagement to teach one grown-up pupil for life, instead of a room-full of little ones for a few terms, readers will discover by following Margaret's fortunes to the end of the book. Boston: D. Lothrop Company. Price $1.25.

The Crime Against Ireland.

The Boston Journal published a series of letters written from Ireland by Mrs. J. Ellen Foster and they are now collected and issued in a book. The author studied the Irish question on Irish soil and witnessed for herself the workings of the Coercion act. Her presentation of the land question is clear and forcible, and the conclusion, strongly sustained, is that the relief for the grievances of the Irish lie in Irish legislative independence. It is a book written not only for Ireland, but for humanity, and if it gets a general reading among the American people, as it ought, it will put them in possession of the reasons underlying the Irish cause and will make the complaints of the Irish people plain. The preface is by John Boyle O'Reilly. Boston: D. Lothrop Company. Price

60 cents.

David Poindexter's Disappearance.

Five short stories in one volume, bearing the title of "David Poindexter's Disappearance and Other Tales," are among Julian Hawthorne's latest contributions in book form to the literary public. The stories are all good and far removed from the common-place. Besides the story, the title of which is given above, there are "Ken's Mystery," When Half-gods Go, the Gods Arrive," "Set Not Thy Foot on Graves," and "My Friend Paton." All are interestingly told and deal with mysteries sufficient to induce the reader to finish the book before laying it aside. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Price 50 cents.

the laundry, bath or toilet. It contains no filthy disease-giving greases, and will positively cure or prevent chapped or sore hands. It is valued at $5.00.

EXTRACT CABINET FILLED WITH COLTON'S CELEBRATED ExTRACTS.

A fine assortment of Colton's Celebrated Extracts, which are noted for their purity and strength, and consist of a bottle of lemon, vanilla, orange, rose, almond, Jamaica ginger, nutmeg, clove, wintergreen and cinnamon. This complete assortment of as pure extracts as can be made will be enclosed in a handsomely polished black walnut case, with a separate apartment for each bottle, plainly labelled so that each can be seen at a glance. The whole will make an extract cabinet that will delight any housekeeper fortunate enough to win it, and is valued at twelve dollars.

These will constitute the leading prizes of the different anagrams, and will be accompanied by other prizes for each anagram. The readers of GOOD HOUSEKEEPING and those who have found the Quiet Hour department so interesting and valuable will find this feature of it, having increased interest and popularity as the different anagrams appear.

Everybody is invited to solve the Anagrams in GOOD HOUSEKEEPING, whether a subscriber or not. You can purchase GOOD HOUSEKEEPING from your newsdealer or bookseller, or send 10 cents to the publishers, Clark W. Bryan & Co., Springfield, Mass., and you will receive a copy by return mail. Our prizes, which are valuable, are selected with a great deal of care and will, we think, be very acceptable to any one fortunate enough to win them.

Original in GOOD HOUSEKeeping.

JUNE

1888.

HOUSEKEEPING IN AND AMONG THE PLANETS. THE MAN IN THE MOON AT HOME.

What He Has to Say About GOOD HOUSEKEEPING in Its Chosen Field in the Homes of the World, and also of Good and Poor Housekeeping Everywhere.

CHAPTER III.

ONG ago I resolved never to be alarmed or astonished by anything that should happen. We have reached such heights of scientific knowledge that all fresh displays of man's ability to seek out many inventions must be accepted by the philosophically minded as matters of course. Some of my neighbors, like Alexander, lament that there are no more worlds to conquer. "All the really great "All the really great principles of nature," they say, "have been discovered. The square of the hypothenuse, gravitation, the Copernican system, electricity, steam, the spectroscope,-can there be anything comparable to these that has not yet been brought to light? Geographical discovery once held a prominent place in the world's enterprise, but the occupation of the explorer is gone. There are no more unknown lands to tempt the adventurous by possibilities of marvellous wealth and wonderful and horrid monsters. Only the North Pole has eluded the ubiquitous interviewer and traveling correspondent." (Speaking of the North Pole, I have learned through my extra-mundane sources of information that it is in fact nothing more nor less than a big icicle growing upwards like a stalagmite, and really not half as well worth seeing as a Minnesota or Montreal ice palace.)

"It is quite discouraging," say these people who were born too late in these not dark, but light ages. "It is not that the times are out of joint,-we wish they were; we should enjoy setting them right,-but there is nothing left to be done that is worth doing."

When steam locomotion had become an established fact, and men began to ask "What next?" these discontented ones said: "Nothing. There will never be another invention like this, which has brought all the ends of the earth together and made all men in fact what they were in name, and in name only hitherto, a family of brothers,-a large family, indeed, with a plentiful sprinkling of black sheep, as commonly happens in large families, but still brothers, 'heirs of the self-same heritage,' and inexorably bound up in each other's welfare."

But no sooner was this going to and fro, up and down the earth, the ancient prerogative of Satan,-made possible to everybody, than a new revelation came. We can travel to

the ends of the earth in a short time; we can talk to our brothers in the Antipodes in no time,-less than no time, if we talk towards the setting sun. Rapid transit is but the beginning of our mighty works. Do we want cloth woven for our garments? One man now will do the work of a thousand fifty years ago. Do we want paper, books, journals? Thousands of acres of closely printed pages are spread abroad among the nations every morning and evening. We smite the rock in the wilderness, and there comes forth not merely water, as came in the desert of old, but light and heat and unmeasured power.

I wish to be strictly truthful, because I am persuaded that no man can be scientific who does not love truth above all things. It would not be quite correct to say that I was absolutely sure of succeeding in my attempt to communicate with the Man in the Moon. I did not feel perfectly certain of it until I had the scroll in my hand. And here is another scientific attitude that I strive to maintain under all circumstances: never to be certain of anything until it happens. After seeing a thing actually done, completed, finished, it is commonly safe to say we know it,-commonly, but not always. Neither would it be quite true to say that I was not in the least excited by the result of my experiment. I did feel a mild exhilaration on reading the highly satisfactory message from my venerable correspondent. (I use the word venerable in its strict sense, that is, entitled to veneration, which may be ascribed to a baby as properly as to a patriarch. As for Mr. Moon's age, I have no reason to suppose that he is any older than I am; but as the famous representative of a most distinguished race, he is entitled to all the respect which a free and independent citizen of the greatest republic on earth ought ever to pay to any other living man, foreigner or fellow citizen.) A single discharge of my electric gun cost me nearly half a year's salary, as any one can see it must have done by counting the words and reckoning at the usual prices for telegraphing long distances. Of course it would be wrong for me to attempt to ruin any of our telegraph companies by cutting under their rates. Still I had no intention of closing the correspondence until I had learned all that could be learned of affairs in our faithful satellite. I have always felt that I ought to receive a pension from the government that would enable me to pursue my investigations without being embarrassed by financial considerations; but republics are ungrateful, and I suppose I ought to be thankful to escape With the natural curiosity to persecution for witchcraft. hear of strange things, I hoped to learn something of the manners and customs which Mr. Moon had affirmed could not be understood, much less adopted by us; still I could not consistently ask for such things, and my second letter ran as follows:

DEAR MR. AND MRS. MOON:-Allow me to assure you of my profound gratitude for your edifying reply to my letter of the fifteenth of last month, the exceeding kindness of which emboldens me to address you a second time. Your suggestions in regard to

house building shall be spread abroad throughout the civilized world, and there is no doubt that they will be speedily and universally adopted. In your minute observation of what takes place among us, you have doubtless noticed the recent rapid growth of a love for the beautiful, which affects not only our dress and matters of personal adornment, but the finishing and furnishing of our dwellings,-what we are in the habit of calling our domestic art. Will you please make this the subject of the second communication which I hope to receive from you?

Before closing this scroll I wish to say that I shall not immediately announce the fact of our communication. The excessive curiosity of my neighbors would seriously interfere with my experiments, and there would be so many attempts to monopolize my invention by patents and otherwise, and, moreover, there would be so many fraudulent despatches received from you by unprincipled pretenders who would strive to imitate my methods, that these genuine communications with you would be at once discredited. As you are doubtless aware, the great grief of inventors and discoverers among us is that whenever a good thing is done, a good book written, a noble invention produced, or a grand discovery made, the rabble rush in to claim the credit and reap the reward. So if I were to publish the fact that I have succeeded in establishing communication with you, in less than twenty-four hours there would be hundreds of pretenders writing letters from the moon, forging your august signature, and wickedly affirming that theirs was the only authorized and reliable version. There would be no folly too vapid, no assertions too monstrous, for them to bring forth in your name, and, alas! nothing too wild to find multitudes of believers. The result of this, as I have said, would be to throw discredit upon these genuine letters. My hope is that by keeping them to myself until you have conveyed to me the most essential things for us to know, and, by publishing them in a journal of established reputation, their intrinsic merit will carry conviction and establish a claim upon public confidence that cannot be destroyed by the flood of imitations that are sure to follow. I mention this now that, when you find yourself charged with promulgating all manner of false and dangerous doctrines, you may remember that you are only sharing the fate of all those who attempt to spread new truth upon the earth.

precisely what you mean by the same word,-without any delay.”

I stared at the scroll, unable to read another word, and but for my firm resolve never to be astonished at anything, I am confident my hair would have stood on end. Could the entire manuscript, of which I had read the first line, have been written and sent from the moon while I was expressing my fear of having to wait indefinitely for it? Could Mr. Moon hear common conversation and answer it with several pages of advice by way of postscript while I was uttering a single sentence? In the midst of these startling conjectures there came still another faint explosion. A fragrant rosy mist formed in the window, and, dissolving slowly, disclosed the semblance of a butterfly resting on the sill. It was similar to those used by the Japanese jugglers, but more delicate, and on the gauzy wings I read:

"A little while ago you were hoping I would describe and illustrate for you some of the things that are quite beyond your comprehension. It was a silly wish, unworthy a student of natural science. We do indeed know more about time

and space than you, and we have learned to think and act more rapidly. But do not trouble yourself about what you cannot possibly comprehend."

Anticipating a reply to my second letter at the same stage of the moon as in the previous month, I took my station at the open window overlooking the striped roof early in the day; for, although the former missive had arrived promptly at the stroke of noon, I felt that that might have been a coincidence, and did not wish to risk being absent at the moment of its second arrival. Evidently the former promptness had been no accident. Just before the first midday stroke of the town clock, there came the same sharp report on the roof before me, the thin blue smoke arose, and the thin film of gossamer floated before my face. To my disappointment it looked exceedingly brief.

CHAPTER IV.

time of the day or night. You ask our opinion of your household art. Not to waste words in leading up to the subject, I will say at once that if you would destroy beyond the possibility of recovery all the recent work that you consider decorative in your houses and in your furniture,—Mrs. Moon says, 'And in your garments also,'—and undertake to create only such things as are necessary for your comfort and convenience, constructing all these things according to the rules that nature follows in her work, you would find, after a time, that you were producing things that are really beautiful. You would begin to learn to distinguish between beauty and ugliness, which at present you are incapable of doing. Let every chair, table, bedstead and bed-quilt, every cooking utensil and article of table-ware, every broom, dust brush and napkin, be as perfectly adapted to its use as possible. Do not try to make anything beautiful until, in the most direct and ecoWhen you have done that, it will suddenly dawn upon you that you are already surrounded by beautiful things, provided. you have destroyed all the decoration which you now cherish so fondly. Doubtless such a wholesale destruction would include some things that are not wholly bad, but the baneful influence of the great mass of ugliness by which you are now surrounded is a thousand times more deplorable than would be the loss of what little is really good. Set this down as one of the fundamental principles: Whenever you have made any part of your house, the walls, roof, floors, or ceilings, or any part of the fittings and furnishings of such materials or form that they are disagreeable or unsatisfactory in appearance until they are ornamented, you have started in the wrong direction. Let me say this over in a different way: Unless

Instinctively I looked around for the longer communication that might have accompanied this certificate, but could find nothing. I had just turned to my wife, who has charge of the photographing, and was saying: "This is too provoking; there is nothing with this, and I have no idea how long their 'immediately' will be. I may have to sit here watching day and night before" when there came again the sharp explosion, and the long, closely-printed gossamer scroll appeared in the same manner as before. This is the way it began:

"MY DEAR MR. MAN:-You are too easily provoked for a philosopher. When we say 'immediately' to you, we mean