so as to look like a beautiful golden image. The poor mother was so pleased to see her child in this novel position, that when he came home at night, quite tired out with his part in the show, she neglected to wash his skin and free it from all the gilding, which formed an impenetrable coating over it. The consequence was that in a few hours after he had fallen asleep she found him dead, for the functions of his skin were entirely suspended; no perspiration could escape, so his blood acted as poison on his system and killed him. In like manner, but in a smaller degree, does an unwashed skin prevent the healthy performance of its duties, and the whole body suffers.

So long as the body is in a healthy state, water pours out freely through these holes in the skin. This water is not generally seen, because it flies off into the air, as steam. But there is a large quantity of it; not less than one pint is usually poured out during twenty-four hours, and often as much as four pints.

But the water which pours out of the body through the holes in the skin, is not pure water; it is dirty water, containing a great deal of decaying and poisonous waste matter. As water passes through the living body, it washes out all the hollows and chambers it runs through, and cleanses them, carrying away useless and offensive substances.

The dirty water that pours out through the holes in the skin, is called perspiration, or sweat. The greater part of the bulk of this perspiration is water; but not less than a quarter of an ounce of decaying

solid substance is mingled with the quantity that flows away in twenty-four hours. As decaying substance is poisonous, it therefore follows that a quarter of an ounce of poison is drained away from the body through the sewers of the skin, every day.

Nature has ordained that certain things shall be done, and what nature has ordained must be accomplished, or the penalty of folly and disobedience must be paid. HE WHO CHOOSES DIRT AND LAZINESS IN

PREFERENCE TO CLEANLINESS AND WELL-ORDERED EXERTION, MUST TAKE DISEASE AND MISERY, AND POSSIBLY EVEN DEATH TOO, INTO THE BARGAIN. Never forget that the slight self-denial which refrains from purchasing a few pints of unnecessary beer, is amply sufficient for providing such a necessary and luxury as a morning bath of pure water, for the rest of a long life.

Some portion of the impurities of the perspiration is soaked up into the linen that is worn next the skin. If the same linen be worn day after day, these impurities gather in the linen more and more: this is why linen becomes very dirty by constantly wearing it without change. It is of very little use that the skin is duly washed, if it be wrapped round directly afterwards with clothes whose substance is filled with refuse matter, like that which has just been cleansed away from its surface. IT IS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY

TO HEALTH THAT THE LINEN SHOULD BE CHANGED AND WASHED EVERY FEW DAYS.

When the body is covered up closely at night, by the bed-clothes, the perspiration flows more freely

from the warm skin. A portion of this is soaked into the linen worn immediately round the body, but another portion steams into the sheets and blankets. Hence these too require to be sometimes changed and washed. Dirty bed-clothes, like dirty body-linen, keep the body closely wrapped in poison which it was meant it should be freed from. It is a very excellent proceeding always to fold back neatly all the bedclothes off the bed, upon getting up in the morning, and TO LEAVE BOTH THE CLOTHES AND THE BED EXPOSED TO THE AIR FOR SOME

ING THEM UP AGAIN.

*

TIME BEFORE COVER

THE SKIN. BY SIR ALFRED POWER.

There's a skin without, and a skin within,
A covering skin, and a lining skin;
But the skin within is the skin without,
Doubled inwards and carried throughout.
The palate, nostrils, windpipe, and throat
Are all of them lined with this inner coat,
Which through every part is made to extend,
Lungs, liver, and bowels, from end to end.
The outside skin is a marvellous plan
For exuding the dregs of the flesh of man,
While the inner extracts from the food and air
What is needed the waste of the flesh to repair.
Good people, all have a care of your skin,
Both that without and that within.
To the first give plenty of water and soap,
To the last little else but water we hope.

But of all things the most I'd have you

beware

Of breathing the poison of once breathed air :
When in bed, whether out or at home you may be,
Always open the windows and let it go free.

With clothing and exercise keep yourselves warm,
And change your clothes quickly if wet by a storm.
For a cold caught by chilling the outside skin
Flies at once to the delicate lining within.
All you who thus kindly take care of your skin.
And attend to its wants, without and within,
Need never of sickness have any fears,
And your skin may last you a hundred years.

Eastern sages. Wise men of
the east who used to foretell
events.

Italy. A country in southern
Europe shaped like a man's
boot on the map.

St. John. The infant John the
Baptist. Often seen in old

pictures in company with the infant Jesus. In the Roman Catholic Church he is a saint. Sir Alfred Power. The chief of the Sanitary Department of the Local Government Board in Dublin, capital of Ireland.

A FEW WORDS ABOUT HEALTH.

snare, a trap.

| refuse, worthless stuff.

WHEN first you get up, shake the clothes on your bed.
To sit with wet feet gives a cold in the head.

All children if healthy will run, skip, and hop,

The best food you can give them is bread and milk sop.
Every day as it comes wash them well in a tub,
And then with the towel they'll need a good rub.

Our babies, like plants, love the light and the air;

To give them both freely be ever your care.

Much illness is caused by damp clothes and damp beds ; 'Tis an excellent thing to wash often your heads.

Of the harm of tight lacing I'd have you beware;

No woman of sense should fall into the snare.

Now see that your floors are well brushed and washed clean,
Though poor in all else in this be a queen ;

Your dress, too, should always be neat and not fine,
In sound common-sense be most anxious to shine.
The refuse of greens must be burnt right away,
Not thrown in the dust-bin to rot and decay;

Above all things, be sure that the smell of a drain,
Is certain to bring bad disease in its train.
Go see that your cistern is clean and well-filled,
By drinking foul water folks often are killed.
The water you drink must be filtered, you know;
To see how 'tis done just read down below.
The mode there explained is both simple and cheap ;
You little can tell the great good you will reap,
If you'll only try this most excellent plan :-
What can be so good as pure water for man?
Please do not forget the great harm you can stop,
By opening your windows one bit at the top;
To open them daily should be your first care,
There's naught for us all like a rush of pure air.
Do try to act up to these great laws of health,

For remember, my friends, that they are your wealth.
Teach your children these truths as around you they rise,
And thus make them healthy, wealthy, and wise.

M. V.

PURE WATER AND ITS USE.

temptation, enticement to evil. flavour, taste.

composition, what anything is
made of.

chemical retort, a vessel used
by chemists to find out what
substances contain.
reservoirs, large cisterns for
water.

substantial, real, true; solid.
seared, withered, blighted.

perverse, obstinate, contrary.
foul, unclean.

infectious, catching.
prowling, lurking about.
atmosphere, the air we breathe
with which the earth is sur-
rounded.

popular delusion. Something
that people believe which is
not true.

IT is a difficult matter to get pure water in our large towns. And so the temptation to drink other things is perhaps greater than in the country, where there are mountain streams and springs rising up from the earth, which have never been rendered impure by