tried-and hundreds like it occur every year-without bringing the child into the court-room.

The Difference

Some one writing of the housekeeping in Hungary says:

The mistress of a large household in Hungary has need to be a very capable housewife, for she is cumbered with many cares. You must boil your own soap, mold your own candles, dry your own prunes, prepare your own candied fruits, smoke your own sausages, cure your own hams, bottle your own compotes, make your own vinegar, store your own fruits and vegetables, butter and cheese, for winter use, grind your own maize for culinary purposes, grow your own wine, act as your own butcher and poulterer, laundress and seamstress. The eye of the mistress must be everywhere, even though she invariably has a housekeeper under her. Servants get much smaller wages, work harder, and live less comfortably, but they are very independable, and there is absolutely no standard of personal morality among them. There is always an undercurrent of galanterie going on between the men and the maids, ending occasionally in tragedy, though more often in indifference.

The blessings of housekeeping in this country shine out by contrast. Certainly wisdom must be as great a stranger in Hungary as here. There is no doubt that many women make as great a failure in the business of housekeeping as men make in the commercial world. These failures are not recorded in the daily press, but are recorded in the hearts and characters of those who are affected by the failures. There is an ocean of difference between housekeeping and home-making. One is a business, the other is an art. Many women make great successes in the business who fail absolutely in the art. Their houses are perfectly kept. Every department is run with care and exactness. There is never a failure to meet demand; but it is not a home. A home exists for the comfort, happiness, and health of the family. There is no department of housekeeping that is not made to yield to the needs of any member. There is never a crisis of temper if a meal is late, or the convenience of a member demands a change in the hour. A few minutes, yea, even a number of minutes, spent in kindly converse in the morning, the call of a friend, or the sudden desire for an hour's outing never seems to the home-maker a violation of the moral code. Dust does not cause nightmare, nor disorder a display which love and charity agree to call nervousness. Not things but souls are the objects of the home-maker's care. She values peace more than system, happiness more than regularity, content more than work accomplished. Yet with it all her house, when she touches perfection, is the essence of regularity, order, and quiet. It is this that makes home-making an art. And she alone is a home-maker who has a true sense of proportion.

German Housewives Society

We recently referred in these columns to the organization of housekeepers who had arranged for the giving of prizes to servants who had served faithfully given periods of time. The constitution of the German Housewives Society can be obtained by addressing the office, 107 East Fifty-ninth Street, New York. As stated in the constitution, the Society "was organized to guard the interests of the employer as well as the employee." The employers joining the Society pay three dollars initiation fee, and two dollars in advance as dues every six months. The class of servants is limited to cooks, general housework maids, chambermaids, nursery-maids, and nurses. The Society regulates

the wages to be paid. A prize of $100 is given for ten years' uninterrupted service with a member of the Society; $45 for five years; $30 for three years; $20 for two years. Servants who neglect their duties, or who are obstinate, forfeit the privileges of the Society.

Parents and Teachers

of

There has been formed recently in New York a League of Parents and Teachers, the purpose which is for the improvement of the secondary education of girls in New York City. The consti tution states: "This League exists to secure the co-operation of parents and teachers in improving the condition of the secondary schools and their relation to the colleges." The meetings are to be held the first Monday in each month. Miss Louise A. Bangs is the President. Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, of Columbia College, is Vice-President. Meetings of great interest to educators and parents were held last year. After the year's experiment the projectors have decided to form an organization looking forward to permanency.

The Mother's Letter

A member's letter appeared in these columns in the issue of December 12 that led the editors to believe that the writer had perfect health. She sends this in reply to this editorial comment :

Dear Outlook: I notice in to-day's Outlook you have credited me with "perfect health," and I rise to explain that I have not always had good health, but am blessed with the power of recovering rapidly from sickness, and bearing up under afflictions. I think the secret of living down sorrow and trouble, next to the Divine Help, is work.

Many a time have I gone to the piano to practice with a breaking heart and a sob in my throat, and with such an anguish of mind as only mothers know who have lost dear children. I forced myselt to it, and the effort brought its reward. How can we mothers live and see our children go from us forever, if we shut ourselves up and grieve and mourn and wear deep mourning clothes? I am looking for the day when fashon shall decree that mourning be left to widows. As I reason it, our friends in heaven would grieve to see us so troubled, and they would wish us to take up life and go on again as if they were still with us-and so they are!

Another thing I did not touch upon in my last, and I would like to urge it here-find a hobby and ride it. It is fine exercise. And when one gives out, mount another, always selecting a good one! This will tide a mother over many of her frets and worries, and improve her mentally and physically.

One thing more, to show what a woman can do. Last December, and again this year, I have had an exhibition of fine water-colors and etchings from a New York firm in a room down-town, showing them in the afternoons of one week, and have sold quite a number. My young babe is left at home in charge of a grown woman. I find I can spare the time for this business venture, and no one suffers for it. Why does not some other woman take up this "missionary" work? It is educating the town people up to good pictures, and is light, easy work for one who is versed in art, to say nothing of the pleasure and delight in looking at and feasting on such good things herself.

London, O.

The Armenian

Previously acknowledged.
N. Y. G., Syracuse, N. Y
R. B. S.

Two Little Children, Orange, N. Y.
Friend..

H. B., Lincoln, Neb.

A Sympathizer.

A Friend, New Jersey.

M. McQ., West Bay City.

J. P. W.

Fairmount Chapel Sunday-School, Springfield,

Mass....

From a Friend, Detroit, Mich.

L. X., Syracuse, N. Y..

Total......