seed of the oat, than you can expect the beautiful plants of truth and honesty to spring from lying and deceit.

Years will pass on. What will be your feelings if you hear the names of John or Henry coupled with some act of dishonesty or fraud, (but the nursery sin is grown older)—acts, which, had you in the days of their infancy inculcated lessons of truth instead of falsehood, might never have been committed?

But it may be otherwise, and great will be your reward, not only in the present truthfulness of the children, but in the hope you may cherish that a foundation is being laid for characters of excellence, and conscientiousness.

If on the one hand you are dismayed at the awful responsibility of your calling; so on the other, you may be cheered by the bright and happy thought, that you may train these little ones to walk in paths of truth and holiness; and that at the last day you shall see at the right hand of the Father more than one, who may throughout eternity ascribe much to the pious labours of an affectionate nursemaid.

I hope, in my next letter, to point out a few of the most desirable modes of obtaining obedience, and preserving peace and order in the nursery.

In the mean time, believe me your sincere friend,

H. R. G.

XI.-USEFUL HINTS TO SERVANTS.

MAXIMS OF PRUDENCE AND ADVICE TO BE RECOLLECTED WHEN IN SERVICE.

Having cleaned the stove, fender, and fire-irons, slightly wash the backs and sides of the fire-place,

and all the cast-iron work of the stove, over with black-lead mixed with water, or whites of eggs, and applied with sponge, or a piece of old rag, and then rub them with a hard brush till they appear bright; but in warm weather you should do the distinct parts separately, otherwise they will dry too fast to be polished well, as will be the case if you light the fire first. A beautiful brightness may be given to the front of cast-iron stoves, the inner hearth, the backs of stoves, and the insides of fenders, by cleaning them with a mixture of a quarter of a pound of blacklead, a bit of soap of the size of a walnut, and a pint of small beer boiled together.

You must then light the fire, and wash the hearth and chimney-piece with a strong hot lather of soap and water, and wipe them dry with a clean linen cloth. Never make use of the scrubbing-brush to marble, lest you injure its high polish. Freestone hearths, and chimney-pieces, are washed with soap, sand, and cold water, and rubbed dry with a clean house-cloth.

When you have to clean a painted chimney-piece which has lost its colour, or is very dirty, fuller's earth and whitening mingled together, and a little yellow or Indian soap, rubbed on the brush, will do tolerably well for ordinary purposes. But where the paint is in good condition, but only soiled, dip a sponge or a piece of flannel in soda and water, rub the wainscot, wash off quickly, and dry immediately, lest the soda should injure the paint. Or if your employers are unwilling that you should use soda, for fear of the paint sustaining any injury, simmer a pound of soft soap, two ounces of pearl-ash, and a pint of table beer over the fire. Put a small quantity of the mixture upon a flannel, and rub the paint;

then wash it with warm water, and dry it thoroughly with a linen cloth.

Your next business will be to clean the brass locks, finger plates, and the brass ornaments of the furniture; and for this purpose, in order to prevent your soiling or rubbing the paint off the door, or soiling or injuring the furniture, you should have pieces of thin pasteboard with holes cut in them corresponding to the size and shape of the brass lock, finger plate, or ornament; and before you begin to clean the brass, you should apply the piece of pasteboard, so that the brass may exactly occupy the space cut out. You may then proceed to clean. In general, locks and finger plates are lackered, in which case you must rub them with a soft piece of plate leather; if any fly dirt be upon them, first remove it with a piece of flannel well soaped. But where they are not lackered, or the lacker is worn off, polish them with a piece of buck leather and a little Bath brick finely powdered, or with plate leather. In each case, take care to have your leather wrapped up into a small compass, in order that you may avoid touching the paint or the furniture with the corners, &c., of the leather, as they are liable to be soiled or injured by its being too large. Brass-work may also be cleaned with great effect, by washing it with roche alum, boiled with strong ley, in the proportion of an ounce to a pound; and when dry, rubbed with fine tripoli. And brass ornaments will assume a fine colour by rubbing them over heated charcoal, with finely powdered sal ammoniac, moistened with soft water; when dry finish by rubbing with bran and whitening. Either of these processes, as well as by rubbing with the pieces of plate leather before mentioned, will give brass the brilliancy of gold.

Your next attention is to be directed to the carpet; but before the sweeping commences, you should spread a large calico cloth over the sofa and the other nice furniture, and hang up the curtains as high as you can out of the way of the dust. Sweep the carpet with the hair broom or carpet mop, to remove the flue and lint. When much dust appears on it, you must use the carpet broom, first strewing over some damp tea leaves. Where a drugget or covering is used for the carpet, the carpet broom need be used only occasionally (not oftener than once, or farthest twice a week), according to the state of the carpet, as too frequently brushing it wears out the carpet, as you may perceive by observing the floor covered with flick, which is that soft pile that constitutes the beauty of the carpet. If the carpet be not tacked down you should turn up the sides all round the room, and sweep away the dust, and occasionally scour round. In sweeping don't whisk your broom, or strike it down too hard, or you will raise a cloud of dust which will settle on the furniture; by raising the broom lightly from the ground, you will sweep cleaner and raise little or no dust. Then dust and rub the chairs, tables, cellaret, and other mahogany furniture ; and remember always not to do this too near the walls, paper, or wainscot, lest you should scratch, smear, or soil them. Then replace the carpet, hearthrug, chairs, and tables. Dust, with a clean duster kept for the purpose, the window frames, the ledges of the wainscotting, panels of doors, and the lookingglass or mirror, the chimney ornaments, glass lustres, or china; but the frames of pictures or lookingglasses should never be touched with linen. The dust should be removed from them with a painter's brush, or a bunch of feathers. The window curtains

should then be dusted with a feather broom, and properly placed on the curtain pins. Then having spread the cloth on the table, stir the fire, and cast your eye around the room to observe whether all things are in order and fit for the reception of the family to breakfast. Should the breakfast parlour be above stairs, sweep and dust the stairs. landing places, the balustrades, and the passage. Clean the steps of the front door, and polish the knocker if it be brass. The floor or oil cloths need only be rubbed over with a clean wet flannel, and wiped dry with a clean house cloth. How they are to be thoroughly cleaned, we will explain in a future article, under the head of GENERAL CLEANING DAY.

VEGETABLE COOKERY.

IN preparing vegetables for cooking, care should be taken first to thoroughly wash them. Cauliflower, cabbage, spinach, &c., should remain some time in cold water, in which a handful of salt has been dissolved; this will cause insects to leave them, however close their hearts may be; rain-water should be used to boil them if it can be procured, as many kinds of hard water will spoil the colour of greens; another important thing is to have the water boiling when they are put in, and remove them from the fire the moment they are done, draining the water well from them.

Celery is usually eaten raw with bread and cheese, or to flavour soups; but if a few heads are cleaned and cut into pieces four or five inches long, and stewed tender, serving them with a little milk, flour, and butter, seasoning them with pepper and salt, they are delicious.