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this case her ignorance caused the death of her husband, who died from loss of blood before the artery could be closed.

But there are modes of instruction by which the young may have their habits formed, and their understanding strengthened for the useful business of life, and the mother, the mistress of a family, and the governess should equally consider it a duty to train those under their care by precept, rule, and example; to select for them, and encourage them to read such books as may afford them useful information, and by every means endeavour to inspire them with that coolness and of mind, so important in emergencies.

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These considerations have prompted us to offer to females, in every station of life, a manual of facts, of suggestions, and of counsels, which, we trust, may be not less useful to the mistress than to the servant. Especially, we would impress on the young wife of the man of moderate income, the certain fact that peace and comfort may ever preside at her home, if, with true religion in her heart, and common sense in her head, she firmly resolves, whatever be her lot, to make the best of it.

In household economy especially, there is a cry for reform; yet this reform does not involve the necessity for the talented lady to neglect her accomplishments, nor the reading lady to abandon her books. It is not necessary to retrograde to the habits and pursuits of our industrious grandmothers, who, content to be good housekeepers, desired no more. The women of the present day have caught the spirit of progress from their brothers and husbands, and, not satisfied with the reform of the school-room and drawing-room, they begin to desire the entire reform of the household.

But, like all successful revolutions, this must be effected by rule. It ought not to be "too unadvised, too sudden;" but the result of judgment and reflection, carried out with firmness and energy.

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The mistress of a family should happily blend theory and practice, and possess the will and the way to make them useful. She must acquaint herself perfectly with the duties of mistress and servant before she begins to teach her servant. In this, as in all cases, knowledge is power; and she will have her rooms in more complete order when she knows herself how they ought to be arranged and dusted, and her bread will be better when she knows the constituent parts of it, and could even make it herself.

For, though the cook may be a proficient, and the housemaid clean and orderly, it may still happen that the household is discordant and comfortless. The harmony which arises from perfect order and arrangement, can only be accomplished by the head of the family uniting good sense with discreet forbearance in the management of her family.

Man presides over the warfare of life; to woman it is left to regulate its peace. Man provides the means of subsistence; woman must provide the means of comfort. There are few stations in life where man is not a working animal, glad to seek rest and cheerful enjoyment when the toils of the day are past. Whether it be the bustle of business or the cares of state, the fatigues of sport or the labours of professional duties,-to every man there is given work for the day; to woman it is left to offer him a pleasant home in the evening, or to chase him into dangerous scenes abroad.

It is not enough that the easy chair, the warm fireside, the good dinner, are prepared for the master of the house; it is not enough that the noisy children are ordered to the nursery, and the wife doses silently over her work. Bright faces and cheerful words, agreeable amusement and a community of feeling, can alone make the parlour more attractive than the club-room or the theatre.

For this purpose forbearance and love are the necessary agents. Let not the fair housekeeper tease her

DUTIES OF A WIFE AND MOTHER.

husband with recitals of the domestic miseries of the day, the faults of servants, the accidents of the kitchen, the misdemeanours of the butcher and the baker. Let her avoid the irritating subject of Mrs. B.'s new-furnished drawing-room, or Mrs. C.'s carte-blanche allowance for millinery. Let her rather endeavour to create and cultivate an interest in the pursuits of her husband. The doctor or the barrister would probably be glad to discuss the important case of the day with a new and earnest hearer; or the merchant to detail all the particulars of some interesting speculation.

True sympathy would soon produce a real interest in conversations which might at first appear dull and technical to a lady; and much useful information might thus be acquired. Besides, it always procures respect for a woman to be well acquainted with the affairs and pursuits of her husband.

It is a common saying, springing from vulgar wisdom, that "a man can thrive no better than his wife will let him," and it is an undoubted fact that no income, however large, is adequate to the demands of illmanagement.

It is, therefore, imperative that every prudent and honest wife should so contrive her household expenses as not to embarrass her husband.

In the first place, she should be fully acquainted with the amount of money that can be actually spared from her husband's income for housekeeping expenses, not with the view of living up to it, but of living within it.

Next, she must carefully calculate the certain, the probable, and the possible expenses that may fall upon her, and try by her own reason, or by profiting by the experience of friends, so to portion her means that she may always have something to spare for an emergency.

She must always keep a simple but regular account of money received and money spent. Few ladies begin this

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very necessary plan without making many blunders, and finding many difficulties at first; and it too frequently happens that they discover they have begun on too extravagant a scale, and their money has disappeared before the next payment is due.

When this is the case, they must beware of still further involvement by running in debt, to be paid out of the next money to be drawn. The only plan is to lay the accounts and the difficulties before the liege lord, and with honesty and good sense seek advice and profit by it.

It is certainly desirable to proportion the style of living as well to the fortune as to the position in society; but if the two cannot be made to agree, justice demands the sacrifice of such appendages to station as are inconsistent with the means.

The expenditure must be carefully considered, and retrenchments made on such articles as will least affect the comfort of all. Every woman who earnestly sets about it, may live within the means. An excellent common-sense maxim in household management, as well as in more important affairs, is "Begin nothing without steadily looking to the end."

A prudent housekeeper will always provide in time every thing that is actually wanted; but will never be tempted to buy what is not wanted, and then try to find a use for it.

She should never allow hurry or bustle to be the practice of the household, or nothing will be well done.

It is absurd and intolerable to hear any woman say she has not time to perform some important duty. A due arrangement and economy of time leaves opportunity for all things needful.

Economy is an arrangement or order of things to produce a certain result; therefore no economy can be so. important as the economy of time, the most precious possession of man.

DUTIES OF A WIFE AND MOTHER.

A minute's reflection in the morning will enable mistress or servant to make due arrangements for the employment of the day before her, so that not one moment shall be misspent: the important duties to be performed at regular and stated periods, the lesser occupations to be introduced to fill up the disengaged spaces.

In the pursuits of the mistress of a family there may be, however, unavoidable interruptions,-visitors, unforeseen domestic affairs, or accidents; but for these a wellregulated mind is ever prepared. Idle visitors must and will infest the homes of the industrious, but the time. need not be wholly lost a piece of needlework, knitting, drawing, or even some simple household occupation may be carried on without offence to the visitors, and may, on the contrary, afford them a useful lesson.

On the mutual duties of servants and employers, we may say that, in general, moderate demands and judicious forbearance produce respectful obedience. Servants should always remember that their services are only the just payment for their wages and support, and should scrupulously render them. But the attachment of a servant can only be bought by mildness, forbearance, and kind words.

The old-fashioned attachment to the family is now rarely seen except in a good nurse, who has learned to love the children she has reared, and who has been treated with more familiar kindness than the rest of the servants. An experienced and intelligent upper nurse is usually the faithful friend of the family.

It may not be consistent with the income of some to keep a first-rate nurse. In such cases it is a fatal error to shut children up in a close, dark, nursery with a common untaught servant; probably a girl of whose fidelity and good principles you can have no certainty, whose ignorance is obvious, and whose language may be rude and coarse.

Then, though it may be a sacrifice, we would say to