-Original in GOOD HOUSEKEEPING.

NOURISHMENT AND FOOD FOR THE SICK. CHICKEN, STEAK AND CHOPS.

IV.

HE embargo on animal food removed by the convalescence of the patient, much of the difficulty in providing a pleasing variety vanishes. Still, certain restrictions remain. All fried food must be most carefully avoided. The oft-repeated story of St. Lawrence having attained. sanctity by a gridiron, and that in so doing he conferred upon that implement the power of making better everything prepared upon it, by no means applies to the frying-pan. It is labor enough for the vigorous stomach of a person of active habits to digest fried food, but the task becomes almost an impossibility to the delicate gastric organs of one who is just recovering from illness, and is unable to indulge in any but the slightest exercise. Let the convalescent's food then, be prepared by stewing, roasting or broiling; these afford a sufficiently wide scope for the most exacting palate. As a beverage for the invalid when no longer bound to a milk diet, nothing could be pleasanter or more nourishing than cocoatina. The best brand of this is that put up by H. O. Wilbur & Sons, of Philadelphia. It has the nutritiousness of chocolate, without the rich heavy qualities that render that drink unwholesome to many, and possesses the great advantage of being always ready for use, and requiring almost no

trouble to prepare.

CHICKEN BROILED IN THE OVEN.-From a young chicken cut a drumstick and second joint, or if the invalid prefers light meat, the wing and part of the breast. Should there be any doubt as to the tenderness of the chicken, it is well to lay the piece on a gridiron or toaster resting over a pan of boiling water set on top of the stove and let it steam, closely covered, for half an hour before broiling. This done, lay the portion in a clean, warm dripping-pan, and set this in a moderately hot oven; turn two or three times, rubbing with butter at each turn until the chicken is done. It is claimed that the juices are preserved more thoroughly by this mode of cooking than by broiling over an open fire.

BARBECUED CHICKEN.-Prepare a sauce of two teaspoonfuls of melted butter, one tablespoonful of vinegar, one saltspoonful of white sugar, the same of made mustard and a dash of salt and pepper; heat to boiling; pour over the broiled chicken and let it stand covered in a warm place for five minutes before serving.

STEWED CHICKEN.-It seems to be a belief among some cooks that it is impossible to fricassee less than a whole chicken. A half or a quarter of a fowl, can, however, be prepared in this manner and the invalid be spared the monotony of a series of meals at which the meat dish is the same until the overgenerous supply is exhausted. Lay the pieces to be stewed in a saucepan; pour in just enough cold water to cover them; put on a closely fitting top and cook slowly until tender; add four tablespoonfuls of milk, one beaten egg, and a teaspoonful of butter; boil up once and serve.

MINCED CHICKEN ON TOAST.-Stew part of a chicken until tender. Cut the meat from the bones and mince with a sharp knife into inch square pieces; thicken the gravy in which it was stewed with a teaspoonful of butter rolled in flour; add a little milk and season to taste. Heat the mince in this sauce, and pour over crustless slices of lightly buttered toast. Cold fricasseed chicken is nice warmed up in this style.

BROILED BEEFSTEAK.-Select a piece of tenderloin cut nearly an inch thick; broil over a clear, hot fire for about ten minutes, turning often. The patient's preference for rare or well-done meat must to some extent regulate the length of time allotted

to its cooking. Rare beef is always more nourishing. When the steak is done, butter it well, pepper and salt and let it stand covered for a few moments before serving. Water-cresses are a pretty garnish and an excellent appetizer.

MUTTON OR LAMB CHOPS may be prepared in the same manner. Be careful to remove all superfluous fat before cooking. A pleasant accompaniment to a chop is a single baked tomato. Cut off the top, and without breaking the skin, remove the pulp from the inside: mix this with fine bread crumbs, pepper, salt, butter and a very little sugar; return to the tomato shell, cover and bake to a light brown.

BROILED VENISON.-Cook on a well buttered gridiron, turning often, for about fifteen minutes; lay in a hot dish, pepper and salt lightly, and butter generously. Allow a liberal teaspoonful of currant jelly to a small steak, and let it stand covered until the melted butter and jelly have soaked thoroughly into the meat. Serve very hot.

WARMING OVER.-When practicable, it is best to cook chicken, steak, etc., just as it is needed, but when, as sometimes happens, a dainty bit is left over, there is no reason why it should not be warmed up, and yet be appetizing. There is a far better method than that commonly pursued of heating the meat in the oven, thus drying it out and making it tasteless. The cold remnant should be placed in a closely covered saucer or tin pan, and this set over a kettle of boiling water. The steam warms the meat and also preserves the juices. -Christine Terhune Herrick.

HINTS ON THE USE AND CARE OF LAMPS. Of all misunderstood things in daily life, the use of the kerosene

lamp probably stands at the head.

First, a lamp is bought and fit

ted for use, and then filled day after day, and after a longer or shorter period does not give as good a light as it used to; then come complaints to the oil man or grocer about the quality of the oil, when a little reason and judgment used would remedy the fault and remove the cause of complaint. If persons using a lamp would remember that the lamp is a machine combining the furnace and pump, and endeavor to learn the principle of using oil, much trouble would be saved, for while no one expects to use a large machine without learning how to work it, any one can use a lamp. Now, the wick is the pump to bring oil from the fount to the blaze, and as there is always more or less dust and dirt in the oil, the wick soon becomes clogged up and cannot pump oil fast enough for a good light, so a complaint is made when a new wick would have removed the cause. Then, as we burn oil out, the lightest parts burn, and leave the heavy oil, and as it is filled day by day the oil gradually gets so heavy that the draft is not strong enough to pump it up, and then the oil should be all turned out of the lamp and it refilled with fresh oil. Then the burner, after a time, gets gummed up and the even flow of oil is disturbed and causes a smoky, uneven light that is very vexatious. I have had burners brought into my store condemned, and a new one wanted, when by two minutes' work they were made as good as new. Then when the wick needs cutting, some scrape it off, others cut it so uneven that it makes a pointy blaze which so provokes one that he wants to condemn it. (If a little reason and thought were used in the every day life, we would soon find that lots of our discomforts would be very easily overcome and banished, but things go on in a slipshod manner the burner is provided with a great number of small holes to proyear after year, with no attempt to improve them.) But to resume, vide air, to the end that perfect combustion may take place, and not to collect dust and dirt until they are all clogged up, and a smoky, bad-smelling light is the result. Now if in using kerosene we fill the lamp up with white oil every day, and once a week empty back the oil in the lamp and use a new wick, cut even and true, once a week or two weeks, and be sure the lamp burner is clean, and a clear, nice polished chimney used, we will find that the kerosene lamp is a cheap and great luxury, and not, as is often the case, a necessary nuisance which has to be used for lack of anything better. For a little care, daily, in using lamps, makes all the difference between luxury and nuisance.-J. B. Samoht, in the Analyst.

Original in GOOD HOUSEKEEPING.

HOUSEHOLD LIFE IN GOTHAM. FASHION, CUSTOMS, ECONOMIES AND COMFOrts. HERE is a feeling of spring in the air, The shrubbery about the ponds in Central Park is trembling with a vague unrest, and beginning to push forth delicate feelers to toy with the southern wind. The little children in Madison square are rolling their hoops more lively than for many a long week, and their merry laughter has something the sound of prophecy as well as satisfaction. There is a joyous flutter at the heart of nature, which is felt even in Among these inanimate things are the contents of the stores and shops along the avenues. Furs and woolen goods are removed to the background, or ticketed. "Great Reduction in Prices." Large show windows are given up to sateens, foulards and cambrics, and the prices, on the whole, are no higher than in similar goods last year.

inanimate things.

But we are too far from the Solstice yet to care to make a selection. Rather, as prudent women who believe in making the most of every department in GOOD HOUSEKEEPING, let us see how we can buy staple winter goods to the best advantage, for it is a rule with the thrifty matron to lay in a stock when things are going down in price.

There is a toboggan slide for such things after Christmas, not very steep, it is true, but sufficient to be worth considering. Dress goods go down the swiftest and farthest. While a handsome costume should be fresh and in the latest style, afternoon and street dresses are just as good, for most of us, if they have laid on the shelves four months instead of one. If I buy remnants for Susie's next winter school dresses now, and match my green diagonal skirt with enough material for a new basque another fall, at about half price, why, then, it is all ready another season, and at a great saving.

Homespun suits, made well and stylishly, the material thick, soft all-wool, are marked down to $10 and $11; tricot suits to $11, and tailor-made Newmarket wraps are from $6 to $13. Cloaks have, of course, had a great tumble, but the trade in them is over, save for sealskins, of which a few are still bought. I saw an excellent piece of black cashmere offered the other day for 50 cents, but then cashmere is not so much worn since fancy woolens have become the rage. Of black silks, satin merveilleux is offered at 78 cents, but it is poor economy to buy anything of that kind cheap. One had rather have a good cashmere, which looks and lasts so much better. The housekeeper who is thinking if she must have a new parlor carpet, ought to know that she can buy a good quality of five frame-body Brussels carpet for 95 cents per yard. The figures and colors are desirable, but not the best. Then there are "double extra" ingrains at 65 cents, and a quality less heavy at 45 and 50 cents. Let me beg her, though, if she does buy anything new in the carpet line, to have it made with a border to match, rug fashion. It may reach within a yard of the sides of the room, or a foot, and if the floor is too rough to paint, stain, or finish with any "wood-filler," then use a solid color of matting. This style is not only coming into vogue, but it has everything to recommend it in the way of neatness and convenience.

The dinner and lunch giving season is still at its height. The first must be formal, the latter can be informal or elaborate. At a late dinner, on the spotless cloth were laid three squares of ruby plush, fringed with bullion, diamond-wise, the largest in the center. On these were low glass dishes filled with sand and concealed by greenery, in which were white carnations; a boutonniere at each plate consisted of

carnations, ruby colored and white, and the lamps were covered with the same richly-tinted shades. By the way, it may be stated here that our latest artistic authorities have decided that, no matter how numerous the gas-burners, lamps are indispensable. The shadows thrown by chandeliers are unbecoming to the diners, and candelebra attached to the walls do not sufficiently illuminate the table. Therefore take heart, you who are beyond the reach of gas mains and gas bills, you are not beyond fashion.

There has also been a lavender dinner. Pale lilac, under drawn linen mats, on the center of the table, the porcelain decorated with the same tint, and the flowers, hot-house lilacs, were the luxurious characteristics of the occasion. Dinners in which everything takes a roseate hue, with red and white roses as the only flowers, are more common. Painted menu cards have been overdone; they now have very little decoration. But these dinners are beyond the ordinary housekeeper, who likes to assemble her choicest friends at a dainty banquet. It is a pity if we cannot meet socially without so much labor and expense, as to half starve for days in order to prepare for it. Two or three dishes that taste good, look well, and are wholesome, ought to content the most fastidious. For a little luncheon party, some bouillon (shall I give you the best receipt in the world for it, sister housekeepers?), cold sliced tongue or beef, a salad, warm biscuit with little French pats of butter, preserved strawberries, and some delicious snow-cake. This was the refection at a charming home the other day, when a dozen lady guests discussed the world and its ways. Our hostess had a raw servant, and so was her own cook, and is almost as successful as "Molly" in Mrs. Owen's delightful "Ten Dollars Enough." The bouillon was made the day before and rewarmed; she stirred up the cake and mixed the salad dressing that morning, and even made the biscuits while the guests were arriving. How we enjoyed the delicate preparations of a refined woman!

One of the advantages of a great city is a certain independence which we enjoy. The rules of fashion or custom are not so severe. It is only young, inexperienced people who feel that they must have the latest style and tint of paper, and remake their side trimming into box pleatings, when that is the last mode. In fact, a little change from the prevailing custom is considered original and rather admired, unless too outré. For instance, the other day, a friend of mine determined to see all her acquaintances and repay many social calls. She accordingly sent out her visiting cards, with "Old-Fashioned Tea" written under the engraved name, and in the corner opposite the address, added "From Four to Seven." In the back parlor the table was simply set with tongue, sandwiches, the most delicious crullers, made by her mother, who is famous for that particular cake, cookies, equally delicious, also homeTwo young made sponge cake, chipped beef and cheese. relatives poured tea and chocolate, and served the refreshments on old family china, beautiful enough to form the nucleus of a museum. It is needless to say that everybody came and was delighted. There was neither bake-shop confectionery nor dishes for show, but all tasted and tasted, again and again, exclaiming "Oh, how good it is!"-an exclamation which your correspondent heartily echoed. -Mrs. H. M. Poole.

Original in GOOD HOUSEKEEPING.

DISCIPLINING CHILDREN. How To Do IT, AND HOW NOT TO DO IT.

88

HEN young people marry and set up housekeeping, probably the subject that least occupies their time is the disciplining of children, and yet it is a subject that will soon force itself upon their attention, and is going to cause great anxiety for a large part of their lives. The children come-soft, tender little things, that fill the household with happiness and content, and make the home complete; and the idea that this little bunch of loveliness has the remotest relation to the subject of discipline seems absurd. If the young mother expresses herself in regard to it, she undoubtedly says she expects her child will always do as she wishes, that she has control of the whole situation; the father stands ready, if difficulties should arise, to restore order. So the whole subject seems to them to require very little thought for a long time to come. The baby is cared for from day to day, begins to notice and know a little, grows bright and cunning, is petted and laughed at and admired by all the family and friends, without restraint. It asks for things in such a pretty way and is made so happy by indulgence that it easily becomes the habit to let the baby have almost everything it wants, for with its little weak hands it can hold and play with delicate articles that babies must be refused. As the child grows its demands are more frequent and more persistent, and at this early age it is so much easier to yield than to have unpleasant results.

So things go on, until some day the mother suddenly awakens to the fact that the baby is often more naughty than pretty; a strong will has developed itself in this soft mass of innocence and beauty, and a determination to have its own way is its strongest characteristic. Then the child must be brought under discipline, and the poor little thing has a hard time of it, for how can it understand why the order is changed and it is no longer the pivot upon which all things turn? Perhaps by this time another child has come, and life becomes a serious thing to the poor little dethroned prince or princess. The discipline of a child should begin as soon as it is born, and it is the duty of young people, as soon as they are married, to think about the requirements of children and try to be in a measure prepared for their care.

is unintentionally taught, or developed in them. When grown people are so far from perfect, it seems unfair that every apparent fault of the child should be made so much of; and many times what seems wrong in a child is only a natural act under the exciting conditions, and if we take time to examine the matter we shall be more just. Injustice and weakness in parents make sad havoc with children's characters. There is a strong latent force in children which we must strive to control: we cannot change its nature, but by strength and patience, and thoughtfulness we may guide it. Over-discipline is as harmful as the lack of discipline. It may be worse, for if a child is let alone, there is a chance for a natural development for good; but if a child is continually prodded with rules and directions, it may grow rebellious, its obstinacy is aroused, and its finer feelings are blunted. Many a time by forbidding we create a desire; as we invite falsehood by prohibiting something that the child will do thoughtlessly, and can only refrain from doing by constant self-control; and often the thing forbidden is of little consequence compared with the train of evils its prohibition introduces. When the child has disobeyed it is punished; the next time it disobeys it naturally tells a falsehood to avoid punishment. Children are morally and physically cowards, and the greatest care is necessary to prevent this weakness from becoming a large element in their character. A thoughtless, wrong act is not so bad as wilful disobedience. We may give a child many opportunities to do wrong in this thoughtless way. It does not follow that because a mother slips over many of the small misdemeanors in a child's life that she is without law or order. The strength of his influence is needed for the more important occasions. Let a child' revolve in its own orbit; when it is out of order, replace it with as little disturbance as possible. It will live its own life in spite of everything, and it is the duty of parents to see that the conditions surrounding it are conducive to a healthy and pure growth, and that the faulty traits it has undoubtedly inherited be eradicated by every means possible.

We cannot have the care of children without going through a severe course of discipline ourselves. Our teaching is of less value if we do not improve by experience as we proceed. It is not a weakness to confess our lack of wisdom; we cannot impose upon children. If we are wrong we may as well admit it and try all the more to overcome our own faults. We are very well understood by the little ones around us, and to make our discipline effectual we must walk beside them, and guide and help them, sympathizing with them in their failures, not constantly holding their faults before them. In this way their faults are not a constant irritation, nor a hindrance to a noble development of character, but each failure is a means for a little firmer grasp of self-control. A child need not know how much it is directed. It may be led around many a difficulty by tact. It is a tribute to its parents when a child obeys from a sense of honor, rather than from fear of the consequences.

WRECKED.

A ship went sailing, sailing Out on the stormy main : Heavy its cargo of jewels rare, Gold, fabrics of silk and camel's hairIt ne'er was seen again.

-Rose Dalton.

A bark went sailing, sailing
The stormy sea of life:
Freighted with hope for all noble things,
For content and peace which goodness brings-
It sank 'mid waves of strife.

-Mrs. Ellis L. Mumma.

Original in GOOD HOUSEKEEPING.

OLD DOMINION RECIPES.
EXPERIMENTALLY PREPARED AND CAREFULLY TESTED.

EATEN BISCUIT.-To one quart of sifted flour of good quality allow a tablespoonful of shortening. It is better to use half butter and half lard, but the latter is frequently used alone. Add a teaspoonful of salt, and make into a stiff dough with a teacupful of sweet milk. They must be beaten with the head of an axe or mallet until the dough blisters or is very light. The biscuits are made out with the hands into little balls, then flattened into the thickness one prefers, stuck with a fork and baked in a quick A well-made beaten biscuit is as white as snow inside, and excellent eating.

oven.

BATTER CAKES-QUICKLY MADE.-One pint of flour, a half pint of Indian meal, one pint and a half of buttermilk, one egg, and one teaspoon even full of soda. Bake as griddle cakes.

Soapstone griddles are recommended to young housekeepers as economical in the end, saving the use of grease, and preventing that worst fault in a batter cake, viz., the taste of fried fat,

INDIAN MEAL BATTER BREAD.-Boil one quart of sweet milk. Mix together and sift two large tablespoonfuls of flour and three tablespoonfuls of Indian meal. Add to these last two well-beaten eggs, then pour the boiling milk, by degrees, upon the flour, and make into a smooth batter. Bake in greased cups or a quart baking dish.

The quality of corn batter bread depends entirely upon the sort of meal used. In these days of rapid communication, I suppose, any kind of meal can be procured that is deemed desirable. In Virginia we greatly prefer white meal, and never add any sugar to the batter. The sweetness of the corn meal is all-sufficient to make the bread palatable.

MADISON CAKES.-To one quart of flour, sifted, put three tablespoonfuls of yeast. If these cakes are wanted for tea, make up in the morning with a teacupful of warm water if the weather is cold, ice water if the season is summer. Having a roasted white potato ready, add a full tablespoonful to the dough, and knead well. Set the dough away to rise in a covered bucket, allowing it plenty of room to rise. When well risen (probably early in the afternoon), return the dough to your bread tray, and, adding to it the yolks of two eggs beaten light, a piece of butter or lard the size of a walnut and a tablespoonful of white sugar, knead thoroughly. Then roll out the dough as for lightened biscuits, cut them out with a biscuit cutter, and set them on a tray in a warm place to rise. Be sure to cover them with a clean cloth until ready to bake them, which should be about a half-hour before your tea-time. Then put them in the stove and let them bake quickly until of a pretty brown color.

The appearance of these cakes is much improved by glazing, which is done by brushing them over with a feather dipped in yolk of egg.

VIRGINIA PUDDING.-One pint of corn meal mush. While yet warm, put into it a half teacupful of butter, six well-beaten eggs, and a pint of milk sweetened with a half pound of sugar. Season highly with the juice and grated rind of a lemon, and bake in puff paste that is to say, pie-plates lined with pastry. Serve warm, not hot, with a little fine sugar sanded over their tops.

A GOOD BOILED PUDDING.-One pound of flour-a light quart, one pound of sweet or three-quarters of a pound of sour cherries, two tablespoonfuls of butter or six ounces of fresh suet chopped very fine, eight ounces of stale bread grated or crumbled up fine, eight eggs beaten separately. Dust the cherries well with a part of the flour, but add them last. Make the pudding into a batter with just enough milk to make the mass stick together-it will not take more than a half pint, maybe less; dip a strong cloth in boiling water, and flour it well on the inside just before you put in the pudding. Two tablespoonfuls of brown sugar and a teaspoonful of salt improves the flavor. Have ready a kettle of boiling water, and into it drop the pudding after tying it up very securely in its cloth, but allowing it plenty of room to swell. Lift it frequently to

see that the cloth does not stick to the bottom of the kettle and burn. Two hours is enough to allow for the boiling. This pudding is eaten with sweet sauce.

A VERY GOOD SAUCE.-Half a pound of brown sugar, a quarter of a pound of butter creamed, and the beaten yolk of an egg stirred into it. Set over the fire where not too hot, simmer and stir, but do not let the sauce boil; lastly, add a gill of white Sicily or sherry wine, and grate nutmeg over it. Allow a quantity proportioned to the size of one's family. The above measures will answer for eight persons.

HARD SAUCE.-Cream a quarter of a pound of good sweet butter, from which the salt has been washed, with a teacupful of pulverized sugar and two tablespoonfuls of cream. Flavor with what you fancy that is not liquid enough to soften the mixture. Vanilla is very nice. Make it up into a pat like butter, or heap up in a pyramidal shape, and grate over the pile a coating of nutmeg or cinnamon.

CORN MEAL MUSH.-As mush is called for in one of the above recipes, some inexperienced housemaker may desire information about even so homely a dish as that. Over a brisk fire set a saucepan with as much hot water in it as you desire of mush. Add a small teaspoonful of salt to as much as a quart of water. Have ready, close at hand, a provision of sifted white corn meal, and of this add a little at a time with one hand, while with the other you stir diligently until the mush seems to be sufficiently thick, then draw the saucepan to a cooler part of the stove, and let it simmer from ten to twenty minutes, according as it takes more or less time to get thoroughly done. A little butter added before removing the mush from the fire is considered an improvement. It is served in a covered china dish, with the accompaniment of sugar and cream, and at old-fashioned breakfast tables in England as well as our Southern states, took the place that oatmeal porridge does with us now. Polenta is another name for Indian meal mush.

SWEET SPRINGS MUFFINS.-One quart of flour, two eggs, one small teacupful of yeast, with one tablespoonful of butter or lard. Make these materials into a stiff batter with water. It must not be stirred after it has been well beaten and set away to rise. The eggs must be well beaten before they are mixed with the flour. Do not forget to put in a teaspoonful of salt. Ten minutes before the meal is to be served at which these muffins are to appear, prepare for them a greased bread-pan, and with a wet spoon dip out the batter, and drop a spoonful at a time into the pan. Bake them quickly. Buttered hot at the fire, they are delicious for handed tea.

TUTTI-FRUTTI.-Begin this preserve in the spring. Have a large jar nicely clean, and over a quart of capped strawberries pour a pint of brandy. Add every variety of fruit as it ripens, with the same proportion of sugar. Oranges and lemons are included. Of these, however, take only the juice, with a decided flavoring of the rind. Quinces and pears must be parboiled until tender. Keep in an airtight jar, and watch for any sign of fermentation. If there is the slightest appearance of this, turn out into a preserving-pan, boil and skim, then re-seal, and you will be provided with the material for

the "tutti-frutti" ice which has been so fashionable of late years. -Mary Stuart Smith.

GERMAN PUNCH-TORTE.

Take one pound of the finest and best sugar (good weight.) Stir into it gradually the yolks of twenty eggs, and continue stirring for three-quarters of an hour. Add then the grated rind of one lemon, fourteen ounces of corn-starch, and lastly the whites of twenty eggs, beaten to a stiff froth. Bake of this three or four layers of cake in a moderate oven. When cool, wet each layer with a cold punch made of half a pint of Jamaica rum of first-rate quality, the grated peel and the juice of one lemon, and sugar enough to sweeten. Spread some orange marmalade over each layer but one. Place one layer on top of the other, keeping the one minus the marmalade for the uppermost. Pour the remainder of the punch over the whole. To give the cake its appropriate finish, the following glaze is to be applied: Take a large lump of loaf sugar and rub it against the outside of an orange until all the oil is absorbed pound it to a powder, add half a pound of powdered sugar, and with some water stir to a thick paste. Heat slightly before spreading it over the top of the cake, and finally try the glaze by means of a salamander.-Mrs. Bayard Taylor.

Original in GOOD HOUSEKEEPING.

FAGOTS FOR THE FIRESIDE,

Gathered and Made Ready, Expressly for Good Housekeeping. BY MISS LUCRETIA P. HALE AND MRS. MARGARET E. WHITE.

THE FAGOT PARTY.

THE FOURTH BUNDLE OF FAGOTS.

HERE was a large family at the Bruntons' where the next Fagot Party assembled, so there was a numerous and interested audience in the background. When the usual party had appeared and were welcomed, Angelina brought forward the fagot that she had prepared for the entertainment of her visitors. It was called Criticisms.

She read the following description:

After the guests are conveniently arranged, give to each one a sheet of paper, with the request that the title of some wellknown book be written upon it, as near the top as possible. It may be either a novel or poem, a scientific work or some grave treatise upon morals or philosophy, as the fancy of the writer may dictate. After this has been written, the sheet must be folded down in such a way as to conceal the line already written, and passed to the left-hand neighbor.

Upon the sheet now in his hand, each one must write, as near the top of the page as possible, the name of some author of sufficient reputation to be generally known. This name is also concealed from view, by again turning down the paper, which is then passed to the left. Next, must be written some quotation either in verse or prose which would make an appropriate motto for a book. The paper must be again folded and as before passed to the left.

Every person must now write a criticism upon the book supposed to be designated in the lines concealed from view. The papers must then be passed once more for a second criticism, which finishes the game.

Miss Brunton provided each of the visitors with a paper on which the first was to write the name of a book, passing it on to receive the additions in turn, of the name of an author, a motto, and a series of criticisms. When finished, these were read aloud and received with great applause and laughter. The specimen we give below, may be interesting as showing the comical effect produced by such incongruous parts being joined into one whole.

ALICE IN THE WONDER LAND.

BY

CHARLES DICKENS.

"Happiness is a wayside flower growing along the high-road of usefulness."

First criticism: "This treatise is evidently the work of one who is the master of the subject he discusses. The most superficial survey of the ground he covers, discloses an intimate acquaintance with the laws which govern the material forces of the universe. And not only this, the author takes us by the hand, as it were, and leads us into a world beyond our ken, showing us that there are things even in the physical world, which our senses are not yet sufficiently developed to take cognizance of."

Second criticism: "This novel is one of the author's best. In it his pathos, humor and knowledge of the world are seen in their fullest measure. This measure, it should be mentioned, is not a peck measure, nor a yard measure, nor any measure by which we measure out bare materialism; but so far as it goes, it is full. The work is absorbing, as sand is absorbing, from its dryness. It should be read upon a wet day. It is especially recommended to the young as a discipline for the mind."

A clamor of voices followed the reading of this, as well as the remaining criticisms and the other papers, every one being ready with his or her guess as to the authorship of the different writings. In the example we have given, it was

easy to recognize Mr. Chester's hand in the second criticism, but it took much longer to discover Angelina Brunton as the writer of the first.

"Now," said Sally Chester, "if your brains are as tired as mine after writing those criticisms, I am sure that you will be glad to try the game I am going to propose, and which seems, from its name, to be particularly appropriate here," she added, with an arch smile and a bow which included both

Angelina and Hector Brunton. It is called

Literati.

One of the party must go out of the room, while the rest fix upon the name of some distinguished person which contains as many letters as there are players in the game. Each player then chooses some well-known character, which he is to personate, and whose name begins with one of the letters in the original word. The individual who has gone out then returns to the room and questions each one in the order in which the initial letters come, and from his answer guesses the person he represents, remembers the initial letter and combines it with the others as he guesses them until the whole name is revealed.

"I am afraid you will think this a stupid explanation, but you will readily see what the game is when we once begin to play it. Mr. Fortescue will you please be the guesser, and go into the next room for a moment?”

“Certainly, if you rule that it shall be so, Miss Sally." As Mrs. Chester and Mrs. Fortescue and others were now

66

sitting in the background, Sally counted nine to play the game, "so," she said, we must select a name that has nine letters in it. Can any one suggest one?"

"Gladstone?" queried Rodney Owens.

“Thank you; that will do admirably. Now Mr. Chester, you must select a character whose name begins with G., and be prepared to answer any questions that Mr. Fortescue may ask you about your assumed self. Aspasia, the L will come to you, the A to Clara, the D to Mr. Owens, the S to Angelina, the T to Arthur, the O to Cecilia, the N to Hector, and the E to me. If you are all ready I will call Mr. Fortescue. Begin with Mr. Chester, if you please," she said to that gentleman as he entered the room and approached Mr. Chester.

"Well, Chester, are you a real or a fictitious character?" "I am fictitious, but I am founded on fact, I believe." Are you male or female?"

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