Cooking and castle-building

ments," replied Emeline, " that Mrs. Douglas had concluded to remam abroad, I could have been satisfied to stay several months longer; for the summer here has been to me very restful. True, I have not made much progress with my novel ; but I think my time has been spent to good advantage. I have looked at life from a difierent stand-point than ever before, and begin to feel a deep interest in everything that concerns our common humanity. I know I do not realize, as Kate does, its needs and wants ; but I accept the fact that no true woman ought to remain idle, or take to novel- writing merely for amusement, or to kill timo. The great majority of men and women know so imperfectly how to do the little every- day duties of life, the aggregate of which makes up the sum of human happiness, that they go stumbling and blundering through the world, hoping that somehow, somewhere in the far-off future, they will come up with and enjoy the good time, which through ignorance and laziness they fail to grasp and make for themselves here." "Ma," interrupted Alice, "you accused me of being unorthodox when I told you that Gerald's musings were such fancies as I frequently indulged in myself, and were not 'wild ravings' as you termed them. It seems to me you are stepping off the orthodox platform when you condemn people for hoping and expecting to have a good time prepared for them by some unseen power hereafter, when they are too stupid or lazy to make it for themselves here, where they have the materials for so doing lying all about them." "Alice," I interposed, "you and your mother seem to me to differ about non-essentials only. You both admit that your views of life have changed within the past few months ; and you both agree that an idle, selfish, aimless life is the lowest possible form of human existence. It is very evident, therefore, that you have both changed positions : and if orthodoxy means remaining stationary, — always of the same belief, — it must be conceded that both of you are less orthodox than you were a few months ago. People who use their eyes and brains learn to see and do things differently, and of course to think differently about them, nearly every day. And until they do use these organs, it is folly to expect much progress or improvement to be made in the world. The great majority of people, as you say, do not know how to do the little every-day duties of life that lie all about them. Why do they not? Is it from ignorance, stupidity, or laziness? It seems scarcely credible that men and women with ordinary sense can go through the world without noticing the thousands of little things that are component parts of their every-day life. It is hard to believe that a girl could grow up in a