How to Make a Sand-bag. — Get some clean, fine sand, dry it thoroughly in a kettle on the stove. Make a bag about eight inches square of flannel, fill it with 'the dry sand, sew the opening carefully together, and cover the bag with cotton or linen cloth. This will prevent the sand from sift- ing out, and will also enable you to heat the bag quickly by placing it in the oven, or even on the top of the stove. After once using this no one will ever attempt to warm the feet and hands of a sick person with a bottle of hot water or a brick. The sand holds the heat a long time, and the bag can be tucked up to the back without hurting one. It is a good plan to make two or three of these bags, and keep them ready for use. Children with toothache can be put to sleep many a time with one. 92 HOUSEHOLD HINTS, Putting Away Woolen Clothes. — Great care must be ex- ercised in putting away winter clothes. Clean paper sacks^ or old cotton or linen pillow-cases, will do to hold them, providing there are no holes in them. Take the garments that are to be laid away outdoors on a summer day, let them hang on a line for several hours, brush and beat all the dust out, then put into the bags ; tie them up so that no moth can get in, then lay them on clean, dry shelves, or hang them up. X. TALKS UPON VAEIOUS SUBJECTS. LOVE OF CHANGE. A GREAT many bright and even witty things are said annually by husbands throughout the United States in re- gard to the nearly universal practice of wives, sisters, and mothers of changing the arrangement of the furniture and the established order of things in the household. The genial tender of the fire in "Backlog Studies" remarks upon the fact that the only reason the mistress could give for hanging a picture in what seemed the most inappropriate place was that it had never been there before. It is a positive delight to most women simply to move things around with a view to bettering the appearance of their rooms, and they lose interest at once in a house which is so constructed that certain articles must remain in cer- tain places. There is, however, a philosophy in this effort of the housewife to give freshness and variety to her surroundings which is at length becoming recognized. A distinguished physician has lately said that "it is wise and wholesome to TALKS UPON VARIOUS SUBJECTS, 93 break the uniformity of decoration from time to time ; for a pleasurable diversion of mind, however simple it may be, is wholesome not less to the body than to the mind." A woman passes so much of her time in the house, she needs the harmless stimulus derived from these slight changes. There is a relief to her mind from the monot- ony of her daily round. What conscientious woman will say that she has never felt an insane desire to open the window and throw away her dishes after having washed the same cups and plates three times a day for a few years ? We rejoice in the impetus which decorative art has re- ceived, and which makes itself felt in the most modest house- hold — if in nothing more than the variety and beauty of dishes. It is suggestive and pleasing to put a butter plate in the shape of a green leaf or a pansy at each place, to put cheese and pickles on the pretty majolica plates made especially for them, and to adorn the table with the flower- decorated dishes, which are dainty enough for a king and cheap enough for almost anybody. It is a fact easily verified that it does not tire one half so much to wash, wipe, and put away a whole china tea-set as it does to treat in the same way half the number of com- mon "e very-day dishes." Everything which gives pleasure to a woman in her work helps her. HOSPITALITY.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

How to Make a Sand-bag. — Get some clean, fine sand, dry it thoroughly in a kettle on the stove. Make a bag about eight inches square of flannel, fill it with 'the dry sand, sew the opening carefully together, and cover the bag with cotton or linen cloth. This will prevent the sand from sifting out, and will also enable you to heat the bag quickly by placing it in the oven, or even on the top of the stove. After once using this no one will ever attempt to warm the feet and hands of a sick person with a bottle of hot water or a brick. The sand holds the heat a long time, and the bag can be tucked up to the back without hurting one. It is a good plan to make two or three of these bags, and keep them ready for use. Children with toothache can be put to sleep many a time with one. Putting Away Woolen Clothes. — Great care must be exercised in putting away winter clothes. Clean paper sacks or old cotton or linen pillow-cases, will do to hold them, providing there are no holes in them. Take the garments that are to be laid away outdoors on a summer day, let them hang on a line for several hours, brush and beat all the dust out, then put into the bags ; tie them up so that no moth can get in, then lay them on clean, dry shelves, or hang them up. LOVE OF CHANGE. A GREAT many bright and even witty things are said annually by husbands throughout the United States in regard to the nearly universal practice of wives, sisters, and mothers of changing the arrangement of the furniture and the established order of things in the household. The genial tender of the fire in "Backlog Studies" remarks upon the fact that the only reason the mistress could give for hanging a picture in what seemed the most inappropriate place was that it had never been there before. It is a positive delight to most women simply to move things around with a view to bettering the appearance of their rooms, and they lose interest at once in a house which is so constructed that certain articles must remain in certain places. There is, however, a philosophy in this effort of the housewife to give freshness and variety to her surroundings which is at length becoming recognized. A distinguished physician has lately said that "it is wise and wholesome to break the uniformity of decoration from time to time ; for a pleasurable diversion of mind, however simple it may be, is wholesome not less to the body than to the mind." A woman passes so much of her time in the house, she needs the harmless stimulus derived from these slight changes. There is a relief to her mind from the monotony of her daily round. What conscientious woman will say that she has never felt an insane desire to open the window and throw away her dishes after having washed the same cups and plates three times a day for a few years ? We rejoice in the impetus which decorative art has received, and which makes itself felt in the most modest household — if in nothing more than the variety and beauty of dishes. It is suggestive and pleasing to put a butter plate in the shape of a green leaf or a pansy at each place, to put cheese and pickles on the pretty majolica plates made especially for them, and to adorn the table with the flowerdecorated dishes, which are dainty enough for a king and cheap enough for almost anybody. It is a fact easily verified that it does not tire one half so much to wash, wipe, and put away a whole china tea-set as it does to treat in the same way half the number of common "e very-day dishes." Everything which gives pleasure to a woman in her work helps her. HOSPITALITY.

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