Household hints

are two people who have chosen each other out of all the world (according to the common superstition) to be companions. If they drift apart, the husband is almost always blamed, while the wife is in many cases the one in fault. While her husband in his work comes in contact with men of ideas, and becomes a part of the life that is pushing on into a different plane, and so is brightened and broadened even while he is wearied by it, she allows herself to be absorbed in the little details of her work, and at length her thoughts do not rise above them, and while she rehearses her little vexations, and dwells upon them, she fancies that he is free from annoyances, unless, indeed, it is some great trouble worthy of being called a failure. There are many women who know no more of the real life of their husbands than they do of that of a perfect stranger. That there is no need of this is shown by countless examples. Picture Mrs. Carlyle, as Mrs. Oliphant describes her, incessantly occupied with the little cares of a household, when she was not only obliged to arrange things for her husband's comfort, but also to invent contrivances to save him little troubles, and yet at the same time was possessed of a mind capable of appreciating his greatest work and of correctly estimating his character, and was withal so interested in all that concerned him that the half-hours spent in quiet talk with her her husband declares to have been the most delightful moments of his life ! There need be no greater disproportion between a husband and wife whose circle is smaller and whose ability is far less. Some of the most beautiful examples of devoted affection and complete companionship are not told of in magazine articles, they are going on before our very eyes in humble homes, and the truth is there appreciated that, in order to be all that one ought to be, there needs to be that ''renewing of the mind" of which Hamerton speaks in the "Intellectual Life." No man or woman who gives thought to this matter can conclude that it is wise to draw continually upon the capital with which they started, but will try to increase it by fresh thoughts, and by making themselves constantly interesting and helpful to each other. PUNISHMENT OF CHILDREN. Opinions have differed in regard to inflicting bodily punishment upon children from the day when the wise man declared that he that spareth the rod hateth his child to the time when the late Professor Finney attempted to apply his principle of the efficiency of " moral suasion" to Artemus Ward's kangaroo. And even later ; for does not Colonel IngersoU draw a graphic, and it must be confessed a truthful, picture of a parent of to-day, six feet tall, standing over a child of three or four years, with distorted face and birch twig ? How often, indeed, the so-called punishment is but an outlet for one's own ill-temper and disturbed sensibilities, and not at all in the spirit of a just retribution which follows disobedience ! There are, however, some sensible people who believe in a little ^^ judicious spanking," but, if they were to make a rule to count a hundred before striking a blow, how often would the culprit go scot-free ! If the object of education is to make a slave of your child, by all means compel obedience ; but if it is to make him a reasonable being, then appeal continually to" the reason. It requires a great deal more patience and time when your child has disobeyed you, or has done something which he ought not to have done, to secure his attention, lay the matter calmly before him, show him how far-reaching his little naughty act is, to what you fear it may lead, why it must not be repeated, and a tendency to wrong-doing be induced. Do you say this can not be understood by children ?