M. E. W.—Unless in use, you had better try to dispose of the water-bed. It will answer no purpose to put it away, and it is useless save in sickness. They will allow you for it, where you procured it, as second-hand.
Veilchen.—1. As a general rule it is better to take all such kindly attentions as meaning nothing beyond what appears on the surface. A man very often walks home with a girl out of kindness only; and there is no harm in his doing so, as in the country, where the roads are lonely, he may feel obliged to do it. If your family object to it, and if you feel it unpleasant, have one of the servants sent to meet you. It is well to discourage self-consciousness, and to accept such attentions as they are, probably, meant; that is, as the natural acts of kindness which a man feels it right to offer to a woman in need of them.—2. There are plenty of good hair washes which you can make yourself. Dr. Erasmus Wilson’s is excellent—
| ℞ | Eau de Cologne | 8 | oz. |
| Tincture of cantharides | 1 | “ | |
| Oil of English Lavender | ½ | drachm. | |
| Oil of rosemary | ½ | ” |
Mix in a bottle, and shake well.
[AN EMBROIDERED PIANOFORTE BACK.]
A PIANOFORTE BACK.
There are few places where a nice piece of embroidery can be more effectively displayed than in a pianoforte back, and the design here given may be of use to some who want to take up a piece of work, but are undecided what it shall be, by suggesting a task and giving some little assistance in the matter of design; for there is no necessity or merit in keeping close to the ones I give in these pages. It would be much better if all workers made their own designs, but some are not so gifted as others, and a little help in this particular is not therefore unwelcome. To those who feel shaky about their drawing, and who want some mechanical means of enlarging a design, I recommend “squaring.” You divide the small design into, say, one quarter of an inch squares, and then draw on your paper squares sufficiently large to fill out the surface; thus if the design is to be increased ten times the squares on your paper must be two and a half inches. It is comparatively easy to fill in each square with its corresponding portion; but in such a design as the one here given a good deal of freehand work could be employed, and those who are used to sketching should draw out the design upon the material to be worked in charcoal (use a stick of soft French charcoal for the purpose). It would be just as well to divide your material into four by drawing faintly charcoal lines, or better still rub a fine piece of string with charcoal and then get someone to hold it at one end while you hold the other and then snap it on the material. This will give you a straight line which will easily dust off.
Outline embroidery on ironing flannel is very effective, as this flannel is a pleasant-looking material with good substance, but in this matter the taste of the individual worker must decide such an issue. Personally I am very fond of embroidery worked on a brocaded material, but then the material itself is expensive.