In conclusion, we say emphatically to the newly-wedded wife, that attention to these practical hints will prolong her honeymoon throughout the whole period of wedded life, and cause her husband, as each year adds to the sum of his happiness, to bless the day when he first chose her as the nucleus round which he might consolidate the inestimable blessings of HOME.

  “How fair is home, in fancy’s pictured theme,
  In wedded life, in love’s romantic dream! 
  Thence springs each hope, there every spring returns,
  Pure as the flame that upward heavenward burns;
  There sits the wife, whose radiant smile is given—­
  The daily sun of the domestic heaven;
  And when calm evening sheds a secret power,
  Her looks of love imparadise the hour;
  While children round, a beauteous train, appear,
  Attendant stars, revolving in her sphere.”

  HOLLAND’S Hopes of Matrimony.

How to Dress Well

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I.—­INTRODUCTION.

No one disputes the fact that, when our first parents were placed in the garden of Eden, they wore no clothes.  It was not until after they had acquired the knowledge of good and evil that they turned their attention to the subject of dress, which is now the engrossing thought and care of the majority.

There are still to be found amongst the uncivilized races those who are contented with as small an amount of clothing as satisfied the first inhabitants of Eden.  Yet many of these show that they study personal appearance quite as much as the most fashionable of Parisian belles; for they bestow much labour, time, and thought, and endure much actual suffering in the elaborate patterns with which they tattoo, and, as they vainly suppose, embellish their faces and persons.  The ancient Britons, who painted themselves in various devices, also bore witness to the natural craving after personal adornment, which seems to be inherent in the whole human race.

The particular modes in which this craving exhibits itself seem to depend upon climate and civilization.  Climate prescribes what is absolutely necessary; civilization, what is decent and becoming.  In some countries it is necessary to protect the body, and especially the head, from the power of the sun; in others, to guard it against extreme cold; while many of the savage tribes, inured to the scorching rays of the sun, almost entirely dispense with clothing, and yet have certain conceits and vanities which show that personal appearance is not disregarded.  The most hostile intentions have been averted, and imminent peril escaped, by the timely present of a few rows of bright-coloured beads, or a small piece of looking-glass; and the most trumpery European gewgaws have elicited more admiration, afforded greater pleasure, and effected more goodwill, than the most costly treasures could purchase among civilized nations.  A love of finery seems to belong to human nature.  There is an attraction in bright and showy colours which the uncivilized cannot resist, and which is equally powerful among those who are civilized, though education and other causes may qualify it.