well be sacrificed to the general pleasure or comfort.  A quiet, controlled mind, a soft voice, no matter what the provocation to raise it may be, is “an excellent thing in woman.”  And the certainty that, hard as such control may be, it holds the promise of the best and fullest life here and hereafter, is a motive strong enough, one would think, to insure its adoption.  Progress may be slow, but the reward for every step forward is certain.

We have already found that each day has its fixed routine, and are ready now to take up the order of work, which will be the same in degree whether one servant is kept, or many, or none.  The latter state of things will often happen in the present uncertain character of household service.  Old family servants are becoming more and more rare; and, unless the new generation is wisely trained, we run the risk of being even more at their mercy in the future than in the past.

First, then, on rising in the morning, see that a full current of air can pass through every sleeping-room; remove all clothes from the beds, and allow them to air at least an hour.  Only in this way can we be sure that the impurities, thrown off from even the cleanest body by the pores during the night, are carried off.  A neat housekeeper is often tempted to make beds, or have them made, almost at once; but no practice can be more unwholesome.

While beds and bedrooms are airing, breakfast is to be made ready, the table set, and kitchen and dining-room put in order.  The kitchen-fire must first be built.  If a gas or oil stove can be used, the operations are all simpler.  If not, it is always best to have dumped the grate the night before if coal is used, and to have laid the fire ready for lighting.  In the morning brush off all ashes, and wipe or blacken the stove.  Strong, thick gloves, and a neat box for brushes, blacking, &c., will make this a much less disagreeable operation than it sounds.  Rinse out the tea-kettle, fill it with fresh water, and put over to boil.  Then remove the ashes, and, if coal is used, sift them, as cinders can be burned a large part of the time where only a moderate fire is desired.

The table can be set, and the dining or sitting room swept, or merely brushed up and dusted, in the intervals of getting breakfast.  To have every thing clean, hot, and not only well prepared but ready on time, is the first law, not only for breakfast, but for every other meal.

After breakfast comes the dish-washing, dreaded by all beginners, but needlessly so.  With a full supply of all conveniences,—­plenty of soap and sapolio, which is far better and cleaner to use than either sand or ashes; with clean, soft towels for glass and silver; a mop, the use of which not only saves the hands but enables you to have hotter water; and a full supply of coarser towels for the heavier dishes,—­the work can go on swiftly.  Let the dish-pan be half full of hot soap and water. Wash glass first, paying no attention to the