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SHAKING HANDS. There is an art in shaking hands Not everybody understands; And as they go through life untaught, The simple act expresses naught. The fingers limp within our own Awaken no responsive tone From the electric wires, that send The hearty greeting to a friend. But, oh, there is a simple touch, Gentle and soft, that means so much ; The pulses of our soul are stirred, As if we heard the spoken word. The outstreched hand, the hearty grasp, The fingers locked in loving clasp, Fresh strength and courage have bestowed To many a one along life’s road. Hold a hot shovel over furniture to re move white spots. To extract ink from wood, scour with sand wet with water and ammonia. Rinse with strong salaratus water. To give a good oak color to a pine floor, wash in a solution of one pound of copperas dissolved in one gallon of strong lye. To whiten the hands, melt an ounce of camphor gum, half on ounce of glycerine, and one pound of mutton tallow, and ap ply every night. Salt and water will prevent the hair from falling out, and will cause new hair to grow. Do not use so strong as to leave white particles upon the hair. To restore gilding to picture frames, re move all dust with a soft brush and wash the gilding in warm water in which an onion has been boiled; dry quickly with cloth. Mildew is easily removed by rubbing common yellow soap on the article, and then a little salt, and starch on that. Rub all well on the article and put in the sun shine. A good cement tor mending a stove that has a crack in it may be made by mixing silicate of potash or soluble glass with wood ashes. This cement will not bear moisture. Mahogany furniture should be washed with warm water and tine soap; an appli cation of bees-wax and sweet oil upon a soft cloth, and polished with chamois, gives a rich finish. A new device for a brooch is in the shape of a gold or silver shield studded with diamonds. The brooch at the back is embellished by a number of implements of warfare—a spear, ax, arrow, sword, and rifle in solid metal matching the shield. When the face is constantly pale, bathe it in cold or tepid water, rub briskly with a soft towel, and apply daily this prepara tion : One ounce of diluted liquid ammo nia, two ounces of glycerine, and four of water. Rub well into the skin for about three minutes, then carefully wipe with a soft towel. It any irritation is felt, in crease the glycerine. A free application of soft soap to a fresh burn almost instantly removes the fire from the flesh. If the injury is very severe, as soon as the pain ceases apply linseed oil, then dust over with fine flour. When this covering dries hard, repeat the oil and flour dressing until a good coating is obtained. When the latter dries, allow it to stand till it cracks and falls off, as it will do in a day or two, and a new skin will be found to have formed where the skin was burned. Man is not a bundle-carrying animal. He can tuck a few stray parcels in his pocket, to be sure, and lug a package under his arm, perhaps, but on the whole as a common carrier he is a failure. But a wo man! Well, we should hate to say any thing that wasn’t absolutely true; at the same time a woman can carry parcels enough into a horse-car to fill up one side of it, and pick them all up in one arm when she gets off at a crossing, and lead a pair ot twins, carry an umbrella, and hold up her skirts with the other hand. The nickel on a stove can be kept bright by wiping often with a dry, clean cloth. When a stove is taken down for the sum mer always be sure to rub the nickel well; then wrap in paper, always taking care not to let the hand touch the nickel after it has been rubbed, for the place so touched will generally be found to have rusted—in the fall. It is better always when cleaning zinc under a stove never to wet it, but rub of ten with a dry, clean cloth. When neces sary to wash it avoid using soap. Every house-keeper ought to have one of the convenient mending bags, which are very easily made. Take a strip of goods fifty inches long and eleven and a half deep, and bind the upper edge with worsted braid. Arrange this in the form of pockets on another strip, twenty-three inches and seventeen and a half inches deep. It will make six pockets, and there should be a row of machine stitching between each one. Gather at the bottom, and join this and the inner bag to a circular piece of the goods eigeteen inches in circumference. If this round piece is slightly stiffened with linen canvas and lined, it will look better. Bind this with braid, and make an inch wide, hem in the longest bag, and use braid for draw-strings. Such a bag can be made of cretonne, chintz, or gray linen. Many housekeepers of the present day are entirely ignorant of the appearance of their kitchen, and leave the care of it in the hands of incompetent servants, who frequently neglect keeping it clean and i tidy, which an occasional visit of inspec tion from the mistress would often obviate. There is no doubt in the world that a thor oughly clean kitchen is one of the health iest and cherriest places to be found. Every house ought to be clean from cellar to roof, but the kitchen should be particularly so. It is the place where the food that is to maintain the human body is prepared. Any dust or cobwebs or vile odors about the kitchen are sure to get into the food and so help to poison the human victims fed thereon. But the breath of a kitchen fire and of healthy cooking are as invigorating as anything short of an ocean breeze. A WORD FOB THE TOM-BOY. The tom-boy is sometimes an eager, earnest, impulsive, glad-hearted, whole souled specimen of genus feminine. If her laugh is too frequent and her tone a trifle too emphatic, we are willing to overlook these for the sake of the true life and exult ing vitality of which they are the expres sion ; and, indeed, we rather like the high pressure nature which must close off its superfluous jollity in such ebullitions. The glancing eye, the glowing cheek, the fresh, balmy breath, the lithe, graceful play of the limbs tell a tale of healthy and vigor ous physical development, which is nature s best beauty. The soul and the mind will be developed also in due time, and we shall have before us a woman in the highest sense of the term. When the tom-boy has sprung up to a healthful and vigorous womanhood, she will be ready to take hold of the duties of life, to become a worker in the great system of humanity. She will not sit down to sigh over the work given her to do, to simper nonsense or to fall sick at heart, but she will ever be ready to take up her bur den of duty. In her track there will be sound philoso phy, in her thoughts boldness and origi nality, in her heart heaven’s purity, and the world will be better that she lived in it. To her allotted task she will bring health, vigor, energy and spirits, these will give both the power and the endurance without which her life must be, in some respects, at least, a dreary failure. Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has many, not on your past misfortune, of which all men have some. MRS. J. S. K. THOMPSON, SPARTANBURG, S. C. WORK FOR MAY. In May the energetic gardener has com paratively a breathing spell, provided he has been industrious and kept abreast with his work. This presupposes he has followed the directions closely as given in previous issues of “Woman’s Work.” If in your beds and walks all weeds are not destroy ed—not only in rows, but between them— wage war now vigorously against them. The three best implements I have ever used for this purpose is the scuffle or push hoe, back of a steel rake, and Hasteltine’s Hand Weeder. The first two are known to every one. The hand weeder is a new invention, formed of a steel blade one inch wide, twelve inches long, sharp on both edges and bent to form three sides of a square, with a short handle five inches long. This implement, dexterously used, makes rubbish of every tiny weed that has thrust its unwelcome head above the ground. Weeds are so easily kept down if destroyed before they are one-fourth to one-half inch high, and have then done but little harm, but only wait six or eight days longer and the same weeds will have grown like “Jack’s bean stalk,” and it will require four times as much work to destroy them. Let me advise every gardener who is able to, to invest in a garden hand plow. It comes furnished with three or four plows, subsoiler, twister and bull tongue, and does work exactly similar to field plows, only in so much more contracted pace; plows without injury between rows of vegetables not eight inches apart. Not only this, but one man can accomplish as much work with it as six hands can with hoes, and one can be operated by a boy fourteen years old My rule is to have the whole garden gone over with this plow one day each week, and with this rule kept up, weeds can be made an unknown factor in the garden. Onion and celery seed planted broadcast will require hand weeding, also a careful and patient work man. A careless boy or girl will pull up as many vegetables as weeds. As soon as grapes have set their fruit, pinch out the terminal shoot of each fruit bearing branch three or four leaves beyond the last cluster of fruit. This induces sap to flow into the fruit, making it larger and better, and stops the growth of vine into a direction not desired. Allow in old es tablished vines, some six or eight shoots near the surface of the ground, to remain unpinched. This to form fruiting vines for next year’s bearing. If desired, onion seed can be planted until August, and then make sets as large as necessary; to hasten ripening of the sets, you can either tread over the bed with the feet or roll a barrel across it. This bruises the top and hastens the ripening. Snap beans must never be worked when either wet with dew or rain, it causes rust on the leaves, why, I cannot explain. On the contrary, cabbage should always be worked whilst dew or rain is on them. When heads begin to form, sprinkle a handful of soot among the leaves and then fold two or three of the outside leaves over the head and keep in place by a clod of earth or a stone. Hoe tomatoes often, and when three first clusters of blooms have formed fruit, pinch out top bud of the plant. This stops growth and throws entire strength of the plant into maturing fruit already formed; by this means ripe tomatoes can be secured full ten days in advance of the “let alone” system. Some gardeners advocate staking, others to let lie on the ground. I try both plans, but staking is so much the neatest that all careful gardeners will resort to it. One bed of my tomatoes are on a three-foot wide space, on the west side of boundary fence. Opposite each post of this fence I put in the earth, on the front edge of the bed, stakes four feet high (pine wood in four feet lengths, split to about two and a half to three inch thickness), sharpened at one end and driven securely in. To these and the posts nail slats of either plasterers’ laths or narrow plank. These run across the beds. Let the first lath be one foot from the ground, the second on top of stake; across this lay lengthwise of the bed long'slender poles of any wood con venient. The vines then grow up and over and cling to these poles. This gives ample and cheap support, and allows one to gather the fruit without the usual back ache. I also plant on a long narrow bed with a narrow walk on each side, support ing them with stakes as in the first. If beets stand too thick in the row, thin out and transplant into fresh rows and fill up vacancies where seed did not come up. Some advocate pinching of roots but I deem it unnecessary. After a good rain cultivate your Irish potatoes deeply between the rows, drawing the soil to the potatoes and then mulch heavily with damp leaves. After this the potatoes will take care of themselves. Po tatoes form above the tuber planted, and will bear new potatoes up to the surface of the soil covering them. Hence the de sirability of deep planting and heavy mulching. Plant now tomato seed for late summer and fall crop. In most localities tomatoes of the first planting make a good early crop and then die. Late plantings always yield heavily in the fall until frost. When frost is impending pull up those vines well set with fruit and hang in some sheltered spot—dairy, well-house or basement. By this method you can have tomatoes fresh at Christmas. Thin out okra to two feet apart, leaving only one plant at a place. Sprinkle growing squash, cucumber and melon vines with soot when wet with dew in the morning. This effectually kills lady bugs so destructive to these plants. I know no remedy for the squash borer. As from the row, set a wat. earth to the plant. Where radish were planted and have been used, plant as a succession any crop desirable—beans, cabbage, canteloupes, etc. As soon as peas are plentiful, cease cut ting asparagus, allowing the rest of shoots to remain t strengthen the root for next seasons crop, too long and continuous cut ting destroys the prolifleness of the bed and finally kills it out entirely. If room is abundant, plant about twenty rows of Dhuora or Kaffir corn or millo maize for your cows and horses. If heav ily fertilized and deeply and cleanly culti vated, it will yield an abundance of green forage the entire season until destroyed by frost. Several years ago I had a bed 45x45, with twenty rows planted, cutting one row each day. When the twentieth row was finished the first had grown large enough to cut a second time. From seed bed of sunflowers transplant to convenient places. Any odd corner will grow it and it serves two useful purposes— first, as an absorbent* of malaria, and sec ond, the seed are used for poultry as a sub stitute for the meat diet now considered by poultry fanciers as an essential of the well being of their birds. Again, planted four feet apart in beds, and lima and poll beans in the same hill, the sunflower serves as an admirable support to the beans. ADVICE TO MOTHERS. Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup should always be used when children are cutting teeth. It relieves the little sufferer at once; it produces natural quiet sleep by relieving the child from pain, and the lit tle cherub awakes as “ bright as a button.” It is very pleasant to taste. It soothes the child, softens the gums, allays all pain, re lieves wind, regulates the bowels, and is the best known remedy for diarrhoea, whether arising from teething or other causes. Twenty-five cents a bottle. Be sure and ask for “ Mrs. Winslow’s Sooth ing Syrup,” and take no other kind.