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For Woman’s Work. SABBATH MORNING. [From the German of Robert Reinick.] Through the vales I hear the ringing Os the bells like festive singing, Sunlight through the beechen woods Throws its clear and living floods, Holy peace its rays are bringing. Through the fields their children leading, Pilgrims travel, naught unheeding. Happy they, and gala dressed; Golden harvests, plenty blest, Cheer them, with their waving greeting. Here and there I see a meeting. Or a lover s look, entreating: See how still the gliding brook, See how bright the sweet flowers look. All this long and holy day I am as a child at play, Time, with all his years defeating. Millie Andrews Bell. For Woman’s Work. UTILITARIAN KNOWLEDGE, MARGARET ANDREWS OLDHAM. Solomon says “Get knowledge, and with all thy getting, get understanding.” What a volume of sensible advice this sentence contains! We are not told to get an education, or to become intellectual, but simply to “get knowledge,” and “understanding,” without which, knowledge is useless. The questions that suggest themselves then, are, what is knowledge, and what understanding, and how shall we possess these treasures that the wisest of all men has told us, are more precious than gold and rubies, and that all we can desire are not to be compared to them? He meant simply an understanding, or sensible knowledge, limited to no time, place, or condition, and to no subjects or professions,—a really thorough, and useful familiarity with anything. This is the age of intelligence, and easy sociability with theisms and ologies, whose very names would have scared our great grand-parents—and even our grand-pa rents of to-day are lonely, with only ti.ese for companionship! This is no longer an age of rudiments; little children can read and write, without knowing one letter from another, and it is predicted that the “com ingman” will receive a full-sized education, like an electric shock, and thus do away with all rudiments ot learning! Why not do away with child-hood, altogether—that insignificant phase of humanity—and arrange it so that the “com ing man” will be a man from the time he can toddle! The unlovely thought that child-hood— that embryo state of existence—is so much of life thrown away, is fast taking root, and bids fair to grow up and blossom into a poisonous flower. The effects of this belief are seen in many people of our day, who know a great deal, making us wonder how one small head can hold it all—and yet, they know scarce ly a thing that is worth knowing—l mean that one would value, or envy, or very much desire to know. I will give you an illustration: A young man of twenty-four, having enjoyed every possible advantage for the finest education, of quick perception, and plenty of brains, having graduated, with distinction, from Harvard, and then finished and “polished,” in Germany,—had just returned to his luxu rious, but plain and hospitable Southern home, to be petted and doted on, and lion ized, by his parents, and younger brothers and sisters. How charming; how entertaining he was! He could speak several languages fluent ly, call the stars and the flowers by name, and read poetry so it would break hearts— but that was all! One day, his mother asked him to put a button on her pantry door. I dare say every one has seen a wooden button, that fastens a door, —and there is nothing to do, given the button and the screw, but to screw it on to the frame of the door, so that it will turn, and fasten the door, when closed. Well, this “smart man” was left with the screw and the button; after the lapse of an hour and a half, his good old mother went to the pantry for some butter, having forgotten all about the button, and there she found her “gifted” first born, with a dozen different tools around him, coat off, and perspiration streaming—still tugging at that button! He had screwed the button on to the door itself, and was opening and shutting it, turning the button round and round, in the most harassing and ludicrous manner. “Mother,” he said, panting and wiping his red, dripping face, “I’ve seen buttons on doors, many a time, but I’m hanged if I know how ’tis done!” She thought it a good joke, but not so the father—he looked very sad, when he heard the “joke,” and after a few minutes of sober thought, said to his “gifted” son: “Well, Thomas, you haven’t done nc harm, but you haven’t done r.o good, and if you can’t put a button on the door, I’m afraid you can’t do nuthin. I’d give a thousand dollars if I could go back with you to the time when you was jest lamin’ towrite.” This old father was farseeing—he was quick to discover his mistake, and quick to profit by it. His three younger sons got “knowledge,” and “understanding,” instead of intellect, and although they never saw the inside of Harvard, or a German Uni versity, they became men whose minds were stored with useful knowledge, and they are to-day, men of success, honor, and wealth. This is no tale of my imagination, but an actual, unpainted fact. What a serious and foolish mistake is made by thinking that knowledge—such as we use every day, and live by, can be picked up as pebbles, or done away with, altogether! You would not like to be thrown on the mercies of a world-renowned cook, if she could cook nothing but desserts. You would be only too glad to fly to the other extreme, and say “anybody— that can cook a beef-steak!” And so it is, the world over—it is the miscellaneous knowledge that we must have, and you may pity the household in which you cannot find some one possessing it. Childhood is the period in which to gather up this store of knowledge, and how precious the time and work! One of the first impressions made upon a child, should be an idea of thoroughness which is easily and quickly taught. Its little blocks are scattered over the floor; teach him to pick them up, every one— do not leave one under the bed, or under a chair, or any scattered around, but impress on him that the work is not finished, until the last one is picked up and put in its proper place. He will grow up with the idea of being thorough, without which, but little real knowledge is gained. Soon he will comprehend the meaning of “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.” As with his blocks, so with everything; if he undertakes a game, he must learn it thoroughly, before he stops finally. If he be a carpenter, merchant, doctor, teacher—whatever hiscalling, teach him that all the praise, the credit, the beau ty, or the excellence, lies in his thorough knowledge of the matter—a sensible, un derstanding knowledge, that can be commu nicated to others. This failure to recognize the worth and value, of simple, every-day home-knowledge, and learn it thoroughly—is the secret of most of the financial troubles of our time, and indeed, troubles of almost every kind. We want, then, to glean knowledge, from every person, place, and thing, and the simple, homely, but priceless bits of knowledge that you need not look in a book to find, are the choicest, and most fruitful seed; glean many, for out of them will grow the tree of knowledge, and useful, beauti ful, heavenly thoughts, like bright-plu maged, and sweet-singing birds, will make their homes in its wide-spreading branches. For Woman’s Work. WALKING WITH GOD. The difficulty which most people have in religion is to bring the thought of God into their daily lives. His very greatness makes it hard to connect Him with homely, every day matters. We get some sense of Him in church, or in rare .hours of exalted feel ing. But when we go into the busy world, where most of our lives are spent, God fades away into heaven that is farther off than the blue sky above our heads. This is a great loss to us. It is neglect on our part, of our highest opportunity. God walks with us in closest nearness at every moment. There is in Him, if we could learn to take it, a provision of helpfulness, of sympathy, of sufficiency, for every step in the whole round of our daily life. The very things that seem insignificant and without spirit ual meaning—are set round us by God, as part of our education. And if we habitual ly recognize His presence in them, all the incidents of business and our household care and daily walk would become threads of gold holding us in sweetest, noblest friendship with our heavenly Father. “He leads us on, ? By paths we do not know; Upward He leads us, though our steps be slow; Though oft we faint and falter by the way, Though storms and darkness oft obscure the day, Yet when the clouds are gone We know He leads us on.” L. M. Kind words, kind looks, kind acts and warm handshakes—thesd* are secondary means of grace when men are in trouble and are fighting their unseen troubles. Hope is indeed very fallacious, and prom ises what it seldom gives; but its promises are more valuable than the gifts of fortune, and it seldom frustrates us withoutassuring us of recompensing the delay by a greater bounty. For Woman’s Work. • HOME DECORATION. B. A. RONZONE. Nb 11. COLOR IN DECORATION. Pleased with the effects of the general coloring of the room into which we have just entered, we are reminded of beauties which wc have seen elsewhere. We come to the conclusion that the mind which con ceived it. must have had in view one of those autumn sky effects, when fleecy clouds which seem to tremble high above the hor izon, become, for an instant, tinged with hues of pink and golden yellow, just at the point of time when the sun disappears from view. It presents to us, this room, a glow of color which is indescribable; an effect produced by a perfect blending of pink and gold, and gray and blue tints— light, soft and warm. There are no abrupt, audacious contrasts of color, in woodwork, in furniture, in carpet or painting. There is no attempt made to captivate the eye all at once ; nothing to excite it for a moment and to tire it the next. We feel convinced that the painter who was capable of producing this effect, under the direction of the charming woman with whom we are in a few moments to become acquainted, must have deeply .felt, in his heart, a full appreciation for what she had given form to in her imagination, and an idea of which she could only have conveyed to him in, comparatively, cold words. We can see at a glance, that the painter must have been a close observer of Nature’s most beautiful beauty, that he must have had a passion for his art, strong enough to ren der him capable of forgetting all else, for the time, save the task before him; and we can see, beyond any shadow of doubt, that what in a great measure had made the altogether ot this room possible, could only be the strong mind of a generous patroness of art, who, deeply imbued with a just knowledge of the importance of its mission, and with a sincere love for the beautiful in itself, could free herself—or rather refuse to follow the crowd which bows blindly to the dictates of shallow fashion, the embodi ment of wealth and vulgarity—and attempt the setting of an example, to her fellow beings, of common-sense art. It is in this happy train of thought that we proceed to look at our surroundings more in detail. TVe see the woodwork of windows, doors and wainscot, ornamented in the simplest manner—a color like that of the lightest mahogany—a hue, too pink to be called yellow, and, too yellow to be called pink. As we examine its modest carvings and perfect finish, we recognize in it, the beautiful wood of California’s red wood tree; that wonderful species of high growing plants, the tops of which, some times attaining the height of three hundred feet, seem from a distance, to touch the very sky. This subdued, glossy wood work contains neither gilt lines nor orna ments, nor anything in fact foreign to itself. It seems to say: “Here I am as Nature made me—my qualities, such as they are, brought out to advantage by the hand of man; if worthy, I desire to be admired for myself alone.” And we do admire it for this very reason, and this is what makes it of the highest value in our humble minds. For of what value can an object be, especially one within the province of art, when it must depend upon something more attractive than itself, to draw our attention from its defects? Os what value is any object, which cannot stand the scrutiny of the observer, in detail, without arousing the contempt of a disappointed mind ? Who ever went behind the scenes of a theatre for the first time, after having beheld with delighted senses the beautiful setting of the stage, and did not feel sore at heart and a certain amount of depreciation for the actor and scenery ? This may be said to be “ far-fetched ;” it may be said, and with justice, too, that in the theatre, this outward show is indispensible, both in actor and scene, but in our homes it is different. Yet we have often beheld the most com mon of stage effects introduced in the sa cred home; we have seen the most abject specimens of sham, bolstered up to appear like genuine works of art, in tin, in putty, and what not, surrounding people who would have felt injured for all time, had we but accused them of wearing false diamonds and brass rings ! For Woman’s Work. A TALK WITH THE GIRLS. Dear Girls, if you wish to grow up gool and true and noble women do not aeceive mother. If you listen to her warnings you can never go far astray. I was sorry to hear a sweet young girl say the other day. Gl wouldn’t have my mother find this out for the world; she would feel dreadful ly.” I said to her as I would wish to have said to a young sister or friend of mine. “Why do you do it at all then, if you know it is not right and she would not like it?” The conversation referred to a face wash that some woman had induced her to try while away on a visit, and she was in a fairway to ruin her naturally good com plexion. Do you realize, dear girls, how hard it is to stop using face washes, paints and pow ders, after once commencing? But you say. “O it doesn’t hurt me, I use so little and it is perfectly harmless.” It does hurt you and your once smooth velvet-like skin, becomes rough and oftentimes has spots or splotches on it, and you then realize that it is far easier to contract a habit than it is to break it off. In many of the face pow ders and washes there is arsenic, or.some thing equally poisonous; the pores be come filled, and various diseases are the re sult. Do you realize how much your eating and bathing have to do with your com plexion. If you want to have a clear, fresh complexion, avoid hot breads, pickles, gra vies and rich pastries, and live regularly. I heard a young gentleman remark the other day, “I would like to see a girl or woman who valued her health enough to take care of herself. Nine-tenths of them are fools as regards health. They don’t wear any warm flannels, or if they do most of them wear short sleeved ones; and many of them go to parties in mid winter with sleeveless, low necked dresses on. Then they get heated from dancing and stand in a draught until they get cool.” Is it any wonder that men say these things? What man can you find who would undergo the torture that a woman will for the sake of looking pretty and be ing admired, what would you think girls of a man who would wear a low cut shirt and no sleeves at a party or reception? If I am not very much mistaken you would think him a fit subject for some lunatic asylum. But you say, it is very different and society permits and desires that wo man should dress in “full dress'' meaning, as one man was heard to remark, “just the opposite.” John DeWitt Miller in a recent lecture said: “When I see a woman in “full dress” according to the fashionable world, I think she has lost something of her innate mod esty that she can never regain.” Undoubtedly some of you are already saying, “Here is some cranky old maid trying to preach into us some of her ideas and notions, she don’t care any thing about dress or society, or the thousand and one things that most girls enjoy.” But my young friends, I am only a girl with you, who loves beautiful things just as much as any of you; and I believe in girls having a long, happy girlhood, but not in Wasting their time, strength and mon ey, as so many do. I saw a young girl at a large party some weeks ago, in a decolette dress that was cut so ridiculously low that she was talked about for weeks. Her mother begged of her not to wear it, but her father, although a good man, said she could do as she chose, and so the dress was worn. It was decided ly the most conspicuous dress as well as the most unbecoming one at that party. Such things to me are very wrong, both morally and from a health standpoint. I cannot believe we were put on this earth to simply amuse ourselves. There should be higher and nobler purposes and aims. Girls, do not let marriage be the one aim and end of life for you. If a true and hap py marriage is for you, all right, but you are a thousand times better off paddling your own canoe, than as the wife of any man, no matter how wealthy he is, unless you can truly love, honor and respect him. Marriage is at the best hard, but love lightens many a load and brightens many a cloud. As you value your own happiness in the years to come, do not fritter away the love that is inherent in every woman. If you wish to win and retain the re spect of men, do not, I beg of you, send them presents or repeated invitations to call on you when you scarcely know them, and they have never shown you any atten tion. If they care to know you, let them make the advances. If they are at all anxious for your ac quaintancerestassured they will find plenty of ways for cultivating it. Unless you are engaged to a gentleman, ( or he is an old friend of the family, do not accept presents of value other than books, music or flowers. Better be called a prude than fast or wild, dear girls. It is much wiser to “avoid the appearance of all evil.” Carrie M. Ashton. If we work upon marble, it will perish; if we work upon brass, time will efface it; it we rear temples, they will crumble into dust; but if we work upon immortal minds, if we imbue them with principles, with the just fear of God and love of our fellow-men, we engrave on those tablets something which will brigten to all eternity.— Daniel Webster.