HINTS FOR THE HOUSEHOLD.

TO MAKE GINGER BEER. Two ounces of cream of tartar, the juice of two lemons, and the peel of one, the peel cut very thin; two ounces bruised ginger, two pounds of sugar (lump is the nicest), two gallons of boiling water. Pour the boiling water over the above ingredients into a pan that will hold the whole quantity, and allow a little room to spare.

Stir well, and when cool set it in a state of fermentation by the addition of two or three tablespoonfuls of fresh yeast. Strain it after it has stood twelve hours, and bottle it at once. Be sure the bottles are perfectly clean and dry. Tie the corks, and cork the bottles very tight. It will be ready for use in two or three days and nicely

up.

A GOOD COMMON CAKE. Get from the baker half a quartern of dough. Rub into it half a pound of nice dripping, or butter, and a quarter of a pound of moist sugar; then put a quarter of a pound of raisins, a quarter of a pound of currants, and a little candied peel. Mix all well together. Beat two eggs, pour them on your cake, and beat up all well for about a quarter of an hour with your hand. Put it into a well greased tin, and bake gently for two hours. Caraway seeds will do just as well as currants or raisins, if liked.

GINGERBREAD.

One pound and a half of treacle, half pound of butter, two pounds flour, one pound coarsest brown sugar, two ounces ground ginger. Mix flour and butter first well together, then add sugar and ginger; again well mix, then pour on the treacle and knead it in till all the dough is an even colour. Roll out the thickness required, and cut with top of your flour dredger. (It is generally a nice small round.) Put your cakes in a greased tin, all separate from each other; that is, do not let the rounds touch each other: and bake gently at first, quick at last.

SPONGE CAKE.

This cake, when made according to directions, as follows, never fails to be light: Three quarters of a pound of finely powdered lump sugar; grate the peel of one lemon, put it to the sugar; have ready half a quarter of a pint of quite boiling water, pour it upon the sugar and lemon, then add seven eggs (taking out two whites) slightly beaten. Stir these ingredients together gently, and beat lightly, never leaving off, for one hour, then drop in by degrees half a pound of flour previously dried before the fire; stir the flour in quickly, and pour your cake into a well greased tin. Pop into a nicely heated oven the instant you have got your

cake in the tin.

BOOKS RECEIVED.

Mothers in Council (Seeley & Co.). Home Visitor (Hunt & Co.). Young Men and Maidens (Hodder & Stoughton). Children's Treasury (Book Society). Mothers and Daughters (Morgan & Chase).

THE Maker of man knows what is for man's good. He understands man's needs, and His gifts and provisions meet the exact necessities of His creatures. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life. Length of days, and long life, and peace, are found in the path of obedience to Him. The temperance, moderation, and chastity which the Bible requires, are just what any wise physician would prescribe, whether he followed his own prescription or not. Every passion and emotion which the Scripture forbids is a source of physical disorder. Anger has laid many a man in an untimely grave. Excess of wine has slain thousands. Lusts and revellings war against the body as well as against the soul. Malice and envy cause indigestion and countless ills. Anxious care for the morrow has sent many a man crazed to the hospital, and many another lifeless to the grave. Rage is worse than a fever. Grief wastes and withers its pale victims, and drags them to the tomb. Ambition gnaws away the life, which becomes a self-consuming sacrifice; and every base and Godless desire works ruin and disorder in the physical nature of mankind.

On the contrary, every sentiment and emotion prescribed and enjoined by the sacred Scriptures is healthful and life-giving. The love, joy, and peace, which are the fruits of the Spirit; the

VOL. VIII. No. 8.

[AUGUST, 1871.

patience which is quiet under reproach; the charity which suffereth long and is kind; the meekness that bends before an assailing blast; the hope that sings her songs of gladness through the night of tears; the faith that rests secure in trouble as in the hollow of the Almighty's hand; the trust which has no anxiety for food or raiment, or for to-morrow's cares; the knowledge that all things are working for good, and will surely come out right at last; the surety that all is well, in sickness and health, for time and for eternity; the feeling that life's great care has not been neglected, but that the concerns of eternity are for ever settled ;and, in fact, every thought, emotion, and peculiarity which distinguishes Christianity from superstition, and Divine grace from human nature, conduces to health, happiness, and physical perfection.

If we pursue this subject, we shall find that, while the precepts and practice of Christianity extend the average duration of physical life, the results of unchristian and heathenish courses work sickness and death in their most terrible forms among the sons of men. Whence come those plagues and pestilences which desolate cities and nations? From lands where the Gospel sheds its light? By no means. The cholera is called "Asiatic," and it, with the more desolating plague, comes from eastern countries, where humanity lies festering in filth and sin; famishing and perishing for lack of the knowledge which ever attends the diffusion of the light of life.

Thus righteousness ever tends to life, while sin brings death and ruin to the race. Why is this? Can infidels tell? Who knows? The answer is plain; God is the author both of nature and revelation, and each is fitted to the other as the wax to the seal, and in His favour alone is life, and peace, and blessing.

C.

BE SOCIAL AT HOME.-Let parents talk much, and talk well at home. A father who is habitually silent in his own house may be in many respects a wise man, but he is not wise in his silence. We sometimes see parents, who are the life of every company they enter, dull, silent, uninteresting at home among their children. If they have not mental activity and mental stores sufficient for both, let them first provide for their own household. Ireland exports beef and wheat, and lives on potatoes; and they fare as poorly who reserve their social charms for companions abroad, and keep their dulness for home consumption. It is better to instruct children and make them happy at home, than it is to charm strangers or amuse friends. A silent house is a dull place for young people-a place from which they will escape if they can. They will talk or think of being "shut up" there; and the youth who does not love home is in danger.

THE PRODIGAL'S RETURN.

WAS some few years ago (writes Mr. Maguire) sojourning at a very beautiful and much frequented English watering-place. I met with an earnest Christian tradesman of the town whose labours in the cause of religion are many and great. Although his occupation was not in selling books, yet he had, in a prominent place in his shop-window, an assortment of Bibles with an illuminated