given my life to the study of the laws of health, and I am sure I can give you valuable suggestions.

"Listen. I will give you five rules, and if you observe them, no matter where you may live, you will be almost sure to maintain good health."

"Father, five rules; that's a great many. I am afraid I shall forget some of them; give me one,—the most important one, and I promise not to forget it."

"My daughter, if I can give you but one rule, it is this: Stand up straight, walk erect, sit erect, and even when you are in bed at night, don't put three pillows under your head, and watch your toes all night, but keep yourself straight. If you do this, your lungs, heart, liver, stomach, and all the other organs in the body, will have room for work. My dear child, if you observe this rule, you will not only bear with you the air of a noble woman, but you will contribute more than by any other single rule, to the vigor of your body, and the maintenance of your health.

"Why, my daughter, you cannot have a good voice even, unless you stand erect.

"The Creator has fitted this little vocal apparatus in the throat to a certain attitude of the body.

"The vocal apparatus of a cow is so fixed, that when her backbone is horizontal, she can do her best bellowing. If she were to stand on her hind legs, and stick her nose directly up towards the sky, she couldn't half bellow.

"The vocal apparatus in a girl's throat is fitted, not to a horizontal spine, but to a perpendicular one. The portion of the spine in the neck determines, mostly, the action of the music box in the throat.

"If you drop your-chin down on your chest, bending your neck, and then try to sing, you will find at once that the vocal box is all out of shape. Go to the opera and observe the singers. When they wish to make a particularly loud or fine sound, they don't put the chin down in the pit of the stomach, but they draw it back close to the neck, and hold the upper part of the spine, and, indeed, every part of the spine, in a noble, erect attitude. No, my dear Mary, you can not even speak or sing well without attending to my volume on the subject of the chin. Need I say again, that only in this upright position of the body can your lungs and heart find room to do their great and vital work? Need I say, that if you allow your head and shoulders to fall forward, and the organs of the chest to fall down on the organs of the abdomen, the stomach and liver and all the other organs in your abdominal cavity will be displaced, crowded and trammeled? My dear Japanese missionary, I have given you the most important rule of health, and if you observe it during your life among the Japs, it will do wonders in preserving your health and strength.

IMPORTANT HELP IN LEARNING TO WALK.

You are in haste to become a queen? The ambition is a noble one. You can hurry the change by another practice, which I will describe.

A charming lady of the grand, old-fashioned pattern, bore herself like an empress at eighty-six. I ventured to ask her:—

"Madam, what was the source of this remarkable carriage of your person?" She replied:—

"During my young life I carried a large book on my head one or two hours every day. My mother had been taught the practice in an English school, and she transmitted it to her daughters."

Some years ago there was devised a pretty iron crown, in three parts, which has been much used for this purpose. The first part, which rests upon the head, weighed nine pounds; when an iron ring was placed inside of this, it weighed eighteen pounds, and when the second one was added, the weight was twenty-seven pounds. This device was ornamental and convenient. But, while the crown is the best thing; any weight will do. A bag of corn or beans may be employed, A book will answer very well. I have frequently seen books used. You can use any large book of no value,—say a large law book,—and you will find that the effort to retain it on the head will secure a perfectly balanced, accurate movement of all the muscles of the body. Whatever weight is employed, let it be carried upon the top of the head, holding the chin close to the neck, thirty minutes in the morning, and about the same time before lying down at night. In this connection let me say that the use of thick pillows tends to produce a curve in the neck. The pillows should be hard and thin. I am glad to see that hair pillows of moderate size are being generally introduced.

Let me explain the way in which carrying a load upon the head helps the spine into an erect posture. The spine is composed of twenty- four separate bones, which do not lie upon one another, but are separated by cushions of elastic cartilage. Suppose the thickness of these cushions to be a quarter of an inch. When the spine is erect, they are of the same thickness all around. When the spine is bent sidewise, say towards the right, the elastic cushions become thinner on that side, and if the bending is decided, the edges of the spinal bones themselves will nearly touch, while the mass of elastic or india-rubber substance will be pressed over to the left side. Now suppose that one follows an occupation requiring this position of the spine. After a time, unless pains are taken to counterbalance the mischievous influence of the occupation, these india-rubber cushions between the spinal bones will become fixed in this wedge- like shape, being thin on the right side and thick on the left side.

Now suppose, instead of bending sidewise, one bends forward, as nine persons in ten do, exactly the same thing takes place in these elastic, rubber cushions, only that the rubber is pushed backward, and the spine bones come together in front.

When the chin is drawn back close to the neck, and the cushions are brought into their natural equality of thickness all around, if, at the same moment, a considerable weight is placed upon the head to press hard upon the spinal cushions, much will be done in a little time, to fix them in this natural shape. It requires but a few months of this management to induce a very striking change in the attitude of the spine.

Many years ago, when my wife was an invalid, we spent three winters in the South. The plantation negro was a shambling, careless, uncouth creature; but occasionally we saw a negro whose bearing suggested a recent occupancy of one of the kingly thrones in Africa. After a little we came to understand the source of this peculiarity. These negroes, of the erect, lofty pattern, were engaged in "toting" loads upon their heads.

Everywhere, in certain large districts of Italy, one is struck with the singular carriage of the water-carriers, who bring from the mountain springs, great tubs of water on their heads.

How often we see German girls bringing into town great loads of sticks on their heads. And we never look at them, if we are thoughtful, without contrasting their proud, erect carriage, with the drooping shoulders, projecting shoulder blades, stuck-out chins, and general slip-shoddiness of our wives and daughters.

THE LANGUAGE OF DRESS.

The dress of a French peasant tells you at once of his place in society. Throughout Europe the dress may be taken as the exponent of the wearer's position. This is as true of women as of men. For good reasons, the language of dress is not so definite and explicit in America. But even here we may judge very correctly, in most cases, by the every-day dress, of the position of the wearer.

The social character and relations of women, as a class, in any country, may be clearly inferred from certain peculiarities of their dress.

For example, we are in Constantinople. If, in a