ADDENDA.

I.

IN chapter viii, page 267, the following statement is made.

"Many persons are beginning to follow the sensible custom introduced in England, of leaving off all bright colors and adhering strictly to black, without using the materials which are confined to mourning dress." The "Christian Register" of April 27th, has an article on Mourning Apparel," which is worthy the consideration of all persons of influence, and which reads as follows:

66

"The principal objections against the custom of wearing mourning apparel are that it is useless, inconvenient, and expensive. For what use does it serve? To remind me I am in affliction? I do not need any such memento. To point me out to others as a mourner? I most certainly do not wish to be so pointed out. Shall the sable garb be

to my feelings, because

adopted then because it is grateful it is a kind of solace to me? I can gain no consolation from it.

"If, then, the custom is useless, it is still more objectionable on account of the inconvenience and expense. It is inconvenient, because it throws the care of purchasing and making clothes upon a family at the very moment when, on every account, it most needs seclusion and quietness; ( 549 )

when, worn out with care, and watching, and sorrow, it needs retirement and relief. That the expense presses heavily upon the poor, is a matter very well known, and, I believe, generally regretted. If, then, there is a custom in the community which is of no real benefit, and is a real burden, it would seem a clear inference that it ought to be discouraged. If there be any who fear that they shall be too soon forgotten among men when they are gone, let them be reminded that it depends upon themselves, not upon the habiliments of their friends; upon their character, not upon their obsequies, whether they shall be remembered. 'The memorial of virtue,' saith the wisdom of Solomon, 'is immortal.' When it is present, men take example of it; and when it is gone they deserve it; it weareth a crown and triumph forever."

In behalf of those who cling to deep mourning garments, and who do not feel that the garb evidences their unchristian want of resignation even more than it does their grief, it may be said that the thick veil, prescribed by custom, is a great protection to their feelings, screening, as it often does, the tearful eyes and the quivering lips. But the thick crape veil is prejudicial to health, and therefore should not be worn when black veils, of other materials, will answer the purpose equally well.

II.

THE Compiler has more than once alluded to the desirability of gentlewomen, who are dependent upon their own exertions for a living, seeking situations as housekeepers, instead of swelling the ranks of teachers. The objection

that is made is the treatment that housekeepers too often receive; but this is only where ladies accept such situations in families that are not wellbred. If a woman of good family and of culture accepts the position of a housekeeper in America in an equally cultured family, she is made to feel that she is a member of the family; and if she is faithful to the trust reposed in her, and worthy of the attention that is paid to her, she will make herself to all intents and purposes one of them.

On page 312 an allusion is made to such a housekeeper. The following note of invitation, written by the late Mrs. Dr. Rush (a daughter of Mr. Ridgway) to the daughter-inlaw of this housekeeper, gives evidence of the kind and friendly relation that existed between the two families. The "Mrs. "who was to dine with Mrs. Rush was the housekeeper of her father. The one alluded to as "C was the housekeeper's grandson, and the ward of Mr. Ridgway.

"MY DEAR RACHEL:

"Mrs. and my cousin S

W- have promised to take

tea with me to-morrow evening. I shall be much pleased if you will join them. I hope C is better.

"Yours,

"ANN RUSH "

There is nothing menial in a situation of this description, and it is to be hoped that the rapidly increasing numbers of reduced gentlewomen in our country will have a tendency to restore the old-fashioned ideas on this subject, and that the situation of housekeeper will once more become as honorable as it was then. All situations, everywhere, where trust is reposed, and which require integrity of character, should be held to be especially honorable ones. Salary should not be the object of housekeepers as much

as a home for life; and where the relative duties are understood and sustained, the housekeeper who has been long in a family, is never turned off in old age to end her days in poverty and neglect. Therefore, and for other reasons, the situation of housekeeper in a wellbred family is one that is much to be preferred by middle-aged women, who are suddenly cast upon their own resources, to the situation of a teacher.

"Do you know that was once a teacher in public schools, and that her mother was a housekeeper, etc., etc.?" asked one lady of another. The answer was, “No, I do not know it, but I know to the contrary; though if it were true, I should esteem her all the more for her independence, and value her friendship more than ever."

This is the right kind of feeling. "From the moment a woman supports herself, or those she loves, by her work," wrote the late Mrs. H. M. Field, "she ought to ascend in the social as she does in the moral scale. She is not to be pitied or patronized, but to be respected for her spirit of independence. Women of wealth who in their early life have been teachers, sometimes seem anxious to conceal a fact which they ought to recall with pride. . . . . If the intellect of woman is cultivated, if she has any special gift, she will seek work, for she finds the keenest pleasure in the exercise of her talent, and a just pride in compelling the public to recognize it. . . . . The Queen of England herself writes books, and receives her copyright as much as any poor author. To work, then, and to work for pay, is no disgrace. I would say to every young woman, work; and if you cannot work with your brain (and genius, even talent, is given to few), work with your hands, bravely, openly, keeping your self-respect and your independence. Work was never meant to be a curse or a shame; it is the surest element of growth and happiness. With woman

rests especially the power to right her own sex as to this absurd prejudice, by working herself when gifted with great powers, and recognizing with a real sympathy the work, however humble, of other women. . . . . No woman is free from responsibility toward her own sex. All are to bear one another's burdens, and to share one another's sorrows. This is the true sisterhood of woman. However widely apart in station, they react upon each other for good or for evil. . . . . It is time that all false, arbitrary distinctions should cease. The ranks of workers are swelling too rapidly "—including many well-born and delicately nurtured" and the time must come when the position of a woman will depend only on the dignity of her life, and the cultivation of her mind."-Page 68, "The Young Lady's Friend."

III.

IN chapter iii, page 110, occur the following lines: "As long as the very kindness of heart which shapes the course of some members of society is made to confront them in some odious form, as long as there is so little of that charity that thinketh no evil, and so much of that credence of the vilest insinuations that it would seem only demons could breathe, it is as utopian to look for any esprit de corps in society as to look for a change of character in the depraved, or for angelic natures in the human."

In connection with this assertion, the compiler wishes to impress upon the young, the importance of holding right views as to their relative duties to their friends and to their acquaintances. For instance, it is not necessary for you to "take up the cudgels," as it is significantly expressed,