ions of female neatness are, first, a clean _skin_. The
hands and face will usually be clean, to be sure, if there be soap and
water within reach; but if on observing other parts of the head besides
the face, you make discoveries indicating a different character, the
sooner you cease your visits the better. I hope, now, that no young
woman who may chance to see this book, will be offended at this, and
think me too severe on her sex. I am only telling that which all men
think; and, it is a decided advantage to them to be fully informed of
our thoughts on the subject. If any one, who reads this, shall find,
upon self-examination, that she is defective in this respect, let her
take the hint, and correct the defect.

In the _dress_, you can, amongst rich people, find little whereon to
form a judgment as to cleanliness, because they have not only the dress
prepared for them, but put upon them into the bargain. But, in the
middle ranks of life, the dress is a good criterion in two respects:
first, as to its _color_; for if the _white_ be a sort of _yellow_,
cleanly hands would have been at work to prevent that. A _white-yellow_
cravat, or shirt, on a man, speaks at once the character of his wife;
and, you may be assured, that she will not take with your dress pains
which she has never taken with her own.

Then, the manner of _putting on_ the dress, is no bad foundation for
judging. If this be careless, and slovenly, if it do not fit
properly,--no matter for its _mean quality_; mean as it may be, it may
be neatly and trimly put on--if it be slovenly put on, I say, take care
of yourself; for, you will soon find to your cost, that a sloven in one
thing, is a sloven in all things. The plainer people, judge greatly
from the state of the covering of the ankles; and, if that be not clean
and tight, they conclude that the rest is not as it ought to be. Look
at the shoes! If they be trodden on one side, loose on the foot, or run
down at the heel, it is a very bad _sign_; and as to going _slipshod_,
though at coming down in the morning, and even before daylight, make up
your mind to a rope, rather than live with a slipshod woman.

How much do women lose by inattention to these matters! Men, in
general, say nothing about it to their wives, but they _think_ about
it; they envy their more lucky neighbors, and in numerous cases,
consequences the most serious arise from this apparently trifling
cause. Beauty is valuable; it is one of the