houses as to the amount of
work which will be necessary to keep them in respectable condition. Some
houses require a perfect staff of house-maids;--there are plated hinges
to be rubbed, paint to be cleaned, with intricacies of moulding and
carving which daily consume hours of dusting to preserve them from a
slovenly look. Simple finish, unpainted wood, a general distribution of
water through the dwelling, will enable a very large house to be cared
for by one pair of hands, and yet maintain a creditable appearance.

In kitchens one servant may perform the work of two by a close packing
of all the conveniences for cooking and such arrangements as shall save
time and steps. Washing-day may be divested of its terrors by suitable
provisions for water, hot and cold, by wringers, which save at once the
strength of the linen and of the laundress, and by drying-closets
connected with ranges, where articles can in a few moments be perfectly
dried. These, with the use of a small mangle, such as is now common in
America, reduce the labors of the laundry one-half.

There are many more things which might be said of "our house," and
Christopher may, perhaps, find some other opportunity to say them. For
the present his pen is tired and ceaseth.

THE NEW SCHOOL OF BIOGRAPHY.

Poor Rachel, passing slowly away from the world that had so applauded
her hollow, but brilliant career, tasted the bitterness of death in
reflecting that she should so soon be given over to the worms and the
biographers. Fortunate Rachel, resting in serene confidence that the two
would be fellow-laborers! It is the unhappy fate of her survivors to
have reached a day in which biographers have grown impatient of the
decorous delay which their lowly coadjutors demand. They can no longer
wait for the lingering soul to yield up its title-deeds before they
enter in and take possession; but, fired with an evil energy, they
outstrip the worms and torment us before the time.

Curiosity is undoubtedly one of the heaven-appointed passions of the
human animal. Dear to the heart of man has ever been his neighbor's
business. Precious in the eyes of woman is the linen-closet of that
neighbor's wife. During its tender teething infancy, the world's sobs
could always be soothed into smiles by an open bureau with large
liberty to upheave its contents from turret to foundation-stone. As the
infant world ascended from cambric and dimity to broadcloth and
crinoline, its pr