nd that marriage is the time for propriety. The
passions are all very well until you are married; but the fashions
will last you all your life.

I have no more to say on the choice of a husband. It is quite the
simplest thing that a young girl has to learn,--you must find a quite
colourless person, and flatter him a little; his vanity will do the
rest. And when you are married to him, you will find him much easier
to tolerate than a man who has any strong characteristic. Do not get
into the habit of thinking marriage important; it is only important in
so far as it affects externals; it need not touch the interior of your
life.

I have received several letters. ELLA has had poetry sent to her by
her _fiance_, and wishes to know if this would justify her in breaking
the engagement. I think not. She can never be quite certain that it is
the man's own make; and, besides, plenty of men are like that during
the engagement period, but never suffer from it afterwards. The other
letters must be answered privately.

* * * * *

"THE DEADLY CIGARETTE."

[Illustration]

Have you heard the Yankee threat to suppress the Cigarette?
Ten dollars tax per thousand--as the French would say, _par
mille_--
Is the scheme proposed, forsooth, to protect the Yankee youth
From poisons just discovered in his _papier pur fil_!

Such things might well have been in staring emerald green,
Or even in the paler tint that's christened "_Eau-de-Nil_,"
But it simply makes one sick to imagine arsenic
Is lurking in the spotless white of _papier pur fil_!

Strange the smoking French survive! Surely none should be alive;
Fair France should be one mighty _morgue_ from Biarritz to Lille,
If there's also phosphorus, bringing deadly loss for us,
In Hygiene's new victim, luckless _papier pur fil_.

Yet some Frenchmen live to tell they are feeling pretty well;
From dozing _Concierge_ at home to marching _Garde Mobile_,
You might safely bet your boots that, with loud derisive hoots,
They'd scout the thought of poison in their _papier pur fil_.

Then how foolish to conclude that, because they hurt the dude,
Smoking all day in the country, half the night as well _en ville_,
After dinner Cigarettes, two or three, mean paying debts
Of nature, or mean going mad, from _papier pur fil_!

* * * * *

VANS DE LUXE.

SIR,--I am go