wretched gossip about things which do not concern yourselves. Cultivate the habit of speaking of things rather than of individuals, of wrong in the abstract rather than in particular cases. If you cannot say anything good about persons, say nothing at all. Take care not to exceed the truth-the exact truth - in all your communications. Remember that evil speakers will refrain from evil-speaking, when listeners refrain from evil-hearing. Avoid those who seem to know every one's affairs, and who are ready to tell all they know. Do not aspire to be the confidant of secrets; and if you allow yourselves to be entrusted with any, see to it that you faithfully keep them. Especially let servants, and those occasionally employed to assist in household work, be careful not to reveal the secrets, and talk of the concerns of the families which they serve. Let all, whatever their station in life, be on their guard against this very common but very perilous evil.

There is the temptation to lavish display and inordinate love of dress.

Two of the apostles treat of this subject in their Epistles, and both address their exhortations specially to women. This fact shows that, in their judgment, the gentler sex are specially liable to temptation from this cause. St. Paul, writing to Timothy, says, "I will therefore that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broidered hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; but (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works." St. Peter directs, "Whose adorning, let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; but let it be the hidden man of the heart,

in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price." These injunctions, originally addressed to female Christians, eighteen hundred years ago, need to be repeated and urged upon Christian women now.

The thoughtful examination of these precepts will show that they are directed, not to the prohibition of all ornament of dress and toilette, but to the regulation of it. They do not enjoin the entire abandonment of all outward adornment, but moderation in it. They especially declare that woman's chief ornament shall be of the soul, not of the body; of the character, not of the attire. Observe what is prohibited and what is commended.

Excessive love of dress is condemned. Women are not to give an inordinate share of their time and thought to what they shall wear. Slatternliness is to be avoided, but equally are undue care and display to be shunned. Girls are not to be brought up with the idea that their personal attire is the supreme concern of life. The propensity to personal decoration is without doubt strong in the female mind, and needs to be restrained rather than fostered. More will be done by example in this respect than by precept. If in a family the utmost regard is paid to fashion; if there is constant solicitude and effort to conform to its frequent changes; if attendance upon the house of God is made contingent upon the arrival of an expected dress or bonnet; if when presents are made they are invariably of the ornamental kind, jewellery and trinkets, rather than books and useful articles,it is inevitable that with such training there will be formed in youthful minds an excessive esti

mate and love of personal attire and adornment. The question of dress will assume an importance which does not properly belong to it, and will absorb an amount of attention which it ought not to claim. It is against inordinate thought and fondness for dress the apostolic counsels are directed.

Immodesty and impropriety in dress is condemned.

It is difficult to lay down a precise and definite rule, and to determine in every instance what is and what is not strictly correct and proper. There are some things however concerning which there cannot be much doubt. It cannot be well for women to adopt a style of dress which will leave strangers who may meet them in the street in doubt as to their real character. It cannot be desirable that the actresses whose portraits figure so largely in the windows of our photographers, should be imitated in their toilets by Christian women and their daughters; and that the extremes of fashion invented by frivolous Parisians should be adopted by women professing to be disciples of the Saviour. Besides these improprieties there are others grievous to be seen, servants emulating their mistresses in the style of their attire, and girls scarcely out of childhood arrayed as full-grown women. These things are contrary to the spirit of the apostolic injunctions.

Lavish expenditure in dress is condemned.

The amount of money as well as time and thought which can be spent in dress is well known. Illustrations of this sometimes appear in the public prints which appear almost fabulous, but the accuracy of which is not to be denied. Even when incomes are adequate to such lavish expenditure, there are serious considerations, not only as to the expediency but as to

the righteousness of it. Is the talent of property entrusted to us that by means of it the frail and perishing body may be decked out in costly jewels and magnificent array? Are there no higher purposes to which money can be applied than personal decoration and vain display? Are not women responsible for the influence which their example will have upon others differently situated from themselves? Might not all the claims of necessity, comfort, and even some measure of luxury, be met, and a large surplus remain which might most advantageously be applied to relieving the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and promoting the spread of religion in the world? Women, and especially Christian women, cannot be held guiltless who spend so much on personal attire that they cannot afford to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, or minister to the distressed. There is manifest inconsistency in a large outlay in the one direction, and a scanty generosity in the other.

aggravated in the case of Here the evil assumes a

The inconsistency and the sin are those whose incomes are not large. magnitude which is nothing less than appalling. Many a struggling husband and father has had his credit injured, and his resources crippled, by the extravagance of his wife and daughters. Many a young tradesman who has striven hard to make a position for himself, has been defeated through the thoughtless conduct of her who should have been his helpmeet. In not a few instances the helping hand has been restrained from those who had difficulty in providing things honest and necessary, because whatever wants they had, they managed to obtain showy attire. In the case of young women, wonder

and even suspicion has been aroused because the dress worn has been out of all consistency with the wages they were receiving. Character and reputation have been impugned on account of it. Women cannot dress beyond their station and means without the loss of respect and sympathy. If they think thereby to attract the attention and gain the affections of the other sex, they are greatly mistaken. They may attract attention, but it will be of a different kind from that they wish. If thereby they win affection, it can be from those only who are foolish enough to be caught by such means. But extravagance often leads to what is worse than diminution of respect, it is the fruitful cause of dishonesty and vice. The chaplain of the Westminster House of Correction, in a recent report to the Middlesex magistrates, refers to the great increase of crime among young girls, principally of the domestic servant class. He attributes the increase to cheap sensational literature, insane love of dress, and cheap places of amusement, and dwells particularly on the taste which prevails for imitating "the questionable fashionable dress of the period." Many a young girl has indulged her love of dress and fondness for display to such an extent as to involve herself in difficulties, and has then had recourse to dishonesty to relieve herself from the embarWhen such things are prevalent there is need for all who have the instruction of youth to lift up a warning voice against the temptation, and by practice as well as precept, to endeavour to oppose it.

rassment.

The cultivation of spiritual excellence rather than of fine fashions is enjoined.

The apostle wrote, "Adorn yourselves, as becometh women