ge de
Lubin"--which does not wash off; the "bleu pour les veines;" the "rouge
of eight shades," and "the sympathetic blush," which are cynically
offered for the use and adoption of our mothers and daughters, find
their chief patroness in the _femme passee_ who makes herself up--the
middle-aged matron engaged in her frantic struggle against time, and
obstinately refusing to grow old in spite of all that nature may say or
do.

Bad as the girl of the period often is, this horrible travesty of her
vices in the modern matron is even worse. Indeed, were it not for her,
the girls would never have gone to such lengths as those to which they
have gone; for elder women have naturally immense influence over younger
ones, and if mothers were to set their faces resolutely against the
follies of the day, daughters would and must give in. As it is, they go
even ahead of the young, and by example on the one hand and rivalry on
the other, sow the curse of corruption broadcast where they were meant
to have only a pure influence and to set a wise example. Were it not for
those who still remain faithful, women who regard themselves as
appointed by God the trustees for humanity and virtue, the world would
go to ruin forthwith; but so long as the five righteous are left we have
hope, and a certain amount of security for the future, when the present
disgraceful madness of society shall have subsided.

PRETTY PREACHERS.

To beings of the rougher sex--let us honestly confess it--one of the
most charming of those ever-recurrent surprises which the commonest
incidents of the holidays never fail to afford is the surprise of
finding themselves at church. Whatever the cause may be, whether we owe
our new access of devotion to the early breakfast and the boredom of a
bachelor morning, or to the moral compulsion of the cunning display of
prayer-books and hymnals in the hall, or to the temptation of that
chattiest and gayest of all walks--the walk to church--or to an uneasy
conscience that spurs us to set a good example to the coachman, or to a
sheer impulse of courtesy to the rector, certain it is that a week after
we have been lounging at the club-window, and wondering how all the good
people get through their Sunday morning, we find ourselves safely boxed
in the family pew, and chorusing the family "Amen!"

No doubt much of our new temper springs simply from the change of scene,
and if the first week in the country were a time for self-a