should at all times be avoided.

Never finger the cards while they are being dealt, nor take up any of
them until all are dealt out, when you may take your own cards and
proceed to play.

In large assemblies it is best to furnish the cards and tables, and
allow guests to play or not, at their option, the host and hostess
giving their assistance in seeking for people disposed to play, and in
making up a game. In giving card parties, new cards should be provided
on every occasion.

[Illustration]

CHAPTER XXXV.

The Language of Flowers.

How beautiful and yet how cheap are flowers! Not exotics, but what are
called common flowers. A rose, for instance, is among the most beautiful
of the smiles of nature. The "laughing flowers," exclaims the poet. But
there is more than gayety in blooming flowers, though it takes a wise
man to see the beauty, the love, and the adaptation of which they are
full.

What should we think of one who had _invented_ flowers, supposing that,
before him, flowers were unknown? Would he not be regarded as the
opener-up of a paradise of new delight? Should we not hail the inventor
as a genius, as a god? And yet these lovely offsprings of the earth have
been speaking to man from the first dawn of his existence until now,
telling him of the goodness and wisdom of the Creative Power, which bid
the earth bring forth, not only that which was useful as food, but also
flowers, the bright consummate flowers to clothe it in beauty and joy!

[Illustration: FLOWERS.
"The meanest flower that blows, can give
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears."]

Bring one of the commonest field-flowers into a room, place it on a
table, or chimney-piece, and you seem to have brought a ray of sunshine
into the place. There is a cheerfulness about flowers. What a delight
are they to the drooping invalid! They are a sweet enjoyment, coming as
messengers from the country, and seeming to say, "Come and see the place
where we grow, and let your heart be glad in our presence."

There is a sentiment attached to flowers, and this sentiment has been
expressed in language by giving names to various flowers, shrubs and
plants. These names constitute a language, which may be made the medium
of pleasant and amusing interchange of thought between men and women. A
bouquet of flowers and leaves may be selected and arranged so as to
express much depth of feeling--to be truly a poem.