d now you
may enjoy the sense of freedom from rules, which is one of the really
charming things in a vacation. If I were you, though, I would not spend
all the summer weeks without learning something, either about Nature and
her wonders, or else about housekeeping and sewing.

At Aunty's in the mountains help is hard to get, and Aunty and her
daughters make their own beds, and do much of the housework outside of
the kitchen. Do you know how to make a bed? It looks very easy, yet
there is an art in doing it well.

In the first place you must thoroughly air your bed every day. Pull the
bed-clothes apart, set the mattress on end, if it is in two pieces so
that you can manage it, and open the windows widely. Leave bed and
bedding this way, exposed to air and sunlight, for at least an hour.
Then spread your under sheet smoothly on the mattress, tucking it well
in at the top. Similarly tuck the upper sheet in with great care at the
bottom of the bed, so that it will not work loose and leave the feet of
a restless sleeper exposed. Be sure in laying on your blankets that the
open end of them is at the top of the bed. A person often requires a
second thickness of blanket before morning, and can arrange it as she
wishes if the closed end of the blanket is at the bottom of the bed.

Now comes your dainty upper spread, to be folded up and laid aside at
night, your bolster, and your pillows. I would enjoy sleeping in a bed
made by one of my girls if she followed these directions.

Of course you are going to begin making your Christmas presents this
summer. The beautiful centre-pieces, doilies, and other bits of
embroidery which you intend to send here and there to dear friends must
be planned for and finished, from the first careful stitch to the last,
during your summer leisure. A set of towels or handkerchiefs with a
monogram in the corner of each will delight mamma, and Arthur will be
very much pleased if his sister makes a cover for his mantel or his
chiffonier. It will be well to select your materials and take them in
your trunk, and then set apart a definite part of each day for your
work.

Some of you belong to the Needle-work Guild, and are pledged to send a
certain number of finished garments to the headquarters of the society
in the autumn. You must make these little garments, slips, petticoats,
aprons, or whatever they may be, with the utmost nicety. Let only
loving, careful stitches go into your work for the poor.