YOUNG Englishwomen may now produce their

airiest and fairiest of textures. The bright sunshine and warm air forbid anything warmer than muslin, grenadine, or some equally cool material. The present style of dress, it was feared, would not look well in thin materials, but the contrary is the case. The tablier looks very well in muslin, and should be trimmed with a frill of the same material. A muslin dress is greatly improved by bows of ribbon down the front and on the sleeves. These little et ceteras sometimes make all the difference between a tasteful and an insipid costume. French muslins are sometimes of a neutral ground, with flowers in very delicate tints, and these require ribbon of a bright shade to relieve their monotony. Sometimes black velvet is a great relief to a pale background. It requires some taste and an eye for colour to make these slight additions, and one must be careful in selecting them not to mar where one wishes to mend.

A point where many girls fail in taste is in choosing the colour of gloves. Certainly, one seldom sees now the dreadful blue, green, and violet gloves that were once but too fashionable, but even among the browns, yellows, and greys left from which to choose, it is quite possible. to make a very wrong selection. A good rule, especially for summer wear, is to have the gloves match the colour of the dress exactly, if the colour be pale brown or grey. If light gloves are to be worn, it is more difficult to give general advice.

The COPENHAGEN GLOVE, manufactured by JANNINGS and Co., 16, Fenchurch Street, is made in all the pretty natural shades, pale fawns, greys, and browns, and wear extremely well. The price is very moderate, those with one button being sold at 2s. a pair, and those with two buttons at 2s. 6d. The stockings made by Messrs. Jannings are also very good, being made doubly strong in those places where there is most wear. I may mention for the benefit of country readers, that orders must be accompanied by post-office orders.

Young ladies who are industriously inclined, might make themselves very handsome dresses by embroidering patterns of flowers and leaves on tussore silk in the imperial knitting silk manufactured by Messrs. ADAMS and Co., 5, New Street, Bishopsgate Street. The undyed silk is made in two different sizes, and, as well as the other colours, knits very well. This silk in made in one hundred and forty different shades. The tussore is specially recommendable because, being entirely free from dye, it never changes colour in the least degree. The prices are reasonable, and the colours very beautiful.

I am constantly getting inquiries about sapoline, the magic soap, so I may as well give here all the informa

tion I can about it. It is a purely white soap, and, though sold at the same price as ordinary soap, is yet much cheaper, because both time and labour are economized in using it. It is the only kind of soap that ought to be used for washing lace and other delicate fabrics, and will indeed be found generally useful in the household, from washing the blankets to washing the baby.' Sapoline is manufactured by C. T. TYLER, Woking Station, Surrey.

Dr. Hassall's FOOD FOR INFANTS, CHILDREn, and INVALIDS is deservedly making a reputation. It is manufactured by GOODALL, BACKHOUSE & Co., Leeds, and its distinguishing qualities are, being easily digestible, containing great nutrition, and being absolutely pure. The mode of preparation is very simple, and the food is pleasant to the taste, without any addition of flavouring.

Apropos of children, I saw in Regent Street the other day a very pretty little summer out-door garment for a little girl, composed simply of a crepe-de-chine scarf, trimmed all round with fringe. The scarf was in a point at the back, just deep enough to reach to the waist. It then crossed in front, and one end made another point at the back, while both ends tied at the side, one falling rather longer than the other.

This idea might be utilized for children of a larger growth. Crèpe-de-chine is an ideal material, and when trimmed with fringe is particularly becoming. It drapes very gracefully, and would make most elegant fichus for wearing in the warm weather.

A very simple and pretty fichu can be made by cutting the pattern in black Brussels net and then covering it with lace, beaded or otherwise.

The bonnets worn this season are as pretty and becoming as it is possible for bonnets to be. The wreaths of flowers worn under the turned-up brims are so beautifully made and look so natural as to rival in freshness many of the youthful faces under them. Many of the bonnets, certainly, are overloaded with flowers, but discriminating taste will readily discern what is unsuit able, and reject such as are unduly ornamented.

As to hats, they are of every possible variety, both in shape and size. The wide-brimmed Gainsborough hat increases in favour, and is worn slightly on one side of the head. When lined with a pretty wreath of flowers, the effect of this hat is very coquettish and becoming. 1 have seen one trimmed with pale blue and with a wreath of half-blown daisies that had the prettiest imaginable effect-but it is sometimes puzzling to know how much of the effect to attribute to a hat and how much to the pretty face beneath it. SYLVIA.

MANY girls with a talent for drawing have expensive

masters to cultivate it, spend hours over it every week, and succeed so far as to have a reputation among their friends as artists. But when the day comes, as it sometimes does, when "Something to Do" is the cry not only of ennui, but of necessity, the poor girl finds that her art has no commercial value. She shows her drawings or paintings to a picture-dealer. A glance is enough for him. "I could get enough of that sort of thing gratis, to stock my shop," he says, looking at the groups of flowers, copied heads, and conventional landscapes.

Now, for every fifty girls who learn drawing with pleasure and delight, is there one who, for pleasure, takes up the art of wood engraving? I doubt it. And yet it has its fascinations, and can be made remunerative if necessary. The work is very clean, great neatness and accuracy are required (and these are essentially feminine characteristics), and the tools used are adapted to a woman's use. A knowledge of drawing is not necessary to wood engraving, but it is most desirable, as it enables the engraver to enter into the spirit of the artist's idea, and to render it the more faithfully. The following hints may prove useful to those who would like to make a beginning at an occupation that is at once remunerative and interesting.

It will be understood that the process of wood engraving consists in cutting away from the surface of the wood all those portions not occupied by the lines of the drawing. Boxwood is the best wood for engraving upon, and the best preparation for drawing upon it is a very thin wash of China white, mixed with water and a little common glue-powder, laid on with a flat brush. It must be remembered that the drawing will appear reversed when the impression is taken off, so that it must be drawn in outline on tracing paper, which is laid reverse-wise on the wood, with a piece of prepared red paper between, the red side being next the wood. The lines are then traced with a sharp point, which produces them in red on the block. Having removed the paper, go over these lines with a very hard pencil, and fill in according to taste.

The drawing being completed, the engraving begins, and for this the tools requisite are a flat leather bag, filled with sand, to rest the block upon, gravers, tint-tools, Scoopers, chisels, which may all be bought in handles. ready for use, a green shade for wearing over the eyes, a round glass bottle filled with coloured water, placed so as to catch the light and refract it upon the portion of the engraving in hand; a burnisher, for taking proofs; a small grindstone, for taking down the rough edge of the tools; and a Turkey stone, for finishing the point and fitting the tool for use.

These are all the necessary tools for beginners, and their cost is trifling. Later on, as the learner progresses and begins to undertake complicated drawings, an eyeglass will be necessary. These are made with a stand, which obviates the necessity for holding the glass in the eye, and leaves the hands free.

Before proceeding to cut any of the lines on your block, you must carefully cover up every portion of the drawing but that on which you are about to set to work. Smooth blue paper or clean glazed paper may be used for this purpose. The breath would otherwise damage the drawing by diminishing the sharpness that is so necessary to be preserved. The paper also keeps the drawing from the pressure of the hand. Rub the edges of the wood with beeswax, strain the paper tightly over the drawing, and fasten it down on the beeswax. Cut a hole where you wish to commence.

There is this difference with engraving from almost all other occupations. It is easier to work at night than by daylight. With gaslight and the globe mentioned above, it is much easier to concentrate the light on the work.

I quote from Thomas Gilks' " Art of Wood Engraving" the following description of the proper mode of sitting at the table and holding the graver, and I would at the same time recommend learners to purchase this valuable handbook.

"Who sets out wrong,' he says 'is more than halt undone.' It is therefore most important at the commencement of engraving to sit comfortably and straight at the table, and to hold the graver correctly. The block should be so placed on the table and on the sand-bag that the pupil sits quite straight in front, and without having to stoop (if this is not at the outset insisted on, the seed of chest disease is immediately sown); the block is then held, but not too tightly, with the thumb and forefinger of the left hand, while with the right hand the graver is held, the ball of the handle resting in the palm. The graver is then pressed forward with the thumb and forefinger, the thumb resting against the side of the block (if a small one), or on the surface of a large block, and thus acting as a lever to the fingers in the graver's motion onwards, allowing it to move forward or backward with a very slight degree of pressure, and in the case of a tendency to slip being ever ready to check the graver's progress."

With this quotation I conclude these few hints on wood engraving, which, necessarily, in so short a space, are very bare and incomplete; but if they induce even a few among our readers to enter upon a more profitable amusement than drawing in water-colours, or making impossible flowers in Berlin wool, I shall be very glad.

SYLVIA,