marble staircase nor velvet carpets. They are
provided with a little brass screw behind, which
looks like a spur, but serves in reality to take
them off by merely pressing the foot upon it.
The old Hessian boot may be so made also as to
serve a similar purpose very gracefully.

HINT THE SEVENTH.

We are apt to consider our English things
better than other things, but it is a great
question with me whether the Arab horse-shoe is not
better than ours. It is a thin plate of iron
covering the whole hoof; it is far lighter and
gives more protection, though it requires to be
removed oftener. The snaffle bridle, in many
parts of the East and Germany, is rapidly
superseding the cruel old curb. It is quite
wonderful what may be done with it in skilful hands.
Thus much is certain, that though by our mode
of handling horses we make the best hunters
and race-horses in the world, we certainly do
not make such light going and pleasant hacks
as the Arab and German horsemen.

Another foreign custom connected with horses
we should do well to imitate, is the use of the
saddle-cloth; for the want of which many a fine
horse has been ruined, and become afflicted with
a sore or otherwise diseased back—a not
unfrequent cause of string-halt, by the way. In Persia
they have very pretty saddle-cloths, sometimes
merely blue, edged with gold, and sometimes
beautiful patchwork of many colours. Not only
do these saddle-cloths prevent the horse getting
chilled when the saddle is suddenly removed,
but they keep the rider's coat from being spoiled
by foam and sweat. Another custom the
Persians have too, is covering the saddle with black
lambswool, which not only improves its
appearance, but gives a much firmer seat.

Our practice of cutting horses' tails—not
wholly abandoned—is a very graceless and cruel
one. It is curious that what we call the racer
tail is used by Eastern couriers for putting a mark
on bad horses which are to be carefully avoided
by their comrades on arriving at a post-house.

HINT THE EIGHTH.

If we turn from motion to repose, we may
still get a hint from abroad. Who has not
suffered from the inconvenience of a badly-made
bed, where the sheet rucks up, or comes off, and
leaves one exposed in the middle of the night to
the rasping of a blanket? A much better manner
of making beds than ours is that common in the
East, where the sheets are lightly tacked on to
the mattress below and the quilted silk coverlid
above. All that linen is saved now wasted in
the tucking up, and the movements of the
sleeper are free instead of being swathed and
bound down as under our system. Space might
be also usefully economised in a house, or a
stray guest comfortably accommodated by doing
away in many cases with bedsteads, and
employing an air mattress simply laid upon the
floor. It might be easily emptied, and stowed
away in a small cupboard during the day, and
one quilted silk or cotton coverlid to lie upon,
and another sufficiently wadded to cover the
sleeper, both with sheets loosely tacked to them,
are all the clothes required for the chilliest. In
Russia, it is a common practice to have such
bed-clothes stowed away in deep boxes made for
them under sofas. If bedsteads, from habit
or caprice, are absolutely required, the Eastern
divan makes a capital sleeping-place during the
night, and a handsome sofa in the daytime.
Beneath it may be a deep drawer or box for a
pillow and bed-clothes. Few rooms in the East
are given over entirely to sleeping. The best
pillow I ever used is one covered with chamois
leather. Paper pillows are also good.

HINT THE NINTH.

The readiest means of destroying bad smells,
and one always at hand, is to pour a little
vinegar, drop by drop, upon a red hot poker or
a heated shovel. A good thing, too, is to keep
some powdered charcoal somewhere about a
room; it is easy to put it in a pretty vessel.

HINT THE TENTH.

There is a capital summer drink in Russia
called "kislisjee," a light frothy sparkling kind
of beer, which does not get into the head.
It is exquisitely grateful to the palate when
iced, and may be made at home for about one
halfpenny a quart.

An excellent cold soup for summer use, a
delicacy almost unknown in England, may be
made from the liquor in which fish has been
boiled, with chopped onions and grated
horseradish, a little lemon-peel, mint, thyme, and
fried parsley. A slice of cold salmon and a
little cucumber will improve it vastly. It is the
famous Russian "batvinia," only abused by
those who have never eaten it at good tables.

HINT THE ELEVENTH.

The best tea-urn known is the Russian
semovar; but it must be prepared in the open air
before it is brought to table. The very best
way to extract the finest flavour from tea is to
put a couple of teaspoonfuls in a little silver
strainer, hold it over the teacup, and pour
boiling water gently through it, without the use
of teapot at all. The same tea cannot be
used for two cups without losing in flavour.
Milk and cream are thought to injure the
taste of the finest sorts of tea, a few drops of
orange or lemon-juice to improve it. The
costliest of the teas used in Russia is a yellow
tea, called the "flower of spring;" its price is
as high as five pounds sterling for the pound
weight, and the Russian pound is less than
ours.

HINT THE TWELFTH.

Among the things to be learned from foreigners
is one idea peculiarly healthful and genial. It
is a charity of the very noblest kind, for it is
one which elevates instead of debasing its
objects, and teaches the fine lesson of self-reliance
instead of the miserable and heart-breaking one
of dependence.

An amiable friend of mine has recently