When you receive a bouquet sprinkle it lightly with fresh water, then put it into a vessel containing some soapsuds; this will take the place of the roots and keep the flowers bright as new. Take the bouquet out of the suds every morning, and lay it sideways, the stems entering first, in clean water; keep it there a minute or two, then take it out, and sprinkle the flowers lightly by the hand with water; replace it in the soapsuds, and it will bloom as fresh as when first gathered. The soapsuds need changing every three or four days. By observing these rules a bouquet can be kept bright and beautiful for at least a month, and will last longer in a very passable state. From another source we learn how =To Keep Flowers or Fruit a whole Year perfectly Fresh.= Mix one pound of nitre with two pounds of sal ammoniac and three pounds of clean common sand; then in dry weather take fruit of any sort which is not fully ripe, allowing the stalks to remain, and put them one by one into an open glass until it is quite full; cover the glass with oiled cloth, closely tied down. Put the glass three or four inches down in the earth in a dry cellar, and surround it on all sides to the depth of three or four inches with the above mixture. The fruit will thus be preserved quite fresh all the year round. In giving the following recipe for the manufacture of rose-water, it may be as well to state that the original verse is given, not for its merit as such, but simply because it is the form in which the recipe reached the writer. =Rose-water.= “When the bushes of roses are full, As most of them are about June, ’Tis high time to gather, or pull The leaves of the flowers. As soon As you’ve picked all you need for the time, To each _quart of water_ unite A _peck of the leaves_, which, if prime— And they will be, if pulled off aright— May be _placed in a still_ near at hand, On a _very slow fire_. When done, Bottle off, and permit it to _stand For three days_ ere you cork down each one.” [Illustration] CHAPTER III. THE WALKING CLUB. A SOUND of girlish voices is suddenly heard in the quiet village streets, as our Walking Club, issuing from the house of one of its members, starts off on the first tramp of the season. The gay chatter and bubbling laughter blend with the twittering and chirping of the birds fluttering among the budding trees, and all these merry sounds seem in perfect harmony with the youthful gladness of the bright morning.