The walls should be dusted with a long-handled feather duster, then with a clean dry cloth pinned smoothly over a clean broom; wipe them down evenly, beginning at the top and passing in a straight line, “by a thread” as a seamstress would say, to the bottom, changing the cloth as it becomes soiled. Next remove all chimneys and shades from the chandeliers and gas-burners; wash clean, dry and polish with a soft linen towel, and then with chamois-skin, and put them into a closet till the room is cleaned. Now with a cloth, wrung from weak, hot suds, wipe off the brackets and chandeliers, and rub dry with chamois-skin. Draw a coarse linen thread, double, through the opening in the tip of all the gas-burners to remove any dust that may have settled in them while unused. This done, if you have two or three hands at work, the cleaning may be so divided as to be done quite expeditiously; let one wash the windows while another cleans the paint. The windows, if long unused, need to be well washed in warm suds, into which a little spirits of ammonia have been poured,--two teaspoonfuls to half a bucket of suds; then well rinsed in clear water, wiped dry, and polished with chamois-skin. This same proportion of suds and ammonia will also clean paint very easily, and without injury to the hands. It is good for cleaning marble slabs and mantles. The plated door-handles, bell-pulls, etc., come next in order for cleaning; and here, if a piece of oil-cloth is cut to slip over each, so that the walls may not be tarnished, the hot suds and ammonia will prove very effective. A piece of old carpet or drugget should be laid down as you clean windows, paint, or plated ware, if the carpet is down, and moved from one spot to another as you go on. Now all is ready to put the last touch to the room. Wring a clean cloth from some warm, clear water, in which a little alum or salt has been dissolved, and wipe hard each breadth of the carpet, rubbing straight down the nap. Wring out the cloth often, to rinse off all the dust, and change the water if it looks very dingy. This brings up the nap and gives a new and fresh look to carpets of all kinds; only be sure that the cloth is not so wet as to drip. Leave the windows open when the carpet is finished, and shut the doors till it is thoroughly dried before bringing in what furniture was moved out to clean the room. XXX. FASHIONABLE DRESS.