Esther and Mellicent were almost equally well supplied by their anxious mother, but their bottles behaved in a sober, well-regulated fashion, and never took upon themselves to play tricks, while those in Peggy's room seemed infected by the spirit of the owner, and amused themselves with seeing how much mischief they could accomplish. A bottle of ammonia had been provided as a cure for bites of gnats and flies; Peggy flicked a towel more hastily than usual, and down it went, the contents streaming over the wood, and splashing on to the wardrobe near at hand, with the consequence that every sign of polish was removed, and replaced by white unsightly stains. The glass stopper of a smelling-salts bottle became fixed in its socket, and being anointed with oil and placed before the fire to melt, popped out suddenly with a noise as of a cannon shot, aimed accurately for the centre of the mirror, and smashed it into a dozen pieces. The "safety ink-pot," out of which she indited her letters to her mother, came unfastened of its own accord and rolled up and down the clean white toilet cover. This, at least, was the impression left by Peggy's innocent protestations, while the gas and soap seemed equally obstinate, the one refusing to be lowered when she left the room, and the other insisting upon melting itself to pieces in her morning bath. (_To be continued._) [Illustration] THE RESULT OF OUR HOLIDAYS NEEDLEWORK COMPETITION. In some respects the result of this competition has been satisfactory. The competitors carefully observed the rules, the sewing was in many cases most excellent, the neatness and finish conspicuous. Many of the articles were made so well that we felt quite proud to think our girls could turn out such good work. The care as to details pleased us very much, for that was given in all but a few exceptions. It was so nice to see how firmly buttons were sewn on, button-holes made so well, and seams carefully overcast or pinked, raw edges protected by tidy button-hole stitches. Then, too, we were glad to note, that although intended for the very poor, the workers had not fallen into the common error of selecting ugly materials for their articles. Very few of the stuffs used were anything but suitable, serviceable, and pretty rather than not, the way in which the blouses especially were made being quite satisfactory. There were a few carelessly made articles where bad sewing, most inappropriate trimming--eminently one overall with extremely common imitation fur, the cotton back of which was visible and very untidy--disqualified for prizes or even honourable mention. We were much disappointed to find that there were only two flannel petticoats sent in, and no serge underskirts at all! Certainly the younger members of our readers have not shown much interest in the competition. The two petticoats sent were so good that the first prize was divided between them.