TO CURE FEATHERS.--The following recipe gained a premium from the Society of Arts. Mix a quantity of lime-water in the proportion of one pound of quicklime to a gallon of water, mixing well, and pouring off the clean lime-water for use as soon as the undissolved lime is precipitated. Put the feathers in a tub, adding enough of the clean lime-water to cover them to a depth of three inches. Stir them about until well moistened, when they will sink. Leave for three or four days, and then pour the whole through a sieve to get rid of the foul water. Wash well in clean water, and dry upon nets in a room where the air can be admitted. Cabbage nets will do well, the feathers falling through the meshes as they dry. About three weeks will finish the feathers, which will only need beating afterwards to get rid of the dust. CURIOUS CUSTOM AT A CITY CHURCH.--The following extract from the last will and testament of Peter Symondes, mercer, dated April 24th, 1586, refers to a curious custom still observed on Good Friday at All Hallows Church, Lombard Street:--"The parson and churchwardens shall every year, upon the same Good Fryday, divide the same raisons into threescore parts in papers, and when the children of Christ's Hospital shall come upon Good Fryday as aforesaid, then the said parson and churchwardens shall give unto every child a part of that so appointed; and although this gift may be thought very frivolous, yet, my mind and meaning being hidden, may, notwithstanding, be performed, praying God to make all those children happy members of this Commonwealth. Amen." Under directions in the same will, each of the sixty boys also receives a new penny. An Easter card is also given by the churchwardens from the parish funds. THE EARWIG.--The old-fashioned idea of the much-dreaded earwig is little more than a fallacy. The original English word "ear" signified an undeveloped flower-bud, especially among corn, and "wic" commonly stood for a hiding-place; so that familiar insect (formerly written "ear-wig"), through seeking its favourite dwelling beneath the closely-shielded bud "ears," has been universally accredited with propensities so deadly injurious to mankind of which it naturally stands wholly innocent. In this manner popular superstition has often thrown a mantle of evil and dread upon surrounding objects, harmless in themselves; and so long as the vulgar lend credence to ill-founded traditions without instituting intelligent inquiry, so long must such discrepancies continue to hold sway over the public mind.