I “dreamed a dream that was not all a dream,”--dreamed of seeing a vast company of women, a multitude whom no man could number, all earnestly engaged in picking up--pebbles. Gems of priceless value lay scattered everywhere around; but these were passed by unnoticed. “Foolish creatures! Why don’t they leave the pebbles, and take the diamonds?” I cried. There was a reason for my dreaming such a dream. I went to Piper’s Mills the other day, to carry a bundle of “circle-work” for Nanny Joe. I took Mr. David’s horse, and, while there, called on an acquaintance of mine,--Mrs. Royal. A couple of her neighbors had dropped in to tea that afternoon; and I was cordially invited to stay. “If you don’t mind being the only gentleman,” said Mrs. Royal. I replied most gallantly that it would give me the greatest pleasure to be placed in so enviable a minority; all the while saying to myself most “scientifically,” _Three new specimens. Observe mental habits. Compare with those of sewing-circle members. More light on domestic science._ (_My science has a name now._) I knew something of Mrs. Royal and her friends; and that they differed in many respects from the majority of women. When, therefore, the tea-table talk began, I prepared to listen with interest, believing that my new specimens, though of the same class as my Tweenit friends,--that is, neither poorer nor richer,--would prove to be a different species. The talk ran first on TEA-ROSES.--So fragrant! so beautiful! Beautiful? Why, the beauty of even one half-opened bud was too much to take in. Article in the newspapers speaking of a beauty which makes “sense ache.” Damask-roses going out of fashion. Wild roses in June reddening the wayside banks. Fragrance of the sweet-brier, of the trailing arbutus. Flowers of spring, and their haunts. Pleasure of giving and of receiving flowers. ANECDOTES OF THE FLOWER-MISSIONS IN THE CITIES.--Beautiful “mission,” that of sending flowers to the sick-beds of the poor. What is being done in various places for the poor, the ignorant, the degraded, and the friendless. It is beginning to be understood that we are all of one family. Will the time ever come when this family feeling shall unite the nations? THE WAR-SPIRIT.--How shall it be done away? Influence of battle-pictures and battle-stories on the young. Some of the principal studies in schools and colleges are histories of battles. Pictures of military commanders in almost every house. How does all this affect the coming of the time when swords shall be beaten into ploughshares? IMPORTANCE OF BRINGING GOOD INFLUENCES TO BEAR ON CHILDREN.--Obedience from children. How to secure it, and at the same time encourage in them a proper degree of self-reliance. Best ways of developing the good that is in children. Educating the heart as well as the head. Importance of physical health. When children, as they grow up, “go wrong,” who is responsible?