Victor Hugo says that he who would know suffering should learn the sorrows of women. Let him say of ugly women, and he will touch the depth of bitterness. What tears the plain ones shed on silent pillows, shrinking even from the pale, beautiful moonshine that contrasts so fatally with their homeliness. They would give years of life to win one of beauty. This regret is natural, irresistible, and not to be forbidden. Better let the grief have its way till the busy period of life takes a woman’s thoughts off herself, and she forgets to care whether she is beautiful or not. Dam up the sluices of any sorrow, and it deepens and grows wider. Is this treating a peculiarly feminine regret over-tenderly? This is written in remembrance of a girl who thought herself so homely that she absolutely prayed that she might die and go to be perfect in heaven. More than one girl makes such a wish this night before small mirrors in cottage or mansion chambers, with no eye but her own to scan her hopeless features. Why doesn’t some one open a school of fine arts, literally _des beaux-arts_, and make a greater success than Worth, by improving wearers instead of costumes? Till that time comes, let us make the best of present resources, and consider these recipes, unearthed from an ancient book-shelf belonging to a maiden lady who was once, if tradition may be credited, a beauty of no mean order. There is one thing to console us, Kate: you and I will never have to cry for our lost beauty. Your hands are to be pitied, for soft, sensitive fingers are what a woman can least afford to lose. They are needed to nurse sick folks, and do quick sewing, and handle children with. So we are glad to learn something of this kind. To soften the hands, fill a wash-basin half full of fine white sand and soap-suds as hot as can be borne. Wash the hands in this five minutes at a time, brushing and rubbing them in the sand. The best is flint sand, or the white powdered quartz sold for filters. It may be used repeatedly by pouring the water away after each washing, and adding fresh to keep it from blowing about. Rinse in warm lather of fine soap, and after drying rub them in dry bran or corn meal. Dust them, and finish with rubbing cold cream well into the skin. This effectually removes the roughness caused by house-work, and should be used every day, first removing ink or vegetable stains with acid. Always rub the spot with cold cream or oil after using acid on the fingers. The cream supplies the place of the natural oil of the skin, which the acid removes with the stain.