LADIES' DEPARTMENT. Fahlou Nolr*. lilack lace bonnets are revived. All sluulcs of gray are faahionalile. There is an attempt to revive laecil boots. Oheekeil wool suits never go entirely out of vogue. New parasols are shown in all the new shades of ombre satin de Lyon. Gold, steel and silver rival jet and colored bond embroideries this spring. Dolman visito shoulder capes, fichus • and mantles are worn for street wraps. Plain skirt and plain corsage dresses of dark satine have smock overdresses of figured satins. Steel thread embroidery on Hteel grav costumes is n feature in spring fashions. Soft, light, fine woolen stuffs are more used for summer toilets of cere mony than silk or satin de I.yon. There is so much shirring on dresses of all kinds that it takes an immense ipiantitv of material to make a suit. Bandeaux of gold, steel, jet, silver, and plain and brocaded narrow ribbons are worn on the train for full dress. Bound waists with surplice fronts confined under a broad belt will be very fashionable for wash goods dresses. Cloth of gold in gold-colored silk wrap, with woof of gold, forms an im portant item in the trimming of dressy costumes. Sticks of parasols are most fashion able of wood in the natural state, with the bark on, but the knots cut off, show ing the white wood in spots. Some ol the new panto Is are of gold, silver and steel brocade, with cream white linings and both metallic fringe and Spanish lace around the edges. The beauty of sprays and single flowers and boarders of eglantine on muslin and lawn robe dresses has been appreciated by artists in dress materials for this season. At a late fashionable wedding in high life, in London, the bride wore a dress of white-stamped velvet, while tlio bridemaids* dresses were of vigogne, , trimmed with block lace. Plain satine skirts have overdresses of figured and flowered ratine with grounds of the shade and color of the skirt. The trimmings of such drosses are of figured, the pipings and cordings of plain, satine. The richest colors and effects are obtained in new fabrics by the intro duction of gold, steel and silver in combination with stripes and blocks of satin, velvet and plush gauze, of maroon, old gold, bine, dark green and dork bine; also with pale tints of color , and cream and jearl white. New linen collars are straight lands, like those worn by clergymen, but are made to lap in front, finished with n curve, and fastened by a gold bntton. Block silk grenadines, in narrow satin strijies and blocks or checks, similar to the seaside grenadines, have come ont in small quantities; but these cannot be accepted as finality in the way of variety of these manufactures. The newest fichus are no longer sim piy folded neckerchiefs, but are very claltorate, having a box-plaited standing ruff, with revcrs down the front. The revers are notched in directoire style, and edged with two gathered rows of lace. \Vomna* Work. "Woman's work is never done," says the old saw. Tradition has marked out the routine of her daily duties some what after this fashion: Monday's work is to wash, space ; Tuesday's work is to iron, with grace; Wednesday's work is to take and sew, Thursday's work is to clean -for show ; Friday's work is to sweep, dust and brush ; Saturday's work is to rook- with a rnah ; The next then comes is the Habliath day. And then site's too tired to rest or to pray. A It st si Wedding In Ceriwaar. At a royal wedding in Germany it is reported to lie customary for the mis tress of ceremonies to cut up one of the bride's garters into small pieces, wlurh are distributed to those who have taken part in the festivities of the day. As a large number are entitled to those frag merits of this order of the garter, it is not qnite clear how one garter or even a pair of garters conhl supply the de mand. At Prince William's recent marriage the difficulty was met by using many yards of ribbon instead of the bride's garter. Nnlarwi In Women. A woman may be handsome or remarkably attractive in various ways; but if she is not personally neat, she cannot hope to win admiration. Fine clothes will not conceal the slattern. A young woman with her hair always in disorder and her clothes hanging about her as if suspended from a prop, is al * ways repulsive. Blattern is written on her person from the crown of her head to the soles of her feet, snd if she wins a husband, he will tarn out, in all probability, either an idle fool or a drunken ruffian. The bringing np of daughters to be able to work, talk and act like honest, sensible young women, is the special task of all mothers, and in the industrial ranks there is imposed also the prime obligation of learning to respect household work for its own sake, ami the comfort and happiness it will bring in the future. Housework is drudgery; but it must be done by some body, and hail better bo well than ill done. The Colored Huruh Coolumra. The new sntin surah costumes are of single color, with ombre or shaded tones of that color for its accessories, or else they are combined with contrasting stripes or Madras plaids of the same material. A dark garnet satin surah dress has the shirred sleeves and the shirred and puffed trimming around the skirt shaded front the palest to the darkest ganiet. The shirred sleeves have an armor-like puff, with a cuff of velvet below. White d'Aurillae lice is laid plainly—without gathers—along the edge of the deep basque, which opens over a shirred ombre front. An other very dark red surah lias the finely plaited skirt made of plaid surah show ing gold, brown and red shades. The plain surah overskirt falls to the foot of the skirt in a point on the right side, and is caught quite up to the belt on the left. The back is a curved drapery of many folds, formed of two narrow breadths of the surali. The over, skirt is not bordered, but has its edges turned under and sewed securely to the plaited lower skirt. The round liasijue of plain surah has its middle forms finished with three tiers of box plaits,while tho front hns the gray plaid laid in ten fine folds straight down like a vest in front until it comes to the waist line, where it is shirred, and lias two bows of red satin ribbon tied across it. Home of the most stylish surah dresses have lor the overskirt a single breadth of striped surah, put on like a mammoth sash around the hips, and draped in a loop behind. The stripes thus run around the figure, and there are bayadere-striped tlonncesat the foot. For such a dress a novel fancy is to shirr the entire skirt around front top to bottom. This is shown in a dress of the stylish combination of ashes of roses plain stirah with tho striped overskirt of dark green, with lines of red, pole green, ash-color and light blue. A similar dress of condor brown surah has the gnv sash tied in a great bow behind in old-fashioned way, and i* accompanied by a straight neck ribbon of the strijies for the only trimming on tho waist.— //'fryer's Ihuar. Works Written in Haste. In one year Drydon produced fonr of his greatest works: " Absalom and Aclii tophel," "The Medal," " The Ileligio Laiei" and " Mac Flecknoe." He was only six months in writing "The Hind and Panther," three years in translating the whole of " Virgil," and twelve morn ings in comjiosing his" Parallel Be. tween Poetry and Painting.*' Tho orig inal draught of "Alexander's Feast" was struck off at a single sitting. I>r. John son's" Basse las" was written in n week to defray the exjwnses of his mother's funeral. Sir Walter Hcott's rapidity is one of the marvels of literature; he wrote literally as fast as the ]>en could move, and when lie dictated his aman uensis could hardly keep pace with him. The original mannseripts of the Wavorly novels may still be seen; they are frequently for many pages unde formed by a single blot or erasure. Beekford's " Vathek" was completed by the nnhroken exertion of three whole days and three whole nights, the author supporting himself during his unnatural vigil by copious draughts of wine, and what adds to tho wonder is that the work was written in French. Mrs. Browning's " Lady Gerabline's Court ship," a poem of great length in a |iecu liarlv difficult meter, was completed in twelve honrs, while the printer was wait ing to pnt it into type. Hteele and Fielding wrote many of their essays while the press was waiting. Johnson, like Giblton, wrote at first with lalior, but afterward found that, with practice, a stately and highly finished stylo came as naturally as ordi nary expression comes to ordinary peo ple. We learn, for example, that some of the best jiapers in the "Itambler" were penned as easily as a letter—that forty-eight octavo pagos sf the " Life of Havage," a singnlarly polished work, were completed at a sitting, and that the •' Lives of tho Poets" cost hint no more trouble than a slipshod article costs a professional journalist. But Johnson was, we may add, indefatigable in revising. Ben Jonson tells us that he wrote "The Alchymist" in six weeks; Fenelon that "Telemaqno" was produced in three months, and Brough am that his Edinhurg Rerimr articles averaged a few honrs. But the most portentous example of literary fecundity on record is, lieyond question, to lie found in tho person of Lope de Vega. He thought nothing cf writiug a play in a couple of days, a light farce in an hour or two, and in the course of his life he furnished the stage of Hpain with upward of 'A,OOO original dramas. Hallara calculates that this extraordi nary man was the author of at least 21,300,000 lines. Ttmpie Bur. While at a ball in Fond dn Lac, Wis., Mr*. G. M. Bowen, after dancing a few times, complained of a |>ain in her head, sat down and immediately expired. llow the Ancients Spent Money. Tacitus informs us that Nero, the Ro man cmj)oror, gave away in present* to his friends $97,000,000. The dresses of Lollia Paulina, tho rival of Agrippina, were valued at 91,004,180. This did not inelude her jewels. Hlio wore at one suppersl,s(l2,soo worth of jewels, and it was a plain citizens' Htip|>er. Hlie was worth altogether 8200,000,000. Tho luxury of Pappic, beloved by Noro, was at least equal to that of Lollia. I'ullas, the lover of Aggrippina, left an estate in lands valued at 916,000,000. M, Hoaurus bad a villa worth 015,000,000, and this was only a smnll part of his immense fortune. Tho villa was burned by his slaves out of revenge for some injury. The sums paid by tho old Greeks and Romans for works of art make tho pres ent price appear somewhat shabby. Nieias, an artist, refused to sell one of bis pictures to King Attalus for 875,000, choosing rather to present it to his country as a gift. Nieias was a million aire. For a single figure by Aristides, King Attains gave 8125,000. Muason, the tyrant of Flatus, paid 820,(MM! for a small picture by Aristides, representing a battle of tho Persians. Ciesar was a generous patron of art. Ho bought of Timomaehns, n painter of Athens, two figures, one represents Ajax and the other Medea, for which ho paid 8100,000. Ajs'lles received 820,000 for a por trait of Alexander, which he painted on the walls of the tcniplo Diana, at Eplie sus. Ptolemy paid Aratus 8200,000 for some old pictures by Mclantbns and Parnphilu*. M. Agrippa paid to the jM-ople of Cyzicus 850,000 for two small paintings, and it was he who built and bequeathed to his countrymen the mag nificent Thermic in the Campus Mar tins, witli their gardens, libraries and porticos--one portion of which, tke Pantheon, still remains. Lucius Mum mius got a picture in Greece, represent ing Father Bacchus, which King Attalus valued at 8250,000, but Mummies said that tho price was too small, and re fused to sell. The picture of" Venus Anadyomene," by Apelles, was sold for 8125,000. Irocmte* received 820,000 for one ora tion. Virgil, for his lines on Marcellus, was rewarded by a gift of atsint 810, (HHI. For a single dish of pottery the tragic actor of .Ksophu* |>aid 84,500. The Enqieror Vitcilin* ordered a dish to 1m; mode for him lor which a furnace was erected in the fields outside the city, for 815,(5K1. The colossal statue of Mer cury, mode for the city of the Averni, in Gaul, byZenodorus, cost 81.675,000. Nero ]>aiiaounds with monkeys, tigers, deer and buffaloes (of the latter he |>asse.l a herd numbering over 10,000 bead within a quarter of a mile), while it is a well-known fact that Australia and tho whole of tho Poly nesian islands are almost solely in habited by qnndrnpeds of the marsupial tnlie. He is fortunate enough to kill a serpent measuring forty feet in length, and he startles na'nralists by the de scription of a butterfly measuring one foot with spread wings, and of an elm like tree which reached the respectable height of .'137 feet, having a circum ference of eighty-five feet. On a big tree a traveler counted over 1,000 birds' nests, tbe whole group of tree* contain ing not Ires than 20,000; and, to per petuate his name, he discovers and do oerilies a new specie* of ducks, although we should consider it rather a pre carious undertaking, even for ornithol ogists, to classify on the spot any new Sjieeies of birds without having the means of referring to cognate forms. But the most marvelous feat performed by Captain Ieks —have for hundreds of years lived quiet, peaceful lives, undisturbed by tho con flicts of nations about them, but grow ing in wealth and culture, if not in power. With this introduction,wo quote from tho letters of two American bicyclers who are now there: It was a Ix-autiful September morn ing when our little steamlioat ran into the harlior of Tumwahs, tho princi|>al city of Eutoepoer, and we gazed upon a scene to make a wheelman shout. The wharves swarmed with bicyclers, dash ing to and fro, or what mystified us greatly, sitting still on their wheels as easily as one would sit on lionu back, watching our movement* or chatting with each other. We had formed a high ideaof the Owen-like skill of these people, when we discovered that from the handle-lars hung a small steel rod, on which the wheel leaned firm as a tripod. When the rider starts off, the rod telescopes up until only s foot or SD in length, and it is then pushed into the hollow handle-bar. These attach ment* are universally used. As we nesred the wharf, several fellows in scarlet uniforms wheeled up to tbe edge, and in a moment bags were thrown from our l>oat, which were canght by men on the wharf, who threw two over the shoulders of each scarlet-coated rider, who then shot nway through the crowd at a rattling pace—only there was nothing to rattle. These, we were told, wore mail rarriers, who would have the mails at the central postoflico before tho boat was fairly secured to the pier. Almost tbe entire business of tho postofllce department is done on bicy cles. Letters aro gathered from the street boxes by men on the wheel, and bicyrlo postmen distribute the mails into boxes placed in front of each pri vate or business house at the edge of the sidewalk. Tho dexterity of these carriers is remarkable. Tbe letters are arranged in their projer order in frames carried upon the handle-bar, and the ]>ostmen ride along near the curtstone, thrusting them into the boxes without stopping at all. All postal bicyclers wear scarlet—a color forbidden by law to any others—and they have always the " right of way." As wo landed, we were besieged by men with bicyclos, who shouted : "Bi cycle to the hotel!" " Have a wheel?" "Fifty-two-inch nice wheel y'or, sir," etc., and most of the jswsongeis rod off on their machines, which would bo called for by their owners later. The doctor took his Harvard, and I my Columbia, and mounting on the wharf, which was as smooth as a floor, we took our first ride in Entoepeer. Hucliroads! Chestnut llill Reservoir road is cobble-stone to them! And such riders! Men, women and children dash about on bicycles, as much at home, apparently, as if sitting in s chair. The ladies and ladies tbev are, too! —ride in modest costumes of the bloomer style, tho full pantaloons gathered lie low the knee; and a Entoepeercan lady would not dream of any impropriety in displaying the limbs below the knee, either ou tho bicycle or on tbe promen ade. But you should see the children ride I Little tots, from five years upward, dash around, not on the three-wheeled things common to city sidewalks, but on regu lar bicycles, with twenty-five inch wheels, and from that all slue up to seventy-two inches are seen. There is as much variety in styles as in sices; and as evervludy rides, from the laboring man to aud from his wnrk, to the king himself, for pleasure, yon can imagine that all grades of machines are represented. There is not a stone-paved street in Eutoepoer. Tiie row la ar in charge of roadmasters, each one of whom ia re sponsible for ten miles, and the finding of a looae atone in any one'a aoction ia punished l.y loaa of place, aud impris onincut for not leaa than thirty daya. l>oga ate not allowed to run looae in thia kingdom, but mnat bo led by a rojx) or chain not over three feet long. Horaoa are not allowed npon the Ixsst roads, ami aro aeblom used, except for cartage or for agricultural puranita. Upon telling a native—an officer of the Eutoepoerßicycle Union—tliat bicyclea were not allowed in many of the parka of America, because they might frighten horaoa, he aaid: " But how should horses be in parka ?" " Why, they drive in parka," we answered. He looked at ua incredulously, and ex claimed : " What! permit horaoa in parks where people go for safe pleasure! What recklessness! Why, the least thing, ihe sudden flight of a bird, a wind-blown loaf, may scare a horse, and endanger the lives of scores of women and children. Mercy ! what an idea to let horses into parks!" They have magnificent parks here, but no horse ia ever allowed inside the gates. Esquimaux Carpentry. The builder select* snowcf the proper consistency by sounding a drift with a cane made for the purpose of reindeer horn, straightened by steaming, and worked down to about half an inch in diameter, with a ferule of walrus tusk or the tooth of u 1 tear on the liottom. By thrusting this into the 'snow he can teil whether t e layers dejioaited by succes sive winds are separated by bands of soft snow, which would cause the blocks to break. When the snow is selected he digs a pit to the depth of eighteen inches or two feet, or about the length of the snow block. He then steps into the pit and proceeds to cut out the] blocks by first cutting down at the ends of the pit and then at the lxittom af terward, rutting a little channel about an inch or two deep, making the thick ness of the projKised block. Now conies the part that requires practice to ac complish successfully. The e\]s-rt will with a few thrusts of his knife in just the right places split off the snow block ami lift it carefully out to await reroovaj to its jsisition on the wall. The tyro will almost inevitably break tbe block into two or throe pieces, utterly unfit for the use of the builder. When two men are building an igloo one cuts the blocks and the other erect* the wall. When sufficient blocks have leen cut out to commence work with the builder marks with his eye, or perhaps draws a line with hi* knife, describing the cir cumference of the building, usually a cirrle alsjut ten or twelve feet in diame ter. The first row of blocks is then arranged, the blocks place! so as to in cline inward ami resting against each other at the ends, thus affording mutual support. When this row is completed tlip builder cuts away the first and sec ond blocks, slanting in from tlic ground upward, so that the second tier, resting upon the first row, can be continued on and around spirally, ami by gradually increasing the inward slant a perfect dome is constructed of stieli strength that the builder can lie flat upon the outside while chinking the interstices between the blocks. The chinking, is however, usually done by women and children as the hnilding progresses, ano*ed that he had vegetables to sell, ha was referred to the tent of the gentle man in question. This he invaded, sidled np to the fsvufiant, slajqxsl him conviviallv on the shonldnr and mid: "1 on IxMtsee here? Ilnlly! Shake hand And. having paid his rcwpocte in this informal manner, bo acemed to lrave no further communication to make, bnt lwgan an in*)>ertion if our camp -1 furnitnre, which task promised to occupy him the rest of the day. Think ing to entertain our liigh lxim guewt, our musical-man sang lum the. song be ginning- and, it is to be hoped, ending also—with the following linos: l*r< tt> little Chinawoman '■ k * little cta>w— chow, Ijvi l*jili'a littlf hill, in a little hrman; Taki a little piwy-twt arsl a little Utw-wnw, 'Vk 'em in a little littlf with a little mouse. " What do you think of that, John?* " lh-ap crazy man !" wa* the disdata fnl and laconic rebuke with which tba heathen crushed onr minstrel. These men are ecrlainly of the lowest and most ignorant grade at home, and yet there are few laundry workers of other listlonaliti<* who can ltandie the pen as eaailv as they wield the brush. Take your week's linen to one of them houses, and immediately one of the in mates seats himself at a desk, dips ths brush into the moistened snrfacm of • cake of ink, and with many a dash artistic stroke, every one of whom curves is a line of lmantv, he makm out a memorandum of the articles con signed to his care. These washing lists. looking so like the labels on onr pseksges of firecrackers, are greatly in demand, and are carried away as amw nirs of travel in Chinatown. Absent fathers send them homo to their chil dren; humorous students on summer vacation consign them to their old pro fessors, calling them lost manuscripts of great archioologicsl worth; and om there was an injudicious lover who sent one home to his sweetheart. It wa* in this way. He wa* a practical joker, and, having one of tbeae laundry document* in his possession, be thought he would hsve some fun. 80 be sprink led the delicate paper with isi at essences and addressed it to bia Iwarfk own. With it he dispatched a letter, is which he said that the inclosed was a Chinese madrigal, written at his ■ Ration expressly for her by one of thai greatest of China's poets, and further, that it was to tie read to slow music from the gentle tomtom with an occasional ]a**ionato outburst from the gong. The lady, devoured with anxiety to leara the sweet words of this mvwtical maag% forwarded it to a translator who returned answer, couched in all the cold pre cision cf business, that the writing em> titled that this gentleman, the practical joker, had deposited with Mr. Wash Lo, washerman, one shirt, two coOaf% one pair of hose, ct ah, and that the same were to be duly cleaned, irnaad and ready for return on such e day. It ia said that the lady's reply to this prac tical joker wa* read without the assist ance of a translator, and the tune fee which he read it was a dirge over a teat love. This fable teaohes u that Bis well to reserve one's practical jokes ua one's sweetheart til) after the woddaqt day.— lAppintvtf* Magamm*, r ' v Jl ..vi&£,. i-i. 'lititiii.-. . s-i