HINTS.

1. Accomplishments are a great charm to society, and a very great assistance to it.

2. The two most indispensable qualities in social meetings are a thinking mind and a ready wit.

3. The most welcome guest in society will ever be the one to whose mind every thing is a suggestion, and whose words suggest something to everybody.

4. Be careful to offer a favor in such a manner as not to offend the delicacy of those whom you wish to serve.

5. The first mark of a well-bred person is a sensitive regard for the feelings of others.

6. In good society, an adherence to etiquette is a mark of respect. If any one be worth knowing, he is surely worth the trouble of approaching properly.

7. The act of "cutting" a person can only be justified by some strong instance of bad conduct. A cold bow, which discourages familiarity without offering insult, is the best mode to adopt.

8. A neglect of, or an adherence to, the forms of society in others towards yourself, is oftentimes the only way in which you are enabled to judge if your acquaintance be really considered desirable.

9. In short, harmony and peace are the rules of good society as of Christianity.

VI.- A LIFE OF ETIQUETTE.

N studying a work recently given to the public, entitled "Social Life of the Chinese,"* one cannot fail to be struck with the mass of forms and ceremonies with which their daily life is burdened. On looking closer into the subject, we see that this springs from the fact that their life has no deeper root than human law. Thus even the one commandment which the Chinese have ever observed, that of obedience to parents, instead of raising them, as obedience to God's commands, faithfully fulfilled, must ever do, has but served to rivet their chains by degenerating into idolatry. The beautiful courtesies, the sweet amenities, the gracious tendernesses, of the Christian home, are to them all unknown. We are scarcely aware, till we examine heathen institutions, how much we all owe to Christianity for even the lower forms of social and domestic enjoyment.

A life of etiquette, unless "rooted and grounded' on something higher, must ever be, as is clearly shown. here, oppressive and cruel; and only in some such study as this, do the full force and meaning of our blessed Lord's words come out: "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for my yoke is easy and my burden is light." We find, that, from the birth of a child to its sixteenth

* Harper & Brothers, New York,

year, the unfortunate little heathen is the victim of no less than thirteen distinct ceremonies of the most burdensome character. We note only four of these, which show the system:

1. Washing, the third day after birth, before the "mother," or goddess who presides over children, with appropriate ceremonies.

7. At four months, the second thank-offering to "mother" is made.

8. Child placed on chair at four months old. This curious and anomalous ceremony demands a word of explanation. At this age, the maternal grandmother presents the child with a kind of chair, painted red, together with a quantity of molasses candy. This soft candy is placed in the seat of the chair: the child is then seated upon it, and sticks to the chair for the time being. The object is said to be to teach it to sit up, and not require to be carried: whether the symbolism of teaching it thus early to stick to its duty through life be also intended, we are unable to say.

9. Anniversary of birth observed, with many ceremonies. The third thank-offering to "mother" then takes place. This thank-offering is continued on the birthday of children, every year, until they are sixteen.

There is much that is curious, and more that is saddening, in these ceremonies, as also in those connected with death, mourning, and burial, which occupy a large portion of the volume; but the limits of this article forbid any

more extended notice. We must refer our readers for any further explanation to the work itself.

Its title, as we have said, is "Social Life of the Chinese;" but the term is scarcely an appropriate one, for such a thing can hardly be said to have an existence in the one-sided life of that nation.

Social enjoyment of every kind is there confined exclusively to men, women never joining in it in any way except at the time of their marriage. The ceremonies. incident to this time, although of the most elaborate character, are not here dwelt upon, because more familiar to most readers.

In taking a comprehensive view of the Chinese, as a people, it is impossible not to perceive that the cause which has ever prevented their advancement and improvement is the manner in which they have treated their women, without consideration, appreciation, or respect. Their crime in this matter has re-acted, as it must ever do, upon themselves; for man can never be rightly educated, or elevated in moral tone, where woman's influence is unknown.

It is worthy of note, that, whilst reams of paper have been filled with denunciations of the iniquities of the opium-trade, a few quires would suffice for all that has ever been said upon the subject of that far more deadly drug, that moral narcotic, whose stupefying influence has paralyzed the energies of the whole nation, the wrongs of woman among the Chinese.

We find many interesting facts also in another work, by the celebrated traveller, M. Huc, whose perfect knowledge of the language, and opportunities for observation of the manners and customs of the Chinese nation, entitle his opinions to much weight.

He only confirms all the previous accounts of other writers as to the condition of woman; showing that she is always the slave or victim of the man, never protected or even recognized by the law: if, by chance, allusion be made to her in any legal proceeding, it is merely to remind her of her inferiority, and that she is only in this world to obey and to suffer.

More than this, in all China, which may be termed a literary republic, where the highest honors come to men from literary distinction, can it be believed that women are not even taught to read? The girl is never educated in any manner.

M. Huc says, "Privations of every kind, and of every day; invectives; curses from time to time; also blows, these are her heritage, which she must endure with patience."

He mentions one scene, of which he was an eye-witness, where, on seeing a crowd assembled round a young woman, bruised and bleeding, he inquired the cause, and found her husband had beaten her for the simple reason that "people were laughing at him because he had never beaten his wife;" the elevated standard of morality amongst this people deeming a negligence on this point a forfeiture of marital dignity.