linen must be shrunk before the collars and cuffs are made, or allowance must be made for shrinkage in the first wash. If the linen is to be made into a shirt-waist it will be found almost useless to make it without first shrinking the material. If the linen is first shrunk, there is little fear of the Hardanger losing its shape, but if not wet until after it is finished, there will be a tendency to draw, and it will not look well. THE SHOULDER-STRAP FOR A SHIRT- WAIST SUIT. handing is done in white, and the cross-bars are woven in scarlet, pale blue, pale lemon, or lavender, the sets can be made to match wash dresses, or make a pretty relief for dresses of heavier material. In making Hardanger or lace sets of any kind it is always well to begin with the collar. Then if the pattern does not turn out satisfactorily and the maker does not wish to continue with the cuff, there is at least one useful piece finished, whereas, if the cuff or shoulder-strap is first begun and is not found satisfactory, several other pieces have to be made in order to get any use out of the first pieces executed. one. While linen étamine is very serviceable and used perhaps more than any other material for shirt-waists, shirt-waist suits, and collars and cuffs, it is by no means the only There is a large variety of linens and linen canvases in white and colors, that can be made into Hardanger lace. Any of the coarse pink, blue, green, violet, or yellow linens that are so fashionable this summer may be used with good effect. A green, pink, blue, or yellow worked in either black or white is most effective. An exquisite violet linen overhanded in silk floss of the same color, and worked with bars of lavender floss, was the production of one of New York's fashionable dressmakers. uses of Hardanger are now on the market, and among them are some beautiful suggestions for household linen, for which this lace seems particularly adaptable. Most serviceable little finger-bowl doilies, centrepieces, edges of pillow-slips, buffet-scarfs, and platemats can all be made in this lace. And there is such a wealth of materials from which to choose! The work is not trying to good eyes, and even if one cannot attempt the smaller and more delicate varieties and designs there are big and effective ones used for curtains and bedspreads which are possible even to One most important point is that either the weak eyes. N OW that the play-time of the year is here and all who can are entertaining or visiting, a word to girls on the respective duties of hostess and guest may not be amiss. Let us imagine, then, that we are talking to a girl who is either fortunate enough to live in the country or lucky enough to have a summer home. This girl is allowed by indulgent parents to have a house party and to choose her own guests. Now in this very choosing lies perhaps the secret of a great success in her party or a disappointment to all concerned. She begins with her dearest friend-" Of course I must have her!"-then comes the next in her affections, and our girl does not always stop to reflect whether these two will like each other. If she is wise she will be careful to invite together only those who she knows will prove congenial to each other. This point being settled, the next important step is to invite the guests for a definite period. In other days of unbounded hospitality we Americans were shocked at the idea of setting a limit to a visit, but now we see the excellent sense of the English custom in that regard. Our girl writes her friends, "We shall be so pleased to have you with us for the week beginning the 10th." Before her guests arrive the hostess will naturally make some plans for their entertainment, but if she is wise she will leave some free time to do the impromptu things that suggest themselves and which are often pleasanter than prearranged festivities. Let our girl remember not to be too anxious a hostess. Men especially much dislike to be too much entertained in hot weather. Some people who had a beautiful house at a convenient distance from a large city complained of the difficulty of securing young men for their house parties. "Too hard work," explained one of the delinquents to the writer. "From the moment you get there until you leave you are on the go. Not an instant to loaf." Thus much for our hostess. Now for our guest. When a girl is asked to a country house on a visit she should either accept the invitation as given or decline altogether. She cannot, for instance, say, "I am sorry not to come to you on the 12th, but I could come for a week from the 15th." In such a case let her decline, giving her reason, and her hostess can ask her for a later date if convenient to do so. Having once written and stated day and hour for arriving, our guest should never change unless it is imperatively necessary to do so. Many country houses are at some distance from railroad stations, and even where horses are kept the burden of meeting trains is considerable and should not be added to. It would seem superfluous to remind our girl guest that one of her first duties is punctuality, but, alas! too many seem to need this hint. Be on time not only for meals, but for any trips or drives that are planned. We have warned our hostess not to be too anxious, and now we entreat our guest not to be too exacting. Let 3 her remember that her hosts have their own affairs to attend to, and make a point of taking care of herself a part of each day. Avoid as far as possible giving undue trouble and work to the servants of the household. Where any one maid has rendered any especial service give her a fee on leaving; the amount will vary with the service given and the length of the visit, but in most cases a dollar will be ample. But it is a sad fact that not all the world is holiday - making in these long summer days, and the "left-outs" sometimes feel it an additional aggravation that they are so ignored in all that is said and written. Some years ago one of the best-known illustrated papers had a couple of cartoons intended as consolation to the girl left in town. The first was called "Girls at the Shore" and showed a beach on which sat a very young, very insignificant boy with some dozen girls grouped around him, evidently vying with each other for his attention. The second, called "The Girl in Town," showed the steps of a house. On the top one a girl is seated, the others being filled with young men evidently glad to have one social centre left. I would like also to console stay-at-home girls, but from a rather different standpoint. If you make up your mind to get all there is to be had out of a summer in town, you will not find it such a trying experience, after all. In the house you will find it a most excellent time to finish some of the fancy work begun in the winter and laid aside for lack of time. Now is also a good opportunity to read the many books which have been on your list for months. If you are musical this is your chance for resuming your practising and adding to your repertoire for the coming winter. Outside there are many interesting fields calling for intelligent workers. There is the flower mission which needs many helpers. There are the vacation schools where volunteer teachers are cordially welcomed. In the larger cities there is also the vast realm of settlement work which must go on regardless of rising temperature. Interest in some one of these movements will prove a good panacea for the envy of other girls away holiday-making, and the feeling that you are able to help others to a little summer brightness will shorten the long days for you. A new feature at a Fourth-of-July party is the game of patriotic quotations. Each guest is asked to bring a well-known saying of some famous American -such, for instance, as, "Give me liberty or give me death," of Patrick Henry. These quotations are read aloud to the company and each guest writes down the author as he thinks him to be. The person who guesses the greatest number correctly receives a prize. For a girl who likes knitting there is no more useful summer fancy work than to knit herself a golf jacket. When the cool days of autumn come the industrious maiden will rejoice in the results of her summer labors. These jackets may be made in any color or combination of colors. A very useful jacket is a gray with black belt, cuffs, and collar. All-white looks well on a slight figure and cleans perfectly. A very striking effect is a white jacket with scarlet belt, cuffs, collar, and gilt buttons. A perfect blonde who knit and wore a jacket of the brightest apple green could stand it; it was really becoming, but it is not a color to be generally recommended. Here is a rule for knitting a jacket which has been most fully tested, with excellent results. On rather small steel needles cast eighty-four stitches. Knit as deep as you wish your belt to be rib-stitch—that is, knit two, pearl two, knit two, pearl two, etc. When your belt is about two inches deep (more, if you like) change your stitches on to medium-sized wooden needles. The stitch used for the jacket seems to have various names. One expert says 66 tentstitch"; another, "cable-stitch"; while a third calls it the "old-fashioned Brioche." However, it is a very easy stitch to knit, by whatever name it may be known. Put your yarn forward as if to pearl, slip off your first stitch, put your yarn back over the needle, and knit two stitches together; then your yarn forward again as if to pearl, slip the stitch, put yarn back over the needle, knit two together. So repeat to the end of the needle and back the same way. When you have knit a long enough piece for your back, you divide your back into three parts. Bind off the middle part and run a ribbon or piece of string through the stitches on one side. You are now going to knit one front. To the stitches you have left on your needles add enough to make the number seventy-two. Add these on the inner side. Knit the required length for a front. Change to the steel needles and knit a belt to match that of the back. Pick up the stitches through which you have run a string, add the requisite number, and knit just like the other side. For the sleeves sixty-six stitches will be found ample. Begin on the wooden needles and knit on cuffs just like the belt. Be careful not to get your sleeves too long, the knitting stretches so much. For the collar take up the stitches around the neck on the steel needles and knit to any height you like. A pound of knitting-yarn will be sufficient for the body of the jacket, and two hanks for the belt, cuffs, and collar. This rule makes a jacket thirty-six inches bust measure size. If smaller is desired, reduce the number of stitches, but remember the number must be always divisible by three to make your knitting-stitch come out right. This is the time to have a word with girls on the subject of their complexions. Of course objections will be raised to all one can say. One will be told, "It is the fashion to be brown and burned and to go without hats." Knowing all that, one also knows that this same fashion for brown and roughened skins is a passing fad, and that when it goes many girls will be left lamenting the pink and white they have lost, the freckles they have acquired, and the lines about the eyes which come from being without the protection of a hat brim. Girls are not asked to go to any extreme in this matter, or to shut out light and air with thick veils. All the writer urges is that a large, shady hat should be worn, and reasonable care should be taken of the skin after unusual exposure to sun or wind. After sailing or driving all day and coming home with your face burning, wash it first in as hot water as you can stand. Never wash sunburnt skin with cold water. The hot water will relieve the inflammation at once. Then sponge the face with a simple wash of benzoin, lavender-water, and rain water. The proportions are one of tincture of benzoin, two of lavender-water, and three of rain or any soft water. Mix in a bottle and keep ready for use. This is a very old remedy, dating back to the days of Queen Elizabeth, and from its white color was called "virgin's milk." This will remove mild sunburn, but for the severer cases there is nothing as good as sour cream. It is not an agreeable remedy, but it is efficacious and perfectly safe. By using these very easy precautions a girl should find herself at the end of the season with a face brown, perhaps, but smooth and soft. You may not realize it, but in a few years you will greatly regret lack of care now and spend much time and money trying to get back that which cannot be retrieved. F The Cold Dinner OR the first time in culinary history the cold dinner is fashionable. Heretofore it has been synonymous with discomfort; now it stands for all that is most appetizing and delicious for a hot summer's meal. There is scarcely a meat which is not better cold than hot; fish is infinitely more toothsome when thoroughly chilled, while salads and ices are only the fitting thing to complete the bill of fare. As to soup, this offers a difference of opinion, but the woman who doubts may dispense altogether with this dish and substitute something she approves with more enthusiasm; still, a cold soup of just the right consistency and flavor is something too good to decline. If possible, serve the cold dinner on veranda shaded from the street or lawn by climbing vines, or rows of potted plants set on the railing; but if the conditions of the house render these adjuncts impossible, then use the dining-room, but see that it is as cool as possible. If the day is extremely hot, put some washtubs with blocks of ice, or better, ice and salt, about the room, and close the doors after a earth and shaken free of soil tucked in the crevices and about the edge of the platter, give a delightfully cool effect. The lights should be white candles with white shades. The china is better all white or white and gold rather than anything of the decorated variety. Use glass dishes for the bonbonshave these white also-and for the nuts. Do not put any olives on the table at all, but pass them. Lay the covers farther apart than usual, and do not have many knives and forks displayed, but bring them on as they are needed. All these trivial details help to give the impression of coolness to the table. A The first menu suggested begins with a fruit soup, such as one sees in Europe, and one of the few which are really good. course of fruit may be substituted for it if one prefers: ICE-CREAM IN A MELON. the table is ready. This will lower the temperature immediately. Of course all the food may be prepared in advance of the dinner hour, so that no heat from the kitchen will affect the dining-room as on an ordinary occasion-one of the many advantages of having a cold meal, by the way. As to decorations, use delicate green ferns, or if you feel that you must have flowers, choose small white ones to mingle with the green. Large pieces of ice piled irregularly on a platter covered with absorbent cotton, with small growing ferns taken from the Cherry soup; brown bread sandwiches. Brook trout with mayonnaise; cucumbers. Asparagus. Cold boned chicken; currant jelly; toma toes. Cheese and pimento Iced coffee. The recipe for the soup is this: stone and mash one pint of cherries, reserving a few whole, two or three, for each plate; add a pint of water, the juice and grated rind of one lemon, cinnamon and sugar to taste, and four tablespoonfuls of claret; simmer half an hour. This soup is also made with large California plums and is equally good, and one peeled plum, halved, is put in each plate. If one wishes soup, but something more conventional, substitute for this the bouillon given in another menu. All fish which is to be used cold must be gently boiled, never broiled nor fried, with the exception of soft |