Household needs, family life, must constantly derange the order of well-appointed rooms—must get things out of their right and proper places, in fact—and it is just here that this art of picking up becomes indispensable. The neatest housekeepers do not always possess this art, and hence it is that the constant use of broom and duster cannot always satisfy the eye. The room or rooms may be shining with neatness, yet unless some member of the family has the art of picking up, they will fail of pleasing, if they do not absolutely pain the beholder.131 To a person who possesses this genius (for genius it seems to be, since it can neither be taught nor fully acquired), a littered apartment is a real misery. A book on a chair, a newspaper on the floor, the inkstand on the mantel-shelf, the match-box uncovered, are not trifles to such an one; they are discords whose adjustment becomes a necessity. Have you ever chanced to notice the magical difference that a picker-up of this sort can make in a few moments? The table-cover is straightened, the work is neatly folded, the footstool is placed beside the easy-chair, the shades are drawn evenly, the scissors and tape-measure are reposing in their basket, and the books and papers look at home in the book-case or on the table. Only a few touches, only a few moments, and yet what a difference! What a pity that every woman should not understand and practice this art! But it is to the invalid especially that the art of the picker-up becomes as soothing as it is necessary. The fire is brightened by the removal of the ashes, poker and tongs are symmetrically arranged, the bottles, powders, etc., are mustered in orderly array on the table, the various paraphernalia of the sick room are made as little obtrusive as possible, while a gentle hand straightens the rumpled bed-clothes or smoothes the tangled hair. And how much better and brighter the invalid feels for these simple ministrations, only those know who have lain restlessly tossing on a sick bed, or who have struggled through weary hours and days of convalescence. All praise, then, to the women who possess this most excellent art of picking up,—an art which lends a new charm to the most artistic home, while it brightens and beautifies the humblest.—N. Y. Christian Intelligencer.