tions of Mrs. Aphra Behn, after a progressive development of two hundred years is now apparently culminating in the magnificent achievements of George Eliot,—a writer so extraordinary that she sits alone, while there is only one, perchance unattainable, height to which any future woman may ever soar above her.
But if American girls are trying sculpture, no woman of us all, I believe, has attempted architecture, which is strange; for little girls often find the greatest amusement in making ground-plans on the slate, and ladies frequently suggest the whole idea of their houses to the architect, and sometimes complain bitterly of the mistakes of the builders in carrying it out. So, whether they would ever aspire to cathedrals or not, I am sure women would succeed in planning the loveliest and completest of homes. Houses without any kitchens and "backyards" in them! How fascinating! Think how much more beautiful city architecture will now be! The houses, instead of being built round a square, could be set in the middle of it, with only an alleyway for ventilation, and grasses, trees, and flowers all about the outside. Every tenth block would contain the kitchen and laundry and clothing-house; and for these domestic purposes the Oriental style could be adopted, of interior court-yards with fountains and grass, secluded from the street. Should not this also be the plan for all the public-school buildings?
Horticulture.
With their unlimited passion for flowers, and their universal success in cultivating them, why is it that women never have any floral societies? How ugly our streets and roadsides are, too, without a hundredth part of the trees that ought to be planted there! and alas, how expensive fruit is! It is said that the English ladies are many of them great florists and botanists, and also practical farmers, so that they understand thoroughly the management of their estates and gardens. Should co-operative housekeeping have that effect upon farming which I have before indi-
