knowledge of figures. Mr. Bright has said of boys, "Teach a boy
arithmetic thoroughly, and he is a made man." And why?--Because
it teaches him method, accuracy, value, proportions, relations.
But how many girls are taught arithmetic well?--Very few indeed.
And what is the consequence?--When the girl becomes a wife, if
she knows nothing of figures, and is innocent of addition and
multiplication, she can keep no record of income and expenditure,
and there will probably be a succession of mistakes committed
which may be prolific in domestic contention. The woman, not
being up to her business--that is, the management of her domestic
affairs in conformity with the simple principles of arithmetic--
will, through sheer ignorance, be apt to commit extravagances,
though unintentional, which may be most injurious to her family
peace and comfort.

Method, which is the soul of business, is also of essential
importance in the home. Work can only be got through by method.
Muddle flies before it, and hugger-mugger becomes a thing unknown.
Method demands punctuality, another eminently business quality.
The unpunctual woman, like the unpunctual man, occasions dislike,
because she consumes and wastes time, and provokes the reflection
that we are not of sufficient importance to make her more prompt.
To the business man, time is money; but to the business woman,
method is more--it is peace, comfort, and domestic prosperity.

Prudence is another important business quality in women, as in
men. Prudence is practical wisdom, and comes of the cultivated
judgment. It has reference in all things to fitness, to
propriety; judging wisely of the right thing to be done, and
the right way of doing it. It calculates the means, order,