112.  The signs of cleanliness are, in the first place, a clean skin.  An English girl will hardly let her lover see the stale dirt between her fingers, as I have many times seen it between those of French women, and even ladies, of all ages.  An English girl will have her face clean, to be sure, if there be soap and water within her reach; but, get a glance, just a glance, at her poll, if you have any doubt upon the subject; and, if you find there, or behind the ears, what the Yorkshire people call grime, the sooner you cease your visits the better.  I hope, now, that no young woman will be offended at this, and think me too severe on her sex.  I am only saying, I am only telling the women, that which all men think; and, it is a decided advantage to them to be fully informed of our thoughts on the subject.  If any one, who shall read this, find, upon self-examination, that she is defective in this respect, there is plenty of time for correcting the defect.

113.  In the dress you can, amongst rich people, find little whereon to form a judgment as to cleanliness, because they have not only the dress prepared for them, but put upon them into the bargain.  But, in the middle rank of life, the dress is a good criterion in two respects:  first, as to its colour; for, if the white be a sort of yellow, cleanly hands would have been at work to prevent that.  A white-yellow cravat, or shirt, on a man, speaks, at once, the character of his wife; and, be you assured, that she will not take with your dress pains which she has never taken with her own.  Then, the manner of putting on the dress is no bad foundation for judging.  If it be careless, slovenly, if it do not fit properly, no matter for its mean quality:  mean as it may be, it may be neatly and trimly put on; and, if it be not, take care of yourself; for, as you will soon find to your cost, a sloven in one thing is a sloven in all things.  The country-people judge greatly from the state of the covering of the ancles and, if that be not clean and tight, they conclude, that all out of sight is not what it ought to be.  Look at the shoes!  If they be trodden on one side, loose on the foot, or run down at the heel, it is a very bad sign; and, as to slip-shod, though at coming down in the morning and even before day-light, make up your mind to a rope, rather than to live with a slip-shod wife.

114.  Oh! how much do women lose by inattention to these matters!  Men, in general, say nothing about it to their wives; but they think about it; they envy their luckier neighbours; and in numerous cases, consequences the most serious arise from this apparently trifling cause.  Beauty is valuable; it is one of the ties, and a strong tie too; that, however, cannot last to old age; but, the charm of cleanliness never ends but with life itself.  I dismiss this part of my subject with a quotation from my ‘YEAR’S RESIDENCE IN AMERICA,’ containing words which I venture to recommend to every young woman to engrave on her heart:  ’The sweetest flowers, when they become putrid, stink the most; and a nasty woman is the nastiest thing in nature.’