bright and sunny Australia we find a piano and a sewing machine, and yet either of these costs far more than an ice chest, and perhaps as much to keep in repair as the ice to fill it.  Looking at it from many points of view, it ought to be considered an indispensable article of furniture, and it has this great advantage over many “household gods,” that the first expense is the last; for it never gets out of order, and lasts a lifetime; and this cannot be said of many other pieces of furniture, which perhaps cost more and yet are not so useful.  In such a warm climate as this, where for six months in the year our one desire is to keep cool, it must certainly be worth while to secure a simple and inexpensive article which will help us to attain this object.  Looking at the matter from the Domestic Economy point of view, we shall certainly decide at once in favour of the purchase.  Housekeepers, both young and experienced, know how much food has to be thrown away because it will not keep sweet for even a few hours in the hot season.  All this waste is at an end if there is ice about, as it will keep perishable food cool and pleasant and ready for a second meal.  Many odds and ends of vegetables, fish, and meat can be turned into a dainty salad with the ice chest which must have been thrown away without it.  Thus the expense, not only of the ice, but also of the chest, is soon saved, to say nothing of the pleasure and enjoyment of the said salad, which one would so infinitely rather have had than the chops and steaks so universally served.  Delicious little breakfast dishes can be concocted over night from the remains of fish and meat served at tea and put down into the ice all night.  These are cooked in a few minutes in the morning, and form such a pleasant change to the standing dish of eggs and bacon; and how proud a good house-keeper will feel when her little dishes are enjoyed, and she knows that they have cost nothing!—­for the food would not have kept, and must therefore have been thrown away if she had not possessed an ice chest.  This is only one instance of what may be accomplished, but in the daily routine of work many more will be found.  Think, for a moment, of the state of the butter without ice on a hot day.  Who does not dread the sight of the liquid or greasy fat usually seen in the butter-dish, and what a remote chance there is of enjoying a slice of bread and butter with bread as hard and dry as a brickbat, and butter running to oil?  Put both into a refrigerator and note the difference.  Look at it, also, from the hygenic standpoint.  Most people, save the very strong and robust, lose their appetite during the hot season, and therefore feel languid and weak.  Give them dry bread and liquid butter, and they can’t touch a morsel; but with fresh bread, hard butter, and some dainty tit-bit, kept in the ice also, placed before them, a good meal is often enjoyed.  Again, in cases of illness ice becomes at once a necessity; and if it is at hand in the house and ready for use much time and trouble will be saved, and suffering too, as the poor invalid waits with what patience he can for the relief which is so often brought with ice.