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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/18293-8.txt b/18293-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..af4801a --- /dev/null +++ b/18293-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2917 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. VIII, No. 354, +October 9, 1886, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. VIII, No. 354, October 9, 1886 + +Author: Various + +Editor: Charles Peters + +Release Date: May 1, 2006 [EBook #18293] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GIRL'S OWN PAPER, VOL. *** + + + + +Produced by Susan Skinner and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + +THE GIRL'S OWN PAPER + +VOL. VIII.--NO. 354. + +OCTOBER 9, 1886. + +PRICE ONE PENNY. + + + + +CALLED AWAY. + + +[Illustration: "AND CLUNG TO HER NECK WITH A SMOTHERED CRY."] + + In the heart of the heartless town, where hunger and death are rife; + Where gold and greed, and trouble and need, make up the sum of life-- + A woman lives with her only child, + And toils 'mid the weary strife. + + No end to the tiring toil to earn a wage so small; + No end to the ceaseless care--ah! the misery of it all! + While the strongest snatch the hard-earned crust, + The weakest the crumbs that fall. + + Oh, look at the pallid face as it bends o'er the dreary work; + The stitch, and stitch, and stitch that she knows she dare not shirk! + Her strength is ebbing away so fast + That she scarcely feels it go. + + Oh, list to the weary sigh--a whole tale in one breath-- + A widowed life, and a mother's love, and the fear of an early death. + While there at her feet a pale boy sits, + And weeps for his mother's woe. + + * * * * * + + She has called to her boy in the night; he has nestled beside her bed, + And clung to her neck with a smothered cry and a feeling of sudden dread. + And thus they lie, till the mother strives + To speak with her tears unshed. + + And then she tells him--so sweet and low, it sounds like a fairy tale-- + How Jesus has sent His angels down to fetch her; that He won't fail + To send His angel to watch o'er him + When love can no more avail. + + * * * * * + + But still she holds him so gently firm, so close to her lifeless breast; + She speaks no more, he weeps no more, for God knows what is best. + He has taken both from a world of pain + To endless peace and rest. + + E. A. V. + +[Illustration] + + + + +THE SHEPHERD'S FAIRY. + +A PASTORALE. + +BY DARLEY DALE, Author of "Fair Katherine," etc. + + +CHAPTER II. + +Up the old oak staircase three or four stairs at a time sprang the +baron; then he walked quickly with beating heart down the long corridor +to the west wing, where the nursery was, and pausing at the top of a +spiral staircase which led to the side door he intended to go out by, he +shouted impatiently to the housemaid who was left in charge of the baby. + +"Marie! Marie! _Vite, vite._ Where is Monsieur Léon's malacca cane? It +was in my dressing-room this morning. Fetch it directly." + +The girl came running to do her master's bidding, and no sooner had the +white streamers of her cap disappeared down the corridor than the baron +darted into the nursery. A lamp was burning on a table at one end of the +room, and at the other, carefully guarded from any draught by a +folding-screen, stood a swinging-cradle, on pedestals of silver. The +framework, the baron knew, was an old family relic, but the cradle +itself was a new and wonderful creation of white swansdown and blue +satin, lined with lace and trimmed with pale blue ribbons. In this mass +of satin and lace lay the baron's tiny daughter, fast asleep, her small +fingers grasping a lovely toy of pink coral with golden bells, which was +fastened round her waist with pale blue ribbon. For one moment the baron +hesitated. To tear the little creature from her luxurious home, and +trust her to the tender mercies of some rough sailors for a day or two, +and then leave her in the hands of strangers, who might or might not be +kind to her, seemed hard even to the baron, whose mind was warped by +jealousy; but then came the thought that all this luxury with which the +child was so extravagantly surrounded was bad for her; if Mathilde +persisted in pampering her in this way, she would grow up weak and +delicate. The life he had chosen for her was far more healthy; and if +she were inured to a harder life in her infancy, she was much more +likely to develop into a strong, healthy girl; and as he quieted his +conscience with these thoughts his hesitation vanished, and he stooped +to pick her up. + +But hark! there was a footstep. Was it Marie returning? What would she +think to find him in the nursery, into whose precincts he had never +before intruded, as the servants all knew well enough? No, it was a +false alarm, no one was coming; and seeing that now or never was the +time for him to carry out his plan, he picked up the baby, folded the +quilted satin coverlet and the fine cambric sheet round it, and covered +its face with a lace handkerchief that lay on the pillow; then, feeling +that the swansdown quilt might not be warm enough on board the yacht, he +glanced round the room, and seeing an Indian shawl which Mathilde often +wore lying on a rocking-chair, he wrapped his burden entirely up in +this, and then dreading every moment the child should cry and betray +him, he stole out of the nursery to the spiral staircase. Here he paused +for a moment to listen, but all he heard was Marie's voice far off +entreating another servant to come and help her to look for the cane, as +Monsieur le Baron was waiting for it. + +"Be quick, Marie, I can't wait much longer," shouted the baron, and +then, quick as thought, he dived down the spiral staircase, in his haste +nearly precipitating himself and his little daughter, who still slept +peacefully, to the bottom. + +To let himself out at the side door was the work of a moment; and now, +unless surprised by any of the servants who might be loitering about in +the shrubberies with their lovers, he was safe. He had only to run down +a winding path of about two hundred yards across the grounds to the gate +where Léon was awaiting him. Once the baron started like a robber at a +rustling in the bushes as he passed, but it was only a cat, and once +again he breathed freely, and in less than five minutes from the time he +entered the nursery he stood on the road by the side of the dogcart. + +"Is it you, Arnaut?" asked Léon, anxiously peering through the twilight +at his brother. + +"Yes, yes, it is all right; here it is," said the baron, holding the +bundle up to Léon. + +"How on earth am I to take it? Where is its head? Can't you nurse it +till we get to the yacht?" said Léon. + +"No; how should I drive with this thing in my arms? Here, give me the +reins, and take hold. This is its head. Thank you," said the baron, with +an immense sigh of relief as he handed the baby to Léon. + +Léon took the bundle so reluctantly, and handled it as delicately as if +it were a piece of priceless china he was afraid of breaking by a touch, +that the baron, who was not in the best of tempers, in spite of his +successful expedition, growled out, "It won't bite you; you needn't be +afraid." + +"I am not, but my dear Arnaut you might make allowances; I never had a +baby in my arms before in my life. I daresay I shall get used to it in +time; use is second nature, they say. But I say, I don't believe it +ought to be bundled up in this way; it can't breathe; it will be +suffocated; I shall open this shawl a little," said Léon, proceeding to +do so, and being immediately rewarded by a long, wailing cry from the +infant. + +"There," said the baron, with an impatient exclamation, "now you have +woke it. Why didn't you leave it alone?" + +"My dear fellow, it would never have woke again if I had; the poor +little creature was choking," said Léon, sitting the baby up on his +knees, as if it were a year old instead of a few months. + +"It will cry the whole way now, and, if we meet anyone, betray our +secret," grumbled the baron. + +"Well, I'd rather it cried than have it suffocated, as it infallibly +would have been but for me. Baby, in future years you may thank your +uncle Léon for saving your life. Perhaps if I whistle it will stop +howling. I'll try," said Léon, whistling, in which art he was a great +adept. + +But whistling had no effect on the baby, unless it was to make it cry +louder, and Léon was in despair, and the baron getting furious, until it +suddenly occurred to the former to jump the child up and down, as he had +seen Mathilde do. This was successful; as long as Léon danced it about +it was quiet; the moment he stopped it began to cry. + +"I wish old Pierre joy if he has to spend the next twenty-four hours in +this way. Drive on, Arnaut; my arms are aching so I can't keep this game +up much longer," said Léon, as they entered the village of Carolles, +where, luckily for them, all the inhabitants had already gone to bed, +and they met no one till they reached the place where the yacht was +lying. + +A boat was waiting to take Léon on board with Pierre and the English +carpenter, to whom Léon spoke in English, asking him if he were quite +sure the baby would be well looked after where he proposed to place it, +and on Smith's answering that he was certain it would, Léon turned to +the baron, who did not understand a word of English, and told him he +need have no anxiety about the child. + +"All right; I don't want to know where you are going to take it; make +any arrangements you like. If you want more money than I have given you, +let me know and you shall have it. When do you expect to be back here, +Léon?" + +"Oh, not for a month at least; I shall keep away till all the fuss +Mathilde will make about the baby is over; meanwhile, if you change your +mind and want the baby back, write to me at my agent's and he will +forward your letter. Adieu." + +And Léon, who had handed the baby to Pierre as soon as they met, now +kissed his brother on both cheeks and then sprang into the boat. Smith +pushed her off and sculled them across the moonlit sea to the yacht, the +baron watching them until they reached her and the boat was drawn up to +its davits, when he turned and drove back to the château, wondering +greatly how the baroness would bear the loss of her baby, and fearing a +very bad quarter of an hour was in store for him when she learnt what +had become of it. + +A stiff breeze was blowing, but with wind and tide in her favour the +yacht sailed smoothly across the Channel, all on board her, except the +baby, being too inured to the sea to feel ill, and, luckily, the +movement of the yacht seemed to lull the child to sleep. When she woke +Pierre was always at hand with some milk, so that she was scarcely heard +to cry during the whole passage, spending the time in sleeping and +eating, and thereby enabling Pierre to earn for himself the character of +a first-rate nurse. + +From time to time during the next day Léon came into the cabin to look +at his tiny charge, for whom an impromptu cradle had been made with some +pillows in an easy chair, and who seemed to have the happy knack of +adapting herself to circumstances, for she slept quietly on, with a +smile on her little face, all unconscious of the waves from which a few +planks divided her. + +"Poor little mite; I hope they'll be kind to her, Smith, these friends +of yours. I am half sorry I brought her, though the baron wished it," +said Léon, as he left the cabin; but the next moment he was whistling on +deck as though no such thing as the baby existed. + +Towards evening they came in sight of Brighton, whose long sea front, +even in those distant days, stretched for a mile or two along the coast, +and Léon, who knew the town well, and considered it one of the few +English towns in which he could spend a few days without dying of +_ennui_, was anxious to put in there, but Smith dissuaded him. + +"If we put in here, sir, they'll be sure to trace the child; it would be +far better to let me go ashore with it in the gig, while you lay +outside." + +"But where are we to put in then? Having come to England, I mean to go +ashore for a day or two." + +"Why not run up to Yarmouth, sir; the wind is fair; it is south-west +now. You have never been there, have you? And there'll be no fear of +anyone tracing the child there. If madame sees in the paper that we +touched at Yarmouth, she may inquire all over that part of the country +without finding the baby down in Sussex." + +Léon considered the matter for a few minutes, and finally consented to +this arrangement; and about eight o'clock that evening the gig was +lowered, and Pierre, who would not abandon his charge till the last +minute, went ashore with John Smith and the baby. + +They landed on a quiet spot between Brighton and Rottingdean, and here +Smith insisted on Pierre's remaining in charge of the boat while he +deposited the baby with his friends. Pierre protested against this; but +the carpenter was firm. It would not be safe, he argued, to leave the +boat alone for two or three hours, and he might be gone as long as that; +and there could be no danger in leaving Pierre there, for if anyone did +question him about his business, he would not be able to understand +them, as he knew no English. + +Pierre found it was useless to make any further objections, so, +reluctantly handing the baby over to the carpenter, he prepared to make +himself as comfortable as circumstances permitted during Smith's +absence. It was a beautiful warm midsummer evening, but Pierre began to +feel chilly and tired of waiting long before Smith came back, though he +managed to get several naps, curled up in the bottom of the boat. At +last, about eleven o'clock, just as Pierre was getting very nervous, and +dreading every minute that one of the white ladies of Normandy (those +_dames blanches_ who are so cruel to the discourteous) should appear to +him, or a hobgoblin or a ghost, in all of which he was, like most Norman +peasants, a firm believer, to his intense relief he heard the carpenter +whistling in the distance, and a minute or two later Smith arrived, hot +and tired, and by no means in a communicative frame of mind, only +vouchsafing to tell the anxious Pierre that the baby was safe. + +To Léon he was bound to be less reserved, and, according to his own +account, he had had no difficulty in persuading his friend the shepherd +to take charge of the child. He had asked no awkward questions, and was +quite satisfied with the sum of money Smith had left with him. Léon +carefully entered the name and address of the shepherd in his +pocket-book, and then dismissed the matter from his mind, and gave +himself up to enjoying his cruise. + +A day or two later they put into Yarmouth, and the arrival of the French +yacht, L'Hirondelle, owner M. Léon de Thorens, was duly mentioned in the +shipping news of the daily papers. Yarmouth was not a place after Léon's +heart, and he would have left the next day, but John Smith had gone +ashore and had not returned, so their departure was delayed at first for +a few hours; but as Smith still did not appear, Léon began to get +anxious, and made inquiries in the town for him, but in vain. At last, +after delaying several days, it became evident the man had deserted, and +finally Léon set sail without him. His intention on leaving Brighton was +to cruise round the coast of Great Britain, visiting the principal +seaports on the way; but on finding Smith did not return, his suspicions +were awakened as to the safety of the child, and he determined to go +back at once to Brighton and see if the child had really been left with +the shepherd whose address Smith had given him. + +But that night a dense fog came on, and a day or two later a paragraph +in the English papers announced a collision had taken place off Harwich +with an English trading vessel and the French yacht, L'Hirondelle, in +which the latter sunk at once with all hands, not a soul remaining to +tell the tale, but some life-belts and spars of wood which were picked +up afterwards led to the identification of the yacht, which was known to +have left Yarmouth the morning before the collision took place. + +(_To be continued._) + + + + +DINNERS FOR TWO. + + +Many housekeepers complain of the difficulty of providing a change of +dishes where the family is small. Really, the number of things that may +be served for one or two people is very great, but the serving is +important. The writer has endeavoured in the following twenty-four +dinners only to give such dishes as with a little care and attention may +easily be cooked by a general servant with a rather limited knowledge of +cooking. They are also chosen with due regard to expenditure. There are +not any extravagant dishes, no stock meat is required for anything, nor +is any pastry included in any dinner. + +In arranging dinners for a number it is easy to give the weights of the +different things that will be required, as there will probably be an +average of appetites, but this is not possible for one or two people; +for where one person will eat nearly a pound of meat, another will only +eat two ounces, so that of quantity the housekeeper must be the best +judge, as she knows the appetites for which she has to provide. + +1. Mulligatawny soup; fillet steak with mushroom ketchup; baked batter +pudding. + +2. Flounders water souchet; piece of best end neck of mutton roasted; +steamed semolina pudding, lemon sauce. + +3. Potato soup; steak and kidney pudding; apples stewed in syrup. + +4. Filleted plaice (dressed white); veal cutlets, bacon, and baked +tomatoes; cheese fondu. + +5. Lobster salad; stewed breast of mutton; cake fritters. + +6. Brown onion soup; roast fillet of beef; Spanish rice. + +7. Slices of cod fried; toad-in-the-hole; Melbourne pudding. + +8. Curried eggs; Irish stew; rice meringue. + +9. Potiron; beef steak stewed with vegetables; blancmange. + +10. Baked haddock; calves' heart roasted; bread-and-jam pudding. + +11. Shrimp toast; roast fillet of mutton; strawberry cream. + +12. Turnip soup; breast of veal stewed; apple charlotte. + +13. Fried mackerel; boiled rabbit and onion sauce; cheese toast. + +14. Brunoise; stewed mutton cutlets; baked rice pudding. + +15. Fried herrings, mustard sauce; rump-steak aux fines herbes; jam +roll. + +16. Dressed crab; boiled knuckle of mutton with caper sauce; +bread-and-butter fritters. + +17. Tomato soup; mutton cutlets with onion purée; cocoanut pudding. + +18. Fried smelts; a currie; boiled batter pudding. + +19. Vegetable soup; rump steak; macaroni cheese. + +20. Stewed fish; leg of mutton cutlet; raspberry sponge. + +21. Vegetable marrow soup; one rib of beef (boned and rolled) roasted; +tapioca pudding. + +22. Fried soles; pounded meat cutlets in Italian paste with sauce; +macaroni with tomato sauce. + +23. Fried whiting; boiled knuckle of veal with parsley and butter, and +grilled bacon; baked currant pudding. + +24. Semolina soup; part of loin of pork roasted; Spanish soufflé. + +Vegetables, though, of course, they are an important part of dinner, are +not given, as they must vary according to the month of the year. The +recipes which follow are as little complicated as possible. + +_Mulligatawny Soup (without meat)._--Cut two onions and a small carrot +into thin slices, put them into a stewpan with one ounce of butter, turn +them about until they are a nice brown colour, but not burnt, then add a +sprig of parsley and half an apple, stir in three teaspoonfuls of curry +powder, add a pint and a half of hot stock from bones, or of hot water +and a little piece of lean bacon, or a small bacon bone if you have one; +let the soup simmer for an hour, skim the fat off, strain the soup, put +it back in the saucepan, add to it the juice of half a lemon and a +dessertspoonful of flour that has been baked a very light brown and +mixed with a piece of butter the size of a pigeon's egg; salt to taste. +Serve the soup very hot, and hand rice as boiled for curry with it. + +_Fillet Steaks with Mushroom Ketchup._--Beat the steaks with a beater or +rolling-pin, put a very small piece of butter in a stewpan, place the +steaks in it, and brown them slightly on each side; add one +tablespoonful of ketchup and one tablespoonful of water, also a little +black pepper; salt is not generally wanted with mushroom ketchup; cover +the stewpan closely, and keep the fillets hot for three-quarters of an +hour at the side of the stove; serve with the gravy poured over them. + +_Flounders Water Souchet._--Wash the fish and remove the heads. Put +three-quarters of a pint of cold water into a stewpan, well wash two +parsley roots and cut them in fine shreds, put them in a stewpan with a +little pepper and salt, simmer a quarter of an hour, put in the +flounders with a tablespoonful of parsley broken into small sprigs, not +chopped, simmer eight minutes, and serve with a plate of brown bread and +butter and a cut lemon. + +_Semolina Pudding._--Boil one and a half ounces of semolina in +three-quarters of a pint of milk until it is cooked, take the saucepan +from the fire, add a little sugar and a very small pinch of salt; then +stir in two well-beaten eggs; butter a small mould or basin well, pour +in the mixture, cover the top with buttered paper, and steam the pudding +for an hour either by putting it into a steamer or into a saucepan with +boiling water half way up the basin and keeping the water boiling. Serve +with lemon sauce over. Sauce:--Take a quarter of a pint of cold water, +mix a teaspoonful of cornflour with it, add the juice of half a lemon +and a little white sugar; boil all together, stirring all the time. + +_Potato Soup._--Take one pound of potatoes weighed after they are +peeled; cut them up and put them in a stewpan, with a piece of butter +the size of a walnut, and an onion cut in slices; cover the stewpan, and +shake the vegetables over the fire for five minutes; add a pint of hot +water; simmer for an hour. Pass the whole through a sieve; put back in +the saucepan. Add nearly half a pint of milk, and pepper and salt to +taste. Cut a thin slice of bread in small dice; fry it in butter; put it +in the bottom of the tureen, and pour the soup over. + +_Stewed Apples._--Boil together a teacupful of cold water, a teacupful +of sugar, and a teaspoonful of lemon-juice; peel and core six small +apples as soon as the syrup is clear. Put the apples in and cook them +over a slow fire until they are tender. They must be turned while +cooking, but must not be broken. When cold sprinkle a little chopped +almond on each, or else a small piece of red currant jelly can be put +on. + +_Fillets of Plaice._--Double the fillets, put them on a buttered tin, +with pepper, salt, and a squeeze of lemon-juice over each; cover with +buttered paper, and bake for ten or fifteen minutes; then put them on a +dish, and serve with following sauce round them:--Boil the bones of the +fish a quarter of an hour in a quarter of a pint of milk and water; mix +a good teaspoonful of flour with a little butter, cayenne, and salt; +strain the liquor from the fishbones to it, also the liquor out of the +tin in which the fish were baked; put into a saucepan and boil for a +minute or two, then, pour round the fish. + +_Cheese Fondu._--Melt one ounce of butter in a saucepan, stir one ounce +of flour in; when quite smooth, add a quarter of a pint of milk and some +cayenne pepper and salt. Stir the mixture over the fire until it is +quite smooth; then add two ounces of cheese grated--Parmesan is the +best, but any other cheese that is not blue and is dry enough to grate +will do. Turn the mixture into a basin, add two beaten yolks of eggs, +and, just before it is time to put it in the oven, stir in the two +whites of the eggs, which must be beaten to a stiff froth; then put the +mixture into a buttered tin large enough to hold double the quantity, as +it will rise; bake twenty minutes in a brisk oven, and serve +immediately. + +_Breast of Mutton Stewed._--Take a breast, or, if too fat, a scrag of +mutton, brown it in a stewpan, add a sliced onion (which must also be +browned), then pour in enough hot water to cover the meat. As soon as it +simmers put in one turnip and one carrot cut into small dice, and a +small head of celery cut fine, or a shred lettuce, according to the +season, some black pepper, and some salt. Simmer for about an hour and a +half before serving; mix a dessertspoonful of baked flour with a little +cold water, and add it to the gravy. Skim, if too fat, before sending to +table. + +_Cake Fritters._--Cut some thin slices from a stale cake, cut them in +shapes, dip them in milk, then fry them in butter; spread jam or +marmalade on the top of each, and serve them. + +_Brown Onion Soup._--Skin three onions, cut them in small dice; make an +ounce of butter hot in a stewpan, and throw in the onions, shaking them +about over the fire until they are golden brown (they must be coloured +very slowly, or some pieces will get too dark); when they are brown, +stir in a teaspoonful of flour, and add a pint and a half of liquor in +which meat or poultry has been boiled, or the same quantity of water. +Simmer for an hour, then rub through a sieve; put back in the saucepan; +add pepper and salt to taste, and, if too thin, mix a little butter and +flour together, add to the soup, and boil for three minutes before +serving. + +_Spanish Rice._--Boil four ounces of rice, wash it in cold water, then +dry it before the fire. Put half an ounce of butter in a frying-pan; +when quite hot throw in the rice, fry it a light colour, add a +dessertspoonful of grated cheese and a little cayenne and salt. A +dessertspoonful of plain tomato sauce may be added or not. The rice must +be served very hot. + +_Toad in the Hole._--Trim some neck of mutton cutlets nicely, or take +some cold meat or fowl and place in the bottom of a pie-dish that you +have first buttered. Then make a batter thus: take four ounces of flour, +mix one egg with it, add half a pint of milk and a little salt, put +pepper and salt over the meat in the dish, pour the batter in, and put +in a tolerably quick oven; it will take about three-quarters of an hour +to bake. Batter is best mixed some hours before it is wanted, but it +must not be put in the dish with the meat until you are going to bake +it. + +_Melbourne Pudding._--Boil half a pint of red currants with half a pound +of loaf sugar for half an hour, add half a pound of raspberries and boil +ten minutes. Butter a plain mould or pudding basin and line it with +slices from a tin loaf or French roll, cut a quarter of an inch thick; +the top pieces must be cut into triangles to make them fit neatly, while +the side pieces are half an inch wide; pour the fruit into the bread +while hot, cover the top with more bread, put in a cool place until the +next day, then turn out and serve with custard or cream. + +_Curried Eggs._--Make a sauce with a quarter of a pint of milk, a +teaspoonful of curry powder, a teaspoonful of flour, and a little salt; +mix these ingredients together and boil them three minutes. Boil three +eggs hard, remove the shells, put the sauce in a dish, put the eggs in +it, then cut each egg in two and serve. + +_Rice Meringue._--Boil half a small teacupful of rice in milk; when done +put it in a pie-dish, spread a layer of jam over the top of it, beat the +white of an egg to a stiff froth, put it over the jam, sift about a +tablespoonful of pounded sugar over it; put it in the oven to set, and +serve hot. + +_Potiron._--Take one pound of pumpkin without seeds or rind, cut it into +small pieces, put it in a stewpan with a quarter of a pint of water, +simmer it slowly for an hour and a half; then rub it through a sieve +with a wooden spoon, put it back in the saucepan, add three quarters of +a pint of milk, a piece of butter the size of a walnut, a saltspoonful +of powdered sugar and pepper and salt to taste, stir it occasionally, +and serve it as soon as it boils. + +_Baked Haddock._--Wash and dry the fish, then mix a saltspoonful of salt +with the juice of half a lemon, and rub it all over the fish and let it +remain for three hours, then prepare some bread-crumbs, mix with them a +teaspoonful of finely chopped parsley, a little grated lemon peel, +cayenne pepper, and salt; next dry the fish and brush it over with egg, +cover it with the prepared crumbs, put it in a greased baking dish with +some small lumps of butter on the top of it, bake it from 25 to 35 +minutes, according to the size of the fish. It must be basted with the +butter that runs into the tin. When done put the fish on a dish, squeeze +the other half lemon into the baking tin, pour it over the fish, and +serve. + +_Bread and Jam Pudding._--Take a small pudding basin or mould, grease it +well with butter; then shake brown sugar all over the butter. Take four +ounces bread-crumbs, three ounces finely chopped suet, and three ounces +of any preserve. Put these ingredients in the basin in layers, beginning +with the bread-crumbs. Just before putting the pudding in the oven, mix +an egg with rather less than half a pint of milk, and add it to it. Bake +about three-quarters of an hour in a quick oven, turn out and serve. + +_Shrimp Toast._--Trim and fry three slices of bread in butter. Take two +tablespoonfuls of shelled shrimps, put them into a saucepan with a +dessertspoonful of milk, a lump of butter the size of a pigeon's egg, +half a teaspoonful of anchovy sauce, and a little cayenne pepper. Shake +in a dessertspoonful of flour, boil for two minutes, stirring all the +time; then put on the fried bread, and serve very hot. + +_Roast Fillet of Mutton._--Procure the thick end of a leg of mutton. +Have it boned and tied round. It may be stuffed where the bone is taken +out, or skewered up and roasted plain. + +_Strawberry Cream without cream._--Take a quarter of a pound of +strawberry jam; rub it through a sieve. Add two ounces of pounded sugar +to it, and beat it up with the whites of two fresh eggs until it is all +frothy (it will take some time to beat); put it in a glass dish and +serve soon after it is made. + +_Turnip Soup_ can be made the same as potiron, but a teaspoonful of +flour should be added with the butter. + +_Apple Charlotte._--Cut some strips of bread from a tin loaf or French +roll; dip them in oiled butter, line a mould or pudding basin with them. +Peel and cut up a pound and a half of apples; boil them with a little +sugar. When done, put them in the basin you have lined; cover the top +with bread dipped in butter; bake half an hour, turn on to a dish, and +serve. + +_Cheese Toast._--Beat up an egg, add two ounces of grated cheese, one +dessertspoonful of milk, cayenne, and salt to it, make it hot in a +saucepan, and pour it on to a round of hot buttered toast; cut in pieces +and serve immediately. + +_Brunoise._--Take two tablespoonfuls of carrots, the same of turnips, +onions, and celery, all cut in very small dice. Put a piece of butter +(about an ounce) in a stewpan with a small teaspoonful of powdered +sugar, toss the carrots in this until they begin to take colour, then +put in the celery, then the turnips, then the onions; when all the +vegetables are coloured, put in a pint and a quarter of hot water or +liquor in which meat or poultry has been boiled, let the soup simmer two +hours, skim, and serve with the vegetables in it. The vegetables must +not be burnt at all, but only slightly browned. + +_Stewed Mutton Cutlets._--Cut two carrots, two turnips, and two potatoes +into dice, trim some cutlets and toss them in butter in a stewpan, with +a sprinkling of pepper and salt, till they begin to colour, then put in +the carrots and three-quarters of a pint of hot water, a tablespoonful +of tomato sauce, and a small bunch of sweet herbs and parsley; stew +gently fifteen minutes, add the potatoes and turnips, and simmer about +an hour or until tender; add a piece of butter rolled in flour, a small +piece of glaze, and pepper and salt to taste. Remove the herbs and serve +the cutlets round the vegetables, with as much of the gravy as is +required. + +_Mustard Sauce._--Mix one teaspoonful of flour with half a teaspoonful +of mustard and one ounce of butter, add half a teacupful of water, boil +for five minutes, add half a teaspoonful of vinegar, and serve. + +_Rumpsteak aux Fines Herbes._--Mince equal parts of tarragon, chervil, +and garden cress with half a shalot, mix them with a little butter, +pepper, and salt, broil the steak and place on it. + +_Dressed Crab._--Take all the meat from a crab, cut it up as for salad, +mix a tablespoonful of bread-crumbs with it, mix together a saltspoonful +each of pepper, mustard and salt, with a tablespoonful of vinegar and +two tablespoonfuls of salad oil, mix all with the crab, put it back in +the shell, cover it lightly with bread-crumbs, put a little piece of +butter on the top, bake half an hour, and serve hot. + +_Bread and Butter Fritters._--Take some rounds of bread and butter that +you have shaped with a pastry cutter, spread half of them with jam, +cover the jam with the remaining pieces, dip them in batter and fry +them; serve with sifted sugar over them. + +_Tomato Soup._--Boil a tin of tomatoes until well cooked, then press +them through a sieve; to a pint of tomatoes add half a teaspoonful of +carbonate of soda. Put a piece of butter the size of a pigeon's egg into +a saucepan; when it bubbles stir in a teaspoonful of flour, cook it a +few minutes; add half a pint of hot milk, a little salt and cayenne; +when it boils add the tomatoes; make the soup quite hot (but do not let +it boil), and serve. + +_Cocoanut Pudding._--Butter a small dish, cut a sponge cake in slices, +place it in the dish, mix the yolk of an egg with a teacupful of milk, +pour it over the cake, then strew two ounces of grated cocoanut over it; +next beat the white of the egg to a froth, add a teaspoonful of pounded +sugar, and put over the top of the pudding; bake in a moderate oven. + +_Vegetable Soup without Meat._--Cut up a plateful of all kinds of +vegetables, viz., onions, carrots, potatoes, beans, parsnips, celery, +peas, parsley, leeks, turnip, cauliflower, spinach, cabbage, lettuce, or +as many of these as you can procure. Put a large lump of butter (as big +as a large egg) into a saucepan; when very hot, put in the onions, stir; +when light brown, stir in a dessertspoonful of flour, fry until deep +gold colour, stir in a pint of boiling water, some pepper and salt, add +all the vegetables, let them simmer (adding more water if necessary) for +two hours; put the whole through a sieve, make hot again, and serve. + +_Raspberry Sponge._--Dissolve half an ounce of gelatine in half a pint +of milk. Beat three large tablespoonfuls of raspberry jam in another +half pint of milk, and rub it through a sieve; add a teaspoonful of +pounded sugar, a little grated lemon peel, the white of an egg, and the +milk with the gelatine in it; whisk until it is all frothy. If the +gelatine does not entirely dissolve in cold milk, it must be melted over +the fire before being added to the jam and other ingredients. + +_Vegetable marrow soup_ is made like potiron. + +_Pounded Meat Cutlets in Italian Paste._--Take half pound of cold +mutton, all lean, three ounces of cooked ham, one small shalot; chop and +pound all together; add pepper and salt, one ounce of butter, and three +tablespoonfuls of gravy. For the paste, one yolk of egg, three +tablespoonfuls of cold water, with six ounces of dried flour; knead well +to strong paste, roll out very thin, divide into six, put some of the +meat in each, form into six cutlets; fry in boiling fat, and serve with +sauce in a tureen or plain with fried parsley round. + +_Macaroni with Tomato Sauce._--Boil two ounces of macaroni in water, +with a lump of butter, and a little salt. When nearly done, strain off +the water; add three tablespoonfuls of milk, and a little (one ounce) +Parmesan or other grated cheese and pepper to taste; stir until it is +rather thick. Then dish it up with a little hot tomato sauce in the +centre. + +_Semolina Soup._--Take a pint and a half of liquor from boiled meat, or +stock from bones in which vegetables have been boiled. Add two ounces of +semolina, and season to taste; if needed, a very small teaspoonful of +Liebig extract, or a small piece of glaze can be added. + +_Spanish Soufflé._--Cut two sponge cakes in slices. Spread apricot or +other jam on them. Pile them on a dish, squeeze the juice of a lemon +over them. Whip three teaspoonfuls of cream up with the white of one egg +to a froth; put it over the cakes; blanch and chop four almonds; put +them in the oven to colour, then sprinkle over the whip, and serve. + + + + +A DREAM OF QUEEN'S GARDENS.[1] + +A STORY FOR GIRLS.--IN TWO PARTS. + +BY DANIEL DORMER, Author of "Out of the Mists." + + +PART I. + +A PRETTY QUEEN. + + +"Any letter for me this morning, Brightie?" + +Hazel is leaning rather perilously over the banisters, trying to catch a +glimpse of the old woman coming slowly up the stairs far below. + +"Yes--one. Don't come for it, I'm coming up. And pray, child, don't hang +over those rickety rails like that." + +Miss Bright, or "Brightie," as Hazel Deane had grown affectionately to +call her, is a heavy, strongly-made woman of sixty-three years. She +finds the stairs in this house in Union-square, where she and Hazel +lodge, rather trying; they are many and steep, so she pauses half-way to +recover breath. Looking up she sees Hazel, a white, dark-eyed face, and +a form so slender that even those unsafe rails could hardly give way +under so slight a weight. "More than ever like one of my Cape jasmine +stars," thinks old Brightie. She has always mentally compared the girl +to one of those pure, white stars, which she used so specially to love, +shining on their invisible stems, amidst the dark green leaf-sprays at +her sister's home. Oh, how the poor, lonely old woman's heart had ached +for that country home of her younger days, as she sat wearily at her +business of plain sewing day after day in her attic in Union-square! + +And Hazel, looking down, saw her one friend in the world. A ray of +sunlight streamed in through the narrow staircase window on to Miss +Bright. It makes the black cap which covers her whole head, with strings +flying back over her shoulders, look very rusty. It makes her old alpaca +gown, patched and repatched, and the little black silk apron that she +wears, look more than ever shiny. It strikes upon the large, +old-fashioned white pearl buttons down the front of her bodice, and upon +the glasses of her spectacles, till she looks like some strange, black +creature staring all over with big, round eyes. To Hazel's affectionate +mind, however, there is nothing in the least ludicrous in the sight. She +only notes the panting breath, and says, with a touch of impatience in +her anxiety-- + +"Why will you persist in toiling up and down those horrid stairs, +instead of sending me, Brightie? It is really very unkind of you." + +When Brightie has delivered up Hazel's envelope, with its scrawled +direction, she retires into her own room, next door, and shuts herself +in. She is filled with an unwonted excitement, for she holds a second +letter in her hand, and it is her own. The rarest thing it is for her to +have a letter, and the post-mark is "Firdorf," the very same beautiful +country place for which she had pined; there she and Janie, her only +sister, had lived together, and Janie had died there. The hands, aged +with work and deprivation more than with time, shake as they break the +seal, the aged eyes grow dim again and again as they read. + +It is fully three parts of an hour before Brightie has got through the +letter--not that the words are many or hard to understand; but rather +that the hindrances are many. The glasses of the large spectacles grow +so misty from time to time that they require polishing. Then, too, Miss +Bright's mind exhibits foolish tendencies, refusing to grasp the meaning +of the words, and causing her to explain that she must be dreaming; and +still further she is carried back in mind to days long since vanished, +and scenes long unvisited, and these detain her long. But at last she +rouses herself--has at length fairly accepted the astonishing good news +her letter contains, and, with it open in her hand, hastens off to +communicate the same to her young friend. + +Hazel's door is locked, and Miss Bright has to wait a moment before it +is unfastened. Hazel has been crying, and the tears must have been both +plentiful and bitter, for unmistakable traces exist, in spite of hurried +efforts to efface them. For once, though, Brightie is thoroughly +self-engrossed, and fails to notice even Hazel's face. + +"I have such wonderful news, my dear!" she exclaims, the moment she is +admitted into the room. + +Hazel expresses her interest, and, with her loving smile and tender way, +ensconces her friend in the one attempt at an easy chair her room +possesses, and then kneels beside her to listen. + +"Well, my dear, you have heard me speak of my sister's house at +Firdorf?" + +"Of course! Often. Where you used to live, and the flowers were so +lovely." + +"Yes! and where the sweet white jasmine used to blossom, filling the air +with its delicious fragrance when we sat in the summer evenings beneath +the trellis work, in front of the dear old home." + +As she speaks of the jasmine, old Miss Bright's hand is laid caressingly +on Hazel's hair, and her eyes--happily not too keen without her glasses, +or they would detect the tear marks--rest with softened look, full of +tender memories, on the girl's sympathetic, upturned face. + +"There were always we three there--I, and my sister and her boy. You +have heard how the home was broken up, how Tom ran away, and how we lost +our money, and how Janie's spirit broke down under it, till at length +she gave up praying for Tom's return, and drooped and died?" + +Miss Bright is making a long pause. Her large, rough face is heavy and +sorrowful. She has quite forgotten her good news for the moment, has +forgotten her friend kneeling beside her, has forgotten all save the +memory of the sorrow which seemed to have terminated all of joy the +world held for her. Hazel steals a gentle arm round the bowed neck, and +kisses the worn, absent face as softly and soothingly as though it were +some beautiful child's. The touch recalls the wandering thoughts, +Brightie clasps the hand that she is holding in her own more tightly, +and goes on:-- + +"Well, to be sure, and I haven't told you the news after all, dearie! It +is that Tom has come back. He has made a great deal of money, and got +quite reformed and come back. And he has bought back the old house, and +now has just found out my address and wants me to go down and live with +him; wants me to forgive him, he says, and let him be a comfort to me. I +have, of course, nothing to forgive, except for Janie's sake." + +"Oh, Brightie, what good, good news it is! I am so very glad. You will +at last have some rest, and not be obliged to try your eyes over that +fine sewing, and be taken proper care of, and have all sorts of nice +things. I am so glad! How soon can you go, dear?--to-morrow? I should +like you to go to-morrow." + +Hazel began very bravely, went on unsteadily, and finally ended by +laying her head down on Brightie's broad shoulder, fairly sobbing. + +"I should like you to go to-morrow! Why, Hazel, Hazel, my tender-hearted +little pet, are you crying, then? Because you are sure I am not going +to-morrow? Neither to-morrow nor any other time. Don't you know I could +not leave you without a friend in this great, careless world?" + +Brightie's words are news to herself as she speaks them. She had not +considered the possibility of such a thing before. Here was the +longed-for home open to her, waiting to receive her again. Her one +relation, her own nephew, the same merry-faced Tom of old, dear days, +writing to her begging her to show her forgiveness and go to him to be +cherished all the days of her life. And all this must be +foregone--renounced. She must give it all up, and when Tom comes in two +days, as he said he should, to fetch her, she must withstand his +pleading and send him back alone, and never see the sweet garden and +fresh sea again. + +It is one of the cruellest days of bitter March weather. Yet early in +the day after the talk with Brightie, Hazel goes out in spite of the +cutting east wind. Wearily she drags herself about, making one more +effort to dispose of the manuscript of a story she has written, which +was ignominiously returned to her as useless this morning. Hour after +hour she struggles on in a kind of desperation, trying every possible +chance of getting rid of her laborious production. She is fully assured +in her own mind that she will have no opportunity of getting out of +doors, even to try and dispose of it, after to-day for many days to +come. Her growing illness makes that certain. But all efforts are worse +than useless. It is nearing seven o'clock, and growing quite dark, when +she reaches Union-square and stumbles up those endless stairs at length. +For the first two flights the stairs are comparatively broad and +handsome, and they are thickly carpeted; but above they grow narrow and +bare and steep. As she begins to ascend, Hazel meets a lady in a rich +dress. There are preparations, too, in the lower rooms, which betoken +the commencement of some festivity. Hazel is heartsick and footsore, and +these slight matters intensify her loneliness and sadness, till as she +enters her own dark, desolate room her swelling heart finds vent in a +stifled sob. There has been no scarcity of trouble in the +five-and-twenty years of Hazel Deane's life. + +And now the trouble that weighs upon her this dreary night is the +rejection all round of the treasured writing, offered everywhere with +diffidence and hope, received back always with mortification and +despair. It is now finally flung aside. Then there is the trouble of +losing her friend--her one friend, Miss Bright--for Hazel's delicate +little body holds a resolute mind and strong will, and she is determined +her friend shall not forego the so long needed rest on her account. + +The moon is looking in through the uncurtained window, looking into the +cold, bare room, where only two or three cinders glow a dull red in the +grate. Beside it Hazel leans back in her chair, musing bitterly on all +the gladness gone out of her life. "I am one of those who have none to +love them," she thinks, and the tears gather in her eyes again. + +She is quoting from Mr. Ruskin's "Queen's Gardens," the book which +enabled her to bear patiently a long delay at one of the publishers she +had tried that day. She had found it lying upon the table beside her as +she waited, and picking it up, had become engrossed in it. + +"And I am a woman, and I suppose, therefore, a queen--at least a +possible queen," she muses--"a pretty queen!" + +(_To be concluded._) + +[1] Sesame and Lilies. By John Ruskin, LL.D. 1. Of King's Treasuries. +2. Of Queen's Gardens. + + + + +THE WEATHER AND HEALTH. + +BY MEDICUS. + + +We have all heard tell of the "Clerk of the Weather." What a poor, +ill-used, roundly-rated, over-worked individual he must be! His whole +life must be spent in an impossible endeavour to please everybody. We +may imagine the poor man going of a morning towards his office with +languid steps and weary, wondering all the while to himself what sort of +weather he ought to give the public to-day. + +Arrived in front of his desk, he must stagger back with dismay at the +piles on piles of letters heaped thereon. To read them all is out of the +question; so he sits down and draws one forth, just as you would draw a +card from the hand of someone who pretended to tell fortunes. + +He opens the letter. It isn't a pleasant one by any means. There is a +tone of growling impatience in every line of it. How long, the writer, +who is an invalid, wants to know, are these horrible east winds going to +prevail down in Devonshire? She has come here for her health's sake; she +has been here for three weeks, and all that time it has never ceased to +blow, and she has never ceased to cough and ache. + +The clerk throws this epistle into the Balaam box and listlessly draws +out another. "Don't you think," the writer says, "that a blink of +sunshine would be a blessing--and a drop or two of warm rain to bring +the fruit on, and the garden stuff? What is the good of having a Clerk +of the Weather at all if he cannot attend better to his duties?" + +That letter is also pitched into the Balaam box, and a third drawn--a +delightful little cocked-hat of a letter, written on delicately-perfumed +paper, probably with a dove's quill. She--of course it is a she!--is +going to a garden-party on Tuesday week; would he, the Clerk of the +Weather, kindly see that not a drop of rain falls on that day? Only +bright sunshine, and occasional cloudlets to act as awnings and temper +its heat. + +The Clerk with a smile places that letter aside for further +consideration, and goes on drawing. All and everyone of them either +demand impossibilities or merely write to abuse the poor Clerk for some +fancied dereliction of duty. One wants rain, another growls because +there has been too much wet. This one is grumbling at the fogs, this +other at the sunshine; this one suggests snow for a change, and this +other begs for a thunderstorm to clear the atmosphere. + +And so on and so forth. No wonder the bewildered Clerk jumps up at last +and over-turns the table, letters and all, and audibly expresses a +desire to let all the winds loose upon the world at once, to revel and +tear and do as they like, to bring blinding snow from the far north and +drenching rains from the torrid zone, to order a select assortment of +thunderstorms from the Cape of Good Hope, and a healthy tornado from the +Indian Ocean. But he thinks better of it, burns all the letters, and +goes quietly on with his day's duty. + +We see, then, that no matter what state of body of mind we may be in, we +cannot get weather to order. We really commit an error, if nothing +worse, in asking for weather to suit us. + +We cannot alter our climate. December and January will bring their +frosts and snows without asking our permission; easterly or +nor'-easterly winds will prevail in the spring months; March will +bluster, April will weep; May will smile through her tears by day and +freeze us with her frosts at night, and July will stupefy us with +thunderstorms, and August scorch us with heat one day and drench us to +the skin the next. + +Now I am happy to say that a very large percentage of the readers of THE +GIRL'S OWN PAPER are so healthy in lungs and in nerves, and so +stout-hearted and strong-limbed, that it is, as a rule, a matter of +entire indifference to them how the wind blows or how the weather is. +But all are not so, and it will seem a matter of surprise for the really +robust to be told that many girls are so delicately constituted that +they actually can tell if the wind is from the east before they draw the +blind and look out. It is for this section of our girls that I am +writing to-day. They may not be invalids, but may simply labour under a +great susceptibility to atmospheric changes. + +Such as these will be glad to be told that there is every possibility of +their growing out of this disagreeable susceptibility, much depending +upon how they use and treat themselves when young. Spring winds are very +hard upon those who are subject to chest or throat irritation--in other +words, to common colds--and I must take this opportunity of entreating +girls of this class never to neglect a cold. Why? Because one cold on +top of another, as the saying is, will certainly result in the end in +thickening of the delicate mucous membrane that lines the lungs, and if +this takes place you may look forward to being in time a confirmed +invalid the greater part of the year through winter cough. + +It is not a very difficult thing to get clear of a cold if taken in +time. Confinement to the house for a day, or even two, a lowered diet, a +mixture of the solution of acetate of ammonia and spirits of sweet nitre +the first day, some aperient medicine and an ordinary cough mixture the +second or third day, warmer clothing and avoidance of exposure to high +winds; this treatment will be found successful in nine cases out of ten. + +Sudden changes in temperature are apt to induce illness in the delicate. +Mild weather may have prevailed for some days, when all at once the wind +veers round to the north-east and at the same time it blows high. +Exposure to weather of this kind may induce whatsoever kind of ailment +an individual is subject to. + +Well, there is one way and only one, to avoid it, and that is to dress +in proportion to the cold. No need for the clothing to be thick or +heavy. It should rather be the reverse, only soft and warm. Heavy +clothing is sure to cause fatigue in walking, and also perspiration, and +both states of body lay open the pores for trouble to enter. + +No need, either, for even the delicate to confine themselves to the +house during the cold spring weeks or days. Confinement to the house +means want of exercise, want of an abundance of fresh air, and very +often want of appetite. Well, the strong may exist intact for a long +time without much exercise or ozone, but, mind you, the delicate cannot. + +On wet days a mackintosh may be worn, though a good large umbrella is +far better. But if you will have a waterproof, let it be a cloth one, +one that will admit of ventilation, and not an india-rubber article. +This last is only fit for a Scottish cabman, with muscles of iron and +sinews of steel. + +Here is an extreme case by way of example. A lady goes out to take a +walk on a damp day thus accoutred: An extraordinary bulk and weight of +clothes, and over all an india-rubber mackintosh; on her feet are those +abominations called goloshes; over her mouth she has stuck a respirator, +and over her head and shoulders she carries an enormous umbrella. The +windows and doors of this lady's house are always kept shut, and +rendered hermetically sealed by woollen sand-bags and other +oxygen-banishing contrivances. Is it any wonder that she is pale and +flabby in face, that her very hands are sickly, soft, and puffy, and +that she is continually at war with the cook? + +Be warned, dear reader; take all reasonable precautions against catching +cold, but do not render your body unwholesome from over-clothing, nor +your lungs sickly for want of the pure air of heaven that you can no +more live well without than a fish can survive in a muddy stream. Sore +throat and tic doloreux, or face-ache, are very common complaints in +cold weather with high winds. But I really think they are more easily +prevented than cured. Both may be produced in the same way--namely, from +exposure to cold. It is a draught blowing directly on the face and into +the eyes or upon the neck that brings on these distressing complaints. +Beware of such a draught, and beware of damp or wet feet. Beware, also, +when walking out, of having too thick a muffle around the neck, for this +is apt to sweat it. + +Whenever you feel the slightest touch of sore throat, examine it at the +glass, and if there be any redness, do it over with your camel's-hair +pencil dipped in a mixture of glycerine two parts and tincture of iron +one part. + +As for tic, you protect yourself against cold and damp, but you ought +also to take an occasional tonic, and there is nothing I know better +than the citrate of iron and quinine. If, however, this medicine should +produce a disagreeable feeling of fulness in the head, it had better be +avoided and some other tonic substituted. Well, there is cod-liver oil +in conjunction with the extract of malt. This is the only form in which +cod-liver oil can be taken by many. + +I should mention that an occasional aperient pill will do good, but that +the habit of taking medicine of this kind as a regular thing should be +avoided. + +In cold weather the feet should be kept very comfortable, but you must +avoid sitting too much by the fire. I have already said that sudden +atmospheric changes are dangerous, but girls often manufacture these +changes for themselves, quite independent of the weather, by keeping +themselves too warm indoors and hugging the fire too much. + +In cold weather the food should be more nourishing, and soups are good +for the health. Soups should be avoided when the weather changes to +warm. + +Sugar, sweets, puddings, and fatty foods are all good in cold, bleak +weather, but in summer these do harm, if used to any great extent, by +heating the blood. + +The change in this country from cold with high winds and perhaps frosts +at night to warmth and even scorching heat is often very sudden. Even +the delicate are then very apt to throw off their winter or spring +clothing. But to do so suddenly is highly injudicious. Girls who are not +strong should wear some woollen material all the year round. This should +of course be of a lighter texture in summer, but woollen it ought to be, +without doubt. + +It is, I believe, a fact that there are fully as many disagreeable colds +caught in summer as in winter, and this can only be owing to the greater +recklessness with which people expose themselves to the influence of the +weather. + +During sultry and thundery weather, as it is called, many of the +delicate suffer from languor, listlessness, and headache. These symptoms +usually go away suddenly when the weather breaks or the storm comes on +and rolls over. Exertion in cases of this kind should be avoided, as +well as anything like heavy meals. The sufferer is better out of doors +than in, and better reclining in a hammock or easy-chair out of a +draught than standing or walking about. + +Hot weather greatly depresses the vital energy, because it usually comes +on so suddenly. On very warm days the delicate should avoid the +sunshine's glare during the heat of the day. But exercise must be taken +if health is to be retained, so in summer even girls that are not strong +should get out of bed soon and take a tepid if not cold bath. About +half-an-hour after breakfast is the best time for exercise, and again +about an hour before sunset, just when the day is cooling down, but +before the chill, night air has begun to blow. + +I have no intention at present to take up the subject of food in its +relation to weather, but I must be permitted to say that in our country, +as a rule, summer dinners are served on mistaken principles. Why, they +differ but little, if at all, from the same meals as placed before us in +the winter season--soup, fish, and great joints, pastry and cheese. + +To the robust I have nothing to say. Let them eat what they choose; in +time they will find out their mistake. But I do seriously advise +delicate girls to live rather abstemiously and on light, easily digested +dishes during the hot weather. Salads (and fruit, if good and ripe) may, +however, be taken with great benefit. + +We constantly hear young folks complaining of thirst during very warm +weather. The reason is not so much to be sought in the heat itself as in +the way they live. Overloading the stomach with strong meats in the +summer season not only induces thirst but positively enfeebles the body +and hurts the digestion. + +Ice and ices should be avoided as much as possible; at the best their +use is but a very artificial way of cooling the overheated body. A +mixture of ice and stimulants is worse ten times. A cup of good tea is +one of the most wholesome beverages one can take in warm weather. It +exhilarates, it cools, and while it cools the body it calms the mind. + +Lime or lemon juice and water make a good drink. It should be sipped. + +Ginger beer is somewhat too gassy for a delicate stomach. Raspberry +syrup in water, acidulated to taste with a little citric acid, is very +refreshing, and the same may be said of many other of the fruit syrups. + +Raspberry vinegar is made by placing three pounds of the picked fruit +into a glass vessel and pouring over them a pint and a half of white +wine vinegar. It should stand for a fortnight and then be strained +without pressure. + +Buttermilk is as good for a drink in summer as it is for the complexion. +Whey is also an excellent drink in summer, and I cannot refrain from +suggesting as a summer dish curds and cream. + +Ripe fruit may be eaten during hot weather with great benefit, only it +must be ripe and not over ripe. + +To conclude, I shall give a prescription for a summer drink which is +worth making a note of. Take the thin peel and the juice of a good-sized +lemon and add a small teaspoonful of citric acid and a wine-glassful of +fruit syrup, then pour on of boiling water one quart. Let it stand till +cold, and then strain. + + + + +GIRLS' FRIENDSHIPS. + +By the Author of "Flowering Thorns." + + +CHAPTER I. + +IDEAL FRIENDSHIPS. + + +I don't suppose there are many girls between the ages of sixteen and +twenty-three who have not a great friend--a particular friend; and if +there are, it is my opinion they cannot be the best kind of girls, +because unnatural. + +Some one--I think it is the author of "John Halifax, Gentleman"--has +called friendship a "Foreshadowing of love"; and if it is natural for a +woman to have a lover, it is no less natural for a girl to have a great +friend among her girl associates. + +How do girls make friends? and why do their friendships last very often +but a short time? or, again, how is it they ever endure a long time? are +questions which people who have forgotten their own early friendships, +or, perhaps, never gave much thought to them, puzzle over in vain. And +they may have puzzled you too, my thoughtful girl-readers, who want the +ideal friend you have read of or dreamed of in day-dreams, but neither +possess nor know how to acquire. + +To begin with--What is friendship? and I am inclined to define it as a +bond of mutual affection, sympathy, and help. If it is lacking in any +one of these particulars, just so far does it fall short of ideal +friendship. + +Test your present so-called friendship by these tests, and I think you +will find that any dissatisfaction you may feel in them can be accounted +for by a failure to pass one or other. + +There is, perhaps, not much difficulty about the first of these. Young +people feel quickly and strongly, and if girls did not honestly love one +another, or imagine--also honestly--that they did, the friendship, if, +indeed, it could exist at all, would be shorn of half its charm. But +love must be fed, and will only starve on a diet of respect and +admiration, without a very large admixture of sympathy. Sympathy, +fellow-feeling, mutual sensibility--call it how we will--is a simple +necessity to our ideal friendship, and by no means compels the two +friends to unvarying likeness either in character or tastes. But our +ideal friends--let us call them Alice and Maud--must be united so wholly +by this subtle bond that the pleasure, pain, or interest of the one +touches, through her, the other, who shares in what I may call this +reflective way the emotion originating with her friend. + +Alice, who does not personally care for music in the least, yet +thoroughly enjoys a concert, because she is feeling (reflectively) all +the time the keen delight with which Maud is listening to every note; +and Maud, for the same reason, has true pleasure in reading that rather +dry volume of essays, because that scattered throughout are sentiments +and expressions which she knows very well Alice will greatly appreciate. + +Mutual sympathy between friends is, of course, the outcome of love; and +yet it is surprising how little sympathy sometimes exists between girls +who to all appearance are really fond of one another. + +This may arise from selfishness, unselfishness, or unintelligence--that +density of mental vision which has never been educated to perceive the +subtle bonds which bind soul to soul. + +Now let us take Edith and Amy as examples of an imperfect friendship, in +contrary distinction to the ideal or perfect. They are fond of one +another, but there is a lack of mutual sympathy. Amy is full of ideas +and projects, which she sows broadcast during their long confidentials, +and which spring up in great beauty (to her mind, at least) in the +fertile soil of Edith's admiration. But all the giving is on one side. +Edith listens and wonders, applauds or condoles, as her stronger-minded +friend may give her the cue, too unselfish, and perhaps, also, too +timid, to intrude her own less thrilling interests and hopes upon Amy's +self-absorption; so that when the latter comes to an end of her +confidences, and has leisure and recollection enough to say, "And now, +Edith, what have you been doing?" she hastily replies, "Oh, nothing +particular," glad to be able to shield her insignificance in silence. + +Amy does not miss the return confidence which makes friendship so sweet; +she is too full of her own affairs to be a listener. Edith is her +overflow, whom she leaves saying mentally, "What a dear little +sympathetic thing she is! What should I do without her?" + +But what is Edith to do? Where is her overflow? This is a very one-sided +friendship: the companionship of giant and dwarf, which sooner or later +must come to an end or be very uncomfortable for the dwarf. The friends, +as I said, need not be alike, need not even be of equal capacity, +intellectually or practically, but the sympathy, rooted in affection, +must be mutual; it must be equal give and take, or the friendship is +miserably stunted and incomplete. + +And this brings me to speak of the third ingredient in what I have +defined as a perfect friendship--mutual help, which, of course, supposes +the two friends to be somewhat different, whether in character, tastes, +or surroundings, so that one can supply what the other lacks. + +[Illustration: ALICE AND MAUD.] + +If two countries in friendly relations both produce one article +abundantly, and are both lacking in some other article, there can be no +commerce--which is the symbol of friendly relations--between them. Both +must apply to a third country for that in which both are deficient. And +if Edith cannot get help from Amy when she is in need of it, not +necessarily advice, but some new view of the situation occasioned by +Amy's different character or life, and which would enable Edith to face +the trouble or difficulty with more courage or intelligence--if, I say, +Edith cannot get this help from Amy, before long she will find Clara, +and the friendship will be dissolved or cooled; while undiscerning +people will say, "How fickle these girls are!" + +Not at all. They obey a subtle, spiritual law, which makes it impossible +for friendship long to exist on insufficient food, and when it is said +that women are unreasoning and exacting in their friendships, it is +simply because people don't see that it is the nature which is in them +crying out to be fed with that without which it must die. + +But if after, it may be, years of affectionate intercourse, you still +find that your friend gives you absolutely nothing which you have not +already got--that she communicates no thought or experience to you that +will stimulate your mind or aid you in the practical work of life--do +you not begin to lose interest in her, strive as you will against the +consciousness of it? Does not the friend quit her hold on you and slide +down to the level of those of whom an hour or a letter every few weeks +gives you enough? You may feel affectionately towards such, but not +friendship. + +Our ideal friends, Alice and Maud, are very different. Alice is studious +and thoughtful, leading a quiet, uneventful life; Maud is high-spirited, +devoted to art and music, and sees considerably more of "the world," as +it is called. But they are a constant source of interest and assistance +to each other. Alice's thoughtful mind finds the meaning to the puzzles +of Maud's more superficial existence, who in turn puts the light touches +to Alice's grave conclusions, which often give them reality. These two, +as it were, sketch life's island from different points. One takes the +outline of cliff or shore, dashing in what I may call the aggregated +tints of forest and hill; the other paints by turns each special crag or +ravine, with their colours in detail; yet both are correct, and we want +both if we are to understand the island. + +I can imagine Maud in difficulty thinking, "I must go and see Alice, she +will help me out of my perplexity; she takes such different views of +things from those I do, and I have really come to an end of my ideas." + +Or Alice, also in difficulty, though probably of a very different +character, exclaiming, "I only wish Maud were here. She would know just +how to arrange this; and I cannot imagine what to do." + +Emerson tells us that as soon as we come up with a man's (or woman's) +limitations it is all over with us. Before that he might have been +infinitely alluring and attractive--"a great hope--a sea to swim in"; +but you discover that he has a shore--that the sea is, in fact, a +pond--and you cease to care for it. + +There is something in this to explain the languidness or cessation of +many girl friendships. There is nothing more to be learned--nothing more +to teach. They have come to an end of their resources; there is no more +help to be got, and the interest dwindles. A long walk or talk with one +another becomes stale, each prefers her own society, and by degrees the +unfed affection cools, and they find themselves unconsciously groping +about for souls whose limitations they have not yet reached. + +This is not fickleness; it is Nature; and there is a natural +remedy--progress. If day by day your shores--to use Emerson's +simile--widen, if you will not allow your mind to remain at a +standstill, like the stagnant pond, but are constantly receiving and +constantly using varied stores of knowledge and experience, you need not +fear to crush your friend by the discovery of your limitations. She will +have to progress too, if she is to come up with that; and as there is no +reasonable probability that you will advance in precisely the same +direction, you will each find increasing interest and help in the +other's society. + +One thing more the ideal friendship needs, but it is one most girls' +friendships, whether ideal or not, possess. I mean confidence. It is not +till the twenties are well into that reserve and reticence take their +place in a woman's friendship; it is not till then that she questions +with herself how far she will trust her friend with her hopes, fears, +and troubles. The younger we are, the more generous, trusting, and +unsuspicious we are; which is, I suppose, the great reason why we never +make such particular friends when the period of trust is past. If your +friend is worthy of the name, trust her wholly. How can you sympathise +with or help one another if you only tell half your troubles and +difficulties? I do not mean that all should wear their hearts upon their +sleeves. Every girl has, and should have, her private sanctuary of +thought, where none may enter; but in the matters which are discussed +between friends let there be no half-confidences. + +I have tried to sketch what I call an ideal friendship. If they are +rare, they are possible--most possible if you only study their +construction. + +I think all thoughtful and imaginative girls long for this ideal +friendship; but I wonder if they all reflect that the ideality does not +all depend on the friend, but on themselves. If it takes two most +emphatically to make a quarrel, it needs two to make a friendship. Do +your best to make it ideal. + +I have known such a friendship; I know that it is possible; and I know +that it is one of the most perfect experiences our life can give us. + +You do not need to live exceptional lives in order to love, sympathise, +and help. Experience is the best teacher, and gives lessons to all. Use +that intelligently as a means of moral, mental, spiritual progress, +remembering that it does not come to you by chance, but rather as the +work of + + "The hands + Which reach through Nature, moulding men." + +(_To be continued._) + + + + +MERLE'S CRUSADE. + +BY ROSA NOUCHETTE CAREY, Author of "Aunt Diana," "For Lilias," etc. + + +CHAPTER II. + +AN UNPREACHED SERMON. + + +Such an odd thing happened a few minutes afterwards. I was sitting quite +quietly in my corner, turning over in my mind all the arguments with +which I had assailed Aunt Agatha that Sunday afternoon, and watching the +pink glow of the firelight in contrast to the whiteness of the snow +outside, when the door bell rang, and almost the next moment Uncle Keith +came into the room. + +I suppose he must have overlooked me entirely, for he went up to Aunt +Agatha and sat down beside her. + +"Sweetheart," he said, taking her hand, and I should hardly have +recognised his voice, "I have been thinking about you all the way home, +and what a pleasant sight my wife's face would be after my long walk +through the snow and----" But here Aunt Agatha must have given him a +warning look, for he stopped rather abruptly, and said, "Hir-rumph" +twice over, and Aunt Agatha blushed just as though she were a girl. + +I could not help laughing a little to myself as I went out of the room +to tell Patience to bring in the tea, and yet that sentence of Uncle +Keith touched me somehow. Were middle-aged people capable of that sort +of love? Did youth linger so long in them? I had imagined those two such +a staid, matter-of-fact couple; they had come together so late in life, +that one never dreamt of any possible romance in such a courtship, and +yet he could call Aunt Agatha "Sweetheart" in a voice that was not the +least drawling. At that moment one would not have called him so plain +and insignificant with that kind look on his face. I suppose he keeps +that look for Aunt Agatha, for I remember she once told me that she had +never seen such a good face as Uncle Keith's "not handsome, Merle, but +so thoroughly good." + +Patience was toasting the muffins in her bright little kitchen, so I sat +down and watched her. I was rather partial to Patience; she was a +pretty, neat-looking creature, and I always thought it a great pity that +she was engaged to a journeyman bootmaker, who aspired to be a preacher. +I never could approve of Reuben Locke, though Aunt Agatha spoke well of +him; he was such a weak, pale-faced young man; and I think a man, to be +one, ought to have some spirit in him, and not possess only the womanish +virtues. + +"How is Reuben, Patience?" I asked, somewhat amiably, just for the +pleasure of seeing our little handmaid's dimples come into view. + +"Reuben's but poorly, miss," replied Patience, as she buttered another +smoking muffin, the last of the pile. "He was preaching at Whitechapel +the other night and caught a cold and sore throat; his mother says he +will not be at chapel to-night." + +"I do not approve of street preaching myself," I remarked, a little +severely. + +"Indeed, miss," replied Patience, innocently, as she prepared to carry +in the tea-tray, "Reuben always tells me that the Apostles were street +preachers, and Reuben is as clear as Gospel in what he says." But here +the drawing-room bell broke off Patience's argument, and left me +somewhat worsted. I went to church by myself that evening, and I am +ashamed to say I heard very little of the sermon. I knew Aunt Agatha +would be taking advantage of my long absence to retail what she termed +my preposterous scheme to Uncle Keith, and that I should have the +benefit of his opinion on my return, and this thought made me restless. + +I was not wrong in my surmise. Aunt Agatha looked a little pale and +subdued, as though she had been shedding a few tears over my +delinquencies, but Uncle Keith was simply inscrutable; when he chose, +his face could present a perfect blank. + +"Hir-rumph, my dear, what is this your aunt tells me, that you are going +to Prince's Gate to-morrow morning to offer your services as nurse in a +gentleman's family?" + +"Yes, Uncle Keith." + +"Do you mean to tell me seriously that you have really made up your mind +to take this step?" + +"Oh, I am quite serious, I assure you." + +"Your aunt's objections and mine do not count for much, then?" + +"I should be sorry to go against your wishes or Aunt Agatha's," I +returned, trying to keep cool; but his manner, as usual, aggravated me; +it said so plainly, "What a silly child you are, and yet you think +yourself a woman," "but I must do as I think right in this matter. I +hope to prove to you and everyone else that there is nothing derogatory +in the work I mean to undertake. It is not what I would choose, perhaps, +but everything else is closed to me," thinking sorrowfully of my +life-long misfortune, as I always called it, and my repressed longings +for hospital training. + +"Perhaps if you waited something else might turn up." But I shook my +head at this. + +"I have waited too long already, Uncle Keith; idleness soon becomes a +habit." + +"Then if you have made up your mind, it is useless to try and alter it," +returned Uncle Keith, in a slightly ironical tone, and he actually took +up the volume he was reading in a way that showed he had dismissed the +subject. I was never more astonished in my life; never had Uncle Keith +so completely baffled me. + +I had spent the whole time during which I ought to have been listening +to the sermon, in recapitulating the heads of my arguments in favour of +this very scheme; I would show Uncle Keith how clearly and logically I +could work out the subject. + +I had thought out quite an admirable little essay on feminine work in +the nineteenth century by the time Mr. Wright had finished his +discourse. I meant to have cited the Challoners as an example. Aunt +Agatha had stayed in their neighbourhood of Oldfield just before her +marriage, and had often paid visits at Longmead and Glen Cottage. + +The eldest Miss Challoner--Nan, I think they called her--was just +preparing for her own wedding, and Aunt Agatha often told me what a +beautiful girl she was, and what a fine, intelligent creature the second +sister Phillis seemed. She was engaged to a young clergyman at Hadleigh, +and there had been some talk of a double wedding, only Nan's +father-in-law, Mr. Mayne, of Longmead, had been rather cross at the +notion, so Phillis's was to be postponed until the autumn. + +All the neighbourhood of Oldfield had been ringing with the strange +exploits of these young ladies. One little fact had leaked out after +another; it was said their own cousin, Sir Henry Challoner, of Gilsbank, +had betrayed the secret, though he always vowed his wife had a hand, or +rather a tongue, in the business; but anyhow, there was a fine nine +days' gossip over the matter. + +It seemed that some time previously Mrs. Challoner and her three +daughters had sustained severe losses, and the three girls, instead of +losing courage, had put their shoulders to the wheel, and had actually +set up as dressmakers at Hadleigh, carrying on their business in a most +masterly fashion, until the unexpected return of their relative, Sir +Harry Challoner, from Australia, with plenty of money at his disposal, +broke up the dressmaking business, and reinstated them at Glen Cottage. + +A few of their friends had been much offended with them, but as it was +understood that Lady Fitzroy had spoken warmly of their moral courage +and perseverance, it had become the fashion to praise them. Aunt Agatha +had often quoted them to me, saying she had never met more charming +girls, and adding more than once how thoroughly she respected their +independence, and of course in recalling the Challoners I thought I +should have added my crowning argument. + +There was so much, too, that I longed to say in favour of my theory. The +love of little children was very strong with me. I had often been pained +as I walked through the streets at seeing tired children dragged along +or shaken angrily by some coarse, uneducated nurse. It had always seemed +rather a pitiful idea to me that children from their infancy should be +in hourly contact with rough, menial natures. "Surely," I would say to +myself, "the mother's place must be in her nursery; she can find no +higher duty than this, to watch over her little ones; even if her +position or rank hinder her constant supervision, why need she relegate +her maternal duties to uneducated women? Are there no poor gentlewomen +in the world who would gladly undertake such a work from very love, and +who would refuse to believe for one moment they were losing caste in +discharging one of the holiest and purest duties in life? + +"What an advantage to the children," I imagined myself saying in answer +to some objection on Uncle Keith's part, never dreaming that all this +eloquence would be silenced by masculine cunning. + +"What an advantage to these little creatures to hear English pure and +undefiled from their cradles, and to be trained to habits of refinement +and good manners by merely instinctively following the example before +their eyes. Children are such copyists, one shudders to think of these +impressionable little beings being permitted by their natural guardians +to take their earliest lessons from some uneducated person. + +"Women are crying out for work, Uncle Keith," I continued, carrying my +warfare into a fresh quarter; but, alas! this, with the rest of my +eloquence, died a natural death on my way home. "There are too many of +the poor things in this world, and the female market is overstocked. +They are invading telegraph offices, and treading on the heels of +business men, but sheer pride and stupidity prevent them from trying to +open nursery doors." + +"Unladylike to be a servant," another imaginary objection on Uncle +Keith's part. "Oh, fie, Uncle Keith! this from you, who read your Bible +and go to church; and yet I remember a certain passage, 'Whosoever will +be chief among you let him be your servant,' which has hallowed the very +idea of service ever since. + +"To serve others seems the very meaning of womanhood; in some sense, a +woman serves all the days of her life. No, I am not farfetched and +unpractical." Another supposed masculine tirade. "I have thought over +the whole thing most carefully. I am not only working for myself, but +for others. I want to open the eyes of my generation, and, like the +Challoners, to lead a new crusade against the mighty sham of +conventionality. Understand me, Uncle Keith, I do not say to these young +gentlewomen, put your pride in your pocket and wheel your perambulator +with the twins, or carry the baby into the park before the eyes of your +aristocratic acquaintance; that would be unnecessary and foolish; you +may leave that part to the under-nurse, who brings your meals and scours +your nurseries; I simply say to them, if you have no capacity for +teaching, if nature has unfitted you for other work, and you are too +proud and conscientious to live a dragging, dependent life under the +roof of some overburthened relative, take the charge of some +aristocratic nursery. Do not think it beneath your womanhood to feed and +wash and clothe an infant, or to watch over weak, toddling creatures. +Your work may be humble, but you will grow to love it, and if no one +else will put the theory to the test, I, Merle Fenton, will do so, +though I must take the plunge unaided, and alone." + +But all these feeling observations were locked up in my own inner +consciousness, for during the remainder of the evening Uncle Keith +simply ignored the subject and read his book with a pretence of being +perfectly absorbed in it, though I am certain that his eyes twinkled +mischievously whenever he looked in my direction, as though he were +quite aware of my flood of repressed oratory. + +I determined to have it out with Aunt Agatha, so I followed her into her +room, and asked her in a peevish voice what she meant by saying Uncle +Keith would be so angry with me, as he had not raised a single +objection, and, of course, as silence meant consent, I should most +certainly keep my appointment at Prince's Gate. + +Aunt Agatha looked a little distressed as she answered me. + +"To tell you the truth, Merle, I did not quite understand your uncle +myself; I expected a very different reception of my news." + +"Tell me all about it from the very beginning," I returned, eagerly. +"Patience has made such a nice fire, because she said she was afraid you +had a cold, and I can just sit by it and brush out my hair while we +talk." + +"But I am tired and sleepy, child, and after all there is not much to +tell," objected Aunt Agatha; but she was far too good-natured to refuse +for all that, so she seated herself, dear soul, in the big chair--that +she had christened Idleness--and tried to remember what I wished to +hear. + +"I told him everything, Merle: how your one little defect hindered you, +poor child, from being a nursery governess or companion, and how, in +spite of this serious obstacle, you were determined to work and be +independent." + +"Well, and did he say nothing to all that?" I asked, for I knew in what +a feeling manner Aunt Agatha would have described my difficulties. + +"Oh, yes; he said, 'poor little thing,' in the kindest possible way, +'and quite right--very proper,' when I spoke of your desire for work." + +"Well," rather impatiently. + +"He listened very attentively until I read him out the advertisement, +but that seemed to upset him, for he burst out laughing, and I thought +he would never stop. I was half crying by that time, for you had worried +me to death all the afternoon, Merle, but nothing I could say would make +him grave for a long time. He said once, 'What could have put such a +thing into her head?' and then he laughed again as though the idea +amused him, and then he rubbed his hands and muttered, 'What an original +child it is; there is no deficiency of brain power as far as I can see; +who would have dreamt of such a thing?' and so on." + +"Then I may flatter myself that Uncle Keith approves of my scheme," I +observed, stiffly, for I was much offended at the idea of his laugh. + +"Oh dear, no," returned Aunt Agatha, in an alarmed voice, "he expressed +his disapproval very strongly; he said it was all very well in theory, +and that, on the whole, he agreed with you that the nursery was +undoubtedly a lady-like sphere, but he was far from sure that your +scheme would be practical. He foresaw all kinds of difficulties, and +that he did not consider you at all the person for such a position." + +"Why did not Uncle Keith say all this to me himself?" I demanded. + +"Because he said it would only be sowing the wind to raise the +whirlwind. In an argument he declares women always have the best of it, +because they can talk the fastest, and never will own they are beaten; +to raise objections would only be to strengthen you more in your +purpose. I think," finished Aunt Agatha, in her softest voice, "that he +hoped your plan would die a natural death, for he recommended me to +withdraw all opposition." + +Oh, the cunning of these men. I would not have believed all this of +Uncle Keith. I was far too angry to talk any more to Aunt Agatha; I only +commanded my voice sufficiently to say that I fully intended to keep my +appointment the next day; and as she only looked at me very sadly and +said nothing, I had no excuse for lingering any longer, so I took up my +candlestick and marched into my own room. + +It felt cold and desolate, and as I sat down by the toilet table, such +sad eyes looked into mine from the depths of the mirror, that a curious +self-pitying feeling made me prop my chin on my hands and exchange looks +of silent sympathy with my image. + +My want of beauty never troubled me; it has always been my private +conviction that we ought to be thankful if we are tolerably pleasant in +other people's eyes; beauty is too rare a gift to be often reproduced. +If people thought me nice-looking I was more than content; perhaps it +was surprising that, with such good-looking parents, I was just ordinary +and nothing else, "But never mind, Merle, you have a good figure and +talking eyes," as Aunt Agatha once said to me. "I was much plainer at +your age, my dear, but my plainness never prevented me from having a +happy life and a good husband." + +"Well, perhaps I should like a happy life, too, but as for the +husband--never dream of that, my good girl; remember your miserable +deficiency in this enlightened age. No man in his senses would condone +that; put such thoughts resolutely away and think only of your work in +life. _Laborare est orare._" + +(_To be continued._) + + + + +THE CONTENTS OF MY WORK-BOX. + +HOW BUTTONS ARE MADE. + + +It is scarcely possible to determine when buttons, which are both useful +and ornamental, were first made. In the paintings of the fourteenth +century they frequently appear on the garments of both sexes, but in +many instances they are drawn without button-holes, and are placed in +such situations as to suggest that at that time they were used more for +ornament than usefulness. + +It was towards the close of the sixteenth century that button-making was +first considered a business, and that the manufacturers formed a +considerable body. + +Button-making was originally a very tedious and expensive process. The +button consisted of one solid piece of metal; the ornaments on the face +of it were the work of an engraver. To obviate the expense connected +with such a method of production, the press, stamp, and engine for +turning the moulds were introduced. This improvement led the way for +other improvements, both with regard to the materials from which buttons +were afterwards made and also the process of manufacture. The plain gilt +button, which was extensively used in the early part of the present +century, was made from an alloy called plating metal, which contained a +larger proportion of copper and less zinc than ordinary brass. The +devices on the outer surface were produced by stamping the previously +cut out blanks or metal discs with steel dies, after which the necks +were soldered in. At the present time every possible kind of metal, from +iron to gold, whether pure or mixed; every conceivable woven fabric, +from canvas to the finest satin and velvet; every natural production +capable of being turned out or pressed, as wood, horn, hoof, pearl, +bone, ivory, jet, ivory nuts; every manufactured material of which the +same may be said, as caoutchouc, leather, papier maché, glass, +porcelain, etc., buttons are made in a great variety of shape; but at +the present time they may be classed under four heads: buttons with +shanks, buttons without shanks, buttons on rings or wire moulds, and +buttons covered with cloth or some other material. + +In the process of metal button-making by means of fly presses and +punches, circular discs, called blanks, are cut out of sheets of metal. +This work is usually done by females, who, while seated at a bench, +manage to cut out as many as thirty blanks per minute, or twelve gross +in an hour. On leaving the press the edges of the blanks are very sharp. +When they have been smoothed and rounded, the surfaces are planished on +the face by being placed separately in a die, under a small stamp, and +causing them to receive a sharp blow from a polished steel hammer. The +next process is that of shanking, or attaching small metal loops, by +which they are fastened to garments. The shank manufacture is a distinct +branch of the trade in Birmingham, although at times carried on in the +same factory. + +The shanks are made by a machine, in which a coil of wire is gradually +advanced towards a pair of shears, which cut off short pieces. A metal +finger then presses against the middle of each piece, first bending it +and then pressing it into a vice, where it is compressed so as to form a +loop; a hammer then strikes the two ends, spreading them into a flat +surface, and the shank is pushed out of the machine ready for use. The +shanks in some instances are attached to the blanks by women with iron +wire, solder, and resin, after which they are placed in an oven, and +when firmly united are removed and form plain buttons. In the majority +of cases, however, soldering is dispensed with, the shanks being made +secure in the press. + +If the button is to be finished without a shank, it is passed on from +the press, which it leaves as a blank, to another where the holes are +pierced, and then to a third where the roughness is removed from the +edges of the holes. + +The commonest metal buttons which I have seen in process of making were +cut out of scraps of tin, similar to what may be seen on the refuse heap +of any shop where tin goods are made. The hand presses worked by women +cut out the blanks, made a simple impression on the outside, and turned +up the edges all round at the same time. The blanks were then passed on +to another press, where pieces of cardboard were inserted, and the edges +turned over to keep them firm. The holes were next pierced, and a finish +given by a blow from a stamp. + +I felt deeply interested in seeing all kinds of buttons in process of +being made, some for India, others for Chili, and our own army, but the +prettiest and most interesting to witness while passing through the +presses, stamps, and hands of the workers were some which were being +made for Malta. In passing through the first press the blank was +embossed and cut out. By another press the edge was scalloped, and by a +third press the open work was effected. The next process was that of so +pressing each disc to such an extent that the scalloped edges of two +might meet, and thus form a round button of pretty design when united, +and a shank fastened in the centre of one of the blanks. + +Military buttons, like many others, are made of two discs of metal, the +impression on the outer ones being produced by a sharp blow in a stamp, +the under ones having two holes pierced in them for the shanks, which +are put through and bent flat on the inside. They are next passed +through another press which firmly fastens the two discs together, and +holds the shank so securely as to obviate the necessity of having +recourse to soldering. + +Covered buttons are made in an immense variety of textiles. It is +impossible in the space allowed for this paper to enumerate them, but I +may add that their ingenious construction, their good wearing qualities, +the clever mechanism of the tools by which the various discs of cloth, +metal, millboard, etc., are cut out, and the methods of uniting them so +as to form a complete button, are marvels of skill and industry. + +The earliest covered buttons were made so recently as the year 1802, in +Birmingham, by Mr. B. Sanders. Those buttons had metal shanks, but by +the ingenuity of Mr. Sanders, jun., his father's invention was completed +by tufts of canvas, through which the buttons could be attached to +garments, being substituted for rigid metal shanks. The only improvement +since made has been that of covering the back of the silk-fronted +buttons also with silk. + +A covered button consists of two discs of metal and one of millboard, +thicker or thinner, according to circumstances. In making it, the sheet +of iron is first scaled, by the use of powerful acids, and then cut into +proper size and shape by a press. The neck, or collet, of the button is +japanned after being stamped and cut. The hollow between the neck and +shell is filled with millboard. When the parts are put together and +pressed the button is brought into shape, and its several parts are +consolidated. + +It was in the year 1841 that Mr. John Aston made the first three-fold +linen button--that is, a button formed of a linen covering and a ring of +metal, so put together that both sides and centre were completely +covered with separate pieces of linen, and thus produced being quite +flat. This being an exceedingly neat and convenient button, it became +largely patronised, as it still is by housewives, for all underclothing, +having superseded the old thread button formed of a ring of wire, with +threads drawn over it and gathered in the centre. A slight improvement +was made by Mr. Elliott. During the time that the patent lasted these +two gentlemen worked in concert, and established a very successful +business. + +So great has been the demand for covered linen buttons at different +times, that during one single year Mr. Elliott's successors have in the +process of making them required 63,000 yards of cloth and 34 tons of +metal, and given employment to 250 persons. As the button trade has for +a considerable time been in a very depressed condition, it is possible +that the productions of this firm may not be of such magnitude as they +were a few years since. + +With regard to the depressed condition of this branch of Birmingham +industries, one manufacturer assured me, only a few weeks ago, that +where 150 persons were employed at one time, not more than 20 or 30 +would be working then. In visiting one of the largest manufactories the +same day, I saw sufficient to convince me of the truthfulness of his +statement, for in passing through the different workshops I saw one or +two presses, stamps, and turning-lathes at work, whereas several were +unused and without attendants. One firm, when trade is in a flourishing +condition, will make about 15,000 gross of linen buttons weekly. Ivory +buttons are made from the tusks of elephants; but as the material is +expensive, and the manipulation has to be conducted with great care, and +that chiefly by hand, they can only be used by persons who can afford to +pay a goodly sum. + +During the last few years, in which a great variety of colours has been +introduced, both for ladies' and gentlemen's garments, and buttons have +been required to match, it is fortunate that a substitute has been found +for ivory in the kernel of the "corozo" nut. This nut grows in clusters +on palm-like trees in South America, and is husked like a cocoanut, but +is different in shape and considerably smaller in dimensions. The +kernel--the part used in button-making--is milk-white, and being softer +than animal ivory, is more easily turned, and as it readily absorbs +dyes, it can be made to take any colour with little trouble. + +The process of making these vegetable ivory buttons is as +follows:--After boys have cracked the shells, the kernels are taken by +men standing at benches in which small fine-toothed saws are revolving. +Only a slight pressure of the nut against the saw is required before it +is divided into equal parts. If necessary, the operation is repeated. +Providing, however, that the pieces of the nut are of proper dimensions, +they are passed on to the turner. + +The next process is that of cutting out or turning, and is performed in +the following manner:--The turner, after fixing a piece of the nut in +the chuck of his lathe, brings a tubular cutter, the face edge of which +is toothed like a saw, to work on the exposed front surface of the nut; +the result is that of a rough button or mould. As these moulds are +rough, they are passed on to another lathe, where they are made smooth, +and then to a third, where the holes are drilled. They are next passed +on to the dyer, who arranges his colours according to instructions +received. It sometimes happens that a mottled appearance is required; +when such is the case, girls are employed to touch them with the colours +required by the aid of camel-hair pencils. The buttons are next placed +in tanks for drying, the tanks being heated by steam for that purpose. + +Most of the buttons are polished in lathes by friction from their own +dust, held in the hand of the operative. + +Porcelain buttons were invented by Mr. R. Prosser, of Birmingham, who, +in conjunction with the celebrated firm of Minter and Co., made them in +large quantities in the potteries, about the year 1840. They were, +however, soon driven from the market by French manufacturers, who sold a +great gross--that is, twelve gross, each of twelve dozen--for the +ridiculously small sum of elevenpence. + +Glass buttons are made by heating canes of glass and pinching them from +the end with pliers, which at the same time answer the purpose of a die. +They are sold very cheaply, as low as twopence a gross, but it is +scarcely possible for any English firm to compete with Bohemia in their +production. + +Mother-o'-pearl buttons are made out of pearl shells which have been +imported from the coasts of Macassar, Manilla, Bombay, the archipelago +of the Pacific, the Bay of Panama, and a few other places. Their market +value is not always the same. At the present time it ranges from £8 to +£10 per hundredweight. The blanks are cut out of the shells by a steel +tubular cutter, similar to that used in cutting the vegetable ivory. As +the cutter works its way through a shell, small cylinders of pearl are +disconnected, which are reduced in thickness by splitting into discs, a +little thicker than the button is required to be when finished. These +blanks are finished singly in a turning lathe, by being placed in a +suitable chuck, and having a steel tool applied to its face for +producing the rim and depression in the centre. They are then passed on +to another lathe, where the holes are drilled, and afterwards to +another, where they are polished by friction and a mixture of +rotten-stone and soft soap. + +The best white buttons are those which are made from Macassar shells, +and the best black from shells of the archipelago of the Pacific. The +latter are the dearest, in consequence of the black shells not being so +plentiful as those of lighter shades. Some few years since the +consumption of mother-o'-pearl shells in Birmingham amounted to nearly +one thousand tons annually; the failure of the fisheries in Central +America has, however, reduced it to a little more than a third, or about +three hundred tons a year. + +Thimbles are made by stamping, and afterwards turning in a lathe, the +indentations being produced by a suitable instrument. On the Continent +the operatives make them with punches in as many as five different +mandrils. Scissors, bodkins, etc., have nothing connected with their +manufacture which calls for any special notice. Although, as in previous +papers, I have conducted my readers in paths not usual to girls and +young women, I hope that my description of button-making will interest a +considerable number, and teach them to think more of buttons and how +they are made and by whom made than they have ever done before. + + W. W. B. + + + + +BITS ABOUT ANIMALS. + +A SAGACIOUS COLT. + + +A gentleman whose pretty garden adjoined a park in which a number of +young colts were grazing, was much annoyed by the inroads of these +animals. He took every precaution to prevent their entrance, but to no +purpose. Fences were examined and found intact, the gate was kept shut, +and yet one or more of the colts would soon be found devastating +flower-beds, or browsing in the kitchen garden. The provoking part of it +was that no one could discover how the creatures obtained an entrance. + +At length men were hidden in the trees to watch, and the problem was +speedily solved. A colt trotted up to the gate and inserted its head +between the bars, with the evident intention of raising the latch. He +made several vain attempts, but had not mastered the trick. The latch +remained in its place, and the colt outside. + +For a few moments the animal stood cogitating, then trotted rapidly back +to the spot where he had left his companions. He singled out one of the +most frequent visitors to the garden, and, by some language peculiar to +colts, made known his difficulty. The other at once returned with his +companion to the gate, inserted his head below one of the bars, and by a +dexterous movement displaced the latch, and the gate swung open. Then, +throwing back his head as if to say, "See how easy it is when one knows +how," he went back whilst the other entered the garden. + +It was noticed by the watchers that this last had not previously been +seen within the forbidden precincts, but the one that opened the gate +for him had been particularly troublesome. The fact that he was +specially selected for the office of porter showed no little sagacity in +the would-be visitor to the garden. But, much as the cleverness of the +animals might be admired, care was taken to render its exercise useless +for the future. + + RUTH LAMB. + + + + +VARIETIES + + +A FRENCH CONVERSATION. + +Voltaire once said, "It is not clear, therefore it cannot be French." +This is only partially true, for the French language furnishes abundant +material for puns and misunderstandings, intentional or otherwise. The +following amusing instance may serve as an illustration:-- + +Two sportsmen met together on their way home. + +"Where do you come from?" the first asked the second, who was trembling +with fright. + +"I come--I come--from the forest of Bondy." + +"And why are you so excited?" + +"I have been attacked by robbers." + +"How many were there?" + +"_Sept._" + +"What did you say?" + +"_Je dis sept._" + +"_Dix-sept?_" + +"No; _sans dix_." + +"_Cent dix?_" + +"Oh, dear! no. _Sans dix, sept._" + +"Good gracious! _Cent dix-sept?_" + +"Nonsense. _Sept sans dix-sept._" + +"_Sept cent dix-sept._" + +"You don't understand me. _Je te dis sept sans dix!_" + +"_Dix-sept cent dix._" + +"You will drive me mad! _Je te dis sept sans dix-sept!_" + +"_Dix-sept cent dix-sept!_ I can understand your being frightened with +such a number." + + +TO PRESERVE CUT FLOWERS.--An important rule in preserving cut flowers is +never to cram the vase with flowers. Many will last if only they have a +large mass of water in the vase and not too many stalks to feed on the +water and pollute it. Vases that can hold a large quantity of water are +to be preferred to the spindle-shaped trumpets that are often used. Flat +dishes covered with wet sand are also useful for short-stalked or +heavy-headed flowers; even partially-withered blooms will revive when +placed on this cool moist substance. Moss, though prettier than sand, is +to be avoided, as it soon smells disagreeably, and always interferes +with the scent of the flowers placed in it for preservation. + + +THE WAY OF THE WORLD.--The world deals good-naturedly with good-natured +people, and I never knew a sulky misanthropist who quarrelled with it +but it was he and not it that was in the wrong.--_Thackeray._ + + +MOTHERS' THOUGHTS. + + To a goose one day a gosling came. + As she surveyed it duly, + She said, "No swan in all the world + Is half so pretty, truly." + + In words like these all mothers' thoughts + This wise old goose expressed; + For of all babies in the world, + Each thinks her own the best. + + +UNGRATEFUL GRATITUDE.--There are minds so impatient of inferiority that +their gratitude is a species of revenge, and they return benefits not +because recompense is a pleasure, but because obligation is a +pain.--_Dr. Johnson._ + + +DOUBLE ACROSTIC. + + Dissatisfied with their appointed lot, + These both aspir'd to seem what they were not; + Foil'd in their schemes, they recognis'd, too late, + The folly of attempts to shake the state. + The first became, t' avoid a harsher doom, + A menial, baser than the lowest groom; + The second paid a far more heavy tax; + Tried and condemn'd, he perished by the axe. + + 1. So fair and flatt'ring, and so bright of hue, + Will it betray us? or will it be true? + + 2. Friend of two great philosophers, this youth + Boasted himself yet more, the friend of truth. + Throughout a long career he strove to scan + The wondrous working of great Nature's plan, + And taught his pupils, strolling at their ease, + 'Neath pleasant shelter of umbrageous trees. + + 3. The glorious witness to the living faith, + In tortures passing unto life through death. + + 4. How many bow'd their heads to meet this thing! + Priest, warrior, noble, princess, e'en a king. + + 5. The good old man, whose tender, loving heart, + Unfitted him to act the sterner part + Of curbing his rebellious children's will; + His mild reproof they disregarded, till + There fell the doom that had been prophesied, + And in one day the sons and father died. + + 6. Oft melted and then pour'd into a mould, + Translucent and inodorous when cold, + Useful, abundant, and of little cost, + Mis-spelt, miscall'd by those who use me most. + + 7. A butcher's son, who rose to eminence + In legal circles by his clear good sense; + For public service he was made a peer, + And held the woolsack twice for many a year. + + 8. The Roman youth, to prove his hardihood, + Thrust his right hand into the fire that stood + Before the king; shrivel'd his hand remained, + And he this surname by that act obtain'd. + + 9. A bird of Africa, that shows the way + To where wild bees their stores of honey lay; + Then perch'd aloft, content t' await his share + Of honey which the hunters leave him there. + + 10. The elder daughter, offer'd as a bride + To him who foes successfully defied. + With conquest flush'd, the low-born victor came, + The fair princess's promis'd hand to claim, + But only came to disappointment; since + She had already wed a pow'rful prince. + + 11. A jutting cape, which, when the Northmen spied, + A fanciful resemblance they descried + To human features; so they gave a name + To mark that cape, and still it bears the same. + + 12. How do you call that line, which, year by year, + Traces the sun's course round the pictur'd sphere? + + 13. In Scandinavian fables I am nam'd + "Destroyer," and as evil genius fam'd; + Interpolate one letter, and 'tis strange + That I become preserver by the change. + + XIMENA. + + + + +ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. + + +EDUCATIONAL. + +EDISCENDA.--The highest mountain known has been found in New Guinea, and +is called Mount Hercules. It is said to be 32,786 feet high, or 3,786 +feet higher than Mount Everest, of the Himalayan Range. + +VIOLET.--The best examination to pass would be either the Oxford or +Cambridge; but if you do not wish to do so much, that of the College of +Preceptors would perhaps be sufficient for your purpose. + +A LONELY GIRL.--We think there is too much science and too little +history and literature in your list of books, and we should recommend a +course of poetry also, as well as some works on art. + +A, B, C, D, ETC.--In the chronicles of Robert of Gloucester the age of +Brutus is purely legendary. The whole chronicle is partly taken from the +fabulous history of Geoffrey of Monmouth. + +DORA (Bradford).--"How to Form a Small Library" was at page 7 and 122, +vol. ii. Clean your hair-brushes with flour or bran, rubbing them well +together with it as if you were washing them dry. You should write +copies daily to improve your handwriting. + +A. and M.--We are inclined to believe that governesses are not in demand +anywhere in the colonies unless they be willing to turn their hands to +help in the household, just as a daughter of the house might do. If you +and your sister be willing to do this, and are both capable and +industrious, you might do well in Queensland. Write to the secretary of +the Woman's Emigration Society, New Buildings, Carteret-street, Queen +Anne's-gate, London, S.W. + +E. C. G.--We believe you can obtain grammars and dictionaries in most of +the Eastern tongues at Messrs. Trübner's, Ludgate-hill, E.C. We cannot +say what progress you would make without a master, as we do not know +your capabilities. + +MACAW.--We have great pleasure in giving the address of the +correspondence class from which you have derived so much advantage, and +which you sought through our advice. Miss MacArthur, 4, +Buckingham-street, Hillhead, Glasgow. So well managed, as it appears to +be from your account, we hope our notice may prove of much use to our +readers. + +MISS MACKAY.--We thank you for the particulars which you send us of your +essay club, called The Rookery, and willingly give your invitation to +our readers to join it. There is no charge made for these answers to +correspondents. We are glad to give help and promote all useful efforts, +and believe we shall do so by giving your address as Hon. Secretary, +Governor's House, H.M. Prison, Lincoln. + +LEONA WOODFIELD.--Candidates for hospital training are generally +required to be from twenty-five to forty years of age. They may enter +the Children's Hospital, Great Ormond-street, at twenty-one. + +UNION JACK.--The English language is a compound of three different +dialects spoken for two or three centuries after the Norman Conquest. +That of the East Midland was the speech of the metropolis, in which +Chaucer, Gower, and Wyckliffe wrote, and was spoken in East Kent and +Surrey. There were also the Northern and Southern dialects, which, +blending with the East Midland, formed the basis of modern English. But +these three dialects are likewise compounds of the Saxon, Celtic, +Danish, and Norman tongues. To get rid of the smell of paint, sprinkle +some hay with chloride of lime and leave it in the rooms; also a basin +of water, to be changed night and morning. You will perceive traces on +the surface of what it has absorbed. + +T. C. S.--Why do you not read our answers under this heading? You will +find that there are several societies for training female missionaries +and catechists. + +MARY COMMANDER.--Astronomers measure the distances between the earth and +the stars by means of mathematical calculations. You should procure some +work on astronomy. There is a nice little book published in our office +called "The Heavens and the Earth," and another, rather larger, called +"The Midnight Sky;" both are illustrated. + +MARY WILLIAMS.--If you refer to any volume of the G. O. P. and read our +answers under the above heading, you will see all we can tell you about +telegraph clerks. We must decline to full up space by continually +repeating old answers. + +WHITE TULIP must do as we have directed "Mary Williams," and find all +the addresses of societies where young women are trained for zenana and +other missionary work. It is very wrong not to go to church on Sunday +mornings merely because of "feeling shy." That is rubbish. Attend to +your book and your prayers, and not to your neighbours. Nobody will +notice you. + +I. D. L. E.--Write to the secretary, Deaconesses' Training Institution, +41, Ferntower-road, Mildmay Park, London, N., and at The Willows, Stoke +Newington, N. Otherwise, if you desire experience in parish work, you +might be received at St. Luke's Invalid Home, Finsbury House, Ramsgate. +You had better write to both these institutions, giving your age, and +stating whether your application be made with the full consent of your +parents. There are also the London Diocesan Deaconesses' Institution, +12, Tavistock Crescent, Westbourne Park, W. (head sister, Deaconess +Cassin), and the East London Deaconesses' Home, 2, Sutton-place, +Hackney, E. (deaconess, L. Collier). If you would prefer a situation by +the sea, apply to Sister Emma, Winchester Diocesan Deaconesses' Home, +Southsea, Hants. + +JOSEPHINE.--There is a Governesses' Institute in Paris, at 48, Rue de +Chaillot. Apply to the secretary or lady principal. If you wish to +belong to a teacher's guild, that of Great Britain and Ireland has its +office at 17, Buckingham-street, Strand, W.C. You must address the hon. +secretary. You write a very good hand. + +BERTHA GREEN and DAISY.--The cheapest and best way for you to improve +your education at home will be to join one or more of the amateur +societies instituted to assist girls who cannot go to school nor have +professional masters. A small directory of girls' educational and other +societies and clubs is to appear immediately, edited by one of our own +staff of writers, especially for the use of our girls, so many of whom +write for the addresses of such and particulars about them. (Messrs. +Griffith and Farran, St. Paul's Churchyard, E.C.) + +A POOR YOUNG GIRL.--So well educated as you are, you would be likely to +get on well in a colony. Write to the Colonial Emigration Society, 13, +Dorset-street, Portman-square, London, W. They have a home for women and +a loan fund. Anyone willing to act as mother's help, and put her hand to +anything her employer does, and is, moreover, capable of teaching the +young people of the family, would be sure to get on well in a colony. + +NELLY HOLMES should advertise in the _Times_, or some good daily paper, +for the situation she requires. We cannot tell what salary a young girl +in her teens would get. + + +ART. + +C. O.--Our opinion of the drawing is not favourable. The outlines of the +figure are not true to nature in its undistorted form; they are those +conceived by an uninstructed dress or stay maker. As you are only +thirteen years of age, you are not yet acquainted with pure classical +forms of beauty, and have time to cultivate your taste. Take lessons at +a branch figure-drawing school founded by the South Kensington School of +Art. The kind of drawing to which you aspire is much improved of late +years, and shopkeepers begin to require that fashion-plates should +somewhat resemble the true "human form divine." + +INDUSTRY and KATIE.--To preserve seaweed, gather specimens that are +growing to rocks in preference to those floating on the water, and lay +them in a shallow pan filled with clean salt water. Insert a piece of +writing-paper under the seaweed and lift it out of the bath; spread out +the plant with a camel's-hair pencil in a natural form, and slant the +paper to allow the water to run off; then press between two pieces of +board, lay on one of them two sheets of blotting-paper, then the +seaweed, and over the latter a piece of fine cambric, over that the +blotting-paper, and lastly the second piece of board; replace the +cambric and blotting-paper daily, and when the seaweed is quite dry +brush over the coarser kinds with spirits of turpentine, in which three +small lumps of gum-mastic have been dissolved by shaking in a warm +place. Two-thirds of a small phial is the proper proportion. This +mixture helps to retain the colour of the specimens. + +ELLA and HELIOTROPE.--Painting carefully with muriatic acid will remove +the rough coating outside shells and show the mother o' pearl beneath +it. They should be frequently dipped in water to remove the burning +acid, or it will make holes in the shell. To polish them, dip a rag in +hydrochloric acid and rub till clean; then dry in hot sawdust and polish +with chamois leather. To paint shells with oil-colours, mix the latter +with Siccatif de Courtrai, or with mirrorine, and put on the paints very +dry. To paint them with water colours, lay a wash of white of egg over +them; mix the paints with Chinese white and white of egg. The best +effects are produced with oil colours. + +DAISY.--We make no distinction between persons who write to us, whether +in service or out of it. We have an enormous correspondence, and very +little space is devoted to it. Thus, many correspondents have to wait +long for their answers. A good cashmere would suit very well for a +wedding dress. Get one that will be of service to you afterwards. If you +live in London it should not be very light. Your bonnet could be trimmed +with white ribbon. + +CHRISTIE.--Try laying on a wash of white of egg before painting in +water-colours upon black cardboard. This will remove the greasiness of +the surface. Then lay on a wash of Chinese white, and paint in the +ordinary manner. + + +MISCELLANEOUS. + +FINANCIER.--We consider that to wash with hot water is not bad for you, +but should be supplemented by a good rubbing (performed very quickly) +with a wet towel all over the body. This will cause a healthy reaction. +But the morning is really the best time. "Sesame and Lilies" and "Stones +of Venice" are good books to read (of Ruskin's). There is a "Dictionary +of English Literature," published by Cassell and Co., which might be +useful to you. + +MEMORY.--We hear that many people have derived much benefit from the +memory systems, and "Stokes on Memory" is a well-known book. + +L. NUSSE.--We fear that all such things are only forms of throwing good +money after bad. If you really have reason to think that you are +entitled to money, go to a respectable lawyer for help. + +B. K. E.--No one can limit the power of prayer and faith, and yours may +be answered as your heart desires. But do not "do evil that good may +come." + +OL SIE.--Your verses show much poetic feeling, and an affectionate +nature, but you would need to study the subject of composition before +your lines were worth anything to anyone. + +MONTHLY READER and MAY.--The sooner you get your teeth stopped the +better. But make a good choice of a dentist. + +A. M. C.--The salaries in drapers' shops vary much, not only in +different establishments, but amongst the assistants in each, according +to their special departments. Girls with tall, handsome figures, +employed for showing off mantles, get more than little girls behind the +counter, and dress and mantle, or bonnet and cap makers are +comparatively well paid. You must make special personal application. + +AN ARUM LILY.--Use a rosemary wash for aiding the growth of the hair. +See our articles on the care of the hair, page 631, vol. vi. + +ROSINA.--The young men who so far forgot themselves and presumed to +speak to you and your friend without a proper introduction, are not +suitable acquaintances for respectable girls. But you should not have +been rude; you should simply have walked away to your chaperon, or some +married person of your acquaintance. + +LACK PENNY might, perhaps, teach a few little girls at home. Has she any +friends who would be glad to send them to her, instead of to a school, +for a couple of hours in the morning, when busy themselves? There is +nothing to be ashamed of in earning money, if you have it not, for your +requirements. + +FLOO.--You slope your letters the wrong way, and we could scarcely read +your writing. If you want to improve it, slope it the right way, and +cross every "t." We do not know how the mother o' pearl became stained. +Probably it was washed in hot water, and so cracked all over. You might +try a quick brush over with diluted muriatic acid, and an immediate dip +into cold water, then rubbing well with some sweet oil on a soft piece +of flannel. Beware of touching your eyes after using muriatic acid, as +it burns, and should be put carefully away, that ignorant people or +children may not touch it. + +E. M. P.--Perhaps your dogs are mangy. In any case you should show them +to a veterinary surgeon. Consult our indexes. + +ANXIOUS ONE.--Your duty is very plain. Go to your clergyman, and tell +him of the discovery you have made, and ask him to baptise you at once. +If your name were sent in for confirmation after your course of +preparation, you are, of course, ready for your baptism. + +TIM TIPPIN should study the art of metrical composition. What she has +written is very irregular and incorrect. But even were it perfectly +according to rule, there is no new thought in it, no beautiful simile, +nothing original. She is very young, and therefore could by no means be +expected to produce what a powerful or imaginative intellect alone could +produce, when arrived at its full development at some ten or twelve +years later in life. So she must learn a good deal more before she can +"become famous." + +EDITH.--We are unable to find employment and name employers for our +correspondents, much as we sympathise with them in their desire to be +self-supporting. + +URSULA.--We do not answer seven questions. Bride and bridegroom sit side +by side at the top of the table, the two fathers take in the two +mothers, and first bridesmaid and best man pair together. + +I. NIBS.--You would be much wiser to try and get your story as a serial +into one of the papers in your own colony. We could not promise to take +unknown MS., and unless you copied it you might lose it in passing +through the post. + +A MARCH ELF should wear her hair in a plait at the back, tied up with a +bow of ribbon, and curled a little in front. She is too young to need +steels in her dresses. + +E. C.--The frontispiece appears to tell its own story of poverty and +weakness--a poor dressmaker, unable to finish a dress by a given time. +Water may be softened by using borax, ammonia, or oatmeal, when needed +for the skin. Boiling water and soda will generally take out stains from +table linen. + +JESSIE.--We know nothing more about the water scheme than the newspaper +report, which "Jessie" has herself seen. + +SAFFRON CROCUS.--Read our article on "Lissom Hands and Pretty Feet," +vol. i., page 348. + +ETHEL.--Pincushions and fans, embroidered and ornamented in various +ways, seem the most general contributions at bazaars at present. Painted +match-boxes, writing-cases, and painted jars for tobacco, are all useful +and sell well. + +GRETCHEN.--There is a small volume on "Indian Outfits" published by Mr. +Gill, 170, Strand, which is very valuable. + +EDINBURGH.--We could not give you the addresses of persons who would buy +your work, and a little consideration would have prevented your asking +such a question. Your own personal exertions must be used to find +outlets for your work. You cannot expect to sit still and be helped. + +AYACANORA II. does not say whether the mauve silk be light or dark. +Mauve is now a very fashionable colour, and would mix well with dark +velvet or velveteen of the same colour for the autumn. It would also +look well with cashmere or canvas of the same colour, but of a darker +shade. Dark red velvet could also be mixed with it. If the bodice be +good, make a Swiss belt, with cuffs and collar of velvet, and long front +and back drapery of the same. + +FURRIER'S DAUGHTER.--More furs are made up in England than anywhere +else, and, as a fur sewer, you will do better here, we should think. But +as you want to emigrate, you should consult the Colonial Emigration +Society, 13, Dorset-street, Portman-square, W.; office hours, 10 to 4. +The secretary will give advice and information. + +MABEL has our best thanks for her kind and courteous note. + +VERONIQUE.--"That Aggravating Schoolgirl" began in vol. ii., at page 9. + +MARIE.--Do not wash your head every morning. The bath water should be +tepid. A sponge bath can be taken with very little water and little +trouble. + +ETHILD MYA BAL.--There is no sequel to the "Wide, Wide World," that we +know of. We are very sorry to hear of your suffering, and hope you may +soon be better. + +A GIPSY GIRL.--The lines you send are not poetry, nor are they very +original in thought; but if it be a comfort for you to write them, they +have served a good purpose. + +CUCUMBER.--We know of no cure but the constant use of a pair of +tweezers. + +AN OLD ANGLO-GERMAN GIRL.--We were much interested in your letter. We +can sympathise with all our girls, at every age, and in every climate. +The series will be concluded soon. + +FAIRY DELL (Cyprus).--You would have to apply to a surgeon. Gargle the +throat night and morning with salt and water, or vinegar and water, to +strengthen it. Perhaps you need a tonic. + +SNOWBELL.--The book is not of any great value; but if you be not +satisfied, you might consult some first-class bookseller, such as Mr. +Quaritch, Piccadilly. + +AMY.--There is a Home for Governesses in the Avenue du Bois de Boulogne, +Paris, of which Miss Pryde is the superintendent. Address her at 22, Rue +des Acacias, Avenue de la Grande Armée. + +DOLORES.--There are no stated times for giving competitions in our +paper--which you call "compesition classes." They involve great +additional trouble and the monopoly of time to an extent of which our +young readers have little idea. Imagine the labour of reading through +about 4,000 contributions, comparing all together, and judging between +them! Of course, such an undertaking can only be volunteered once in a +way, or the daily work of the magazine could not be carried on. Your +handwriting is not yet formed, but promises well. + +OURANG-OUTANG and GORILLA.--Have nothing to do with the appliance called +"Planchette." It is employed in divination, or what is akin to it. We do +not undertake to supply "characters from handwriting." There are many +people who advertise to do so for thirteenpence. + +[Illustration: GUERNSEY FLOWERS.] + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. VIII, No. +354, October 9, 1886, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GIRL'S OWN PAPER, VOL. *** + +***** This file should be named 18293-8.txt or 18293-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/2/9/18293/ + +Produced by Susan Skinner and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. VIII, No. 354, October 9, 1886 + +Author: Various + +Editor: Charles Peters + +Release Date: May 1, 2006 [EBook #18293] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GIRL'S OWN PAPER, VOL. *** + + + + +Produced by Susan Skinner and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/illus001a.png" width="600" height="224" alt="THE GIRL'S OWN PAPER" title="" /> +</div> +<hr style="width: 95%;" /> +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="" width="100%"> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Vol. VIII.—No. 354.</span></td><td align='center'>OCTOBER 9, 1886.</td><td align='right'><span class="smcap">Price One Penny.</span></td></tr> +</table></div> +<hr style="width: 95%;" /> + +<p class='center'>[Transcriber's Note: This Table of Contents was not present in the original.]</p> + + +<p class='center'> +<a href="#CALLED_AWAY"><b>CALLED AWAY.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#THE_SHEPHERDS_FAIRY"><b>THE SHEPHERD'S FAIRY: Chapter 2.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#DINNERS_FOR_TWO"><b>DINNERS FOR TWO.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#A_DREAM_OF_QUEENS_GARDENS1"><b>A DREAM OF QUEEN'S GARDENS: Part 1.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#THE_WEATHER_AND_HEALTH"><b>THE WEATHER AND HEALTH.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#GIRLS_FRIENDSHIPS"><b>GIRLS' FRIENDSHIPS: Chapter 1.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#MERLES_CRUSADE"><b>MERLE'S CRUSADE: Chapter 2.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#THE_CONTENTS_OF_MY_WORK-BOX"><b>THE CONTENTS OF MY WORK-BOX.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#BITS_ABOUT_ANIMALS"><b>BITS ABOUT ANIMALS.</b></a><br /> +<a href="#VARIETIES"><b>VARIETIES</b></a><br /> +<a href="#ANSWERS_TO_CORRESPONDENTS"><b>ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.</b></a><br /> +</p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CALLED_AWAY" id="CALLED_AWAY"></a>CALLED AWAY.</h2> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/86_10_09_illus_002.png" width="600" height="615" alt=""AND CLUNG TO HER NECK WITH A SMOTHERED CRY."" title="" /> +<span class="caption">"AND CLUNG TO HER NECK WITH A SMOTHERED CRY."</span> +</div> + + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">In the heart of the heartless town, where hunger and death are rife;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where gold and greed, and trouble and need, make up the sum of life—<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A woman lives with her only child,<br /></span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span><span class="i2">And toils 'mid the weary strife.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">No end to the tiring toil to earn a wage so small;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No end to the ceaseless care—ah! the misery of it all!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">While the strongest snatch the hard-earned crust,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The weakest the crumbs that fall.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Oh, look at the pallid face as it bends o'er the dreary work;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The stitch, and stitch, and stitch that she knows she dare not shirk!<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Her strength is ebbing away so fast<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That she scarcely feels it go.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Oh, list to the weary sigh—a whole tale in one breath—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A widowed life, and a mother's love, and the fear of an early death.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">While there at her feet a pale boy sits,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And weeps for his mother's woe.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"> * * * * *<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">She has called to her boy in the night; he has nestled beside her bed,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And clung to her neck with a smothered cry and a feeling of sudden dread.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And thus they lie, till the mother strives<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To speak with her tears unshed.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">And then she tells him—so sweet and low, it sounds like a fairy tale—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How Jesus has sent His angels down to fetch her; that He won't fail<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To send His angel to watch o'er him<br /></span> +<span class="i2">When love can no more avail.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"> * * * * *<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">But still she holds him so gently firm, so close to her lifeless breast;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">She speaks no more, he weeps no more, for God knows what is best.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">He has taken both from a world of pain<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To endless peace and rest.<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p style="text-align: right;">E. A. V.</p> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/86_10_09_illus_003.png" width="600" height="140" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + + +<h2><a name="THE_SHEPHERDS_FAIRY" id="THE_SHEPHERDS_FAIRY"></a>THE SHEPHERD'S FAIRY<br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 75%;">A PASTORALE.<br /></span> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 75%;"><span class="smcap">By DARLEY DALE</span>, Author of "Fair Katherine," etc.</span></h2> + + +<h3>CHAPTER II.</h3> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 200px;"> +<img src="images/86_10_09_illus_002b.png" width="200" height="198" alt="U" title="" /> +</div><p>p the old oak +staircase three +or four stairs at +a time sprang +the baron; then +he walked +quickly with +beating heart +down the long +corridor to the +west wing, where the nursery was, and +pausing at the top of a spiral staircase +which led to the side door he intended +to go out by, he shouted impatiently +to the housemaid who was left in charge +of the baby.</p> + +<p>"Marie! Marie! <i>Vite, vite.</i> Where +is Monsieur Léon's malacca cane? It +was in my dressing-room this morning. +Fetch it directly."</p> + +<p>The girl came running to do her +master's bidding, and no sooner had the +white streamers of her cap disappeared +down the corridor than the baron darted +into the nursery. A lamp was burning +on a table at one end of the room, and +at the other, carefully guarded from +any draught by a folding-screen, stood +a swinging-cradle, on pedestals of silver. +The framework, the baron knew, +was an old family relic, but the cradle +itself was a new and wonderful creation +of white swansdown and blue satin, +lined with lace and trimmed with pale +blue ribbons. In this mass of satin and +lace lay the baron's tiny daughter, fast +asleep, her small fingers grasping a +lovely toy of pink coral with golden bells, +which was fastened round her waist with +pale blue ribbon. For one moment the +baron hesitated. To tear the little creature +from her luxurious home, and trust her +to the tender mercies of some rough +sailors for a day or two, and then leave +her in the hands of strangers, who might +or might not be kind to her, seemed hard +even to the baron, whose mind was +warped by jealousy; but then came the +thought that all this luxury with which +the child was so extravagantly surrounded +was bad for her; if Mathilde persisted +in pampering her in this way, +she would grow up weak and delicate. +The life he had chosen for her was far +more healthy; and if she were inured to +a harder life in her infancy, she was +much more likely to develop into a strong, +healthy girl; and as he quieted his conscience +with these thoughts his hesitation +vanished, and he stooped to pick +her up.</p> + +<p>But hark! there was a footstep. +Was it Marie returning? What would +she think to find him in the nursery, into +whose precincts he had never before intruded, +as the servants all knew well +enough? No, it was a false alarm, no +one was coming; and seeing that now or +never was the time for him to carry out +his plan, he picked up the baby, folded +the quilted satin coverlet and the fine +cambric sheet round it, and covered its +face with a lace handkerchief that lay +on the pillow; then, feeling that the +swansdown quilt might not be warm +enough on board the yacht, he glanced +round the room, and seeing an Indian +shawl which Mathilde often wore lying +on a rocking-chair, he wrapped his +burden entirely up in this, and then +dreading every moment the child should +cry and betray him, he stole out of the +nursery to the spiral staircase. Here he +paused for a moment to listen, but all +he heard was Marie's voice far off entreating +another servant to come and +help her to look for the cane, as Monsieur +le Baron was waiting for it.</p> + +<p>"Be quick, Marie, I can't wait much +longer," shouted the baron, and then, +quick as thought, he dived down the +spiral staircase, in his haste nearly precipitating +himself and his little daughter, +who still slept peacefully, to the bottom.</p> + +<p>To let himself out at the side door was +the work of a moment; and now, unless +surprised by any of the servants who +might be loitering about in the shrubberies +with their lovers, he was safe. He +had only to run down a winding path of +about two hundred yards across the +grounds to the gate where Léon was +awaiting him. Once the baron started +like a robber at a rustling in the bushes +as he passed, but it was only a cat, and +once again he breathed freely, and in +less than five minutes from the time he +entered the nursery he stood on the road +by the side of the dogcart.</p> + +<p>"Is it you, Arnaut?" asked Léon, +anxiously peering through the twilight +at his brother.</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, it is all right; here it is," +said the baron, holding the bundle up +to Léon.</p> + +<p>"How on earth am I to take it? +Where is its head? Can't you nurse +it till we get to the yacht?" said Léon.</p> + +<p>"No; how should I drive with this +thing in my arms? Here, give me the +reins, and take hold. This is its head. +Thank you," said the baron, with an +immense sigh of relief as he handed the +baby to Léon.</p> + +<p>Léon took the bundle so reluctantly, +and handled it as delicately as if it were +a piece of priceless china he was afraid +of breaking by a touch, that the baron, +who was not in the best of tempers, in +spite of his successful expedition, growled +out, "It won't bite you; you needn't be +afraid."</p> + +<p>"I am not, but my dear Arnaut you +might make allowances; I never had a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> +baby in my arms before in my life. I +daresay I shall get used to it in time; use +is second nature, they say. But I say, I +don't believe it ought to be bundled up +in this way; it can't breathe; it will be +suffocated; I shall open this shawl a +little," said Léon, proceeding to do so, +and being immediately rewarded by a +long, wailing cry from the infant.</p> + +<p>"There," said the baron, with an +impatient exclamation, "now you have +woke it. Why didn't you leave it +alone?"</p> + +<p>"My dear fellow, it would never have +woke again if I had; the poor little +creature was choking," said Léon, sitting +the baby up on his knees, as if it +were a year old instead of a few months.</p> + +<p>"It will cry the whole way now, and, +if we meet anyone, betray our secret," +grumbled the baron.</p> + +<p>"Well, I'd rather it cried than have +it suffocated, as it infallibly would have +been but for me. Baby, in future years +you may thank your uncle Léon for saving +your life. Perhaps if I whistle it +will stop howling. I'll try," said Léon, +whistling, in which art he was a great +adept.</p> + +<p>But whistling had no effect on the +baby, unless it was to make it cry louder, +and Léon was in despair, and the baron +getting furious, until it suddenly occurred +to the former to jump the child up and +down, as he had seen Mathilde do. This +was successful; as long as Léon danced +it about it was quiet; the moment he +stopped it began to cry.</p> + +<p>"I wish old Pierre joy if he has to +spend the next twenty-four hours in this +way. Drive on, Arnaut; my arms are +aching so I can't keep this game up +much longer," said Léon, as they entered +the village of Carolles, where, +luckily for them, all the inhabitants had +already gone to bed, and they met no +one till they reached the place where +the yacht was lying.</p> + +<p>A boat was waiting to take Léon on +board with Pierre and the English carpenter, +to whom Léon spoke in English, +asking him if he were quite sure the +baby would be well looked after where +he proposed to place it, and on Smith's +answering that he was certain it would, +Léon turned to the baron, who did not +understand a word of English, and told +him he need have no anxiety about the +child.</p> + +<p>"All right; I don't want to know +where you are going to take it; make +any arrangements you like. If you want +more money than I have given you, let +me know and you shall have it. When +do you expect to be back here, Léon?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, not for a month at least; I shall +keep away till all the fuss Mathilde will +make about the baby is over; meanwhile, +if you change your mind and +want the baby back, write to me at my +agent's and he will forward your letter. +Adieu."</p> + +<p>And Léon, who had handed the baby +to Pierre as soon as they met, now +kissed his brother on both cheeks and +then sprang into the boat. Smith +pushed her off and sculled them across +the moonlit sea to the yacht, the baron +watching them until they reached her +and the boat was drawn up to its davits, +when he turned and drove back to the +château, wondering greatly how the +baroness would bear the loss of her +baby, and fearing a very bad quarter of +an hour was in store for him when she +learnt what had become of it.</p> + +<p>A stiff breeze was blowing, but with +wind and tide in her favour the yacht +sailed smoothly across the Channel, all +on board her, except the baby, being too +inured to the sea to feel ill, and, luckily, +the movement of the yacht seemed to +lull the child to sleep. When she woke +Pierre was always at hand with some +milk, so that she was scarcely heard to +cry during the whole passage, spending +the time in sleeping and eating, and +thereby enabling Pierre to earn for himself +the character of a first-rate nurse.</p> + +<p>From time to time during the next day +Léon came into the cabin to look at his +tiny charge, for whom an impromptu +cradle had been made with some pillows +in an easy chair, and who seemed to +have the happy knack of adapting herself +to circumstances, for she slept +quietly on, with a smile on her little face, +all unconscious of the waves from which +a few planks divided her.</p> + +<p>"Poor little mite; I hope they'll be +kind to her, Smith, these friends of yours. +I am half sorry I brought her, though +the baron wished it," said Léon, as he +left the cabin; but the next moment he +was whistling on deck as though no +such thing as the baby existed.</p> + +<p>Towards evening they came in sight +of Brighton, whose long sea front, even +in those distant days, stretched for a +mile or two along the coast, and Léon, +who knew the town well, and considered +it one of the few English towns in which +he could spend a few days without dying +of <i>ennui</i>, was anxious to put in there, +but Smith dissuaded him.</p> + +<p>"If we put in here, sir, they'll be sure +to trace the child; it would be far +better to let me go ashore with it in the +gig, while you lay outside."</p> + +<p>"But where are we to put in then? +Having come to England, I mean to go +ashore for a day or two."</p> + +<p>"Why not run up to Yarmouth, sir; the +wind is fair; it is south-west now. You +have never been there, have you? And +there'll be no fear of anyone tracing +the child there. If madame sees in the +paper that we touched at Yarmouth, she +may inquire all over that part of the +country without finding the baby down +in Sussex."</p> + +<p>Léon considered the matter for a few +minutes, and finally consented to this +arrangement; and about eight o'clock +that evening the gig was lowered, and +Pierre, who would not abandon his +charge till the last minute, went ashore +with John Smith and the baby.</p> + +<p>They landed on a quiet spot between +Brighton and Rottingdean, and here +Smith insisted on Pierre's remaining in +charge of the boat while he deposited +the baby with his friends. Pierre protested +against this; but the carpenter +was firm. It would not be safe, he +argued, to leave the boat alone for two +or three hours, and he might be gone as +long as that; and there could be no +danger in leaving Pierre there, for if +anyone did question him about his +business, he would not be able to understand +them, as he knew no English.</p> + +<p>Pierre found it was useless to make +any further objections, so, reluctantly +handing the baby over to the carpenter, +he prepared to make himself as comfortable +as circumstances permitted +during Smith's absence. It was a +beautiful warm midsummer evening, but +Pierre began to feel chilly and tired of +waiting long before Smith came back, +though he managed to get several naps, +curled up in the bottom of the boat. At +last, about eleven o'clock, just as Pierre +was getting very nervous, and dreading +every minute that one of the white ladies +of Normandy (those <i>dames blanches</i> +who are so cruel to the discourteous) +should appear to him, or a hobgoblin or +a ghost, in all of which he was, like +most Norman peasants, a firm believer, +to his intense relief he heard the carpenter +whistling in the distance, and a +minute or two later Smith arrived, hot +and tired, and by no means in a communicative +frame of mind, only vouchsafing +to tell the anxious Pierre that the +baby was safe.</p> + +<p>To Léon he was bound to be less +reserved, and, according to his own +account, he had had no difficulty in +persuading his friend the shepherd to +take charge of the child. He had asked +no awkward questions, and was quite +satisfied with the sum of money Smith +had left with him. Léon carefully +entered the name and address of the +shepherd in his pocket-book, and then +dismissed the matter from his mind, and +gave himself up to enjoying his cruise.</p> + +<p>A day or two later they put into Yarmouth, +and the arrival of the French +yacht, L'Hirondelle, owner M. Léon +de Thorens, was duly mentioned in the +shipping news of the daily papers. +Yarmouth was not a place after Léon's +heart, and he would have left the next +day, but John Smith had gone ashore +and had not returned, so their departure +was delayed at first for a few hours; but +as Smith still did not appear, Léon +began to get anxious, and made inquiries +in the town for him, but in vain. At +last, after delaying several days, it +became evident the man had deserted, +and finally Léon set sail without him. +His intention on leaving Brighton was +to cruise round the coast of Great +Britain, visiting the principal seaports +on the way; but on finding Smith did +not return, his suspicions were awakened +as to the safety of the child, and he +determined to go back at once to +Brighton and see if the child had really +been left with the shepherd whose +address Smith had given him.</p> + +<p>But that night a dense fog came on, +and a day or two later a paragraph in +the English papers announced a collision +had taken place off Harwich with an +English trading vessel and the French +yacht, L'Hirondelle, in which the latter +sunk at once with all hands, not a soul +remaining to tell the tale, but some life-belts +and spars of wood which were +picked up afterwards led to the identification +of the yacht, which was known to +have left Yarmouth the morning before +the collision took place.</p> + +<p class='center'>(<i>To be continued.</i>)<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="DINNERS_FOR_TWO" id="DINNERS_FOR_TWO"></a>DINNERS FOR TWO.</h2> + + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 300px;"> +<img src="images/86_10_09_illus_004.png" width="300" height="327" alt="M" title="" /> +</div><p>any housekeepers complain +of the difficulty +of providing a change of dishes where the +family is small. Really, the number of things +that may be served for one or two people is +very great, but the serving is important. The +writer has endeavoured in the following +twenty-four dinners only to give such dishes +as with a little care and attention may easily +be cooked by a general servant with a rather +limited knowledge of cooking. They are also +chosen with due regard to expenditure. There +are not any extravagant dishes, no stock meat +is required for anything, nor is any pastry +included in any dinner.</p> + +<p>In arranging dinners for a number it is easy +to give the weights of the different things that +will be required, as there will probably be an +average of appetites, but this is not possible +for one or two people; for where one person +will eat nearly a pound of meat, another will +only eat two ounces, so that of quantity the +housekeeper must be the best judge, as she +knows the appetites for which she has to +provide.</p> + +<p>1. Mulligatawny soup; fillet steak with +mushroom ketchup; baked batter pudding.</p> + +<p>2. Flounders water souchet; piece of best +end neck of mutton roasted; steamed semolina +pudding, lemon sauce.</p> + +<p>3. Potato soup; steak and kidney pudding; +apples stewed in syrup.</p> + +<p>4. Filleted plaice (dressed white); veal +cutlets, bacon, and baked tomatoes; cheese +fondu.</p> + +<p>5. Lobster salad; stewed breast of mutton; +cake fritters.</p> + +<p>6. Brown onion soup; roast fillet of beef; +Spanish rice.</p> + +<p>7. Slices of cod fried; toad-in-the-hole; +Melbourne pudding.</p> + +<p>8. Curried eggs; Irish stew; rice meringue.</p> + +<p>9. Potiron; beef steak stewed with vegetables; +blancmange.</p> + +<p>10. Baked haddock; calves' heart roasted; +bread-and-jam pudding.</p> + +<p>11. Shrimp toast; roast fillet of mutton; +strawberry cream.</p> + +<p>12. Turnip soup; breast of veal stewed; +apple charlotte.</p> + +<p>13. Fried mackerel; boiled rabbit and onion +sauce; cheese toast.</p> + +<p>14. Brunoise; stewed mutton cutlets; +baked rice pudding.</p> + +<p>15. Fried herrings, mustard sauce; rump-steak +aux fines herbes; jam roll.</p> + +<p>16. Dressed crab; boiled knuckle of mutton +with caper sauce; bread-and-butter fritters.</p> + +<p>17. Tomato soup; mutton cutlets with +onion purée; cocoanut pudding.</p> + +<p>18. Fried smelts; a currie; boiled batter +pudding.</p> + +<p>19. Vegetable soup; rump steak; macaroni +cheese.</p> + +<p>20. Stewed fish; leg of mutton cutlet; +raspberry sponge.</p> + +<p>21. Vegetable marrow soup; one rib of +beef (boned and rolled) roasted; tapioca +pudding.</p> + +<p>22. Fried soles; pounded meat cutlets in +Italian paste with sauce; macaroni with tomato +sauce.</p> + +<p>23. Fried whiting; boiled knuckle of veal +with parsley and butter, and grilled bacon; +baked currant pudding.</p> + +<p>24. Semolina soup; part of loin of pork +roasted; Spanish soufflé.</p> + +<p>Vegetables, though, of course, they are an +important part of dinner, are not given, as they +must vary according to the month of the +year. The recipes which follow are as little +complicated as possible.</p> + +<p><i>Mulligatawny Soup (without meat).</i>—Cut +two onions and a small carrot into thin slices, +put them into a stewpan with one ounce of +butter, turn them about until they are a nice +brown colour, but not burnt, then add a sprig +of parsley and half an apple, stir in three teaspoonfuls +of curry powder, add a pint and a +half of hot stock from bones, or of hot water +and a little piece of lean bacon, or a small +bacon bone if you have one; let the soup simmer +for an hour, skim the fat off, strain the soup, put +it back in the saucepan, add to it the juice of +half a lemon and a dessertspoonful of flour that +has been baked a very light brown and mixed +with a piece of butter the size of a pigeon's +egg; salt to taste. Serve the soup very hot, +and hand rice as boiled for curry with it.</p> + +<p><i>Fillet Steaks with Mushroom Ketchup.</i>—Beat +the steaks with a beater or rolling-pin, +put a very small piece of butter in a stewpan, +place the steaks in it, and brown them slightly +on each side; add one tablespoonful of ketchup +and one tablespoonful of water, also a little +black pepper; salt is not generally wanted +with mushroom ketchup; cover the stewpan +closely, and keep the fillets hot for three-quarters +of an hour at the side of the stove; +serve with the gravy poured over them.</p> + +<p><i>Flounders Water Souchet.</i>—Wash the fish +and remove the heads. Put three-quarters of +a pint of cold water into a stewpan, well wash +two parsley roots and cut them in fine shreds, +put them in a stewpan with a little pepper +and salt, simmer a quarter of an hour, put in +the flounders with a tablespoonful of parsley +broken into small sprigs, not chopped, simmer +eight minutes, and serve with a plate of brown +bread and butter and a cut lemon.</p> + +<p><i>Semolina Pudding.</i>—Boil one and a half +ounces of semolina in three-quarters of a pint +of milk until it is cooked, take the saucepan +from the fire, add a little sugar and a very +small pinch of salt; then stir in two well-beaten +eggs; butter a small mould or basin +well, pour in the mixture, cover the top with +buttered paper, and steam the pudding for an +hour either by putting it into a steamer or +into a saucepan with boiling water half way +up the basin and keeping the water boiling. +Serve with lemon sauce over. Sauce:—Take +a quarter of a pint of cold water, mix a teaspoonful +of cornflour with it, add the juice of +half a lemon and a little white sugar; boil all +together, stirring all the time.</p> + +<p><i>Potato Soup.</i>—Take one pound of potatoes +weighed after they are peeled; cut them up +and put them in a stewpan, with a piece of +butter the size of a walnut, and an onion cut +in slices; cover the stewpan, and shake the +vegetables over the fire for five minutes; add +a pint of hot water; simmer for an hour. Pass +the whole through a sieve; put back in the +saucepan. Add nearly half a pint of milk, and +pepper and salt to taste. Cut a thin slice of +bread in small dice; fry it in butter; put it in +the bottom of the tureen, and pour the soup +over.</p> + +<p><i>Stewed Apples.</i>—Boil together a teacupful +of cold water, a teacupful of sugar, and a teaspoonful +of lemon-juice; peel and core six +small apples as soon as the syrup is clear. Put +the apples in and cook them over a slow fire +until they are tender. They must be turned +while cooking, but must not be broken. When +cold sprinkle a little chopped almond on each, +or else a small piece of red currant jelly can +be put on.</p> + +<p><i>Fillets of Plaice.</i>—Double the fillets, put +them on a buttered tin, with pepper, salt, and +a squeeze of lemon-juice over each; cover with +buttered paper, and bake for ten or fifteen +minutes; then put them on a dish, and serve +with following sauce round them:—Boil the +bones of the fish a quarter of an hour in a +quarter of a pint of milk and water; mix a +good teaspoonful of flour with a little butter, +cayenne, and salt; strain the liquor from the +fishbones to it, also the liquor out of the tin +in which the fish were baked; put into a +saucepan and boil for a minute or two, then, +pour round the fish.</p> + +<p><i>Cheese Fondu.</i>—Melt one ounce of butter +in a saucepan, stir one ounce of flour in; when +quite smooth, add a quarter of a pint of milk +and some cayenne pepper and salt. Stir the +mixture over the fire until it is quite smooth; +then add two ounces of cheese grated—Parmesan +is the best, but any other cheese that +is not blue and is dry enough to grate will do. +Turn the mixture into a basin, add two beaten +yolks of eggs, and, just before it is time to +put it in the oven, stir in the two whites of +the eggs, which must be beaten to a stiff +froth; then put the mixture into a buttered +tin large enough to hold double the quantity, +as it will rise; bake twenty minutes in a brisk +oven, and serve immediately.</p> + +<p><i>Breast of Mutton Stewed.</i>—Take a breast, +or, if too fat, a scrag of mutton, brown it in +a stewpan, add a sliced onion (which must also +be browned), then pour in enough hot water to +cover the meat. As soon as it simmers put +in one turnip and one carrot cut into small +dice, and a small head of celery cut fine, or a +shred lettuce, according to the season, some +black pepper, and some salt. Simmer for +about an hour and a half before serving; mix +a dessertspoonful of baked flour with a little +cold water, and add it to the gravy. Skim, if +too fat, before sending to table.</p> + +<p><i>Cake Fritters.</i>—Cut some thin slices from a +stale cake, cut them in shapes, dip them in +milk, then fry them in butter; spread jam or +marmalade on the top of each, and serve +them.</p> + +<p><i>Brown Onion Soup.</i>—Skin three onions, +cut them in small dice; make an ounce of +butter hot in a stewpan, and throw in the +onions, shaking them about over the fire until +they are golden brown (they must be coloured +very slowly, or some pieces will get too dark); +when they are brown, stir in a teaspoonful +of flour, and add a pint and a half of liquor +in which meat or poultry has been boiled, or +the same quantity of water. Simmer for an +hour, then rub through a sieve; put back in +the saucepan; add pepper and salt to taste, +and, if too thin, mix a little butter and flour +together, add to the soup, and boil for three +minutes before serving.</p> + +<p><i>Spanish Rice.</i>—Boil four ounces of rice, +wash it in cold water, then dry it before the +fire. Put half an ounce of butter in a frying-pan; +when quite hot throw in the rice, fry it a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> +light colour, add a dessertspoonful of grated +cheese and a little cayenne and salt. A +dessertspoonful of plain tomato sauce may be +added or not. The rice must be served very +hot.</p> + +<p><i>Toad in the Hole.</i>—Trim some neck of +mutton cutlets nicely, or take some cold meat +or fowl and place in the bottom of a pie-dish +that you have first buttered. Then make a +batter thus: take four ounces of flour, mix +one egg with it, add half a pint of milk and a +little salt, put pepper and salt over the meat +in the dish, pour the batter in, and put in a +tolerably quick oven; it will take about three-quarters +of an hour to bake. Batter is best +mixed some hours before it is wanted, but it +must not be put in the dish with the meat +until you are going to bake it.</p> + +<p><i>Melbourne Pudding.</i>—Boil half a pint of +red currants with half a pound of loaf sugar for +half an hour, add half a pound of raspberries +and boil ten minutes. Butter a plain mould +or pudding basin and line it with slices from +a tin loaf or French roll, cut a quarter of an inch +thick; the top pieces must be cut into triangles +to make them fit neatly, while the side pieces +are half an inch wide; pour the fruit into the +bread while hot, cover the top with more +bread, put in a cool place until the next day, +then turn out and serve with custard or +cream.</p> + +<p><i>Curried Eggs.</i>—Make a sauce with a +quarter of a pint of milk, a teaspoonful of +curry powder, a teaspoonful of flour, and a +little salt; mix these ingredients together and +boil them three minutes. Boil three eggs +hard, remove the shells, put the sauce in a +dish, put the eggs in it, then cut each egg in +two and serve.</p> + +<p><i>Rice Meringue.</i>—Boil half a small teacupful +of rice in milk; when done put it in a pie-dish, +spread a layer of jam over the top of it, beat +the white of an egg to a stiff froth, put it over +the jam, sift about a tablespoonful of pounded +sugar over it; put it in the oven to set, and +serve hot.</p> + +<p><i>Potiron.</i>—Take one pound of pumpkin +without seeds or rind, cut it into small pieces, +put it in a stewpan with a quarter of a pint of +water, simmer it slowly for an hour and a +half; then rub it through a sieve with a wooden +spoon, put it back in the saucepan, add three +quarters of a pint of milk, a piece of butter the +size of a walnut, a saltspoonful of powdered +sugar and pepper and salt to taste, stir it +occasionally, and serve it as soon as it boils.</p> + +<p><i>Baked Haddock.</i>—Wash and dry the fish, +then mix a saltspoonful of salt with the juice +of half a lemon, and rub it all over the fish and +let it remain for three hours, then prepare +some bread-crumbs, mix with them a teaspoonful +of finely chopped parsley, a little +grated lemon peel, cayenne pepper, and salt; +next dry the fish and brush it over with egg, cover +it with the prepared crumbs, put it in a greased +baking dish with some small lumps of butter +on the top of it, bake it from 25 to 35 minutes, +according to the size of the fish. It must be +basted with the butter that runs into the tin. +When done put the fish on a dish, squeeze +the other half lemon into the baking tin, +pour it over the fish, and serve.</p> + +<p><i>Bread and Jam Pudding.</i>—Take a small +pudding basin or mould, grease it well with +butter; then shake brown sugar all over the +butter. Take four ounces bread-crumbs, three +ounces finely chopped suet, and three ounces +of any preserve. Put these ingredients in the +basin in layers, beginning with the bread-crumbs. +Just before putting the pudding in +the oven, mix an egg with rather less than +half a pint of milk, and add it to it. Bake +about three-quarters of an hour in a quick oven, +turn out and serve.</p> + +<p><i>Shrimp Toast.</i>—Trim and fry three slices of +bread in butter. Take two tablespoonfuls of +shelled shrimps, put them into a saucepan with +a dessertspoonful of milk, a lump of butter +the size of a pigeon's egg, half a teaspoonful +of anchovy sauce, and a little cayenne pepper. +Shake in a dessertspoonful of flour, boil for two +minutes, stirring all the time; then put on the +fried bread, and serve very hot.</p> + +<p><i>Roast Fillet of Mutton.</i>—Procure the thick +end of a leg of mutton. Have it boned and +tied round. It may be stuffed where the bone +is taken out, or skewered up and roasted +plain.</p> + +<p><i>Strawberry Cream without cream.</i>—Take a +quarter of a pound of strawberry jam; rub it +through a sieve. Add two ounces of pounded +sugar to it, and beat it up with the whites of +two fresh eggs until it is all frothy (it will take +some time to beat); put it in a glass dish and +serve soon after it is made.</p> + +<p><i>Turnip Soup</i> can be made the same as +potiron, but a teaspoonful of flour should be +added with the butter.</p> + +<p><i>Apple Charlotte.</i>—Cut some strips of bread +from a tin loaf or French roll; dip them in +oiled butter, line a mould or pudding basin +with them. Peel and cut up a pound and a half +of apples; boil them with a little sugar. When +done, put them in the basin you have lined; +cover the top with bread dipped in butter; +bake half an hour, turn on to a dish, and +serve.</p> + +<p><i>Cheese Toast.</i>—Beat up an egg, add two +ounces of grated cheese, one dessertspoonful +of milk, cayenne, and salt to it, make it hot in +a saucepan, and pour it on to a round of hot +buttered toast; cut in pieces and serve immediately.</p> + +<p><i>Brunoise.</i>—Take two tablespoonfuls of +carrots, the same of turnips, onions, and +celery, all cut in very small dice. Put a piece +of butter (about an ounce) in a stewpan with +a small teaspoonful of powdered sugar, toss +the carrots in this until they begin to take +colour, then put in the celery, then the +turnips, then the onions; when all the vegetables +are coloured, put in a pint and a +quarter of hot water or liquor in which meat +or poultry has been boiled, let the soup +simmer two hours, skim, and serve with the +vegetables in it. The vegetables must not be +burnt at all, but only slightly browned.</p> + +<p><i>Stewed Mutton Cutlets.</i>—Cut two carrots, +two turnips, and two potatoes into dice, trim +some cutlets and toss them in butter in a +stewpan, with a sprinkling of pepper and salt, +till they begin to colour, then put in the +carrots and three-quarters of a pint of hot +water, a tablespoonful of tomato sauce, and a +small bunch of sweet herbs and parsley; stew +gently fifteen minutes, add the potatoes and +turnips, and simmer about an hour or until +tender; add a piece of butter rolled in flour, a +small piece of glaze, and pepper and salt to +taste. Remove the herbs and serve the +cutlets round the vegetables, with as much of +the gravy as is required.</p> + +<p><i>Mustard Sauce.</i>—Mix one teaspoonful of +flour with half a teaspoonful of mustard and +one ounce of butter, add half a teacupful of +water, boil for five minutes, add half a teaspoonful +of vinegar, and serve.</p> + +<p><i>Rumpsteak aux Fines Herbes.</i>—Mince equal +parts of tarragon, chervil, and garden cress with +half a shalot, mix them with a little butter, +pepper, and salt, broil the steak and place on it.</p> + +<p><i>Dressed Crab.</i>—Take all the meat from a +crab, cut it up as for salad, mix a tablespoonful +of bread-crumbs with it, mix together a saltspoonful +each of pepper, mustard and salt, +with a tablespoonful of vinegar and two tablespoonfuls +of salad oil, mix all with the crab, +put it back in the shell, cover it lightly with +bread-crumbs, put a little piece of butter on +the top, bake half an hour, and serve hot.</p> + +<p><i>Bread and Butter Fritters.</i>—Take some +rounds of bread and butter that you have +shaped with a pastry cutter, spread half of +them with jam, cover the jam with the +remaining pieces, dip them in batter and fry +them; serve with sifted sugar over them.</p> + +<p><i>Tomato Soup.</i>—Boil a tin of tomatoes until +well cooked, then press them through a sieve; +to a pint of tomatoes add half a teaspoonful +of carbonate of soda. Put a piece of butter +the size of a pigeon's egg into a saucepan; +when it bubbles stir in a teaspoonful of flour, +cook it a few minutes; add half a pint of hot +milk, a little salt and cayenne; when it boils +add the tomatoes; make the soup quite hot +(but do not let it boil), and serve.</p> + +<p><i>Cocoanut Pudding.</i>—Butter a small dish, +cut a sponge cake in slices, place it in the dish, +mix the yolk of an egg with a teacupful of +milk, pour it over the cake, then strew two +ounces of grated cocoanut over it; next beat +the white of the egg to a froth, add a teaspoonful +of pounded sugar, and put over the +top of the pudding; bake in a moderate +oven.</p> + +<p><i>Vegetable Soup without Meat.</i>—Cut up +a plateful of all kinds of vegetables, viz., +onions, carrots, potatoes, beans, parsnips, +celery, peas, parsley, leeks, turnip, cauliflower, +spinach, cabbage, lettuce, or as many of these +as you can procure. Put a large lump of +butter (as big as a large egg) into a saucepan; +when very hot, put in the onions, stir; when +light brown, stir in a dessertspoonful of flour, +fry until deep gold colour, stir in a pint of +boiling water, some pepper and salt, add all +the vegetables, let them simmer (adding more +water if necessary) for two hours; put the whole +through a sieve, make hot again, and serve.</p> + +<p><i>Raspberry Sponge.</i>—Dissolve half an ounce +of gelatine in half a pint of milk. Beat three +large tablespoonfuls of raspberry jam in another +half pint of milk, and rub it through a sieve; +add a teaspoonful of pounded sugar, a little +grated lemon peel, the white of an egg, and +the milk with the gelatine in it; whisk until +it is all frothy. If the gelatine does not entirely +dissolve in cold milk, it must be melted +over the fire before being added to the jam +and other ingredients.</p> + +<p><i>Vegetable marrow soup</i> is made like potiron.</p> + +<p><i>Pounded Meat Cutlets in Italian Paste.</i>—Take +half pound of cold mutton, all lean, three +ounces of cooked ham, one small shalot; chop +and pound all together; add pepper and salt, +one ounce of butter, and three tablespoonfuls +of gravy. For the paste, one yolk of egg, +three tablespoonfuls of cold water, with six +ounces of dried flour; knead well to strong +paste, roll out very thin, divide into six, put +some of the meat in each, form into six cutlets; +fry in boiling fat, and serve with sauce in a +tureen or plain with fried parsley round.</p> + +<p><i>Macaroni with Tomato Sauce.</i>—Boil two +ounces of macaroni in water, with a lump of +butter, and a little salt. When nearly done, +strain off the water; add three tablespoonfuls +of milk, and a little (one ounce) Parmesan or +other grated cheese and pepper to taste; stir +until it is rather thick. Then dish it up with +a little hot tomato sauce in the centre.</p> + +<p><i>Semolina Soup.</i>—Take a pint and a half of +liquor from boiled meat, or stock from bones in +which vegetables have been boiled. Add two +ounces of semolina, and season to taste; if +needed, a very small teaspoonful of Liebig +extract, or a small piece of glaze can be added.</p> + +<p><i>Spanish Soufflé.</i>—Cut two sponge cakes in +slices. Spread apricot or other jam on them. +Pile them on a dish, squeeze the juice of a +lemon over them. Whip three teaspoonfuls +of cream up with the white of one egg to a +froth; put it over the cakes; blanch and chop +four almonds; put them in the oven to colour, +then sprinkle over the whip, and serve.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="A_DREAM_OF_QUEENS_GARDENS1" id="A_DREAM_OF_QUEENS_GARDENS1"></a>A DREAM OF QUEEN'S GARDENS.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a><br /> + +<span style="font-size: 75%;">A STORY FOR GIRLS.—IN TWO PARTS.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 75%;"><span class="smcap">By</span> DANIEL DORMER, Author of "Out of the Mists."</span></h2> + + +<h3>PART I.<br /> +<span style="font-size: 75%;">A PRETTY QUEEN.</span></h3> + +<p>"Any letter for me this morning, Brightie?"</p> + +<p>Hazel is leaning rather perilously over the +banisters, trying to catch a glimpse of the old +woman coming slowly up the stairs far below.</p> + +<p>"Yes—one. Don't come for it, I'm +coming up. And pray, child, don't hang over +those rickety rails like that."</p> + +<p>Miss Bright, or "Brightie," as Hazel +Deane had grown affectionately to call her, is +a heavy, strongly-made woman of sixty-three +years. She finds the stairs in this house in +Union-square, where she and Hazel lodge, +rather trying; they are many and steep, so +she pauses half-way to recover breath. +Looking up she sees Hazel, a white, dark-eyed +face, and a form so slender that even those +unsafe rails could hardly give way under so +slight a weight. "More than ever like one of +my Cape jasmine stars," thinks old Brightie. +She has always mentally compared the girl to +one of those pure, white stars, which she used +so specially to love, shining on their invisible +stems, amidst the dark green leaf-sprays at her +sister's home. Oh, how the poor, lonely old +woman's heart had ached for that country +home of her younger days, as she sat wearily at +her business of plain sewing day after day in +her attic in Union-square!</p> + +<p>And Hazel, looking down, saw her one +friend in the world. A ray of sunlight +streamed in through the narrow staircase +window on to Miss Bright. It makes the +black cap which covers her whole head, with +strings flying back over her shoulders, look +very rusty. It makes her old alpaca gown, +patched and repatched, and the little black +silk apron that she wears, look more than ever +shiny. It strikes upon the large, old-fashioned +white pearl buttons down the front of her +bodice, and upon the glasses of her spectacles, +till she looks like some strange, black creature +staring all over with big, round eyes. To +Hazel's affectionate mind, however, there is +nothing in the least ludicrous in the sight. +She only notes the panting breath, and says, +with a touch of impatience in her anxiety—</p> + +<p>"Why will you persist in toiling up and +down those horrid stairs, instead of sending +me, Brightie? It is really very unkind of you."</p> + +<p>When Brightie has delivered up Hazel's +envelope, with its scrawled direction, she retires +into her own room, next door, and shuts herself +in. She is filled with an unwonted +excitement, for she holds a second letter in her +hand, and it is her own. The rarest thing it is +for her to have a letter, and the post-mark is +"Firdorf," the very same beautiful country +place for which she had pined; there she and +Janie, her only sister, had lived together, and +Janie had died there. The hands, aged with +work and deprivation more than with time, +shake as they break the seal, the aged eyes +grow dim again and again as they read.</p> + +<p>It is fully three parts of an hour before +Brightie has got through the letter—not that +the words are many or hard to understand; +but rather that the hindrances are many. +The glasses of the large spectacles grow so +misty from time to time that they require +polishing. Then, too, Miss Bright's mind +exhibits foolish tendencies, refusing to grasp +the meaning of the words, and causing her +to explain that she must be dreaming; and +still further she is carried back in mind to days +long since vanished, and scenes long unvisited, +and these detain her long. But at last she +rouses herself—has at length fairly accepted +the astonishing good news her letter contains, +and, with it open in her hand, hastens off to +communicate the same to her young friend.</p> + +<p>Hazel's door is locked, and Miss Bright has +to wait a moment before it is unfastened. +Hazel has been crying, and the tears must +have been both plentiful and bitter, for unmistakable +traces exist, in spite of hurried +efforts to efface them. For once, though, +Brightie is thoroughly self-engrossed, and fails +to notice even Hazel's face.</p> + +<p>"I have such wonderful news, my dear!" +she exclaims, the moment she is admitted into +the room.</p> + +<p>Hazel expresses her interest, and, with her +loving smile and tender way, ensconces her +friend in the one attempt at an easy chair her +room possesses, and then kneels beside her to +listen.</p> + +<p>"Well, my dear, you have heard me speak +of my sister's house at Firdorf?"</p> + +<p>"Of course! Often. Where you used to +live, and the flowers were so lovely."</p> + +<p>"Yes! and where the sweet white jasmine +used to blossom, filling the air with its +delicious fragrance when we sat in the summer +evenings beneath the trellis work, in front of +the dear old home."</p> + +<p>As she speaks of the jasmine, old Miss +Bright's hand is laid caressingly on Hazel's +hair, and her eyes—happily not too keen +without her glasses, or they would detect the +tear marks—rest with softened look, full of +tender memories, on the girl's sympathetic, upturned +face.</p> + +<p>"There were always we three there—I, and +my sister and her boy. You have heard how +the home was broken up, how Tom ran away, +and how we lost our money, and how Janie's +spirit broke down under it, till at length she +gave up praying for Tom's return, and drooped +and died?"</p> + +<p>Miss Bright is making a long pause. Her +large, rough face is heavy and sorrowful. She +has quite forgotten her good news for the +moment, has forgotten her friend kneeling +beside her, has forgotten all save the memory +of the sorrow which seemed to have terminated +all of joy the world held for her. Hazel steals +a gentle arm round the bowed neck, and kisses +the worn, absent face as softly and soothingly +as though it were some beautiful child's. The +touch recalls the wandering thoughts, Brightie +clasps the hand that she is holding in her own +more tightly, and goes on:—</p> + +<p>"Well, to be sure, and I haven't told you +the news after all, dearie! It is that Tom +has come back. He has made a great deal of +money, and got quite reformed and come back. +And he has bought back the old house, and +now has just found out my address and wants +me to go down and live with him; wants me +to forgive him, he says, and let him be a +comfort to me. I have, of course, nothing to +forgive, except for Janie's sake."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Brightie, what good, good news it is! +I am so very glad. You will at last have some +rest, and not be obliged to try your eyes over +that fine sewing, and be taken proper care of, +and have all sorts of nice things. I am so glad! +How soon can you go, dear?—to-morrow? +I should like you to go to-morrow."</p> + +<p>Hazel began very bravely, went on unsteadily, +and finally ended by laying her head +down on Brightie's broad shoulder, fairly +sobbing.</p> + +<p>"I should like you to go to-morrow! Why, +Hazel, Hazel, my tender-hearted little pet, are +you crying, then? Because you are sure I am +not going to-morrow? Neither to-morrow +nor any other time. Don't you know I could +not leave you without a friend in this great, +careless world?"</p> + +<p>Brightie's words are news to herself as she speaks +them. She had not considered the +possibility of such a thing before. Here was +the longed-for home open to her, waiting to +receive her again. Her one relation, her own +nephew, the same merry-faced Tom of old, +dear days, writing to her begging her to show +her forgiveness and go to him to be cherished +all the days of her life. And all this must be +foregone—renounced. She must give it all up, +and when Tom comes in two days, as he said +he should, to fetch her, she must withstand his +pleading and send him back alone, and never +see the sweet garden and fresh sea again.</p> + +<p>It is one of the cruellest days of bitter +March weather. Yet early in the day after +the talk with Brightie, Hazel goes out in spite +of the cutting east wind. Wearily she drags herself +about, making one more effort to +dispose of the manuscript of a story she has +written, which was ignominiously returned to +her as useless this morning. Hour after hour +she struggles on in a kind of desperation, +trying every possible chance of getting rid of +her laborious production. She is fully assured +in her own mind that she will have no opportunity +of getting out of doors, even to try +and dispose of it, after to-day for many days to +come. Her growing illness makes that +certain. But all efforts are worse than useless. +It is nearing seven o'clock, and growing quite +dark, when she reaches Union-square and +stumbles up those endless stairs at length. +For the first two flights the stairs are comparatively +broad and handsome, and they are +thickly carpeted; but above they grow narrow +and bare and steep. As she begins to ascend, +Hazel meets a lady in a rich dress. There are +preparations, too, in the lower rooms, which +betoken the commencement of some festivity. +Hazel is heartsick and footsore, and these +slight matters intensify her loneliness and +sadness, till as she enters her own dark, +desolate room her swelling heart finds vent in a +stifled sob. There has been no scarcity of +trouble in the five-and-twenty years of Hazel +Deane's life.</p> + +<p>And now the trouble that weighs upon her +this dreary night is the rejection all round of +the treasured writing, offered everywhere with +diffidence and hope, received back always with +mortification and despair. It is now finally +flung aside. Then there is the trouble of +losing her friend—her one friend, Miss Bright—for +Hazel's delicate little body holds a +resolute mind and strong will, and she is determined +her friend shall not forego the so long needed +rest on her account.</p> + +<p>The moon is looking in through the uncurtained +window, looking into the cold, bare +room, where only two or three cinders glow a +dull red in the grate. Beside it Hazel leans +back in her chair, musing bitterly on all the +gladness gone out of her life. "I am one of +those who have none to love them," she +thinks, and the tears gather in her eyes again.</p> + +<p>She is quoting from Mr. Ruskin's "Queen's +Gardens," the book which enabled her to bear +patiently a long delay at one of the publishers +she had tried that day. She had found it +lying upon the table beside her as she waited, +and picking it up, had become engrossed in it.</p> + +<p>"And I am a woman, and I suppose, +therefore, a queen—at least a possible +queen," she muses—"a pretty queen!"</p> + +<p class='center'>(<i>To be concluded.</i>)<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span></p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Sesame and Lilies. By John Ruskin, LL.D. +1. Of King's Treasuries. 2. Of Queen's Gardens.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_WEATHER_AND_HEALTH" id="THE_WEATHER_AND_HEALTH"></a>THE WEATHER AND HEALTH.<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap" style="font-size: 75%;">By MEDICUS.</span></h2> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 200px;"> +<img src="images/86_10_09_illus_007.png" width="200" height="318" alt="W" title="" /> +</div> +<p>e have all heard +tell of the "Clerk +of the Weather." +What a poor, ill-used, +roundly-rated, +over-worked +individual he must +be! His whole +life must be spent +in an impossible +endeavour to please +everybody. We may imagine +the poor man going of a +morning towards his office +with languid steps and weary, +wondering all the while to +himself what sort of weather +he ought to give the public +to-day.</p> + +<p>Arrived in front of his desk, he must stagger +back with dismay at the piles on piles of +letters heaped thereon. To read them all is +out of the question; so he sits down and +draws one forth, just as you would draw a card +from the hand of someone who pretended to +tell fortunes.</p> + +<p>He opens the letter. It isn't a pleasant +one by any means. There is a tone of growling +impatience in every line of it. How long, +the writer, who is an invalid, wants to know, +are these horrible east winds going to prevail +down in Devonshire? She has come here for +her health's sake; she has been here for three +weeks, and all that time it has never ceased to +blow, and she has never ceased to cough and +ache.</p> + +<p>The clerk throws this epistle into the +Balaam box and listlessly draws out another. +"Don't you think," the writer says, "that a +blink of sunshine would be a blessing—and +a drop or two of warm rain to bring the fruit +on, and the garden stuff? What is the good +of having a Clerk of the Weather at all if he +cannot attend better to his duties?"</p> + +<p>That letter is also pitched into the Balaam +box, and a third drawn—a delightful little +cocked-hat of a letter, written on delicately-perfumed +paper, probably with a dove's quill. +She—of course it is a she!—is going to a +garden-party on Tuesday week; would he, the +Clerk of the Weather, kindly see that not a +drop of rain falls on that day? Only bright +sunshine, and occasional cloudlets to act as +awnings and temper its heat.</p> + +<p>The Clerk with a smile places that letter +aside for further consideration, and goes on +drawing. All and everyone of them either +demand impossibilities or merely write to +abuse the poor Clerk for some fancied dereliction +of duty. One wants rain, another growls +because there has been too much wet. This +one is grumbling at the fogs, this other at the +sunshine; this one suggests snow for a change, +and this other begs for a thunderstorm to clear +the atmosphere.</p> + +<p>And so on and so forth. No wonder the +bewildered Clerk jumps up at last and over-turns +the table, letters and all, and audibly +expresses a desire to let all the winds loose +upon the world at once, to revel and tear and +do as they like, to bring blinding snow from +the far north and drenching rains from the +torrid zone, to order a select assortment of +thunderstorms from the Cape of Good Hope, +and a healthy tornado from the Indian Ocean. +But he thinks better of it, burns all the letters, +and goes quietly on with his day's duty.</p> + +<p>We see, then, that no matter what state of +body of mind we may be in, we cannot get +weather to order. We really commit an error, +if nothing worse, in asking for weather to +suit us.</p> + +<p>We cannot alter our climate. December +and January will bring their frosts and snows +without asking our permission; easterly or +nor'-easterly winds will prevail in the spring +months; March will bluster, April will weep; +May will smile through her tears by day and +freeze us with her frosts at night, and July +will stupefy us with thunderstorms, and August +scorch us with heat one day and drench us to +the skin the next.</p> + +<p>Now I am happy to say that a very large +percentage of the readers of <span class="smcap">The Girl's +Own Paper</span> are so healthy in lungs and in +nerves, and so stout-hearted and strong-limbed, +that it is, as a rule, a matter of entire +indifference to them how the wind blows or +how the weather is. But all are not so, and +it will seem a matter of surprise for the really +robust to be told that many girls are so delicately +constituted that they actually can tell +if the wind is from the east before they draw +the blind and look out. It is for this section +of our girls that I am writing to-day. They +may not be invalids, but may simply labour +under a great susceptibility to atmospheric +changes.</p> + +<p>Such as these will be glad to be told that +there is every possibility of their growing out +of this disagreeable susceptibility, much depending +upon how they use and treat themselves +when young. Spring winds are very +hard upon those who are subject to chest or +throat irritation—in other words, to common +colds—and I must take this opportunity of +entreating girls of this class never to neglect +a cold. Why? Because one cold on top of +another, as the saying is, will certainly result +in the end in thickening of the delicate +mucous membrane that lines the lungs, and +if this takes place you may look forward to +being in time a confirmed invalid the greater +part of the year through winter cough.</p> + +<p>It is not a very difficult thing to get clear +of a cold if taken in time. Confinement to +the house for a day, or even two, a lowered +diet, a mixture of the solution of acetate of +ammonia and spirits of sweet nitre the first +day, some aperient medicine and an ordinary +cough mixture the second or third day, warmer +clothing and avoidance of exposure to high +winds; this treatment will be found successful +in nine cases out of ten.</p> + +<p>Sudden changes in temperature are apt to +induce illness in the delicate. Mild weather +may have prevailed for some days, when all at +once the wind veers round to the north-east +and at the same time it blows high. Exposure +to weather of this kind may induce whatsoever +kind of ailment an individual is subject +to.</p> + +<p>Well, there is one way and only one, to avoid +it, and that is to dress in proportion to the +cold. No need for the clothing to be thick or +heavy. It should rather be the reverse, only +soft and warm. Heavy clothing is sure to +cause fatigue in walking, and also perspiration, +and both states of body lay open the pores for +trouble to enter.</p> + +<p>No need, either, for even the delicate to +confine themselves to the house during the +cold spring weeks or days. Confinement to +the house means want of exercise, want of an +abundance of fresh air, and very often want of +appetite. Well, the strong may exist intact +for a long time without much exercise or +ozone, but, mind you, the delicate cannot.</p> + +<p>On wet days a mackintosh may be worn, +though a good large umbrella is far better. +But if you will have a waterproof, let it be a +cloth one, one that will admit of ventilation, +and not an india-rubber article. This last is +only fit for a Scottish cabman, with muscles +of iron and sinews of steel.</p> + +<p>Here is an extreme case by way of example. +A lady goes out to take a walk on a damp day +thus accoutred: An extraordinary bulk and +weight of clothes, and over all an india-rubber +mackintosh; on her feet are those abominations +called goloshes; over her mouth she has +stuck a respirator, and over her head and +shoulders she carries an enormous umbrella. +The windows and doors of this lady's house +are always kept shut, and rendered hermetically +sealed by woollen sand-bags and other oxygen-banishing +contrivances. Is it any wonder that +she is pale and flabby in face, that her very +hands are sickly, soft, and puffy, and that she +is continually at war with the cook?</p> + +<p>Be warned, dear reader; take all reasonable +precautions against catching cold, but do not +render your body unwholesome from over-clothing, +nor your lungs sickly for want of +the pure air of heaven that you can no more +live well without than a fish can survive in a +muddy stream. Sore throat and tic doloreux, +or face-ache, are very common complaints in +cold weather with high winds. But I really +think they are more easily prevented than +cured. Both may be produced in the same +way—namely, from exposure to cold. It is +a draught blowing directly on the face and +into the eyes or upon the neck that brings on +these distressing complaints. Beware of such +a draught, and beware of damp or wet feet. +Beware, also, when walking out, of having too +thick a muffle around the neck, for this is apt +to sweat it.</p> + +<p>Whenever you feel the slightest touch of +sore throat, examine it at the glass, and if +there be any redness, do it over with your +camel's-hair pencil dipped in a mixture of +glycerine two parts and tincture of iron one +part.</p> + +<p>As for tic, you protect yourself against cold +and damp, but you ought also to take an +occasional tonic, and there is nothing I know +better than the citrate of iron and quinine. +If, however, this medicine should produce a +disagreeable feeling of fulness in the head, it +had better be avoided and some other tonic +substituted. Well, there is cod-liver oil in +conjunction with the extract of malt. This is +the only form in which cod-liver oil can be +taken by many.</p> + +<p>I should mention that an occasional aperient +pill will do good, but that the habit of taking +medicine of this kind as a regular thing should +be avoided.</p> + +<p>In cold weather the feet should be kept very +comfortable, but you must avoid sitting too +much by the fire. I have already said that +sudden atmospheric changes are dangerous, +but girls often manufacture these changes for +themselves, quite independent of the weather, +by keeping themselves too warm indoors and +hugging the fire too much.</p> + +<p>In cold weather the food should be more +nourishing, and soups are good for the health. +Soups should be avoided when the weather +changes to warm.</p> + +<p>Sugar, sweets, puddings, and fatty foods are +all good in cold, bleak weather, but in summer +these do harm, if used to any great extent, by +heating the blood.</p> + +<p>The change in this country from cold with +high winds and perhaps frosts at night to +warmth and even scorching heat is often very +sudden. Even the delicate are then very apt<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> +to throw off their winter or spring clothing. +But to do so suddenly is highly injudicious. +Girls who are not strong should wear some +woollen material all the year round. This +should of course be of a lighter texture in +summer, but woollen it ought to be, without +doubt.</p> + +<p>It is, I believe, a fact that there are fully as +many disagreeable colds caught in summer as +in winter, and this can only be owing to the +greater recklessness with which people expose +themselves to the influence of the weather.</p> + +<p>During sultry and thundery weather, as it +is called, many of the delicate suffer from +languor, listlessness, and headache. These +symptoms usually go away suddenly when +the weather breaks or the storm comes on and +rolls over. Exertion in cases of this kind +should be avoided, as well as anything like +heavy meals. The sufferer is better out of +doors than in, and better reclining in a +hammock or easy-chair out of a draught than +standing or walking about.</p> + +<p>Hot weather greatly depresses the vital +energy, because it usually comes on so +suddenly. On very warm days the delicate +should avoid the sunshine's glare during the +heat of the day. But exercise must be taken +if health is to be retained, so in summer even +girls that are not strong should get out of bed +soon and take a tepid if not cold bath. About +half-an-hour after breakfast is the best time +for exercise, and again about an hour before +sunset, just when the day is cooling down, but +before the chill, night air has begun to blow.</p> + +<p>I have no intention at present to take up +the subject of food in its relation to weather, +but I must be permitted to say that in our +country, as a rule, summer dinners are served +on mistaken principles. Why, they differ but +little, if at all, from the same meals as placed +before us in the winter season—soup, fish, and +great joints, pastry and cheese.</p> + +<p>To the robust I have nothing to say. Let +them eat what they choose; in time they will +find out their mistake. But I do seriously +advise delicate girls to live rather abstemiously +and on light, easily digested dishes during the +hot weather. Salads (and fruit, if good and +ripe) may, however, be taken with great +benefit.</p> + +<p>We constantly hear young folks complaining +of thirst during very warm weather. The +reason is not so much to be sought in the heat +itself as in the way they live. Overloading +the stomach with strong meats in the summer +season not only induces thirst but positively +enfeebles the body and hurts the digestion.</p> + +<p>Ice and ices should be avoided as much as +possible; at the best their use is but a very +artificial way of cooling the overheated body. +A mixture of ice and stimulants is worse ten +times. A cup of good tea is one of the most +wholesome beverages one can take in warm +weather. It exhilarates, it cools, and while it +cools the body it calms the mind.</p> + +<p>Lime or lemon juice and water make a +good drink. It should be sipped.</p> + +<p>Ginger beer is somewhat too gassy for a +delicate stomach. Raspberry syrup in water, +acidulated to taste with a little citric acid, is +very refreshing, and the same may be said of +many other of the fruit syrups.</p> + +<p>Raspberry vinegar is made by placing three +pounds of the picked fruit into a glass vessel +and pouring over them a pint and a half of +white wine vinegar. It should stand for a +fortnight and then be strained without pressure.</p> + +<p>Buttermilk is as good for a drink in summer +as it is for the complexion. Whey is also +an excellent drink in summer, and I cannot +refrain from suggesting as a summer dish +curds and cream.</p> + +<p>Ripe fruit may be eaten during hot weather +with great benefit, only it must be ripe and +not over ripe.</p> + +<p>To conclude, I shall give a prescription for +a summer drink which is worth making a note +of. Take the thin peel and the juice of a +good-sized lemon and add a small teaspoonful +of citric acid and a wine-glassful of fruit +syrup, then pour on of boiling water one +quart. Let it stand till cold, and then strain.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="GIRLS_FRIENDSHIPS" id="GIRLS_FRIENDSHIPS"></a>GIRLS' FRIENDSHIPS.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 75%;">By the Author of "Flowering Thorns."</span></h2> + + +<h3>CHAPTER I.<br /> + +<span style="font-size: 75%;">IDEAL FRIENDSHIPS.</span></h3> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 150px;"> +<img src="images/86_10_09_illus_008.png" width="150" height="264" alt="I" title="" /> +</div> +<p> don't suppose there +are many girls between +the ages of +sixteen and twenty-three +who have not +a great friend—a +particular friend; +and if there are, it +is my opinion they +cannot be the best +kind of girls, because +unnatural.</p> + +<p>Some one—I +think it is the author +of "John Halifax, +Gentleman"—has +called friendship +a "Foreshadowing +of love"; +and if it is natural +for a woman +to have a lover, it is no less natural for a +girl to have a great friend among her girl +associates.</p> + +<p>How do girls make friends? and why do their +friendships last very often but a short time? +or, again, how is it they ever endure a long +time? are questions which people who have +forgotten their own early friendships, or, perhaps, +never gave much thought to them, +puzzle over in vain. And they may have +puzzled you too, my thoughtful girl-readers, +who want the ideal friend you have read of or +dreamed of in day-dreams, but neither possess +nor know how to acquire.</p> + +<p>To begin with—What is friendship? and I +am inclined to define it as a bond of mutual +affection, sympathy, and help. If it is lacking +in any one of these particulars, just so far does +it fall short of ideal friendship.</p> + +<p>Test your present so-called friendship by +these tests, and I think you will find that any +dissatisfaction you may feel in them can be +accounted for by a failure to pass one or other.</p> + +<p>There is, perhaps, not much difficulty about +the first of these. Young people feel quickly +and strongly, and if girls did not honestly +love one another, or imagine—also honestly—that +they did, the friendship, if, indeed, it +could exist at all, would be shorn of half its +charm. But love must be fed, and will only +starve on a diet of respect and admiration, +without a very large admixture of sympathy. +Sympathy, fellow-feeling, mutual sensibility—call +it how we will—is a simple necessity +to our ideal friendship, and by no means +compels the two friends to unvarying likeness +either in character or tastes. But our +ideal friends—let us call them Alice and Maud—must +be united so wholly by this subtle +bond that the pleasure, pain, or interest of the +one touches, through her, the other, who +shares in what I may call this reflective way +the emotion originating with her friend.</p> + +<p>Alice, who does not personally care for +music in the least, yet thoroughly enjoys a +concert, because she is feeling (reflectively) all +the time the keen delight with which Maud is +listening to every note; and Maud, for the +same reason, has true pleasure in reading that +rather dry volume of essays, because that scattered +throughout are sentiments and expressions +which she knows very well Alice will +greatly appreciate.</p> + +<p>Mutual sympathy between friends is, of +course, the outcome of love; and yet it is surprising +how little sympathy sometimes exists +between girls who to all appearance are really +fond of one another.</p> + +<p>This may arise from selfishness, unselfishness, +or unintelligence—that density of mental +vision which has never been educated to perceive +the subtle bonds which bind soul to +soul.</p> + +<p>Now let us take Edith and Amy as examples +of an imperfect friendship, in contrary distinction +to the ideal or perfect. They are fond of +one another, but there is a lack of mutual +sympathy. Amy is full of ideas and projects, +which she sows broadcast during their long +confidentials, and which spring up in great +beauty (to her mind, at least) in the fertile soil +of Edith's admiration. But all the giving is +on one side. Edith listens and wonders, +applauds or condoles, as her stronger-minded +friend may give her the cue, too unselfish, and +perhaps, also, too timid, to intrude her own +less thrilling interests and hopes upon Amy's +self-absorption; so that when the latter comes +to an end of her confidences, and has leisure +and recollection enough to say, "And now, +Edith, what have you been doing?" she +hastily replies, "Oh, nothing particular," glad +to be able to shield her insignificance in +silence.</p> + +<p>Amy does not miss the return confidence +which makes friendship so sweet; she is too +full of her own affairs to be a listener. Edith +is her overflow, whom she leaves saying mentally, +"What a dear little sympathetic thing +she is! What should I do without her?"</p> + +<p>But what is Edith to do? Where is her +overflow? This is a very one-sided friendship: +the companionship of giant and dwarf, +which sooner or later must come to an end or +be very uncomfortable for the dwarf. The +friends, as I said, need not be alike, need not +even be of equal capacity, intellectually or +practically, but the sympathy, rooted in affection, +must be mutual; it must be equal give +and take, or the friendship is miserably stunted +and incomplete.</p> + +<p>And this brings me to speak of the third +ingredient in what I have defined as a perfect +friendship—mutual help, which, of course, +supposes the two friends to be somewhat +different, whether in character, tastes, or surroundings, +so that one can supply what the +other lacks.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/86_10_09_illus_009.png" width="600" height="795" alt="ALICE AND MAUD." title="" /> +<span class="caption">ALICE AND MAUD.</span> +</div> + +<p>If two countries in friendly relations both<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> +produce one article abundantly, and are both +lacking in some other article, there can be no +commerce—which is the symbol of friendly +relations—between them. Both must apply +to a third country for that in which both are +deficient. And if Edith cannot get help from +Amy when she is in need of it, not necessarily +advice, but some new view of the situation +occasioned by Amy's different character or +life, and which would enable Edith to face the +trouble or difficulty with more courage or +intelligence—if, I say, Edith cannot get this +help from Amy, before long she will find +Clara, and the friendship will be dissolved or +cooled; while undiscerning people will say, +"How fickle these girls are!"</p> + +<p>Not at all. They obey a subtle, spiritual +law, which makes it impossible for friendship +long to exist on insufficient food, and when it +is said that women are unreasoning and +exacting in their friendships, it is simply +because people don't see that it is the nature +which is in them crying out to be fed with +that without which it must die.</p> + +<p>But if after, it may be, years of affectionate +intercourse, you still find that your friend +gives you absolutely nothing which you have +not already got—that she communicates no +thought or experience to you that will +stimulate your mind or aid you in the practical +work of life—do you not begin to lose interest +in her, strive as you will against the consciousness +of it? Does not the friend quit her +hold on you and slide down to the level of +those of whom an hour or a letter every few +weeks gives you enough? You may feel +affectionately towards such, but not friendship.</p> + +<p>Our ideal friends, Alice and Maud, are very +different. Alice is studious and thoughtful, +leading a quiet, uneventful life; Maud is high-spirited, +devoted to art and music, and sees +considerably more of "the world," as it is +called. But they are a constant source of +interest and assistance to each other. Alice's +thoughtful mind finds the meaning to the +puzzles of Maud's more superficial existence, +who in turn puts the light touches to Alice's +grave conclusions, which often give them +reality. These two, as it were, sketch life's +island from different points. One takes the +outline of cliff or shore, dashing in what I +may call the aggregated tints of forest and +hill; the other paints by turns each special +crag or ravine, with their colours in detail; +yet both are correct, and we want both if we +are to understand the island.</p> + +<p>I can imagine Maud in difficulty thinking, +"I must go and see Alice, she will help me +out of my perplexity; she takes such different +views of things from those I do, and I have +really come to an end of my ideas."</p> + +<p>Or Alice, also in difficulty, though probably +of a very different character, exclaiming, "I +only wish Maud were here. She would know +just how to arrange this; and I cannot imagine +what to do."</p> + +<p>Emerson tells us that as soon as we come +up with a man's (or woman's) limitations it is +all over with us. Before that he might have +been infinitely alluring and attractive—"a +great hope—a sea to swim in"; but you discover +that he has a shore—that the sea is, in +fact, a pond—and you cease to care for it.</p> + +<p>There is something in this to explain the +languidness or cessation of many girl friendships. +There is nothing more to be learned—nothing +more to teach. They have come to +an end of their resources; there is no more +help to be got, and the interest dwindles. A +long walk or talk with one another becomes +stale, each prefers her own society, and by +degrees the unfed affection cools, and they +find themselves unconsciously groping about +for souls whose limitations they have not yet +reached.</p> + +<p>This is not fickleness; it is Nature; and +there is a natural remedy—progress. If day +by day your shores—to use Emerson's simile—widen, +if you will not allow your mind to +remain at a standstill, like the stagnant pond, +but are constantly receiving and constantly +using varied stores of knowledge and experience, +you need not fear to crush your friend +by the discovery of your limitations. She will +have to progress too, if she is to come up +with that; and as there is no reasonable probability +that you will advance in precisely the +same direction, you will each find increasing +interest and help in the other's society.</p> + +<p>One thing more the ideal friendship needs, +but it is one most girls' friendships, whether +ideal or not, possess. I mean confidence. It +is not till the twenties are well into that reserve +and reticence take their place in a +woman's friendship; it is not till then that +she questions with herself how far she will +trust her friend with her hopes, fears, and +troubles. The younger we are, the more +generous, trusting, and unsuspicious we are; +which is, I suppose, the great reason why we +never make such particular friends when the +period of trust is past. If your friend is +worthy of the name, trust her wholly. How +can you sympathise with or help one another +if you only tell half your troubles and difficulties? +I do not mean that all should wear +their hearts upon their sleeves. Every girl +has, and should have, her private sanctuary +of thought, where none may enter; but in +the matters which are discussed between +friends let there be no half-confidences.</p> + +<p>I have tried to sketch what I call an ideal +friendship. If they are rare, they are possible—most +possible if you only study their construction.</p> + +<p>I think all thoughtful and imaginative girls +long for this ideal friendship; but I wonder if +they all reflect that the ideality does not all +depend on the friend, but on themselves. If +it takes two most emphatically to make a +quarrel, it needs two to make a friendship. +Do your best to make it ideal.</p> + +<p>I have known such a friendship; I know +that it is possible; and I know that it is one +of the most perfect experiences our life can +give us.</p> + +<p>You do not need to live exceptional lives +in order to love, sympathise, and help. Experience +is the best teacher, and gives lessons +to all. Use that intelligently as a means of +moral, mental, spiritual progress, remembering +that it does not come to you by chance, +but rather as the work of</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i16">"The hands<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which reach through Nature, moulding men."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p class='center'>(<i>To be continued.</i>)</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="MERLES_CRUSADE" id="MERLES_CRUSADE"></a>MERLE'S CRUSADE.<br /> +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 75%;"><span class="smcap">By ROSA NOUCHETTE CAREY</span>, Author of "Aunt Diana," "For Lilias," etc.</span></h2> + + +<h3>CHAPTER II.<br /> + +<span style="font-size: 75%;">AN UNPREACHED SERMON.</span></h3> +<div class="figleft" style="width: 150px;"> +<img src="images/86_10_09_illus_010.png" width="150" height="297" alt="S" title="" /> +</div> +<p>uch an odd thing +happened a few minutes +afterwards. I +was sitting quite +quietly in my corner, +turning over in my +mind all the arguments +with which I +had assailed Aunt +Agatha that Sunday +afternoon, and +watching the pink +glow of the firelight +in contrast to the whiteness +of the snow outside, +when the door bell rang, +and almost the next moment +Uncle Keith came +into the room.</p> + +<p>I suppose he must have overlooked +me entirely, for he went up to Aunt +Agatha and sat down beside her.</p> + +<p>"Sweetheart," he said, taking her +hand, and I should hardly have recognised +his voice, "I have been thinking +about you all the way home, and what +a pleasant sight my wife's face would +be after my long walk through the snow +and——" But here Aunt Agatha must +have given him a warning look, for he +stopped rather abruptly, and said, +"Hir-rumph" twice over, and Aunt +Agatha blushed just as though she were +a girl.</p> + +<p>I could not help laughing a little to +myself as I went out of the room to tell +Patience to bring in the tea, and yet +that sentence of Uncle Keith touched +me somehow. Were middle-aged people +capable of that sort of love? Did youth +linger so long in them? I had imagined +those two such a staid, matter-of-fact +couple; they had come together so late +in life, that one never dreamt of any possible +romance in such a courtship, and +yet he could call Aunt Agatha "Sweetheart" +in a voice that was not the least +drawling. At that moment one would +not have called him so plain and insignificant +with that kind look on his face. +I suppose he keeps that look for Aunt +Agatha, for I remember she once told +me that she had never seen such a good +face as Uncle Keith's "not handsome, +Merle, but so thoroughly good."</p> + +<p>Patience was toasting the muffins in +her bright little kitchen, so I sat down +and watched her. I was rather partial +to Patience; she was a pretty, neat-looking +creature, and I always thought +it a great pity that she was engaged to +a journeyman bootmaker, who aspired +to be a preacher. I never could approve +of Reuben Locke, though Aunt Agatha +spoke well of him; he was such a weak, +pale-faced young man; and I think a +man, to be one, ought to have some +spirit in him, and not possess only the +womanish virtues.</p> + +<p>"How is Reuben, Patience?" I asked, +somewhat amiably, just for the pleasure +of seeing our little handmaid's dimples +come into view.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Reuben's but poorly, miss," replied +Patience, as she buttered another smoking +muffin, the last of the pile. "He +was preaching at Whitechapel the other +night and caught a cold and sore throat; +his mother says he will not be at chapel +to-night."</p> + +<p>"I do not approve of street preaching +myself," I remarked, a little severely.</p> + +<p>"Indeed, miss," replied Patience, +innocently, as she prepared to carry in +the tea-tray, "Reuben always tells me +that the Apostles were street preachers, +and Reuben is as clear as Gospel in +what he says." But here the drawing-room +bell broke off Patience's argument, +and left me somewhat worsted. I went +to church by myself that evening, and +I am ashamed to say I heard very little +of the sermon. I knew Aunt Agatha +would be taking advantage of my long +absence to retail what she termed my +preposterous scheme to Uncle Keith, +and that I should have the benefit of his +opinion on my return, and this thought +made me restless.</p> + +<p>I was not wrong in my surmise. Aunt +Agatha looked a little pale and subdued, +as though she had been shedding a few +tears over my delinquencies, but Uncle +Keith was simply inscrutable; when he +chose, his face could present a perfect +blank.</p> + +<p>"Hir-rumph, my dear, what is this +your aunt tells me, that you are going +to Prince's Gate to-morrow morning to +offer your services as nurse in a gentleman's +family?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Uncle Keith."</p> + +<p>"Do you mean to tell me seriously +that you have really made up your mind +to take this step?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I am quite serious, I assure +you."</p> + +<p>"Your aunt's objections and mine do +not count for much, then?"</p> + +<p>"I should be sorry to go against your +wishes or Aunt Agatha's," I returned, +trying to keep cool; but his manner, as +usual, aggravated me; it said so plainly, +"What a silly child you are, and yet +you think yourself a woman," "but I +must do as I think right in this matter. +I hope to prove to you and everyone +else that there is nothing derogatory in +the work I mean to undertake. It is +not what I would choose, perhaps, but +everything else is closed to me," thinking +sorrowfully of my life-long misfortune, +as I always called it, and my repressed +longings for hospital training.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps if you waited something +else might turn up." But I shook my +head at this.</p> + +<p>"I have waited too long already, +Uncle Keith; idleness soon becomes a +habit."</p> + +<p>"Then if you have made up your mind, +it is useless to try and alter it," returned +Uncle Keith, in a slightly ironical tone, +and he actually took up the volume he +was reading in a way that showed he +had dismissed the subject. I was never +more astonished in my life; never had +Uncle Keith so completely baffled me.</p> + +<p>I had spent the whole time during +which I ought to have been listening to +the sermon, in recapitulating the heads +of my arguments in favour of this very +scheme; I would show Uncle Keith how +clearly and logically I could work out +the subject.</p> + +<p>I had thought out quite an admirable +little essay on feminine work in the nineteenth +century by the time Mr. Wright +had finished his discourse. I meant to +have cited the Challoners as an example. +Aunt Agatha had stayed in their neighbourhood +of Oldfield just before her +marriage, and had often paid visits at +Longmead and Glen Cottage.</p> + +<p>The eldest Miss Challoner—Nan, I +think they called her—was just preparing +for her own wedding, and Aunt Agatha +often told me what a beautiful girl she +was, and what a fine, intelligent creature +the second sister Phillis seemed. She +was engaged to a young clergyman at +Hadleigh, and there had been some talk +of a double wedding, only Nan's father-in-law, +Mr. Mayne, of Longmead, had +been rather cross at the notion, so +Phillis's was to be postponed until the +autumn.</p> + +<p>All the neighbourhood of Oldfield had +been ringing with the strange exploits +of these young ladies. One little fact had +leaked out after another; it was said +their own cousin, Sir Henry Challoner, +of Gilsbank, had betrayed the secret, +though he always vowed his wife had a +hand, or rather a tongue, in the business; +but anyhow, there was a fine nine days' +gossip over the matter.</p> + +<p>It seemed that some time previously +Mrs. Challoner and her three daughters +had sustained severe losses, and the three +girls, instead of losing courage, had put +their shoulders to the wheel, and had +actually set up as dressmakers at Hadleigh, +carrying on their business in a +most masterly fashion, until the unexpected +return of their relative, Sir Harry +Challoner, from Australia, with plenty of +money at his disposal, broke up the +dressmaking business, and reinstated +them at Glen Cottage.</p> + +<p>A few of their friends had been much +offended with them, but as it was understood +that Lady Fitzroy had spoken +warmly of their moral courage and perseverance, +it had become the fashion to +praise them. Aunt Agatha had often +quoted them to me, saying she had +never met more charming girls, and +adding more than once how thoroughly +she respected their independence, and +of course in recalling the Challoners I +thought I should have added my crowning +argument.</p> + +<p>There was so much, too, that I longed +to say in favour of my theory. The love +of little children was very strong with me. +I had often been pained as I walked +through the streets at seeing tired children +dragged along or shaken angrily +by some coarse, uneducated nurse. It +had always seemed rather a pitiful idea +to me that children from their infancy +should be in hourly contact with rough, +menial natures. "Surely," I would +say to myself, "the mother's place must +be in her nursery; she can find no higher +duty than this, to watch over her little +ones; even if her position or rank hinder +her constant supervision, why need she +relegate her maternal duties to uneducated +women? Are there no poor +gentlewomen in the world who would +gladly undertake such a work from very +love, and who would refuse to believe +for one moment they were losing caste +in discharging one of the holiest and +purest duties in life?</p> + +<p>"What an advantage to the children," +I imagined myself saying in answer to +some objection on Uncle Keith's part, +never dreaming that all this eloquence +would be silenced by masculine cunning.</p> + +<p>"What an advantage to these little +creatures to hear English pure and undefiled +from their cradles, and to be +trained to habits of refinement and +good manners by merely instinctively +following the example before their eyes. +Children are such copyists, one shudders +to think of these impressionable little +beings being permitted by their natural +guardians to take their earliest lessons +from some uneducated person.</p> + +<p>"Women are crying out for work, +Uncle Keith," I continued, carrying my +warfare into a fresh quarter; but, alas! +this, with the rest of my eloquence, died +a natural death on my way home. +"There are too many of the poor things in +this world, and the female market is +overstocked. They are invading telegraph +offices, and treading on the heels +of business men, but sheer pride and +stupidity prevent them from trying to +open nursery doors."</p> + +<p>"Unladylike to be a servant," another +imaginary objection on Uncle Keith's +part. "Oh, fie, Uncle Keith! this from +you, who read your Bible and go to +church; and yet I remember a certain +passage, 'Whosoever will be chief +among you let him be your servant,' +which has hallowed the very idea of service +ever since.</p> + +<p>"To serve others seems the very meaning +of womanhood; in some sense, a +woman serves all the days of her life. No, +I am not farfetched and unpractical." +Another supposed masculine tirade. +"I have thought over the whole thing +most carefully. I am not only working +for myself, but for others. I want to +open the eyes of my generation, and, like +the Challoners, to lead a new crusade +against the mighty sham of conventionality. +Understand me, Uncle Keith, I +do not say to these young gentlewomen, +put your pride in your pocket and wheel +your perambulator with the twins, or +carry the baby into the park before the +eyes of your aristocratic acquaintance; +that would be unnecessary and foolish; +you may leave that part to the under-nurse, +who brings your meals and scours +your nurseries; I simply say to them, if +you have no capacity for teaching, if +nature has unfitted you for other work, +and you are too proud and conscientious +to live a dragging, dependent life under +the roof of some overburthened relative, +take the charge of some aristocratic +nursery. Do not think it beneath your +womanhood to feed and wash and clothe +an infant, or to watch over weak, toddling +creatures. Your work may be humble, +but you will grow to love it, and if no +one else will put the theory to the test, +I, Merle Fenton, will do so, though I +must take the plunge unaided, and +alone."</p> + +<p>But all these feeling observations were +locked up in my own inner consciousness, +for during the remainder of the evening<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> +Uncle Keith simply ignored the subject +and read his book with a pretence of +being perfectly absorbed in it, though I +am certain that his eyes twinkled mischievously +whenever he looked in my +direction, as though he were quite aware +of my flood of repressed oratory.</p> + +<p>I determined to have it out with Aunt +Agatha, so I followed her into her room, +and asked her in a peevish voice what +she meant by saying Uncle Keith +would be so angry with me, as he had +not raised a single objection, and, of +course, as silence meant consent, I +should most certainly keep my appointment +at Prince's Gate.</p> + +<p>Aunt Agatha looked a little distressed +as she answered me.</p> + +<p>"To tell you the truth, Merle, I did +not quite understand your uncle myself; +I expected a very different reception of +my news."</p> + +<p>"Tell me all about it from the very +beginning," I returned, eagerly. "Patience +has made such a nice fire, +because she said she was afraid you +had a cold, and I can just sit by it +and brush out my hair while we talk."</p> + +<p>"But I am tired and sleepy, child, +and after all there is not much to tell," +objected Aunt Agatha; but she was far +too good-natured to refuse for all that, +so she seated herself, dear soul, in the +big chair—that she had christened +Idleness—and tried to remember what +I wished to hear.</p> + +<p>"I told him everything, Merle: how +your one little defect hindered you, +poor child, from being a nursery governess +or companion, and how, in spite +of this serious obstacle, you were determined +to work and be independent."</p> + +<p>"Well, and did he say nothing to +all that?" I asked, for I knew in what +a feeling manner Aunt Agatha would +have described my difficulties.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes; he said, 'poor little +thing,' in the kindest possible way, +'and quite right—very proper,' when I +spoke of your desire for work."</p> + +<p>"Well," rather impatiently.</p> + +<p>"He listened very attentively until I +read him out the advertisement, but +that seemed to upset him, for he burst +out laughing, and I thought he would +never stop. I was half crying by that +time, for you had worried me to death +all the afternoon, Merle, but nothing I +could say would make him grave for a +long time. He said once, 'What could +have put such a thing into her head?' +and then he laughed again as though +the idea amused him, and then he +rubbed his hands and muttered, 'What +an original child it is; there is no deficiency +of brain power as far as I can +see; who would have dreamt of such a +thing?' and so on."</p> + +<p>"Then I may flatter myself that +Uncle Keith approves of my scheme," +I observed, stiffly, for I was much +offended at the idea of his laugh.</p> + +<p>"Oh dear, no," returned Aunt +Agatha, in an alarmed voice, "he expressed +his disapproval very strongly; +he said it was all very well in theory, +and that, on the whole, he agreed with +you that the nursery was undoubtedly +a lady-like sphere, but he was far from +sure that your scheme would be practical. +He foresaw all kinds of difficulties, +and that he did not consider +you at all the person for such a position."</p> + +<p>"Why did not Uncle Keith say all +this to me himself?" I demanded.</p> + +<p>"Because he said it would only be +sowing the wind to raise the whirlwind. +In an argument he declares women +always have the best of it, because they +can talk the fastest, and never will own +they are beaten; to raise objections +would only be to strengthen you more +in your purpose. I think," finished +Aunt Agatha, in her softest voice, "that +he hoped your plan would die a natural +death, for he recommended me to withdraw +all opposition."</p> + +<p>Oh, the cunning of these men. I +would not have believed all this of Uncle +Keith. I was far too angry to talk +any more to Aunt Agatha; I only commanded +my voice sufficiently to say that +I fully intended to keep my appointment +the next day; and as she only +looked at me very sadly and said nothing, +I had no excuse for lingering +any longer, so I took up my candlestick +and marched into my own room.</p> + +<p>It felt cold and desolate, and as I +sat down by the toilet table, such sad +eyes looked into mine from the depths +of the mirror, that a curious self-pitying +feeling made me prop my chin on my +hands and exchange looks of silent +sympathy with my image.</p> + +<p>My want of beauty never troubled me; +it has always been my private conviction +that we ought to be thankful if we +are tolerably pleasant in other people's +eyes; beauty is too rare a gift to be +often reproduced. If people thought me +nice-looking I was more than content; +perhaps it was surprising that, with +such good-looking parents, I was just +ordinary and nothing else, "But never +mind, Merle, you have a good figure +and talking eyes," as Aunt Agatha +once said to me. "I was much plainer +at your age, my dear, but my plainness +never prevented me from having a +happy life and a good husband."</p> + +<p>"Well, perhaps I should like a happy +life, too, but as for the husband—never +dream of that, my good girl; remember +your miserable deficiency in +this enlightened age. No man in his +senses would condone that; put such +thoughts resolutely away and think only +of your work in life. <i>Laborare est +orare.</i>"</p> + +<p class='center'>(<i>To be continued.</i>)</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="THE_CONTENTS_OF_MY_WORK-BOX" id="THE_CONTENTS_OF_MY_WORK-BOX"></a>THE CONTENTS OF MY WORK-BOX. +<br /> +<span style="font-size: 75%;">HOW BUTTONS ARE MADE.</span></h2> + +<div class="figleft" style="width: 200px;"> +<img src="images/86_10_09_illus_012.png" width="200" height="198" alt="I" title="" /> +</div> +<p>t is scarcely possible +to determine when +buttons, which are +both useful and ornamental, +were first +made. In the paintings +of the fourteenth +century they +frequently appear on +the garments of +both sexes, but in +many instances they are drawn without button-holes, +and are placed in such situations as to +suggest that at that time they were used +more for ornament than usefulness.</p> + +<p>It was towards the close of the sixteenth +century that button-making was first considered +a business, and that the manufacturers +formed a considerable body.</p> + +<p>Button-making was originally a very tedious +and expensive process. The button consisted +of one solid piece of metal; the ornaments on +the face of it were the work of an engraver. +To obviate the expense connected with such a +method of production, the press, stamp, and +engine for turning the moulds were introduced. +This improvement led the way for +other improvements, both with regard to the +materials from which buttons were afterwards +made and also the process of manufacture. +The plain gilt button, which was extensively +used in the early part of the present century, +was made from an alloy called plating metal, +which contained a larger proportion of copper +and less zinc than ordinary brass. The devices +on the outer surface were produced by stamping +the previously cut out blanks or metal +discs with steel dies, after which the necks +were soldered in. At the present time every +possible kind of metal, from iron to gold, +whether pure or mixed; every conceivable woven +fabric, from canvas to the finest satin and +velvet; every natural production capable of +being turned out or pressed, as wood, horn, +hoof, pearl, bone, ivory, jet, ivory nuts; every +manufactured material of which the same may +be said, as caoutchouc, leather, papier maché, +glass, porcelain, etc., buttons are made in a +great variety of shape; but at the present +time they may be classed under four heads: +buttons with shanks, buttons without shanks, +buttons on rings or wire moulds, and buttons +covered with cloth or some other material.</p> + +<p>In the process of metal button-making by +means of fly presses and punches, circular +discs, called blanks, are cut out of sheets of +metal. This work is usually done by females, +who, while seated at a bench, manage to cut +out as many as thirty blanks per minute, or +twelve gross in an hour. On leaving the press +the edges of the blanks are very sharp. When +they have been smoothed and rounded, the +surfaces are planished on the face by being +placed separately in a die, under a small +stamp, and causing them to receive a sharp +blow from a polished steel hammer. The +next process is that of shanking, or attaching +small metal loops, by which they are fastened +to garments. The shank manufacture is a +distinct branch of the trade in Birmingham, +although at times carried on in the same +factory.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span></p> + +<p>The shanks are made by a machine, in +which a coil of wire is gradually advanced +towards a pair of shears, which cut off short +pieces. A metal finger then presses against +the middle of each piece, first bending it +and then pressing it into a vice, where it is +compressed so as to form a loop; a hammer +then strikes the two ends, spreading them +into a flat surface, and the shank is pushed +out of the machine ready for use. The +shanks in some instances are attached to the +blanks by women with iron wire, solder, and +resin, after which they are placed in an oven, +and when firmly united are removed and form +plain buttons. In the majority of cases, +however, soldering is dispensed with, the +shanks being made secure in the press.</p> + +<p>If the button is to be finished without a +shank, it is passed on from the press, which +it leaves as a blank, to another where the +holes are pierced, and then to a third where +the roughness is removed from the edges of +the holes.</p> + +<p>The commonest metal buttons which I +have seen in process of making were cut out +of scraps of tin, similar to what may be seen +on the refuse heap of any shop where tin +goods are made. The hand presses worked +by women cut out the blanks, made a simple +impression on the outside, and turned up the +edges all round at the same time. The blanks +were then passed on to another press, where +pieces of cardboard were inserted, and the +edges turned over to keep them firm. The +holes were next pierced, and a finish given by +a blow from a stamp.</p> + +<p>I felt deeply interested in seeing all kinds +of buttons in process of being made, some for +India, others for Chili, and our own army, but +the prettiest and most interesting to witness +while passing through the presses, stamps, and +hands of the workers were some which were +being made for Malta. In passing through +the first press the blank was embossed and cut +out. By another press the edge was scalloped, +and by a third press the open work was +effected. The next process was that of so +pressing each disc to such an extent that the +scalloped edges of two might meet, and thus +form a round button of pretty design when +united, and a shank fastened in the centre of +one of the blanks.</p> + +<p>Military buttons, like many others, are +made of two discs of metal, the impression on +the outer ones being produced by a sharp +blow in a stamp, the under ones having two +holes pierced in them for the shanks, which +are put through and bent flat on the inside. +They are next passed through another press +which firmly fastens the two discs together, +and holds the shank so securely as to +obviate the necessity of having recourse to +soldering.</p> + +<p>Covered buttons are made in an immense +variety of textiles. It is impossible in the +space allowed for this paper to enumerate +them, but I may add that their ingenious +construction, their good wearing qualities, the +clever mechanism of the tools by which the +various discs of cloth, metal, millboard, etc., +are cut out, and the methods of uniting them +so as to form a complete button, are marvels +of skill and industry.</p> + +<p>The earliest covered buttons were made so +recently as the year 1802, in Birmingham, by +Mr. B. Sanders. Those buttons had metal +shanks, but by the ingenuity of Mr. Sanders, +jun., his father's invention was completed +by tufts of canvas, through which the buttons +could be attached to garments, being substituted +for rigid metal shanks. The only +improvement since made has been that of +covering the back of the silk-fronted buttons +also with silk.</p> + +<p>A covered button consists of two discs of +metal and one of millboard, thicker or thinner, +according to circumstances. In making it, +the sheet of iron is first scaled, by the use of +powerful acids, and then cut into proper size +and shape by a press. The neck, or collet, +of the button is japanned after being stamped +and cut. The hollow between the neck and +shell is filled with millboard. When the parts +are put together and pressed the button is +brought into shape, and its several parts are +consolidated.</p> + +<p>It was in the year 1841 that Mr. John +Aston made the first three-fold linen button—that +is, a button formed of a linen covering +and a ring of metal, so put together that both +sides and centre were completely covered with +separate pieces of linen, and thus produced +being quite flat. This being an exceedingly +neat and convenient button, it became largely +patronised, as it still is by housewives, for all +underclothing, having superseded the old +thread button formed of a ring of wire, with +threads drawn over it and gathered in the +centre. A slight improvement was made by +Mr. Elliott. During the time that the patent +lasted these two gentlemen worked in concert, +and established a very successful business.</p> + +<p>So great has been the demand for covered +linen buttons at different times, that during +one single year Mr. Elliott's successors have +in the process of making them required 63,000 +yards of cloth and 34 tons of metal, and given +employment to 250 persons. As the button +trade has for a considerable time been in a +very depressed condition, it is possible that +the productions of this firm may not be of +such magnitude as they were a few years +since.</p> + +<p>With regard to the depressed condition of +this branch of Birmingham industries, one +manufacturer assured me, only a few weeks +ago, that where 150 persons were employed +at one time, not more than 20 or 30 would +be working then. In visiting one of the +largest manufactories the same day, I saw +sufficient to convince me of the truthfulness +of his statement, for in passing through the +different workshops I saw one or two presses, +stamps, and turning-lathes at work, whereas +several were unused and without attendants. +One firm, when trade is in a flourishing +condition, will make about 15,000 gross of +linen buttons weekly. Ivory buttons are +made from the tusks of elephants; but as the +material is expensive, and the manipulation +has to be conducted with great care, and that +chiefly by hand, they can only be used by +persons who can afford to pay a goodly +sum.</p> + +<p>During the last few years, in which a great +variety of colours has been introduced, both +for ladies' and gentlemen's garments, and +buttons have been required to match, it is +fortunate that a substitute has been found +for ivory in the kernel of the "corozo" +nut. This nut grows in clusters on palm-like +trees in South America, and is husked +like a cocoanut, but is different in shape and +considerably smaller in dimensions. The +kernel—the part used in button-making—is +milk-white, and being softer than animal +ivory, is more easily turned, and as it readily +absorbs dyes, it can be made to take any +colour with little trouble.</p> + +<p>The process of making these vegetable +ivory buttons is as follows:—After boys have +cracked the shells, the kernels are taken by +men standing at benches in which small fine-toothed +saws are revolving. Only a slight +pressure of the nut against the saw is required +before it is divided into equal parts. If +necessary, the operation is repeated. Providing, +however, that the pieces of the nut are +of proper dimensions, they are passed on to the +turner.</p> + +<p>The next process is that of cutting out or +turning, and is performed in the following +manner:—The turner, after fixing a piece of +the nut in the chuck of his lathe, brings a +tubular cutter, the face edge of which is +toothed like a saw, to work on the exposed +front surface of the nut; the result is that +of a rough button or mould. As these +moulds are rough, they are passed on to +another lathe, where they are made smooth, +and then to a third, where the holes are +drilled. They are next passed on to the dyer, +who arranges his colours according to +instructions received. It sometimes happens +that a mottled appearance is required; when +such is the case, girls are employed to touch +them with the colours required by the aid of +camel-hair pencils. The buttons are next +placed in tanks for drying, the tanks being +heated by steam for that purpose.</p> + +<p>Most of the buttons are polished in lathes +by friction from their own dust, held in the +hand of the operative.</p> + +<p>Porcelain buttons were invented by Mr. R. +Prosser, of Birmingham, who, in conjunction +with the celebrated firm of Minter and Co., +made them in large quantities in the potteries, +about the year 1840. They were, however, +soon driven from the market by French +manufacturers, who sold a great gross—that +is, twelve gross, each of twelve dozen—for +the ridiculously small sum of elevenpence.</p> + +<p>Glass buttons are made by heating canes of +glass and pinching them from the end with +pliers, which at the same time answer the +purpose of a die. They are sold very cheaply, +as low as twopence a gross, but it is scarcely +possible for any English firm to compete with +Bohemia in their production.</p> + +<p>Mother-o'-pearl buttons are made out of +pearl shells which have been imported from +the coasts of Macassar, Manilla, Bombay, the +archipelago of the Pacific, the Bay of Panama, +and a few other places. Their market value +is not always the same. At the present time +it ranges from £8 to £10 per hundredweight. +The blanks are cut out of the shells by a steel +tubular cutter, similar to that used in cutting +the vegetable ivory. As the cutter works its +way through a shell, small cylinders of pearl +are disconnected, which are reduced in thickness +by splitting into discs, a little thicker +than the button is required to be when finished. +These blanks are finished singly in a turning +lathe, by being placed in a suitable chuck, and +having a steel tool applied to its face for producing +the rim and depression in the centre. +They are then passed on to another lathe, +where the holes are drilled, and afterwards to +another, where they are polished by friction +and a mixture of rotten-stone and soft +soap.</p> + +<p>The best white buttons are those which are +made from Macassar shells, and the best black +from shells of the archipelago of the Pacific. +The latter are the dearest, in consequence of +the black shells not being so plentiful as those +of lighter shades. Some few years since the +consumption of mother-o'-pearl shells in Birmingham +amounted to nearly one thousand +tons annually; the failure of the fisheries in +Central America has, however, reduced it to +a little more than a third, or about three hundred +tons a year.</p> + +<p>Thimbles are made by stamping, and afterwards +turning in a lathe, the indentations +being produced by a suitable instrument. On +the Continent the operatives make them with +punches in as many as five different mandrils. +Scissors, bodkins, etc., have nothing connected +with their manufacture which calls for +any special notice. Although, as in previous +papers, I have conducted my readers in paths +not usual to girls and young women, I hope +that my description of button-making will interest +a considerable number, and teach them +to think more of buttons and how they are +made and by whom made than they have ever +done before.</p> + +<p style="text-align: right;"> +W. W. B.<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="BITS_ABOUT_ANIMALS" id="BITS_ABOUT_ANIMALS"></a>BITS ABOUT ANIMALS.</h2> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">A Sagacious Colt.</span></h3> +<p>A gentleman whose pretty garden adjoined +a park in which a number of young colts were +grazing, was much annoyed by the inroads of +these animals. He took every precaution to +prevent their entrance, but to no purpose. +Fences were examined and found intact, the +gate was kept shut, and yet one or more of +the colts would soon be found devastating +flower-beds, or browsing in the kitchen +garden. The provoking part of it was that no +one could discover how the creatures obtained +an entrance.</p> + +<p>At length men were hidden in the trees to +watch, and the problem was speedily solved. +A colt trotted up to the gate and inserted +its head between the bars, with the evident +intention of raising the latch. He made +several vain attempts, but had not mastered +the trick. The latch remained in its place, +and the colt outside.</p> + +<p>For a few moments the animal stood cogitating, +then trotted rapidly back to the spot +where he had left his companions. He singled +out one of the most frequent visitors to the +garden, and, by some language peculiar to +colts, made known his difficulty. The other +at once returned with his companion to the +gate, inserted his head below one of the bars, +and by a dexterous movement displaced the +latch, and the gate swung open. Then, +throwing back his head as if to say, "See how +easy it is when one knows how," he went +back whilst the other entered the garden.</p> + +<p>It was noticed by the watchers that this +last had not previously been seen within the +forbidden precincts, but the one that opened +the gate for him had been particularly +troublesome. The fact that he was specially +selected for the office of porter showed no +little sagacity in the would-be visitor to the +garden. But, much as the cleverness of the +animals might be admired, care was taken to +render its exercise useless for the future.</p> + +<p style="text-align: right;"> +<span class="smcap">Ruth Lamb.</span><br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VARIETIES" id="VARIETIES"></a>VARIETIES</h2> + + +<p class='center'><span class="smcap">A French Conversation.</span></p> + +<p>Voltaire once said, "It is not clear, therefore +it cannot be French." This is only partially +true, for the French language furnishes +abundant material for puns and misunderstandings, +intentional or otherwise. The +following amusing instance may serve as an +illustration:—</p> + +<p>Two sportsmen met together on their way +home.</p> + +<p>"Where do you come from?" the first +asked the second, who was trembling with +fright.</p> + +<p>"I come—I come—from the forest of +Bondy."</p> + +<p>"And why are you so excited?"</p> + +<p>"I have been attacked by robbers."</p> + +<p>"How many were there?"</p> + +<p>"<i>Sept.</i>"</p> + +<p>"What did you say?"</p> + +<p>"<i>Je dis sept.</i>"</p> + +<p>"<i>Dix-sept?</i>"</p> + +<p>"No; <i>sans dix</i>."</p> + +<p>"<i>Cent dix?</i>"</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear! no. <i>Sans dix, sept.</i>"</p> + +<p>"Good gracious! <i>Cent dix-sept?</i>"</p> + +<p>"Nonsense. <i>Sept sans dix-sept.</i>"</p> + +<p>"<i>Sept cent dix-sept.</i>"</p> + +<p>"You don't understand me. <i>Je te dis sept +sans dix!</i>"</p> + +<p>"<i>Dix-sept cent dix.</i>"</p> + +<p>"You will drive me mad! <i>Je te dis sept +sans dix-sept!</i>"</p> + +<p>"<i>Dix-sept cent dix-sept!</i> I can understand +your being frightened with such a number."</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">To Preserve Cut Flowers.</span>—An important +rule in preserving cut flowers is never +to cram the vase with flowers. Many will last +if only they have a large mass of water in the +vase and not too many stalks to feed on the +water and pollute it. Vases that can hold a +large quantity of water are to be preferred to +the spindle-shaped trumpets that are often +used. Flat dishes covered with wet sand are +also useful for short-stalked or heavy-headed +flowers; even partially-withered blooms will +revive when placed on this cool moist substance. +Moss, though prettier than sand, is +to be avoided, as it soon smells disagreeably, +and always interferes with the scent of the +flowers placed in it for preservation.</p> + + +<p><span class="smcap">The Way of the World.</span>—The world +deals good-naturedly with good-natured +people, and I never knew a sulky misanthropist +who quarrelled with it but it was he and +not it that was in the wrong.—<i>Thackeray.</i></p> + + +<p class='center'><span class="smcap">Mothers' Thoughts.</span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">To a goose one day a gosling came.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">As she surveyed it duly,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">She said, "No swan in all the world<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Is half so pretty, truly."<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">In words like these all mothers' thoughts<br /></span> +<span class="i2">This wise old goose expressed;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For of all babies in the world,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Each thinks her own the best.<br /></span> +</div></div> + + +<p><span class="smcap">Ungrateful Gratitude.</span>—There are +minds so impatient of inferiority that their +gratitude is a species of revenge, and they +return benefits not because recompense is a +pleasure, but because obligation is a pain.—<i>Dr. +Johnson.</i></p> + + +<p class='center'><span class="smcap">Double Acrostic.</span></p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Dissatisfied with their appointed lot,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">These both aspir'd to seem what they were not;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Foil'd in their schemes, they recognis'd, too late,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The folly of attempts to shake the state.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The first became, t' avoid a harsher doom,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A menial, baser than the lowest groom;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The second paid a far more heavy tax;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Tried and condemn'd, he perished by the axe.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">1. So fair and flatt'ring, and so bright of hue,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Will it betray us? or will it be true?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">2. Friend of two great philosophers, this youth<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Boasted himself yet more, the friend of truth.<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Throughout a long career he strove to scan<br /></span> +<span class="i1">The wondrous working of great Nature's plan,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And taught his pupils, strolling at their ease,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">'Neath pleasant shelter of umbrageous trees.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">3. The glorious witness to the living faith,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">In tortures passing unto life through death.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">4. How many bow'd their heads to meet this thing!<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Priest, warrior, noble, princess, e'en a king.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">5. The good old man, whose tender, loving heart,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Unfitted him to act the sterner part<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Of curbing his rebellious children's will;<br /></span> +<span class="i1">His mild reproof they disregarded, till<br /></span> +<span class="i1">There fell the doom that had been prophesied,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And in one day the sons and father died.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">6. Oft melted and then pour'd into a mould,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Translucent and inodorous when cold,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Useful, abundant, and of little cost,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Mis-spelt, miscall'd by those who use me most.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">7. A butcher's son, who rose to eminence<br /></span> +<span class="i1">In legal circles by his clear good sense;<br /></span> +<span class="i1">For public service he was made a peer,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And held the woolsack twice for many a year.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">8. The Roman youth, to prove his hardihood,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Thrust his right hand into the fire that stood<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Before the king; shrivel'd his hand remained,<br /></span> +<span class="i1">And he this surname by that act obtain'd.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">9. A bird of Africa, that shows the way<br /></span> +<span class="i1">To where wild bees their stores of honey lay;<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Then perch'd aloft, content t' await his share<br /></span> +<span class="i1">Of honey which the hunters leave him there.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">10. The elder daughter, offer'd as a bride<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To him who foes successfully defied.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">With conquest flush'd, the low-born victor came,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">The fair princess's promis'd hand to claim,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">But only came to disappointment; since<br /></span> +<span class="i2">She had already wed a pow'rful prince.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">11. A jutting cape, which, when the Northmen spied,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A fanciful resemblance they descried<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To human features; so they gave a name<br /></span> +<span class="i2">To mark that cape, and still it bears the same.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">12. How do you call that line, which, year by year,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Traces the sun's course round the pictur'd sphere?<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">13. In Scandinavian fables I am nam'd<br /></span> +<span class="i2">"Destroyer," and as evil genius fam'd;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Interpolate one letter, and 'tis strange<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That I become preserver by the change.<br /></span> +</div></div> +<p style="text-align: right;"><span class="smcap">Ximena.</span> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="ANSWERS_TO_CORRESPONDENTS" id="ANSWERS_TO_CORRESPONDENTS"></a>ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.</h2> + + +<h3>EDUCATIONAL.</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ediscenda.</span>—The highest mountain known has been +found in New Guinea, and is called Mount Hercules. +It is said to be 32,786 feet high, or 3,786 feet higher +than Mount Everest, of the Himalayan Range.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Violet.</span>—The best examination to pass would be +either the Oxford or Cambridge; but if you do not +wish to do so much, that of the College of Preceptors +would perhaps be sufficient for your purpose.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">A Lonely Girl.</span>—We think there is too much science +and too little history and literature in your list of +books, and we should recommend a course of poetry +also, as well as some works on art.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">A, B, C, D, etc.</span>—In the chronicles of Robert of +Gloucester the age of Brutus is purely legendary. +The whole chronicle is partly taken from the fabulous +history of Geoffrey of Monmouth.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">DORA</span> (Bradford).—"How to Form a Small Library" +was at page 7 and 122, vol. ii. Clean your hair-brushes +with flour or bran, rubbing them well +together with it as if you were washing them dry. +You should write copies daily to improve your handwriting.</p> + +<p>A. and M.—We are inclined to believe that governesses +are not in demand anywhere in the colonies unless +they be willing to turn their hands to help in the +household, just as a daughter of the house might do. +If you and your sister be willing to do this, and are +both capable and industrious, you might do well in +Queensland. Write to the secretary of the Woman's +Emigration Society, New Buildings, Carteret-street, +Queen Anne's-gate, London, S.W.</p> + +<p>E. C. G.—We believe you can obtain grammars and +dictionaries in most of the Eastern tongues at +Messrs. Trübner's, Ludgate-hill, E.C. We cannot +say what progress you would make without a master, +as we do not know your capabilities.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Macaw.</span>—We have great pleasure in giving the +address of the correspondence class from which you +have derived so much advantage, and which you +sought through our advice. Miss MacArthur, 4, +Buckingham-street, Hillhead, Glasgow. So well +managed, as it appears to be from your account, +we hope our notice may prove of much use to our +readers.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Miss Mackay.</span>—We thank you for the particulars +which you send us of your essay club, called The +Rookery, and willingly give your invitation to +our readers to join it. There is no charge made for these +answers to correspondents. We are glad to give +help and promote all useful efforts, and believe we +shall do so by giving your address as Hon. Secretary, +Governor's House, H.M. Prison, Lincoln.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Leona Woodfield.</span>—Candidates for hospital training +are generally required to be from twenty-five to forty +years of age. They may enter the Children's +Hospital, Great Ormond-street, at twenty-one.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Union Jack.</span>—The English language is a compound +of three different dialects spoken for two or three +centuries after the Norman Conquest. That of the +East Midland was the speech of the metropolis, in +which Chaucer, Gower, and Wyckliffe wrote, and +was spoken in East Kent and Surrey. There were +also the Northern and Southern dialects, which, +blending with the East Midland, formed the basis +of modern English. But these three dialects are +likewise compounds of the Saxon, Celtic, Danish, +and Norman tongues. To get rid of the smell of +paint, sprinkle some hay with chloride of lime and +leave it in the rooms; also a basin of water, to be +changed night and morning. You will perceive +traces on the surface of what it has absorbed.</p> + +<p>T. C. S.—Why do you not read our answers under +this heading? You will find that there are several +societies for training female missionaries and catechists.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mary Commander.</span>—Astronomers measure the distances +between the earth and the stars by means of +mathematical calculations. You should procure +some work on astronomy. There is a nice little +book published in our office called "The Heavens +and the Earth," and another, rather larger, called +"The Midnight Sky;" both are illustrated.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mary Williams.</span>—If you refer to any volume of the +G. O. P. and read our answers under the above +heading, you will see all we can tell you about telegraph +clerks. We must decline to full up space by +continually repeating old answers.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">White Tulip</span> must do as we have directed "Mary +Williams," and find all the addresses of societies +where young women are trained for zenana and other +missionary work. It is very wrong not to go to +church on Sunday mornings merely because of "feeling +shy." That is rubbish. Attend to your book +and your prayers, and not to your neighbours. +Nobody will notice you.</p> + +<p>I. D. L. E.—Write to the secretary, Deaconesses' +Training Institution, 41, Ferntower-road, Mildmay +Park, London, N., and at The Willows, Stoke +Newington, N. Otherwise, if you desire experience +in parish work, you might be received at St. Luke's +Invalid Home, Finsbury House, Ramsgate. You +had better write to both these institutions, giving +your age, and stating whether your application be +made with the full consent of your parents. There +are also the London Diocesan Deaconesses' Institution, +12, Tavistock Crescent, Westbourne Park, W. +(head sister, Deaconess Cassin), and the East London +Deaconesses' Home, 2, Sutton-place, Hackney, E. +(deaconess, L. Collier). If you would prefer a situation +by the sea, apply to Sister Emma, Winchester +Diocesan Deaconesses' Home, Southsea, Hants.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Josephine.</span>—There is a Governesses' Institute in Paris, +at 48, Rue de Chaillot. Apply to the secretary or +lady principal. If you wish to belong to a teacher's +guild, that of Great Britain and Ireland has its office +at 17, Buckingham-street, Strand, W.C. You must +address the hon. secretary. You write a very good +hand.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Bertha Green</span> and <span class="smcap">Daisy</span>.—The cheapest and best +way for you to improve your education at home will +be to join one or more of the amateur societies +instituted to assist girls who cannot go to school +nor have professional masters. A small directory of +girls' educational and other societies and clubs is to +appear immediately, edited by one of our own staff +of writers, especially for the use of our girls, so many +of whom write for the addresses of such and particulars +about them. (Messrs. Griffith and Farran, +St. Paul's Churchyard, E.C.)</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">A Poor Young Girl</span>.—So well educated as you are, +you would be likely to get on well in a colony. +Write to the Colonial Emigration Society, 13, +Dorset-street, Portman-square, London, W. They +have a home for women and a loan fund. Anyone +willing to act as mother's help, and put her hand to +anything her employer does, and is, moreover, +capable of teaching the young people of the family, +would be sure to get on well in a colony.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Nelly Holmes</span> should advertise in the <i>Times</i>, or +some good daily paper, for the situation she requires. +We cannot tell what salary a young girl in her +teens would get.</p> + + +<h3>ART.</h3> + +<p>C. O.—Our opinion of the drawing is not favourable. +The outlines of the figure are not true to nature in +its undistorted form; they are those conceived by an +uninstructed dress or stay maker. As you are only +thirteen years of age, you are not yet acquainted +with pure classical forms of beauty, and have time to +cultivate your taste. Take lessons at a branch +figure-drawing school founded by the South Kensington +School of Art. The kind of drawing to which +you aspire is much improved of late years, and shopkeepers +begin to require that fashion-plates should +somewhat resemble the true "human form divine."</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Industry</span> and <span class="smcap">Katie</span>.—To preserve seaweed, gather +specimens that are growing to rocks in preference to +those floating on the water, and lay them in a shallow +pan filled with clean salt water. Insert a piece of +writing-paper under the seaweed and lift it out of the +bath; spread out the plant with a camel's-hair +pencil in a natural form, and slant the paper to allow +the water to run off; then press between two pieces +of board, lay on one of them two sheets of blotting-paper, +then the seaweed, and over the latter a piece +of fine cambric, over that the blotting-paper, and +lastly the second piece of board; replace the cambric +and blotting-paper daily, and when the seaweed is +quite dry brush over the coarser kinds with spirits of +turpentine, in which three small lumps of gum-mastic +have been dissolved by shaking in a warm place. +Two-thirds of a small phial is the proper proportion. +This mixture helps to retain the colour of the +specimens.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ella</span> and <span class="smcap">Heliotrope</span>.—Painting carefully with +muriatic acid will remove the rough coating outside +shells and show the mother o' pearl beneath it. +They should be frequently dipped in water to remove +the burning acid, or it will make holes in the shell. +To polish them, dip a rag in hydrochloric acid and +rub till clean; then dry in hot sawdust and polish +with chamois leather. To paint shells with oil-colours, +mix the latter with Siccatif de Courtrai, or +with mirrorine, and put on the paints very dry. To +paint them with water colours, lay a wash of white +of egg over them; mix the paints with Chinese white +and white of egg. The best effects are produced +with oil colours.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Daisy.</span>—We make no distinction between persons who +write to us, whether in service or out of it. We have +an enormous correspondence, and very little space is +devoted to it. Thus, many correspondents have to +wait long for their answers. A good cashmere would +suit very well for a wedding dress. Get one that +will be of service to you afterwards. If you live in +London it should not be very light. Your bonnet +could be trimmed with white ribbon.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Christie.</span>—Try laying on a wash of white of egg +before painting in water-colours upon black cardboard. +This will remove the greasiness of the surface. +Then lay on a wash of Chinese white, and +paint in the ordinary manner.</p> + + +<h3>MISCELLANEOUS.</h3> + +<p><span class="smcap">Financier.</span>—We consider that to wash with hot water +is not bad for you, but should be supplemented by a +good rubbing (performed very quickly) with a wet +towel all over the body. This will cause a healthy +reaction. But the morning is really the best time. +"Sesame and Lilies" and "Stones of Venice" are +good books to read (of Ruskin's). There is a "Dictionary +of English Literature," published by Cassell +and Co., which might be useful to you.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Memory.</span>—We hear that many people have derived +much benefit from the memory systems, and "Stokes +on Memory" is a well-known book.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">L. Nusse.</span>—We fear that all such things are only forms +of throwing good money after bad. If you really +have reason to think that you are entitled to money, +go to a respectable lawyer for help.</p> + +<p>B. K. E.—No one can limit the power of prayer and +faith, and yours may be answered as your heart desires. +But do not "do evil that good may come."</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ol Sie.</span>—Your verses show much poetic feeling, and +an affectionate nature, but you would need to study +the subject of composition before your lines were +worth anything to anyone.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Monthly Reader</span> and <span class="smcap">May.</span>—The sooner you get +your teeth stopped the better. But make a good +choice of a dentist.</p> + +<p>A. M. C.—The salaries in drapers' shops vary much, +not only in different establishments, but amongst the +assistants in each, according to their special departments. +Girls with tall, handsome figures, employed +for showing off mantles, get more than little girls behind +the counter, and dress and mantle, or bonnet +and cap makers are comparatively well paid. You +must make special personal application.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">An Arum Lily.</span>—Use a rosemary wash for aiding the +growth of the hair. See our articles on the care of +the hair, page 631, vol. vi.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Rosina.</span>—The young men who so far forgot themselves +and presumed to speak to you and your friend without +a proper introduction, are not suitable acquaintances +for respectable girls. But you should not have +been rude; you should simply have walked away to +your chaperon, or some married person of your acquaintance.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Lack Penny</span> might, perhaps, teach a few little girls +at home. Has she any friends who would be glad to +send them to her, instead of to a school, for a couple +of hours in the morning, when busy themselves? +There is nothing to be ashamed of in earning money, +if you have it not, for your requirements.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Floo.</span>—You slope your letters the wrong way, and we +could scarcely read your writing. If you want to +improve it, slope it the right way, and cross every +"t." We do not know how the mother o' pearl +became stained. Probably it was washed in hot +water, and so cracked all over. You might try a +quick brush over with diluted muriatic acid, and an +immediate dip into cold water, then rubbing well +with some sweet oil on a soft piece of flannel. Beware +of touching your eyes after using muriatic +acid, as it burns, and should be put carefully away, +that ignorant people or children may not touch it.</p> + +<p>E. M. P.—Perhaps your dogs are mangy. In any +case you should show them to a veterinary surgeon. +Consult our indexes.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Anxious One.</span>—Your duty is very plain. Go to your +clergyman, and tell him of the discovery you have +made, and ask him to baptise you at once. If your +name were sent in for confirmation after your course +of preparation, you are, of course, ready for your +baptism.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Tim Tippin</span> should study the art of metrical composition. +What she has written is very irregular and +incorrect. But even were it perfectly according to +rule, there is no new thought in it, no beautiful +simile, nothing original. She is very young, and +therefore could by no means be expected to produce +what a powerful or imaginative intellect alone could +produce, when arrived at its full development at some +ten or twelve years later in life. So she must learn a +good deal more before she can "become famous."</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Edith.</span>—We are unable to find employment and name +employers for our correspondents, much as we sympathise +with them in their desire to be self-supporting.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ursula.</span>—We do not answer seven questions. Bride +and bridegroom sit side by side at the top of the +table, the two fathers take in the two mothers, and +first bridesmaid and best man pair together.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">I. Nibs.</span>—You would be much wiser to try and get +your story as a serial into one of the papers in your +own colony. We could not promise to take unknown +MS., and unless you copied it you might lose it in +passing through the post.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">A March Elf</span> should wear her hair in a plait at the +back, tied up with a bow of ribbon, and curled a little +in front. She is too young to need steels in her +dresses.</p> + +<p>E. C.—The frontispiece appears to tell its own story of +poverty and weakness—a poor dressmaker, unable +to finish a dress by a given time. Water may be +softened by using borax, ammonia, or oatmeal, when +needed for the skin. Boiling water and soda will +generally take out stains from table linen.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Jessie.</span>—We know nothing more about the water +scheme than the newspaper report, which "Jessie" +has herself seen.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Saffron Crocus.</span>—Read our article on "Lissom +Hands and Pretty Feet," vol. i., page 348.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ethel.</span>—Pincushions and fans, embroidered and ornamented in various ways, +seem the most general contributions at bazaars at present. Painted match-boxes, +writing-cases, and painted jars for tobacco, are all useful and sell well.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Gretchen.</span>—There is a small volume on "Indian Outfits" published by +Mr. Gill, 170, Strand, which is very valuable.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Edinburgh.</span>—We could not give you the addresses of persons who would buy +your work, and a little consideration would have prevented your asking such +a question. Your own personal exertions must be used to find outlets for your +work. You cannot expect to sit still and be helped.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ayacanora II.</span> does not say whether the mauve silk be light or dark. Mauve +is now a very fashionable colour, and would mix well with dark velvet or +velveteen of the same colour for the autumn. It would also look well with +cashmere or canvas of the same colour, but of a darker shade. Dark red +velvet could also be mixed with it. If the +bodice be good, make a Swiss belt, with +cuffs and collar of velvet, and long front and +back drapery of the same.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Furrier's Daughter.</span>—More furs are made +up in England than anywhere else, and, as +a fur sewer, you will do better here, we +should think. But as you want to emigrate, +you should consult the Colonial Emigration +Society, 13, Dorset-street, Portman-square, +W.; office hours, 10 to 4. The secretary +will give advice and information.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Mabel</span> has our best thanks for her kind and courteous note.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Veronique.</span>—"That Aggravating Schoolgirl" began in vol. ii., at page 9.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Marie.</span>—Do not wash your head every morning. The bath water should be +tepid. A sponge bath can be taken with very little water and little trouble.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ethild Mya Bal.</span>—There is no sequel to the "Wide, Wide World," that we +know of. We are very sorry to hear of your suffering, and hope you may +soon be better.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">A Gipsy Girl.</span>—The lines you send are not poetry, nor are they very original +in thought; but if it be a comfort for you to write them, they have served +a good purpose.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Cucumber.</span>—We know of no cure but the constant use of a pair of tweezers.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">An Old Anglo-German Girl.</span>—We were much interested in your letter. +We can sympathise with all our girls, at every age, and in every climate. +The series will be concluded soon.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Fairy Dell</span> (Cyprus).—You would have to apply to a surgeon. Gargle the +throat night and morning with salt and water, or vinegar and water, to +strengthen it. Perhaps you need a tonic.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Snowbell.</span>—The book is not of any great value; but if you be not satisfied, +you might consult some first-class bookseller, such as Mr. Quaritch, Piccadilly.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Amy.</span>—There is a Home for Governesses in the Avenue du Bois de Boulogne, +Paris, of which Miss Pryde is the superintendent. Address her at 22, Rue +des Acacias, Avenue de la Grande Armée.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Dolores.</span>—There are no stated times for giving competitions in our paper—which +you call "compesition classes." They involve great additional trouble +and the monopoly of time to an extent of which our young readers have +little idea. Imagine the labour of reading through about 4,000 contributions, +comparing all together, and judging between them! Of course, such an +undertaking can only be volunteered once in a way, or the daily work of the +magazine could not be carried on. Your handwriting is not yet formed, +but promises well.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Ourang-outang</span> and <span class="smcap">Gorilla.</span>—Have +nothing to do with the appliance called +"Planchette." It is employed in divination, +or what is akin to it. We do +not undertake to supply +"characters from +handwriting." There +are many people +who advertise to do +so for thirteenpence.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> +<img src="images/86_10_09_illus_016.png" width="600" height="810" alt="GUERNSEY FLOWERS." title="" /> +<span class="caption">GUERNSEY FLOWERS.</span> +</div> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. VIII, No. +354, October 9, 1886, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GIRL'S OWN PAPER, VOL. *** + +***** This file should be named 18293-h.htm or 18293-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/2/9/18293/ + +Produced by Susan Skinner and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. VIII, No. 354, October 9, 1886 + +Author: Various + +Editor: Charles Peters + +Release Date: May 1, 2006 [EBook #18293] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GIRL'S OWN PAPER, VOL. *** + + + + +Produced by Susan Skinner and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + +THE GIRL'S OWN PAPER + +VOL. VIII.--NO. 354. + +OCTOBER 9, 1886. + +PRICE ONE PENNY. + + + + +CALLED AWAY. + + +[Illustration: "AND CLUNG TO HER NECK WITH A SMOTHERED CRY."] + + In the heart of the heartless town, where hunger and death are rife; + Where gold and greed, and trouble and need, make up the sum of life-- + A woman lives with her only child, + And toils 'mid the weary strife. + + No end to the tiring toil to earn a wage so small; + No end to the ceaseless care--ah! the misery of it all! + While the strongest snatch the hard-earned crust, + The weakest the crumbs that fall. + + Oh, look at the pallid face as it bends o'er the dreary work; + The stitch, and stitch, and stitch that she knows she dare not shirk! + Her strength is ebbing away so fast + That she scarcely feels it go. + + Oh, list to the weary sigh--a whole tale in one breath-- + A widowed life, and a mother's love, and the fear of an early death. + While there at her feet a pale boy sits, + And weeps for his mother's woe. + + * * * * * + + She has called to her boy in the night; he has nestled beside her bed, + And clung to her neck with a smothered cry and a feeling of sudden dread. + And thus they lie, till the mother strives + To speak with her tears unshed. + + And then she tells him--so sweet and low, it sounds like a fairy tale-- + How Jesus has sent His angels down to fetch her; that He won't fail + To send His angel to watch o'er him + When love can no more avail. + + * * * * * + + But still she holds him so gently firm, so close to her lifeless breast; + She speaks no more, he weeps no more, for God knows what is best. + He has taken both from a world of pain + To endless peace and rest. + + E. A. V. + +[Illustration] + + + + +THE SHEPHERD'S FAIRY. + +A PASTORALE. + +BY DARLEY DALE, Author of "Fair Katherine," etc. + + +CHAPTER II. + +Up the old oak staircase three or four stairs at a time sprang the +baron; then he walked quickly with beating heart down the long corridor +to the west wing, where the nursery was, and pausing at the top of a +spiral staircase which led to the side door he intended to go out by, he +shouted impatiently to the housemaid who was left in charge of the baby. + +"Marie! Marie! _Vite, vite._ Where is Monsieur Leon's malacca cane? It +was in my dressing-room this morning. Fetch it directly." + +The girl came running to do her master's bidding, and no sooner had the +white streamers of her cap disappeared down the corridor than the baron +darted into the nursery. A lamp was burning on a table at one end of the +room, and at the other, carefully guarded from any draught by a +folding-screen, stood a swinging-cradle, on pedestals of silver. The +framework, the baron knew, was an old family relic, but the cradle +itself was a new and wonderful creation of white swansdown and blue +satin, lined with lace and trimmed with pale blue ribbons. In this mass +of satin and lace lay the baron's tiny daughter, fast asleep, her small +fingers grasping a lovely toy of pink coral with golden bells, which was +fastened round her waist with pale blue ribbon. For one moment the baron +hesitated. To tear the little creature from her luxurious home, and +trust her to the tender mercies of some rough sailors for a day or two, +and then leave her in the hands of strangers, who might or might not be +kind to her, seemed hard even to the baron, whose mind was warped by +jealousy; but then came the thought that all this luxury with which the +child was so extravagantly surrounded was bad for her; if Mathilde +persisted in pampering her in this way, she would grow up weak and +delicate. The life he had chosen for her was far more healthy; and if +she were inured to a harder life in her infancy, she was much more +likely to develop into a strong, healthy girl; and as he quieted his +conscience with these thoughts his hesitation vanished, and he stooped +to pick her up. + +But hark! there was a footstep. Was it Marie returning? What would she +think to find him in the nursery, into whose precincts he had never +before intruded, as the servants all knew well enough? No, it was a +false alarm, no one was coming; and seeing that now or never was the +time for him to carry out his plan, he picked up the baby, folded the +quilted satin coverlet and the fine cambric sheet round it, and covered +its face with a lace handkerchief that lay on the pillow; then, feeling +that the swansdown quilt might not be warm enough on board the yacht, he +glanced round the room, and seeing an Indian shawl which Mathilde often +wore lying on a rocking-chair, he wrapped his burden entirely up in +this, and then dreading every moment the child should cry and betray +him, he stole out of the nursery to the spiral staircase. Here he paused +for a moment to listen, but all he heard was Marie's voice far off +entreating another servant to come and help her to look for the cane, as +Monsieur le Baron was waiting for it. + +"Be quick, Marie, I can't wait much longer," shouted the baron, and +then, quick as thought, he dived down the spiral staircase, in his haste +nearly precipitating himself and his little daughter, who still slept +peacefully, to the bottom. + +To let himself out at the side door was the work of a moment; and now, +unless surprised by any of the servants who might be loitering about in +the shrubberies with their lovers, he was safe. He had only to run down +a winding path of about two hundred yards across the grounds to the gate +where Leon was awaiting him. Once the baron started like a robber at a +rustling in the bushes as he passed, but it was only a cat, and once +again he breathed freely, and in less than five minutes from the time he +entered the nursery he stood on the road by the side of the dogcart. + +"Is it you, Arnaut?" asked Leon, anxiously peering through the twilight +at his brother. + +"Yes, yes, it is all right; here it is," said the baron, holding the +bundle up to Leon. + +"How on earth am I to take it? Where is its head? Can't you nurse it +till we get to the yacht?" said Leon. + +"No; how should I drive with this thing in my arms? Here, give me the +reins, and take hold. This is its head. Thank you," said the baron, with +an immense sigh of relief as he handed the baby to Leon. + +Leon took the bundle so reluctantly, and handled it as delicately as if +it were a piece of priceless china he was afraid of breaking by a touch, +that the baron, who was not in the best of tempers, in spite of his +successful expedition, growled out, "It won't bite you; you needn't be +afraid." + +"I am not, but my dear Arnaut you might make allowances; I never had a +baby in my arms before in my life. I daresay I shall get used to it in +time; use is second nature, they say. But I say, I don't believe it +ought to be bundled up in this way; it can't breathe; it will be +suffocated; I shall open this shawl a little," said Leon, proceeding to +do so, and being immediately rewarded by a long, wailing cry from the +infant. + +"There," said the baron, with an impatient exclamation, "now you have +woke it. Why didn't you leave it alone?" + +"My dear fellow, it would never have woke again if I had; the poor +little creature was choking," said Leon, sitting the baby up on his +knees, as if it were a year old instead of a few months. + +"It will cry the whole way now, and, if we meet anyone, betray our +secret," grumbled the baron. + +"Well, I'd rather it cried than have it suffocated, as it infallibly +would have been but for me. Baby, in future years you may thank your +uncle Leon for saving your life. Perhaps if I whistle it will stop +howling. I'll try," said Leon, whistling, in which art he was a great +adept. + +But whistling had no effect on the baby, unless it was to make it cry +louder, and Leon was in despair, and the baron getting furious, until it +suddenly occurred to the former to jump the child up and down, as he had +seen Mathilde do. This was successful; as long as Leon danced it about +it was quiet; the moment he stopped it began to cry. + +"I wish old Pierre joy if he has to spend the next twenty-four hours in +this way. Drive on, Arnaut; my arms are aching so I can't keep this game +up much longer," said Leon, as they entered the village of Carolles, +where, luckily for them, all the inhabitants had already gone to bed, +and they met no one till they reached the place where the yacht was +lying. + +A boat was waiting to take Leon on board with Pierre and the English +carpenter, to whom Leon spoke in English, asking him if he were quite +sure the baby would be well looked after where he proposed to place it, +and on Smith's answering that he was certain it would, Leon turned to +the baron, who did not understand a word of English, and told him he +need have no anxiety about the child. + +"All right; I don't want to know where you are going to take it; make +any arrangements you like. If you want more money than I have given you, +let me know and you shall have it. When do you expect to be back here, +Leon?" + +"Oh, not for a month at least; I shall keep away till all the fuss +Mathilde will make about the baby is over; meanwhile, if you change your +mind and want the baby back, write to me at my agent's and he will +forward your letter. Adieu." + +And Leon, who had handed the baby to Pierre as soon as they met, now +kissed his brother on both cheeks and then sprang into the boat. Smith +pushed her off and sculled them across the moonlit sea to the yacht, the +baron watching them until they reached her and the boat was drawn up to +its davits, when he turned and drove back to the chateau, wondering +greatly how the baroness would bear the loss of her baby, and fearing a +very bad quarter of an hour was in store for him when she learnt what +had become of it. + +A stiff breeze was blowing, but with wind and tide in her favour the +yacht sailed smoothly across the Channel, all on board her, except the +baby, being too inured to the sea to feel ill, and, luckily, the +movement of the yacht seemed to lull the child to sleep. When she woke +Pierre was always at hand with some milk, so that she was scarcely heard +to cry during the whole passage, spending the time in sleeping and +eating, and thereby enabling Pierre to earn for himself the character of +a first-rate nurse. + +From time to time during the next day Leon came into the cabin to look +at his tiny charge, for whom an impromptu cradle had been made with some +pillows in an easy chair, and who seemed to have the happy knack of +adapting herself to circumstances, for she slept quietly on, with a +smile on her little face, all unconscious of the waves from which a few +planks divided her. + +"Poor little mite; I hope they'll be kind to her, Smith, these friends +of yours. I am half sorry I brought her, though the baron wished it," +said Leon, as he left the cabin; but the next moment he was whistling on +deck as though no such thing as the baby existed. + +Towards evening they came in sight of Brighton, whose long sea front, +even in those distant days, stretched for a mile or two along the coast, +and Leon, who knew the town well, and considered it one of the few +English towns in which he could spend a few days without dying of +_ennui_, was anxious to put in there, but Smith dissuaded him. + +"If we put in here, sir, they'll be sure to trace the child; it would be +far better to let me go ashore with it in the gig, while you lay +outside." + +"But where are we to put in then? Having come to England, I mean to go +ashore for a day or two." + +"Why not run up to Yarmouth, sir; the wind is fair; it is south-west +now. You have never been there, have you? And there'll be no fear of +anyone tracing the child there. If madame sees in the paper that we +touched at Yarmouth, she may inquire all over that part of the country +without finding the baby down in Sussex." + +Leon considered the matter for a few minutes, and finally consented to +this arrangement; and about eight o'clock that evening the gig was +lowered, and Pierre, who would not abandon his charge till the last +minute, went ashore with John Smith and the baby. + +They landed on a quiet spot between Brighton and Rottingdean, and here +Smith insisted on Pierre's remaining in charge of the boat while he +deposited the baby with his friends. Pierre protested against this; but +the carpenter was firm. It would not be safe, he argued, to leave the +boat alone for two or three hours, and he might be gone as long as that; +and there could be no danger in leaving Pierre there, for if anyone did +question him about his business, he would not be able to understand +them, as he knew no English. + +Pierre found it was useless to make any further objections, so, +reluctantly handing the baby over to the carpenter, he prepared to make +himself as comfortable as circumstances permitted during Smith's +absence. It was a beautiful warm midsummer evening, but Pierre began to +feel chilly and tired of waiting long before Smith came back, though he +managed to get several naps, curled up in the bottom of the boat. At +last, about eleven o'clock, just as Pierre was getting very nervous, and +dreading every minute that one of the white ladies of Normandy (those +_dames blanches_ who are so cruel to the discourteous) should appear to +him, or a hobgoblin or a ghost, in all of which he was, like most Norman +peasants, a firm believer, to his intense relief he heard the carpenter +whistling in the distance, and a minute or two later Smith arrived, hot +and tired, and by no means in a communicative frame of mind, only +vouchsafing to tell the anxious Pierre that the baby was safe. + +To Leon he was bound to be less reserved, and, according to his own +account, he had had no difficulty in persuading his friend the shepherd +to take charge of the child. He had asked no awkward questions, and was +quite satisfied with the sum of money Smith had left with him. Leon +carefully entered the name and address of the shepherd in his +pocket-book, and then dismissed the matter from his mind, and gave +himself up to enjoying his cruise. + +A day or two later they put into Yarmouth, and the arrival of the French +yacht, L'Hirondelle, owner M. Leon de Thorens, was duly mentioned in the +shipping news of the daily papers. Yarmouth was not a place after Leon's +heart, and he would have left the next day, but John Smith had gone +ashore and had not returned, so their departure was delayed at first for +a few hours; but as Smith still did not appear, Leon began to get +anxious, and made inquiries in the town for him, but in vain. At last, +after delaying several days, it became evident the man had deserted, and +finally Leon set sail without him. His intention on leaving Brighton was +to cruise round the coast of Great Britain, visiting the principal +seaports on the way; but on finding Smith did not return, his suspicions +were awakened as to the safety of the child, and he determined to go +back at once to Brighton and see if the child had really been left with +the shepherd whose address Smith had given him. + +But that night a dense fog came on, and a day or two later a paragraph +in the English papers announced a collision had taken place off Harwich +with an English trading vessel and the French yacht, L'Hirondelle, in +which the latter sunk at once with all hands, not a soul remaining to +tell the tale, but some life-belts and spars of wood which were picked +up afterwards led to the identification of the yacht, which was known to +have left Yarmouth the morning before the collision took place. + +(_To be continued._) + + + + +DINNERS FOR TWO. + + +Many housekeepers complain of the difficulty of providing a change of +dishes where the family is small. Really, the number of things that may +be served for one or two people is very great, but the serving is +important. The writer has endeavoured in the following twenty-four +dinners only to give such dishes as with a little care and attention may +easily be cooked by a general servant with a rather limited knowledge of +cooking. They are also chosen with due regard to expenditure. There are +not any extravagant dishes, no stock meat is required for anything, nor +is any pastry included in any dinner. + +In arranging dinners for a number it is easy to give the weights of the +different things that will be required, as there will probably be an +average of appetites, but this is not possible for one or two people; +for where one person will eat nearly a pound of meat, another will only +eat two ounces, so that of quantity the housekeeper must be the best +judge, as she knows the appetites for which she has to provide. + +1. Mulligatawny soup; fillet steak with mushroom ketchup; baked batter +pudding. + +2. Flounders water souchet; piece of best end neck of mutton roasted; +steamed semolina pudding, lemon sauce. + +3. Potato soup; steak and kidney pudding; apples stewed in syrup. + +4. Filleted plaice (dressed white); veal cutlets, bacon, and baked +tomatoes; cheese fondu. + +5. Lobster salad; stewed breast of mutton; cake fritters. + +6. Brown onion soup; roast fillet of beef; Spanish rice. + +7. Slices of cod fried; toad-in-the-hole; Melbourne pudding. + +8. Curried eggs; Irish stew; rice meringue. + +9. Potiron; beef steak stewed with vegetables; blancmange. + +10. Baked haddock; calves' heart roasted; bread-and-jam pudding. + +11. Shrimp toast; roast fillet of mutton; strawberry cream. + +12. Turnip soup; breast of veal stewed; apple charlotte. + +13. Fried mackerel; boiled rabbit and onion sauce; cheese toast. + +14. Brunoise; stewed mutton cutlets; baked rice pudding. + +15. Fried herrings, mustard sauce; rump-steak aux fines herbes; jam +roll. + +16. Dressed crab; boiled knuckle of mutton with caper sauce; +bread-and-butter fritters. + +17. Tomato soup; mutton cutlets with onion puree; cocoanut pudding. + +18. Fried smelts; a currie; boiled batter pudding. + +19. Vegetable soup; rump steak; macaroni cheese. + +20. Stewed fish; leg of mutton cutlet; raspberry sponge. + +21. Vegetable marrow soup; one rib of beef (boned and rolled) roasted; +tapioca pudding. + +22. Fried soles; pounded meat cutlets in Italian paste with sauce; +macaroni with tomato sauce. + +23. Fried whiting; boiled knuckle of veal with parsley and butter, and +grilled bacon; baked currant pudding. + +24. Semolina soup; part of loin of pork roasted; Spanish souffle. + +Vegetables, though, of course, they are an important part of dinner, are +not given, as they must vary according to the month of the year. The +recipes which follow are as little complicated as possible. + +_Mulligatawny Soup (without meat)._--Cut two onions and a small carrot +into thin slices, put them into a stewpan with one ounce of butter, turn +them about until they are a nice brown colour, but not burnt, then add a +sprig of parsley and half an apple, stir in three teaspoonfuls of curry +powder, add a pint and a half of hot stock from bones, or of hot water +and a little piece of lean bacon, or a small bacon bone if you have one; +let the soup simmer for an hour, skim the fat off, strain the soup, put +it back in the saucepan, add to it the juice of half a lemon and a +dessertspoonful of flour that has been baked a very light brown and +mixed with a piece of butter the size of a pigeon's egg; salt to taste. +Serve the soup very hot, and hand rice as boiled for curry with it. + +_Fillet Steaks with Mushroom Ketchup._--Beat the steaks with a beater or +rolling-pin, put a very small piece of butter in a stewpan, place the +steaks in it, and brown them slightly on each side; add one +tablespoonful of ketchup and one tablespoonful of water, also a little +black pepper; salt is not generally wanted with mushroom ketchup; cover +the stewpan closely, and keep the fillets hot for three-quarters of an +hour at the side of the stove; serve with the gravy poured over them. + +_Flounders Water Souchet._--Wash the fish and remove the heads. Put +three-quarters of a pint of cold water into a stewpan, well wash two +parsley roots and cut them in fine shreds, put them in a stewpan with a +little pepper and salt, simmer a quarter of an hour, put in the +flounders with a tablespoonful of parsley broken into small sprigs, not +chopped, simmer eight minutes, and serve with a plate of brown bread and +butter and a cut lemon. + +_Semolina Pudding._--Boil one and a half ounces of semolina in +three-quarters of a pint of milk until it is cooked, take the saucepan +from the fire, add a little sugar and a very small pinch of salt; then +stir in two well-beaten eggs; butter a small mould or basin well, pour +in the mixture, cover the top with buttered paper, and steam the pudding +for an hour either by putting it into a steamer or into a saucepan with +boiling water half way up the basin and keeping the water boiling. Serve +with lemon sauce over. Sauce:--Take a quarter of a pint of cold water, +mix a teaspoonful of cornflour with it, add the juice of half a lemon +and a little white sugar; boil all together, stirring all the time. + +_Potato Soup._--Take one pound of potatoes weighed after they are +peeled; cut them up and put them in a stewpan, with a piece of butter +the size of a walnut, and an onion cut in slices; cover the stewpan, and +shake the vegetables over the fire for five minutes; add a pint of hot +water; simmer for an hour. Pass the whole through a sieve; put back in +the saucepan. Add nearly half a pint of milk, and pepper and salt to +taste. Cut a thin slice of bread in small dice; fry it in butter; put it +in the bottom of the tureen, and pour the soup over. + +_Stewed Apples._--Boil together a teacupful of cold water, a teacupful +of sugar, and a teaspoonful of lemon-juice; peel and core six small +apples as soon as the syrup is clear. Put the apples in and cook them +over a slow fire until they are tender. They must be turned while +cooking, but must not be broken. When cold sprinkle a little chopped +almond on each, or else a small piece of red currant jelly can be put +on. + +_Fillets of Plaice._--Double the fillets, put them on a buttered tin, +with pepper, salt, and a squeeze of lemon-juice over each; cover with +buttered paper, and bake for ten or fifteen minutes; then put them on a +dish, and serve with following sauce round them:--Boil the bones of the +fish a quarter of an hour in a quarter of a pint of milk and water; mix +a good teaspoonful of flour with a little butter, cayenne, and salt; +strain the liquor from the fishbones to it, also the liquor out of the +tin in which the fish were baked; put into a saucepan and boil for a +minute or two, then, pour round the fish. + +_Cheese Fondu._--Melt one ounce of butter in a saucepan, stir one ounce +of flour in; when quite smooth, add a quarter of a pint of milk and some +cayenne pepper and salt. Stir the mixture over the fire until it is +quite smooth; then add two ounces of cheese grated--Parmesan is the +best, but any other cheese that is not blue and is dry enough to grate +will do. Turn the mixture into a basin, add two beaten yolks of eggs, +and, just before it is time to put it in the oven, stir in the two +whites of the eggs, which must be beaten to a stiff froth; then put the +mixture into a buttered tin large enough to hold double the quantity, as +it will rise; bake twenty minutes in a brisk oven, and serve +immediately. + +_Breast of Mutton Stewed._--Take a breast, or, if too fat, a scrag of +mutton, brown it in a stewpan, add a sliced onion (which must also be +browned), then pour in enough hot water to cover the meat. As soon as it +simmers put in one turnip and one carrot cut into small dice, and a +small head of celery cut fine, or a shred lettuce, according to the +season, some black pepper, and some salt. Simmer for about an hour and a +half before serving; mix a dessertspoonful of baked flour with a little +cold water, and add it to the gravy. Skim, if too fat, before sending to +table. + +_Cake Fritters._--Cut some thin slices from a stale cake, cut them in +shapes, dip them in milk, then fry them in butter; spread jam or +marmalade on the top of each, and serve them. + +_Brown Onion Soup._--Skin three onions, cut them in small dice; make an +ounce of butter hot in a stewpan, and throw in the onions, shaking them +about over the fire until they are golden brown (they must be coloured +very slowly, or some pieces will get too dark); when they are brown, +stir in a teaspoonful of flour, and add a pint and a half of liquor in +which meat or poultry has been boiled, or the same quantity of water. +Simmer for an hour, then rub through a sieve; put back in the saucepan; +add pepper and salt to taste, and, if too thin, mix a little butter and +flour together, add to the soup, and boil for three minutes before +serving. + +_Spanish Rice._--Boil four ounces of rice, wash it in cold water, then +dry it before the fire. Put half an ounce of butter in a frying-pan; +when quite hot throw in the rice, fry it a light colour, add a +dessertspoonful of grated cheese and a little cayenne and salt. A +dessertspoonful of plain tomato sauce may be added or not. The rice must +be served very hot. + +_Toad in the Hole._--Trim some neck of mutton cutlets nicely, or take +some cold meat or fowl and place in the bottom of a pie-dish that you +have first buttered. Then make a batter thus: take four ounces of flour, +mix one egg with it, add half a pint of milk and a little salt, put +pepper and salt over the meat in the dish, pour the batter in, and put +in a tolerably quick oven; it will take about three-quarters of an hour +to bake. Batter is best mixed some hours before it is wanted, but it +must not be put in the dish with the meat until you are going to bake +it. + +_Melbourne Pudding._--Boil half a pint of red currants with half a pound +of loaf sugar for half an hour, add half a pound of raspberries and boil +ten minutes. Butter a plain mould or pudding basin and line it with +slices from a tin loaf or French roll, cut a quarter of an inch thick; +the top pieces must be cut into triangles to make them fit neatly, while +the side pieces are half an inch wide; pour the fruit into the bread +while hot, cover the top with more bread, put in a cool place until the +next day, then turn out and serve with custard or cream. + +_Curried Eggs._--Make a sauce with a quarter of a pint of milk, a +teaspoonful of curry powder, a teaspoonful of flour, and a little salt; +mix these ingredients together and boil them three minutes. Boil three +eggs hard, remove the shells, put the sauce in a dish, put the eggs in +it, then cut each egg in two and serve. + +_Rice Meringue._--Boil half a small teacupful of rice in milk; when done +put it in a pie-dish, spread a layer of jam over the top of it, beat the +white of an egg to a stiff froth, put it over the jam, sift about a +tablespoonful of pounded sugar over it; put it in the oven to set, and +serve hot. + +_Potiron._--Take one pound of pumpkin without seeds or rind, cut it into +small pieces, put it in a stewpan with a quarter of a pint of water, +simmer it slowly for an hour and a half; then rub it through a sieve +with a wooden spoon, put it back in the saucepan, add three quarters of +a pint of milk, a piece of butter the size of a walnut, a saltspoonful +of powdered sugar and pepper and salt to taste, stir it occasionally, +and serve it as soon as it boils. + +_Baked Haddock._--Wash and dry the fish, then mix a saltspoonful of salt +with the juice of half a lemon, and rub it all over the fish and let it +remain for three hours, then prepare some bread-crumbs, mix with them a +teaspoonful of finely chopped parsley, a little grated lemon peel, +cayenne pepper, and salt; next dry the fish and brush it over with egg, +cover it with the prepared crumbs, put it in a greased baking dish with +some small lumps of butter on the top of it, bake it from 25 to 35 +minutes, according to the size of the fish. It must be basted with the +butter that runs into the tin. When done put the fish on a dish, squeeze +the other half lemon into the baking tin, pour it over the fish, and +serve. + +_Bread and Jam Pudding._--Take a small pudding basin or mould, grease it +well with butter; then shake brown sugar all over the butter. Take four +ounces bread-crumbs, three ounces finely chopped suet, and three ounces +of any preserve. Put these ingredients in the basin in layers, beginning +with the bread-crumbs. Just before putting the pudding in the oven, mix +an egg with rather less than half a pint of milk, and add it to it. Bake +about three-quarters of an hour in a quick oven, turn out and serve. + +_Shrimp Toast._--Trim and fry three slices of bread in butter. Take two +tablespoonfuls of shelled shrimps, put them into a saucepan with a +dessertspoonful of milk, a lump of butter the size of a pigeon's egg, +half a teaspoonful of anchovy sauce, and a little cayenne pepper. Shake +in a dessertspoonful of flour, boil for two minutes, stirring all the +time; then put on the fried bread, and serve very hot. + +_Roast Fillet of Mutton._--Procure the thick end of a leg of mutton. +Have it boned and tied round. It may be stuffed where the bone is taken +out, or skewered up and roasted plain. + +_Strawberry Cream without cream._--Take a quarter of a pound of +strawberry jam; rub it through a sieve. Add two ounces of pounded sugar +to it, and beat it up with the whites of two fresh eggs until it is all +frothy (it will take some time to beat); put it in a glass dish and +serve soon after it is made. + +_Turnip Soup_ can be made the same as potiron, but a teaspoonful of +flour should be added with the butter. + +_Apple Charlotte._--Cut some strips of bread from a tin loaf or French +roll; dip them in oiled butter, line a mould or pudding basin with them. +Peel and cut up a pound and a half of apples; boil them with a little +sugar. When done, put them in the basin you have lined; cover the top +with bread dipped in butter; bake half an hour, turn on to a dish, and +serve. + +_Cheese Toast._--Beat up an egg, add two ounces of grated cheese, one +dessertspoonful of milk, cayenne, and salt to it, make it hot in a +saucepan, and pour it on to a round of hot buttered toast; cut in pieces +and serve immediately. + +_Brunoise._--Take two tablespoonfuls of carrots, the same of turnips, +onions, and celery, all cut in very small dice. Put a piece of butter +(about an ounce) in a stewpan with a small teaspoonful of powdered +sugar, toss the carrots in this until they begin to take colour, then +put in the celery, then the turnips, then the onions; when all the +vegetables are coloured, put in a pint and a quarter of hot water or +liquor in which meat or poultry has been boiled, let the soup simmer two +hours, skim, and serve with the vegetables in it. The vegetables must +not be burnt at all, but only slightly browned. + +_Stewed Mutton Cutlets._--Cut two carrots, two turnips, and two potatoes +into dice, trim some cutlets and toss them in butter in a stewpan, with +a sprinkling of pepper and salt, till they begin to colour, then put in +the carrots and three-quarters of a pint of hot water, a tablespoonful +of tomato sauce, and a small bunch of sweet herbs and parsley; stew +gently fifteen minutes, add the potatoes and turnips, and simmer about +an hour or until tender; add a piece of butter rolled in flour, a small +piece of glaze, and pepper and salt to taste. Remove the herbs and serve +the cutlets round the vegetables, with as much of the gravy as is +required. + +_Mustard Sauce._--Mix one teaspoonful of flour with half a teaspoonful +of mustard and one ounce of butter, add half a teacupful of water, boil +for five minutes, add half a teaspoonful of vinegar, and serve. + +_Rumpsteak aux Fines Herbes._--Mince equal parts of tarragon, chervil, +and garden cress with half a shalot, mix them with a little butter, +pepper, and salt, broil the steak and place on it. + +_Dressed Crab._--Take all the meat from a crab, cut it up as for salad, +mix a tablespoonful of bread-crumbs with it, mix together a saltspoonful +each of pepper, mustard and salt, with a tablespoonful of vinegar and +two tablespoonfuls of salad oil, mix all with the crab, put it back in +the shell, cover it lightly with bread-crumbs, put a little piece of +butter on the top, bake half an hour, and serve hot. + +_Bread and Butter Fritters._--Take some rounds of bread and butter that +you have shaped with a pastry cutter, spread half of them with jam, +cover the jam with the remaining pieces, dip them in batter and fry +them; serve with sifted sugar over them. + +_Tomato Soup._--Boil a tin of tomatoes until well cooked, then press +them through a sieve; to a pint of tomatoes add half a teaspoonful of +carbonate of soda. Put a piece of butter the size of a pigeon's egg into +a saucepan; when it bubbles stir in a teaspoonful of flour, cook it a +few minutes; add half a pint of hot milk, a little salt and cayenne; +when it boils add the tomatoes; make the soup quite hot (but do not let +it boil), and serve. + +_Cocoanut Pudding._--Butter a small dish, cut a sponge cake in slices, +place it in the dish, mix the yolk of an egg with a teacupful of milk, +pour it over the cake, then strew two ounces of grated cocoanut over it; +next beat the white of the egg to a froth, add a teaspoonful of pounded +sugar, and put over the top of the pudding; bake in a moderate oven. + +_Vegetable Soup without Meat._--Cut up a plateful of all kinds of +vegetables, viz., onions, carrots, potatoes, beans, parsnips, celery, +peas, parsley, leeks, turnip, cauliflower, spinach, cabbage, lettuce, or +as many of these as you can procure. Put a large lump of butter (as big +as a large egg) into a saucepan; when very hot, put in the onions, stir; +when light brown, stir in a dessertspoonful of flour, fry until deep +gold colour, stir in a pint of boiling water, some pepper and salt, add +all the vegetables, let them simmer (adding more water if necessary) for +two hours; put the whole through a sieve, make hot again, and serve. + +_Raspberry Sponge._--Dissolve half an ounce of gelatine in half a pint +of milk. Beat three large tablespoonfuls of raspberry jam in another +half pint of milk, and rub it through a sieve; add a teaspoonful of +pounded sugar, a little grated lemon peel, the white of an egg, and the +milk with the gelatine in it; whisk until it is all frothy. If the +gelatine does not entirely dissolve in cold milk, it must be melted over +the fire before being added to the jam and other ingredients. + +_Vegetable marrow soup_ is made like potiron. + +_Pounded Meat Cutlets in Italian Paste._--Take half pound of cold +mutton, all lean, three ounces of cooked ham, one small shalot; chop and +pound all together; add pepper and salt, one ounce of butter, and three +tablespoonfuls of gravy. For the paste, one yolk of egg, three +tablespoonfuls of cold water, with six ounces of dried flour; knead well +to strong paste, roll out very thin, divide into six, put some of the +meat in each, form into six cutlets; fry in boiling fat, and serve with +sauce in a tureen or plain with fried parsley round. + +_Macaroni with Tomato Sauce._--Boil two ounces of macaroni in water, +with a lump of butter, and a little salt. When nearly done, strain off +the water; add three tablespoonfuls of milk, and a little (one ounce) +Parmesan or other grated cheese and pepper to taste; stir until it is +rather thick. Then dish it up with a little hot tomato sauce in the +centre. + +_Semolina Soup._--Take a pint and a half of liquor from boiled meat, or +stock from bones in which vegetables have been boiled. Add two ounces of +semolina, and season to taste; if needed, a very small teaspoonful of +Liebig extract, or a small piece of glaze can be added. + +_Spanish Souffle._--Cut two sponge cakes in slices. Spread apricot or +other jam on them. Pile them on a dish, squeeze the juice of a lemon +over them. Whip three teaspoonfuls of cream up with the white of one egg +to a froth; put it over the cakes; blanch and chop four almonds; put +them in the oven to colour, then sprinkle over the whip, and serve. + + + + +A DREAM OF QUEEN'S GARDENS.[1] + +A STORY FOR GIRLS.--IN TWO PARTS. + +BY DANIEL DORMER, Author of "Out of the Mists." + + +PART I. + +A PRETTY QUEEN. + + +"Any letter for me this morning, Brightie?" + +Hazel is leaning rather perilously over the banisters, trying to catch a +glimpse of the old woman coming slowly up the stairs far below. + +"Yes--one. Don't come for it, I'm coming up. And pray, child, don't hang +over those rickety rails like that." + +Miss Bright, or "Brightie," as Hazel Deane had grown affectionately to +call her, is a heavy, strongly-made woman of sixty-three years. She +finds the stairs in this house in Union-square, where she and Hazel +lodge, rather trying; they are many and steep, so she pauses half-way to +recover breath. Looking up she sees Hazel, a white, dark-eyed face, and +a form so slender that even those unsafe rails could hardly give way +under so slight a weight. "More than ever like one of my Cape jasmine +stars," thinks old Brightie. She has always mentally compared the girl +to one of those pure, white stars, which she used so specially to love, +shining on their invisible stems, amidst the dark green leaf-sprays at +her sister's home. Oh, how the poor, lonely old woman's heart had ached +for that country home of her younger days, as she sat wearily at her +business of plain sewing day after day in her attic in Union-square! + +And Hazel, looking down, saw her one friend in the world. A ray of +sunlight streamed in through the narrow staircase window on to Miss +Bright. It makes the black cap which covers her whole head, with strings +flying back over her shoulders, look very rusty. It makes her old alpaca +gown, patched and repatched, and the little black silk apron that she +wears, look more than ever shiny. It strikes upon the large, +old-fashioned white pearl buttons down the front of her bodice, and upon +the glasses of her spectacles, till she looks like some strange, black +creature staring all over with big, round eyes. To Hazel's affectionate +mind, however, there is nothing in the least ludicrous in the sight. She +only notes the panting breath, and says, with a touch of impatience in +her anxiety-- + +"Why will you persist in toiling up and down those horrid stairs, +instead of sending me, Brightie? It is really very unkind of you." + +When Brightie has delivered up Hazel's envelope, with its scrawled +direction, she retires into her own room, next door, and shuts herself +in. She is filled with an unwonted excitement, for she holds a second +letter in her hand, and it is her own. The rarest thing it is for her to +have a letter, and the post-mark is "Firdorf," the very same beautiful +country place for which she had pined; there she and Janie, her only +sister, had lived together, and Janie had died there. The hands, aged +with work and deprivation more than with time, shake as they break the +seal, the aged eyes grow dim again and again as they read. + +It is fully three parts of an hour before Brightie has got through the +letter--not that the words are many or hard to understand; but rather +that the hindrances are many. The glasses of the large spectacles grow +so misty from time to time that they require polishing. Then, too, Miss +Bright's mind exhibits foolish tendencies, refusing to grasp the meaning +of the words, and causing her to explain that she must be dreaming; and +still further she is carried back in mind to days long since vanished, +and scenes long unvisited, and these detain her long. But at last she +rouses herself--has at length fairly accepted the astonishing good news +her letter contains, and, with it open in her hand, hastens off to +communicate the same to her young friend. + +Hazel's door is locked, and Miss Bright has to wait a moment before it +is unfastened. Hazel has been crying, and the tears must have been both +plentiful and bitter, for unmistakable traces exist, in spite of hurried +efforts to efface them. For once, though, Brightie is thoroughly +self-engrossed, and fails to notice even Hazel's face. + +"I have such wonderful news, my dear!" she exclaims, the moment she is +admitted into the room. + +Hazel expresses her interest, and, with her loving smile and tender way, +ensconces her friend in the one attempt at an easy chair her room +possesses, and then kneels beside her to listen. + +"Well, my dear, you have heard me speak of my sister's house at +Firdorf?" + +"Of course! Often. Where you used to live, and the flowers were so +lovely." + +"Yes! and where the sweet white jasmine used to blossom, filling the air +with its delicious fragrance when we sat in the summer evenings beneath +the trellis work, in front of the dear old home." + +As she speaks of the jasmine, old Miss Bright's hand is laid caressingly +on Hazel's hair, and her eyes--happily not too keen without her glasses, +or they would detect the tear marks--rest with softened look, full of +tender memories, on the girl's sympathetic, upturned face. + +"There were always we three there--I, and my sister and her boy. You +have heard how the home was broken up, how Tom ran away, and how we lost +our money, and how Janie's spirit broke down under it, till at length +she gave up praying for Tom's return, and drooped and died?" + +Miss Bright is making a long pause. Her large, rough face is heavy and +sorrowful. She has quite forgotten her good news for the moment, has +forgotten her friend kneeling beside her, has forgotten all save the +memory of the sorrow which seemed to have terminated all of joy the +world held for her. Hazel steals a gentle arm round the bowed neck, and +kisses the worn, absent face as softly and soothingly as though it were +some beautiful child's. The touch recalls the wandering thoughts, +Brightie clasps the hand that she is holding in her own more tightly, +and goes on:-- + +"Well, to be sure, and I haven't told you the news after all, dearie! It +is that Tom has come back. He has made a great deal of money, and got +quite reformed and come back. And he has bought back the old house, and +now has just found out my address and wants me to go down and live with +him; wants me to forgive him, he says, and let him be a comfort to me. I +have, of course, nothing to forgive, except for Janie's sake." + +"Oh, Brightie, what good, good news it is! I am so very glad. You will +at last have some rest, and not be obliged to try your eyes over that +fine sewing, and be taken proper care of, and have all sorts of nice +things. I am so glad! How soon can you go, dear?--to-morrow? I should +like you to go to-morrow." + +Hazel began very bravely, went on unsteadily, and finally ended by +laying her head down on Brightie's broad shoulder, fairly sobbing. + +"I should like you to go to-morrow! Why, Hazel, Hazel, my tender-hearted +little pet, are you crying, then? Because you are sure I am not going +to-morrow? Neither to-morrow nor any other time. Don't you know I could +not leave you without a friend in this great, careless world?" + +Brightie's words are news to herself as she speaks them. She had not +considered the possibility of such a thing before. Here was the +longed-for home open to her, waiting to receive her again. Her one +relation, her own nephew, the same merry-faced Tom of old, dear days, +writing to her begging her to show her forgiveness and go to him to be +cherished all the days of her life. And all this must be +foregone--renounced. She must give it all up, and when Tom comes in two +days, as he said he should, to fetch her, she must withstand his +pleading and send him back alone, and never see the sweet garden and +fresh sea again. + +It is one of the cruellest days of bitter March weather. Yet early in +the day after the talk with Brightie, Hazel goes out in spite of the +cutting east wind. Wearily she drags herself about, making one more +effort to dispose of the manuscript of a story she has written, which +was ignominiously returned to her as useless this morning. Hour after +hour she struggles on in a kind of desperation, trying every possible +chance of getting rid of her laborious production. She is fully assured +in her own mind that she will have no opportunity of getting out of +doors, even to try and dispose of it, after to-day for many days to +come. Her growing illness makes that certain. But all efforts are worse +than useless. It is nearing seven o'clock, and growing quite dark, when +she reaches Union-square and stumbles up those endless stairs at length. +For the first two flights the stairs are comparatively broad and +handsome, and they are thickly carpeted; but above they grow narrow and +bare and steep. As she begins to ascend, Hazel meets a lady in a rich +dress. There are preparations, too, in the lower rooms, which betoken +the commencement of some festivity. Hazel is heartsick and footsore, and +these slight matters intensify her loneliness and sadness, till as she +enters her own dark, desolate room her swelling heart finds vent in a +stifled sob. There has been no scarcity of trouble in the +five-and-twenty years of Hazel Deane's life. + +And now the trouble that weighs upon her this dreary night is the +rejection all round of the treasured writing, offered everywhere with +diffidence and hope, received back always with mortification and +despair. It is now finally flung aside. Then there is the trouble of +losing her friend--her one friend, Miss Bright--for Hazel's delicate +little body holds a resolute mind and strong will, and she is determined +her friend shall not forego the so long needed rest on her account. + +The moon is looking in through the uncurtained window, looking into the +cold, bare room, where only two or three cinders glow a dull red in the +grate. Beside it Hazel leans back in her chair, musing bitterly on all +the gladness gone out of her life. "I am one of those who have none to +love them," she thinks, and the tears gather in her eyes again. + +She is quoting from Mr. Ruskin's "Queen's Gardens," the book which +enabled her to bear patiently a long delay at one of the publishers she +had tried that day. She had found it lying upon the table beside her as +she waited, and picking it up, had become engrossed in it. + +"And I am a woman, and I suppose, therefore, a queen--at least a +possible queen," she muses--"a pretty queen!" + +(_To be concluded._) + +[1] Sesame and Lilies. By John Ruskin, LL.D. 1. Of King's Treasuries. +2. Of Queen's Gardens. + + + + +THE WEATHER AND HEALTH. + +BY MEDICUS. + + +We have all heard tell of the "Clerk of the Weather." What a poor, +ill-used, roundly-rated, over-worked individual he must be! His whole +life must be spent in an impossible endeavour to please everybody. We +may imagine the poor man going of a morning towards his office with +languid steps and weary, wondering all the while to himself what sort of +weather he ought to give the public to-day. + +Arrived in front of his desk, he must stagger back with dismay at the +piles on piles of letters heaped thereon. To read them all is out of the +question; so he sits down and draws one forth, just as you would draw a +card from the hand of someone who pretended to tell fortunes. + +He opens the letter. It isn't a pleasant one by any means. There is a +tone of growling impatience in every line of it. How long, the writer, +who is an invalid, wants to know, are these horrible east winds going to +prevail down in Devonshire? She has come here for her health's sake; she +has been here for three weeks, and all that time it has never ceased to +blow, and she has never ceased to cough and ache. + +The clerk throws this epistle into the Balaam box and listlessly draws +out another. "Don't you think," the writer says, "that a blink of +sunshine would be a blessing--and a drop or two of warm rain to bring +the fruit on, and the garden stuff? What is the good of having a Clerk +of the Weather at all if he cannot attend better to his duties?" + +That letter is also pitched into the Balaam box, and a third drawn--a +delightful little cocked-hat of a letter, written on delicately-perfumed +paper, probably with a dove's quill. She--of course it is a she!--is +going to a garden-party on Tuesday week; would he, the Clerk of the +Weather, kindly see that not a drop of rain falls on that day? Only +bright sunshine, and occasional cloudlets to act as awnings and temper +its heat. + +The Clerk with a smile places that letter aside for further +consideration, and goes on drawing. All and everyone of them either +demand impossibilities or merely write to abuse the poor Clerk for some +fancied dereliction of duty. One wants rain, another growls because +there has been too much wet. This one is grumbling at the fogs, this +other at the sunshine; this one suggests snow for a change, and this +other begs for a thunderstorm to clear the atmosphere. + +And so on and so forth. No wonder the bewildered Clerk jumps up at last +and over-turns the table, letters and all, and audibly expresses a +desire to let all the winds loose upon the world at once, to revel and +tear and do as they like, to bring blinding snow from the far north and +drenching rains from the torrid zone, to order a select assortment of +thunderstorms from the Cape of Good Hope, and a healthy tornado from the +Indian Ocean. But he thinks better of it, burns all the letters, and +goes quietly on with his day's duty. + +We see, then, that no matter what state of body of mind we may be in, we +cannot get weather to order. We really commit an error, if nothing +worse, in asking for weather to suit us. + +We cannot alter our climate. December and January will bring their +frosts and snows without asking our permission; easterly or +nor'-easterly winds will prevail in the spring months; March will +bluster, April will weep; May will smile through her tears by day and +freeze us with her frosts at night, and July will stupefy us with +thunderstorms, and August scorch us with heat one day and drench us to +the skin the next. + +Now I am happy to say that a very large percentage of the readers of THE +GIRL'S OWN PAPER are so healthy in lungs and in nerves, and so +stout-hearted and strong-limbed, that it is, as a rule, a matter of +entire indifference to them how the wind blows or how the weather is. +But all are not so, and it will seem a matter of surprise for the really +robust to be told that many girls are so delicately constituted that +they actually can tell if the wind is from the east before they draw the +blind and look out. It is for this section of our girls that I am +writing to-day. They may not be invalids, but may simply labour under a +great susceptibility to atmospheric changes. + +Such as these will be glad to be told that there is every possibility of +their growing out of this disagreeable susceptibility, much depending +upon how they use and treat themselves when young. Spring winds are very +hard upon those who are subject to chest or throat irritation--in other +words, to common colds--and I must take this opportunity of entreating +girls of this class never to neglect a cold. Why? Because one cold on +top of another, as the saying is, will certainly result in the end in +thickening of the delicate mucous membrane that lines the lungs, and if +this takes place you may look forward to being in time a confirmed +invalid the greater part of the year through winter cough. + +It is not a very difficult thing to get clear of a cold if taken in +time. Confinement to the house for a day, or even two, a lowered diet, a +mixture of the solution of acetate of ammonia and spirits of sweet nitre +the first day, some aperient medicine and an ordinary cough mixture the +second or third day, warmer clothing and avoidance of exposure to high +winds; this treatment will be found successful in nine cases out of ten. + +Sudden changes in temperature are apt to induce illness in the delicate. +Mild weather may have prevailed for some days, when all at once the wind +veers round to the north-east and at the same time it blows high. +Exposure to weather of this kind may induce whatsoever kind of ailment +an individual is subject to. + +Well, there is one way and only one, to avoid it, and that is to dress +in proportion to the cold. No need for the clothing to be thick or +heavy. It should rather be the reverse, only soft and warm. Heavy +clothing is sure to cause fatigue in walking, and also perspiration, and +both states of body lay open the pores for trouble to enter. + +No need, either, for even the delicate to confine themselves to the +house during the cold spring weeks or days. Confinement to the house +means want of exercise, want of an abundance of fresh air, and very +often want of appetite. Well, the strong may exist intact for a long +time without much exercise or ozone, but, mind you, the delicate cannot. + +On wet days a mackintosh may be worn, though a good large umbrella is +far better. But if you will have a waterproof, let it be a cloth one, +one that will admit of ventilation, and not an india-rubber article. +This last is only fit for a Scottish cabman, with muscles of iron and +sinews of steel. + +Here is an extreme case by way of example. A lady goes out to take a +walk on a damp day thus accoutred: An extraordinary bulk and weight of +clothes, and over all an india-rubber mackintosh; on her feet are those +abominations called goloshes; over her mouth she has stuck a respirator, +and over her head and shoulders she carries an enormous umbrella. The +windows and doors of this lady's house are always kept shut, and +rendered hermetically sealed by woollen sand-bags and other +oxygen-banishing contrivances. Is it any wonder that she is pale and +flabby in face, that her very hands are sickly, soft, and puffy, and +that she is continually at war with the cook? + +Be warned, dear reader; take all reasonable precautions against catching +cold, but do not render your body unwholesome from over-clothing, nor +your lungs sickly for want of the pure air of heaven that you can no +more live well without than a fish can survive in a muddy stream. Sore +throat and tic doloreux, or face-ache, are very common complaints in +cold weather with high winds. But I really think they are more easily +prevented than cured. Both may be produced in the same way--namely, from +exposure to cold. It is a draught blowing directly on the face and into +the eyes or upon the neck that brings on these distressing complaints. +Beware of such a draught, and beware of damp or wet feet. Beware, also, +when walking out, of having too thick a muffle around the neck, for this +is apt to sweat it. + +Whenever you feel the slightest touch of sore throat, examine it at the +glass, and if there be any redness, do it over with your camel's-hair +pencil dipped in a mixture of glycerine two parts and tincture of iron +one part. + +As for tic, you protect yourself against cold and damp, but you ought +also to take an occasional tonic, and there is nothing I know better +than the citrate of iron and quinine. If, however, this medicine should +produce a disagreeable feeling of fulness in the head, it had better be +avoided and some other tonic substituted. Well, there is cod-liver oil +in conjunction with the extract of malt. This is the only form in which +cod-liver oil can be taken by many. + +I should mention that an occasional aperient pill will do good, but that +the habit of taking medicine of this kind as a regular thing should be +avoided. + +In cold weather the feet should be kept very comfortable, but you must +avoid sitting too much by the fire. I have already said that sudden +atmospheric changes are dangerous, but girls often manufacture these +changes for themselves, quite independent of the weather, by keeping +themselves too warm indoors and hugging the fire too much. + +In cold weather the food should be more nourishing, and soups are good +for the health. Soups should be avoided when the weather changes to +warm. + +Sugar, sweets, puddings, and fatty foods are all good in cold, bleak +weather, but in summer these do harm, if used to any great extent, by +heating the blood. + +The change in this country from cold with high winds and perhaps frosts +at night to warmth and even scorching heat is often very sudden. Even +the delicate are then very apt to throw off their winter or spring +clothing. But to do so suddenly is highly injudicious. Girls who are not +strong should wear some woollen material all the year round. This should +of course be of a lighter texture in summer, but woollen it ought to be, +without doubt. + +It is, I believe, a fact that there are fully as many disagreeable colds +caught in summer as in winter, and this can only be owing to the greater +recklessness with which people expose themselves to the influence of the +weather. + +During sultry and thundery weather, as it is called, many of the +delicate suffer from languor, listlessness, and headache. These symptoms +usually go away suddenly when the weather breaks or the storm comes on +and rolls over. Exertion in cases of this kind should be avoided, as +well as anything like heavy meals. The sufferer is better out of doors +than in, and better reclining in a hammock or easy-chair out of a +draught than standing or walking about. + +Hot weather greatly depresses the vital energy, because it usually comes +on so suddenly. On very warm days the delicate should avoid the +sunshine's glare during the heat of the day. But exercise must be taken +if health is to be retained, so in summer even girls that are not strong +should get out of bed soon and take a tepid if not cold bath. About +half-an-hour after breakfast is the best time for exercise, and again +about an hour before sunset, just when the day is cooling down, but +before the chill, night air has begun to blow. + +I have no intention at present to take up the subject of food in its +relation to weather, but I must be permitted to say that in our country, +as a rule, summer dinners are served on mistaken principles. Why, they +differ but little, if at all, from the same meals as placed before us in +the winter season--soup, fish, and great joints, pastry and cheese. + +To the robust I have nothing to say. Let them eat what they choose; in +time they will find out their mistake. But I do seriously advise +delicate girls to live rather abstemiously and on light, easily digested +dishes during the hot weather. Salads (and fruit, if good and ripe) may, +however, be taken with great benefit. + +We constantly hear young folks complaining of thirst during very warm +weather. The reason is not so much to be sought in the heat itself as in +the way they live. Overloading the stomach with strong meats in the +summer season not only induces thirst but positively enfeebles the body +and hurts the digestion. + +Ice and ices should be avoided as much as possible; at the best their +use is but a very artificial way of cooling the overheated body. A +mixture of ice and stimulants is worse ten times. A cup of good tea is +one of the most wholesome beverages one can take in warm weather. It +exhilarates, it cools, and while it cools the body it calms the mind. + +Lime or lemon juice and water make a good drink. It should be sipped. + +Ginger beer is somewhat too gassy for a delicate stomach. Raspberry +syrup in water, acidulated to taste with a little citric acid, is very +refreshing, and the same may be said of many other of the fruit syrups. + +Raspberry vinegar is made by placing three pounds of the picked fruit +into a glass vessel and pouring over them a pint and a half of white +wine vinegar. It should stand for a fortnight and then be strained +without pressure. + +Buttermilk is as good for a drink in summer as it is for the complexion. +Whey is also an excellent drink in summer, and I cannot refrain from +suggesting as a summer dish curds and cream. + +Ripe fruit may be eaten during hot weather with great benefit, only it +must be ripe and not over ripe. + +To conclude, I shall give a prescription for a summer drink which is +worth making a note of. Take the thin peel and the juice of a good-sized +lemon and add a small teaspoonful of citric acid and a wine-glassful of +fruit syrup, then pour on of boiling water one quart. Let it stand till +cold, and then strain. + + + + +GIRLS' FRIENDSHIPS. + +By the Author of "Flowering Thorns." + + +CHAPTER I. + +IDEAL FRIENDSHIPS. + + +I don't suppose there are many girls between the ages of sixteen and +twenty-three who have not a great friend--a particular friend; and if +there are, it is my opinion they cannot be the best kind of girls, +because unnatural. + +Some one--I think it is the author of "John Halifax, Gentleman"--has +called friendship a "Foreshadowing of love"; and if it is natural for a +woman to have a lover, it is no less natural for a girl to have a great +friend among her girl associates. + +How do girls make friends? and why do their friendships last very often +but a short time? or, again, how is it they ever endure a long time? are +questions which people who have forgotten their own early friendships, +or, perhaps, never gave much thought to them, puzzle over in vain. And +they may have puzzled you too, my thoughtful girl-readers, who want the +ideal friend you have read of or dreamed of in day-dreams, but neither +possess nor know how to acquire. + +To begin with--What is friendship? and I am inclined to define it as a +bond of mutual affection, sympathy, and help. If it is lacking in any +one of these particulars, just so far does it fall short of ideal +friendship. + +Test your present so-called friendship by these tests, and I think you +will find that any dissatisfaction you may feel in them can be accounted +for by a failure to pass one or other. + +There is, perhaps, not much difficulty about the first of these. Young +people feel quickly and strongly, and if girls did not honestly love one +another, or imagine--also honestly--that they did, the friendship, if, +indeed, it could exist at all, would be shorn of half its charm. But +love must be fed, and will only starve on a diet of respect and +admiration, without a very large admixture of sympathy. Sympathy, +fellow-feeling, mutual sensibility--call it how we will--is a simple +necessity to our ideal friendship, and by no means compels the two +friends to unvarying likeness either in character or tastes. But our +ideal friends--let us call them Alice and Maud--must be united so wholly +by this subtle bond that the pleasure, pain, or interest of the one +touches, through her, the other, who shares in what I may call this +reflective way the emotion originating with her friend. + +Alice, who does not personally care for music in the least, yet +thoroughly enjoys a concert, because she is feeling (reflectively) all +the time the keen delight with which Maud is listening to every note; +and Maud, for the same reason, has true pleasure in reading that rather +dry volume of essays, because that scattered throughout are sentiments +and expressions which she knows very well Alice will greatly appreciate. + +Mutual sympathy between friends is, of course, the outcome of love; and +yet it is surprising how little sympathy sometimes exists between girls +who to all appearance are really fond of one another. + +This may arise from selfishness, unselfishness, or unintelligence--that +density of mental vision which has never been educated to perceive the +subtle bonds which bind soul to soul. + +Now let us take Edith and Amy as examples of an imperfect friendship, in +contrary distinction to the ideal or perfect. They are fond of one +another, but there is a lack of mutual sympathy. Amy is full of ideas +and projects, which she sows broadcast during their long confidentials, +and which spring up in great beauty (to her mind, at least) in the +fertile soil of Edith's admiration. But all the giving is on one side. +Edith listens and wonders, applauds or condoles, as her stronger-minded +friend may give her the cue, too unselfish, and perhaps, also, too +timid, to intrude her own less thrilling interests and hopes upon Amy's +self-absorption; so that when the latter comes to an end of her +confidences, and has leisure and recollection enough to say, "And now, +Edith, what have you been doing?" she hastily replies, "Oh, nothing +particular," glad to be able to shield her insignificance in silence. + +Amy does not miss the return confidence which makes friendship so sweet; +she is too full of her own affairs to be a listener. Edith is her +overflow, whom she leaves saying mentally, "What a dear little +sympathetic thing she is! What should I do without her?" + +But what is Edith to do? Where is her overflow? This is a very one-sided +friendship: the companionship of giant and dwarf, which sooner or later +must come to an end or be very uncomfortable for the dwarf. The friends, +as I said, need not be alike, need not even be of equal capacity, +intellectually or practically, but the sympathy, rooted in affection, +must be mutual; it must be equal give and take, or the friendship is +miserably stunted and incomplete. + +And this brings me to speak of the third ingredient in what I have +defined as a perfect friendship--mutual help, which, of course, supposes +the two friends to be somewhat different, whether in character, tastes, +or surroundings, so that one can supply what the other lacks. + +[Illustration: ALICE AND MAUD.] + +If two countries in friendly relations both produce one article +abundantly, and are both lacking in some other article, there can be no +commerce--which is the symbol of friendly relations--between them. Both +must apply to a third country for that in which both are deficient. And +if Edith cannot get help from Amy when she is in need of it, not +necessarily advice, but some new view of the situation occasioned by +Amy's different character or life, and which would enable Edith to face +the trouble or difficulty with more courage or intelligence--if, I say, +Edith cannot get this help from Amy, before long she will find Clara, +and the friendship will be dissolved or cooled; while undiscerning +people will say, "How fickle these girls are!" + +Not at all. They obey a subtle, spiritual law, which makes it impossible +for friendship long to exist on insufficient food, and when it is said +that women are unreasoning and exacting in their friendships, it is +simply because people don't see that it is the nature which is in them +crying out to be fed with that without which it must die. + +But if after, it may be, years of affectionate intercourse, you still +find that your friend gives you absolutely nothing which you have not +already got--that she communicates no thought or experience to you that +will stimulate your mind or aid you in the practical work of life--do +you not begin to lose interest in her, strive as you will against the +consciousness of it? Does not the friend quit her hold on you and slide +down to the level of those of whom an hour or a letter every few weeks +gives you enough? You may feel affectionately towards such, but not +friendship. + +Our ideal friends, Alice and Maud, are very different. Alice is studious +and thoughtful, leading a quiet, uneventful life; Maud is high-spirited, +devoted to art and music, and sees considerably more of "the world," as +it is called. But they are a constant source of interest and assistance +to each other. Alice's thoughtful mind finds the meaning to the puzzles +of Maud's more superficial existence, who in turn puts the light touches +to Alice's grave conclusions, which often give them reality. These two, +as it were, sketch life's island from different points. One takes the +outline of cliff or shore, dashing in what I may call the aggregated +tints of forest and hill; the other paints by turns each special crag or +ravine, with their colours in detail; yet both are correct, and we want +both if we are to understand the island. + +I can imagine Maud in difficulty thinking, "I must go and see Alice, she +will help me out of my perplexity; she takes such different views of +things from those I do, and I have really come to an end of my ideas." + +Or Alice, also in difficulty, though probably of a very different +character, exclaiming, "I only wish Maud were here. She would know just +how to arrange this; and I cannot imagine what to do." + +Emerson tells us that as soon as we come up with a man's (or woman's) +limitations it is all over with us. Before that he might have been +infinitely alluring and attractive--"a great hope--a sea to swim in"; +but you discover that he has a shore--that the sea is, in fact, a +pond--and you cease to care for it. + +There is something in this to explain the languidness or cessation of +many girl friendships. There is nothing more to be learned--nothing more +to teach. They have come to an end of their resources; there is no more +help to be got, and the interest dwindles. A long walk or talk with one +another becomes stale, each prefers her own society, and by degrees the +unfed affection cools, and they find themselves unconsciously groping +about for souls whose limitations they have not yet reached. + +This is not fickleness; it is Nature; and there is a natural +remedy--progress. If day by day your shores--to use Emerson's +simile--widen, if you will not allow your mind to remain at a +standstill, like the stagnant pond, but are constantly receiving and +constantly using varied stores of knowledge and experience, you need not +fear to crush your friend by the discovery of your limitations. She will +have to progress too, if she is to come up with that; and as there is no +reasonable probability that you will advance in precisely the same +direction, you will each find increasing interest and help in the +other's society. + +One thing more the ideal friendship needs, but it is one most girls' +friendships, whether ideal or not, possess. I mean confidence. It is not +till the twenties are well into that reserve and reticence take their +place in a woman's friendship; it is not till then that she questions +with herself how far she will trust her friend with her hopes, fears, +and troubles. The younger we are, the more generous, trusting, and +unsuspicious we are; which is, I suppose, the great reason why we never +make such particular friends when the period of trust is past. If your +friend is worthy of the name, trust her wholly. How can you sympathise +with or help one another if you only tell half your troubles and +difficulties? I do not mean that all should wear their hearts upon their +sleeves. Every girl has, and should have, her private sanctuary of +thought, where none may enter; but in the matters which are discussed +between friends let there be no half-confidences. + +I have tried to sketch what I call an ideal friendship. If they are +rare, they are possible--most possible if you only study their +construction. + +I think all thoughtful and imaginative girls long for this ideal +friendship; but I wonder if they all reflect that the ideality does not +all depend on the friend, but on themselves. If it takes two most +emphatically to make a quarrel, it needs two to make a friendship. Do +your best to make it ideal. + +I have known such a friendship; I know that it is possible; and I know +that it is one of the most perfect experiences our life can give us. + +You do not need to live exceptional lives in order to love, sympathise, +and help. Experience is the best teacher, and gives lessons to all. Use +that intelligently as a means of moral, mental, spiritual progress, +remembering that it does not come to you by chance, but rather as the +work of + + "The hands + Which reach through Nature, moulding men." + +(_To be continued._) + + + + +MERLE'S CRUSADE. + +BY ROSA NOUCHETTE CAREY, Author of "Aunt Diana," "For Lilias," etc. + + +CHAPTER II. + +AN UNPREACHED SERMON. + + +Such an odd thing happened a few minutes afterwards. I was sitting quite +quietly in my corner, turning over in my mind all the arguments with +which I had assailed Aunt Agatha that Sunday afternoon, and watching the +pink glow of the firelight in contrast to the whiteness of the snow +outside, when the door bell rang, and almost the next moment Uncle Keith +came into the room. + +I suppose he must have overlooked me entirely, for he went up to Aunt +Agatha and sat down beside her. + +"Sweetheart," he said, taking her hand, and I should hardly have +recognised his voice, "I have been thinking about you all the way home, +and what a pleasant sight my wife's face would be after my long walk +through the snow and----" But here Aunt Agatha must have given him a +warning look, for he stopped rather abruptly, and said, "Hir-rumph" +twice over, and Aunt Agatha blushed just as though she were a girl. + +I could not help laughing a little to myself as I went out of the room +to tell Patience to bring in the tea, and yet that sentence of Uncle +Keith touched me somehow. Were middle-aged people capable of that sort +of love? Did youth linger so long in them? I had imagined those two such +a staid, matter-of-fact couple; they had come together so late in life, +that one never dreamt of any possible romance in such a courtship, and +yet he could call Aunt Agatha "Sweetheart" in a voice that was not the +least drawling. At that moment one would not have called him so plain +and insignificant with that kind look on his face. I suppose he keeps +that look for Aunt Agatha, for I remember she once told me that she had +never seen such a good face as Uncle Keith's "not handsome, Merle, but +so thoroughly good." + +Patience was toasting the muffins in her bright little kitchen, so I sat +down and watched her. I was rather partial to Patience; she was a +pretty, neat-looking creature, and I always thought it a great pity that +she was engaged to a journeyman bootmaker, who aspired to be a preacher. +I never could approve of Reuben Locke, though Aunt Agatha spoke well of +him; he was such a weak, pale-faced young man; and I think a man, to be +one, ought to have some spirit in him, and not possess only the womanish +virtues. + +"How is Reuben, Patience?" I asked, somewhat amiably, just for the +pleasure of seeing our little handmaid's dimples come into view. + +"Reuben's but poorly, miss," replied Patience, as she buttered another +smoking muffin, the last of the pile. "He was preaching at Whitechapel +the other night and caught a cold and sore throat; his mother says he +will not be at chapel to-night." + +"I do not approve of street preaching myself," I remarked, a little +severely. + +"Indeed, miss," replied Patience, innocently, as she prepared to carry +in the tea-tray, "Reuben always tells me that the Apostles were street +preachers, and Reuben is as clear as Gospel in what he says." But here +the drawing-room bell broke off Patience's argument, and left me +somewhat worsted. I went to church by myself that evening, and I am +ashamed to say I heard very little of the sermon. I knew Aunt Agatha +would be taking advantage of my long absence to retail what she termed +my preposterous scheme to Uncle Keith, and that I should have the +benefit of his opinion on my return, and this thought made me restless. + +I was not wrong in my surmise. Aunt Agatha looked a little pale and +subdued, as though she had been shedding a few tears over my +delinquencies, but Uncle Keith was simply inscrutable; when he chose, +his face could present a perfect blank. + +"Hir-rumph, my dear, what is this your aunt tells me, that you are going +to Prince's Gate to-morrow morning to offer your services as nurse in a +gentleman's family?" + +"Yes, Uncle Keith." + +"Do you mean to tell me seriously that you have really made up your mind +to take this step?" + +"Oh, I am quite serious, I assure you." + +"Your aunt's objections and mine do not count for much, then?" + +"I should be sorry to go against your wishes or Aunt Agatha's," I +returned, trying to keep cool; but his manner, as usual, aggravated me; +it said so plainly, "What a silly child you are, and yet you think +yourself a woman," "but I must do as I think right in this matter. I +hope to prove to you and everyone else that there is nothing derogatory +in the work I mean to undertake. It is not what I would choose, perhaps, +but everything else is closed to me," thinking sorrowfully of my +life-long misfortune, as I always called it, and my repressed longings +for hospital training. + +"Perhaps if you waited something else might turn up." But I shook my +head at this. + +"I have waited too long already, Uncle Keith; idleness soon becomes a +habit." + +"Then if you have made up your mind, it is useless to try and alter it," +returned Uncle Keith, in a slightly ironical tone, and he actually took +up the volume he was reading in a way that showed he had dismissed the +subject. I was never more astonished in my life; never had Uncle Keith +so completely baffled me. + +I had spent the whole time during which I ought to have been listening +to the sermon, in recapitulating the heads of my arguments in favour of +this very scheme; I would show Uncle Keith how clearly and logically I +could work out the subject. + +I had thought out quite an admirable little essay on feminine work in +the nineteenth century by the time Mr. Wright had finished his +discourse. I meant to have cited the Challoners as an example. Aunt +Agatha had stayed in their neighbourhood of Oldfield just before her +marriage, and had often paid visits at Longmead and Glen Cottage. + +The eldest Miss Challoner--Nan, I think they called her--was just +preparing for her own wedding, and Aunt Agatha often told me what a +beautiful girl she was, and what a fine, intelligent creature the second +sister Phillis seemed. She was engaged to a young clergyman at Hadleigh, +and there had been some talk of a double wedding, only Nan's +father-in-law, Mr. Mayne, of Longmead, had been rather cross at the +notion, so Phillis's was to be postponed until the autumn. + +All the neighbourhood of Oldfield had been ringing with the strange +exploits of these young ladies. One little fact had leaked out after +another; it was said their own cousin, Sir Henry Challoner, of Gilsbank, +had betrayed the secret, though he always vowed his wife had a hand, or +rather a tongue, in the business; but anyhow, there was a fine nine +days' gossip over the matter. + +It seemed that some time previously Mrs. Challoner and her three +daughters had sustained severe losses, and the three girls, instead of +losing courage, had put their shoulders to the wheel, and had actually +set up as dressmakers at Hadleigh, carrying on their business in a most +masterly fashion, until the unexpected return of their relative, Sir +Harry Challoner, from Australia, with plenty of money at his disposal, +broke up the dressmaking business, and reinstated them at Glen Cottage. + +A few of their friends had been much offended with them, but as it was +understood that Lady Fitzroy had spoken warmly of their moral courage +and perseverance, it had become the fashion to praise them. Aunt Agatha +had often quoted them to me, saying she had never met more charming +girls, and adding more than once how thoroughly she respected their +independence, and of course in recalling the Challoners I thought I +should have added my crowning argument. + +There was so much, too, that I longed to say in favour of my theory. The +love of little children was very strong with me. I had often been pained +as I walked through the streets at seeing tired children dragged along +or shaken angrily by some coarse, uneducated nurse. It had always seemed +rather a pitiful idea to me that children from their infancy should be +in hourly contact with rough, menial natures. "Surely," I would say to +myself, "the mother's place must be in her nursery; she can find no +higher duty than this, to watch over her little ones; even if her +position or rank hinder her constant supervision, why need she relegate +her maternal duties to uneducated women? Are there no poor gentlewomen +in the world who would gladly undertake such a work from very love, and +who would refuse to believe for one moment they were losing caste in +discharging one of the holiest and purest duties in life? + +"What an advantage to the children," I imagined myself saying in answer +to some objection on Uncle Keith's part, never dreaming that all this +eloquence would be silenced by masculine cunning. + +"What an advantage to these little creatures to hear English pure and +undefiled from their cradles, and to be trained to habits of refinement +and good manners by merely instinctively following the example before +their eyes. Children are such copyists, one shudders to think of these +impressionable little beings being permitted by their natural guardians +to take their earliest lessons from some uneducated person. + +"Women are crying out for work, Uncle Keith," I continued, carrying my +warfare into a fresh quarter; but, alas! this, with the rest of my +eloquence, died a natural death on my way home. "There are too many of +the poor things in this world, and the female market is overstocked. +They are invading telegraph offices, and treading on the heels of +business men, but sheer pride and stupidity prevent them from trying to +open nursery doors." + +"Unladylike to be a servant," another imaginary objection on Uncle +Keith's part. "Oh, fie, Uncle Keith! this from you, who read your Bible +and go to church; and yet I remember a certain passage, 'Whosoever will +be chief among you let him be your servant,' which has hallowed the very +idea of service ever since. + +"To serve others seems the very meaning of womanhood; in some sense, a +woman serves all the days of her life. No, I am not farfetched and +unpractical." Another supposed masculine tirade. "I have thought over +the whole thing most carefully. I am not only working for myself, but +for others. I want to open the eyes of my generation, and, like the +Challoners, to lead a new crusade against the mighty sham of +conventionality. Understand me, Uncle Keith, I do not say to these young +gentlewomen, put your pride in your pocket and wheel your perambulator +with the twins, or carry the baby into the park before the eyes of your +aristocratic acquaintance; that would be unnecessary and foolish; you +may leave that part to the under-nurse, who brings your meals and scours +your nurseries; I simply say to them, if you have no capacity for +teaching, if nature has unfitted you for other work, and you are too +proud and conscientious to live a dragging, dependent life under the +roof of some overburthened relative, take the charge of some +aristocratic nursery. Do not think it beneath your womanhood to feed and +wash and clothe an infant, or to watch over weak, toddling creatures. +Your work may be humble, but you will grow to love it, and if no one +else will put the theory to the test, I, Merle Fenton, will do so, +though I must take the plunge unaided, and alone." + +But all these feeling observations were locked up in my own inner +consciousness, for during the remainder of the evening Uncle Keith +simply ignored the subject and read his book with a pretence of being +perfectly absorbed in it, though I am certain that his eyes twinkled +mischievously whenever he looked in my direction, as though he were +quite aware of my flood of repressed oratory. + +I determined to have it out with Aunt Agatha, so I followed her into her +room, and asked her in a peevish voice what she meant by saying Uncle +Keith would be so angry with me, as he had not raised a single +objection, and, of course, as silence meant consent, I should most +certainly keep my appointment at Prince's Gate. + +Aunt Agatha looked a little distressed as she answered me. + +"To tell you the truth, Merle, I did not quite understand your uncle +myself; I expected a very different reception of my news." + +"Tell me all about it from the very beginning," I returned, eagerly. +"Patience has made such a nice fire, because she said she was afraid you +had a cold, and I can just sit by it and brush out my hair while we +talk." + +"But I am tired and sleepy, child, and after all there is not much to +tell," objected Aunt Agatha; but she was far too good-natured to refuse +for all that, so she seated herself, dear soul, in the big chair--that +she had christened Idleness--and tried to remember what I wished to +hear. + +"I told him everything, Merle: how your one little defect hindered you, +poor child, from being a nursery governess or companion, and how, in +spite of this serious obstacle, you were determined to work and be +independent." + +"Well, and did he say nothing to all that?" I asked, for I knew in what +a feeling manner Aunt Agatha would have described my difficulties. + +"Oh, yes; he said, 'poor little thing,' in the kindest possible way, +'and quite right--very proper,' when I spoke of your desire for work." + +"Well," rather impatiently. + +"He listened very attentively until I read him out the advertisement, +but that seemed to upset him, for he burst out laughing, and I thought +he would never stop. I was half crying by that time, for you had worried +me to death all the afternoon, Merle, but nothing I could say would make +him grave for a long time. He said once, 'What could have put such a +thing into her head?' and then he laughed again as though the idea +amused him, and then he rubbed his hands and muttered, 'What an original +child it is; there is no deficiency of brain power as far as I can see; +who would have dreamt of such a thing?' and so on." + +"Then I may flatter myself that Uncle Keith approves of my scheme," I +observed, stiffly, for I was much offended at the idea of his laugh. + +"Oh dear, no," returned Aunt Agatha, in an alarmed voice, "he expressed +his disapproval very strongly; he said it was all very well in theory, +and that, on the whole, he agreed with you that the nursery was +undoubtedly a lady-like sphere, but he was far from sure that your +scheme would be practical. He foresaw all kinds of difficulties, and +that he did not consider you at all the person for such a position." + +"Why did not Uncle Keith say all this to me himself?" I demanded. + +"Because he said it would only be sowing the wind to raise the +whirlwind. In an argument he declares women always have the best of it, +because they can talk the fastest, and never will own they are beaten; +to raise objections would only be to strengthen you more in your +purpose. I think," finished Aunt Agatha, in her softest voice, "that he +hoped your plan would die a natural death, for he recommended me to +withdraw all opposition." + +Oh, the cunning of these men. I would not have believed all this of +Uncle Keith. I was far too angry to talk any more to Aunt Agatha; I only +commanded my voice sufficiently to say that I fully intended to keep my +appointment the next day; and as she only looked at me very sadly and +said nothing, I had no excuse for lingering any longer, so I took up my +candlestick and marched into my own room. + +It felt cold and desolate, and as I sat down by the toilet table, such +sad eyes looked into mine from the depths of the mirror, that a curious +self-pitying feeling made me prop my chin on my hands and exchange looks +of silent sympathy with my image. + +My want of beauty never troubled me; it has always been my private +conviction that we ought to be thankful if we are tolerably pleasant in +other people's eyes; beauty is too rare a gift to be often reproduced. +If people thought me nice-looking I was more than content; perhaps it +was surprising that, with such good-looking parents, I was just ordinary +and nothing else, "But never mind, Merle, you have a good figure and +talking eyes," as Aunt Agatha once said to me. "I was much plainer at +your age, my dear, but my plainness never prevented me from having a +happy life and a good husband." + +"Well, perhaps I should like a happy life, too, but as for the +husband--never dream of that, my good girl; remember your miserable +deficiency in this enlightened age. No man in his senses would condone +that; put such thoughts resolutely away and think only of your work in +life. _Laborare est orare._" + +(_To be continued._) + + + + +THE CONTENTS OF MY WORK-BOX. + +HOW BUTTONS ARE MADE. + + +It is scarcely possible to determine when buttons, which are both useful +and ornamental, were first made. In the paintings of the fourteenth +century they frequently appear on the garments of both sexes, but in +many instances they are drawn without button-holes, and are placed in +such situations as to suggest that at that time they were used more for +ornament than usefulness. + +It was towards the close of the sixteenth century that button-making was +first considered a business, and that the manufacturers formed a +considerable body. + +Button-making was originally a very tedious and expensive process. The +button consisted of one solid piece of metal; the ornaments on the face +of it were the work of an engraver. To obviate the expense connected +with such a method of production, the press, stamp, and engine for +turning the moulds were introduced. This improvement led the way for +other improvements, both with regard to the materials from which buttons +were afterwards made and also the process of manufacture. The plain gilt +button, which was extensively used in the early part of the present +century, was made from an alloy called plating metal, which contained a +larger proportion of copper and less zinc than ordinary brass. The +devices on the outer surface were produced by stamping the previously +cut out blanks or metal discs with steel dies, after which the necks +were soldered in. At the present time every possible kind of metal, from +iron to gold, whether pure or mixed; every conceivable woven fabric, +from canvas to the finest satin and velvet; every natural production +capable of being turned out or pressed, as wood, horn, hoof, pearl, +bone, ivory, jet, ivory nuts; every manufactured material of which the +same may be said, as caoutchouc, leather, papier mache, glass, +porcelain, etc., buttons are made in a great variety of shape; but at +the present time they may be classed under four heads: buttons with +shanks, buttons without shanks, buttons on rings or wire moulds, and +buttons covered with cloth or some other material. + +In the process of metal button-making by means of fly presses and +punches, circular discs, called blanks, are cut out of sheets of metal. +This work is usually done by females, who, while seated at a bench, +manage to cut out as many as thirty blanks per minute, or twelve gross +in an hour. On leaving the press the edges of the blanks are very sharp. +When they have been smoothed and rounded, the surfaces are planished on +the face by being placed separately in a die, under a small stamp, and +causing them to receive a sharp blow from a polished steel hammer. The +next process is that of shanking, or attaching small metal loops, by +which they are fastened to garments. The shank manufacture is a distinct +branch of the trade in Birmingham, although at times carried on in the +same factory. + +The shanks are made by a machine, in which a coil of wire is gradually +advanced towards a pair of shears, which cut off short pieces. A metal +finger then presses against the middle of each piece, first bending it +and then pressing it into a vice, where it is compressed so as to form a +loop; a hammer then strikes the two ends, spreading them into a flat +surface, and the shank is pushed out of the machine ready for use. The +shanks in some instances are attached to the blanks by women with iron +wire, solder, and resin, after which they are placed in an oven, and +when firmly united are removed and form plain buttons. In the majority +of cases, however, soldering is dispensed with, the shanks being made +secure in the press. + +If the button is to be finished without a shank, it is passed on from +the press, which it leaves as a blank, to another where the holes are +pierced, and then to a third where the roughness is removed from the +edges of the holes. + +The commonest metal buttons which I have seen in process of making were +cut out of scraps of tin, similar to what may be seen on the refuse heap +of any shop where tin goods are made. The hand presses worked by women +cut out the blanks, made a simple impression on the outside, and turned +up the edges all round at the same time. The blanks were then passed on +to another press, where pieces of cardboard were inserted, and the edges +turned over to keep them firm. The holes were next pierced, and a finish +given by a blow from a stamp. + +I felt deeply interested in seeing all kinds of buttons in process of +being made, some for India, others for Chili, and our own army, but the +prettiest and most interesting to witness while passing through the +presses, stamps, and hands of the workers were some which were being +made for Malta. In passing through the first press the blank was +embossed and cut out. By another press the edge was scalloped, and by a +third press the open work was effected. The next process was that of so +pressing each disc to such an extent that the scalloped edges of two +might meet, and thus form a round button of pretty design when united, +and a shank fastened in the centre of one of the blanks. + +Military buttons, like many others, are made of two discs of metal, the +impression on the outer ones being produced by a sharp blow in a stamp, +the under ones having two holes pierced in them for the shanks, which +are put through and bent flat on the inside. They are next passed +through another press which firmly fastens the two discs together, and +holds the shank so securely as to obviate the necessity of having +recourse to soldering. + +Covered buttons are made in an immense variety of textiles. It is +impossible in the space allowed for this paper to enumerate them, but I +may add that their ingenious construction, their good wearing qualities, +the clever mechanism of the tools by which the various discs of cloth, +metal, millboard, etc., are cut out, and the methods of uniting them so +as to form a complete button, are marvels of skill and industry. + +The earliest covered buttons were made so recently as the year 1802, in +Birmingham, by Mr. B. Sanders. Those buttons had metal shanks, but by +the ingenuity of Mr. Sanders, jun., his father's invention was completed +by tufts of canvas, through which the buttons could be attached to +garments, being substituted for rigid metal shanks. The only improvement +since made has been that of covering the back of the silk-fronted +buttons also with silk. + +A covered button consists of two discs of metal and one of millboard, +thicker or thinner, according to circumstances. In making it, the sheet +of iron is first scaled, by the use of powerful acids, and then cut into +proper size and shape by a press. The neck, or collet, of the button is +japanned after being stamped and cut. The hollow between the neck and +shell is filled with millboard. When the parts are put together and +pressed the button is brought into shape, and its several parts are +consolidated. + +It was in the year 1841 that Mr. John Aston made the first three-fold +linen button--that is, a button formed of a linen covering and a ring of +metal, so put together that both sides and centre were completely +covered with separate pieces of linen, and thus produced being quite +flat. This being an exceedingly neat and convenient button, it became +largely patronised, as it still is by housewives, for all underclothing, +having superseded the old thread button formed of a ring of wire, with +threads drawn over it and gathered in the centre. A slight improvement +was made by Mr. Elliott. During the time that the patent lasted these +two gentlemen worked in concert, and established a very successful +business. + +So great has been the demand for covered linen buttons at different +times, that during one single year Mr. Elliott's successors have in the +process of making them required 63,000 yards of cloth and 34 tons of +metal, and given employment to 250 persons. As the button trade has for +a considerable time been in a very depressed condition, it is possible +that the productions of this firm may not be of such magnitude as they +were a few years since. + +With regard to the depressed condition of this branch of Birmingham +industries, one manufacturer assured me, only a few weeks ago, that +where 150 persons were employed at one time, not more than 20 or 30 +would be working then. In visiting one of the largest manufactories the +same day, I saw sufficient to convince me of the truthfulness of his +statement, for in passing through the different workshops I saw one or +two presses, stamps, and turning-lathes at work, whereas several were +unused and without attendants. One firm, when trade is in a flourishing +condition, will make about 15,000 gross of linen buttons weekly. Ivory +buttons are made from the tusks of elephants; but as the material is +expensive, and the manipulation has to be conducted with great care, and +that chiefly by hand, they can only be used by persons who can afford to +pay a goodly sum. + +During the last few years, in which a great variety of colours has been +introduced, both for ladies' and gentlemen's garments, and buttons have +been required to match, it is fortunate that a substitute has been found +for ivory in the kernel of the "corozo" nut. This nut grows in clusters +on palm-like trees in South America, and is husked like a cocoanut, but +is different in shape and considerably smaller in dimensions. The +kernel--the part used in button-making--is milk-white, and being softer +than animal ivory, is more easily turned, and as it readily absorbs +dyes, it can be made to take any colour with little trouble. + +The process of making these vegetable ivory buttons is as +follows:--After boys have cracked the shells, the kernels are taken by +men standing at benches in which small fine-toothed saws are revolving. +Only a slight pressure of the nut against the saw is required before it +is divided into equal parts. If necessary, the operation is repeated. +Providing, however, that the pieces of the nut are of proper dimensions, +they are passed on to the turner. + +The next process is that of cutting out or turning, and is performed in +the following manner:--The turner, after fixing a piece of the nut in +the chuck of his lathe, brings a tubular cutter, the face edge of which +is toothed like a saw, to work on the exposed front surface of the nut; +the result is that of a rough button or mould. As these moulds are +rough, they are passed on to another lathe, where they are made smooth, +and then to a third, where the holes are drilled. They are next passed +on to the dyer, who arranges his colours according to instructions +received. It sometimes happens that a mottled appearance is required; +when such is the case, girls are employed to touch them with the colours +required by the aid of camel-hair pencils. The buttons are next placed +in tanks for drying, the tanks being heated by steam for that purpose. + +Most of the buttons are polished in lathes by friction from their own +dust, held in the hand of the operative. + +Porcelain buttons were invented by Mr. R. Prosser, of Birmingham, who, +in conjunction with the celebrated firm of Minter and Co., made them in +large quantities in the potteries, about the year 1840. They were, +however, soon driven from the market by French manufacturers, who sold a +great gross--that is, twelve gross, each of twelve dozen--for the +ridiculously small sum of elevenpence. + +Glass buttons are made by heating canes of glass and pinching them from +the end with pliers, which at the same time answer the purpose of a die. +They are sold very cheaply, as low as twopence a gross, but it is +scarcely possible for any English firm to compete with Bohemia in their +production. + +Mother-o'-pearl buttons are made out of pearl shells which have been +imported from the coasts of Macassar, Manilla, Bombay, the archipelago +of the Pacific, the Bay of Panama, and a few other places. Their market +value is not always the same. At the present time it ranges from L8 to +L10 per hundredweight. The blanks are cut out of the shells by a steel +tubular cutter, similar to that used in cutting the vegetable ivory. As +the cutter works its way through a shell, small cylinders of pearl are +disconnected, which are reduced in thickness by splitting into discs, a +little thicker than the button is required to be when finished. These +blanks are finished singly in a turning lathe, by being placed in a +suitable chuck, and having a steel tool applied to its face for +producing the rim and depression in the centre. They are then passed on +to another lathe, where the holes are drilled, and afterwards to +another, where they are polished by friction and a mixture of +rotten-stone and soft soap. + +The best white buttons are those which are made from Macassar shells, +and the best black from shells of the archipelago of the Pacific. The +latter are the dearest, in consequence of the black shells not being so +plentiful as those of lighter shades. Some few years since the +consumption of mother-o'-pearl shells in Birmingham amounted to nearly +one thousand tons annually; the failure of the fisheries in Central +America has, however, reduced it to a little more than a third, or about +three hundred tons a year. + +Thimbles are made by stamping, and afterwards turning in a lathe, the +indentations being produced by a suitable instrument. On the Continent +the operatives make them with punches in as many as five different +mandrils. Scissors, bodkins, etc., have nothing connected with their +manufacture which calls for any special notice. Although, as in previous +papers, I have conducted my readers in paths not usual to girls and +young women, I hope that my description of button-making will interest a +considerable number, and teach them to think more of buttons and how +they are made and by whom made than they have ever done before. + + W. W. B. + + + + +BITS ABOUT ANIMALS. + +A SAGACIOUS COLT. + + +A gentleman whose pretty garden adjoined a park in which a number of +young colts were grazing, was much annoyed by the inroads of these +animals. He took every precaution to prevent their entrance, but to no +purpose. Fences were examined and found intact, the gate was kept shut, +and yet one or more of the colts would soon be found devastating +flower-beds, or browsing in the kitchen garden. The provoking part of it +was that no one could discover how the creatures obtained an entrance. + +At length men were hidden in the trees to watch, and the problem was +speedily solved. A colt trotted up to the gate and inserted its head +between the bars, with the evident intention of raising the latch. He +made several vain attempts, but had not mastered the trick. The latch +remained in its place, and the colt outside. + +For a few moments the animal stood cogitating, then trotted rapidly back +to the spot where he had left his companions. He singled out one of the +most frequent visitors to the garden, and, by some language peculiar to +colts, made known his difficulty. The other at once returned with his +companion to the gate, inserted his head below one of the bars, and by a +dexterous movement displaced the latch, and the gate swung open. Then, +throwing back his head as if to say, "See how easy it is when one knows +how," he went back whilst the other entered the garden. + +It was noticed by the watchers that this last had not previously been +seen within the forbidden precincts, but the one that opened the gate +for him had been particularly troublesome. The fact that he was +specially selected for the office of porter showed no little sagacity in +the would-be visitor to the garden. But, much as the cleverness of the +animals might be admired, care was taken to render its exercise useless +for the future. + + RUTH LAMB. + + + + +VARIETIES + + +A FRENCH CONVERSATION. + +Voltaire once said, "It is not clear, therefore it cannot be French." +This is only partially true, for the French language furnishes abundant +material for puns and misunderstandings, intentional or otherwise. The +following amusing instance may serve as an illustration:-- + +Two sportsmen met together on their way home. + +"Where do you come from?" the first asked the second, who was trembling +with fright. + +"I come--I come--from the forest of Bondy." + +"And why are you so excited?" + +"I have been attacked by robbers." + +"How many were there?" + +"_Sept._" + +"What did you say?" + +"_Je dis sept._" + +"_Dix-sept?_" + +"No; _sans dix_." + +"_Cent dix?_" + +"Oh, dear! no. _Sans dix, sept._" + +"Good gracious! _Cent dix-sept?_" + +"Nonsense. _Sept sans dix-sept._" + +"_Sept cent dix-sept._" + +"You don't understand me. _Je te dis sept sans dix!_" + +"_Dix-sept cent dix._" + +"You will drive me mad! _Je te dis sept sans dix-sept!_" + +"_Dix-sept cent dix-sept!_ I can understand your being frightened with +such a number." + + +TO PRESERVE CUT FLOWERS.--An important rule in preserving cut flowers is +never to cram the vase with flowers. Many will last if only they have a +large mass of water in the vase and not too many stalks to feed on the +water and pollute it. Vases that can hold a large quantity of water are +to be preferred to the spindle-shaped trumpets that are often used. Flat +dishes covered with wet sand are also useful for short-stalked or +heavy-headed flowers; even partially-withered blooms will revive when +placed on this cool moist substance. Moss, though prettier than sand, is +to be avoided, as it soon smells disagreeably, and always interferes +with the scent of the flowers placed in it for preservation. + + +THE WAY OF THE WORLD.--The world deals good-naturedly with good-natured +people, and I never knew a sulky misanthropist who quarrelled with it +but it was he and not it that was in the wrong.--_Thackeray._ + + +MOTHERS' THOUGHTS. + + To a goose one day a gosling came. + As she surveyed it duly, + She said, "No swan in all the world + Is half so pretty, truly." + + In words like these all mothers' thoughts + This wise old goose expressed; + For of all babies in the world, + Each thinks her own the best. + + +UNGRATEFUL GRATITUDE.--There are minds so impatient of inferiority that +their gratitude is a species of revenge, and they return benefits not +because recompense is a pleasure, but because obligation is a +pain.--_Dr. Johnson._ + + +DOUBLE ACROSTIC. + + Dissatisfied with their appointed lot, + These both aspir'd to seem what they were not; + Foil'd in their schemes, they recognis'd, too late, + The folly of attempts to shake the state. + The first became, t' avoid a harsher doom, + A menial, baser than the lowest groom; + The second paid a far more heavy tax; + Tried and condemn'd, he perished by the axe. + + 1. So fair and flatt'ring, and so bright of hue, + Will it betray us? or will it be true? + + 2. Friend of two great philosophers, this youth + Boasted himself yet more, the friend of truth. + Throughout a long career he strove to scan + The wondrous working of great Nature's plan, + And taught his pupils, strolling at their ease, + 'Neath pleasant shelter of umbrageous trees. + + 3. The glorious witness to the living faith, + In tortures passing unto life through death. + + 4. How many bow'd their heads to meet this thing! + Priest, warrior, noble, princess, e'en a king. + + 5. The good old man, whose tender, loving heart, + Unfitted him to act the sterner part + Of curbing his rebellious children's will; + His mild reproof they disregarded, till + There fell the doom that had been prophesied, + And in one day the sons and father died. + + 6. Oft melted and then pour'd into a mould, + Translucent and inodorous when cold, + Useful, abundant, and of little cost, + Mis-spelt, miscall'd by those who use me most. + + 7. A butcher's son, who rose to eminence + In legal circles by his clear good sense; + For public service he was made a peer, + And held the woolsack twice for many a year. + + 8. The Roman youth, to prove his hardihood, + Thrust his right hand into the fire that stood + Before the king; shrivel'd his hand remained, + And he this surname by that act obtain'd. + + 9. A bird of Africa, that shows the way + To where wild bees their stores of honey lay; + Then perch'd aloft, content t' await his share + Of honey which the hunters leave him there. + + 10. The elder daughter, offer'd as a bride + To him who foes successfully defied. + With conquest flush'd, the low-born victor came, + The fair princess's promis'd hand to claim, + But only came to disappointment; since + She had already wed a pow'rful prince. + + 11. A jutting cape, which, when the Northmen spied, + A fanciful resemblance they descried + To human features; so they gave a name + To mark that cape, and still it bears the same. + + 12. How do you call that line, which, year by year, + Traces the sun's course round the pictur'd sphere? + + 13. In Scandinavian fables I am nam'd + "Destroyer," and as evil genius fam'd; + Interpolate one letter, and 'tis strange + That I become preserver by the change. + + XIMENA. + + + + +ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. + + +EDUCATIONAL. + +EDISCENDA.--The highest mountain known has been found in New Guinea, and +is called Mount Hercules. It is said to be 32,786 feet high, or 3,786 +feet higher than Mount Everest, of the Himalayan Range. + +VIOLET.--The best examination to pass would be either the Oxford or +Cambridge; but if you do not wish to do so much, that of the College of +Preceptors would perhaps be sufficient for your purpose. + +A LONELY GIRL.--We think there is too much science and too little +history and literature in your list of books, and we should recommend a +course of poetry also, as well as some works on art. + +A, B, C, D, ETC.--In the chronicles of Robert of Gloucester the age of +Brutus is purely legendary. The whole chronicle is partly taken from the +fabulous history of Geoffrey of Monmouth. + +DORA (Bradford).--"How to Form a Small Library" was at page 7 and 122, +vol. ii. Clean your hair-brushes with flour or bran, rubbing them well +together with it as if you were washing them dry. You should write +copies daily to improve your handwriting. + +A. and M.--We are inclined to believe that governesses are not in demand +anywhere in the colonies unless they be willing to turn their hands to +help in the household, just as a daughter of the house might do. If you +and your sister be willing to do this, and are both capable and +industrious, you might do well in Queensland. Write to the secretary of +the Woman's Emigration Society, New Buildings, Carteret-street, Queen +Anne's-gate, London, S.W. + +E. C. G.--We believe you can obtain grammars and dictionaries in most of +the Eastern tongues at Messrs. Truebner's, Ludgate-hill, E.C. We cannot +say what progress you would make without a master, as we do not know +your capabilities. + +MACAW.--We have great pleasure in giving the address of the +correspondence class from which you have derived so much advantage, and +which you sought through our advice. Miss MacArthur, 4, +Buckingham-street, Hillhead, Glasgow. So well managed, as it appears to +be from your account, we hope our notice may prove of much use to our +readers. + +MISS MACKAY.--We thank you for the particulars which you send us of your +essay club, called The Rookery, and willingly give your invitation to +our readers to join it. There is no charge made for these answers to +correspondents. We are glad to give help and promote all useful efforts, +and believe we shall do so by giving your address as Hon. Secretary, +Governor's House, H.M. Prison, Lincoln. + +LEONA WOODFIELD.--Candidates for hospital training are generally +required to be from twenty-five to forty years of age. They may enter +the Children's Hospital, Great Ormond-street, at twenty-one. + +UNION JACK.--The English language is a compound of three different +dialects spoken for two or three centuries after the Norman Conquest. +That of the East Midland was the speech of the metropolis, in which +Chaucer, Gower, and Wyckliffe wrote, and was spoken in East Kent and +Surrey. There were also the Northern and Southern dialects, which, +blending with the East Midland, formed the basis of modern English. But +these three dialects are likewise compounds of the Saxon, Celtic, +Danish, and Norman tongues. To get rid of the smell of paint, sprinkle +some hay with chloride of lime and leave it in the rooms; also a basin +of water, to be changed night and morning. You will perceive traces on +the surface of what it has absorbed. + +T. C. S.--Why do you not read our answers under this heading? You will +find that there are several societies for training female missionaries +and catechists. + +MARY COMMANDER.--Astronomers measure the distances between the earth and +the stars by means of mathematical calculations. You should procure some +work on astronomy. There is a nice little book published in our office +called "The Heavens and the Earth," and another, rather larger, called +"The Midnight Sky;" both are illustrated. + +MARY WILLIAMS.--If you refer to any volume of the G. O. P. and read our +answers under the above heading, you will see all we can tell you about +telegraph clerks. We must decline to full up space by continually +repeating old answers. + +WHITE TULIP must do as we have directed "Mary Williams," and find all +the addresses of societies where young women are trained for zenana and +other missionary work. It is very wrong not to go to church on Sunday +mornings merely because of "feeling shy." That is rubbish. Attend to +your book and your prayers, and not to your neighbours. Nobody will +notice you. + +I. D. L. E.--Write to the secretary, Deaconesses' Training Institution, +41, Ferntower-road, Mildmay Park, London, N., and at The Willows, Stoke +Newington, N. Otherwise, if you desire experience in parish work, you +might be received at St. Luke's Invalid Home, Finsbury House, Ramsgate. +You had better write to both these institutions, giving your age, and +stating whether your application be made with the full consent of your +parents. There are also the London Diocesan Deaconesses' Institution, +12, Tavistock Crescent, Westbourne Park, W. (head sister, Deaconess +Cassin), and the East London Deaconesses' Home, 2, Sutton-place, +Hackney, E. (deaconess, L. Collier). If you would prefer a situation by +the sea, apply to Sister Emma, Winchester Diocesan Deaconesses' Home, +Southsea, Hants. + +JOSEPHINE.--There is a Governesses' Institute in Paris, at 48, Rue de +Chaillot. Apply to the secretary or lady principal. If you wish to +belong to a teacher's guild, that of Great Britain and Ireland has its +office at 17, Buckingham-street, Strand, W.C. You must address the hon. +secretary. You write a very good hand. + +BERTHA GREEN and DAISY.--The cheapest and best way for you to improve +your education at home will be to join one or more of the amateur +societies instituted to assist girls who cannot go to school nor have +professional masters. A small directory of girls' educational and other +societies and clubs is to appear immediately, edited by one of our own +staff of writers, especially for the use of our girls, so many of whom +write for the addresses of such and particulars about them. (Messrs. +Griffith and Farran, St. Paul's Churchyard, E.C.) + +A POOR YOUNG GIRL.--So well educated as you are, you would be likely to +get on well in a colony. Write to the Colonial Emigration Society, 13, +Dorset-street, Portman-square, London, W. They have a home for women and +a loan fund. Anyone willing to act as mother's help, and put her hand to +anything her employer does, and is, moreover, capable of teaching the +young people of the family, would be sure to get on well in a colony. + +NELLY HOLMES should advertise in the _Times_, or some good daily paper, +for the situation she requires. We cannot tell what salary a young girl +in her teens would get. + + +ART. + +C. O.--Our opinion of the drawing is not favourable. The outlines of the +figure are not true to nature in its undistorted form; they are those +conceived by an uninstructed dress or stay maker. As you are only +thirteen years of age, you are not yet acquainted with pure classical +forms of beauty, and have time to cultivate your taste. Take lessons at +a branch figure-drawing school founded by the South Kensington School of +Art. The kind of drawing to which you aspire is much improved of late +years, and shopkeepers begin to require that fashion-plates should +somewhat resemble the true "human form divine." + +INDUSTRY and KATIE.--To preserve seaweed, gather specimens that are +growing to rocks in preference to those floating on the water, and lay +them in a shallow pan filled with clean salt water. Insert a piece of +writing-paper under the seaweed and lift it out of the bath; spread out +the plant with a camel's-hair pencil in a natural form, and slant the +paper to allow the water to run off; then press between two pieces of +board, lay on one of them two sheets of blotting-paper, then the +seaweed, and over the latter a piece of fine cambric, over that the +blotting-paper, and lastly the second piece of board; replace the +cambric and blotting-paper daily, and when the seaweed is quite dry +brush over the coarser kinds with spirits of turpentine, in which three +small lumps of gum-mastic have been dissolved by shaking in a warm +place. Two-thirds of a small phial is the proper proportion. This +mixture helps to retain the colour of the specimens. + +ELLA and HELIOTROPE.--Painting carefully with muriatic acid will remove +the rough coating outside shells and show the mother o' pearl beneath +it. They should be frequently dipped in water to remove the burning +acid, or it will make holes in the shell. To polish them, dip a rag in +hydrochloric acid and rub till clean; then dry in hot sawdust and polish +with chamois leather. To paint shells with oil-colours, mix the latter +with Siccatif de Courtrai, or with mirrorine, and put on the paints very +dry. To paint them with water colours, lay a wash of white of egg over +them; mix the paints with Chinese white and white of egg. The best +effects are produced with oil colours. + +DAISY.--We make no distinction between persons who write to us, whether +in service or out of it. We have an enormous correspondence, and very +little space is devoted to it. Thus, many correspondents have to wait +long for their answers. A good cashmere would suit very well for a +wedding dress. Get one that will be of service to you afterwards. If you +live in London it should not be very light. Your bonnet could be trimmed +with white ribbon. + +CHRISTIE.--Try laying on a wash of white of egg before painting in +water-colours upon black cardboard. This will remove the greasiness of +the surface. Then lay on a wash of Chinese white, and paint in the +ordinary manner. + + +MISCELLANEOUS. + +FINANCIER.--We consider that to wash with hot water is not bad for you, +but should be supplemented by a good rubbing (performed very quickly) +with a wet towel all over the body. This will cause a healthy reaction. +But the morning is really the best time. "Sesame and Lilies" and "Stones +of Venice" are good books to read (of Ruskin's). There is a "Dictionary +of English Literature," published by Cassell and Co., which might be +useful to you. + +MEMORY.--We hear that many people have derived much benefit from the +memory systems, and "Stokes on Memory" is a well-known book. + +L. NUSSE.--We fear that all such things are only forms of throwing good +money after bad. If you really have reason to think that you are +entitled to money, go to a respectable lawyer for help. + +B. K. E.--No one can limit the power of prayer and faith, and yours may +be answered as your heart desires. But do not "do evil that good may +come." + +OL SIE.--Your verses show much poetic feeling, and an affectionate +nature, but you would need to study the subject of composition before +your lines were worth anything to anyone. + +MONTHLY READER and MAY.--The sooner you get your teeth stopped the +better. But make a good choice of a dentist. + +A. M. C.--The salaries in drapers' shops vary much, not only in +different establishments, but amongst the assistants in each, according +to their special departments. Girls with tall, handsome figures, +employed for showing off mantles, get more than little girls behind the +counter, and dress and mantle, or bonnet and cap makers are +comparatively well paid. You must make special personal application. + +AN ARUM LILY.--Use a rosemary wash for aiding the growth of the hair. +See our articles on the care of the hair, page 631, vol. vi. + +ROSINA.--The young men who so far forgot themselves and presumed to +speak to you and your friend without a proper introduction, are not +suitable acquaintances for respectable girls. But you should not have +been rude; you should simply have walked away to your chaperon, or some +married person of your acquaintance. + +LACK PENNY might, perhaps, teach a few little girls at home. Has she any +friends who would be glad to send them to her, instead of to a school, +for a couple of hours in the morning, when busy themselves? There is +nothing to be ashamed of in earning money, if you have it not, for your +requirements. + +FLOO.--You slope your letters the wrong way, and we could scarcely read +your writing. If you want to improve it, slope it the right way, and +cross every "t." We do not know how the mother o' pearl became stained. +Probably it was washed in hot water, and so cracked all over. You might +try a quick brush over with diluted muriatic acid, and an immediate dip +into cold water, then rubbing well with some sweet oil on a soft piece +of flannel. Beware of touching your eyes after using muriatic acid, as +it burns, and should be put carefully away, that ignorant people or +children may not touch it. + +E. M. P.--Perhaps your dogs are mangy. In any case you should show them +to a veterinary surgeon. Consult our indexes. + +ANXIOUS ONE.--Your duty is very plain. Go to your clergyman, and tell +him of the discovery you have made, and ask him to baptise you at once. +If your name were sent in for confirmation after your course of +preparation, you are, of course, ready for your baptism. + +TIM TIPPIN should study the art of metrical composition. What she has +written is very irregular and incorrect. But even were it perfectly +according to rule, there is no new thought in it, no beautiful simile, +nothing original. She is very young, and therefore could by no means be +expected to produce what a powerful or imaginative intellect alone could +produce, when arrived at its full development at some ten or twelve +years later in life. So she must learn a good deal more before she can +"become famous." + +EDITH.--We are unable to find employment and name employers for our +correspondents, much as we sympathise with them in their desire to be +self-supporting. + +URSULA.--We do not answer seven questions. Bride and bridegroom sit side +by side at the top of the table, the two fathers take in the two +mothers, and first bridesmaid and best man pair together. + +I. NIBS.--You would be much wiser to try and get your story as a serial +into one of the papers in your own colony. We could not promise to take +unknown MS., and unless you copied it you might lose it in passing +through the post. + +A MARCH ELF should wear her hair in a plait at the back, tied up with a +bow of ribbon, and curled a little in front. She is too young to need +steels in her dresses. + +E. C.--The frontispiece appears to tell its own story of poverty and +weakness--a poor dressmaker, unable to finish a dress by a given time. +Water may be softened by using borax, ammonia, or oatmeal, when needed +for the skin. Boiling water and soda will generally take out stains from +table linen. + +JESSIE.--We know nothing more about the water scheme than the newspaper +report, which "Jessie" has herself seen. + +SAFFRON CROCUS.--Read our article on "Lissom Hands and Pretty Feet," +vol. i., page 348. + +ETHEL.--Pincushions and fans, embroidered and ornamented in various +ways, seem the most general contributions at bazaars at present. Painted +match-boxes, writing-cases, and painted jars for tobacco, are all useful +and sell well. + +GRETCHEN.--There is a small volume on "Indian Outfits" published by Mr. +Gill, 170, Strand, which is very valuable. + +EDINBURGH.--We could not give you the addresses of persons who would buy +your work, and a little consideration would have prevented your asking +such a question. Your own personal exertions must be used to find +outlets for your work. You cannot expect to sit still and be helped. + +AYACANORA II. does not say whether the mauve silk be light or dark. +Mauve is now a very fashionable colour, and would mix well with dark +velvet or velveteen of the same colour for the autumn. It would also +look well with cashmere or canvas of the same colour, but of a darker +shade. Dark red velvet could also be mixed with it. If the bodice be +good, make a Swiss belt, with cuffs and collar of velvet, and long front +and back drapery of the same. + +FURRIER'S DAUGHTER.--More furs are made up in England than anywhere +else, and, as a fur sewer, you will do better here, we should think. But +as you want to emigrate, you should consult the Colonial Emigration +Society, 13, Dorset-street, Portman-square, W.; office hours, 10 to 4. +The secretary will give advice and information. + +MABEL has our best thanks for her kind and courteous note. + +VERONIQUE.--"That Aggravating Schoolgirl" began in vol. ii., at page 9. + +MARIE.--Do not wash your head every morning. The bath water should be +tepid. A sponge bath can be taken with very little water and little +trouble. + +ETHILD MYA BAL.--There is no sequel to the "Wide, Wide World," that we +know of. We are very sorry to hear of your suffering, and hope you may +soon be better. + +A GIPSY GIRL.--The lines you send are not poetry, nor are they very +original in thought; but if it be a comfort for you to write them, they +have served a good purpose. + +CUCUMBER.--We know of no cure but the constant use of a pair of +tweezers. + +AN OLD ANGLO-GERMAN GIRL.--We were much interested in your letter. We +can sympathise with all our girls, at every age, and in every climate. +The series will be concluded soon. + +FAIRY DELL (Cyprus).--You would have to apply to a surgeon. Gargle the +throat night and morning with salt and water, or vinegar and water, to +strengthen it. Perhaps you need a tonic. + +SNOWBELL.--The book is not of any great value; but if you be not +satisfied, you might consult some first-class bookseller, such as Mr. +Quaritch, Piccadilly. + +AMY.--There is a Home for Governesses in the Avenue du Bois de Boulogne, +Paris, of which Miss Pryde is the superintendent. Address her at 22, Rue +des Acacias, Avenue de la Grande Armee. + +DOLORES.--There are no stated times for giving competitions in our +paper--which you call "compesition classes." They involve great +additional trouble and the monopoly of time to an extent of which our +young readers have little idea. Imagine the labour of reading through +about 4,000 contributions, comparing all together, and judging between +them! Of course, such an undertaking can only be volunteered once in a +way, or the daily work of the magazine could not be carried on. Your +handwriting is not yet formed, but promises well. + +OURANG-OUTANG and GORILLA.--Have nothing to do with the appliance called +"Planchette." It is employed in divination, or what is akin to it. We do +not undertake to supply "characters from handwriting." There are many +people who advertise to do so for thirteenpence. + +[Illustration: GUERNSEY FLOWERS.] + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. VIII, No. +354, October 9, 1886, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GIRL'S OWN PAPER, VOL. *** + +***** This file should be named 18293.txt or 18293.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/2/9/18293/ + +Produced by Susan Skinner and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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