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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. VIII, No. 355,
+October 16, 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. 355, October 16, 1886
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: Charles Peters
+          Flora Klickmann
+
+Release Date: May 18, 2006 [EBook #18414]
+
+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. 355.
+
+OCTOBER 16, 1886.
+
+PRICE ONE PENNY.
+
+
+
+
+THE BROOK AND ITS BANKS.
+
+BY THE REV. J. G. WOOD, M.A., Author of "The Handy Natural History."
+
+    "Whyles owre a linn the burnie plays,
+      As through the glen it dimpl't;
+    Whyles round a rocky scaur it strays;
+      Whyles in a weil it dimpl't;
+    Whyles glittered to the nightly rays,
+      Wi' bickering, dancing dazzle;
+    Whyles cookit underneath the braes
+      Below the spreading hazel."
+
+    _Burns: "Halloween."_
+
+[Illustration: THE BROOK AND ITS BANKS.]
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+The many aspects of a brook--The eye sees only that which it is capable
+of seeing--Individuality of brooks and their banks--The rippling
+"burnie" of the hills--The gently-flowing brooks of low-lying
+districts--Individualities even of such brooks--The fresh-water brooks
+of Oxford and the tidal brooks of the Kentish marshes--The swarming life
+in which they abound--An afternoon's walk--Ditches versus hedges and
+walls--A brook in Cannock Chase--Its sudden changes of aspect--The
+brooks of the Wiltshire Downs and of Derbyshire.
+
+
+A brook has many points of view.
+
+In the first place, scarcely any two spectators see it in the same
+light.
+
+To the rustic it is seldom more than a convenient water-tank, or, at
+most, as affording some sport to boys in fishing. To its picturesque
+beauties his eyes are blind, and to him the brook is, like Peter Bell's
+primrose, a brook and nothing more.
+
+Then there are some who only view a brook as affording variety to the
+pursuit of the fox, and who pride themselves on their knowledge of the
+spots at which it can be most successfully leaped.
+
+Others, again, who are of a geographical turn of mind, can only see in a
+brook a necessary portion of the water-shed of the district.
+
+To children it is for a time dear as a playground, possessing the
+inestimable advantage of enabling them to fall into it and wet their
+clothes from head to foot.
+
+Then there are some who are keenly alive to its changing beauties, and
+are gifted with artistic spirit and power of appreciation, even if they
+should not have been able to cultivate the technical skill which would
+enable them to transfer to paper or canvas the scene which pleased them.
+Yet they can only see the surface, and take little, if any, heed of the
+wealth of animated life with which the brook and its banks are peopled,
+or of the sounds with which the air is filled.
+
+Happy are those in whom are fortunately combined the appreciation of art
+and the gift (for it is a gift as much as an eye for art or an ear for
+music) of observing animal life. To them the brook is all that it is to
+others, and much besides. To them the tiniest brook is a perpetual joy,
+and of such a nature I hope are those who read these pages.
+
+Not only does a brook assume different aspects, according to the
+individuality of the spectator, but every brook has its individuality,
+and so have its banks.
+
+Often the brook "plays many parts," as in Burns' delightful stanza,
+which seems to have rippled from the poet's brain as spontaneously as
+its subject.
+
+Sometimes, however, as near Oxford, it flows silently onwards with
+scarcely a dimple on its unruffled surface. Over its still waters the
+gnats rise and fall in their ceaseless dance. The swift-winged
+dragon-flies, blue, green, and red, swoop upon them like so many falcons
+on their prey; or, in the earlier year, the mayflies flutter above the
+stream, leaving their shed skins, like ghostly images of themselves,
+sticking on every tree trunk near the brook.
+
+On the surface of the brook are seen the shadow-like water-gnats,
+drifting with apparent aimlessness over the surface, but having in view
+a definite and deadly purpose, as many a half drowned insect will find
+to its cost.
+
+Under the shade of the willows that overhang its banks the whirligig
+beetles will gather, sociably circling round and round in their mazy
+dance, bumping against each other in their swift course, but glancing
+off unhurt from the collision, protected from injury by the stout coats
+of mail which they wear.
+
+They really look like unskilful dancers practising their "figures" for
+the first time. They, however, are not engaged in mere amusement, but,
+like the water-gnats, are absorbed in the business of life. The
+naturalist knows, when he sees these creatures, that they do not form
+the hundredth part of those which are hidden from human eyes below the
+surface of the little brook, and that the whole of the stream is as
+instinct with life, as if it had been haunted by the Nipens, the
+Undines, and the host of fairy beings with whom the old legends peopled
+every river and its tributaries.
+
+They are just as wonderful, though clad in material forms, as any water
+spirit that ever was evolved from the poet's brain, and have the
+inestimable merit of being always within reach whenever we need them.
+
+I will venture to assert that no fairy tales, not even excepting those
+of the "Arabian Nights," can surpass in marvel the true life-history of
+the mayfly, the frog, the newt, and the dragon-fly, as will be narrated
+in the course of these pages. I may go even farther, and assert that
+there is no inhabitant of the brook and its banks whose biography and
+structure are not full of absorbing interest, and will not occupy the
+longest life, if only an attempt be made to study them thoroughly.
+
+An almost typical example of slow-flowing brooks is to be found in the
+remarkable channels which intersect the country between Minster and
+Sandwich, and which, on the ordnance map, look almost like the threads
+of a spider's web. In that flat district, the fields are not divided by
+hedges, as in most parts of England, or by stone walls--"dykes," as they
+are termed in Ireland--such as are employed in Derbyshire and several
+other stony localities, but by channels, which have a strong
+individuality of their own.
+
+Even the smallest of these brooks is influenced by the tide, so that at
+the two periods of slack water there is no perceptible stream.
+
+Yesterday afternoon, having an hour or so to spare at Minster, I
+examined slightly several of these streams and their banks. The contrast
+between them and the corresponding brooklets of Oxford, also a low-lying
+district, was very strongly marked.
+
+In the first place, the willow, which forms so characteristic an
+ornament of the brooks and rivers of Oxford, is wholly absent. Most of
+the streamlets are entirely destitute of even a bush by which their
+course can be marked; so that when, as is often the case, a heavy white
+fog overhangs the entire district, looking from a distance as if the
+land had been sunk in an ocean of milk, no one who is not familiarly
+acquainted with every yard of ground could make his way over the fields
+without falling into the watery boundaries which surround them.
+
+Some of them, however, are distinguished by hawthorns, which take the
+place of the willows, and thrive so luxuriantly that they may lay claim
+to the title of forest trees. Blackberries, too, are exuberant in their
+growth, and in many spots the hawthorn and blackberry on opposite sides
+of the brook have intertwined their branches across it and have
+completely hidden the water from sight. On these blackberries, the fruit
+of which was in its green state, the drone-flies and hawk-flies simply
+swarmed, telling the naturalist of their multitudinous successors, who
+at present are in the preliminary stages of their existence.
+
+Among the blackberries the scarlet fruit of the woody nightshade (a
+first cousin of the potato) hung in tempting clusters, and I could not
+help wondering whether they would endanger the health of the young
+Minsterians.
+
+In some places the common frog-bit had grown with such luxuriance that
+it had completely hidden the water, the leaves overlapping each other as
+if the overcrowded plants were trying to shoulder each other out of the
+way.
+
+In most of these streamlets the conspicuous bur-reed (_Spargánium
+ramósum_) grew thickly, its singular fruit being here and there visible
+among the sword-like leaves. I cannot but think that the mediæval weapon
+called the "morning star" (or "morgen-stern") was derived from the
+globular, spiked fruit-cluster of the bur-reed.
+
+A few of the streams were full of the fine plant which is popularly
+known by the name of bull-rush, or bulrush (_Typha latifólia_), but
+which ought by rights to be called the "cat's-tail" or "reed-mace." Of
+this plant it is said that a little girl, on seeing it growing,
+exclaimed that she never knew before that sausages grew on sticks. The
+teasel (_Dipsacus_) was abundant, as were also several of the true
+thistles.
+
+In some places one of these streams becomes too deep for the bur-reed,
+and its surface is only diversified by the half-floating leaves of one
+or two aquatic plants.
+
+On approaching one of these places, I find the water to be apparently
+without inmates. They had only been alarmed by my approach, which, as I
+had but little time to spare, was not as cautious as it ought to have
+been. However, I remained perfectly still, and presently a little fish
+appeared from below. It was soon followed by a second and a third, and
+before long a whole shoal of fish were floating almost on the surface,
+looking out for insects which had fallen into the water.
+
+The day being hot, and with scarcely a breath of wind, the fish soon
+became quite bold. They did not move beyond the small spot in which they
+had appeared, but they all had their tails in slight movement, and their
+heads in one direction, thus showing that although the water appeared to
+be perfectly motionless, there must be a current of some sort, fish
+always lying with their heads up the stream, so as to allow the water to
+enter their mouths and pass over their gills.
+
+If then these sluggish streams were unlike those of Oxford, where the
+ground is low, and nearly level, how utterly distinct must they be from
+those of hilly and especially of rocky localities!
+
+In the earlier part of the present year I was cursorily examining a
+brook in Cannock Chase, in Staffordshire. Unfortunately, the day was
+singularly inauspicious, as the sun was invisible, the atmosphere murky,
+and a fierce north-east wind was blowing, a wind which affects animals,
+etc., especially the insect races, even more severely than it does man.
+Even the birds remain under shelter as long as they can, and not an
+insect will show itself. Neither, in consequence, will the fish be "on
+the feed."
+
+On a previous visit, we had been more fortunate, trout, crayfish, etc.,
+testifying to the prolific character of the brook, which in one place is
+only four or five feet in width, and yet, within fifty yards, it has
+formed itself into a wide and treacherous marsh, which can only be
+crossed by jumping from one tussock of grass to another; and yet, again,
+it suddenly spreads out into a broad and shallow torrent, the water
+leaping and rippling over the stony bed. Scarcely a bush marks its
+course, and within a few yards it is quite invisible.
+
+As we shall presently see, the brooks of the chalk downs of Wiltshire,
+and of the regular mixture of rock and level ground, which are
+characteristic of Derbyshire, have also their own separate
+individualities.
+
+We shall, however, find many allusions to them in the course of the
+work, and we will therefore suppose ourselves to be approaching the bank
+of any brook that is but little disturbed by man. What will be likely to
+happen to us will be told in the following chapters.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+Life-history of the water-rat--No science can stand alone--What is a
+water-rat?--The voles of the land and water--Their remarkable teeth--The
+rodents and their incisor teeth--The tooth and the chisel--The skate
+"iron"--Chewing the cud--Teeth of the elephant--Feet of the
+water-vole--A false accusation--Water-voles in gardens--Winter
+stores--Cats and water-voles--Subterranean pioneering--Mental character
+of the water-vole--Standing fire--Its mode of eating.
+
+
+Plop!
+
+A water-rat has taken alarm, and has leaped into the brook.
+
+A common animal enough, but none the less worthy of notice because it is
+common. Indeed, it is in many respects a very remarkable creature, and
+we may think ourselves fortunate that we have the opportunity of
+studying its habits and structure.
+
+There is much more in the animal than meets the eye, and we cannot
+examine its life-history without at the same time touching upon that of
+several other creatures. No science stands alone, neither does any
+animal, however insignificant it may appear to be; and we shall find
+that before we have done with the water-rat, we shall have had something
+to say of comparative anatomy, ornithology, ichthyology, entomology and
+botany, beside treating of the connection which exists between man and
+the lower animals, and the reciprocal influence of civilisation and
+animal life.
+
+In the first place, let us define our animal.
+
+What is a water-rat, and where is its place in zoological systems of the
+present day? Its name in science is _Arvícola amphíbius_. This title
+tells its own story.
+
+Though popularly called a rat, the animal has no right to the name,
+although, like the true rat, it is a rodent, and much resembles the rat
+in size and in the length and colour of its fur. The likeness, however,
+extends no further.
+
+The rats are long-nosed and sharp-snouted animals, whereas the water-rat
+has a short, blunt nose. Then, the ears of the rats are large and stand
+out boldly from the head, while those of the water-rat are small, short,
+and rounded. Again, the tail of the rat is long and slender, while that
+of the water-rat is comparatively short. Place the two animals side by
+side, and you will wonder how anyone could mistake the one for the
+other.
+
+The teeth, too, are quite different.
+
+Instead of being white, like those of the rat, the incisor teeth are
+orange-yellow, like those of the beaver. Indeed, the water-rat possesses
+so many beaver-like characteristics, that it was ranked near the beaver
+in the systematic lists.
+
+Now, however, the Voles, as these creatures ought rightly to be called,
+are thought to be of sufficient importance to be placed by themselves,
+and separated from the true beavers.
+
+The voles constitute quite a large group of rodents, including several
+animals which are popularly ranked among the mice.
+
+One very remarkable characteristic of the voles is the structure of
+their molar teeth.
+
+Being rodents, they can have but two incisor teeth in each jaw, these
+teeth being rootless, and so set in their sockets that they are
+incessantly worn away in front, and as incessantly grow from the base,
+take the curved form of their sockets, and act much like shears which
+have the inestimable property of self-sharpening when blunted, and
+self-renewal when chipped or actually broken off by coming against any
+hard substance. Were the teeth to be without this power, the animal
+would run a great risk of dying from hunger, the injured tooth not being
+able either to do its own work, or to aid its companion of the opposite
+jaw. Either tooth alone would be as useless as a single blade of a pair
+of scissors.
+
+There is another notable characteristic of these incisor teeth. If you
+will examine the incisors of any rodent, whether it be a rat, a mouse, a
+rabbit, or a beaver, you will see that the tips are "bevelled" off just
+like the edge of a chisel. This shape is absolutely necessary to keep
+the tooth in working order. How is this object to be attained?
+
+In the solution of this problem we may see one of the many links which
+connect art and nature.
+
+Should our readers know anything of carpentering, let them examine the
+structure of their chisels. They are not made wholly of hard steel, as
+in that case they would be liable to snap, just as does the blade of a
+foil when undue pressure is brought to bear upon it. Moreover, the
+operation of sharpening would be extremely difficult.
+
+So the blade of the chisel is merely faced with a thin plate of hardened
+steel, the remainder being of softer material.
+
+Now, it is not at all likely that the unknown inventor of the modern
+chisel was aware of the analogy between art and nature, and would
+probably have been very much surprised if anyone had stated that he had
+borrowed his idea from the incisor teeth of the water-rat.
+
+Yet he might have done so, for these teeth are almost wholly formed of
+ordinary tooth matter, and are faced with a thin plate of hard enamel,
+which exactly corresponds with the hardened steel facing of a chisel.
+
+Any of my readers who possess skates will find, on examination, that the
+greater part of the blade is, in reality, soft iron, the steel, which
+comes upon the ice, being scarcely a fifth of an inch in length. The
+hardened steel allows the blade to take the necessary edge, while the
+soft iron preserves the steel from snapping.
+
+Should the skate have been neglected and allowed to become a little
+rusty, the line of demarcation between the steel and the iron can be
+distinctly seen. Similarly, in the beaver and the water-rat, the
+orange-yellow colour of the enamel facing causes it to be easily
+distinguished from the rest of the tooth. In most of the rodents the
+enamel is white, and the line of demarcation is scarcely visible.
+
+Now we have to treat of a question of mechanics.
+
+If two substances of different degrees of hardness be subjected to the
+same amount of friction, it follows that the softer will be worn away
+long before the harder. It is owing to this principle that the edges of
+the rodent teeth preserve their chisel-like form. Being continually
+employed in nibbling, the softer backing of the teeth is rapidly worn
+away, while the hard plate of enamel upon the front of the tooth is but
+slightly worn, the result being the bevelled shape which is so
+characteristic of these teeth.
+
+As all know, who have kept rabbits or white mice, the animals are always
+engaged in gnawing anything which will yield to their teeth, and unless
+the edges of their feeding troughs be protected by metal, will nibble
+them to pieces in a few days. Indeed, so strong is this instinct, that
+the health of the animals is greatly improved by putting pieces of wood
+into their cages, merely for the purpose of allowing them to exercise
+their chisel-edged teeth. Even when they have nothing to gnaw, the
+animals will move their jaws incessantly, just as if they were eating, a
+movement which gave rise to the idea that they chewed the cud.
+
+It is worthy of remark that other animals, which, though not rodents,
+need to possess chisel-edged incisor teeth, have a similar habit. Such
+is the hippopotamus, and such is the hyrax, the remarkable rock-haunting
+animal, which in the authorised translation of the Scriptures is called
+the "coney," and which in the Revised Version is allowed in the margin
+to retain its Hebrew name, "shaphan."
+
+The enamel also has an important part to play in the structure of the
+molar teeth. Each tooth is surrounded with the enamel plate, which is so
+intricately folded that the tooth looks as if it were made of a series
+of enamel triangles, each enclosing the tooth matter.
+
+This structure is common to all the members of the group to which the
+water-rat belongs. It is the more remarkable because we find a somewhat
+similar structure in the molar teeth of the elephants, which, like the
+rodents, have the incisor teeth largely developed and widely separated
+from the molars.
+
+There is nothing in the appearance of the water-rat which gives any
+indication of its aquatic habits.
+
+For example, we naturally expect to find that the feet of swimming
+animals are webbed. The water-loving capybara of South America, the
+largest existing rodent, has its hoof-like toes partially united by
+webs, so that its aquatic habits might easily be inferred even by those
+who were unacquainted with the animal. Even the otter, which propels
+itself through the water mostly by means of its long and powerful tail,
+has the feet furnished with webs. So has the aquatic Yapock opossum of
+Australia, while the feet of the duck-bill are even more boldly webbed
+than those of the bird from which it takes its popular name. The
+water-shrews (whom we shall presently meet) are furnished with a fringe
+of stiff hair round the toes which answers the same purpose as the web.
+
+But the structure of the water-rat gives no indication of its habits, so
+that no one who was unacquainted with the animal would even suspect its
+swimming and diving powers. Watch it as long as you like, and I do not
+believe that you will see it eating anything of an animal nature.
+
+I mention this fact because it is often held up to blame as a
+mischievous animal, especially deserving the wrath of anglers by
+devouring the eggs and young of fish.
+
+As is often the case in the life-history of animals as well as of men,
+the blame is laid on the wrong shoulders. If the destruction of fish be
+a crime, there are many criminals, the worst and most persistent of
+which are the fish themselves, which not only eat the eggs and young of
+other fish, but, Saturn-like, have not the least scruple in devouring
+their own offspring.
+
+Scarcely less destructive in its own insidious way is the common
+house-rat, which eats everything which according to our ideas is edible,
+and a good many which we might think incapable of affording sustenance
+even to a rat. In the summer time it often abandons for a time the
+house, the farm, the barn, and seeks for a change of diet by the brook.
+These water-haunting creatures are naturally mistaken for the
+vegetable-feeding water-vole, and so the latter has to bear the blame of
+their misdoings.
+
+There are lesser inhabitants of the brook which are injurious both to
+the eggs and young of fish. Among them are several of the larger
+water-beetles, some of which are so large and powerful that, when placed
+in an aquarium with golden carp, they have made havoc among the fish,
+always attacking them from below. Although they cannot kill and devour
+the fish at once, they inflict such serious injuries that the creature
+is sure to die shortly.
+
+I do not mean to assert that the water-vole is never injurious to man.
+Civilisation disturbs for a time the balance of Nature, and when man
+ploughs or digs the ground which had previously been untouched by plough
+or spade, and sows the seeds of herbs and cereals in land which has
+previously produced nothing but wild plants, he must expect that the
+animals to whom the soil had been hitherto left will fail to understand
+that they can no more consider themselves as the owners, and will in
+consequence do some damage to the crops.
+
+Moreover, even putting their food aside, their habits often render them
+obnoxious to civilised man. The mole, for example, useful as it really
+is in a field, does very great harm in a garden or lawn, although it
+eats none of the produce.
+
+The water-vole, however, is doubly injurious when the field or garden
+happens to be near the water-side. It is a mighty burrower, driving its
+tunnels to great distances. Sometimes it manages to burrow into a
+kitchen-garden, and feeds quite impartially on the different crops. It
+has even been seen to venture to a considerable distance from water,
+crossing a large field, making its way into a garden, and carrying off
+several pods of the French bean.
+
+In the winter time, when other food fails, the water-vole, like the hare
+and rabbit, will eat turnips, mangold-wurzel, the bark of young trees,
+and similar food. Its natural food, however, is to be found among the
+various aquatic plants, as I have often seen, and the harm which it does
+to the crops is so infinitesimally small when compared with the area of
+cultivated ground, that it is not worthy of notice.
+
+Still, although the harm which it does to civilised man in the aggregate
+is but small, even its most friendly advocate cannot deny that there are
+cases where it has been extremely troublesome to the individual
+cultivator, especially if he be an amateur.
+
+There are many hard men of business, who are obliged to spend the
+greater part of the day in their London offices, and who find their best
+relaxation in amateur gardening; those who grow vegetables, regarding
+their peas, beans, potatoes, and celery with as much affection as is
+felt by floriculturists for their roses or tulips.
+
+Nothing is more annoying to such men than to find, when the toils of
+business are over, and they have settled themselves comfortably into
+their gardening suits, that some marauder has carried off the very
+vegetables on which they had prided themselves.
+
+The water-vole has been detected in the act of climbing up a ladder
+which had been left standing against a plum tree, and attacking the
+fruit. Bunches of grapes on outdoor vines are sometimes nipped off the
+branches by the teeth of the water-vole, and the animal has been seen to
+climb beans and peas, split the pods, and devour the contents.
+
+Although not a hibernating animal, it lays up a store of food in the
+autumn. Mr. Groom Napier has the following description of the contents
+of a water-rat's storehouse:--
+
+"Early in the spring of 1855, I dug out the burrow of a water-vole, and
+was surprised to find at the further extremity a cavity of about a foot
+in diameter, containing a quantity of fragments of carrots and potatoes,
+sufficient to fill a peck measure. This was undoubtedly a part of its
+winter store of provisions. This food had been gathered from a large
+potato and carrot bed in the vicinity.
+
+"On pointing out my discovery to the owner of the garden, he said that
+his losses had been very serious that winter owing to the ravages of
+these animals, and said that he had brought both dogs and cats down to
+the stream to hunt for them; but they were too wary to be often caught."
+
+I do not think that the owner of the garden knew very much about the
+characters either of the cat or water-vole.
+
+Every one who is practically acquainted with cats knows that it is next
+to impossible to point out an object to a cat as we can to a dog. She
+looks at your finger, but can never direct her gaze to the object at
+which you are pointing. In fact, I believe that pussy's eyes are not
+made for detecting objects at a distance.
+
+If we throw a piece of biscuit to a dog, and he does not see where it
+has fallen, we can direct him by means of voice and finger. But, if a
+piece of meat should fall only a foot or two from a cat, all the
+pointing in the world will not enable her to discover it, and it is
+necessary to pick her up and put her nose close to the meat before she
+can find it.
+
+So, even, if a water-vole should be seen by the master, the attention of
+the cat could not be directed to it, her instinct teaching her to take
+prey in quite a different manner.
+
+The dogs, supposing that they happened to be of the right breed, would
+have a better chance of securing the robber, providing that they
+intercepted its retreat to the water. But if the water-vole should
+succeed in gaining its burrow, or in plunging into the stream, I doubt
+whether any dog would be able to catch it.
+
+Moreover, the water-vole is so clever in tunnelling, that when it drives
+its burrows into cultivated ground, it almost invariably conceals the
+entrance under a heap of stones, a wood pile, or some similar object.
+
+How it is enabled to direct the course of its burrow we cannot even
+conjecture, except by attributing the faculty to that "most excellent
+gift" which we call by the convenient name of "instinct."
+
+Man has no such power, but when he wishes to drive a tunnel in any given
+direction he is obliged to avail himself of levels, compasses,
+plumb-lines, and all the paraphernalia of the engineer. Yet, with
+nothing to direct it except instinct, the water-vole can, though working
+in darkness, drive its burrow in any direction and emerge from the
+ground exactly at the spot which it has selected.
+
+The mole can do the same, and by means equally mysterious.
+
+I may casually mention that the water-vole is one of the aquatic animals
+which, when zoological knowledge was not so universal as it is at the
+present day, were reckoned as fish, and might be eaten on fast days. I
+believe that in some parts of France this idea still prevails.
+
+With all its wariness, the water-vole is a strangely nervous creature,
+being for a time almost paralysed by a sudden shock. This trait of
+character I discovered quite unexpectedly.
+
+Many, many years ago, when I was a young lad, and consequently of a
+destructive nature, I possessed a pistol, of which I was rather proud.
+It certainly was an excellent weapon, and I thought myself tolerably
+certain of hitting a small apple at twelve yards distance.
+
+One day, while walking along the bank of the Cherwell River, I saw a
+water-vole on the opposite bank. The animal was sitting on a small stump
+close to the water's edge. Having, of course, the pistol with me, and
+wanting to dissect a water-vole, I proceeded to aim at the animal. This
+was not so easy as it looked. A water-vole crouching upon a stump
+presents no point at which to aim, the brown fur of the animal and the
+brown surface of the old weather-beaten stump seeming to form a single
+object without any distinct outline; moreover, it is very difficult to
+calculate distances over water. However, I fired, and missed.
+
+I naturally expected the animal to plunge into the river and escape. To
+my astonishment, it remained in the same position. Finding that it did
+not stir, I reloaded, and again fired and missed. Four times did I fire
+at that water-vole, and after the last shot the animal slowly crawled
+off the stump, slid into the river, and made off.
+
+Now in those days revolvers and breech-loaders did not exist, so that
+the process of loading a pistol with ball was rather a long and
+complicated one.
+
+First, the powder had to be carefully measured from the flask; then a
+circular patch of greased linen had to be laid on the muzzle of the
+weapon, and a ball laid on it and hammered into the barrel with a leaden
+or wooden mallet; then it had to be driven into its place with a ramrod
+(often requiring the aid of the mallet), and, lastly, there was a new
+cap to be fitted. Yet although so much time was occupied between the
+shots, the animal remained as motionless as a stuffed figure.
+
+When I crossed the river and examined the stump I found all the four
+bullets close together just below the spot on which the animal had been
+sitting, and neither of them two inches from its body. Although the
+balls had missed the water-vole, they must have sharply jarred the
+stump.
+
+I was afterwards informed that this semi-paralysis from sudden fear is a
+known characteristic of the animal. It seems to be shared by others of
+the same genus, as will be seen when we come to treat of the field mice.
+
+In its mode of eating it much resembles the squirrels, sitting on its
+haunches and holding the food in its forepaws, as if they were hands. I
+am not aware that it even eats worms or insects, and it may be
+absolutely acquitted from any imputation of doing harm to any of the
+fish tribe.
+
+(_To be continued._)
+
+
+
+
+"SHE COULDN'T BOIL A POTATO;"
+
+OR,
+
+THE IGNORANT HOUSEKEEPER, AND HOW SHE ACQUIRED KNOWLEDGE.
+
+BY DORA HOPE.
+
+
+"The late Miss Ella!"
+
+"When are you going to turn over that new leaf you spoke of, my
+daughter?"
+
+"There's a little coffee left, but the bacon is quite cold."
+
+These were the exclamations that greeted a tall bright girl, as she
+entered the breakfast room one morning.
+
+"I am very sorry, papa. I really meant to be down in time, but I suppose
+I must have gone to sleep again after I was called." And being really
+vexed with herself for having so soon broken her good resolutions,
+formed for the hundredth time the day before, Ella Hastings accepted the
+cold bacon meekly, and even turned a deaf ear to the withering sarcasms
+of her two schoolboy brothers, who were leisurely strapping together
+their books, and delaying their departure till the last moment.
+
+"There is the postman coming up the garden; run and get the letters,
+Hughie."
+
+A solemn-looking boy of six years old climbed down from his chair, in
+obedience to his father's request, and soon came back with a handful of
+letters, and settled himself patiently by his father's side to wait for
+the empty envelopes, which formed his share of the morning's
+correspondence.
+
+An exclamation of surprise from Mr. Hastings caused his wife to look up
+inquiringly from the letter she had just opened, and he handed her
+silently a telegram which had been forwarded, with other papers, from
+his office, where it had evidently been delivered late the previous
+evening. Kate, the eldest daughter, leaning over her mother's shoulder,
+read aloud the short notice:--
+
+"Mrs. Wilson dangerously ill; letter follows."
+
+Mrs. Wilson was Mr. Hastings' only remaining sister. His mother had died
+when he was almost an infant, and this "sister Mary" had slipped into
+her place as mother, teacher--everything, to her little brothers and
+sisters; never leaving them, till the father having died also, and her
+young charges being all old enough to settle in life for themselves, she
+had rewarded the faithful waiting of her old lover, and they had settled
+down together in a quiet village a few miles from the noisy town where
+his business lay. Her happy married life lasted but a short time,
+however, and for the many years since her husband's death she had
+preferred to live entirely alone with her two maids and a strange medley
+of pet animals--finding employment and interest for her declining years
+in her books and her garden.
+
+From being so long alone she had grown eccentric in her ways, and very
+odd and decided in her views; but she kept a warm corner in her heart
+for her favourite brother and his children, who heartily returned their
+aunt's affection, though they stood a good deal in awe of her keen
+penetrating gaze and sarcastic criticisms.
+
+She had always prided herself on her good constitution, and despised
+doctors and dentists as people who pandered to the fads and fancies of a
+degenerate generation--a generation who, according to her creed,
+weakened their backs and ruined their health by lounging on sofas and
+easy chairs, while, for her part, though seventy years of age, she was
+thankful to say a straight-backed chair was good enough for her. It may
+be imagined that for this self-reliant, vigorous Aunt Mary to be taken
+seriously ill, so ill as to have to summon help, was a great shock, and
+Mr. Hastings decided at once that he must go to see his sister, and that
+one of his daughters should accompany him; but the telegram was so
+short, and gave so little information, that nothing further could be
+arranged till the noonday post arrived, which always brought the letters
+from Hapsleigh.
+
+The morning seemed endless, but noon came at last, and with it the
+promised letter, which was eagerly opened and read. It was from Mrs.
+Mobberly, a near neighbour of Mrs. Wilson's. She described the sudden
+illness, and all that had been done for the sufferer. "The doctor says
+that for a day or two he cannot tell what the result may be, though we
+may hope for the best. He has sent in a thoroughly trustworthy trained
+nurse, but he agrees with me that it would be a good thing if one of
+your daughters could come to take charge of the household, for even if
+all goes as well as possible it will be a long and tedious recovery, and
+the invalid must be kept perfectly quiet and free from all worry."
+
+"Well, girls," said Mr. Hastings, as he finished reading the letter,
+"you must decide between yourselves which of you will go. As there seems
+no immediate danger, we need not leave till to-morrow morning, so you
+will have a little time for preparation; but however great a sacrifice
+it is for you to go, and for us to part with you, there is no question
+about it. Aunt Mary must not be left alone till she is quite herself
+again, so I will telegraph to Mrs. Mobberly that one of you will go with
+me by the first train to-morrow."
+
+There was no room for disputing the point when Mr. Hastings spoke in
+that decided tone; moreover, the girls themselves would have said just
+the same--that someone must go; but the question was, "who?"
+
+"Kate, it must be you," said Ella, eagerly. "I do not know anything
+about nursing or housekeeping, or anything of that sort, and you know I
+always say and do the wrong thing."
+
+Mrs. Hastings looked anxious and perplexed. "I really do not know what
+to do for the best," she said. "I do not see how I can spare you, Kate;
+for if I have one of my bad attacks I must have you at hand; and you
+see, Ella, you would have everything to learn here just as much as at
+Hapsleigh, and I think you would find teaching the children very hard
+work."
+
+Kate, the eldest daughter, was her mother's unfailing assistant, and
+almost entirely relieved her of the care of the three little ones;
+indeed, during Mrs. Hastings's frequent attacks of asthma, Kate was both
+ready and able to take entire charge of the household, and she felt
+that to leave her mother with only Ella's help would be throwing more
+care upon her than her delicate health could bear. She spoke decidedly,
+therefore; and, after a little more discussion, it was agreed that Ella
+should accompany her father, prepared to stay as long as she might be
+required.
+
+The rest of the day was fully occupied with packing and making
+arrangements. Ella was rather apt to let her clothing take care of
+itself, and, in a sudden emergency such as this, had to borrow right and
+left. Indeed, Mrs. Hastings and Kate were both kept busy all the
+afternoon looking over and supplying the deficiencies in her outfit.
+
+"That dressing-gown will not do at all, Ella. It is most important to
+have a thoroughly warm one when you have to sit up at night. Yours is
+very pretty, but blue cashmere and lace are not suitable for a sick room
+in cold weather. You will have to borrow Kate's thick flannel gown. You
+should have my quilted silk one, but in such a great thickness of
+material one's arms do not feel quite free to help an invalid, or shake
+up a bed."
+
+"Here it is, Ella," rejoined Kate; "and I have brought you my thick
+bedroom slippers, too. They are not so elegant as your Turkish ones, but
+they are much warmer. Be sure you keep them by the side of your bed, so
+that you can slip them on directly if you are called up suddenly. You
+know you take cold so easily, and it would be so awkward if you had one
+of your bad throats at Hapsleigh."
+
+Mrs. Hastings felt very anxious about her daughter, called upon so
+suddenly to take up such important and unexpected duties, and gave her a
+great deal of loving counsel.
+
+"You will have to manage to get up earlier, dear child," she said. "You
+know Aunt Mary's servants are always rather inclined to go their own
+way, and they may perhaps try to take advantage of her illness to keep
+irregular hours and slight their work; and you must remember that you
+will be responsible for good order in the house, and that is impossible
+unless all the household are regular and punctual in beginning their
+day's work at the proper time. I will let you have my little clock, and
+you can set the alarum at whatever time you wish to get up."
+
+"Yes; I really am going to turn over a new leaf about that; but you
+know, mother, I shall feel more obliged to get up now when I am
+responsible for things going right. Oh, dear! what a dreadful thought! I
+am sure I shall never manage. Why, I can't cook, and I can't keep
+accounts, and I have no idea how many pounds of meat people want for
+dinner. I shall order a tin of Australian meat, and just have it at
+every meal till it is finished, and then get another."
+
+"I am afraid the servants will soon give you notice if you do, Ella,"
+said Mrs. Hastings, laughing at her daughter's ideas of housekeeping.
+"You will soon get accustomed to the size of joints and puddings, if you
+get into the habit of noticing them, remembering how long they last. But
+there are two other pieces of advice which I want you to remember and to
+act upon. If your father decides that it is necessary for you to stay
+and act as mistress, he will tell the servants so; but you must assert
+yourself as mistress at once, and take everything into your own hands.
+You will find it rather difficult at first, but it will save you a great
+deal of trouble in the end. I have seen endless discomfort caused by
+young and timid housekeepers not liking to take the reins into their own
+hands. But, at the same time, be very careful never to interfere or
+complain, unless you are quite sure that it is necessary, and that you
+are in the right. If you are in any doubt you can always consult Mrs.
+Mobberly; and you must make allowances for the fact that the servants
+have always been allowed to do pretty much what they liked, and will
+naturally expect to continue doing so; therefore do not complain unless
+you have unmistakable grounds for it, and never, under any
+circumstances, speak hastily or angrily. If you are put out, wait till
+your vexation has cooled down a little; and then, if you are quite sure
+you are in the right, speak quietly and kindly, but so decidedly that
+there may be no mistake about your intention of being obeyed."
+
+"Oh, dear!" groaned Ella, who was almost reduced to tears at the
+prospect of such serious responsibility. "I am sure I shall come home
+ignominiously in a week. I know just how it will be. Just think of Aunt
+Mary's scorn when she finds I don't even know how to boil a potato!"
+
+There was no time for lamentations, however, and her mother and Kate
+both comforted her with the assurance that at any rate no one would
+blame her if she did her best, and they would expect a few mistakes from
+a girl only just home from school.
+
+The next morning, at any rate, Ella was punctual, and at eight o'clock
+they all sat down to breakfast.
+
+"I made tea for you, Ella," said Mrs. Hastings. "I thought it would be
+better for you before such a long journey. Coffee sometimes disagrees
+with people who are not very good travellers. And I advise you not to
+take bacon; it so often makes one thirsty. Here is potted meat; that
+would be better for you."
+
+Ella felt in very low spirits, and her mother's and Kate's affectionate
+kindness only brought the despised tears into her eyes. She could hardly
+touch her breakfast, and was relieved when Kate left the table, and
+began to look after the small articles of luggage.
+
+"Robin, did you strap up the rugs? Oh, what an untidy bundle!" and the
+methodical Kate unfastened the straps and rearranged the contents. First
+the large rug was folded lengthwise till it was just as wide as the
+length of the bundle should be when finished. Then came Ella's shawl, an
+awkward one for a neat roll, as it had long fringe; but Kate turned in
+the fringe all round first, and then folded the shawl itself till it was
+just a little narrower than the rug; the ulster was carefully folded
+also to the same size, and both were laid on one end of the rug.
+Finally, Ella's umbrella and sunshade were laid across the pile of
+wraps, and all were rolled round carefully, so that none of the articles
+inside protruded, and the rug, being longer than the others, hid all the
+ends, and, when strapped round just tightly enough to hold all together
+comfortably without unnecessary squeezing, it made such a neat-looking
+roll as compelled even Robin's admiration. Ella's travelling-cap had
+been inside the bundle before, but Kate took it out and advised her to
+carry it in her hand-bag, as being easily accessible if she did not wish
+to undo the strap.
+
+All was ready at last, the rugs, the hand-bag, and the tin trunk, to
+which at the last moment Kate came running to tie a piece of red braid,
+by which to distinguish it, making Ella and the boys laugh at what they
+called her "incurable old-maidishness."
+
+"Never mind," she replied, nodding sagely, "you will thank me when you
+have to hunt for your box amongst twenty others exactly like it."
+
+Kate had suggested going to the station to see them off, but her father
+objected.
+
+"We shall get on better alone," he argued. "We settle ourselves
+comfortably in our corners at once, unroll our rugs, and make everything
+ready before we start, instead of having to make spasmodic efforts to
+think of last remarks and messages. Of course, if Ella were going alone
+I should go to see her off, but as it is I would rather not have anyone
+with us."
+
+Mrs. Hastings thought this a rather hard-hearted way of looking at the
+matter; but as Ella quite agreed with her father, feeling convinced she
+could not be able to keep from crying if the farewells were too long
+protracted, there was nothing for it but to yield, and as soon as the
+cab came to the door the parting was hurried through, and, almost before
+she had time to realise that she was really going, Ella found herself
+halfway to the station.
+
+The railway journey was a long and troublesome one, involving several
+changes. Before midday Ella had recovered her spirits and her appetite,
+and acted on Kate's advice. "Do not wait for father to suggest lunch,"
+she had said; "you may be sure he will not begin to feel hungry till you
+are quite ravenous." Remembering this, Ella laughed to herself at Mr.
+Hastings's surprise when she suggested that she was ready for her lunch,
+and proceeded to unpack her stores.
+
+"This is the first course, I suppose," she said, as she produced two
+neat white-paper packages, each with the name of the contents written on
+it. "This one contains potted meat sandwiches, and these are chicken.
+They look very nice, too. These sprigs of watercress between the
+sandwiches are a great improvement."
+
+"Yes, I must confess they are very good ones," assented Mr. Hastings,
+after trying one of each kind. "I think someone must have been giving
+the cook a lecture on the art of cutting them. Home-made sandwiches have
+generally too much butter, so that they are too rich to eat, and the
+paper they are wrapped in is greasy and disagreeable; but these have
+just the right quantity, and they are made with suitable bread--not, as
+I have often had them, of spongy bread, full of holes, through which the
+butter and meat oozes on to one's fingers."
+
+In addition to these there were, for Ella's benefit, a few sandwiches
+made with damson jam, from which the stones had been extracted. The next
+course consisted of some small cakes and a few ripe pears. By way of
+beverage, Mrs. Hastings had supplied Ella with a flask of cold tea, made
+weak, and with a squeeze of lemon in it, which she had always found the
+best possible drink for quenching thirst; when travelling herself she
+always took either this or lime-juice and water. Finally, knowing that
+Ella had a good appetite, and would probably get very hungry before
+reaching her journey's end, her mother had told the cook to fill a small
+jam pot with lemon jelly, and to provide a teaspoon to eat it with. Ella
+found this most refreshing, and her lunch altogether was very
+satisfactory; certainly the supply was rather too bountiful, but that
+fact did not trouble her much, for she soon noticed a poor,
+hungry-looking boy on one of the stations, who thankfully accepted all
+that was left.
+
+In spite of the length of the journey, Ella quite enjoyed the day; her
+father was so kind and took such good care of her. He insisted on her
+getting out of the carriage and walking up and down the platform
+whenever the train stopped long enough, that she might not be tired of
+sitting still; and when it began to get dark he made her put her feet up
+on the seat and tucked her up with the rug, and made her so comfortable
+that, to her own great surprise, she went fast asleep, and only awoke as
+her father was collecting their books and wraps on nearing their
+destination.
+
+(_To be continued._)
+
+
+
+
+MERLE'S CRUSADE.
+
+BY ROSA NOUCHETTE CAREY, Author of "Aunt Diana," "For Lilias," etc.
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE NEW NURSE.
+
+In looking back on those days, I simply wonder at my own audacity. Am I
+really and truly the same Merle Fenton who rang at the bell at Prince's
+Gate and informed the astonished footman that I was the person applying
+for the nurse's situation? I recall that scene now with a laugh, but I
+frankly own that that moment was not the pleasantest in my life. True,
+it had its ludicrous side; but how is one to enjoy the humour of an
+amusing situation alone? and, to tell the truth, the six foot of plush
+and powder before me was somewhat alarming to my female timidity. I hear
+now the man's startled "I beg your pardon, ma'am."
+
+"I have come by appointment," I returned, with as much dignity as I
+could summon under the trying circumstances; "will you inform your
+mistress, Mrs. Morton, that I have come about the nurse's situation?"
+
+Of course, he was looking at me from head to foot. In spite of the
+disguising plainness of my dress, I suppose the word gentlewoman was
+clearly stamped upon me. Heaven forbid that under any circumstances
+that brand, sole heritage of my dead parents, should ever be effaced.
+Then he opened the door of a charming little waiting-room, and civilly
+enough bade me seat myself, and for some minutes I was left alone. I
+think nearly a quarter of an hour elapsed before he reappeared with the
+message that his mistress was now disengaged and would see me. I
+followed the man as closely as I could through the long hall and up the
+wide staircase; not for worlds would I have owned that a certain
+shortness of breath, unusual in youth, seemed to impede me. At the top,
+I found myself in a handsome corridor, communicating with two
+drawing-rooms of noble dimensions, as they call them in advertisements,
+and certainly it was a princely apartment that I entered. A lady was
+writing busily at a small table at the further end of the room. As the
+man spoke to her, she did not at once raise her head or turn round; she
+was evidently finishing a note. A minute later she laid aside her pen
+and came towards me.
+
+"I am sorry that I could not attend to you at once, and yet you were
+very punctual," she began, in a pleasant, well-modulated voice, and then
+she stopped and regarded me with unfeigned surprise.
+
+She was a very lovely young woman, with an indescribable matronly air
+about her that spoke of the mother. She would have been really quite
+beautiful but for a certain worn look, often seen in women of fashion;
+and when she spoke there was a sweetness and simplicity of manner that
+was most winning.
+
+"Pardon me," with a shade of perplexity in her eyes, "but I suppose my
+servant was right in stating that you had come by appointment in answer
+to my advertisement?"
+
+"Yes, madam," I returned, readily; for her slight nervousness put me at
+my ease. "I have your letter here."
+
+"And you are really applying for the nurse's situation--the upper nurse,
+I mean; for, of course, there is an under nurse kept. I hope" (colouring
+a little) "that you will not think me rude if I say that I was not
+prepared for the sort of person I was to see."
+
+I could have groaned as I thought of my note. Was it possible that I had
+spelt "advertisement" wrongly, and yet I had the paper before me; my
+handwriting was neat and legible, but evidently Mrs. Morton was drawing
+some comparison between my letter and appearance, and I did not doubt
+that the former had not prepossessed her in my favour.
+
+I became confused in my turn.
+
+"I hope to prove to you," I began, in a very small voice, "that I am a
+fit person to apply for your situation. I am very fond of children; I
+never lose my patience with them as other people do, or think anything a
+trouble; I wish to take up this work from love as well as necessity--I
+mean," correcting myself, for she looked still more astonished, "that
+though I am obliged to work for my living, I would rather be a nurse
+than anything else."
+
+"Will you answer a few questions?" and, as though by an afterthought,
+"will you sit down?" for she had been standing to keep me company out of
+deference to my superior appearance.
+
+"I will answer any question you like to put to me, madam."
+
+"You have never been in service you tell me in your letter. Have you
+ever filled any kind of situation?"
+
+I shook my head.
+
+"You are quite young I should say?"
+
+"Two and twenty last Christmas."
+
+"I should hardly have thought you so old. Will you oblige me with your
+name?"
+
+"Merle Fenton."
+
+A half smile crossed her beautiful mouth. It was evident that she found
+the name somewhat incongruous, and then she continued a little hastily,
+"If you have never filled any sort of situation, it will be somewhat
+difficult to judge of your capacity. Of course you have good references;
+can you tell me a little about yourself and your circumstances?"
+
+I was fast losing my nervousness by this time. In a few minutes I had
+given her a concise account of myself and my belongings. Once or twice
+she interrupted me by a question, such as, for example, when I spoke of
+Aunt Agatha, she asked the names of the families where she had lived as
+a governess; and once she looked a little surprised at my answer.
+
+"I knew the Curzons before I was married," she observed, quietly; "they
+have often talked to me of their old governess, Miss Fenton; her name is
+Keith now, you say; she was a great favourite with her pupils. Well, is
+it not a pity that you should not follow your aunt's example? If you are
+not clever, would not the situation of a nursery governess be more
+fitting for you? Forgive me; I am only speaking for your good; one feels
+a little uncomfortable at seeing a gentlewoman desert the ranks to which
+she belongs."
+
+My face was burning by this time; of course it must all come out--that
+miserable defect of mine, and everything else; but raising my eyes at
+that moment I saw such a kind look on Mrs. Morton's face, such quietly
+expressed sympathy for my very evident confusion, that in a moment my
+reserve broke down. I do not know what I said, but I believe I must have
+been very eloquent. I could hear her say to herself, "How very
+strange--what a misfortune!" when I frankly mentioned my inability to
+spell, but I did not linger long on this point.
+
+Warmed by her strong interest, I detailed boldly what I called my
+theory. I told her of my love for little children, my longing to work
+amongst them, how deeply I felt that this would indeed be a
+gentlewoman's work, that I did not fear my want of experience. I told
+her that once I had stayed for some weeks at the house of one of my
+schoolfellows, and that every night and morning I had gone up to the
+nursery to help the nurse wash and dress the babies, and that at the end
+of a week I had learned to do it as well as the woman herself, and that
+she had told my schoolfellow that she had never seen any young lady so
+handy and patient with children, and that they were happier with me than
+with their own sister.
+
+"The second child had the croup one night," I continued; "the mother was
+away, and nurse was too frightened to be of any use. When the doctor
+came he praised her very much for her prompt remedies; he said they had
+probably saved the boy's life, as the attack was a severe one. Nurse
+cried when he said that, and owned it was not she who had thought of
+everything, but Miss Fenton. I tell you this," I continued, "that you
+may understand that I am reliable. I was only nineteen then, and now I
+am two and twenty."
+
+She looked at me again in a gentle, scrutinising way; I could feel that
+I was making way in her good opinion. Her curiosity was piqued; her
+interest strongly excited. She made no attempt to check me as I launched
+out into further defence of my theory, but she only smiled and said,
+"Very true, I agree with you there," as I spoke of the advantage of
+having an educated person to superintend the nursery. Indeed, I found
+myself retailing all my pet arguments in a perfectly fearless way, until
+I looked up and saw there were tears in her beautiful brown eyes.
+
+"How well you talk," she said, with a sort of sigh. "You have thought it
+all out, I can see. I wonder what my husband would say. He is a member
+of Parliament, you know, and we are very busy people, and society has
+such claims on us that I cannot be much with my children. I have only
+two; Joyce is three years old, and my boy is nearly eighteen months. Oh,
+he is so lovely, and to think I can only see him for a few minutes at a
+time, that I lose all his pretty ways; it is such a trouble to me. His
+nurse is leaving to be married, and I am so anxious to find someone who
+will watch over my darlings and make them happy."
+
+She paused, as the sound of approaching footsteps were audible in the
+corridor, and rose hastily as an impatient, "Violet, where are you, my
+dear?" was distinctly audible.
+
+"That is Mr. Morton; will you excuse me a moment?" And the next moment I
+could hear her say, "I was in the blue drawing-room, Alick. I have sent
+off the letters, and now I want to speak to you a moment," and her voice
+died away as they moved farther down the corridor.
+
+I felt a keen anxiety as to the result of that conversation. I was very
+impulsive by nature, and I had fallen in love with Mrs. Morton. The worn
+look on the beautiful young face had touched me somehow. One of my queer
+visionary ideas came over me as I recalled her expression. I thought
+that if I were an artist, and that my subject was the "Massacre of the
+Innocents," that the mother's face in the foreground should be Mrs.
+Morton's. "Rachel Weeping for her Children;" something of the pathetic
+maternal agony, as for a lost babe, had seemed to cross her face as she
+spoke of her little ones. I found out afterwards that, though she wore
+no mourning, Mrs. Morton had lost a beautiful infant about four months
+ago. It had not been more than six weeks old, but the mother's heart was
+still bleeding. Many months afterwards she told me that she often
+dreamed of her little Muriel--she had only been baptised the day before
+her death--and woke trying to stifle her sobs that she might not disturb
+her husband. I sat cogitating this imaginary picture of mine, and
+shuddering over the sanguinary details, until Mrs. Morton returned, and,
+to my embarrassment, her husband was with her.
+
+I gave him a frightened glance as he crossed the room with rapid
+footsteps. He was a quiet-looking man, with a dark moustache, some years
+older than his wife. His being slightly bald added somewhat to his
+appearance of age. In reality he was not more than five and thirty. I
+thought him a little cool and critical in manner, but his voice was
+pleasant. He looked at me keenly as he spoke; it was my opinion at that
+moment that not an article of my dress escaped his observation. I had
+selected purposely a pair of mended gloves, and I am convinced the
+finger ends were at once under his inspection. He was a man who thought
+no details beneath him, but would bring his masculine intellect even to
+the point of discovering the fitness of his children's nurse.
+
+"Mrs. Morton tells me that you have applied for the situation of upper
+nurse," he began, not abruptly, but in the quick tones of a busy man who
+has scant leisure. "I have heard all you have told her; she seems
+desirous of testing your abilities, but I must warn you that I distrust
+theories myself. My dear," turning to his wife, "I must say that this
+young person looks hardly old enough for the position, and you own she
+has no real experience. Would not a more elderly person be more
+suitable, considering that you are so seldom in your nursery? Of course,
+this is your department, but since you ask my advice----" with a little
+shrug that seemed to dismiss me and the whole subject.
+
+A wistful, disappointed look came over his wife's face. I was too great
+a stranger to understand the real position of affairs, only my intuition
+guided me at that moment. It was not until much later that I found out
+that Mrs. Morton never disputed her husband's will, even in trifles;
+that he ordered the plan of her life as well as his own; that her
+passionate love for her children was restrained in order that her wifely
+and social duties should be carried out; that she was so perfectly
+obedient to him, not from fear, but from an excess of womanly devotion,
+that she seldom even contested an opinion. My fate was very nearly
+sealed at that moment, but a hasty impulse prompted me to speak. Looking
+Mr. Morton full in the face, I said, a little piteously, "Do not dismiss
+me because of my youth, for that is a fault that time will mend. Want of
+experience is a greater obstacle, but it will only make me more careful
+to observe every direction and carry out every wish. If you consent to
+try me, I am sure neither you nor Mrs. Morton will repent it."
+
+He looked at me very keenly again as I spoke; indeed, his eyes seemed to
+search me through and through, and then his whole manner changed.
+
+I have been told that Nature had been kind to me in one respect by
+endowing me with a pleasant voice. I believe that I was freer from
+vanity than most girls of my age, but I was glad in my inmost heart to
+know that no tone of mine would ever jar upon a human ear, but I was
+more than glad now when I saw Mr. Morton's grave face relax.
+
+"You speak confidently," he returned. "You seem to have a strange faith
+in your own theory, and plenty of self-reliance, but I am afraid that,
+like most young people, you have only regarded it from one point of
+view. Are you aware of the unpleasantness of such a situation? If you
+came to us you might have nothing of which to complain from Mrs. Morton
+or myself, but we could not answer for the rest of my household; the
+servants would regard you as a sort of hybrid, belonging to no special
+sphere; they might show you scant respect, and manifest a great deal of
+jealousy."
+
+"I have faced all that," I returned, with a smile, "but I think the
+difficulties would be like Bunyan's lions--they were chained, you know.
+I do not believe these sort of things would hurt me. I should never be
+away from the children in the nursery; I should be unmolested and at
+home."
+
+"Alick!" I could hear a whole petition breathed into that softly uttered
+word. Mr. Morton heard it too, for he turned at once and then looked at
+his wife.
+
+"Do you really wish to try this young person, Violet, my dear? It is for
+you to decide; this is your province, as I said before."
+
+"If she will love our children and watch over them in our absence," she
+whispered, but I caught the words. Then aloud, "Yes, thank you, Alick, I
+should like to try her. I think she would make Joyce happy. I can go and
+see Mrs. Keith this afternoon when I am out driving, and perhaps I could
+arrange for her to come soon."
+
+"Very well," he returned, briefly, but he spoke in the old dry manner,
+as though he were not quite pleased. "When you are disengaged will you
+join me in the library? I have some more letters I want copied."
+
+"I will be ready soon," she said, with a sweet grateful glance at him,
+as though she had received some unexpected bounty at his hands, and as
+he wished me good morning, and left the room, she continued, eagerly,
+"Will you come with me now and make acquaintance with the children. I
+have seen them already this morning, so they will not expect me, and it
+will be such a surprise. My little girl is always with me while I dress.
+I have so little time to devote to them; but I snatch every moment."
+
+She sighed as she spoke, and I began to understand, in a dim, groping
+sort of way, that fate is not so unequal after all, that even this
+beautiful creature had unsatisfied wants in her life, that it was
+possible that wealth and position were to her only tiresome barriers
+dividing her from her little ones. Her sweetest pleasures only came to
+her by snatches. Most likely she envied humble mothers, and did not pity
+them because their arms ached with carrying a heavy infant, aching limbs
+being more bearable than an aching heart.
+
+A flight of broad, handsomely-carpeted stairs brought us to a long
+shut-in corridor, fitted up prettily with plants and statuettes. A
+rocking-horse stood in one corner; the nursery door was open. It was a
+long, cheerful room, with three windows, looking over the public garden,
+and fitted up with a degree of comfort that bordered on luxury. Some
+canaries were singing in a green cage, a grey Persian kitten was curled
+up in the doll's bassinette, a little girl was kneeling on the cushioned
+window-seat, peeping between the bars at some children who were playing
+below. As Mrs. Morton said, softly, "Joyce, darling," she turned round
+with quite a startled air, and then clambered down hastily and ran to
+her mother.
+
+"Why, it is my mother," in quite an incredulous voice, and then she
+caught hold of her mother's gown, and peeped at me from between the
+folds.
+
+She was a pretty, demure-looking child, only somewhat thin and fragile
+in appearance, not in the least like her mother, but I could trace
+instantly the strongest resemblance to her father. She had the straight,
+uncurling hair like his, and her dark eyes were a little sunken under
+the finely-arched brows. It was rather a bewitching little face, only
+too thin and sallow for health, and with an intelligent expression,
+almost amounting to precocity.
+
+"And where is your brother, my darling?" asked her mother, stooping to
+kiss her, and at this moment a pleasant-looking young woman came from
+the inner room with a small, curly-haired boy in her arms.
+
+As she set him down on the floor, and he came toddling over the carpet,
+I forgot Mrs. Morton's presence, and knelt down and held out my arms to
+him. "Oh, you beauty!" I exclaimed, in a coaxing voice, "will you come
+to me?" for I quite forgot myself at the sight of the perfect baby
+features.
+
+Baby pointed a small finger at me, "O' ook, gurgle-da," he said, in the
+friendliest way; and I sealed our compact with many kisses.
+
+"Dear me, ma'am," observed nurse, eyeing me in a dubious manner, for
+probably the news of my advent had preceded me to the upper regions,
+"this is very singular; I never saw Master Baby take such a fancy to
+anyone before; he always beats them off with his dear little hand."
+
+"Gurgle-da, ook ook," was baby's unexpected response to this, as he
+burst into a shout of laughter, and he made signs for me to carry him to
+the canaries.
+
+I do not know what Mrs. Morton said to nurse, but she came up after a
+minute or two and watched us, smiling.
+
+"He does seem very friendly; more so than my shy pet here," for Joyce
+was still holding her mother's gown.
+
+"She will be friends with me too," I returned, confidently; "children
+are so easily won." And then, as Mrs. Morton held out her arms for her
+boy, I parted with him reluctantly.
+
+There was no need for me to stay any longer then. Mrs. Morton reiterated
+her intention of calling on Aunt Agatha that afternoon, after which she
+promised to speak to me again, and feeling that things were in a fair
+way of being settled according to my wishes, I left the house with a
+lighter heart than I had entered it.
+
+(_To be continued._)
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+AMONG THE HOLLYHOCKS.
+
+BY CLARA THWAITES.
+
+
+    Sing among the hollyhocks,
+      "Summer, fare thee well!"
+    Ring the drooping blossoms
+      For a passing bell.
+
+    Droop the sunflowers, heavy discs
+      Totter to their fall.
+    Up the valley creep the mists
+      For a funeral pall.
+
+    Lingering roses woefully
+      In the cold expire.
+    Heap the dead and dying
+      For a funeral pyre.
+
+    While the gale is sighing,
+      While the wind makes moan,
+    Sigh among the hollyhocks
+      Of the summer flown.
+
+[Illustration:
+    "SIGH AMONG THE HOLLYHOCKS
+      OF THE SUMMER FLOWN."]
+
+
+
+
+NOTICES OF NEW MUSIC.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+STANLEY LUCAS AND CO.
+
+_O, hur vidgas ej ditt bröst. Liebe, liebe._ Two Lieder. By Maude V.
+White.--The first, from the Swedish, has also an English set of words;
+the setting of the second is in German only, being a translation into
+that language from the Hungarian.--There is a dreamy charm pervading
+both of these little ballads, which will be best appreciated by truly
+musical and well-educated singers.
+
+_Two Locks of Hair._ Song to Longfellow's poetry. By Sabine E.
+Barwell.--Very simple. The music is dedicated to Charles Santley, our
+great baritone singer.
+
+_Alone with thee._ Song by Gilbert R. Betjemann. Compass E to F
+sharp.--An ambitious song, full of striking modulations and really
+dramatic effects. The accompaniments are charming.
+
+_Ivy Green._ A good song for basses or baritones. The words by Charles
+Dickens, the music by Arthur C. Stericker.--Plenty of go about it, and
+quite the song for strong, manly voices.
+
+_Wandering Wishes._ Poetry by Lady Charlotte Elliot (from "Medusa" and
+other poems). Music by Robert B. Addison.--A very poetical setting of a
+very fanciful poem.
+
+_Our Darling._ Ballad by Robert Reece, with music by Berthold
+Tours.--This justly favourite composer has written the simplest, most
+touching, and melodious music to a very touching and sad story. It is a
+compliment to this ballad to recommend it to all who wish for a good
+cry. It has this advantage over the maudlin griefs of the discontented
+folk to whom we have called attention in previous notices, that the poor
+bereaved parents who miss their little darling from the chair in which
+he used to listen to their fairy stories and tales of distant lands over
+the sea, are content to regard him as at rest in the heavenly country,
+and in the angels' care. After all, if you do get the song, your tears
+will be happy ones.
+
+
+EDWIN ASHDOWN.
+
+_Inez._ _Zamora._ Two Spanish dances for the pianoforte by Michael
+Watson.--The first is a Habanera, and is redolent of _Carmen_ and
+Spanish want of energy. It is more characteristic than the second,
+although that is a very good reproduction of the typical peasant dance
+of all districts of the Peninsula.
+
+_Daphne._ Valse brillante. _Celadon._ Gavotte. Two drawing-room pieces
+of more than ordinary merit by J. H. Wallis.--Fairly easy to learn, and
+effective when learnt.
+
+_May-Dew._ By Sir Sterndale Bennett; transcribed for the pianoforte by
+Jules Brissac.--We complained a few months back of someone having
+converted this lovely song into a part-song; we can only say of the
+present transformation, that when the voice part is at work all goes
+fairly well, and from a piano point of view represents the original; but
+the two bars of symphony before the first and second verses of the song
+are stripped of all their original life, and a very mangled substitute
+is offered.
+
+
+LONDON MUSIC PUBLISHING CO.
+
+_The Broken Strings of a Mandoline._ Words and music by Edith Frances
+Prideaux.--The story of a little Italian street-player. The compass is
+for sopranos; the melody is simple and not very original.
+
+_Sketches in Dance Rhythms._ 1. Waltz; 2. Minuet; 3. Tarantella. By
+Erskine Allon.--We have before alluded to these sketches, of which Mr.
+Allon has composed such excellent examples. We prefer No. 1 of the
+present series, but do not consider these to be equal to former numbers.
+
+
+WEEKES AND CO.
+
+_Abendlied._ _Im Rosenbusch._ Two songs by J. H. le Breton Girdlestone;
+the words, by Hoffman von Fallersleben, being translated into English by
+Dr. Baskerville.--Most interesting little songs, and sure to give
+pleasure by their sweet simplicity.
+
+_Andante._ Varied for the pianoforte, and composed by Henry A. Toase. A
+very quiet, harmless production. Only three variations, and those not so
+much of the andante as of its accompaniment.
+
+
+J. AND J. HOPKINSON.
+
+_Intermezzo and Minuet for Pianoforte._ By George A. Lovell.--Two very
+nicely-written little pieces. The minuet is especially attractive.
+
+_Barcarole for Pianoforte._ By Carl Hause.--A good drawing-room piece.
+The middle movement in F minor makes an effective contrast to the first
+part.
+
+
+HUTCHINGS AND ROMER.
+
+_The Little Sweep._ Song. Written and composed by James C. Beazley,
+R.A.M.--There is no such title as R.A.M. A.R.A.M. and M.R.A.M. we know,
+but we must protest against this unlawful use of the name of our oldest
+academy of music. The song is a stirring and dramatic account of how a
+lost child was recovered by his mother. It is to be declaimed by a
+contralto.
+
+
+HUTCHINGS AND CO.
+
+_The Christian's Armour._ Oratorio. By Joseph L. Roeckel; the text
+compiled by Mrs. Alexander Roberts from Ephesians vi.; interspersed with
+hymns from several sources.--A useful work for services of song or
+chapel festivities. There is a sameness about the work, and it suggests
+a weary feeling towards the close. The choruses are mostly rather weak
+chorale. Occasionally an evidently fugal subject is announced, which is
+never destined to form the subject for a fugue. However, the story is
+well put together, the music is quite easy, and many choirs, unable to
+conquer greater difficulties, will feel at home in this so-called
+"oratorio."
+
+_Six Morceaux de Salon._ Pour violin, avec accompagnement de piano. Par
+Guido Papini. Op. 66.--The author of "La Mécanisme du jeune Violiniste"
+has given us in these little pieces a charming addition to the
+_répertoire_ of the amateur violinist. Specially tender and expressive
+is No. 4. The piano shares with the violin both the difficulties and the
+interests of each of the _morceaux_.
+
+_Victoria Gavotte._ For piano. By Tito Mattei.--A capital piano piece.
+We presume from the title that this is Signor Mattei's contribution to
+the Jubilee Commemoration.
+
+
+ROBERT COCKS AND CO.
+
+_Gladys._ Rustic Dance. Composed for the pianoforte by Howard Talbot.--A
+bright, telling piece. It would be very useful as an _entr'acte_ in your
+Christmas charades.
+
+_For Old Sake's Sake._ Song for contraltos. By Behrend.
+
+
+W. MORLEY AND CO.
+
+_Watching the Embers._ Song. Composed by Ciro Pinsuti to Weatherly's
+words.--With a pretty refrain, but for the most part made up of a series
+of common phrases. It is to be obtained in B flat, C, and D minors.
+
+_Childie._ Song. By Behrend. Published in keys to suit all voices.--The
+song is very similar to all his others. An old lady advising a child to
+die young.
+
+_The Biter Bit._ Song. Words and music by Henry Pontet.--A warning to
+any who would marry for money, and not for love. In learning the above
+three songs I am sure that singers will be as much distracted as I have
+been by little squares like lottery coupons announcing that somebody
+else's song cost £250. If this statement could appear elsewhere--say on
+separate slips--the songs would be more pleasant to read.
+
+
+HENRY KLEIN.
+
+_The Land of Song._ Song for tenors and sopranos by that clever
+composer, Franz Leideritz. Not so original as "Flowers from Home," the
+memory of which still delights us.
+
+
+ORSBORN AND TUCKWOOD.
+
+_Sailing Across the Sea._ Song. By Vernon Rey.--Prettily told and easy
+to learn.
+
+_Merry Melodies._ A series of duets for two violins for schools and
+classes, arranged by Arthur Graham. We see from the title-page that
+there are to be arrangements of the works of eminent composers, but the
+names are not given.
+
+
+W. J. WILLCOCKS AND CO.
+
+_Offertoire and Fugue in B flat._ _Grand Offertoire, founded upon
+subjects in Schumann's Quintet, op. 44._--These are two finely-written
+organ solos by George F. Vincent. Valuable additions to our stock of
+English organ music.
+
+
+MARRIOTT AND WILLIAMS.
+
+_Twenty Miles to London Town._ Song. Written and composed by Gerald M.
+Lane.--Mr. Lane is more fortunate in his music than in his words. The
+ballad--for genuine English ballad it is--is of the "Bailiff's Daughter
+of Islington" type, and is published in F, G, and A.
+
+_Captor and Captive._ A song of Araby. By Edwin J. Quance.--A good
+stirring song for baritones.
+
+
+BOWERMAN AND CO.
+
+_Deuxième Nocturne pour Piano._ Par G. J. Rubini.--An unpretending piano
+piece of the Gustave Lange type.
+
+
+
+
+EXPLANATION OF FRENCH AND OTHER TERMS USED IN MODERN COOKERY.
+
+PART I.
+
+
+_Allemande._--Concentrated white velouté (see velouté) sauce, seasoned
+with nutmeg and lemon juice, and thickened with yolks of eggs and cream.
+
+_Angelica._--A plant, the stalks of which are preserved with sugar; as
+it retains its green colour it is pretty for ornamenting sweet dishes,
+cakes, etc.
+
+_Appareil._--This word is applicable to a preparation composed of
+various ingredients, as appareil de gateau (mixture for a cake).
+
+_Aspic._--Name given to clear savoury jelly, to distinguish it from
+sweet jelly. Cold entrées, which are moulded and have the ingredients
+set in jelly, are also called aspics.
+
+_Assiette volante._--A small dish (holding no more than a plate) which
+is handed round the table without ever being placed on it. Things that
+must be eaten very hot are often served in this way. Little savouries,
+foie-gras, or cheese fondus in paper cases are thus handed.
+
+_Au bleu._--An expensive way of boiling fish. A broth is made by boiling
+three onions, two carrots, two turnips, some parsley, pepper, salt,
+sufficient water, a tumbler of white wine, and a tumbler of vinegar
+together; the scum is removed as it rises, the fish is simmered in the
+broth. This broth is called Court bouillon. Fish cooked thus is eaten
+hot or cold, with suitable sauce.
+
+_Baba._--A Polish cake of a very light description.
+
+_Bain marie._--A sort of bath-saucepan, which stands on a stove with hot
+water in it, and has small bright saucepans stood in the water for the
+contents to cook slowly without reducing or spoiling them. A bain marie
+has no cover.
+
+_Bande._--The strip of paste that is put round tart; sometimes the word
+is also applied to a strip of paper or bacon.
+
+_Barde de lard._--A slice of bacon. To barder a bird is to fasten a
+slice of bacon over it.
+
+_Béchamel sauce._--Equal quantities of velouté sauce and cream boiled
+together. The sauce was named after a celebrated cook.
+
+_Beignets._--Fritters.
+
+_Beurre noir._--Butter stirred in a frying-pan over a brisk fire until
+it is brown, then lemon-juice or vinegar, and pepper and salt are added
+to it.
+
+_Beurre fondus._--Melted, that is to say oiled, butter.
+
+_Bigarade sauce._--Melted butter, with the thin rind and the juice of a
+Seville orange boiled in it.
+
+_Blanch._--To parboil or scald. To whiten meat or poultry, or remove the
+skins of fruit or vegetables by plunging them into boiling water, and
+then sometimes putting them into cold water afterwards, as almonds are
+blanched.
+
+_Blanquette._--A kind of fricassée.
+
+_Boudin._--A very delicate entrée prepared with quenelle forcemeat or
+with fine mince.
+
+_Bouquet garni._--A handful of parsley, a sprig of thyme, a small bay
+leaf, and six green onions, tied securely together with strong thread.
+
+_Bouilli._--Boiled meat; but fresh beef, well boiled, is generally
+understood by this term.
+
+_Bouillie._--A sort of hasty pudding. Bouillie-au-lait is flour and milk
+boiled together.
+
+_Bouillon._--Thin broth or soup.
+
+_Braise._--To stew meat that has been previously blanched, very slowly
+with bacon or other fat, until it is tender.
+
+_Braisière._--A saucepan with a lid with a rim to it, on which lighted
+charcoal can be put.
+
+_Brider._--To put thin string or thread through poultry, game, etc., to
+keep it in shape.
+
+_Brioche._--A sort of light cake, rather like Bath bun, but not sweet,
+having as much salt as sugar in it.
+
+_Brandy butter._--Fresh butter, sugar, and brandy beaten together to a
+cream.
+
+_Caramel._--Made by melting a little loaf sugar in a saucepan, and as
+soon as it is brown, before it burns, adding some water to it. Sometimes
+used as a colouring for stews. Made into a syrup by adding more sugar
+after the water, it is a very good pudding sauce.
+
+_Casserole._--A stew-pan. The name given to a crust of rice moulded in
+the shape of a pie, then baked with mince or a purée of game in it.
+
+_Cerner._--Is to cut paste half way through with a knife or cutter, so
+that part can be removed when cooked to make room for something else.
+
+_Charlotte._--Consists of very thin slices of bread, steeped in oiled
+butter, and placed in order in a mould, which is then filled with fruit
+or preserve.
+
+_Chartreuse of vegetables._--Consists of vegetables tastefully arranged
+in a plain mould, which is then filled with either game, pigeons, larks,
+tendons, scollops, or anything suitably prepared.
+
+_Chartreuse à la Parisienne._--An ornamental dish made principally with
+quenelle forcemeat, and filled with some kind of ragoût, scollops, etc.
+
+_Chausse._--A jelly bag.
+
+_Compote._--Fruits preserved in syrup. Apple and any other kind of fruit
+jelly. This term is also used to designate some savoury dishes, prepared
+with larks, quails, or pigeons, with truffles, mushrooms, or peas.
+
+_Consommé._--Strong and clear broth used as a basis for many soups and
+gravies.
+
+_Conti_ (_potage_). Lentil soup.
+
+_Contise._--Small scollops of truffles; red tongue, or other things that
+are with a knife inlaid in fillets of any kind to ornament them, are
+said to be contisés.
+
+_Court bouillon._--See _au bleu_.
+
+_Croquettes._--A preparation of minced or pounded meat, or of potatoes
+or rice, with a coating of bread-crumbs. Croquettes means something
+crisp.
+
+_Croquantes._--Fruit with sugar boiled to crispness.
+
+_Croustades._--An ornamental pie-case, sometimes made of shaped bread,
+and filled with mince, etc.
+
+_Croutons._--Sippets of bread fried in butter; used to garnish. They are
+various sizes and shapes; sometimes served with soups.
+
+_Cuillerée._--A spoonful. In most French recipes I have found ten
+spoonfuls equal to a quarter of a pint of fluid.
+
+_Cuisson._--The name given to the liquid in which anything has been
+cooked.
+
+_Dariole._--A sort of cake served hot. The name of small round moulds in
+which various little cakes are baked or puddings steamed.
+
+_Daubière._--An oval stew-pan in which daubes are cooked. Daubes are
+meat or fowl stewed in sauce.
+
+_Dégorger._--To soak in water for a longer or shorter time.
+
+_Dés._--Very small square dice.
+
+_Désosser._--To bone; to remove the bones from fish, meat, game, or
+poultry.
+
+_Dorer._--To paint the surface of tarts or cakes with a brush, with egg
+or sugar, so that they may be glazed when cooked.
+
+_Dorure._--The glaze one uses for pastry; sometimes beaten white of egg,
+sometimes yolk of egg and cold water, sometimes sugar only.
+
+_Entrées._--A name for side dishes, such as cutlets, fricassées,
+fricandeaux, sweetbreads, etc.
+
+_Entrées_ (cold).--Consist of cutlets, fillets of game, poultry, &c.;
+salads of various kinds, aspics, ham, and many other things.
+
+_Entremets._--Second course side dishes. They are of four kinds--namely,
+cold entrées, dressed vegetables, scalloped shellfish, or dressed eggs,
+and lastly, sweets of any kind, puddings, jellies, creams, fritters,
+pastry, etc.
+
+_Escalopes._--Collops; small round pieces of meat or fish, beaten with a
+steak beater before they are cooked, to make them tender.
+
+_Espagnole._--Rich, strong stock made with beef, veal and ham, flavoured
+with vegetables, and thickened with brown roux. This and velouté are the
+two main sauces from which nearly all others are made. The espagnole for
+brown, the velouté for white.
+
+_Etamine._--See Tammy.
+
+_Etuver._--To stew meat with little moisture, and over a very slow fire,
+or with hot cinders over and under the saucepan.
+
+_Faggot._--A bouquet garni.
+
+_Fanchonettes and florentines._--Varieties of small pastry, covered with
+white of egg and sugar.
+
+_Faire tomber à glace._--Means to boil down stock or gravy until it is
+as thick as glaze, and is coloured brown.
+
+_Farce._--Is ordinary forcemeat, such as is used for raised pies.
+
+_Feuil etage._--Very light puff paste.
+
+_Flamber._--To singe fowls and game after they have been plucked.
+
+_Flans._--A flan is made by rolling a piece of paste out rather larger
+than the tin in which it is to be baked, then turning up the edge of the
+paste to form a sort of wall round. Flans are filled with fruit or
+preserve, and baked.
+
+_Foncer._--To put slices of ham or bacon in the bottom of a saucepan, to
+line a mould with raw paste, or to put the first layer of anything in a
+mould--it may be a layer of white paper.
+
+_Fontaine._--A heap of flour with a hollow in the middle, into which to
+pour the water.
+
+_Fondu._--Or fondue. A cheese soufflé.
+
+_Fricandeau._--Fillets of poultry or the best pieces of veal, neatly
+trimmed, larded, and well glazed, with their liquor reduced to glaze.
+They are served as entrées.
+
+_Fricassée._--A white stew, generally made with chicken and white sauce,
+to which mushrooms or other things may be added.
+
+_Fraiser._--A way of handling certain pastry to make it more compact and
+easier to work.
+
+_Frémir_, _frissonner._--To keep a liquid just on the boil--what is
+called simmering.
+
+_Galette._--A broad flat cake.
+
+_Gateau._--Cake. This word is also used for some kinds of tarts, and for
+different puddings. A gateau is also made of pig's liver; it is
+therefore rather difficult to define what a "gateau" is.
+
+_Gaufres._--Or wafers. Light spongy biscuits cooked in irons over a
+stove.
+
+_Glacer._--To glaze; to brush hot meat or poultry over with concentrated
+meat gravy or sauce, so that it shall have a brown and shiny appearance.
+Glaze can be bought in skins. Glacer, in confectionery, means to ice
+pastry or fruit with sugar.
+
+_Gniocchi._--Small balls of paste made with flour, eggs, and cheese to
+put into soup.
+
+_Gramme._--A French weight. An ounce avoirdupois is nearly equal to
+thirty grammes.
+
+_Gras._--Made with meat and fat.
+
+_Gratins_ (_au_).--Term applied to certain dishes of fish, game,
+poultry, vegetables, and macaroni dressed with rich sauces, and
+generally finished with bread-crumbs or bread-raspings over the top.
+
+_Gratiner._--Is to brown by heat, almost burn.
+
+_Grenadins._--Similar to a fricandeau, but smaller; grenadins are served
+with vegetable purées.
+
+(_To be continued._)
+
+
+
+
+THE SHEPHERD'S FAIRY.
+
+A PASTORALE.
+
+BY DARLEY DALE, Author of "Fair Katherine," etc.
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+DAME HURSEY THE WOOLGATHERER.
+
+[Illustration: "HE STRUCK ACROSS UNBEATEN PATHS."]
+
+
+When John Smith, as for reasons of his own he called himself, left
+Pierre, he pulled his hat well over his eyes and started off across the
+downs in the direction of Lewes. He knew the country well, and partly on
+this account, partly because he did not wish to be recognised, he struck
+across unbeaten paths, where he was not likely to meet anyone, avoiding
+the high roads as much as he could, and travelling as near as possible
+as the crow flies, over downs and meadows to the village he was seeking.
+It was a good six miles, and he had neither time nor inclination to
+pause and look at the scenery around him, so full of charm to those who
+live among it, so repellent at first to the stranger's eye, which has
+not been educated to notice the various tints and colours which sweep
+over the soft rounded outlines of those purple downs, but is at once
+caught by the grey hollows of the hills and the patches of white chalk
+which peep out every here and there on the steeps, and at a distance
+look like the perpetual snow of Alpine regions. The scenery of the
+Sussex Downs is like the Sussex people in this respect--it requires to
+be well known to be thoroughly appreciated; cold and reserved at first,
+it is only on better acquaintance you learn the sterling worth, the
+truth, the real kindness of heart, and the hospitality which
+characterise the Sussex people. And the downs themselves will not yield
+all their beauty at once; you must live among them to thoroughly know
+and love them; cold and grey and monotonous as they look at first, in
+the autumn especially, you will see what a variety of colours they can
+show when the fields are golden with corn, and the downs themselves
+richly dotted with wild flowers, and the clouds cast fleeting shadows
+over the slopes, and the purple and green of the nearer hills melt away
+into delicate blues and rosy greys in the distance. And then in winter
+the clouds play such tricks with the soft rounded hills and their white
+chalk sides, which chalk will reveal itself in all its nakedness every
+here and there, that it is often easy to imagine yourself in
+Switzerland, and difficult exceedingly to tell where the downs end and
+the clouds begin, so softly have they blended together, those grey
+clouds, those white and purple downs. No, the downs are not monotonous
+to those who look with careful eyes, at least, though the casual
+observer may see nothing in them but multitudes of sheep. Unique they
+may be, unlike the rest of England they certainly are, but not
+monotonous. And then the dales, with the villages nestling in the
+bottom, are so picturesque, and the green pastures, separated by dykes,
+have a homelike appearance, with the small black Sussex cattle with
+their long white horns, at least to a Sussex eye.
+
+Over some of these meadows the carpenter, with the little French baby in
+his arms, now made his way. Hitherto he had been lucky and had met no
+one, but now he was approaching a village a few miles from Lewes, which,
+for the purposes of this story, we will call Bournemer, and though the
+sun had set, it was still too light for him to risk being recognised, so
+he still kept to the fields, which he could the more easily do, as the
+house he sought was nearly a mile from the village. At last he saw it
+standing in the next field with a clump of trees on one side of it; it
+was little more than a cottage, though from the sheds adjoining it might
+have been taken for a small farmhouse; it was sheltered from the north
+by the down at the foot of which it lay, its red roof telling well
+against the soft grey background in the evening light. It faced the
+field, the road at the foot of the down running at the back of it, and
+already there was a light in one of the lower rooms; the front door was
+closed, but the gate of the field was open, details which the carpenter
+took in at a glance, and interpreted to mean that the shepherd was gone
+to fold his sheep for the night, and his wife was at home awaiting his
+return to supper.
+
+"He will be back soon. I must be quick; now is my time," said the
+carpenter to himself, making his way towards the house by the clump of
+trees, which afforded him a little shelter. Here he paused for a few
+minutes, and, after listening intently, put the baby on the ground while
+he took off his shoes. Then, picking it up, he crept quickly and
+noiselessly across the path towards the front door, on the step of which
+he laid his burden, and then crept back to the trees, where he put on
+his shoes, and with the purse which Léon had given him for the baby's
+maintenance in his pocket, he made his way back to the boat on the
+beach, congratulating himself on the success of his scheme. No one, he
+argued, was any the worse for it, while he was one thousand francs the
+better. He had wronged no one, as the baby was sure to be well taken
+care of. John Shelley was certain to take it in, and would probably
+think the Lord had sent it to him, and, with a chuckle over the
+shepherd's simplicity, he went his way.
+
+The baby was asleep when he deposited it on the doorstep, but it woke
+shortly after, and began to cry lustily for food, but the doors and
+windows being all closed, its wailing did not penetrate to the inside of
+the house. But before the carpenter had been gone half an hour footsteps
+approached the house, and the shepherd and his dog entered the gate of
+the field in which it stood. A fine, big, handsome man looked this
+shepherd as he paused to fasten the gate; about thirty years old, fair,
+with a florid complexion, blue eyes, and a long, yellowish beard, a face
+more remarkable for its kindly good humour than for its intelligence. He
+was dressed in a long smock, and he carried a crook, so that there was
+no mistaking his occupation, of which, by the way, he was very proud;
+his father and his grandfather and their fathers and grandfathers had
+been shepherds before him for many generations, and that he should ever
+be anything else than a shepherd was the last idea likely to enter John
+Shelley's mind. A shepherd by birth and education, he followed his
+calling with an ardour which would have amounted to passion in a warmer
+temperament. His sheep were his first thought on waking, his last as he
+closed his eyes at night, and he understood them and their ways
+thoroughly. The life suited him exactly; it might be a lonely life,
+wandering for hours on the downs without meeting a living creature day
+after day, except, perhaps, occasionally a neighbouring shepherd, but he
+was used to it. It might be an anxious life, especially in lambing time,
+but he was lucky, and rarely lost any lambs. It might be a dangerous
+life sometimes in the winter fogs, rambling about on the hills with the
+risk of falling into a chalk pit and breaking his neck, but he was
+always too anxious about his sheep when overtaken by a fog to think of
+his own danger. Then the wages were good, and the same all the year
+round, with the chance of making some extra money in the shearing
+season, and so much a head on each lamb that he reared; and to all
+intents and purposes he was his own master, for the farmer to whom the
+sheep belonged entrusted the management of the flock entirely to him.
+
+But while the shepherd was fastening the gate the dog ran to the baby,
+whose cry had reached his quick ears before it did his master's, and
+having sniffed all round it, he set up some short, quick barks, and ran
+back to the shepherd, calling his attention to the baby as plainly as
+his inability to speak would allow him.
+
+"What is it, Rover? what is it? Down, sir, it is only the baby crying;
+the window must be open," said the shepherd, as he approached the house,
+but Rover, as if to contradict his master, ran up to the bundle on the
+doorstep, and barked louder than ever.
+
+John Shelley took longer to take in the fact that an infant was lying
+crying on his doorstep than his dog had done. He stooped and looked, and
+took off his hat to rub his head thoughtfully and stimulate his brain
+that he might grasp the idea, and then he stooped again, and this time
+picked up the baby, and throwing open the door of the large kitchen,
+with its sanded floor of red bricks, stood on the threshold, holding out
+the wailing child, and saying--
+
+"Look here, Polly, see what I have found on the doorstep."
+
+Mrs. Shelley, who was sitting working, with her foot on a cradle which
+she was rocking gently to and fro, more from habit, since the baby was
+asleep, than for any real reason, looked up and saw in her husband's
+arms a bundle wrapped in a red shawl embroidered with gold.
+
+"What is it, John?" she asked; but a cry from the bundle answered the
+question, and she sprang to her husband's side in astonishment.
+
+She was a tall, good-looking woman, five or six years younger than the
+shepherd, with brown hair and eyes, and a rich colour in her cheeks,
+which came and went when she was excited; a bright intelligent face,
+not beautiful, scarcely handsome in repose, but which at times was so
+animated that she often passed for a very pretty woman.
+
+"Give it to me. Oh, John! John! where can it have come from? The dear
+little creature! And see what lovely things it has? Only look at this
+satin quilt in which it is wrapped, and, see, John, a toy of coral with
+gold bells! My pretty one, hush! hush! hush!" And Mrs. Shelley rocked
+the child in her arms; but her astonishment and admiration got the
+better of her motherly instinct for a moment, and she proceeded with her
+examination of its clothes. "Its nightdress is the finest cambric and
+trimmed with real lace, and see this exquisite handkerchief tucked in
+for a feeder; look! there is a coronet on it, John. I verily believe the
+'Pharisees,' as the children say, brought it. Do go and see if there is
+a fairy ring in the meadow, then I shall be sure they did!"
+
+Now, Sussex peasants--shepherds, especially--were very superstitious in
+the days in which this baby was found, and both John Shelley and his
+wife half believed that the fungus rings, so often found on the downs,
+were made by the fairies, or "Pharisees," as they called them. So,
+partly to see if he could find any further clue to the child, partly to
+look for the fungus ring, John Shelley took a lantern and went out to
+explore the premises.
+
+As soon as he was gone, Mrs. Shelley, who was an impulsive woman, gave
+the little stranger the supper that by right belonged to her own infant.
+
+[Illustration: A VISIT FROM DAME HURSEY.]
+
+"My boy is stronger than this little fragile creature, and he must wait
+till I have fed it," she said to herself. "Poor little mite, I don't
+believe it has been undressed for days, its beautiful dress is so dirty.
+I shall have time to bathe it and put it on some of Charlie's clean
+things before John comes in to his supper."
+
+And as John was very slow and deliberate in all his actions, and his
+wife very quick in all hers, by the time he came back the little
+stranger was washed and dressed, and fed, and sleeping quietly in the
+cradle, while Mrs. Shelley nursed her own boy.
+
+"Well, John, have you found any fairy rings?"
+
+"No, Polly; no, I can't make it out at all; it is very odd--very odd
+indeed. I can't think where the child came from," said John, shaking his
+head, slowly. "I don't believe the fairies brought it, though," he
+added, after a pause.
+
+"Who do you think did, then?" asked Mrs. Shelley, quickly.
+
+"I don't know who brought it, but I tell you what, Polly, I believe God
+sent it and means us to take care of it."
+
+"Take care of it! Why, of course we must, John. You don't suppose I
+dreamt of sending it to the workhouse, do you? Little darling! Why, it
+is the very thing we have been longing for, a little girl; it shall be
+Charlie's foster-sister. All I hope is, whoever brought it will let us
+keep it. I love it already!"
+
+"But, Polly, it isn't our child. We must take care of it, of course, for
+to-night, but you will have to go to Parson Leslie to-morrow and ask him
+what we ought to do to find out who it belongs to."
+
+"Indeed, and I shall do no such thing," said Mrs. Shelley, hastily.
+
+But the shepherd was master in his own home, and announced decidedly--
+
+"Then I must go to-night, late as it is."
+
+"And knock the parson up? It will be eleven o'clock before you get
+there. Sit down and get your supper, do, John, and we can talk about
+consulting him to-morrow."
+
+"That won't do, Polly; either I must go to the rector to-night or you
+must promise to go to-morrow. Which is it to be?"
+
+"There never was such a pig-headed man as you. If you set your mind on a
+thing there is no turning you. I suppose I shall have to go, or you'll
+be rushing off now, and I want my supper. One thing I am sure of, John,
+and that is, the baby belongs to rich people, and, I think, to some
+nobleman, for all the things have a coronet on them, and its clothes are
+all so fine."
+
+"Is there no name on any of them?"
+
+"No, nor anything to give us the least idea who the child is. It has
+evidently been accustomed to luxury, though, and somehow I fancy it is a
+foreign child. I never saw any baby's clothes made as these are," said
+Mrs. Shelley.
+
+A foreign child was an idea John Shelley could not accept so suddenly.
+His slow phlegmatic mind could not travel beyond his own
+country--scarcely beyond the Sussex downs.
+
+"More likely to be one of the quality's children. They don't make their
+clothes as we do, I expect; but if you show Mr. Leslie that coronet he
+may be able to make something of it."
+
+And so it was arranged that Mrs. Shelley should go the next day and
+consult the rector about their new-found treasure; but she fully made up
+her mind to use all the eloquence in her power to persuade Mr. Leslie to
+convince John it was plainly their duty to keep the baby which had been
+so mysteriously brought to them until its rightful owners claimed it.
+
+The next morning John Shelley was up betimes, as, indeed, he always was;
+but it was shearing time, and he was unusually busy, and it was,
+moreover, Saturday, and he hoped, with the help of the men who went
+round the country shearing in the month of June, to finish his flock
+that evening, so taking his breakfast and dinner with him, he told Mrs.
+Shelley not to expect him back till the evening. Across the dewy meadows
+in the fresh June morning, the loveliest part of the day, went John
+Shelley, startling a skylark every now and then from the ground, from
+whence it rose carolling forth its matin song, gently at first, but
+louder and louder as it sprang higher and higher, until lost to sight,
+its glorious song still audible, though John Shelley was too much
+occupied with his own thoughts, and, perhaps, too much accustomed to the
+singing of the lark, to pay much attention to it. Even his dogs, Rover
+and Snap, failed to wake him from his meditation, until he reached the
+meadow where he had folded his sheep for the night, and then every
+thought, except whether the sheep were all safe, vanished from his mind
+as he stood counting them. A few words to the dogs explained his wishes
+that the shorn sheep were to be driven out and the unshorn left in the
+fold for the present; and then, after a great deal of barking on the
+part of the dogs, and shouting from the shepherd, and rushing and
+scrambling on the part of the sheep, their bells jingling a not
+unmusical accompaniment to the thrushes and blackbirds, which were
+pouring out their morning song in the adjoining copse, this manoeuvre
+was effected, and John led his shorn flock to the downs, walking in
+front with his crook in his hand, while the dogs brought up the rear,
+yelping and barking at the heels of any erring sheep that strayed
+outside the flock.
+
+The shepherd was a man who concentrated all his thoughts on the business
+he had on hand, and as he led his sheep to the down on which he meant to
+leave them to the care of the dogs for the day, he was making a nice
+calculation of how long it would take him and his assistants to finish
+the shearing, when, just as he was about to leave the sheep, he was
+accosted by an old woman. She was tall, thin, with a slight stoop, a
+hooked nose, bright black eyes, and rough, crisp, grizzly hair, which
+gave her rather a witch-like appearance; nor did the bonnet perched on
+the top of her head, its crown in the air, tend to dispel this notion.
+She had a knotted stick in one hand, and a basket with some pieces of
+wool off the sheeps' backs which she had collected from the bushes in
+the other. It was Dame Hursey, the wool-gatherer, well known to John
+Shelley and every other shepherd in the neighbourhood, with all of whom
+she often had a gossip, and celebrated in the district as the mother of
+an unfortunate son, a fine, promising young sailor, who, having been
+convicted of robbery some years ago, and served a long sentence in Lewes
+gaol, had never been heard of since, unless his mother was in his
+confidence.
+
+A great gossip was Dame Hursey; she always knew all that went on in the
+neighbourhood, for she led a wandering, restless life, never at home
+except at night, sticking and wool-gathering in the autumn and winter,
+haymaking and gleaning in the summer, gossiping, whenever she had a
+chance, at all seasons. If anyone were likely to know anything about
+this strange baby, always supposing the fairies had had nothing to do
+with it, it was Dame Hursey, and the shepherd, being relieved of any
+further anxiety about the sheep, walked with her and told her the story.
+
+John Shelley was neither a quick-witted nor an observant man, except
+with regard to the weather, every sign of which he took in, or he would
+have noticed that Dame Hursey started perceptibly when he told her the
+time he found the baby, and that a glance of quick intelligence shot
+into her bright eyes as she heard the story; but when he had finished
+she gave it as her firm opinion that the "Pharisees," and no one else,
+must have brought the child, and she urged John on no account to part
+with it, as there was no telling what revenge the fairies might take if
+their wishes were set aside. And the old wool-gatherer proceeded to tell
+such wonderful stories of the terrible vengeance wrought by these
+mysterious little beings on people who had despised their gifts, that
+the shepherd was glad to put an end to such unpleasant suggestions by
+walking off at a rapid pace to his unshorn sheep.
+
+"It is strange, very strange, that I should have met my George the very
+same night, coming from Shelley's place too. He has had something to do
+with this baby as sure as wool is wool. I'll go round by Mrs. Shelley's
+and have a look at this wonderful child; perhaps I may find out
+something. I doubt it will be a bad thing for George if he is found out
+this time, if, as I suspect, he knows a deal more about it than we do,
+and he was up to no good last night or he would not have made me swear
+not to say I had seen him as he did. Well, the child is safe enough with
+the Shelleys, and I'll do my best to frighten them into keeping it,"
+muttered Dame Hursey to herself, as she bent her steps towards the
+shepherd's house.
+
+(_To be continued._)
+
+
+
+
+VARIETIES.
+
+
+"EXCELLENT HEART."
+
+Take a good-sized, tender heart. Extract all seeds of selfishness, and
+proceed to stuff as follows:--
+
+1 lb. crumbs of comfort.
+
+1 quart milk of human kindness.
+
+Several drops essence of goodness and happiness.
+
+Good dripping from the eaves of Love's dwelling.
+
+Blend these well with a little of the oil of Time to mellow and soften.
+
+Place the heart on a warm hearth with Love's rays full upon it and some
+of the light of other days. Move it now and then, but do not probe it.
+Keep the world's cold blasts from it if possible, but do not allow it to
+be absorbed in its own juices. It will take time to prepare, but when
+ready is fit for king or peasant and welcome at any table.
+
+SAUCE FOR ABOVE.
+
+Pint or more good spirits, a few honeyed words; a little cream of
+society may improve, but is not necessary. Carefully avoid cold water,
+vinegar, or pepper, or acidity in any form.
+
+The above will keep for years.--S. L.
+
+
+CONTENTED.--If you can live free from want, care for no more, for the
+rest is vanity.
+
+
+THE STORMS OF ADVERSITY.--A smooth sea never made a skilful mariner,
+neither do uninterrupted prosperity and success qualify anyone for
+usefulness and happiness. The storms of adversity, like the storms of
+the ocean, arouse the faculties and excite the intention, prudence,
+skill and fortitude of the voyager.
+
+
+A WISE MOTHER.--The celebrated Orientalist, Sir William Jones, when a
+mere child was very inquisitive. His mother was a woman of great
+intelligence, and he would apply to her for the information which he
+desired; but her constant reply was: "Read, and you will know." This
+gave him a passion for books, which was one of the principal means of
+making him what he was.
+
+
+TWENTY-FOUR NOTES IN ONE BOW.--The _Daily Post_ of February 22nd, 1732,
+contains a curious announcement with regard to Castrucci, the violinist,
+namely, that he would play a solo "in which he engages himself to
+execute twenty-four notes in one bow." This piece of charlatanism, so
+misplaced in a truly able musician, was excellently capped on the
+following day by a nameless fiddler advertising his intention to play
+twenty-five notes in one bow.
+
+
+A CAT STORY.--There was a favourite Tom cat owned by a family in
+Callander, in Scotland, and it had on several occasions shown more than
+ordinary sagacity. One day Tom made off with a piece of beef, and the
+servant followed him cautiously, with the intention of catching him and
+administering a little wholesome correction. To her amazement, she saw
+the cat go into a corner of the yard, in which she knew a rat-hole
+existed, and lay the beef down by the side of it. Leaving the beef
+there, puss hid himself a short distance off and watched until a rat
+made its appearance. Tom's tail then began to wag, and just as the rat
+was moving away with the bait he sprang upon it and killed it.
+
+
+HEARING WITH DIFFICULTY.--"Dr. Willis tells us," says Burney, in his
+"History of Music," "of a lady who could _hear only while a drum was
+beating_; insomuch that her husband actually hired a drummer as a
+servant in order to enjoy the pleasure of her conversation."
+
+
+COURAGE.--Courage which grows from constitution often forsakes people
+when they have occasion for it; courage that arises from a sense of duty
+acts in a uniform manner.
+
+
+THE INFLUENCE OF FORTUNE.--Fortune, good or ill, does not change men or
+women; it but developes their character.
+
+
+WEAK MINDS.--Two things indicate a weak mind--to be silent when it is
+proper to speak, and to speak when it is proper to be silent.--_Persian
+Proverb._
+
+
+A SUCCESSFUL WEDDING.--A New York girl has just enjoyed the triumph of
+having the biggest wedding given in that city for years. She whispered
+around that the man she was to marry had a red-haired wife somewhere,
+who would be at hand to interrupt the ceremony. The church was crowded.
+
+
+TWO SIDES TO PLEASURE.--Pleasure is to woman what the sun is to the
+flower; if modestly enjoyed it beautifies, it refreshes and improves; if
+immoderately, it withers and destroys.--_Colton._
+
+
+THE ILLS OF LIFE.--There are three modes of bearing the ills of life: by
+indifference, which is the most common; by philosophy, which is the most
+ostentatious; and by religion, which is the most effectual.
+
+
+AN OBSERVATION ON ROGUES.--After long experience of the world, I affirm,
+before God, I never knew a rogue who was not unhappy.--_Junius._
+
+
+ANSWER TO DOUBLE ACROSTIC (p. 30).
+
+ 1. L i P
+ 2. A ristotl E (a)
+ 3. M a r t y R
+ 4. B l o c K
+ 5. E l I
+ 6. R e s i N (b)
+ 7. T h ur lo W
+ 8. S coevo l A (c)
+ 9. I ndicato R (d)
+10. M e r a B (e)
+11. N a z E
+12. E clipti C
+13. L o K (f)
+
+Lambert Simnel. Perkin Warbeck.
+
+(a). His adage was "Amicus Plato, amicus Socrates, magis tamen amica
+veritas." From his custom of delivering instruction whilst walking, his
+disciples were styled "Peripatetics."
+
+(b). Familiarly pronounced "rosin."
+
+(c). Left-handed.
+
+(d). Indicator Major, the great honeybird of South Africa.
+
+(e). See 1 Samuel, xviii.
+
+(f). Lo(c)k.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: A CROWN OF FLOWERS
+
+being
+
+POEMS and PICTURES
+
+Collected from the pages of
+
+THE GIRLS OWN PAPER]
+
+EDITED BY CHARLES PETERS.
+
+
+The Poems are written by the Author of "John Halifax Gentleman," Sarah
+Doudney, Helen Marion Burnside, F. E. Weatherly, Annie Matheson, Anne
+Beale, Mrs. G. Linnæus Banks, the Rev. W. Cowan, Sydney Grey, Edward
+Oxenford, Isabella Fyvie Mayo, Clara Thwaites, Harriet L.
+Childe-Pemberton, the Dowager Lady Barrow, and others.
+
+Illustrated by Frank Dicksee, A.R.A., M. Ellen Edwards, W. J. Hennessy,
+Davidson Knowles, John C. Staples, Robert Barnes, Charles Green, Arthur
+Hopkins, William Small, Frank Dadd, the late Cecil Lawson, and others.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"As _A Crown of Flowers_ is carefully printed upon fine paper, full
+value is given to the engravings, which is one of the features of the
+magazine from which they are selected, and shows what a marked advance
+has been made of recent years in the character of such illustrations,
+which will, in the present instance, vie with anything of the kind
+produced on this or the other side of the Atlantic."--_The Pictorial
+World._
+
+
+
+
+ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.
+
+
+EDUCATIONAL.
+
+E. A. T.--There is a School of Telegraphy in Moorgate-buildings, at the
+back of Telegraph-street, E.C. All candidates for free admission must
+have passed an examination in handwriting and the first four rules of
+arithmetic under the Civil Service Commissioners, in Cannon-row, W.C.,
+aged not under fourteen nor over eighteen years. They must be gifted
+with quickness of eye and ear and a delicate touch. In three or four
+months they have acquired the art, working four hours a day. They must
+be proficient in the use of four instruments. The pupils in this school
+are only intended for service in London.
+
+CEDRICA.--In reference to Gall's or Mercator's projection, you may
+perceive that by doing away with perspective you obtain the relative
+distances, as well as the height of the mountains compared with the
+general surface, without deducting through foreshortening. You write
+fairly well, but too large to be pretty.
+
+SINE.--The auroræ are closely connected with the earth's magnetism,
+although their exact relationship is unknown. The appearance takes place
+equally round both magnetic poles. The most general opinion seems to be
+that they are illuminations of the lines of force which undoubtedly
+circulate round our earth. At all events, the corona forms itself round
+the magnetic poles, and its lines correspond to the earth's magnetic
+field. Displays of auroræ are almost always accompanied by magnetic
+storms, which so much affect our telegraph instruments, although the
+latter may occur when there is no visible aurora. An artificial aurora
+was produced by electrical means by Professor Lindstroem, in 67° north
+latitude, which was found to exhibit the spectrum of the true aurora.
+You will find all information respecting the "Zodiacal light" in
+"Guillemin on the Heavens."
+
+C. H. C.--No examinations are required for teachers in high schools; but
+of course preference is always given to those who have passed
+examinations, and they obtain better salaries. The senior or the higher
+Cambridge examinations for women would be the best, and would ensure a
+good position.
+
+
+MISCELLANEOUS.
+
+MARIE.--Your having given your parrot meat has given her a taste for raw
+meat. Perhaps a chemist could suggest a wash or powder to shake in under
+the feathers, that would taste bitter and disagreeable and yet prove
+harmless. Possibly your bird is troubled with small vermin, which
+irritate the skin and induce it to pick at the roots of the feathers.
+Examine the skin and plumage. We have given a long recipe for destroying
+the vermin in canaries.
+
+TUM YUM.--You had better buy a little bottle of oil-gold and paint your
+picture-frame with it. See our article, "Lissom Hands and Pretty Feet."
+
+ERICA RAEBURN.--Your verses are not correctly written, but the
+sentiments expressed are good. When you make an adverb of the word
+"true" you should drop the final "e."
+
+M. H. M.--Write or see a map-setter, such as Wyld, or any other of
+those in or near Trafalgar-square and Charing Cross. The ways and means
+of colouring and disposing of your maps will be explained to you by
+these people.
+
+PECKHAM RYE.--The poet Wordsworth had an only daughter, Dora, married to
+Mr. Quillinan. She was burnt to death in 1847, and left two daughters.
+The bishops are nephews of the poet.
+
+PHARMACEUTICAL.--The word "Pharmacon" can be found in all Greek
+lexicons. It is probably of Oriental extraction. It originally meant any
+medicine taken internally or externally, and apparently its original
+signification was good--or, at all events, not bad. Then, secondly, it
+came, like the word "accident," to get a bad sense attached to it, and
+it was used for a "poisonous drug," from which is derived its third and
+last sense, an "enchanted potion," or "enchantment." In the New
+Testament the word is translated "sorcery," not "drugs." See Rev. xxii.
+15.
+
+DAFFODIL.--Pampas grass may be cleaned by putting it into a large vessel
+of clean cold water, when after some time all the dust and dirt will
+come out, and it may be lightly shaken till dry. It may also be bleached
+with chloride of lime.
+
+SUNBEAM.--Do not on any account do so dangerous a thing as to put
+paraffin oil on your hair. Besides, the very bad smell of the oil would
+be most offensive to others if not to yourself.
+
+DELIA T. (Lausanne).--From your writing we conclude that you are very
+young. If so, your verses give some promise of better ones when older.
+
+JACKDAY.--It is suitable for every day. You write very well. There is no
+"e" in truly.
+
+LITTLE EMILY.--See "Girls' Christian Names," pages 39, 134, 235, 381,
+vol. iv.
+
+OCKLAWAKA.--Certainly, it is quite improper to walk about alone with a
+man to whom you are not engaged. We know of no cure suitable for all
+alike for sea-sickness. Lie down on deck, drink water before being sick,
+and beware of starving. At the same time, do not select pork nor a suet
+dumpling just at first. In cases of very severe sickness, swallowing
+small scraps of ice before and after a spoonful of _consommé_ or jelly
+is desirable, and an icebag should be applied to the spine.
+
+A TRING GIRL should consult a doctor about the moles if very
+unornamental.
+
+LADY JANE GREY.--The "seven whistlers" are curlew, or herringspear
+birds, thought to be storm-bringers when heard overhead at sea. You will
+find a story in Buckland's "Curiosities of Natural History" about them.
+
+ANNIE SPIKE should write to the Religious Tract Society, 56,
+Paternoster-row, E.C., for the tracts she needs. The lines are not
+poetry--nothing but badly-rhymed prose.
+
+HARTY.--Wills can be inspected at Somerset House, in the Strand, W.C.
+
+UNE PETITE FLEUR.--No one could interfere with you in keeping a private
+school, so far as we know.
+
+JAMIE'S DARLING.--We thank you warmly for your kind letter, and wish you
+much happiness in your new life and position.
+
+NO STONE UNTURNED must send her tale to a publisher; but we do not think
+she will get much--probably nothing; but, on the contrary, will have to
+pay, for a first attempt.
+
+ASPHODEL.--The 29th of April, 1870, was a Friday. When a man says he is
+"very much in love" with the girl to whom he is speaking, he means her
+to give him some encouragement to say more, and in a business-like,
+practical way.
+
+A FEARFUL ONE.--A polypus in the nose has to be cut out, but the patient
+must be under the influence of chloroform. It is more usually a man's
+than a woman's disease. Your letters should be rounder.
+
+UNE DEMOISELLE.--It is our ordinary form of greeting to say "How do you
+do?" It is an idiomatic phrase, and does not exact an answer as to the
+state of your health any more than the salutation "Good day." If anxious
+for information as to how you are, more direct inquiries will follow the
+salutation. Only ignorant persons reply to "How do you do?" "Very well,
+thank you; how are you?"
+
+A. B.--The first and second volumes of the G. O. P. are entirely out of
+print, as also are all the indexes, excepting that for vol. vi. None of
+these will be reprinted. We request our readers to take note of what we
+say, as it will save them waste of time in writing for them.
+
+RUBY KINGSLEY.--We cannot continue giving space for repeating the story
+of the willow pattern.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+MISS KING, the Secretary of the Society for Promoting the Employment of
+Women, 22, Berners-street, Oxford-street, W., writes:--In the G.O.P. for
+September there is an article (one of a series) on wood engraving by Mr.
+R. Taylor. I have read the articles with great interest, and I entirely
+agree with the greater part of what Mr. Taylor says. But he writes as if
+there were no opening for girls in the trade. I fully admit that only a
+small number are at present employed in it, but he writes that he does
+not believe that engraving can be effectually taught in schools or
+classes, and that he has not met with a single individual who has
+attained by this means skill enough to earn a livelihood. Now it is a
+fact that there are 12 or 14 girls employed at an engraver's in the
+City, who have learnt engraving at the City and Guilds of London Art
+School, which was established about six years ago, and some of these
+girls are doing excellent work and earning very good wages. Engraving is
+an art which requires persevering study for four or five years at the
+least, so that the school has not yet been established for a
+sufficiently long time to have trained a large number of girls, but the
+instruction given there is thoroughly good, and if the girls will
+persevere as long with it as they would be obliged to do if they were
+regularly apprenticed, I do not think there is any fear but that they
+will succeed in getting employment; but their work must be good. If you
+will kindly look at page 9 of our Report, published in May last, you
+will see an account of the school. There are vacancies now in the
+school, particulars of which I shall be happy to give to anyone who will
+call here between 11 and 5. I shall be greatly obliged if you will
+mention this school and its successful work in the next number of the
+G.O.P., for I fear that Mr. Taylor's statement is calculated to injure
+it materially.
+
+I am, dear sir,
+    Yours obediently,
+        GERTRUDE J. KING, Sec.
+
+A full account of the Kennington class was given in the G.O.P., January,
+1884, page 180, in the article on Art in the series of "Work for All."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. VIII, No.
+355, October 16, 1886, by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GIRL'S OWN PAPER, VOL. ***
+
+***** This file should be named 18414-8.txt or 18414-8.zip *****
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+    <title>
+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. VIII., No. 355, October 16, 1886
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css">
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+    table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;}
+
+    body{margin-left: 10%;
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+    .pagenum  { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. VIII, No. 355,
+October 16, 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. 355, October 16, 1886
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: Charles Peters
+          Flora Klickmann
+
+Release Date: May 18, 2006 [EBook #18414]
+
+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_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/illus001a.png" width="600" height="224" alt="THE GIRL&#39;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.&mdash;No. 355.</span></td><td align='center'>OCTOBER 16, 1886.</td><td align='right'><span class="smcap">Price One Penny.</span></td></tr>
+</table></div>
+<hr style="width: 95%;" />
+
+<p class="center">
+<a href="#THE_BROOK_AND_ITS_BANKS"><b>THE BROOK AND ITS BANKS: Chapter I.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_II"><b>THE BROOK AND ITS BANKS: Chapter II.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#SHE_COULDNT_BOIL_A_POTATO"><b>"SHE COULDN'T BOIL A POTATO;" OR, THE IGNORANT HOUSEKEEPER, AND HOW SHE ACQUIRED KNOWLEDGE: Part I.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#MERLES_CRUSADE"><b>MERLE'S CRUSADE: Chapter III.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#AMONG_THE_HOLLYHOCKS"><b>AMONG THE HOLLYHOCKS.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#NOTICES_OF_NEW_MUSIC"><b>NOTICES OF NEW MUSIC.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#EXPLANATION_OF_FRENCH_AND_OTHER_TERMS_USED_IN_MODERN_COOKERY"><b>EXPLANATION OF FRENCH AND OTHER TERMS USED IN MODERN COOKERY: Part I.</b></a><br />
+<a href="#THE_SHEPHERDS_FAIRY"><b>THE SHEPHERD'S FAIRY: Chapter III.</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="THE_BROOK_AND_ITS_BANKS" id="THE_BROOK_AND_ITS_BANKS"></a>THE BROOK AND ITS BANKS.<br />
+<br />
+<span style="font-size: 75%;"><span class="smcap">By the Rev. J. G. Wood</span>, M.A., Author of "The Handy Natural History."</span></h2>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/gop_86_10_16_illus001b.png" width="600" height="684" alt="THE BROOK AND ITS BANKS." title="" />
+<span class="caption">THE BROOK AND ITS BANKS.</span>
+</div>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Whyles owre a linn the burnie plays,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">As through the glen it dimpl't;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Whyles round a rocky scaur it strays;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Whyles in a weil it dimpl't;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Whyles glittered to the nightly rays,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Wi' bickering, dancing dazzle;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Whyles cookit underneath the braes<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Below the spreading hazel."<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i4"><i>Burns: "Halloween."</i><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER I.</h3>
+
+<p>The many aspects of a brook&mdash;The eye sees only that which it is
+capable of seeing&mdash;Individuality of brooks and their banks&mdash;The rippling
+"burnie" of the hills&mdash;The gently-flowing brooks of low-lying districts&mdash;Individualities
+even of such brooks&mdash;The fresh-water brooks of Oxford
+and the tidal brooks of the Kentish marshes&mdash;The swarming life in
+which they abound&mdash;An afternoon's walk&mdash;Ditches versus hedges and
+walls&mdash;A brook in Cannock Chase&mdash;Its sudden changes of aspect&mdash;The
+brooks of the Wiltshire Downs and of Derbyshire.</p>
+
+
+<p>A brook has many points of view.</p>
+
+<p>In the first place, scarcely any two spectators see it in the same light.</p>
+
+<p>To the rustic it is seldom more than a convenient water-tank, or, at
+most, as affording some sport to boys in fishing. To its picturesque
+beauties his eyes are blind, and to him the brook is, like Peter Bell's
+primrose, a brook and nothing more.</p>
+
+<p>Then there are some who only view a brook as affording variety to the
+pursuit of the fox, and who pride themselves on their knowledge of the
+spots at which it can be most successfully leaped.</p>
+
+<p>Others, again, who are of a geographical turn of mind, can only see in
+a brook a necessary portion of the water-shed of the district.</p>
+
+<p>To children it is for a time dear as a playground, possessing the inestimable
+advantage of enabling them to
+fall into it and wet their clothes from
+head to foot.</p>
+
+<p>Then there are some who are keenly
+alive to its changing beauties, and are
+gifted with artistic spirit and power of
+appreciation, even if they should not
+have been able to cultivate the technical
+skill which would enable them to
+transfer to paper or canvas the scene
+which pleased them. Yet they can
+only see the surface, and take little,
+if any, heed of the wealth of animated
+life with which the brook and its banks
+are peopled, or of the sounds with
+which the air is filled.</p>
+
+<p>Happy are those in whom are fortunately
+combined the appreciation of
+art and the gift (for it is a gift as much
+as an eye for art or an ear for music) of
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>observing animal life. To them the
+brook is all that it is to others, and much
+besides. To them the tiniest brook is a perpetual
+joy, and of such a nature I hope are
+those who read these pages.</p>
+
+<p>Not only does a brook assume different
+aspects, according to the individuality of the
+spectator, but every brook has its individuality,
+and so have its banks.</p>
+
+<p>Often the brook "plays many parts," as in
+Burns' delightful stanza, which seems to have
+rippled from the poet's brain as spontaneously
+as its subject.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes, however, as near Oxford, it flows
+silently onwards with scarcely a dimple on its
+unruffled surface. Over its still waters the
+gnats rise and fall in their ceaseless dance.
+The swift-winged dragon-flies, blue, green, and
+red, swoop upon them like so many falcons
+on their prey; or, in the earlier year, the
+mayflies flutter above the stream, leaving their
+shed skins, like ghostly images of themselves,
+sticking on every tree trunk near the brook.</p>
+
+<p>On the surface of the brook are seen the
+shadow-like water-gnats, drifting with apparent
+aimlessness over the surface, but
+having in view a definite and deadly purpose,
+as many a half drowned insect will find to its
+cost.</p>
+
+<p>Under the shade of the willows that overhang
+its banks the whirligig beetles will gather,
+sociably circling round and round in their
+mazy dance, bumping against each other in
+their swift course, but glancing off unhurt
+from the collision, protected from injury by
+the stout coats of mail which they wear.</p>
+
+<p>They really look like unskilful dancers
+practising their "figures" for the first time.
+They, however, are not engaged in mere
+amusement, but, like the water-gnats, are
+absorbed in the business of life. The naturalist
+knows, when he sees these creatures, that they
+do not form the hundredth part of those which
+are hidden from human eyes below the
+surface of the little brook, and that the whole
+of the stream is as instinct with life, as if it
+had been haunted by the Nipens, the Undines,
+and the host of fairy beings with whom the
+old legends peopled every river and its tributaries.</p>
+
+<p>They are just as wonderful, though clad in
+material forms, as any water spirit that ever
+was evolved from the poet's brain, and have
+the inestimable merit of being always within
+reach whenever we need them.</p>
+
+<p>I will venture to assert that no fairy tales,
+not even excepting those of the "Arabian
+Nights," can surpass in marvel the true life-history
+of the mayfly, the frog, the newt, and
+the dragon-fly, as will be narrated in the course
+of these pages. I may go even farther, and
+assert that there is no inhabitant of the brook
+and its banks whose biography and structure
+are not full of absorbing interest, and will not
+occupy the longest life, if only an attempt be
+made to study them thoroughly.</p>
+
+<p>An almost typical example of slow-flowing
+brooks is to be found in the remarkable
+channels which intersect the country between
+Minster and Sandwich, and which, on the
+ordnance map, look almost like the threads of
+a spider's web. In that flat district, the
+fields are not divided by hedges, as in most
+parts of England, or by stone walls&mdash;"dykes,"
+as they are termed in Ireland&mdash;such as are
+employed in Derbyshire and several other
+stony localities, but by channels, which have a
+strong individuality of their own.</p>
+
+<p>Even the smallest of these brooks is influenced
+by the tide, so that at the two
+periods of slack water there is no perceptible
+stream.</p>
+
+<p>Yesterday afternoon, having an hour or so
+to spare at Minster, I examined slightly
+several of these streams and their banks.
+The contrast between them and the corresponding
+brooklets of Oxford, also a low-lying
+district, was very strongly marked.</p>
+
+<p>In the first place, the willow, which forms
+so characteristic an ornament of the brooks
+and rivers of Oxford, is wholly absent. Most
+of the streamlets are entirely destitute of even
+a bush by which their course can be marked;
+so that when, as is often the case, a heavy
+white fog overhangs the entire district, looking
+from a distance as if the land had been
+sunk in an ocean of milk, no one who is not
+familiarly acquainted with every yard of
+ground could make his way over the fields
+without falling into the watery boundaries
+which surround them.</p>
+
+<p>Some of them, however, are distinguished
+by hawthorns, which take the place of
+the willows, and thrive so luxuriantly that
+they may lay claim to the title of forest trees.
+Blackberries, too, are exuberant in their
+growth, and in many spots the hawthorn and
+blackberry on opposite sides of the brook
+have intertwined their branches across it and
+have completely hidden the water from sight.
+On these blackberries, the fruit of which was
+in its green state, the drone-flies and hawk-flies
+simply swarmed, telling the naturalist of
+their multitudinous successors, who at present
+are in the preliminary stages of their existence.</p>
+
+<p>Among the blackberries the scarlet fruit
+of the woody nightshade (a first cousin of
+the potato) hung in tempting clusters, and
+I could not help wondering whether they
+would endanger the health of the young
+Minsterians.</p>
+
+<p>In some places the common frog-bit had
+grown with such luxuriance that it had
+completely hidden the water, the leaves overlapping
+each other as if the overcrowded
+plants were trying to shoulder each other out
+of the way.</p>
+
+<p>In most of these streamlets the conspicuous
+bur-reed (<i>Sparg&aacute;nium ram&oacute;sum</i>) grew thickly,
+its singular fruit being here and there visible
+among the sword-like leaves. I cannot but
+think that the medi&aelig;val weapon called the
+"morning star" (or "morgen-stern") was
+derived from the globular, spiked fruit-cluster
+of the bur-reed.</p>
+
+<p>A few of the streams were full of the fine
+plant which is popularly known by the name
+of bull-rush, or bulrush (<i>Typha latif&oacute;lia</i>), but
+which ought by rights to be called the "cat's-tail"
+or "reed-mace." Of this plant it is said
+that a little girl, on seeing it growing, exclaimed
+that she never knew before that
+sausages grew on sticks. The teasel (<i>Dipsacus</i>)
+was abundant, as were also several of
+the true thistles.</p>
+
+<p>In some places one of these streams becomes
+too deep for the bur-reed, and its surface
+is only diversified by the half-floating
+leaves of one or two aquatic plants.</p>
+
+<p>On approaching one of these places, I find
+the water to be apparently without inmates.
+They had only been alarmed by my approach,
+which, as I had but little time to spare, was
+not as cautious as it ought to have been.
+However, I remained perfectly still, and presently
+a little fish appeared from below. It
+was soon followed by a second and a third, and
+before long a whole shoal of fish were floating
+almost on the surface, looking out for insects
+which had fallen into the water.</p>
+
+<p>The day being hot, and with scarcely a breath
+of wind, the fish soon became quite bold. They
+did not move beyond the small spot in which
+they had appeared, but they all had their tails
+in slight movement, and their heads in one direction,
+thus showing that although the water
+appeared to be perfectly motionless, there must
+be a current of some sort, fish always lying with
+their heads up the stream, so as to allow the
+water to enter their mouths and pass over their
+gills.</p>
+
+<p>If then these sluggish streams were unlike
+those of Oxford, where the ground is low, and
+nearly level, how utterly distinct must they be
+from those of hilly and especially of rocky
+localities!</p>
+
+<p>In the earlier part of the present year I was
+cursorily examining a brook in Cannock Chase,
+in Staffordshire. Unfortunately, the day was
+singularly inauspicious, as the sun was invisible,
+the atmosphere murky, and a fierce north-east
+wind was blowing, a wind which affects animals,
+etc., especially the insect races, even more
+severely than it does man. Even the birds
+remain under shelter as long as they can, and
+not an insect will show itself. Neither, in consequence,
+will the fish be "on the feed."</p>
+
+<p>On a previous visit, we had been more fortunate,
+trout, crayfish, etc., testifying to the
+prolific character of the brook, which in one
+place is only four or five feet in width, and yet,
+within fifty yards, it has formed itself into a
+wide and treacherous marsh, which can only
+be crossed by jumping from one tussock of
+grass to another; and yet, again, it suddenly
+spreads out into a broad and shallow torrent,
+the water leaping and rippling over the stony
+bed. Scarcely a bush marks its course, and
+within a few yards it is quite invisible.</p>
+
+<p>As we shall presently see, the brooks of the
+chalk downs of Wiltshire, and of the regular
+mixture of rock and level ground, which are
+characteristic of Derbyshire, have also their
+own separate individualities.</p>
+
+<p>We shall, however, find many allusions to
+them in the course of the work, and we will
+therefore suppose ourselves to be approaching
+the bank of any brook that is but little disturbed
+by man. What will be likely to happen
+to us will be told in the following chapters.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+<h3><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h3>
+
+<p>Life-history of the water-rat&mdash;No science
+can stand alone&mdash;What is a water-rat?&mdash;The
+voles of the land and water&mdash;Their remarkable
+teeth&mdash;The rodents and their incisor teeth&mdash;The
+tooth and the chisel&mdash;The skate "iron"&mdash;Chewing
+the cud&mdash;Teeth of the elephant&mdash;Feet
+of the water-vole&mdash;A false accusation&mdash;Water-voles
+in gardens&mdash;Winter stores&mdash;Cats
+and water-voles&mdash;Subterranean pioneering&mdash;Mental
+character of the water-vole&mdash;Standing
+fire&mdash;Its mode of eating.</p>
+
+
+<p>Plop!</p>
+
+<p>A water-rat has taken alarm, and has leaped
+into the brook.</p>
+
+<p>A common animal enough, but none the
+less worthy of notice because it is common.
+Indeed, it is in many respects a very remarkable
+creature, and we may think ourselves
+fortunate that we have the opportunity of
+studying its habits and structure.</p>
+
+<p>There is much more in the animal than
+meets the eye, and we cannot examine its life-history
+without at the same time touching upon
+that of several other creatures. No science
+stands alone, neither does any animal, however
+insignificant it may appear to be; and we
+shall find that before we have done with the
+water-rat, we shall have had something to
+say of comparative anatomy, ornithology,
+ichthyology, entomology and botany, beside
+treating of the connection which exists between
+man and the lower animals, and the
+reciprocal influence of civilisation and animal
+life.</p>
+
+<p>In the first place, let us define our animal.</p>
+
+<p>What is a water-rat, and where is its place
+in zoological systems of the present day? Its
+name in science is <i>Arv&iacute;cola amph&iacute;bius</i>. This
+title tells its own story.</p>
+
+<p>Though popularly called a rat, the animal
+has no right to the name, although, like the
+true rat, it is a rodent, and much resembles
+the rat in size and in the length and colour of
+its fur. The likeness, however, extends no
+further.</p>
+
+<p>The rats are long-nosed and sharp-snouted
+animals, whereas the water-rat has a short,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>
+blunt nose. Then, the ears of the rats are
+large and stand out boldly from the head,
+while those of the water-rat are small, short,
+and rounded. Again, the tail of the rat is
+long and slender, while that of the water-rat
+is comparatively short. Place the two
+animals side by side, and you will wonder how
+anyone could mistake the one for the other.</p>
+
+<p>The teeth, too, are quite different.</p>
+
+<p>Instead of being white, like those of the rat,
+the incisor teeth are orange-yellow, like those
+of the beaver. Indeed, the water-rat
+possesses so many beaver-like characteristics,
+that it was ranked near the beaver in the
+systematic lists.</p>
+
+<p>Now, however, the Voles, as these creatures
+ought rightly to be called, are thought to be
+of sufficient importance to be placed by themselves,
+and separated from the true beavers.</p>
+
+<p>The voles constitute quite a large group of
+rodents, including several animals which are
+popularly ranked among the mice.</p>
+
+<p>One very remarkable characteristic of the
+voles is the structure of their molar teeth.</p>
+
+<p>Being rodents, they can have but two
+incisor teeth in each jaw, these teeth being
+rootless, and so set in their sockets that they
+are incessantly worn away in front, and as
+incessantly grow from the base, take the
+curved form of their sockets, and act much
+like shears which have the inestimable property
+of self-sharpening when blunted, and
+self-renewal when chipped or actually broken
+off by coming against any hard substance.
+Were the teeth to be without this power, the
+animal would run a great risk of dying from
+hunger, the injured tooth not being able
+either to do its own work, or to aid its companion
+of the opposite jaw. Either tooth
+alone would be as useless as a single blade of
+a pair of scissors.</p>
+
+<p>There is another notable characteristic of
+these incisor teeth. If you will examine the
+incisors of any rodent, whether it be a rat, a
+mouse, a rabbit, or a beaver, you will see that
+the tips are "bevelled" off just like the edge
+of a chisel. This shape is absolutely necessary
+to keep the tooth in working order. How is
+this object to be attained?</p>
+
+<p>In the solution of this problem we may see
+one of the many links which connect art and
+nature.</p>
+
+<p>Should our readers know anything of carpentering,
+let them examine the structure of
+their chisels. They are not made wholly of hard
+steel, as in that case they would be liable to
+snap, just as does the blade of a foil when
+undue pressure is brought to bear upon it.
+Moreover, the operation of sharpening would
+be extremely difficult.</p>
+
+<p>So the blade of the chisel is merely faced
+with a thin plate of hardened steel, the remainder
+being of softer material.</p>
+
+<p>Now, it is not at all likely that the unknown
+inventor of the modern chisel was aware of
+the analogy between art and nature, and would
+probably have been very much surprised if
+anyone had stated that he had borrowed his
+idea from the incisor teeth of the water-rat.</p>
+
+<p>Yet he might have done so, for these teeth
+are almost wholly formed of ordinary tooth
+matter, and are faced with a thin plate of hard
+enamel, which exactly corresponds with the
+hardened steel facing of a chisel.</p>
+
+<p>Any of my readers who possess skates will
+find, on examination, that the greater part of
+the blade is, in reality, soft iron, the steel,
+which comes upon the ice, being scarcely a
+fifth of an inch in length. The hardened
+steel allows the blade to take the necessary
+edge, while the soft iron preserves the steel
+from snapping.</p>
+
+<p>Should the skate have been neglected and
+allowed to become a little rusty, the line of
+demarcation between the steel and the iron
+can be distinctly seen. Similarly, in the
+beaver and the water-rat, the orange-yellow
+colour of the enamel facing causes it to be
+easily distinguished from the rest of the tooth.
+In most of the rodents the enamel is white,
+and the line of demarcation is scarcely visible.</p>
+
+<p>Now we have to treat of a question of
+mechanics.</p>
+
+<p>If two substances of different degrees of
+hardness be subjected to the same amount of
+friction, it follows that the softer will be worn
+away long before the harder. It is owing to
+this principle that the edges of the rodent
+teeth preserve their chisel-like form. Being
+continually employed in nibbling, the softer
+backing of the teeth is rapidly worn away,
+while the hard plate of enamel upon the front
+of the tooth is but slightly worn, the result
+being the bevelled shape which is so characteristic
+of these teeth.</p>
+
+<p>As all know, who have kept rabbits or white
+mice, the animals are always engaged in gnawing
+anything which will yield to their teeth,
+and unless the edges of their feeding troughs
+be protected by metal, will nibble them to
+pieces in a few days. Indeed, so strong is
+this instinct, that the health of the animals is
+greatly improved by putting pieces of wood
+into their cages, merely for the purpose of
+allowing them to exercise their chisel-edged
+teeth. Even when they have nothing to
+gnaw, the animals will move their jaws incessantly,
+just as if they were eating, a movement
+which gave rise to the idea that they
+chewed the cud.</p>
+
+<p>It is worthy of remark that other animals,
+which, though not rodents, need to possess
+chisel-edged incisor teeth, have a similar habit.
+Such is the hippopotamus, and such is the
+hyrax, the remarkable rock-haunting animal,
+which in the authorised translation of the
+Scriptures is called the "coney," and which in
+the Revised Version is allowed in the margin
+to retain its Hebrew name, "shaphan."</p>
+
+<p>The enamel also has an important part to
+play in the structure of the molar teeth. Each
+tooth is surrounded with the enamel plate,
+which is so intricately folded that the tooth
+looks as if it were made of a series of enamel
+triangles, each enclosing the tooth matter.</p>
+
+<p>This structure is common to all the
+members of the group to which the water-rat
+belongs. It is the more remarkable because
+we find a somewhat similar structure in the
+molar teeth of the elephants, which, like the
+rodents, have the incisor teeth largely developed
+and widely separated from the
+molars.</p>
+
+<p>There is nothing in the appearance of the
+water-rat which gives any indication of its
+aquatic habits.</p>
+
+<p>For example, we naturally expect to find that
+the feet of swimming animals are webbed. The
+water-loving capybara of South America, the
+largest existing rodent, has its hoof-like toes
+partially united by webs, so that its aquatic
+habits might easily be inferred even by those
+who were unacquainted with the animal. Even
+the otter, which propels itself through the
+water mostly by means of its long and powerful
+tail, has the feet furnished with webs. So
+has the aquatic Yapock opossum of Australia,
+while the feet of the duck-bill are even more
+boldly webbed than those of the bird from
+which it takes its popular name. The water-shrews
+(whom we shall presently meet) are
+furnished with a fringe of stiff hair round the
+toes which answers the same purpose as the
+web.</p>
+
+<p>But the structure of the water-rat gives no
+indication of its habits, so that no one who
+was unacquainted with the animal would even
+suspect its swimming and diving powers.
+Watch it as long as you like, and I do not
+believe that you will see it eating anything of
+an animal nature.</p>
+
+<p>I mention this fact because it is often held
+up to blame as a mischievous animal, especially
+deserving the wrath of anglers by devouring
+the eggs and young of fish.</p>
+
+<p>As is often the case in the life-history of
+animals as well as of men, the blame is laid
+on the wrong shoulders. If the destruction of
+fish be a crime, there are many criminals, the
+worst and most persistent of which are the
+fish themselves, which not only eat the eggs
+and young of other fish, but, Saturn-like, have
+not the least scruple in devouring their own
+offspring.</p>
+
+<p>Scarcely less destructive in its own insidious
+way is the common house-rat, which eats
+everything which according to our ideas is
+edible, and a good many which we might
+think incapable of affording sustenance even
+to a rat. In the summer time it often abandons
+for a time the house, the farm, the barn,
+and seeks for a change of diet by the brook.
+These water-haunting creatures are naturally
+mistaken for the vegetable-feeding water-vole,
+and so the latter has to bear the blame of their
+misdoings.</p>
+
+<p>There are lesser inhabitants of the brook
+which are injurious both to the eggs and
+young of fish. Among them are several of
+the larger water-beetles, some of which are so
+large and powerful that, when placed in an
+aquarium with golden carp, they have made
+havoc among the fish, always attacking them
+from below. Although they cannot kill and
+devour the fish at once, they inflict such
+serious injuries that the creature is sure to die
+shortly.</p>
+
+<p>I do not mean to assert that the water-vole
+is never injurious to man. Civilisation disturbs
+for a time the balance of Nature, and
+when man ploughs or digs the ground which
+had previously been untouched by plough or
+spade, and sows the seeds of herbs and cereals
+in land which has previously produced nothing
+but wild plants, he must expect that the animals
+to whom the soil had been hitherto left will
+fail to understand that they can no more consider
+themselves as the owners, and will in
+consequence do some damage to the crops.</p>
+
+<p>Moreover, even putting their food aside,
+their habits often render them obnoxious to
+civilised man. The mole, for example, useful
+as it really is in a field, does very great harm
+in a garden or lawn, although it eats none of
+the produce.</p>
+
+<p>The water-vole, however, is doubly injurious
+when the field or garden happens to be near
+the water-side. It is a mighty burrower,
+driving its tunnels to great distances. Sometimes
+it manages to burrow into a kitchen-garden,
+and feeds quite impartially on the different
+crops. It has even been seen to venture
+to a considerable distance from water,
+crossing a large field, making its way into a
+garden, and carrying off several pods of the
+French bean.</p>
+
+<p>In the winter time, when other food fails,
+the water-vole, like the hare and rabbit, will
+eat turnips, mangold-wurzel, the bark of young
+trees, and similar food. Its natural food,
+however, is to be found among the various
+aquatic plants, as I have often seen, and the
+harm which it does to the crops is so infinitesimally
+small when compared with the area
+of cultivated ground, that it is not worthy of
+notice.</p>
+
+<p>Still, although the harm which it does to
+civilised man in the aggregate is but small,
+even its most friendly advocate cannot deny
+that there are cases where it has been extremely
+troublesome to the individual cultivator,
+especially if he be an amateur.</p>
+
+<p>There are many hard men of business, who
+are obliged to spend the greater part of the
+day in their London offices, and who find their
+best relaxation in amateur gardening; those
+who grow vegetables, regarding their peas,
+beans, potatoes, and celery with as much affection
+as is felt by floriculturists for their roses or
+tulips.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Nothing is more annoying to such men
+than to find, when the toils of business are
+over, and they have settled themselves comfortably
+into their gardening suits, that some
+marauder has carried off the very vegetables on
+which they had prided themselves.</p>
+
+<p>The water-vole has been detected in the act
+of climbing up a ladder which had been left
+standing against a plum tree, and attacking
+the fruit. Bunches of grapes on outdoor vines
+are sometimes nipped off the branches by the
+teeth of the water-vole, and the animal has
+been seen to climb beans and peas, split the
+pods, and devour the contents.</p>
+
+<p>Although not a hibernating animal, it
+lays up a store of food in the autumn. Mr.
+Groom Napier has the following description
+of the contents of a water-rat's storehouse:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Early in the spring of 1855, I dug out the
+burrow of a water-vole, and was surprised to
+find at the further extremity a cavity of about
+a foot in diameter, containing a quantity of
+fragments of carrots and potatoes, sufficient to
+fill a peck measure. This was undoubtedly a
+part of its winter store of provisions. This
+food had been gathered from a large potato
+and carrot bed in the vicinity.</p>
+
+<p>"On pointing out my discovery to the owner
+of the garden, he said that his losses had been
+very serious that winter owing to the ravages
+of these animals, and said that he had brought
+both dogs and cats down to the stream
+to hunt for them; but they were too wary to
+be often caught."</p>
+
+<p>I do not think that the owner of the garden
+knew very much about the characters either of
+the cat or water-vole.</p>
+
+<p>Every one who is practically acquainted with
+cats knows that it is next to impossible to
+point out an object to a cat as we can to a dog.
+She looks at your finger, but can never direct
+her gaze to the object at which you are pointing.
+In fact, I believe that pussy's eyes are not
+made for detecting objects at a distance.</p>
+
+<p>If we throw a piece of biscuit to a dog, and
+he does not see where it has fallen, we can
+direct him by means of voice and finger. But,
+if a piece of meat should fall only a foot or two
+from a cat, all the pointing in the world will
+not enable her to discover it, and it is necessary
+to pick her up and put her nose close to the
+meat before she can find it.</p>
+
+<p>So, even, if a water-vole should be seen by
+the master, the attention of the cat could not
+be directed to it, her instinct teaching her to
+take prey in quite a different manner.</p>
+
+<p>The dogs, supposing that they happened to be
+of the right breed, would have a better chance of
+securing the robber, providing that they intercepted
+its retreat to the water. But if the
+water-vole should succeed in gaining its burrow,
+or in plunging into the stream, I doubt whether
+any dog would be able to catch it.</p>
+
+<p>Moreover, the water-vole is so clever in tunnelling,
+that when it drives its burrows into
+cultivated ground, it almost invariably conceals
+the entrance under a heap of stones, a
+wood pile, or some similar object.</p>
+
+<p>How it is enabled to direct the course of
+its burrow we cannot even conjecture, except
+by attributing the faculty to that "most
+excellent gift" which we call by the convenient
+name of "instinct."</p>
+
+<p>Man has no such power, but when he wishes
+to drive a tunnel in any given direction he is
+obliged to avail himself of levels, compasses,
+plumb-lines, and all the paraphernalia of the
+engineer. Yet, with nothing to direct it
+except instinct, the water-vole can, though
+working in darkness, drive its burrow in any
+direction and emerge from the ground exactly
+at the spot which it has selected.</p>
+
+<p>The mole can do the same, and by means
+equally mysterious.</p>
+
+<p>I may casually mention that the water-vole
+is one of the aquatic animals which, when
+zoological knowledge was not so universal as
+it is at the present day, were reckoned as fish,
+and might be eaten on fast days. I believe
+that in some parts of France this idea still
+prevails.</p>
+
+<p>With all its wariness, the water-vole is a
+strangely nervous creature, being for a time
+almost paralysed by a sudden shock. This
+trait of character I discovered quite unexpectedly.</p>
+
+<p>Many, many years ago, when I was a young
+lad, and consequently of a destructive nature,
+I possessed a pistol, of which I was
+rather proud. It certainly was an excellent
+weapon, and I thought myself tolerably certain
+of hitting a small apple at twelve yards
+distance.</p>
+
+<p>One day, while walking along the bank of
+the Cherwell River, I saw a water-vole on the
+opposite bank. The animal was sitting on a
+small stump close to the water's edge. Having,
+of course, the pistol with me, and wanting to
+dissect a water-vole, I proceeded to aim at the animal.
+This was not so easy as it looked.
+A water-vole crouching upon a stump presents
+no point at which to aim, the brown fur of the
+animal and the brown surface of the old
+weather-beaten stump seeming to form a
+single object without any distinct outline;
+moreover, it is very difficult to calculate distances
+over water. However, I fired, and
+missed.</p>
+
+<p>I naturally expected the animal to plunge
+into the river and escape. To my astonishment,
+it remained in the same position.
+Finding that it did not stir, I reloaded, and
+again fired and missed. Four times did I fire
+at that water-vole, and after the last shot the
+animal slowly crawled off the stump, slid into
+the river, and made off.</p>
+
+<p>Now in those days revolvers and breech-loaders
+did not exist, so that the process of
+loading a pistol with ball was rather a long
+and complicated one.</p>
+
+<p>First, the powder had to be carefully measured
+from the flask; then a circular patch of
+greased linen had to be laid on the muzzle of
+the weapon, and a ball laid on it and hammered
+into the barrel with a leaden or wooden
+mallet; then it had to be driven into its place
+with a ramrod (often requiring the aid of the
+mallet), and, lastly, there was a new cap to be
+fitted. Yet although so much time was occupied
+between the shots, the animal remained
+as motionless as a stuffed figure.</p>
+
+<p>When I crossed the river and examined the stump
+I found all the four bullets close together
+just below the spot on which the animal
+had been sitting, and neither of them
+two inches from its body. Although the balls
+had missed the water-vole, they must
+have sharply jarred the stump.</p>
+
+<p>I was afterwards informed that this semi-paralysis
+from sudden fear is a known characteristic
+of the animal. It seems to be shared
+by others of the same genus, as will be seen
+when we come to treat of the field mice.</p>
+
+<p>In its mode of eating it much resembles the
+squirrels, sitting on its haunches and holding
+the food in its forepaws, as if they were
+hands. I am not aware that it even eats
+worms or insects, and it may be absolutely
+acquitted from any imputation of doing harm
+to any of the fish tribe.</p>
+
+<p class="center">(<i>To be continued.</i>)</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="SHE_COULDNT_BOIL_A_POTATO" id="SHE_COULDNT_BOIL_A_POTATO"></a>"SHE COULDN'T BOIL A POTATO;"<br />
+<span style="font-size: 50%;">OR,</span><br />
+<span style="font-size: 75%;">THE IGNORANT HOUSEKEEPER, AND HOW SHE ACQUIRED KNOWLEDGE.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span  class="smcap" style="font-size: 75%;">By DORA HOPE.</span></h2>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 150px;">
+<img src="images/gop_86_10_16_illus004.png" width="150" height="233" alt="&quot;T" title="" />
+</div>
+<p>he late Miss Ella!"</p>
+
+<p>"When are you
+going to turn over
+that new leaf you
+spoke of, my daughter?"</p>
+
+<p>"There's a little
+coffee left, but the
+bacon is quite
+cold."</p>
+
+<p>These were the
+exclamations that
+greeted a tall bright
+girl, as she entered
+the breakfast room one morning.</p>
+
+<p>"I am very sorry, papa. I
+really meant to be down in
+time, but I suppose I must have
+gone to sleep again after I was called." And
+being really vexed with herself for having so
+soon broken her good resolutions, formed for
+the hundredth time the day before, Ella
+Hastings accepted the cold bacon meekly, and
+even turned a deaf ear to the withering sarcasms
+of her two schoolboy brothers, who
+were leisurely strapping together their books,
+and delaying their departure till the last
+moment.</p>
+
+<p>"There is the postman coming up the
+garden; run and get the letters, Hughie."</p>
+
+<p>A solemn-looking boy of six years old
+climbed down from his chair, in obedience
+to his father's request, and soon came back
+with a handful of letters, and settled himself
+patiently by his father's side to wait for the
+empty envelopes, which formed his share of
+the morning's correspondence.</p>
+
+<p>An exclamation of surprise from Mr.
+Hastings caused his wife to look up inquiringly
+from the letter she had just opened,
+and he handed her silently a telegram which
+had been forwarded, with other papers, from
+his office, where it had evidently been delivered
+late the previous evening. Kate, the
+eldest daughter, leaning over her mother's
+shoulder, read aloud the short notice:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Wilson dangerously ill; letter
+follows."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Wilson was Mr. Hastings' only
+remaining sister. His mother had died when
+he was almost an infant, and this "sister
+Mary" had slipped into her place as mother,
+teacher&mdash;everything, to her little brothers and
+sisters; never leaving them, till the father
+having died also, and her young charges being
+all old enough to settle in life for themselves,
+she had rewarded the faithful waiting of her
+old lover, and they had settled down together
+in a quiet village a few miles from the noisy
+town where his business lay. Her happy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>
+married life lasted but a short time, however,
+and for the many years since her husband's
+death she had preferred to live entirely alone
+with her two maids and a strange medley of
+pet animals&mdash;finding employment and interest
+for her declining years in her books and her
+garden.</p>
+
+<p>From being so long alone she had grown
+eccentric in her ways, and very odd and
+decided in her views; but she kept a warm
+corner in her heart for her favourite brother
+and his children, who heartily returned their
+aunt's affection, though they stood a good
+deal in awe of her keen penetrating gaze and
+sarcastic criticisms.</p>
+
+<p>She had always prided herself on her good
+constitution, and despised doctors and dentists
+as people who pandered to the fads and
+fancies of a degenerate generation&mdash;a generation
+who, according to her creed, weakened
+their backs and ruined their health by lounging
+on sofas and easy chairs, while, for her part,
+though seventy years of age, she was
+thankful to say a straight-backed chair was
+good enough for her. It may be imagined
+that for this self-reliant, vigorous Aunt Mary
+to be taken seriously ill, so ill as to have to
+summon help, was a great shock, and Mr.
+Hastings decided at once that he must go to
+see his sister, and that one of his daughters
+should accompany him; but the telegram was
+so short, and gave so little information, that
+nothing further could be arranged till the
+noonday post arrived, which always brought
+the letters from Hapsleigh.</p>
+
+<p>The morning seemed endless, but noon
+came at last, and with it the promised letter,
+which was eagerly opened and read. It was
+from Mrs. Mobberly, a near neighbour of Mrs.
+Wilson's. She described the sudden illness,
+and all that had been done for the sufferer.
+"The doctor says that for a day or two he
+cannot tell what the result may be, though
+we may hope for the best. He has sent in
+a thoroughly trustworthy trained nurse, but
+he agrees with me that it would be a good
+thing if one of your daughters could come to
+take charge of the household, for even if all
+goes as well as possible it will be a long and
+tedious recovery, and the invalid must be kept
+perfectly quiet and free from all worry."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, girls," said Mr. Hastings, as he
+finished reading the letter, "you must decide
+between yourselves which of you will go. As
+there seems no immediate danger, we need
+not leave till to-morrow morning, so you will
+have a little time for preparation; but however
+great a sacrifice it is for you to go, and
+for us to part with you, there is no question
+about it. Aunt Mary must not be left alone
+till she is quite herself again, so I will telegraph
+to Mrs. Mobberly that one of you will
+go with me by the first train to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>There was no room for disputing the point
+when Mr. Hastings spoke in that decided
+tone; moreover, the girls themselves would
+have said just the same&mdash;that someone must
+go; but the question was, "who?"</p>
+
+<p>"Kate, it must be you," said Ella, eagerly.
+"I do not know anything about nursing or
+housekeeping, or anything of that sort, and you
+know I always say and do the wrong thing."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Hastings looked anxious and perplexed.
+"I really do not know what to do
+for the best," she said. "I do not see how I
+can spare you, Kate; for if I have one of my
+bad attacks I must have you at hand; and you
+see, Ella, you would have everything to learn
+here just as much as at Hapsleigh, and I
+think you would find teaching the children
+very hard work."</p>
+
+<p>Kate, the eldest daughter, was her mother's
+unfailing assistant, and almost entirely relieved
+her of the care of the three little ones; indeed,
+during Mrs. Hastings's frequent attacks of
+asthma, Kate was both ready and able to
+take entire charge of the household, and she
+felt that to leave her mother with only Ella's
+help would be throwing more care upon her
+than her delicate health could bear. She
+spoke decidedly, therefore; and, after a little
+more discussion, it was agreed that Ella
+should accompany her father, prepared to
+stay as long as she might be required.</p>
+
+<p>The rest of the day was fully occupied with
+packing and making arrangements. Ella was
+rather apt to let her clothing take care of
+itself, and, in a sudden emergency such as this,
+had to borrow right and left. Indeed, Mrs.
+Hastings and Kate were both kept busy all
+the afternoon looking over and supplying the
+deficiencies in her outfit.</p>
+
+<p>"That dressing-gown will not do at all,
+Ella. It is most important to have a thoroughly
+warm one when you have to sit up at
+night. Yours is very pretty, but blue cashmere
+and lace are not suitable for a sick room
+in cold weather. You will have to borrow
+Kate's thick flannel gown. You should have
+my quilted silk one, but in such a great thickness
+of material one's arms do not feel quite
+free to help an invalid, or shake up a bed."</p>
+
+<p>"Here it is, Ella," rejoined Kate; "and I
+have brought you my thick bedroom slippers,
+too. They are not so elegant as your Turkish
+ones, but they are much warmer. Be sure
+you keep them by the side of your bed, so
+that you can slip them on directly if you are
+called up suddenly. You know you take cold
+so easily, and it would be so awkward if you
+had one of your bad throats at Hapsleigh."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Hastings felt very anxious about her
+daughter, called upon so suddenly to take up
+such important and unexpected duties, and
+gave her a great deal of loving counsel.</p>
+
+<p>"You will have to manage to get up
+earlier, dear child," she said. "You know
+Aunt Mary's servants are always rather
+inclined to go their own way, and they may
+perhaps try to take advantage of her illness to
+keep irregular hours and slight their work;
+and you must remember that you will be
+responsible for good order in the house, and
+that is impossible unless all the household are
+regular and punctual in beginning their day's
+work at the proper time. I will let you have
+my little clock, and you can set the alarum at
+whatever time you wish to get up."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; I really am going to turn over a
+new leaf about that; but you know, mother,
+I shall feel more obliged to get up now when
+I am responsible for things going right. Oh,
+dear! what a dreadful thought! I am sure I
+shall never manage. Why, I can't cook, and
+I can't keep accounts, and I have no idea how
+many pounds of meat people want for dinner.
+I shall order a tin of Australian meat, and
+just have it at every meal till it is finished,
+and then get another."</p>
+
+<p>"I am afraid the servants will soon give
+you notice if you do, Ella," said Mrs. Hastings,
+laughing at her daughter's ideas of housekeeping.
+"You will soon get accustomed to
+the size of joints and puddings, if you get into
+the habit of noticing them, remembering how
+long they last. But there are two other pieces
+of advice which I want you to remember and
+to act upon. If your father decides that it is
+necessary for you to stay and act as mistress,
+he will tell the servants so; but you must
+assert yourself as mistress at once, and take
+everything into your own hands. You will
+find it rather difficult at first, but it will save
+you a great deal of trouble in the end. I
+have seen endless discomfort caused by young
+and timid housekeepers not liking to take the
+reins into their own hands. But, at the same
+time, be very careful never to interfere or
+complain, unless you are quite sure that it is
+necessary, and that you are in the right. If
+you are in any doubt you can always consult
+Mrs. Mobberly; and you must make allowances
+for the fact that the servants have
+always been allowed to do pretty much what
+they liked, and will naturally expect to continue
+doing so; therefore do not complain
+unless you have unmistakable grounds for it,
+and never, under any circumstances, speak
+hastily or angrily. If you are put out, wait
+till your vexation has cooled down a little;
+and then, if you are quite sure you are in the
+right, speak quietly and kindly, but so
+decidedly that there may be no mistake about
+your intention of being obeyed."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, dear!" groaned Ella, who was almost
+reduced to tears at the prospect of such
+serious responsibility. "I am sure I shall
+come home ignominiously in a week. I know
+just how it will be. Just think of Aunt
+Mary's scorn when she finds I don't even
+know how to boil a potato!"</p>
+
+<p>There was no time for lamentations, however,
+and her mother and Kate both comforted
+her with the assurance that at any rate
+no one would blame her if she did her best,
+and they would expect a few mistakes from a
+girl only just home from school.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning, at any rate, Ella was
+punctual, and at eight o'clock they all sat
+down to breakfast.</p>
+
+<p>"I made tea for you, Ella," said Mrs.
+Hastings. "I thought it would be better for
+you before such a long journey. Coffee sometimes
+disagrees with people who are not very
+good travellers. And I advise you not to
+take bacon; it so often makes one thirsty.
+Here is potted meat; that would be better
+for you."</p>
+
+<p>Ella felt in very low spirits, and her
+mother's and Kate's affectionate kindness
+only brought the despised tears into her eyes.
+She could hardly touch her breakfast, and was
+relieved when Kate left the table, and began
+to look after the small articles of luggage.</p>
+
+<p>"Robin, did you strap up the rugs? Oh,
+what an untidy bundle!" and the methodical
+Kate unfastened the straps and rearranged
+the contents. First the large rug was folded
+lengthwise till it was just as wide as the
+length of the bundle should be when finished.
+Then came Ella's shawl, an awkward one for
+a neat roll, as it had long fringe; but Kate
+turned in the fringe all round first, and then
+folded the shawl itself till it was just a little
+narrower than the rug; the ulster was carefully
+folded also to the same size, and both
+were laid on one end of the rug. Finally,
+Ella's umbrella and sunshade were laid across
+the pile of wraps, and all were rolled round carefully,
+so that none of the articles inside protruded,
+and the rug, being longer than the
+others, hid all the ends, and, when strapped
+round just tightly enough to hold all together
+comfortably without unnecessary squeezing, it
+made such a neat-looking roll as compelled
+even Robin's admiration. Ella's travelling-cap
+had been inside the bundle before, but
+Kate took it out and advised her to carry it
+in her hand-bag, as being easily accessible if
+she did not wish to undo the strap.</p>
+
+<p>All was ready at last, the rugs, the hand-bag,
+and the tin trunk, to which at the last
+moment Kate came running to tie a piece of
+red braid, by which to distinguish it, making
+Ella and the boys laugh at what they called
+her "incurable old-maidishness."</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind," she replied, nodding
+sagely, "you will thank me when you have
+to hunt for your box amongst twenty others
+exactly like it."</p>
+
+<p>Kate had suggested going to the station to
+see them off, but her father objected.</p>
+
+<p>"We shall get on better alone," he argued.
+"We settle ourselves comfortably in our
+corners at once, unroll our rugs, and make
+everything ready before we start, instead of
+having to make spasmodic efforts to think of
+last remarks and messages. Of course, if Ella
+were going alone I should go to see her off,
+but as it is I would rather not have anyone
+with us."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Hastings thought this a rather hard-hearted
+way of looking at the matter; but as
+Ella quite agreed with her father, feeling convinced
+she could not be able to keep from
+crying if the farewells were too long protracted,
+there was nothing for it but to yield,
+and as soon as the cab came to the door the
+parting was hurried through, and, almost
+before she had time to realise that she was
+really going, Ella found herself halfway to
+the station.</p>
+
+<p>The railway journey was a long and troublesome
+one, involving several changes. Before
+midday Ella had recovered her spirits and her
+appetite, and acted on Kate's advice. "Do
+not wait for father to suggest lunch," she had
+said; "you may be sure he will not begin to
+feel hungry till you are quite ravenous."
+Remembering this, Ella laughed to herself
+at Mr. Hastings's surprise when she suggested
+that she was ready for her lunch, and proceeded
+to unpack her stores.</p>
+
+<p>"This is the first course, I suppose," she
+said, as she produced two neat white-paper
+packages, each with the name of the contents
+written on it. "This one contains potted
+meat sandwiches, and these are chicken. They
+look very nice, too. These sprigs of watercress
+between the sandwiches are a great improvement."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I must confess they are very good
+ones," assented Mr. Hastings, after trying one
+of each kind. "I think someone must have
+been giving the cook a lecture on the art of
+cutting them. Home-made sandwiches have
+generally too much butter, so that they are
+too rich to eat, and the paper they are
+wrapped in is greasy and disagreeable; but
+these have just the right quantity, and they
+are made with suitable bread&mdash;not, as I have
+often had them, of spongy bread, full of holes,
+through which the butter and meat oozes on
+to one's fingers."</p>
+
+<p>In addition to these there were, for Ella's
+benefit, a few sandwiches made with damson
+jam, from which the stones had been extracted.
+The next course consisted of some
+small cakes and a few ripe pears. By way of
+beverage, Mrs. Hastings had supplied Ella
+with a flask of cold tea, made weak, and with
+a squeeze of lemon in it, which she had always
+found the best possible drink for quenching
+thirst; when travelling herself she always took
+either this or lime-juice and water. Finally,
+knowing that Ella had a good appetite, and
+would probably get very hungry before reaching
+her journey's end, her mother had told the
+cook to fill a small jam pot with lemon jelly,
+and to provide a teaspoon to eat it with.
+Ella found this most refreshing, and her
+lunch altogether was very satisfactory; certainly
+the supply was rather too bountiful,
+but that fact did not trouble her much, for she
+soon noticed a poor, hungry-looking boy on
+one of the stations, who thankfully accepted
+all that was left.</p>
+
+<p>In spite of the length of the journey, Ella
+quite enjoyed the day; her father was so kind
+and took such good care of her. He insisted
+on her getting out of the carriage and walking
+up and down the platform whenever the train
+stopped long enough, that she might not be
+tired of sitting still; and when it began to
+get dark he made her put her feet up on the
+seat and tucked her up with the rug, and
+made her so comfortable that, to her own great
+surprise, she went fast asleep, and only awoke
+as her father was collecting their books and
+wraps on nearing their destination.</p>
+
+<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</span> ROSA NOUCHETTE CAREY, Author of "Aunt Diana," "For Lilias," etc.</span></h2>
+
+
+<h3>CHAPTER III.<br />
+<span style="font-size: 75%;">THE NEW NURSE.</span></h3>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 150px;">
+<img src="images/gop_86_10_16_illus006.png" width="150" height="475" alt="I" title="" />
+</div>
+<p>n looking back on
+those days, I simply
+wonder at my
+own audacity. Am
+I really and truly
+the same Merle
+Fenton who rang
+at the bell at
+Prince's Gate and
+informed the astonished
+footman
+that I was the
+person applying for the
+nurse's situation? I
+recall that scene now
+with a laugh, but I
+frankly own that that
+moment was not the
+pleasantest in my life.
+True, it had its ludicrous
+side; but how is one to
+enjoy the humour of an
+amusing situation alone?
+and, to tell the truth,
+the six foot of plush
+and powder before me
+was somewhat alarming
+to my female timidity.
+I hear now the
+man's startled "I beg
+your pardon, ma'am."</p>
+
+<p>"I have come by appointment,"
+I returned, with as much dignity
+as I could summon under the trying
+circumstances; "will you inform your
+mistress, Mrs. Morton, that I have come
+about the nurse's situation?"</p>
+
+<p>Of course, he was looking at me from
+head to foot. In spite of the disguising
+plainness of my dress, I suppose the
+word gentlewoman was clearly stamped
+upon me. Heaven forbid that under
+any circumstances that brand, sole
+heritage of my dead parents, should ever
+be effaced. Then he opened the door of
+a charming little waiting-room, and
+civilly enough bade me seat myself, and
+for some minutes I was left alone. I
+think nearly a quarter of an hour
+elapsed before he reappeared with the
+message that his mistress was now disengaged
+and would see me. I followed
+the man as closely as I could through
+the long hall and up the wide staircase;
+not for worlds would I have owned that
+a certain shortness of breath, unusual
+in youth, seemed to impede me. At the
+top, I found myself in a handsome
+corridor, communicating with two drawing-rooms
+of noble dimensions, as they
+call them in advertisements, and certainly
+it was a princely apartment that
+I entered. A lady was writing busily
+at a small table at the further end of
+the room. As the man spoke to her, she
+did not at once raise her head or turn
+round; she was evidently finishing a
+note. A minute later she laid aside her
+pen and came towards me.</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry that I could not attend
+to you at once, and yet you were
+very punctual," she began, in a pleasant,
+well-modulated voice, and then
+she stopped and regarded me with
+unfeigned surprise.</p>
+
+<p>She was a very lovely young woman,
+with an indescribable matronly air about
+her that spoke of the mother. She would
+have been really quite beautiful but for
+a certain worn look, often seen in women
+of fashion; and when she spoke there
+was a sweetness and simplicity of
+manner that was most winning.</p>
+
+<p>"Pardon me," with a shade of perplexity
+in her eyes, "but I suppose my
+servant was right in stating that you
+had come by appointment in answer to
+my advertisement?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, madam," I returned, readily;
+for her slight nervousness put me at my
+ease. "I have your letter here."</p>
+
+<p>"And you are really applying for the
+nurse's situation&mdash;the upper nurse, I
+mean; for, of course, there is an under
+nurse kept. I hope" (colouring a little)
+"that you will not think me rude if I
+say that I was not prepared for the sort
+of person I was to see."</p>
+
+<p>I could have groaned as I thought
+of my note. Was it possible that I had
+spelt "advertisement" wrongly, and yet
+I had the paper before me; my handwriting
+was neat and legible, but evidently
+Mrs. Morton was drawing some
+comparison between my letter and
+appearance, and I did not doubt that
+the former had not prepossessed her in
+my favour.</p>
+
+<p>I became confused in my turn.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope to prove to you," I began,
+in a very small voice, "that I am a fit
+person to apply for your situation. I am
+very fond of children; I never lose my patience
+with them as other people do, or
+think anything a trouble; I wish to take up
+this work from love as well as necessity&mdash;I
+mean," correcting myself, for she
+looked still more astonished, "that
+though I am obliged to work for my
+living, I would rather be a nurse than
+anything else."</p>
+
+<p>"Will you answer a few questions?"
+and, as though by an afterthought,
+"will you sit down?" for she had been
+standing to keep me company out of
+deference to my superior appearance.</p>
+
+<p>"I will answer any question you like
+to put to me, madam."</p>
+
+<p>"You have never been in service you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>
+tell me in your letter. Have you ever
+filled any kind of situation?"</p>
+
+<p>I shook my head.</p>
+
+<p>"You are quite young I should
+say?"</p>
+
+<p>"Two and twenty last Christmas."</p>
+
+<p>"I should hardly have thought you
+so old. Will you oblige me with your
+name?"</p>
+
+<p>"Merle Fenton."</p>
+
+<p>A half smile crossed her beautiful
+mouth. It was evident that she found
+the name somewhat incongruous, and
+then she continued a little hastily, "If
+you have never filled any sort of situation,
+it will be somewhat difficult to
+judge of your capacity. Of course you
+have good references; can you tell me
+a little about yourself and your circumstances?"</p>
+
+<p>I was fast losing my nervousness by
+this time. In a few minutes I had given
+her a concise account of myself and my
+belongings. Once or twice she interrupted
+me by a question, such as, for
+example, when I spoke of Aunt Agatha,
+she asked the names of the families
+where she had lived as a governess;
+and once she looked a little surprised at
+my answer.</p>
+
+<p>"I knew the Curzons before I was
+married," she observed, quietly; "they
+have often talked to me of their old
+governess, Miss Fenton; her name is
+Keith now, you say; she was a great
+favourite with her pupils. Well, is it not
+a pity that you should not follow your
+aunt's example? If you are not clever,
+would not the situation of a nursery
+governess be more fitting for you? Forgive
+me; I am only speaking for your
+good; one feels a little uncomfortable
+at seeing a gentlewoman desert the ranks
+to which she belongs."</p>
+
+<p>My face was burning by this time;
+of course it must all come out&mdash;that
+miserable defect of mine, and everything
+else; but raising my eyes at that moment
+I saw such a kind look on Mrs.
+Morton's face, such quietly expressed
+sympathy for my very evident confusion,
+that in a moment my reserve broke
+down. I do not know what I said, but
+I believe I must have been very eloquent.
+I could hear her say to herself, "How
+very strange&mdash;what a misfortune!" when
+I frankly mentioned my inability to spell,
+but I did not linger long on this point.</p>
+
+<p>Warmed by her strong interest, I
+detailed boldly what I called my theory.
+I told her of my love for little children,
+my longing to work amongst them, how
+deeply I felt that this would indeed be a
+gentlewoman's work, that I did not fear
+my want of experience. I told her that
+once I had stayed for some weeks at
+the house of one of my schoolfellows,
+and that every night and morning I had
+gone up to the nursery to help the nurse
+wash and dress the babies, and that at
+the end of a week I had learned to do
+it as well as the woman herself, and
+that she had told my schoolfellow that
+she had never seen any young lady so
+handy and patient with children, and
+that they were happier with me than
+with their own sister.</p>
+
+<p>"The second child had the croup one
+night," I continued; "the mother was
+away, and nurse was too frightened to
+be of any use. When the doctor came
+he praised her very much for her prompt
+remedies; he said they had probably
+saved the boy's life, as the attack was a
+severe one. Nurse cried when he said
+that, and owned it was not she who had
+thought of everything, but Miss Fenton.
+I tell you this," I continued, "that you
+may understand that I am reliable. I
+was only nineteen then, and now I am
+two and twenty."</p>
+
+<p>She looked at me again in a gentle,
+scrutinising way; I could feel that I was
+making way in her good opinion. Her
+curiosity was piqued; her interest
+strongly excited. She made no attempt
+to check me as I launched out into
+further defence of my theory, but she
+only smiled and said, "Very true, I
+agree with you there," as I spoke of the
+advantage of having an educated person
+to superintend the nursery. Indeed,
+I found myself retailing all my pet arguments
+in a perfectly fearless way, until
+I looked up and saw there were tears in
+her beautiful brown eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"How well you talk," she said, with
+a sort of sigh. "You have thought it
+all out, I can see. I wonder what my
+husband would say. He is a member of
+Parliament, you know, and we are very
+busy people, and society has such claims
+on us that I cannot be much with my
+children. I have only two; Joyce is
+three years old, and my boy is nearly
+eighteen months. Oh, he is so lovely,
+and to think I can only see him for a few
+minutes at a time, that I lose all his
+pretty ways; it is such a trouble to me.
+His nurse is leaving to be married, and
+I am so anxious to find someone who
+will watch over my darlings and make
+them happy."</p>
+
+<p>She paused, as the sound of approaching
+footsteps were audible in the corridor,
+and rose hastily as an impatient,
+"Violet, where are you, my dear?" was
+distinctly audible.</p>
+
+<p>"That is Mr. Morton; will you excuse
+me a moment?" And the next moment
+I could hear her say, "I was in
+the blue drawing-room, Alick. I have
+sent off the letters, and now I want to
+speak to you a moment," and her voice
+died away as they moved farther down
+the corridor.</p>
+
+<p>I felt a keen anxiety as to the result
+of that conversation. I was very impulsive
+by nature, and I had fallen in love
+with Mrs. Morton. The worn look on
+the beautiful young face had touched me
+somehow. One of my queer visionary
+ideas came over me as I recalled her expression.
+I thought that if I were an
+artist, and that my subject was the
+"Massacre of the Innocents," that the
+mother's face in the foreground should
+be Mrs. Morton's. "Rachel Weeping
+for her Children;" something of the
+pathetic maternal agony, as for a lost
+babe, had seemed to cross her face as
+she spoke of her little ones. I found
+out afterwards that, though she wore no
+mourning, Mrs. Morton had lost a beautiful
+infant about four months ago. It
+had not been more than six weeks old,
+but the mother's heart was still bleeding.
+Many months afterwards she told me that
+she often dreamed of her little Muriel&mdash;she
+had only been baptised the day before
+her death&mdash;and woke trying to stifle her
+sobs that she might not disturb her husband.
+I sat cogitating this imaginary
+picture of mine, and shuddering over the
+sanguinary details, until Mrs. Morton
+returned, and, to my embarrassment, her
+husband was with her.</p>
+
+<p>I gave him a frightened glance as he
+crossed the room with rapid footsteps.
+He was a quiet-looking man, with a
+dark moustache, some years older than
+his wife. His being slightly bald added
+somewhat to his appearance of age. In
+reality he was not more than five and
+thirty. I thought him a little cool and
+critical in manner, but his voice was
+pleasant. He looked at me keenly as
+he spoke; it was my opinion at that
+moment that not an article of my dress
+escaped his observation. I had selected
+purposely a pair of mended gloves, and
+I am convinced the finger ends were at
+once under his inspection. He was a
+man who thought no details beneath
+him, but would bring his masculine intellect
+even to the point of discovering
+the fitness of his children's nurse.</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Morton tells me that you have
+applied for the situation of upper nurse,"
+he began, not abruptly, but in the quick
+tones of a busy man who has scant
+leisure. "I have heard all you have
+told her; she seems desirous of testing
+your abilities, but I must warn you that
+I distrust theories myself. My dear,"
+turning to his wife, "I must say that
+this young person looks hardly old enough
+for the position, and you own she has
+no real experience. Would not a more
+elderly person be more suitable, considering
+that you are so seldom in your
+nursery? Of course, this is your department,
+but since you ask my advice&mdash;&mdash;"
+with a little shrug that seemed to dismiss
+me and the whole subject.</p>
+
+<p>A wistful, disappointed look came
+over his wife's face. I was too great a
+stranger to understand the real position
+of affairs, only my intuition guided me
+at that moment. It was not until much
+later that I found out that Mrs. Morton
+never disputed her husband's will, even
+in trifles; that he ordered the plan of
+her life as well as his own; that her
+passionate love for her children was restrained
+in order that her wifely and
+social duties should be carried out; that
+she was so perfectly obedient to him, not
+from fear, but from an excess of womanly
+devotion, that she seldom even contested
+an opinion. My fate was very
+nearly sealed at that moment, but a
+hasty impulse prompted me to speak.
+Looking Mr. Morton full in the face, I
+said, a little piteously, "Do not dismiss
+me because of my youth, for that is a
+fault that time will mend. Want of experience
+is a greater obstacle, but it will
+only make me more careful to observe
+every direction and carry out every wish.
+If you consent to try me, I am sure
+neither you nor Mrs. Morton will repent
+it."</p>
+
+<p>He looked at me very keenly again as
+I spoke; indeed, his eyes seemed to
+search me through and through, and
+then his whole manner changed.</p>
+
+<p>I have been told that Nature had been
+kind to me in one respect by endowing
+me with a pleasant voice. I believe that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>
+I was freer from vanity than most girls
+of my age, but I was glad in my inmost
+heart to know that no tone of mine would
+ever jar upon a human ear, but I was
+more than glad now when I saw Mr.
+Morton's grave face relax.</p>
+
+<p>"You speak confidently," he returned.
+"You seem to have a strange faith in
+your own theory, and plenty of self-reliance,
+but I am afraid that, like most
+young people, you have only regarded
+it from one point of view. Are you aware
+of the unpleasantness of such a situation?
+If you came to us you might have
+nothing of which to complain from
+Mrs. Morton or myself, but we could not
+answer for the rest of my household;
+the servants would regard you as a sort
+of hybrid, belonging to no special sphere;
+they might show you scant respect, and
+manifest a great deal of jealousy."</p>
+
+<p>"I have faced all that," I returned,
+with a smile, "but I think the difficulties
+would be like Bunyan's lions&mdash;they were
+chained, you know. I do not believe
+these sort of things would hurt me. I
+should never be away from the children
+in the nursery; I should be unmolested
+and at home."</p>
+
+<p>"Alick!" I could hear a whole petition
+breathed into that softly uttered
+word. Mr. Morton heard it too, for he
+turned at once and then looked at his
+wife.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you really wish to try this young
+person, Violet, my dear? It is for you
+to decide; this is your province, as I
+said before."</p>
+
+<p>"If she will love our children and
+watch over them in our absence," she
+whispered, but I caught the words.
+Then aloud, "Yes, thank you, Alick, I
+should like to try her. I think she would
+make Joyce happy. I can go and see
+Mrs. Keith this afternoon when I am
+out driving, and perhaps I could arrange
+for her to come soon."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well," he returned, briefly, but
+he spoke in the old dry manner, as though
+he were not quite pleased. "When you
+are disengaged will you join me in the
+library? I have some more letters I
+want copied."</p>
+
+<p>"I will be ready soon," she said,
+with a sweet grateful glance at him, as
+though she had received some unexpected
+bounty at his hands, and as he
+wished me good morning, and left the
+room, she continued, eagerly, "Will you
+come with me now and make acquaintance
+with the children. I have seen
+them already this morning, so they will
+not expect me, and it will be such a
+surprise. My little girl is always with
+me while I dress. I have so little time
+to devote to them; but I snatch every
+moment."</p>
+
+<p>She sighed as she spoke, and I began
+to understand, in a dim, groping sort of
+way, that fate is not so unequal after all,
+that even this beautiful creature had unsatisfied
+wants in her life, that it was
+possible that wealth and position were
+to her only tiresome barriers dividing
+her from her little ones. Her sweetest
+pleasures only came to her by snatches.
+Most likely she envied humble mothers,
+and did not pity them because their arms
+ached with carrying a heavy infant,
+aching limbs being more bearable than
+an aching heart.</p>
+
+<p>A flight of broad, handsomely-carpeted
+stairs brought us to a long shut-in
+corridor, fitted up prettily with plants
+and statuettes. A rocking-horse stood
+in one corner; the nursery door was
+open. It was a long, cheerful room,
+with three windows, looking over the
+public garden, and fitted up with a degree
+of comfort that bordered on luxury.
+Some canaries were singing in a green
+cage, a grey Persian kitten was curled
+up in the doll's bassinette, a little girl
+was kneeling on the cushioned window-seat,
+peeping between the bars at some
+children who were playing below. As
+Mrs. Morton said, softly, "Joyce, darling,"
+she turned round with quite a
+startled air, and then clambered down
+hastily and ran to her mother.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, it is my mother," in quite an
+incredulous voice, and then she caught
+hold of her mother's gown, and peeped
+at me from between the folds.</p>
+
+<p>She was a pretty, demure-looking
+child, only somewhat thin and fragile
+in appearance, not in the least like her
+mother, but I could trace instantly the
+strongest resemblance to her father.
+She had the straight, uncurling hair
+like his, and her dark eyes were a little
+sunken under the finely-arched brows.
+It was rather a bewitching little face,
+only too thin and sallow for health, and
+with an intelligent expression, almost
+amounting to precocity.</p>
+
+<p>"And where is your brother, my darling?"
+asked her mother, stooping to
+kiss her, and at this moment a pleasant-looking
+young woman came from the
+inner room with a small, curly-haired
+boy in her arms.</p>
+
+<p>As she set him down on the floor, and
+he came toddling over the carpet, I forgot
+Mrs. Morton's presence, and knelt
+down and held out my arms to him.
+"Oh, you beauty!" I exclaimed, in a
+coaxing voice, "will you come to me?"
+for I quite forgot myself at the sight of
+the perfect baby features.</p>
+
+<p>Baby pointed a small finger at me,
+"O' ook, gurgle-da," he said, in the
+friendliest way; and I sealed our compact
+with many kisses.</p>
+
+<p>"Dear me, ma'am," observed nurse,
+eyeing me in a dubious manner, for probably
+the news of my advent had preceded
+me to the upper regions, "this is
+very singular; I never saw Master Baby
+take such a fancy to anyone before; he
+always beats them off with his dear
+little hand."</p>
+
+<p>"Gurgle-da, ook ook," was baby's
+unexpected response to this, as he burst
+into a shout of laughter, and he made
+signs for me to carry him to the canaries.</p>
+
+<p>I do not know what Mrs. Morton said
+to nurse, but she came up after a
+minute or two and watched us, smiling.</p>
+
+<p>"He does seem very friendly; more
+so than my shy pet here," for Joyce was
+still holding her mother's gown.</p>
+
+<p>"She will be friends with me too," I
+returned, confidently; "children are so
+easily won." And then, as Mrs. Morton
+held out her arms for her boy, I parted
+with him reluctantly.</p>
+
+<p>There was no need for me to stay any
+longer then. Mrs. Morton reiterated
+her intention of calling on Aunt Agatha
+that afternoon, after which she promised
+to speak to me again, and feeling that
+things were in a fair way of being settled
+according to my wishes, I left the house
+with a lighter heart than I had entered
+it.</p>
+
+<p class="center">(<i>To be continued.</i>)</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/gop_86_10_16_illus008.png" width="600" height="125" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+
+<h2><a name="AMONG_THE_HOLLYHOCKS" id="AMONG_THE_HOLLYHOCKS"></a>AMONG THE HOLLYHOCKS.<br />
+<br />
+<span style="font-size: 75%;"><span class="smcap">By</span> CLARA THWAITES.</span></h2>
+
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Sing among the hollyhocks,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">"Summer, fare thee well!"<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Ring the drooping blossoms<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">For a passing bell.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Droop the sunflowers, heavy discs<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Totter to their fall.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Up the valley creep the mists<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">For a funeral pall.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Lingering roses woefully<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">In the cold expire.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Heap the dead and dying<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">For a funeral pyre.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">While the gale is sighing,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">While the wind makes moan,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Sigh among the hollyhocks<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Of the summer flown.<br /></span>
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></div></div>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/gop_86_10_16_illus009.png" width="600" height="731" alt="&quot;SIGH AMONG THE HOLLYHOCKS
+OF THE SUMMER FLOWN.&quot;" title="" />
+<span class="caption">&quot;SIGH AMONG THE HOLLYHOCKS<br />
+OF THE SUMMER FLOWN.&quot;</span>
+</div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="NOTICES_OF_NEW_MUSIC" id="NOTICES_OF_NEW_MUSIC"></a>NOTICES OF NEW MUSIC.</h2>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;">
+<img src="images/gop_86_10_16_illus010.png" width="300" height="408" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Stanley Lucas and Co.</span></p>
+
+<p><i>O, hur vidgas ej ditt br&ouml;st. Liebe, liebe.</i>
+Two Lieder. By Maude V. White.&mdash;The first,
+from the Swedish, has also an English set of
+words; the setting of the second is in German
+only, being a translation into that language
+from the Hungarian.&mdash;There is a dreamy
+charm pervading both of these little ballads,
+which will be best appreciated by truly
+musical and well-educated singers.</p>
+
+<p><i>Two Locks of Hair.</i> Song to Longfellow's
+poetry. By Sabine E. Barwell.&mdash;Very
+simple. The music is dedicated to Charles
+Santley, our great baritone singer.</p>
+
+<p><i>Alone with thee.</i> Song by Gilbert R.
+Betjemann. Compass E to F sharp.&mdash;An
+ambitious song, full of striking modulations
+and really dramatic effects. The accompaniments
+are charming.</p>
+
+<p><i>Ivy Green.</i> A good song for basses or
+baritones. The words by Charles Dickens,
+the music by Arthur C. Stericker.&mdash;Plenty of
+go about it, and quite the song for strong,
+manly voices.</p>
+
+<p><i>Wandering Wishes.</i> Poetry by Lady
+Charlotte Elliot (from "Medusa" and other
+poems). Music by Robert B. Addison.&mdash;A very
+poetical setting of a very fanciful poem.</p>
+
+<p><i>Our Darling.</i> Ballad by Robert Reece,
+with music by Berthold Tours.&mdash;This justly
+favourite composer has written the simplest,
+most touching, and melodious music to a very
+touching and sad story. It is a compliment
+to this ballad to recommend it to all who
+wish for a good cry. It has this advantage
+over the maudlin griefs of the discontented
+folk to whom we have called attention in
+previous notices, that the poor bereaved
+parents who miss their little darling from the
+chair in which he used to listen to their fairy
+stories and tales of distant lands over the sea,
+are content to regard him as at rest in the
+heavenly country, and in the angels' care.
+After all, if you do get the song, your tears
+will be happy ones.</p>
+
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Edwin Ashdown.</span></p>
+
+<p><i>Inez.</i> <i>Zamora.</i> Two Spanish dances for
+the pianoforte by Michael Watson.&mdash;The first
+is a Habanera, and is redolent of <i>Carmen</i> and
+Spanish want of energy. It is more
+characteristic than the second, although that
+is a very good reproduction of the typical
+peasant dance of all districts of the Peninsula.</p>
+
+<p><i>Daphne.</i> Valse brillante. <i>Celadon.</i> Gavotte.
+Two drawing-room pieces of more than
+ordinary merit by J. H. Wallis.&mdash;Fairly easy
+to learn, and effective when learnt.</p>
+
+<p><i>May-Dew.</i> By Sir Sterndale Bennett;
+transcribed for the pianoforte by Jules
+Brissac.&mdash;We complained a few months back
+of someone having converted this lovely song
+into a part-song; we can only say of the
+present transformation, that when the voice
+part is at work all goes fairly well, and from a
+piano point of view represents the original;
+but the two bars of symphony before the first
+and second verses of the song are stripped of
+all their original life, and a very mangled
+substitute is offered.</p>
+
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">London Music Publishing Co.</span></p>
+
+<p><i>The Broken Strings of a Mandoline.</i>
+Words and music by Edith Frances Prideaux.&mdash;The
+story of a little Italian street-player.
+The compass is for sopranos; the melody is
+simple and not very original.</p>
+
+<p><i>Sketches in Dance Rhythms.</i> 1. Waltz;
+2. Minuet; 3. Tarantella. By Erskine Allon.&mdash;We
+have before alluded to these sketches, of
+which Mr. Allon has composed such excellent
+examples. We prefer No. 1 of the present
+series, but do not consider these to be equal to
+former numbers.</p>
+
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Weekes and Co.</span></p>
+
+<p><i>Abendlied.</i> <i>Im Rosenbusch.</i> Two songs by
+J. H. le Breton Girdlestone; the words, by
+Hoffman von Fallersleben, being translated
+into English by Dr. Baskerville.&mdash;Most
+interesting little songs, and sure to give
+pleasure by their sweet simplicity.</p>
+
+<p><i>Andante.</i> Varied for the pianoforte, and
+composed by Henry A. Toase. A very quiet,
+harmless production. Only three variations,
+and those not so much of the andante as of its
+accompaniment.</p>
+
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">J. and J. Hopkinson.</span></p>
+
+<p><i>Intermezzo and Minuet for Pianoforte.</i> By
+George A. Lovell.&mdash;Two very nicely-written
+little pieces. The minuet is especially attractive.</p>
+
+<p><i>Barcarole for Pianoforte.</i> By Carl Hause.&mdash;A
+good drawing-room piece. The middle
+movement in F minor makes an effective contrast
+to the first part.</p>
+
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Hutchings and Romer.</span></p>
+
+<p><i>The Little Sweep.</i> Song. Written and
+composed by James C. Beazley, R.A.M.&mdash;There
+is no such title as R.A.M. A.R.A.M.
+and M.R.A.M. we know, but we must protest
+against this unlawful use of the name of our
+oldest academy of music. The song is a
+stirring and dramatic account of how a lost
+child was recovered by his mother. It is to
+be declaimed by a contralto.</p>
+
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Hutchings and Co.</span></p>
+
+<p><i>The Christian's Armour.</i> Oratorio. By
+Joseph L. Roeckel; the text compiled by
+Mrs. Alexander Roberts from Ephesians vi.;
+interspersed with hymns from several sources.&mdash;A
+useful work for services of song or chapel
+festivities. There is a sameness about the
+work, and it suggests a weary feeling towards
+the close. The choruses are mostly rather
+weak chorale. Occasionally an evidently fugal
+subject is announced, which is never destined
+to form the subject for a fugue. However, the
+story is well put together, the music is quite
+easy, and many choirs, unable to conquer
+greater difficulties, will feel at home in this
+so-called "oratorio."</p>
+
+<p><i>Six Morceaux de Salon.</i> Pour violin, avec
+accompagnement de piano. Par Guido Papini.
+Op. 66.&mdash;The author of "La M&eacute;canisme
+du jeune Violiniste" has given us in
+these little pieces a charming addition to the
+<i>r&eacute;pertoire</i> of the amateur violinist. Specially
+tender and expressive is No. 4. The piano
+shares with the violin both the difficulties and
+the interests of each of the <i>morceaux</i>.</p>
+
+<p><i>Victoria Gavotte.</i> For piano. By Tito
+Mattei.&mdash;A capital piano piece. We presume
+from the title that this is Signor Mattei's contribution
+to the Jubilee Commemoration.</p>
+
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Robert Cocks and Co.</span></p>
+
+<p><i>Gladys.</i> Rustic Dance. Composed for the
+pianoforte by Howard Talbot.&mdash;A bright, telling
+piece. It would be very useful as an <i>entr'acte</i>
+in your Christmas charades.</p>
+
+<p><i>For Old Sake's Sake.</i> Song for contraltos.
+By Behrend.</p>
+
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">W. Morley and Co.</span></p>
+
+<p><i>Watching the Embers.</i> Song. Composed
+by Ciro Pinsuti to Weatherly's words.&mdash;With
+a pretty refrain, but for the most part
+made up of a series of common phrases. It is
+to be obtained in B flat, C, and D minors.</p>
+
+<p><i>Childie.</i> Song. By Behrend. Published
+in keys to suit all voices.&mdash;The song is very
+similar to all his others. An old lady advising
+a child to die young.</p>
+
+<p><i>The Biter Bit.</i> Song. Words and music
+by Henry Pontet.&mdash;A warning to any who
+would marry for money, and not for love. In
+learning the above three songs I am sure that
+singers will be as much distracted as I have
+been by little squares like lottery coupons announcing
+that somebody else's song cost &pound;250.
+If this statement could appear elsewhere&mdash;say
+on separate slips&mdash;the songs would be more
+pleasant to read.</p>
+
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Henry Klein.</span></p>
+
+<p><i>The Land of Song.</i> Song for tenors and
+sopranos by that clever composer, Franz Leideritz.
+Not so original as "Flowers from
+Home," the memory of which still delights us.</p>
+
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Orsborn and Tuckwood.</span></p>
+
+<p><i>Sailing Across the Sea.</i> Song. By Vernon
+Rey.&mdash;Prettily told and easy to learn.</p>
+
+<p><i>Merry Melodies.</i> A series of duets for two
+violins for schools and classes, arranged by
+Arthur Graham. We see from the title-page
+that there are to be arrangements of the works
+of eminent composers, but the names are not
+given.</p>
+
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">W. J. Willcocks and Co.</span></p>
+
+<p><i>Offertoire and Fugue in B flat.</i> <i>Grand
+Offertoire, founded upon subjects in Schumann's
+Quintet, op. 44.</i>&mdash;These are two
+finely-written organ solos by George F. Vincent.
+Valuable additions to our stock of
+English organ music.</p>
+
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Marriott and Williams.</span></p>
+
+<p><i>Twenty Miles to London Town.</i> Song.
+Written and composed by Gerald M. Lane.&mdash;Mr.
+Lane is more fortunate in his music than
+in his words. The ballad&mdash;for genuine English
+ballad it is&mdash;is of the "Bailiff's Daughter of
+Islington" type, and is published in F, G,
+and A.</p>
+
+<p><i>Captor and Captive.</i> A song of Araby.
+By Edwin J. Quance.&mdash;A good stirring song
+for baritones.</p>
+
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Bowerman and Co.</span></p>
+
+<p><i>Deuxi&egrave;me Nocturne pour Piano.</i> Par G. J.
+Rubini.&mdash;An unpretending piano piece of the
+Gustave Lange type.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="EXPLANATION_OF_FRENCH_AND_OTHER_TERMS_USED_IN_MODERN_COOKERY" id="EXPLANATION_OF_FRENCH_AND_OTHER_TERMS_USED_IN_MODERN_COOKERY"></a>EXPLANATION OF FRENCH AND OTHER TERMS USED IN MODERN COOKERY.</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">Part I.</span></h3>
+
+<p><i>Allemande.</i>&mdash;Concentrated white velout&eacute; (see
+velout&eacute;) sauce, seasoned with nutmeg and
+lemon juice, and thickened with yolks of eggs
+and cream.</p>
+
+<p><i>Angelica.</i>&mdash;A plant, the stalks of which are
+preserved with sugar; as it retains its green
+colour it is pretty for ornamenting sweet dishes,
+cakes, etc.</p>
+
+<p><i>Appareil.</i>&mdash;This word is applicable to a preparation
+composed of various ingredients, as
+appareil de gateau (mixture for a cake).</p>
+
+<p><i>Aspic.</i>&mdash;Name given to clear savoury jelly,
+to distinguish it from sweet jelly. Cold
+entr&eacute;es, which are moulded and have the ingredients
+set in jelly, are also called aspics.</p>
+
+<p><i>Assiette volante.</i>&mdash;A small dish (holding no
+more than a plate) which is handed round the
+table without ever being placed on it. Things
+that must be eaten very hot are often served
+in this way. Little savouries, foie-gras, or
+cheese fondus in paper cases are thus handed.</p>
+
+<p><i>Au bleu.</i>&mdash;An expensive way of boiling fish.
+A broth is made by boiling three onions, two
+carrots, two turnips, some parsley, pepper, salt,
+sufficient water, a tumbler of white wine, and
+a tumbler of vinegar together; the scum is
+removed as it rises, the fish is simmered in the
+broth. This broth is called Court bouillon.
+Fish cooked thus is eaten hot or cold, with
+suitable sauce.</p>
+
+<p><i>Baba.</i>&mdash;A Polish cake of a very light description.</p>
+
+<p><i>Bain marie.</i>&mdash;A sort of bath-saucepan,
+which stands on a stove with hot water in it,
+and has small bright saucepans stood in the
+water for the contents to cook slowly without
+reducing or spoiling them. A bain marie has
+no cover.</p>
+
+<p><i>Bande.</i>&mdash;The strip of paste that is put round
+tart; sometimes the word is also applied to
+a strip of paper or bacon.</p>
+
+<p><i>Barde de lard.</i>&mdash;A slice of bacon. To
+barder a bird is to fasten a slice of bacon
+over it.</p>
+
+<p><i>B&eacute;chamel sauce.</i>&mdash;Equal quantities of velout&eacute;
+sauce and cream boiled together. The sauce
+was named after a celebrated cook.</p>
+
+<p><i>Beignets.</i>&mdash;Fritters.</p>
+
+<p><i>Beurre noir.</i>&mdash;Butter stirred in a frying-pan
+over a brisk fire until it is brown, then lemon-juice
+or vinegar, and pepper and salt are added
+to it.</p>
+
+<p><i>Beurre fondus.</i>&mdash;Melted, that is to say
+oiled, butter.</p>
+
+<p><i>Bigarade sauce.</i>&mdash;Melted butter, with the
+thin rind and the juice of a Seville orange
+boiled in it.</p>
+
+<p><i>Blanch.</i>&mdash;To parboil or scald. To whiten
+meat or poultry, or remove the skins of fruit or
+vegetables by plunging them into boiling water,
+and then sometimes putting them into cold
+water afterwards, as almonds are blanched.</p>
+
+<p><i>Blanquette.</i>&mdash;A kind of fricass&eacute;e.</p>
+
+<p><i>Boudin.</i>&mdash;A very delicate entr&eacute;e prepared
+with quenelle forcemeat or with fine mince.</p>
+
+<p><i>Bouquet garni.</i>&mdash;A handful of parsley, a
+sprig of thyme, a small bay leaf, and six green
+onions, tied securely together with strong
+thread.</p>
+
+<p><i>Bouilli.</i>&mdash;Boiled meat; but fresh beef, well
+boiled, is generally understood by this term.</p>
+
+<p><i>Bouillie.</i>&mdash;A sort of hasty pudding.
+Bouillie-au-lait is flour and milk boiled
+together.</p>
+
+<p><i>Bouillon.</i>&mdash;Thin broth or soup.</p>
+
+<p><i>Braise.</i>&mdash;To stew meat that has been previously
+blanched, very slowly with bacon or
+other fat, until it is tender.</p>
+
+<p><i>Braisi&egrave;re.</i>&mdash;A saucepan with a lid with a
+rim to it, on which lighted charcoal can be put.</p>
+
+<p><i>Brider.</i>&mdash;To put thin string or thread through
+poultry, game, etc., to keep it in shape.</p>
+
+<p><i>Brioche.</i>&mdash;A sort of light cake, rather like
+Bath bun, but not sweet, having as much salt
+as sugar in it.</p>
+
+<p><i>Brandy butter.</i>&mdash;Fresh butter, sugar, and
+brandy beaten together to a cream.</p>
+
+<p><i>Caramel.</i>&mdash;Made by melting a little loaf
+sugar in a saucepan, and as soon as it is brown,
+before it burns, adding some water to it.
+Sometimes used as a colouring for stews.
+Made into a syrup by adding more sugar after
+the water, it is a very good pudding sauce.</p>
+
+<p><i>Casserole.</i>&mdash;A stew-pan. The name given
+to a crust of rice moulded in the shape of a pie,
+then baked with mince or a pur&eacute;e of game
+in it.</p>
+
+<p><i>Cerner.</i>&mdash;Is to cut paste half way through
+with a knife or cutter, so that part can be
+removed when cooked to make room for something
+else.</p>
+
+<p><i>Charlotte.</i>&mdash;Consists of very thin slices of
+bread, steeped in oiled butter, and placed in
+order in a mould, which is then filled with fruit
+or preserve.</p>
+
+<p><i>Chartreuse of vegetables.</i>&mdash;Consists of vegetables
+tastefully arranged in a plain mould,
+which is then filled with either game, pigeons,
+larks, tendons, scollops, or anything suitably
+prepared.</p>
+
+<p><i>Chartreuse &agrave; la Parisienne.</i>&mdash;An ornamental
+dish made principally with quenelle forcemeat,
+and filled with some kind of rago&ucirc;t,
+scollops, etc.</p>
+
+<p><i>Chausse.</i>&mdash;A jelly bag.</p>
+
+<p><i>Compote.</i>&mdash;Fruits preserved in syrup. Apple
+and any other kind of fruit jelly. This term is
+also used to designate some savoury dishes,
+prepared with larks, quails, or pigeons, with
+truffles, mushrooms, or peas.</p>
+
+<p><i>Consomm&eacute;.</i>&mdash;Strong and clear broth used as
+a basis for many soups and gravies.</p>
+
+<p><i>Conti</i> (<i>potage</i>). Lentil soup.</p>
+
+<p><i>Contise.</i>&mdash;Small scollops of truffles; red
+tongue, or other things that are with a knife
+inlaid in fillets of any kind to ornament them,
+are said to be contis&eacute;s.</p>
+
+<p><i>Court bouillon.</i>&mdash;See <i>au bleu</i>.</p>
+
+<p><i>Croquettes.</i>&mdash;A preparation of minced or
+pounded meat, or of potatoes or rice, with a
+coating of bread-crumbs. Croquettes means
+something crisp.</p>
+
+<p><i>Croquantes.</i>&mdash;Fruit with sugar boiled to
+crispness.</p>
+
+<p><i>Croustades.</i>&mdash;An ornamental pie-case, sometimes
+made of shaped bread, and filled with
+mince, etc.</p>
+
+<p><i>Croutons.</i>&mdash;Sippets of bread fried in butter;
+used to garnish. They are various sizes and
+shapes; sometimes served with soups.</p>
+
+<p><i>Cuiller&eacute;e.</i>&mdash;A spoonful. In most French
+recipes I have found ten spoonfuls equal to a
+quarter of a pint of fluid.</p>
+
+<p><i>Cuisson.</i>&mdash;The name given to the liquid in
+which anything has been cooked.</p>
+
+<p><i>Dariole.</i>&mdash;A sort of cake served hot. The
+name of small round moulds in which various
+little cakes are baked or puddings steamed.</p>
+
+<p><i>Daubi&egrave;re.</i>&mdash;An oval stew-pan in which
+daubes are cooked. Daubes are meat or fowl
+stewed in sauce.</p>
+
+<p><i>D&eacute;gorger.</i>&mdash;To soak in water for a longer or
+shorter time.</p>
+
+<p><i>D&eacute;s.</i>&mdash;Very small square dice.</p>
+
+<p><i>D&eacute;sosser.</i>&mdash;To bone; to remove the bones
+from fish, meat, game, or poultry.</p>
+
+<p><i>Dorer.</i>&mdash;To paint the surface of tarts or
+cakes with a brush, with egg or sugar, so that
+they may be glazed when cooked.</p>
+
+<p><i>Dorure.</i>&mdash;The glaze one uses for pastry; sometimes
+beaten white of egg, sometimes yolk of
+egg and cold water, sometimes sugar only.</p>
+
+<p><i>Entr&eacute;es.</i>&mdash;A name for side dishes, such as
+cutlets, fricass&eacute;es, fricandeaux, sweetbreads, etc.</p>
+
+<p><i>Entr&eacute;es</i> (cold).&mdash;Consist of cutlets, fillets of
+game, poultry, &amp;c.; salads of various kinds,
+aspics, ham, and many other things.</p>
+
+<p><i>Entremets.</i>&mdash;Second course side dishes.
+They are of four kinds&mdash;namely, cold entr&eacute;es,
+dressed vegetables, scalloped shellfish, or
+dressed eggs, and lastly, sweets of any kind,
+puddings, jellies, creams, fritters, pastry, etc.</p>
+
+<p><i>Escalopes.</i>&mdash;Collops; small round pieces of
+meat or fish, beaten with a steak beater before
+they are cooked, to make them tender.</p>
+
+<p><i>Espagnole.</i>&mdash;Rich, strong stock made with
+beef, veal and ham, flavoured with vegetables,
+and thickened with brown roux. This and
+velout&eacute; are the two main sauces from which
+nearly all others are made. The espagnole for
+brown, the velout&eacute; for white.</p>
+
+<p><i>Etamine.</i>&mdash;See Tammy.</p>
+
+<p><i>Etuver.</i>&mdash;To stew meat with little moisture,
+and over a very slow fire, or with hot cinders
+over and under the saucepan.</p>
+
+<p><i>Faggot.</i>&mdash;A bouquet garni.</p>
+
+<p><i>Fanchonettes and florentines.</i>&mdash;Varieties of
+small pastry, covered with white of egg and
+sugar.</p>
+
+<p><i>Faire tomber &agrave; glace.</i>&mdash;Means to boil down
+stock or gravy until it is as thick as glaze, and
+is coloured brown.</p>
+
+<p><i>Farce.</i>&mdash;Is ordinary forcemeat, such as is used
+for raised pies.</p>
+
+<p><i>Feuil etage.</i>&mdash;Very light puff paste.</p>
+
+<p><i>Flamber.</i>&mdash;To singe fowls and game after
+they have been plucked.</p>
+
+<p><i>Flans.</i>&mdash;A flan is made by rolling a piece of
+paste out rather larger than the tin in which
+it is to be baked, then turning up the edge of
+the paste to form a sort of wall round. Flans
+are filled with fruit or preserve, and baked.</p>
+
+<p><i>Foncer.</i>&mdash;To put slices of ham or bacon in
+the bottom of a saucepan, to line a mould with
+raw paste, or to put the first layer of anything
+in a mould&mdash;it may be a layer of white paper.</p>
+
+<p><i>Fontaine.</i>&mdash;A heap of flour with a hollow in
+the middle, into which to pour the water.</p>
+
+<p><i>Fondu.</i>&mdash;Or fondue. A cheese souffl&eacute;.</p>
+
+<p><i>Fricandeau.</i>&mdash;Fillets of poultry or the best
+pieces of veal, neatly trimmed, larded, and well
+glazed, with their liquor reduced to glaze.
+They are served as entr&eacute;es.</p>
+
+<p><i>Fricass&eacute;e.</i>&mdash;A white stew, generally made
+with chicken and white sauce, to which mushrooms
+or other things may be added.</p>
+
+<p><i>Fraiser.</i>&mdash;A way of handling certain pastry
+to make it more compact and easier to work.</p>
+
+<p><i>Fr&eacute;mir</i>, <i>frissonner.</i>&mdash;To keep a liquid just
+on the boil&mdash;what is called simmering.</p>
+
+<p><i>Galette.</i>&mdash;A broad flat cake.</p>
+
+<p><i>Gateau.</i>&mdash;Cake. This word is also used for
+some kinds of tarts, and for different puddings.
+A gateau is also made of pig's liver; it is therefore
+rather difficult to define what a "gateau" is.</p>
+
+<p><i>Gaufres.</i>&mdash;Or wafers. Light spongy biscuits
+cooked in irons over a stove.</p>
+
+<p><i>Glacer.</i>&mdash;To glaze; to brush hot meat or
+poultry over with concentrated meat gravy or
+sauce, so that it shall have a brown and shiny
+appearance. Glaze can be bought in skins.
+Glacer, in confectionery, means to ice pastry or
+fruit with sugar.</p>
+
+<p><i>Gniocchi.</i>&mdash;Small balls of paste made with
+flour, eggs, and cheese to put into soup.</p>
+
+<p><i>Gramme.</i>&mdash;A French weight. An ounce
+avoirdupois is nearly equal to thirty grammes.</p>
+
+<p><i>Gras.</i>&mdash;Made with meat and fat.</p>
+
+<p><i>Gratins</i> (<i>au</i>).&mdash;Term applied to certain
+dishes of fish, game, poultry, vegetables, and
+macaroni dressed with rich sauces, and generally
+finished with bread-crumbs or bread-raspings
+over the top.</p>
+
+<p><i>Gratiner.</i>&mdash;Is to brown by heat, almost burn.</p>
+
+<p><i>Grenadins.</i>&mdash;Similar to a fricandeau, but
+smaller; grenadins are served with vegetable
+pur&eacute;es.</p>
+
+<p class="center">(<i>To be continued.</i>)<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="THE_SHEPHERDS_FAIRY" id="THE_SHEPHERDS_FAIRY"></a>THE SHEPHERD'S FAIRY.<br />
+<br />
+<span style="font-size: 75%;">A PASTORALE.</span><br />
+<br />
+<span style="font-size: 75%;"><span class="smcap">By</span> DARLEY DALE, Author of "Fair Katherine," etc.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER III.<br />
+
+<span style="font-size: 75%;">DAME HURSEY THE WOOLGATHERER.</span></h3>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/gop_86_10_16_illus012a.png" width="600" height="465" alt="&quot;HE STRUCK ACROSS UNBEATEN PATHS.&quot;" title="" />
+<span class="caption">&quot;HE STRUCK ACROSS UNBEATEN PATHS.&quot;</span>
+</div>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 150px;">
+<img src="images/gop_86_10_16_illus012b.png" width="150" height="164" alt="W" title="" />
+</div>
+<p>hen John Smith, as for
+reasons of his own he
+called himself, left
+Pierre, he pulled his hat
+well over his eyes and
+started off across the
+downs in the direction of Lewes. He
+knew the country well, and partly
+on this account, partly because he
+did not wish to be recognised, he struck across unbeaten paths,
+where he was not likely to meet anyone, avoiding the high
+roads as much as he could, and travelling as near as possible
+as the crow flies, over downs and meadows to the
+village he was seeking. It was a good six miles, and he
+had neither time nor inclination to pause and look at the
+scenery around him, so full of charm to those who live among
+it, so repellent at first to the stranger's eye, which has not
+been educated to notice the various tints and colours which
+sweep over the soft rounded outlines of those purple downs,
+but is at once caught by the grey hollows of the hills and the
+patches of white chalk which peep out every here and there on
+the steeps, and at a distance look like the perpetual snow of
+Alpine regions. The scenery of the Sussex Downs is like the
+Sussex people in this respect&mdash;it requires to be well known to
+be thoroughly appreciated; cold and reserved at first, it is only
+on better acquaintance you learn the sterling worth, the truth,
+the real kindness of heart, and the hospitality which characterise
+the Sussex people. And the downs themselves will
+not yield all their beauty at once; you must live among them
+to thoroughly know and love them; cold and grey and monotonous
+as they look at first, in the autumn especially, you
+will see what a variety of colours they can show when the
+fields are golden with corn, and the downs themselves richly
+dotted with wild flowers, and the clouds cast fleeting shadows
+over the slopes, and the purple and green of
+the nearer hills melt away into delicate blues
+and rosy greys in the distance. And then in
+winter the clouds play such tricks with the soft
+rounded hills and their white chalk sides,
+which chalk will reveal itself in all its nakedness
+every here and there, that it is often easy
+to imagine yourself in Switzerland, and difficult
+exceedingly to tell where the downs end and the clouds
+begin, so softly have they blended together, those grey clouds,
+those white and purple downs. No, the downs are not
+monotonous to those who look with careful eyes, at least,
+though the casual observer may see nothing in them but
+multitudes of sheep. Unique they may be, unlike the rest of
+England they certainly are, but not monotonous. And then
+the dales, with the villages nestling in the bottom, are so picturesque,
+and the green pastures, separated by dykes, have a
+homelike appearance, with the small black Sussex cattle with
+their long white horns, at least to a Sussex eye.</p>
+
+<p>Over some of these meadows the carpenter, with the little
+French baby in his arms, now made his way. Hitherto he had
+been lucky and had met no one, but now he was approaching
+a village a few miles from Lewes, which, for the purposes of
+this story, we will call Bournemer, and though the sun had
+set, it was still too light for him to risk being recognised,
+so he still kept to the fields, which he could the more easily
+do, as the house he sought was nearly a mile from the village.
+At last he saw it standing in the next field with a clump of
+trees on one side of it; it was little more than a cottage,
+though from the sheds adjoining it might have been taken for
+a small farmhouse; it was sheltered from the north by the
+down at the foot of which it lay, its red roof telling well
+against the soft grey background in the evening light. It<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>
+faced the field, the road at the foot of
+the down running at the back of it, and
+already there was a light in one of the
+lower rooms; the front door was closed,
+but the gate of the field was open,
+details which the carpenter took in at a
+glance, and interpreted to mean that the
+shepherd was gone to fold his sheep for
+the night, and his wife was at home
+awaiting his return to supper.</p>
+
+<p>"He will be back soon. I must be
+quick; now is my time," said the carpenter
+to himself, making his way towards
+the house by the clump of trees,
+which afforded him a little shelter. Here
+he paused for a few minutes, and, after
+listening intently, put the baby on the
+ground while he took off his shoes. Then,
+picking it up, he crept quickly and
+noiselessly across the path towards the
+front door, on the step of which he laid
+his burden, and then crept back to the
+trees, where he put on his shoes, and
+with the purse which L&eacute;on had given
+him for the baby's maintenance in his
+pocket, he made his way back to the
+boat on the beach, congratulating himself
+on the success of his scheme. No
+one, he argued, was any the worse for it,
+while he was one thousand francs the
+better. He had wronged no one, as the
+baby was sure to be well taken care of.
+John Shelley was certain to take it in,
+and would probably think the Lord had
+sent it to him, and, with a chuckle over
+the shepherd's simplicity, he went his
+way.</p>
+
+<p>The baby was asleep when he deposited
+it on the doorstep, but it woke
+shortly after, and began to cry lustily for
+food, but the doors and windows being
+all closed, its wailing did not penetrate
+to the inside of the house. But before
+the carpenter had been gone half an
+hour footsteps approached the house,
+and the shepherd and his dog entered
+the gate of the field in which it stood.
+A fine, big, handsome man looked this
+shepherd as he paused to fasten the
+gate; about thirty years old, fair, with a
+florid complexion, blue eyes, and a long,
+yellowish beard, a face more remarkable
+for its kindly good humour than for its
+intelligence. He was dressed in a long
+smock, and he carried a crook, so that
+there was no mistaking his occupation,
+of which, by the way, he was very proud;
+his father and his grandfather and their
+fathers and grandfathers had been shepherds
+before him for many generations,
+and that he should ever be anything else
+than a shepherd was the last idea likely
+to enter John Shelley's mind. A shepherd
+by birth and education, he followed
+his calling with an ardour which would
+have amounted to passion in a warmer
+temperament. His sheep were his first
+thought on waking, his last as he closed
+his eyes at night, and he understood
+them and their ways thoroughly. The
+life suited him exactly; it might be a
+lonely life, wandering for hours on the
+downs without meeting a living creature
+day after day, except, perhaps, occasionally
+a neighbouring shepherd, but he
+was used to it. It might be an anxious
+life, especially in lambing time, but he
+was lucky, and rarely lost any lambs.
+It might be a dangerous life sometimes
+in the winter fogs, rambling about on
+the hills with the risk of falling into a
+chalk pit and breaking his neck, but he
+was always too anxious about his sheep
+when overtaken by a fog to think of his
+own danger. Then the wages were
+good, and the same all the year round,
+with the chance of making some extra
+money in the shearing season, and so
+much a head on each lamb that he
+reared; and to all intents and purposes
+he was his own master, for the farmer
+to whom the sheep belonged entrusted
+the management of the flock entirely
+to him.</p>
+
+<p>But while the shepherd was fastening
+the gate the dog ran to the baby, whose
+cry had reached his quick ears before it
+did his master's, and having sniffed all
+round it, he set up some short, quick
+barks, and ran back to the shepherd,
+calling his attention to the baby as
+plainly as his inability to speak would
+allow him.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it, Rover? what is it?
+Down, sir, it is only the baby crying;
+the window must be open," said the
+shepherd, as he approached the house,
+but Rover, as if to contradict his master,
+ran up to the bundle on the doorstep,
+and barked louder than ever.</p>
+
+<p>John Shelley took longer to take in
+the fact that an infant was lying crying
+on his doorstep than his dog had done.
+He stooped and looked, and took off
+his hat to rub his head thoughtfully and
+stimulate his brain that he might grasp
+the idea, and then he stooped again,
+and this time picked up the baby, and
+throwing open the door of the large
+kitchen, with its sanded floor of red
+bricks, stood on the threshold, holding
+out the wailing child, and saying&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Look here, Polly,
+see what I have
+found on the doorstep."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Shelley, who
+was sitting working,
+with her foot on a
+cradle which she
+was rocking gently
+to and fro, more
+from habit, since
+the baby was asleep,
+than for any real
+reason, looked up
+and saw in her husband's
+arms a
+bundle wrapped in
+a red shawl embroidered
+with gold.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it,
+John?" she asked;
+but a cry from the
+bundle answered the
+question, and she
+sprang to her husband's
+side in
+astonishment.</p>
+
+<p>She was a tall,
+good-looking woman,
+five or six
+years younger than
+the shepherd, with
+brown hair and eyes,
+and a rich colour in
+her cheeks, which
+came and went
+when she was excited;
+a bright intelligent
+face, not beautiful, scarcely
+handsome in repose, but which at times
+was so animated that she often passed
+for a very pretty woman.</p>
+
+<p>"Give it to me. Oh, John! John!
+where can it have come from? The dear
+little creature! And see what lovely
+things it has? Only look at this satin
+quilt in which it is wrapped, and, see,
+John, a toy of coral with gold bells!
+My pretty one, hush! hush! hush!"
+And Mrs. Shelley rocked the child in her
+arms; but her astonishment and admiration
+got the better of her motherly
+instinct for a moment, and she proceeded
+with her examination of its
+clothes. "Its nightdress is the finest
+cambric and trimmed with real lace, and
+see this exquisite handkerchief tucked in
+for a feeder; look! there is a coronet on
+it, John. I verily believe the 'Pharisees,'
+as the children say, brought it. Do go
+and see if there is a fairy ring in the
+meadow, then I shall be sure they
+did!"</p>
+
+<p>Now, Sussex peasants&mdash;shepherds,
+especially&mdash;were very superstitious in
+the days in which this baby was found,
+and both John Shelley and his wife half
+believed that the fungus rings, so often
+found on the downs, were made by the
+fairies, or "Pharisees," as they called
+them. So, partly to see if he could
+find any further clue to the child, partly
+to look for the fungus ring, John Shelley
+took a lantern and went out to explore
+the premises.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as he was gone, Mrs. Shelley,
+who was an impulsive woman, gave the
+little stranger the supper that by right
+belonged to her own infant.</p>
+
+<div class="figright" style="width: 400px;">
+<img src="images/gop_86_10_16_illus013.png" width="400" height="496" alt="A VISIT FROM DAME HURSEY." title="" />
+<span class="caption">A VISIT FROM DAME HURSEY.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>"My boy is stronger than this little<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>
+fragile creature, and he must wait till I
+have fed it," she said to herself. "Poor
+little mite, I don't believe it has been
+undressed for days, its beautiful dress is
+so dirty. I shall have time to bathe it
+and put it on some of Charlie's clean
+things before John comes in to his
+supper."</p>
+
+<p>And as John was very slow and deliberate
+in all his actions, and his wife very
+quick in all hers, by the time he came
+back the little stranger was washed and
+dressed, and fed, and sleeping quietly in
+the cradle, while Mrs. Shelley nursed
+her own boy.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, John, have you found any
+fairy rings?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, Polly; no, I can't make it out
+at all; it is very odd&mdash;very odd indeed.
+I can't think where the child came
+from," said John, shaking his head,
+slowly. "I don't believe the fairies
+brought it, though," he added, after a
+pause.</p>
+
+<p>"Who do you think did, then?"
+asked Mrs. Shelley, quickly.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know who brought it, but I
+tell you what, Polly, I believe God sent
+it and means us to take care of it."</p>
+
+<p>"Take care of it! Why, of course
+we must, John. You don't suppose I
+dreamt of sending it to the workhouse,
+do you? Little darling! Why, it is
+the very thing we have been longing for,
+a little girl; it shall be Charlie's foster-sister.
+All I hope is, whoever brought
+it will let us keep it. I love it already!"</p>
+
+<p>"But, Polly, it isn't our child. We
+must take care of it, of course, for to-night,
+but you will have to go to Parson Leslie
+to-morrow and ask him what we ought to
+do to find out who it belongs to."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed, and I shall do no such
+thing," said Mrs. Shelley, hastily.</p>
+
+<p>But the shepherd was master in his
+own home, and announced decidedly&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Then I must go to-night, late as
+it is."</p>
+
+<p>"And knock the parson up? It will
+be eleven o'clock before you get there.
+Sit down and get your supper, do, John,
+and we can talk about consulting him
+to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>"That won't do, Polly; either I must
+go to the rector to-night or you must
+promise to go to-morrow. Which is it
+to be?"</p>
+
+<p>"There never was such a pig-headed
+man as you. If you set your mind on a
+thing there is no turning you. I suppose
+I shall have to go, or you'll be rushing
+off now, and I want my supper. One
+thing I am sure of, John, and that is,
+the baby belongs to rich people, and, I
+think, to some nobleman, for all the
+things have a coronet on them, and its
+clothes are all so fine."</p>
+
+<p>"Is there no name on any of them?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, nor anything to give us the
+least idea who the child is. It has
+evidently been accustomed to luxury,
+though, and somehow I fancy it is a
+foreign child. I never saw any baby's
+clothes made as these are," said Mrs.
+Shelley.</p>
+
+<p>A foreign child was an idea John
+Shelley could not accept so suddenly.
+His slow phlegmatic mind could not
+travel beyond his own country&mdash;scarcely
+beyond the Sussex downs.</p>
+
+<p>"More likely to be one of the quality's
+children. They don't make their clothes
+as we do, I expect; but if you show Mr.
+Leslie that coronet he may be able to
+make something of it."</p>
+
+<p>And so it was arranged that Mrs.
+Shelley should go the next day and consult
+the rector about their new-found
+treasure; but she fully made up her
+mind to use all the eloquence in her
+power to persuade Mr. Leslie to convince
+John it was plainly their duty to
+keep the baby which had been so mysteriously
+brought to them until its rightful
+owners claimed it.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning John Shelley was
+up betimes, as, indeed, he always was;
+but it was shearing time, and he was
+unusually busy, and it was, moreover,
+Saturday, and he hoped, with the help
+of the men who went round the country
+shearing in the month of June, to finish
+his flock that evening, so taking his
+breakfast and dinner with him, he told
+Mrs. Shelley not to expect him back till
+the evening. Across the dewy meadows
+in the fresh June morning, the loveliest
+part of the day, went John Shelley,
+startling a skylark every now and then
+from the ground, from whence it rose
+carolling forth its matin song, gently at
+first, but louder and louder as it sprang
+higher and higher, until lost to sight,
+its glorious song still audible, though
+John Shelley was too much occupied
+with his own thoughts, and, perhaps,
+too much accustomed to the singing of
+the lark, to pay much attention to it.
+Even his dogs, Rover and Snap, failed
+to wake him from his meditation, until
+he reached the meadow where he had
+folded his sheep for the night, and then
+every thought, except whether the sheep
+were all safe, vanished from his mind as
+he stood counting them. A few words to
+the dogs explained his wishes that the
+shorn sheep were to be driven out and
+the unshorn left in the fold for the present;
+and then, after a great deal of
+barking on the part of the dogs, and
+shouting from the shepherd, and rushing
+and scrambling on the part of the
+sheep, their bells jingling a not unmusical
+accompaniment to the thrushes
+and blackbirds, which were pouring out
+their morning song in the adjoining
+copse, this man&oelig;uvre was effected, and
+John led his shorn flock to the downs,
+walking in front with his crook in his
+hand, while the dogs brought up the rear,
+yelping and barking at the heels of any
+erring sheep that strayed outside the flock.</p>
+
+<p>The shepherd was a man who concentrated
+all his thoughts on the business
+he had on hand, and as he led his sheep
+to the down on which he meant to leave
+them to the care of the dogs for the day,
+he was making a nice calculation of how
+long it would take him and his assistants
+to finish the shearing, when, just
+as he was about to leave the sheep, he
+was accosted by an old woman. She
+was tall, thin, with a slight stoop, a
+hooked nose, bright black eyes, and
+rough, crisp, grizzly hair, which gave her
+rather a witch-like appearance; nor did
+the bonnet perched on the top of her
+head, its crown in the air, tend to dispel
+this notion. She had a knotted stick
+in one hand, and a basket with some
+pieces of wool off the sheeps' backs
+which she had collected from the bushes
+in the other. It was Dame Hursey, the
+wool-gatherer, well known to John
+Shelley and every other shepherd in the
+neighbourhood, with all of whom she
+often had a gossip, and celebrated in
+the district as the mother of an unfortunate
+son, a fine, promising young sailor,
+who, having been convicted of robbery
+some years ago, and served a long sentence
+in Lewes gaol, had never been
+heard of since, unless his mother was in
+his confidence.</p>
+
+<p>A great gossip was Dame Hursey;
+she always knew all that went on in
+the neighbourhood, for she led a wandering,
+restless life, never at home
+except at night, sticking and wool-gathering
+in the autumn and winter,
+haymaking and gleaning in the summer,
+gossiping, whenever she had a
+chance, at all seasons. If anyone were
+likely to know anything about this
+strange baby, always supposing the
+fairies had had nothing to do with it,
+it was Dame Hursey, and the shepherd,
+being relieved of any further anxiety
+about the sheep, walked with her and
+told her the story.</p>
+
+<p>John Shelley was neither a quick-witted
+nor an observant man, except
+with regard to the weather, every sign
+of which he took in, or he would have
+noticed that Dame Hursey started perceptibly
+when he told her the time he
+found the baby, and that a glance of
+quick intelligence shot into her bright
+eyes as she heard the story; but when
+he had finished she gave it as her firm
+opinion that the "Pharisees," and no
+one else, must have brought the child,
+and she urged John on no account to
+part with it, as there was no telling what
+revenge the fairies might take if their
+wishes were set aside. And the old
+wool-gatherer proceeded to tell such
+wonderful stories of the terrible vengeance
+wrought by these mysterious
+little beings on people who had despised
+their gifts, that the shepherd was glad
+to put an end to such unpleasant suggestions
+by walking off at a rapid pace
+to his unshorn sheep.</p>
+
+<p>"It is strange, very strange, that I
+should have met my George the very
+same night, coming from Shelley's place
+too. He has had something to do with
+this baby as sure as wool is wool. I'll
+go round by Mrs. Shelley's and have a
+look at this wonderful child; perhaps I
+may find out something. I doubt it will
+be a bad thing for George if he is found
+out this time, if, as I suspect, he knows
+a deal more about it than we do, and he
+was up to no good last night or he would
+not have made me swear not to say I
+had seen him as he did. Well, the
+child is safe enough with the Shelleys,
+and I'll do my best to frighten them into
+keeping it," muttered Dame Hursey to
+herself, as she bent her steps towards
+the shepherd's house.</p>
+
+<p class="center">(<i>To be continued.</i>)<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="VARIETIES" id="VARIETIES"></a>VARIETIES.</h2>
+
+
+<p class="center">"<span class="smcap">Excellent Heart.</span>"</p>
+
+<p>Take a good-sized, tender heart. Extract
+all seeds of selfishness, and proceed to stuff as
+follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>1 lb. crumbs of comfort.</p>
+
+<p>1 quart milk of human kindness.</p>
+
+<p>Several drops essence of goodness and happiness.</p>
+
+<p>Good dripping from the eaves of Love's dwelling.</p>
+
+<p>Blend these well with a little of the oil of
+Time to mellow and soften.</p>
+
+<p>Place the heart on a warm hearth with
+Love's rays full upon it and some of the light
+of other days. Move it now and then, but do
+not probe it. Keep the world's cold blasts
+from it if possible, but do not allow it to be
+absorbed in its own juices. It will take time
+to prepare, but when ready is fit for king or
+peasant and welcome at any table.</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">sauce for above.</span></p>
+
+<p>Pint or more good spirits, a few honeyed
+words; a little cream of society may improve,
+but is not necessary. Carefully avoid cold
+water, vinegar, or pepper, or acidity in any
+form.</p>
+
+<p>The above will keep for years.&mdash;S. L.</p>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Contented.</span>&mdash;If you can live free from
+want, care for no more, for the rest is vanity.</p>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Storms of Adversity.</span>&mdash;A smooth
+sea never made a skilful mariner, neither do
+uninterrupted prosperity and success qualify
+anyone for usefulness and happiness. The
+storms of adversity, like the storms of the
+ocean, arouse the faculties and excite the intention,
+prudence, skill and fortitude of the
+voyager.</p>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">A Wise Mother.</span>&mdash;The celebrated Orientalist,
+Sir William Jones, when a mere child
+was very inquisitive. His mother was a
+woman of great intelligence, and he would
+apply to her for the information which he
+desired; but her constant reply was: "Read,
+and you will know." This gave him a passion
+for books, which was one of the principal
+means of making him what he was.</p>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Twenty-four Notes in One Bow.</span>&mdash;The
+<i>Daily Post</i> of February 22nd, 1732,
+contains a curious announcement with regard
+to Castrucci, the violinist, namely, that he
+would play a solo "in which he engages himself
+to execute twenty-four notes in one bow."
+This piece of charlatanism, so misplaced in a
+truly able musician, was excellently capped on
+the following day by a nameless fiddler advertising
+his intention to play twenty-five notes
+in one bow.</p>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">A Cat Story.</span>&mdash;There was a favourite
+Tom cat owned by a family in Callander, in
+Scotland, and it had on several occasions
+shown more than ordinary sagacity. One day
+Tom made off with a piece of beef, and the
+servant followed him cautiously, with the
+intention of catching him and administering a
+little wholesome correction. To her amazement,
+she saw the cat go into a corner of the
+yard, in which she knew a rat-hole existed,
+and lay the beef down by the side of it.
+Leaving the beef there, puss hid himself a
+short distance off and watched until a rat
+made its appearance. Tom's tail then began
+to wag, and just as the rat was moving away
+with the bait he sprang upon it and killed it.</p>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Hearing with Difficulty.</span>&mdash;"Dr.
+Willis tells us," says Burney, in his "History
+of Music," "of a lady who could <i>hear only
+while a drum was beating</i>; insomuch that
+her husband actually hired a drummer as a
+servant in order to enjoy the pleasure of her
+conversation."</p>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Courage.</span>&mdash;Courage which grows from
+constitution often forsakes people when they
+have occasion for it; courage that arises from
+a sense of duty acts in a uniform manner.</p>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Influence of Fortune.</span>&mdash;Fortune,
+good or ill, does not change men or women;
+it but developes their character.</p>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Weak Minds.</span>&mdash;Two things indicate a
+weak mind&mdash;to be silent when it is proper
+to speak, and to speak when it is proper to
+be silent.&mdash;<i>Persian Proverb.</i></p>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">A Successful Wedding.</span>&mdash;A New York
+girl has just enjoyed the triumph of having the
+biggest wedding given in that city for years.
+She whispered around that the man she was
+to marry had a red-haired wife somewhere,
+who would be at hand to interrupt the ceremony.
+The church was crowded.</p>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Two Sides to Pleasure.</span>&mdash;Pleasure is to
+woman what the sun is to the flower; if
+modestly enjoyed it beautifies, it refreshes and
+improves; if immoderately, it withers and
+destroys.&mdash;<i>Colton.</i></p>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The Ills of Life.</span>&mdash;There are three
+modes of bearing the ills of life: by indifference,
+which is the most common; by
+philosophy, which is the most ostentatious;
+and by religion, which is the most effectual.</p>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">An Observation on Rogues.</span>&mdash;After
+long experience of the world, I affirm, before
+God, I never knew a rogue who was not
+unhappy.&mdash;<i>Junius.</i></p>
+
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Answer To Double Acrostic</span> (p. 30).</p>
+
+<pre>
+ 1. L    i    P
+ 2. A ristotl E (<i>a</i>)
+ 3. M a r t y R
+ 4. B  l o c  K
+ 5. E    l    I
+ 6. R  e s i  N (<i>b</i>)
+ 7. T h ur lo W
+ 8. S  c&oelig;vol  A (<i>c</i>)
+ 9. I ndicato R (<i>d</i>)
+10. M e r a   B (<i>e</i>)
+11. N a z     E
+12. E clipti  C
+13. L    o    K (<i>f</i>)
+</pre>
+
+<p>Lambert Simnel. Perkin Warbeck.</p>
+
+<p>(<i>a</i>). His adage was "Amicus Plato, amicus Socrates,
+magis tamen amica veritas." From his custom of delivering
+instruction whilst walking, his disciples were styled
+"Peripatetics."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>b</i>). Familiarly pronounced "rosin."</p>
+
+<p>(<i>c</i>). Left-handed.</p>
+
+<p>(<i>d</i>). Indicator Major, the great honeybird of South
+Africa.</p>
+
+<p>(<i>e</i>). See 1 Samuel, xviii.</p>
+
+<p>(<i>f</i>). Lo(c)k.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/gop_86_10_16_illus016.png" width="600" height="861" alt="A CROWN of FLOWERS
+being
+Poems and Pictvres
+Collected from the pages of
+THE GIRLS OWN PAPER" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Edited by</span> CHARLES PETERS.</p>
+
+
+<p>The Poems are written by the Author of "John Halifax
+Gentleman," Sarah Doudney, Helen Marion Burnside, F. E.
+Weatherly, Annie Matheson, Anne Beale, Mrs. G. Linn&aelig;us Banks,
+the Rev. W. Cowan, Sydney Grey, Edward Oxenford, Isabella
+Fyvie Mayo, Clara Thwaites, Harriet L. Childe-Pemberton, the
+Dowager Lady Barrow, and others.</p>
+
+<p>Illustrated by Frank Dicksee, A.R.A., M. Ellen Edwards,
+W. J. Hennessy, Davidson Knowles, John C. Staples, Robert
+Barnes, Charles Green, Arthur Hopkins, William Small, Frank
+Dadd, the late Cecil Lawson, and others.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 25%;' />
+
+<p>"As <i>A Crown of Flowers</i> is carefully printed upon fine paper, full
+value is given to the engravings, which is one of the features of the
+magazine from which they are selected, and shows what a marked
+advance has been made of recent years in the character of such illustrations,
+which will, in the present instance, vie with anything of the
+kind produced on this or the other side of the Atlantic."&mdash;<i>The Pictorial
+World.</i></p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="ANSWERS_TO_CORRESPONDENTS" id="ANSWERS_TO_CORRESPONDENTS"></a>ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.</h2>
+
+
+<h3>EDUCATIONAL.</h3>
+
+<p>E. A. T.&mdash;There is a School of Telegraphy in Moorgate-buildings,
+at the back of Telegraph-street, E.C.
+All candidates for free admission must have passed
+an examination in handwriting and the first four rules
+of arithmetic under the Civil Service Commissioners,
+in Cannon-row, W.C., aged not under fourteen nor
+over eighteen years. They must be gifted with
+quickness of eye and ear and a delicate touch. In
+three or four months they have acquired the art,
+working four hours a day. They must be proficient
+in the use of four instruments. The pupils in this
+school are only intended for service in London.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Cedrica.</span>&mdash;In reference to Gall's or Mercator's projection,
+you may perceive that by doing away with
+perspective you obtain the relative distances, as well
+as the height of the mountains compared with the
+general surface, without deducting through foreshortening.
+You write fairly well, but too large to
+be pretty.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Sine.</span>&mdash;The auror&aelig; are closely connected with the
+earth's magnetism, although their exact relationship
+is unknown. The appearance takes place equally
+round both magnetic poles. The most general
+opinion seems to be that they are illuminations of the
+lines of force which undoubtedly circulate round our
+earth. At all events, the corona forms itself round
+the magnetic poles, and its lines correspond to the
+earth's magnetic field. Displays of auror&aelig; are almost
+always accompanied by magnetic storms, which so
+much affect our telegraph instruments, although the
+latter may occur when there is no visible aurora. An
+artificial aurora was produced by electrical means by
+Professor Lindstroem, in 67&deg; north latitude, which
+was found to exhibit the spectrum of the true aurora.
+You will find all information respecting the "Zodiacal
+light" in "Guillemin on the Heavens."</p>
+
+<p>C. H. C.&mdash;No examinations are required for teachers
+in high schools; but of course preference is always
+given to those who have passed examinations, and
+they obtain better salaries. The senior or the higher
+Cambridge examinations for women would be the
+best, and would ensure a good position.</p>
+
+
+<h3>MISCELLANEOUS.</h3>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Marie.</span>&mdash;Your having given your parrot meat has
+given her a taste for raw meat. Perhaps a chemist
+could suggest a wash or powder to shake in under
+the feathers, that would taste bitter and disagreeable
+and yet prove harmless. Possibly your bird is
+troubled with small vermin, which irritate the skin
+and induce it to pick at the roots of the feathers.
+Examine the skin and plumage. We have given a
+long recipe for destroying the vermin in canaries.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Tum Yum.</span>&mdash;You had better buy a little bottle of oil-gold
+and paint your picture-frame with it. See our
+article, "Lissom Hands and Pretty Feet."</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Erica Raeburn.</span>&mdash;Your verses are not correctly
+written, but the sentiments expressed are good.
+When you make an adverb of the word "true" you
+should drop the final "e."</p>
+
+<p>M. H. M.&mdash;Write or see a map-setter, such as Wyld,
+or any other of those in or near Trafalgar-square and
+Charing Cross. The ways and means of colouring
+and disposing of your maps will be explained to you
+by these people.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Peckham Rye.</span>&mdash;The poet Wordsworth had an only
+daughter, Dora, married to Mr. Quillinan. She was
+burnt to death in 1847, and left two daughters. The
+bishops are nephews of the poet.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Pharmaceutical.</span>&mdash;The word "Pharmacon" can be
+found in all Greek lexicons. It is probably of Oriental
+extraction. It originally meant any medicine taken
+internally or externally, and apparently its original
+signification was good&mdash;or, at all events, not bad.
+Then, secondly, it came, like the word "accident,"
+to get a bad sense attached to it, and it was used
+for a "poisonous drug," from which is derived its
+third and last sense, an "enchanted potion," or
+"enchantment." In the New Testament the word
+is translated "sorcery," not "drugs." See Rev.
+xxii. 15.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Daffodil.</span>&mdash;Pampas grass may be cleaned by putting
+it into a large vessel of clean cold water, when after
+some time all the dust and dirt will come out, and
+it may be lightly shaken till dry. It may also be
+bleached with chloride of lime.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Sunbeam.</span>&mdash;Do not on any account do so dangerous a
+thing as to put paraffin oil on your hair. Besides,
+the very bad smell of the oil would be most offensive
+to others if not to yourself.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Delia T.</span> (Lausanne).&mdash;From your writing we conclude
+that you are very young. If so, your verses
+give some promise of better ones when older.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Jackday.</span>&mdash;It is suitable for every day. You write
+very well. There is no "e" in truly.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Little Emily.</span>&mdash;See "Girls' Christian Names," pages
+39, 134, 235, 381, vol. iv.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Ocklawaka.</span>&mdash;Certainly, it is quite improper to walk
+about alone with a man to whom you are not
+engaged. We know of no cure suitable for all alike
+for sea-sickness. Lie down on deck, drink water
+before being sick, and beware of starving. At the
+same time, do not select pork nor a suet dumpling
+just at first. In cases of very severe sickness,
+swallowing small scraps of ice before and after a
+spoonful of <i>consomm&eacute;</i> or jelly is desirable, and an
+icebag should be applied to the spine.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">A Tring Girl</span> should consult a doctor about the moles
+if very unornamental.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Lady Jane Grey.</span>&mdash;The "seven whistlers" are curlew,
+or herringspear birds, thought to be storm-bringers
+when heard overhead at sea. You will find
+a story in Buckland's "Curiosities of Natural
+History" about them.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Annie Spike</span> should write to the Religious Tract
+Society, 56, Paternoster-row, E.C., for the tracts
+she needs. The lines are not poetry&mdash;nothing but
+badly-rhymed prose.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Harty.</span>&mdash;Wills can be inspected at Somerset House,
+in the Strand, W.C.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Une Petite Fleur.</span>&mdash;No one could interfere with you
+in keeping a private school, so far as we know.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Jamie's Darling.</span>&mdash;We thank you warmly for your
+kind letter, and wish you much happiness in your
+new life and position.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">No Stone Unturned</span> must send
+her tale to a publisher; but we
+do not think she will get much&mdash;probably
+nothing; but, on the
+contrary, will have to pay, for
+a first attempt.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Asphodel.</span>&mdash;The 29th of April,
+1870, was a Friday. When a
+man says he is "very much in
+love" with the girl to whom he
+is speaking, he means her to
+give him some encouragement
+to say more, and in a business-like,
+practical way.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">A Fearful One.</span>&mdash;A polypus in
+the nose has to be cut out, but
+the patient must be under the
+influence of chloroform. It is
+more usually a man's than a
+woman's disease. Your letters
+should be rounder.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Une Demoiselle.</span>&mdash;It is our ordinary
+form of greeting to say
+"How do you do?" It is an
+idiomatic phrase, and does not
+exact an answer as to the state
+of your health any more than
+the salutation "Good day." If
+anxious for information as to
+how you are, more direct inquiries
+will follow the salutation.
+Only ignorant persons
+reply to "How do you do?"
+"Very well, thank you; how
+are you?"</p>
+
+<p>A. B.&mdash;The first and second
+volumes of the G. O. P. are
+entirely out of print, as also
+are all the indexes, excepting
+that for vol. vi. None of these
+will be reprinted. We request
+our readers to take note of what
+we say, as it will save them
+waste of time in writing for
+them.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Ruby Kingsley.</span>&mdash;We cannot
+continue giving space for repeating
+the story of the willow pattern.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Miss King</span>, the Secretary of the
+Society for Promoting the Employment
+of Women, 22, Berners-street,
+Oxford-street, W., writes:&mdash;In
+the G.O.P. for September
+there is an article (one of a
+series) on wood engraving by
+Mr. R. Taylor. I have read
+the articles with great interest,
+and I entirely agree with the
+greater part of what Mr. Taylor
+says. But he writes as if there
+were no opening for girls in the
+trade. I fully admit that only
+a small number are at present
+employed in it, but he writes
+that he does not believe that
+engraving can be effectually
+taught in schools or classes, and
+that he has not met with a
+single individual who has attained
+by this means skill
+enough to earn a livelihood.
+Now it is a fact that there are
+12 or 14 girls employed at an
+engraver's in the City, who
+have learnt engraving at the
+City and Guilds of London Art
+School, which was established
+about six years ago, and some
+of these girls are doing excellent
+work and earning very good
+wages. Engraving is an art
+which requires persevering study
+for four or five years at the
+least, so that the school has not
+yet been established for a sufficiently
+long time to have trained
+a large number of girls, but the
+instruction given there is thoroughly
+good, and if the girls will
+persevere as long with it as they
+would be obliged to do if they
+were regularly apprenticed, I do not think
+there is any fear but that
+they will succeed in getting employment; but their
+work must be good. If you will kindly look at page
+9 of our Report, published in May last, you will see
+an account of the school. There are vacancies now
+in the school, particulars of which I shall be happy to
+give to anyone who will call here between 11 and 5.
+I shall be greatly obliged if you will mention this
+school and its successful work in the next number of
+the G.O.P., for I fear that Mr. Taylor's statement is
+calculated to injure it materially.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;">I am, dear sir,<br /></span>
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">Yours obediently,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 6em;"><span class="smcap">Gertrude J. King</span>, Sec.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>A full account of the Kennington class was given in
+the G.O.P., January, 1884, page 180, in the article
+on Art in the series of "Work for All."</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. VIII, No.
+355, October 16, 1886, by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GIRL'S OWN PAPER, VOL. ***
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+</pre>
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+</body>
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+
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@@ -0,0 +1,2922 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. VIII, No. 355,
+October 16, 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. 355, October 16, 1886
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: Charles Peters
+          Flora Klickmann
+
+Release Date: May 18, 2006 [EBook #18414]
+
+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. 355.
+
+OCTOBER 16, 1886.
+
+PRICE ONE PENNY.
+
+
+
+
+THE BROOK AND ITS BANKS.
+
+BY THE REV. J. G. WOOD, M.A., Author of "The Handy Natural History."
+
+    "Whyles owre a linn the burnie plays,
+      As through the glen it dimpl't;
+    Whyles round a rocky scaur it strays;
+      Whyles in a weil it dimpl't;
+    Whyles glittered to the nightly rays,
+      Wi' bickering, dancing dazzle;
+    Whyles cookit underneath the braes
+      Below the spreading hazel."
+
+    _Burns: "Halloween."_
+
+[Illustration: THE BROOK AND ITS BANKS.]
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+The many aspects of a brook--The eye sees only that which it is capable
+of seeing--Individuality of brooks and their banks--The rippling
+"burnie" of the hills--The gently-flowing brooks of low-lying
+districts--Individualities even of such brooks--The fresh-water brooks
+of Oxford and the tidal brooks of the Kentish marshes--The swarming life
+in which they abound--An afternoon's walk--Ditches versus hedges and
+walls--A brook in Cannock Chase--Its sudden changes of aspect--The
+brooks of the Wiltshire Downs and of Derbyshire.
+
+
+A brook has many points of view.
+
+In the first place, scarcely any two spectators see it in the same
+light.
+
+To the rustic it is seldom more than a convenient water-tank, or, at
+most, as affording some sport to boys in fishing. To its picturesque
+beauties his eyes are blind, and to him the brook is, like Peter Bell's
+primrose, a brook and nothing more.
+
+Then there are some who only view a brook as affording variety to the
+pursuit of the fox, and who pride themselves on their knowledge of the
+spots at which it can be most successfully leaped.
+
+Others, again, who are of a geographical turn of mind, can only see in a
+brook a necessary portion of the water-shed of the district.
+
+To children it is for a time dear as a playground, possessing the
+inestimable advantage of enabling them to fall into it and wet their
+clothes from head to foot.
+
+Then there are some who are keenly alive to its changing beauties, and
+are gifted with artistic spirit and power of appreciation, even if they
+should not have been able to cultivate the technical skill which would
+enable them to transfer to paper or canvas the scene which pleased them.
+Yet they can only see the surface, and take little, if any, heed of the
+wealth of animated life with which the brook and its banks are peopled,
+or of the sounds with which the air is filled.
+
+Happy are those in whom are fortunately combined the appreciation of art
+and the gift (for it is a gift as much as an eye for art or an ear for
+music) of observing animal life. To them the brook is all that it is to
+others, and much besides. To them the tiniest brook is a perpetual joy,
+and of such a nature I hope are those who read these pages.
+
+Not only does a brook assume different aspects, according to the
+individuality of the spectator, but every brook has its individuality,
+and so have its banks.
+
+Often the brook "plays many parts," as in Burns' delightful stanza,
+which seems to have rippled from the poet's brain as spontaneously as
+its subject.
+
+Sometimes, however, as near Oxford, it flows silently onwards with
+scarcely a dimple on its unruffled surface. Over its still waters the
+gnats rise and fall in their ceaseless dance. The swift-winged
+dragon-flies, blue, green, and red, swoop upon them like so many falcons
+on their prey; or, in the earlier year, the mayflies flutter above the
+stream, leaving their shed skins, like ghostly images of themselves,
+sticking on every tree trunk near the brook.
+
+On the surface of the brook are seen the shadow-like water-gnats,
+drifting with apparent aimlessness over the surface, but having in view
+a definite and deadly purpose, as many a half drowned insect will find
+to its cost.
+
+Under the shade of the willows that overhang its banks the whirligig
+beetles will gather, sociably circling round and round in their mazy
+dance, bumping against each other in their swift course, but glancing
+off unhurt from the collision, protected from injury by the stout coats
+of mail which they wear.
+
+They really look like unskilful dancers practising their "figures" for
+the first time. They, however, are not engaged in mere amusement, but,
+like the water-gnats, are absorbed in the business of life. The
+naturalist knows, when he sees these creatures, that they do not form
+the hundredth part of those which are hidden from human eyes below the
+surface of the little brook, and that the whole of the stream is as
+instinct with life, as if it had been haunted by the Nipens, the
+Undines, and the host of fairy beings with whom the old legends peopled
+every river and its tributaries.
+
+They are just as wonderful, though clad in material forms, as any water
+spirit that ever was evolved from the poet's brain, and have the
+inestimable merit of being always within reach whenever we need them.
+
+I will venture to assert that no fairy tales, not even excepting those
+of the "Arabian Nights," can surpass in marvel the true life-history of
+the mayfly, the frog, the newt, and the dragon-fly, as will be narrated
+in the course of these pages. I may go even farther, and assert that
+there is no inhabitant of the brook and its banks whose biography and
+structure are not full of absorbing interest, and will not occupy the
+longest life, if only an attempt be made to study them thoroughly.
+
+An almost typical example of slow-flowing brooks is to be found in the
+remarkable channels which intersect the country between Minster and
+Sandwich, and which, on the ordnance map, look almost like the threads
+of a spider's web. In that flat district, the fields are not divided by
+hedges, as in most parts of England, or by stone walls--"dykes," as they
+are termed in Ireland--such as are employed in Derbyshire and several
+other stony localities, but by channels, which have a strong
+individuality of their own.
+
+Even the smallest of these brooks is influenced by the tide, so that at
+the two periods of slack water there is no perceptible stream.
+
+Yesterday afternoon, having an hour or so to spare at Minster, I
+examined slightly several of these streams and their banks. The contrast
+between them and the corresponding brooklets of Oxford, also a low-lying
+district, was very strongly marked.
+
+In the first place, the willow, which forms so characteristic an
+ornament of the brooks and rivers of Oxford, is wholly absent. Most of
+the streamlets are entirely destitute of even a bush by which their
+course can be marked; so that when, as is often the case, a heavy white
+fog overhangs the entire district, looking from a distance as if the
+land had been sunk in an ocean of milk, no one who is not familiarly
+acquainted with every yard of ground could make his way over the fields
+without falling into the watery boundaries which surround them.
+
+Some of them, however, are distinguished by hawthorns, which take the
+place of the willows, and thrive so luxuriantly that they may lay claim
+to the title of forest trees. Blackberries, too, are exuberant in their
+growth, and in many spots the hawthorn and blackberry on opposite sides
+of the brook have intertwined their branches across it and have
+completely hidden the water from sight. On these blackberries, the fruit
+of which was in its green state, the drone-flies and hawk-flies simply
+swarmed, telling the naturalist of their multitudinous successors, who
+at present are in the preliminary stages of their existence.
+
+Among the blackberries the scarlet fruit of the woody nightshade (a
+first cousin of the potato) hung in tempting clusters, and I could not
+help wondering whether they would endanger the health of the young
+Minsterians.
+
+In some places the common frog-bit had grown with such luxuriance that
+it had completely hidden the water, the leaves overlapping each other as
+if the overcrowded plants were trying to shoulder each other out of the
+way.
+
+In most of these streamlets the conspicuous bur-reed (_Sparganium
+ramosum_) grew thickly, its singular fruit being here and there visible
+among the sword-like leaves. I cannot but think that the mediaeval weapon
+called the "morning star" (or "morgen-stern") was derived from the
+globular, spiked fruit-cluster of the bur-reed.
+
+A few of the streams were full of the fine plant which is popularly
+known by the name of bull-rush, or bulrush (_Typha latifolia_), but
+which ought by rights to be called the "cat's-tail" or "reed-mace." Of
+this plant it is said that a little girl, on seeing it growing,
+exclaimed that she never knew before that sausages grew on sticks. The
+teasel (_Dipsacus_) was abundant, as were also several of the true
+thistles.
+
+In some places one of these streams becomes too deep for the bur-reed,
+and its surface is only diversified by the half-floating leaves of one
+or two aquatic plants.
+
+On approaching one of these places, I find the water to be apparently
+without inmates. They had only been alarmed by my approach, which, as I
+had but little time to spare, was not as cautious as it ought to have
+been. However, I remained perfectly still, and presently a little fish
+appeared from below. It was soon followed by a second and a third, and
+before long a whole shoal of fish were floating almost on the surface,
+looking out for insects which had fallen into the water.
+
+The day being hot, and with scarcely a breath of wind, the fish soon
+became quite bold. They did not move beyond the small spot in which they
+had appeared, but they all had their tails in slight movement, and their
+heads in one direction, thus showing that although the water appeared to
+be perfectly motionless, there must be a current of some sort, fish
+always lying with their heads up the stream, so as to allow the water to
+enter their mouths and pass over their gills.
+
+If then these sluggish streams were unlike those of Oxford, where the
+ground is low, and nearly level, how utterly distinct must they be from
+those of hilly and especially of rocky localities!
+
+In the earlier part of the present year I was cursorily examining a
+brook in Cannock Chase, in Staffordshire. Unfortunately, the day was
+singularly inauspicious, as the sun was invisible, the atmosphere murky,
+and a fierce north-east wind was blowing, a wind which affects animals,
+etc., especially the insect races, even more severely than it does man.
+Even the birds remain under shelter as long as they can, and not an
+insect will show itself. Neither, in consequence, will the fish be "on
+the feed."
+
+On a previous visit, we had been more fortunate, trout, crayfish, etc.,
+testifying to the prolific character of the brook, which in one place is
+only four or five feet in width, and yet, within fifty yards, it has
+formed itself into a wide and treacherous marsh, which can only be
+crossed by jumping from one tussock of grass to another; and yet, again,
+it suddenly spreads out into a broad and shallow torrent, the water
+leaping and rippling over the stony bed. Scarcely a bush marks its
+course, and within a few yards it is quite invisible.
+
+As we shall presently see, the brooks of the chalk downs of Wiltshire,
+and of the regular mixture of rock and level ground, which are
+characteristic of Derbyshire, have also their own separate
+individualities.
+
+We shall, however, find many allusions to them in the course of the
+work, and we will therefore suppose ourselves to be approaching the bank
+of any brook that is but little disturbed by man. What will be likely to
+happen to us will be told in the following chapters.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+Life-history of the water-rat--No science can stand alone--What is a
+water-rat?--The voles of the land and water--Their remarkable teeth--The
+rodents and their incisor teeth--The tooth and the chisel--The skate
+"iron"--Chewing the cud--Teeth of the elephant--Feet of the
+water-vole--A false accusation--Water-voles in gardens--Winter
+stores--Cats and water-voles--Subterranean pioneering--Mental character
+of the water-vole--Standing fire--Its mode of eating.
+
+
+Plop!
+
+A water-rat has taken alarm, and has leaped into the brook.
+
+A common animal enough, but none the less worthy of notice because it is
+common. Indeed, it is in many respects a very remarkable creature, and
+we may think ourselves fortunate that we have the opportunity of
+studying its habits and structure.
+
+There is much more in the animal than meets the eye, and we cannot
+examine its life-history without at the same time touching upon that of
+several other creatures. No science stands alone, neither does any
+animal, however insignificant it may appear to be; and we shall find
+that before we have done with the water-rat, we shall have had something
+to say of comparative anatomy, ornithology, ichthyology, entomology and
+botany, beside treating of the connection which exists between man and
+the lower animals, and the reciprocal influence of civilisation and
+animal life.
+
+In the first place, let us define our animal.
+
+What is a water-rat, and where is its place in zoological systems of the
+present day? Its name in science is _Arvicola amphibius_. This title
+tells its own story.
+
+Though popularly called a rat, the animal has no right to the name,
+although, like the true rat, it is a rodent, and much resembles the rat
+in size and in the length and colour of its fur. The likeness, however,
+extends no further.
+
+The rats are long-nosed and sharp-snouted animals, whereas the water-rat
+has a short, blunt nose. Then, the ears of the rats are large and stand
+out boldly from the head, while those of the water-rat are small, short,
+and rounded. Again, the tail of the rat is long and slender, while that
+of the water-rat is comparatively short. Place the two animals side by
+side, and you will wonder how anyone could mistake the one for the
+other.
+
+The teeth, too, are quite different.
+
+Instead of being white, like those of the rat, the incisor teeth are
+orange-yellow, like those of the beaver. Indeed, the water-rat possesses
+so many beaver-like characteristics, that it was ranked near the beaver
+in the systematic lists.
+
+Now, however, the Voles, as these creatures ought rightly to be called,
+are thought to be of sufficient importance to be placed by themselves,
+and separated from the true beavers.
+
+The voles constitute quite a large group of rodents, including several
+animals which are popularly ranked among the mice.
+
+One very remarkable characteristic of the voles is the structure of
+their molar teeth.
+
+Being rodents, they can have but two incisor teeth in each jaw, these
+teeth being rootless, and so set in their sockets that they are
+incessantly worn away in front, and as incessantly grow from the base,
+take the curved form of their sockets, and act much like shears which
+have the inestimable property of self-sharpening when blunted, and
+self-renewal when chipped or actually broken off by coming against any
+hard substance. Were the teeth to be without this power, the animal
+would run a great risk of dying from hunger, the injured tooth not being
+able either to do its own work, or to aid its companion of the opposite
+jaw. Either tooth alone would be as useless as a single blade of a pair
+of scissors.
+
+There is another notable characteristic of these incisor teeth. If you
+will examine the incisors of any rodent, whether it be a rat, a mouse, a
+rabbit, or a beaver, you will see that the tips are "bevelled" off just
+like the edge of a chisel. This shape is absolutely necessary to keep
+the tooth in working order. How is this object to be attained?
+
+In the solution of this problem we may see one of the many links which
+connect art and nature.
+
+Should our readers know anything of carpentering, let them examine the
+structure of their chisels. They are not made wholly of hard steel, as
+in that case they would be liable to snap, just as does the blade of a
+foil when undue pressure is brought to bear upon it. Moreover, the
+operation of sharpening would be extremely difficult.
+
+So the blade of the chisel is merely faced with a thin plate of hardened
+steel, the remainder being of softer material.
+
+Now, it is not at all likely that the unknown inventor of the modern
+chisel was aware of the analogy between art and nature, and would
+probably have been very much surprised if anyone had stated that he had
+borrowed his idea from the incisor teeth of the water-rat.
+
+Yet he might have done so, for these teeth are almost wholly formed of
+ordinary tooth matter, and are faced with a thin plate of hard enamel,
+which exactly corresponds with the hardened steel facing of a chisel.
+
+Any of my readers who possess skates will find, on examination, that the
+greater part of the blade is, in reality, soft iron, the steel, which
+comes upon the ice, being scarcely a fifth of an inch in length. The
+hardened steel allows the blade to take the necessary edge, while the
+soft iron preserves the steel from snapping.
+
+Should the skate have been neglected and allowed to become a little
+rusty, the line of demarcation between the steel and the iron can be
+distinctly seen. Similarly, in the beaver and the water-rat, the
+orange-yellow colour of the enamel facing causes it to be easily
+distinguished from the rest of the tooth. In most of the rodents the
+enamel is white, and the line of demarcation is scarcely visible.
+
+Now we have to treat of a question of mechanics.
+
+If two substances of different degrees of hardness be subjected to the
+same amount of friction, it follows that the softer will be worn away
+long before the harder. It is owing to this principle that the edges of
+the rodent teeth preserve their chisel-like form. Being continually
+employed in nibbling, the softer backing of the teeth is rapidly worn
+away, while the hard plate of enamel upon the front of the tooth is but
+slightly worn, the result being the bevelled shape which is so
+characteristic of these teeth.
+
+As all know, who have kept rabbits or white mice, the animals are always
+engaged in gnawing anything which will yield to their teeth, and unless
+the edges of their feeding troughs be protected by metal, will nibble
+them to pieces in a few days. Indeed, so strong is this instinct, that
+the health of the animals is greatly improved by putting pieces of wood
+into their cages, merely for the purpose of allowing them to exercise
+their chisel-edged teeth. Even when they have nothing to gnaw, the
+animals will move their jaws incessantly, just as if they were eating, a
+movement which gave rise to the idea that they chewed the cud.
+
+It is worthy of remark that other animals, which, though not rodents,
+need to possess chisel-edged incisor teeth, have a similar habit. Such
+is the hippopotamus, and such is the hyrax, the remarkable rock-haunting
+animal, which in the authorised translation of the Scriptures is called
+the "coney," and which in the Revised Version is allowed in the margin
+to retain its Hebrew name, "shaphan."
+
+The enamel also has an important part to play in the structure of the
+molar teeth. Each tooth is surrounded with the enamel plate, which is so
+intricately folded that the tooth looks as if it were made of a series
+of enamel triangles, each enclosing the tooth matter.
+
+This structure is common to all the members of the group to which the
+water-rat belongs. It is the more remarkable because we find a somewhat
+similar structure in the molar teeth of the elephants, which, like the
+rodents, have the incisor teeth largely developed and widely separated
+from the molars.
+
+There is nothing in the appearance of the water-rat which gives any
+indication of its aquatic habits.
+
+For example, we naturally expect to find that the feet of swimming
+animals are webbed. The water-loving capybara of South America, the
+largest existing rodent, has its hoof-like toes partially united by
+webs, so that its aquatic habits might easily be inferred even by those
+who were unacquainted with the animal. Even the otter, which propels
+itself through the water mostly by means of its long and powerful tail,
+has the feet furnished with webs. So has the aquatic Yapock opossum of
+Australia, while the feet of the duck-bill are even more boldly webbed
+than those of the bird from which it takes its popular name. The
+water-shrews (whom we shall presently meet) are furnished with a fringe
+of stiff hair round the toes which answers the same purpose as the web.
+
+But the structure of the water-rat gives no indication of its habits, so
+that no one who was unacquainted with the animal would even suspect its
+swimming and diving powers. Watch it as long as you like, and I do not
+believe that you will see it eating anything of an animal nature.
+
+I mention this fact because it is often held up to blame as a
+mischievous animal, especially deserving the wrath of anglers by
+devouring the eggs and young of fish.
+
+As is often the case in the life-history of animals as well as of men,
+the blame is laid on the wrong shoulders. If the destruction of fish be
+a crime, there are many criminals, the worst and most persistent of
+which are the fish themselves, which not only eat the eggs and young of
+other fish, but, Saturn-like, have not the least scruple in devouring
+their own offspring.
+
+Scarcely less destructive in its own insidious way is the common
+house-rat, which eats everything which according to our ideas is edible,
+and a good many which we might think incapable of affording sustenance
+even to a rat. In the summer time it often abandons for a time the
+house, the farm, the barn, and seeks for a change of diet by the brook.
+These water-haunting creatures are naturally mistaken for the
+vegetable-feeding water-vole, and so the latter has to bear the blame of
+their misdoings.
+
+There are lesser inhabitants of the brook which are injurious both to
+the eggs and young of fish. Among them are several of the larger
+water-beetles, some of which are so large and powerful that, when placed
+in an aquarium with golden carp, they have made havoc among the fish,
+always attacking them from below. Although they cannot kill and devour
+the fish at once, they inflict such serious injuries that the creature
+is sure to die shortly.
+
+I do not mean to assert that the water-vole is never injurious to man.
+Civilisation disturbs for a time the balance of Nature, and when man
+ploughs or digs the ground which had previously been untouched by plough
+or spade, and sows the seeds of herbs and cereals in land which has
+previously produced nothing but wild plants, he must expect that the
+animals to whom the soil had been hitherto left will fail to understand
+that they can no more consider themselves as the owners, and will in
+consequence do some damage to the crops.
+
+Moreover, even putting their food aside, their habits often render them
+obnoxious to civilised man. The mole, for example, useful as it really
+is in a field, does very great harm in a garden or lawn, although it
+eats none of the produce.
+
+The water-vole, however, is doubly injurious when the field or garden
+happens to be near the water-side. It is a mighty burrower, driving its
+tunnels to great distances. Sometimes it manages to burrow into a
+kitchen-garden, and feeds quite impartially on the different crops. It
+has even been seen to venture to a considerable distance from water,
+crossing a large field, making its way into a garden, and carrying off
+several pods of the French bean.
+
+In the winter time, when other food fails, the water-vole, like the hare
+and rabbit, will eat turnips, mangold-wurzel, the bark of young trees,
+and similar food. Its natural food, however, is to be found among the
+various aquatic plants, as I have often seen, and the harm which it does
+to the crops is so infinitesimally small when compared with the area of
+cultivated ground, that it is not worthy of notice.
+
+Still, although the harm which it does to civilised man in the aggregate
+is but small, even its most friendly advocate cannot deny that there are
+cases where it has been extremely troublesome to the individual
+cultivator, especially if he be an amateur.
+
+There are many hard men of business, who are obliged to spend the
+greater part of the day in their London offices, and who find their best
+relaxation in amateur gardening; those who grow vegetables, regarding
+their peas, beans, potatoes, and celery with as much affection as is
+felt by floriculturists for their roses or tulips.
+
+Nothing is more annoying to such men than to find, when the toils of
+business are over, and they have settled themselves comfortably into
+their gardening suits, that some marauder has carried off the very
+vegetables on which they had prided themselves.
+
+The water-vole has been detected in the act of climbing up a ladder
+which had been left standing against a plum tree, and attacking the
+fruit. Bunches of grapes on outdoor vines are sometimes nipped off the
+branches by the teeth of the water-vole, and the animal has been seen to
+climb beans and peas, split the pods, and devour the contents.
+
+Although not a hibernating animal, it lays up a store of food in the
+autumn. Mr. Groom Napier has the following description of the contents
+of a water-rat's storehouse:--
+
+"Early in the spring of 1855, I dug out the burrow of a water-vole, and
+was surprised to find at the further extremity a cavity of about a foot
+in diameter, containing a quantity of fragments of carrots and potatoes,
+sufficient to fill a peck measure. This was undoubtedly a part of its
+winter store of provisions. This food had been gathered from a large
+potato and carrot bed in the vicinity.
+
+"On pointing out my discovery to the owner of the garden, he said that
+his losses had been very serious that winter owing to the ravages of
+these animals, and said that he had brought both dogs and cats down to
+the stream to hunt for them; but they were too wary to be often caught."
+
+I do not think that the owner of the garden knew very much about the
+characters either of the cat or water-vole.
+
+Every one who is practically acquainted with cats knows that it is next
+to impossible to point out an object to a cat as we can to a dog. She
+looks at your finger, but can never direct her gaze to the object at
+which you are pointing. In fact, I believe that pussy's eyes are not
+made for detecting objects at a distance.
+
+If we throw a piece of biscuit to a dog, and he does not see where it
+has fallen, we can direct him by means of voice and finger. But, if a
+piece of meat should fall only a foot or two from a cat, all the
+pointing in the world will not enable her to discover it, and it is
+necessary to pick her up and put her nose close to the meat before she
+can find it.
+
+So, even, if a water-vole should be seen by the master, the attention of
+the cat could not be directed to it, her instinct teaching her to take
+prey in quite a different manner.
+
+The dogs, supposing that they happened to be of the right breed, would
+have a better chance of securing the robber, providing that they
+intercepted its retreat to the water. But if the water-vole should
+succeed in gaining its burrow, or in plunging into the stream, I doubt
+whether any dog would be able to catch it.
+
+Moreover, the water-vole is so clever in tunnelling, that when it drives
+its burrows into cultivated ground, it almost invariably conceals the
+entrance under a heap of stones, a wood pile, or some similar object.
+
+How it is enabled to direct the course of its burrow we cannot even
+conjecture, except by attributing the faculty to that "most excellent
+gift" which we call by the convenient name of "instinct."
+
+Man has no such power, but when he wishes to drive a tunnel in any given
+direction he is obliged to avail himself of levels, compasses,
+plumb-lines, and all the paraphernalia of the engineer. Yet, with
+nothing to direct it except instinct, the water-vole can, though working
+in darkness, drive its burrow in any direction and emerge from the
+ground exactly at the spot which it has selected.
+
+The mole can do the same, and by means equally mysterious.
+
+I may casually mention that the water-vole is one of the aquatic animals
+which, when zoological knowledge was not so universal as it is at the
+present day, were reckoned as fish, and might be eaten on fast days. I
+believe that in some parts of France this idea still prevails.
+
+With all its wariness, the water-vole is a strangely nervous creature,
+being for a time almost paralysed by a sudden shock. This trait of
+character I discovered quite unexpectedly.
+
+Many, many years ago, when I was a young lad, and consequently of a
+destructive nature, I possessed a pistol, of which I was rather proud.
+It certainly was an excellent weapon, and I thought myself tolerably
+certain of hitting a small apple at twelve yards distance.
+
+One day, while walking along the bank of the Cherwell River, I saw a
+water-vole on the opposite bank. The animal was sitting on a small stump
+close to the water's edge. Having, of course, the pistol with me, and
+wanting to dissect a water-vole, I proceeded to aim at the animal. This
+was not so easy as it looked. A water-vole crouching upon a stump
+presents no point at which to aim, the brown fur of the animal and the
+brown surface of the old weather-beaten stump seeming to form a single
+object without any distinct outline; moreover, it is very difficult to
+calculate distances over water. However, I fired, and missed.
+
+I naturally expected the animal to plunge into the river and escape. To
+my astonishment, it remained in the same position. Finding that it did
+not stir, I reloaded, and again fired and missed. Four times did I fire
+at that water-vole, and after the last shot the animal slowly crawled
+off the stump, slid into the river, and made off.
+
+Now in those days revolvers and breech-loaders did not exist, so that
+the process of loading a pistol with ball was rather a long and
+complicated one.
+
+First, the powder had to be carefully measured from the flask; then a
+circular patch of greased linen had to be laid on the muzzle of the
+weapon, and a ball laid on it and hammered into the barrel with a leaden
+or wooden mallet; then it had to be driven into its place with a ramrod
+(often requiring the aid of the mallet), and, lastly, there was a new
+cap to be fitted. Yet although so much time was occupied between the
+shots, the animal remained as motionless as a stuffed figure.
+
+When I crossed the river and examined the stump I found all the four
+bullets close together just below the spot on which the animal had been
+sitting, and neither of them two inches from its body. Although the
+balls had missed the water-vole, they must have sharply jarred the
+stump.
+
+I was afterwards informed that this semi-paralysis from sudden fear is a
+known characteristic of the animal. It seems to be shared by others of
+the same genus, as will be seen when we come to treat of the field mice.
+
+In its mode of eating it much resembles the squirrels, sitting on its
+haunches and holding the food in its forepaws, as if they were hands. I
+am not aware that it even eats worms or insects, and it may be
+absolutely acquitted from any imputation of doing harm to any of the
+fish tribe.
+
+(_To be continued._)
+
+
+
+
+"SHE COULDN'T BOIL A POTATO;"
+
+OR,
+
+THE IGNORANT HOUSEKEEPER, AND HOW SHE ACQUIRED KNOWLEDGE.
+
+BY DORA HOPE.
+
+
+"The late Miss Ella!"
+
+"When are you going to turn over that new leaf you spoke of, my
+daughter?"
+
+"There's a little coffee left, but the bacon is quite cold."
+
+These were the exclamations that greeted a tall bright girl, as she
+entered the breakfast room one morning.
+
+"I am very sorry, papa. I really meant to be down in time, but I suppose
+I must have gone to sleep again after I was called." And being really
+vexed with herself for having so soon broken her good resolutions,
+formed for the hundredth time the day before, Ella Hastings accepted the
+cold bacon meekly, and even turned a deaf ear to the withering sarcasms
+of her two schoolboy brothers, who were leisurely strapping together
+their books, and delaying their departure till the last moment.
+
+"There is the postman coming up the garden; run and get the letters,
+Hughie."
+
+A solemn-looking boy of six years old climbed down from his chair, in
+obedience to his father's request, and soon came back with a handful of
+letters, and settled himself patiently by his father's side to wait for
+the empty envelopes, which formed his share of the morning's
+correspondence.
+
+An exclamation of surprise from Mr. Hastings caused his wife to look up
+inquiringly from the letter she had just opened, and he handed her
+silently a telegram which had been forwarded, with other papers, from
+his office, where it had evidently been delivered late the previous
+evening. Kate, the eldest daughter, leaning over her mother's shoulder,
+read aloud the short notice:--
+
+"Mrs. Wilson dangerously ill; letter follows."
+
+Mrs. Wilson was Mr. Hastings' only remaining sister. His mother had died
+when he was almost an infant, and this "sister Mary" had slipped into
+her place as mother, teacher--everything, to her little brothers and
+sisters; never leaving them, till the father having died also, and her
+young charges being all old enough to settle in life for themselves, she
+had rewarded the faithful waiting of her old lover, and they had settled
+down together in a quiet village a few miles from the noisy town where
+his business lay. Her happy married life lasted but a short time,
+however, and for the many years since her husband's death she had
+preferred to live entirely alone with her two maids and a strange medley
+of pet animals--finding employment and interest for her declining years
+in her books and her garden.
+
+From being so long alone she had grown eccentric in her ways, and very
+odd and decided in her views; but she kept a warm corner in her heart
+for her favourite brother and his children, who heartily returned their
+aunt's affection, though they stood a good deal in awe of her keen
+penetrating gaze and sarcastic criticisms.
+
+She had always prided herself on her good constitution, and despised
+doctors and dentists as people who pandered to the fads and fancies of a
+degenerate generation--a generation who, according to her creed,
+weakened their backs and ruined their health by lounging on sofas and
+easy chairs, while, for her part, though seventy years of age, she was
+thankful to say a straight-backed chair was good enough for her. It may
+be imagined that for this self-reliant, vigorous Aunt Mary to be taken
+seriously ill, so ill as to have to summon help, was a great shock, and
+Mr. Hastings decided at once that he must go to see his sister, and that
+one of his daughters should accompany him; but the telegram was so
+short, and gave so little information, that nothing further could be
+arranged till the noonday post arrived, which always brought the letters
+from Hapsleigh.
+
+The morning seemed endless, but noon came at last, and with it the
+promised letter, which was eagerly opened and read. It was from Mrs.
+Mobberly, a near neighbour of Mrs. Wilson's. She described the sudden
+illness, and all that had been done for the sufferer. "The doctor says
+that for a day or two he cannot tell what the result may be, though we
+may hope for the best. He has sent in a thoroughly trustworthy trained
+nurse, but he agrees with me that it would be a good thing if one of
+your daughters could come to take charge of the household, for even if
+all goes as well as possible it will be a long and tedious recovery, and
+the invalid must be kept perfectly quiet and free from all worry."
+
+"Well, girls," said Mr. Hastings, as he finished reading the letter,
+"you must decide between yourselves which of you will go. As there seems
+no immediate danger, we need not leave till to-morrow morning, so you
+will have a little time for preparation; but however great a sacrifice
+it is for you to go, and for us to part with you, there is no question
+about it. Aunt Mary must not be left alone till she is quite herself
+again, so I will telegraph to Mrs. Mobberly that one of you will go with
+me by the first train to-morrow."
+
+There was no room for disputing the point when Mr. Hastings spoke in
+that decided tone; moreover, the girls themselves would have said just
+the same--that someone must go; but the question was, "who?"
+
+"Kate, it must be you," said Ella, eagerly. "I do not know anything
+about nursing or housekeeping, or anything of that sort, and you know I
+always say and do the wrong thing."
+
+Mrs. Hastings looked anxious and perplexed. "I really do not know what
+to do for the best," she said. "I do not see how I can spare you, Kate;
+for if I have one of my bad attacks I must have you at hand; and you
+see, Ella, you would have everything to learn here just as much as at
+Hapsleigh, and I think you would find teaching the children very hard
+work."
+
+Kate, the eldest daughter, was her mother's unfailing assistant, and
+almost entirely relieved her of the care of the three little ones;
+indeed, during Mrs. Hastings's frequent attacks of asthma, Kate was both
+ready and able to take entire charge of the household, and she felt
+that to leave her mother with only Ella's help would be throwing more
+care upon her than her delicate health could bear. She spoke decidedly,
+therefore; and, after a little more discussion, it was agreed that Ella
+should accompany her father, prepared to stay as long as she might be
+required.
+
+The rest of the day was fully occupied with packing and making
+arrangements. Ella was rather apt to let her clothing take care of
+itself, and, in a sudden emergency such as this, had to borrow right and
+left. Indeed, Mrs. Hastings and Kate were both kept busy all the
+afternoon looking over and supplying the deficiencies in her outfit.
+
+"That dressing-gown will not do at all, Ella. It is most important to
+have a thoroughly warm one when you have to sit up at night. Yours is
+very pretty, but blue cashmere and lace are not suitable for a sick room
+in cold weather. You will have to borrow Kate's thick flannel gown. You
+should have my quilted silk one, but in such a great thickness of
+material one's arms do not feel quite free to help an invalid, or shake
+up a bed."
+
+"Here it is, Ella," rejoined Kate; "and I have brought you my thick
+bedroom slippers, too. They are not so elegant as your Turkish ones, but
+they are much warmer. Be sure you keep them by the side of your bed, so
+that you can slip them on directly if you are called up suddenly. You
+know you take cold so easily, and it would be so awkward if you had one
+of your bad throats at Hapsleigh."
+
+Mrs. Hastings felt very anxious about her daughter, called upon so
+suddenly to take up such important and unexpected duties, and gave her a
+great deal of loving counsel.
+
+"You will have to manage to get up earlier, dear child," she said. "You
+know Aunt Mary's servants are always rather inclined to go their own
+way, and they may perhaps try to take advantage of her illness to keep
+irregular hours and slight their work; and you must remember that you
+will be responsible for good order in the house, and that is impossible
+unless all the household are regular and punctual in beginning their
+day's work at the proper time. I will let you have my little clock, and
+you can set the alarum at whatever time you wish to get up."
+
+"Yes; I really am going to turn over a new leaf about that; but you
+know, mother, I shall feel more obliged to get up now when I am
+responsible for things going right. Oh, dear! what a dreadful thought! I
+am sure I shall never manage. Why, I can't cook, and I can't keep
+accounts, and I have no idea how many pounds of meat people want for
+dinner. I shall order a tin of Australian meat, and just have it at
+every meal till it is finished, and then get another."
+
+"I am afraid the servants will soon give you notice if you do, Ella,"
+said Mrs. Hastings, laughing at her daughter's ideas of housekeeping.
+"You will soon get accustomed to the size of joints and puddings, if you
+get into the habit of noticing them, remembering how long they last. But
+there are two other pieces of advice which I want you to remember and to
+act upon. If your father decides that it is necessary for you to stay
+and act as mistress, he will tell the servants so; but you must assert
+yourself as mistress at once, and take everything into your own hands.
+You will find it rather difficult at first, but it will save you a great
+deal of trouble in the end. I have seen endless discomfort caused by
+young and timid housekeepers not liking to take the reins into their own
+hands. But, at the same time, be very careful never to interfere or
+complain, unless you are quite sure that it is necessary, and that you
+are in the right. If you are in any doubt you can always consult Mrs.
+Mobberly; and you must make allowances for the fact that the servants
+have always been allowed to do pretty much what they liked, and will
+naturally expect to continue doing so; therefore do not complain unless
+you have unmistakable grounds for it, and never, under any
+circumstances, speak hastily or angrily. If you are put out, wait till
+your vexation has cooled down a little; and then, if you are quite sure
+you are in the right, speak quietly and kindly, but so decidedly that
+there may be no mistake about your intention of being obeyed."
+
+"Oh, dear!" groaned Ella, who was almost reduced to tears at the
+prospect of such serious responsibility. "I am sure I shall come home
+ignominiously in a week. I know just how it will be. Just think of Aunt
+Mary's scorn when she finds I don't even know how to boil a potato!"
+
+There was no time for lamentations, however, and her mother and Kate
+both comforted her with the assurance that at any rate no one would
+blame her if she did her best, and they would expect a few mistakes from
+a girl only just home from school.
+
+The next morning, at any rate, Ella was punctual, and at eight o'clock
+they all sat down to breakfast.
+
+"I made tea for you, Ella," said Mrs. Hastings. "I thought it would be
+better for you before such a long journey. Coffee sometimes disagrees
+with people who are not very good travellers. And I advise you not to
+take bacon; it so often makes one thirsty. Here is potted meat; that
+would be better for you."
+
+Ella felt in very low spirits, and her mother's and Kate's affectionate
+kindness only brought the despised tears into her eyes. She could hardly
+touch her breakfast, and was relieved when Kate left the table, and
+began to look after the small articles of luggage.
+
+"Robin, did you strap up the rugs? Oh, what an untidy bundle!" and the
+methodical Kate unfastened the straps and rearranged the contents. First
+the large rug was folded lengthwise till it was just as wide as the
+length of the bundle should be when finished. Then came Ella's shawl, an
+awkward one for a neat roll, as it had long fringe; but Kate turned in
+the fringe all round first, and then folded the shawl itself till it was
+just a little narrower than the rug; the ulster was carefully folded
+also to the same size, and both were laid on one end of the rug.
+Finally, Ella's umbrella and sunshade were laid across the pile of
+wraps, and all were rolled round carefully, so that none of the articles
+inside protruded, and the rug, being longer than the others, hid all the
+ends, and, when strapped round just tightly enough to hold all together
+comfortably without unnecessary squeezing, it made such a neat-looking
+roll as compelled even Robin's admiration. Ella's travelling-cap had
+been inside the bundle before, but Kate took it out and advised her to
+carry it in her hand-bag, as being easily accessible if she did not wish
+to undo the strap.
+
+All was ready at last, the rugs, the hand-bag, and the tin trunk, to
+which at the last moment Kate came running to tie a piece of red braid,
+by which to distinguish it, making Ella and the boys laugh at what they
+called her "incurable old-maidishness."
+
+"Never mind," she replied, nodding sagely, "you will thank me when you
+have to hunt for your box amongst twenty others exactly like it."
+
+Kate had suggested going to the station to see them off, but her father
+objected.
+
+"We shall get on better alone," he argued. "We settle ourselves
+comfortably in our corners at once, unroll our rugs, and make everything
+ready before we start, instead of having to make spasmodic efforts to
+think of last remarks and messages. Of course, if Ella were going alone
+I should go to see her off, but as it is I would rather not have anyone
+with us."
+
+Mrs. Hastings thought this a rather hard-hearted way of looking at the
+matter; but as Ella quite agreed with her father, feeling convinced she
+could not be able to keep from crying if the farewells were too long
+protracted, there was nothing for it but to yield, and as soon as the
+cab came to the door the parting was hurried through, and, almost before
+she had time to realise that she was really going, Ella found herself
+halfway to the station.
+
+The railway journey was a long and troublesome one, involving several
+changes. Before midday Ella had recovered her spirits and her appetite,
+and acted on Kate's advice. "Do not wait for father to suggest lunch,"
+she had said; "you may be sure he will not begin to feel hungry till you
+are quite ravenous." Remembering this, Ella laughed to herself at Mr.
+Hastings's surprise when she suggested that she was ready for her lunch,
+and proceeded to unpack her stores.
+
+"This is the first course, I suppose," she said, as she produced two
+neat white-paper packages, each with the name of the contents written on
+it. "This one contains potted meat sandwiches, and these are chicken.
+They look very nice, too. These sprigs of watercress between the
+sandwiches are a great improvement."
+
+"Yes, I must confess they are very good ones," assented Mr. Hastings,
+after trying one of each kind. "I think someone must have been giving
+the cook a lecture on the art of cutting them. Home-made sandwiches have
+generally too much butter, so that they are too rich to eat, and the
+paper they are wrapped in is greasy and disagreeable; but these have
+just the right quantity, and they are made with suitable bread--not, as
+I have often had them, of spongy bread, full of holes, through which the
+butter and meat oozes on to one's fingers."
+
+In addition to these there were, for Ella's benefit, a few sandwiches
+made with damson jam, from which the stones had been extracted. The next
+course consisted of some small cakes and a few ripe pears. By way of
+beverage, Mrs. Hastings had supplied Ella with a flask of cold tea, made
+weak, and with a squeeze of lemon in it, which she had always found the
+best possible drink for quenching thirst; when travelling herself she
+always took either this or lime-juice and water. Finally, knowing that
+Ella had a good appetite, and would probably get very hungry before
+reaching her journey's end, her mother had told the cook to fill a small
+jam pot with lemon jelly, and to provide a teaspoon to eat it with. Ella
+found this most refreshing, and her lunch altogether was very
+satisfactory; certainly the supply was rather too bountiful, but that
+fact did not trouble her much, for she soon noticed a poor,
+hungry-looking boy on one of the stations, who thankfully accepted all
+that was left.
+
+In spite of the length of the journey, Ella quite enjoyed the day; her
+father was so kind and took such good care of her. He insisted on her
+getting out of the carriage and walking up and down the platform
+whenever the train stopped long enough, that she might not be tired of
+sitting still; and when it began to get dark he made her put her feet up
+on the seat and tucked her up with the rug, and made her so comfortable
+that, to her own great surprise, she went fast asleep, and only awoke as
+her father was collecting their books and wraps on nearing their
+destination.
+
+(_To be continued._)
+
+
+
+
+MERLE'S CRUSADE.
+
+BY ROSA NOUCHETTE CAREY, Author of "Aunt Diana," "For Lilias," etc.
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE NEW NURSE.
+
+In looking back on those days, I simply wonder at my own audacity. Am I
+really and truly the same Merle Fenton who rang at the bell at Prince's
+Gate and informed the astonished footman that I was the person applying
+for the nurse's situation? I recall that scene now with a laugh, but I
+frankly own that that moment was not the pleasantest in my life. True,
+it had its ludicrous side; but how is one to enjoy the humour of an
+amusing situation alone? and, to tell the truth, the six foot of plush
+and powder before me was somewhat alarming to my female timidity. I hear
+now the man's startled "I beg your pardon, ma'am."
+
+"I have come by appointment," I returned, with as much dignity as I
+could summon under the trying circumstances; "will you inform your
+mistress, Mrs. Morton, that I have come about the nurse's situation?"
+
+Of course, he was looking at me from head to foot. In spite of the
+disguising plainness of my dress, I suppose the word gentlewoman was
+clearly stamped upon me. Heaven forbid that under any circumstances
+that brand, sole heritage of my dead parents, should ever be effaced.
+Then he opened the door of a charming little waiting-room, and civilly
+enough bade me seat myself, and for some minutes I was left alone. I
+think nearly a quarter of an hour elapsed before he reappeared with the
+message that his mistress was now disengaged and would see me. I
+followed the man as closely as I could through the long hall and up the
+wide staircase; not for worlds would I have owned that a certain
+shortness of breath, unusual in youth, seemed to impede me. At the top,
+I found myself in a handsome corridor, communicating with two
+drawing-rooms of noble dimensions, as they call them in advertisements,
+and certainly it was a princely apartment that I entered. A lady was
+writing busily at a small table at the further end of the room. As the
+man spoke to her, she did not at once raise her head or turn round; she
+was evidently finishing a note. A minute later she laid aside her pen
+and came towards me.
+
+"I am sorry that I could not attend to you at once, and yet you were
+very punctual," she began, in a pleasant, well-modulated voice, and then
+she stopped and regarded me with unfeigned surprise.
+
+She was a very lovely young woman, with an indescribable matronly air
+about her that spoke of the mother. She would have been really quite
+beautiful but for a certain worn look, often seen in women of fashion;
+and when she spoke there was a sweetness and simplicity of manner that
+was most winning.
+
+"Pardon me," with a shade of perplexity in her eyes, "but I suppose my
+servant was right in stating that you had come by appointment in answer
+to my advertisement?"
+
+"Yes, madam," I returned, readily; for her slight nervousness put me at
+my ease. "I have your letter here."
+
+"And you are really applying for the nurse's situation--the upper nurse,
+I mean; for, of course, there is an under nurse kept. I hope" (colouring
+a little) "that you will not think me rude if I say that I was not
+prepared for the sort of person I was to see."
+
+I could have groaned as I thought of my note. Was it possible that I had
+spelt "advertisement" wrongly, and yet I had the paper before me; my
+handwriting was neat and legible, but evidently Mrs. Morton was drawing
+some comparison between my letter and appearance, and I did not doubt
+that the former had not prepossessed her in my favour.
+
+I became confused in my turn.
+
+"I hope to prove to you," I began, in a very small voice, "that I am a
+fit person to apply for your situation. I am very fond of children; I
+never lose my patience with them as other people do, or think anything a
+trouble; I wish to take up this work from love as well as necessity--I
+mean," correcting myself, for she looked still more astonished, "that
+though I am obliged to work for my living, I would rather be a nurse
+than anything else."
+
+"Will you answer a few questions?" and, as though by an afterthought,
+"will you sit down?" for she had been standing to keep me company out of
+deference to my superior appearance.
+
+"I will answer any question you like to put to me, madam."
+
+"You have never been in service you tell me in your letter. Have you
+ever filled any kind of situation?"
+
+I shook my head.
+
+"You are quite young I should say?"
+
+"Two and twenty last Christmas."
+
+"I should hardly have thought you so old. Will you oblige me with your
+name?"
+
+"Merle Fenton."
+
+A half smile crossed her beautiful mouth. It was evident that she found
+the name somewhat incongruous, and then she continued a little hastily,
+"If you have never filled any sort of situation, it will be somewhat
+difficult to judge of your capacity. Of course you have good references;
+can you tell me a little about yourself and your circumstances?"
+
+I was fast losing my nervousness by this time. In a few minutes I had
+given her a concise account of myself and my belongings. Once or twice
+she interrupted me by a question, such as, for example, when I spoke of
+Aunt Agatha, she asked the names of the families where she had lived as
+a governess; and once she looked a little surprised at my answer.
+
+"I knew the Curzons before I was married," she observed, quietly; "they
+have often talked to me of their old governess, Miss Fenton; her name is
+Keith now, you say; she was a great favourite with her pupils. Well, is
+it not a pity that you should not follow your aunt's example? If you are
+not clever, would not the situation of a nursery governess be more
+fitting for you? Forgive me; I am only speaking for your good; one feels
+a little uncomfortable at seeing a gentlewoman desert the ranks to which
+she belongs."
+
+My face was burning by this time; of course it must all come out--that
+miserable defect of mine, and everything else; but raising my eyes at
+that moment I saw such a kind look on Mrs. Morton's face, such quietly
+expressed sympathy for my very evident confusion, that in a moment my
+reserve broke down. I do not know what I said, but I believe I must have
+been very eloquent. I could hear her say to herself, "How very
+strange--what a misfortune!" when I frankly mentioned my inability to
+spell, but I did not linger long on this point.
+
+Warmed by her strong interest, I detailed boldly what I called my
+theory. I told her of my love for little children, my longing to work
+amongst them, how deeply I felt that this would indeed be a
+gentlewoman's work, that I did not fear my want of experience. I told
+her that once I had stayed for some weeks at the house of one of my
+schoolfellows, and that every night and morning I had gone up to the
+nursery to help the nurse wash and dress the babies, and that at the end
+of a week I had learned to do it as well as the woman herself, and that
+she had told my schoolfellow that she had never seen any young lady so
+handy and patient with children, and that they were happier with me than
+with their own sister.
+
+"The second child had the croup one night," I continued; "the mother was
+away, and nurse was too frightened to be of any use. When the doctor
+came he praised her very much for her prompt remedies; he said they had
+probably saved the boy's life, as the attack was a severe one. Nurse
+cried when he said that, and owned it was not she who had thought of
+everything, but Miss Fenton. I tell you this," I continued, "that you
+may understand that I am reliable. I was only nineteen then, and now I
+am two and twenty."
+
+She looked at me again in a gentle, scrutinising way; I could feel that
+I was making way in her good opinion. Her curiosity was piqued; her
+interest strongly excited. She made no attempt to check me as I launched
+out into further defence of my theory, but she only smiled and said,
+"Very true, I agree with you there," as I spoke of the advantage of
+having an educated person to superintend the nursery. Indeed, I found
+myself retailing all my pet arguments in a perfectly fearless way, until
+I looked up and saw there were tears in her beautiful brown eyes.
+
+"How well you talk," she said, with a sort of sigh. "You have thought it
+all out, I can see. I wonder what my husband would say. He is a member
+of Parliament, you know, and we are very busy people, and society has
+such claims on us that I cannot be much with my children. I have only
+two; Joyce is three years old, and my boy is nearly eighteen months. Oh,
+he is so lovely, and to think I can only see him for a few minutes at a
+time, that I lose all his pretty ways; it is such a trouble to me. His
+nurse is leaving to be married, and I am so anxious to find someone who
+will watch over my darlings and make them happy."
+
+She paused, as the sound of approaching footsteps were audible in the
+corridor, and rose hastily as an impatient, "Violet, where are you, my
+dear?" was distinctly audible.
+
+"That is Mr. Morton; will you excuse me a moment?" And the next moment I
+could hear her say, "I was in the blue drawing-room, Alick. I have sent
+off the letters, and now I want to speak to you a moment," and her voice
+died away as they moved farther down the corridor.
+
+I felt a keen anxiety as to the result of that conversation. I was very
+impulsive by nature, and I had fallen in love with Mrs. Morton. The worn
+look on the beautiful young face had touched me somehow. One of my queer
+visionary ideas came over me as I recalled her expression. I thought
+that if I were an artist, and that my subject was the "Massacre of the
+Innocents," that the mother's face in the foreground should be Mrs.
+Morton's. "Rachel Weeping for her Children;" something of the pathetic
+maternal agony, as for a lost babe, had seemed to cross her face as she
+spoke of her little ones. I found out afterwards that, though she wore
+no mourning, Mrs. Morton had lost a beautiful infant about four months
+ago. It had not been more than six weeks old, but the mother's heart was
+still bleeding. Many months afterwards she told me that she often
+dreamed of her little Muriel--she had only been baptised the day before
+her death--and woke trying to stifle her sobs that she might not disturb
+her husband. I sat cogitating this imaginary picture of mine, and
+shuddering over the sanguinary details, until Mrs. Morton returned, and,
+to my embarrassment, her husband was with her.
+
+I gave him a frightened glance as he crossed the room with rapid
+footsteps. He was a quiet-looking man, with a dark moustache, some years
+older than his wife. His being slightly bald added somewhat to his
+appearance of age. In reality he was not more than five and thirty. I
+thought him a little cool and critical in manner, but his voice was
+pleasant. He looked at me keenly as he spoke; it was my opinion at that
+moment that not an article of my dress escaped his observation. I had
+selected purposely a pair of mended gloves, and I am convinced the
+finger ends were at once under his inspection. He was a man who thought
+no details beneath him, but would bring his masculine intellect even to
+the point of discovering the fitness of his children's nurse.
+
+"Mrs. Morton tells me that you have applied for the situation of upper
+nurse," he began, not abruptly, but in the quick tones of a busy man who
+has scant leisure. "I have heard all you have told her; she seems
+desirous of testing your abilities, but I must warn you that I distrust
+theories myself. My dear," turning to his wife, "I must say that this
+young person looks hardly old enough for the position, and you own she
+has no real experience. Would not a more elderly person be more
+suitable, considering that you are so seldom in your nursery? Of course,
+this is your department, but since you ask my advice----" with a little
+shrug that seemed to dismiss me and the whole subject.
+
+A wistful, disappointed look came over his wife's face. I was too great
+a stranger to understand the real position of affairs, only my intuition
+guided me at that moment. It was not until much later that I found out
+that Mrs. Morton never disputed her husband's will, even in trifles;
+that he ordered the plan of her life as well as his own; that her
+passionate love for her children was restrained in order that her wifely
+and social duties should be carried out; that she was so perfectly
+obedient to him, not from fear, but from an excess of womanly devotion,
+that she seldom even contested an opinion. My fate was very nearly
+sealed at that moment, but a hasty impulse prompted me to speak. Looking
+Mr. Morton full in the face, I said, a little piteously, "Do not dismiss
+me because of my youth, for that is a fault that time will mend. Want of
+experience is a greater obstacle, but it will only make me more careful
+to observe every direction and carry out every wish. If you consent to
+try me, I am sure neither you nor Mrs. Morton will repent it."
+
+He looked at me very keenly again as I spoke; indeed, his eyes seemed to
+search me through and through, and then his whole manner changed.
+
+I have been told that Nature had been kind to me in one respect by
+endowing me with a pleasant voice. I believe that I was freer from
+vanity than most girls of my age, but I was glad in my inmost heart to
+know that no tone of mine would ever jar upon a human ear, but I was
+more than glad now when I saw Mr. Morton's grave face relax.
+
+"You speak confidently," he returned. "You seem to have a strange faith
+in your own theory, and plenty of self-reliance, but I am afraid that,
+like most young people, you have only regarded it from one point of
+view. Are you aware of the unpleasantness of such a situation? If you
+came to us you might have nothing of which to complain from Mrs. Morton
+or myself, but we could not answer for the rest of my household; the
+servants would regard you as a sort of hybrid, belonging to no special
+sphere; they might show you scant respect, and manifest a great deal of
+jealousy."
+
+"I have faced all that," I returned, with a smile, "but I think the
+difficulties would be like Bunyan's lions--they were chained, you know.
+I do not believe these sort of things would hurt me. I should never be
+away from the children in the nursery; I should be unmolested and at
+home."
+
+"Alick!" I could hear a whole petition breathed into that softly uttered
+word. Mr. Morton heard it too, for he turned at once and then looked at
+his wife.
+
+"Do you really wish to try this young person, Violet, my dear? It is for
+you to decide; this is your province, as I said before."
+
+"If she will love our children and watch over them in our absence," she
+whispered, but I caught the words. Then aloud, "Yes, thank you, Alick, I
+should like to try her. I think she would make Joyce happy. I can go and
+see Mrs. Keith this afternoon when I am out driving, and perhaps I could
+arrange for her to come soon."
+
+"Very well," he returned, briefly, but he spoke in the old dry manner,
+as though he were not quite pleased. "When you are disengaged will you
+join me in the library? I have some more letters I want copied."
+
+"I will be ready soon," she said, with a sweet grateful glance at him,
+as though she had received some unexpected bounty at his hands, and as
+he wished me good morning, and left the room, she continued, eagerly,
+"Will you come with me now and make acquaintance with the children. I
+have seen them already this morning, so they will not expect me, and it
+will be such a surprise. My little girl is always with me while I dress.
+I have so little time to devote to them; but I snatch every moment."
+
+She sighed as she spoke, and I began to understand, in a dim, groping
+sort of way, that fate is not so unequal after all, that even this
+beautiful creature had unsatisfied wants in her life, that it was
+possible that wealth and position were to her only tiresome barriers
+dividing her from her little ones. Her sweetest pleasures only came to
+her by snatches. Most likely she envied humble mothers, and did not pity
+them because their arms ached with carrying a heavy infant, aching limbs
+being more bearable than an aching heart.
+
+A flight of broad, handsomely-carpeted stairs brought us to a long
+shut-in corridor, fitted up prettily with plants and statuettes. A
+rocking-horse stood in one corner; the nursery door was open. It was a
+long, cheerful room, with three windows, looking over the public garden,
+and fitted up with a degree of comfort that bordered on luxury. Some
+canaries were singing in a green cage, a grey Persian kitten was curled
+up in the doll's bassinette, a little girl was kneeling on the cushioned
+window-seat, peeping between the bars at some children who were playing
+below. As Mrs. Morton said, softly, "Joyce, darling," she turned round
+with quite a startled air, and then clambered down hastily and ran to
+her mother.
+
+"Why, it is my mother," in quite an incredulous voice, and then she
+caught hold of her mother's gown, and peeped at me from between the
+folds.
+
+She was a pretty, demure-looking child, only somewhat thin and fragile
+in appearance, not in the least like her mother, but I could trace
+instantly the strongest resemblance to her father. She had the straight,
+uncurling hair like his, and her dark eyes were a little sunken under
+the finely-arched brows. It was rather a bewitching little face, only
+too thin and sallow for health, and with an intelligent expression,
+almost amounting to precocity.
+
+"And where is your brother, my darling?" asked her mother, stooping to
+kiss her, and at this moment a pleasant-looking young woman came from
+the inner room with a small, curly-haired boy in her arms.
+
+As she set him down on the floor, and he came toddling over the carpet,
+I forgot Mrs. Morton's presence, and knelt down and held out my arms to
+him. "Oh, you beauty!" I exclaimed, in a coaxing voice, "will you come
+to me?" for I quite forgot myself at the sight of the perfect baby
+features.
+
+Baby pointed a small finger at me, "O' ook, gurgle-da," he said, in the
+friendliest way; and I sealed our compact with many kisses.
+
+"Dear me, ma'am," observed nurse, eyeing me in a dubious manner, for
+probably the news of my advent had preceded me to the upper regions,
+"this is very singular; I never saw Master Baby take such a fancy to
+anyone before; he always beats them off with his dear little hand."
+
+"Gurgle-da, ook ook," was baby's unexpected response to this, as he
+burst into a shout of laughter, and he made signs for me to carry him to
+the canaries.
+
+I do not know what Mrs. Morton said to nurse, but she came up after a
+minute or two and watched us, smiling.
+
+"He does seem very friendly; more so than my shy pet here," for Joyce
+was still holding her mother's gown.
+
+"She will be friends with me too," I returned, confidently; "children
+are so easily won." And then, as Mrs. Morton held out her arms for her
+boy, I parted with him reluctantly.
+
+There was no need for me to stay any longer then. Mrs. Morton reiterated
+her intention of calling on Aunt Agatha that afternoon, after which she
+promised to speak to me again, and feeling that things were in a fair
+way of being settled according to my wishes, I left the house with a
+lighter heart than I had entered it.
+
+(_To be continued._)
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+AMONG THE HOLLYHOCKS.
+
+BY CLARA THWAITES.
+
+
+    Sing among the hollyhocks,
+      "Summer, fare thee well!"
+    Ring the drooping blossoms
+      For a passing bell.
+
+    Droop the sunflowers, heavy discs
+      Totter to their fall.
+    Up the valley creep the mists
+      For a funeral pall.
+
+    Lingering roses woefully
+      In the cold expire.
+    Heap the dead and dying
+      For a funeral pyre.
+
+    While the gale is sighing,
+      While the wind makes moan,
+    Sigh among the hollyhocks
+      Of the summer flown.
+
+[Illustration:
+    "SIGH AMONG THE HOLLYHOCKS
+      OF THE SUMMER FLOWN."]
+
+
+
+
+NOTICES OF NEW MUSIC.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+STANLEY LUCAS AND CO.
+
+_O, hur vidgas ej ditt broest. Liebe, liebe._ Two Lieder. By Maude V.
+White.--The first, from the Swedish, has also an English set of words;
+the setting of the second is in German only, being a translation into
+that language from the Hungarian.--There is a dreamy charm pervading
+both of these little ballads, which will be best appreciated by truly
+musical and well-educated singers.
+
+_Two Locks of Hair._ Song to Longfellow's poetry. By Sabine E.
+Barwell.--Very simple. The music is dedicated to Charles Santley, our
+great baritone singer.
+
+_Alone with thee._ Song by Gilbert R. Betjemann. Compass E to F
+sharp.--An ambitious song, full of striking modulations and really
+dramatic effects. The accompaniments are charming.
+
+_Ivy Green._ A good song for basses or baritones. The words by Charles
+Dickens, the music by Arthur C. Stericker.--Plenty of go about it, and
+quite the song for strong, manly voices.
+
+_Wandering Wishes._ Poetry by Lady Charlotte Elliot (from "Medusa" and
+other poems). Music by Robert B. Addison.--A very poetical setting of a
+very fanciful poem.
+
+_Our Darling._ Ballad by Robert Reece, with music by Berthold
+Tours.--This justly favourite composer has written the simplest, most
+touching, and melodious music to a very touching and sad story. It is a
+compliment to this ballad to recommend it to all who wish for a good
+cry. It has this advantage over the maudlin griefs of the discontented
+folk to whom we have called attention in previous notices, that the poor
+bereaved parents who miss their little darling from the chair in which
+he used to listen to their fairy stories and tales of distant lands over
+the sea, are content to regard him as at rest in the heavenly country,
+and in the angels' care. After all, if you do get the song, your tears
+will be happy ones.
+
+
+EDWIN ASHDOWN.
+
+_Inez._ _Zamora._ Two Spanish dances for the pianoforte by Michael
+Watson.--The first is a Habanera, and is redolent of _Carmen_ and
+Spanish want of energy. It is more characteristic than the second,
+although that is a very good reproduction of the typical peasant dance
+of all districts of the Peninsula.
+
+_Daphne._ Valse brillante. _Celadon._ Gavotte. Two drawing-room pieces
+of more than ordinary merit by J. H. Wallis.--Fairly easy to learn, and
+effective when learnt.
+
+_May-Dew._ By Sir Sterndale Bennett; transcribed for the pianoforte by
+Jules Brissac.--We complained a few months back of someone having
+converted this lovely song into a part-song; we can only say of the
+present transformation, that when the voice part is at work all goes
+fairly well, and from a piano point of view represents the original; but
+the two bars of symphony before the first and second verses of the song
+are stripped of all their original life, and a very mangled substitute
+is offered.
+
+
+LONDON MUSIC PUBLISHING CO.
+
+_The Broken Strings of a Mandoline._ Words and music by Edith Frances
+Prideaux.--The story of a little Italian street-player. The compass is
+for sopranos; the melody is simple and not very original.
+
+_Sketches in Dance Rhythms._ 1. Waltz; 2. Minuet; 3. Tarantella. By
+Erskine Allon.--We have before alluded to these sketches, of which Mr.
+Allon has composed such excellent examples. We prefer No. 1 of the
+present series, but do not consider these to be equal to former numbers.
+
+
+WEEKES AND CO.
+
+_Abendlied._ _Im Rosenbusch._ Two songs by J. H. le Breton Girdlestone;
+the words, by Hoffman von Fallersleben, being translated into English by
+Dr. Baskerville.--Most interesting little songs, and sure to give
+pleasure by their sweet simplicity.
+
+_Andante._ Varied for the pianoforte, and composed by Henry A. Toase. A
+very quiet, harmless production. Only three variations, and those not so
+much of the andante as of its accompaniment.
+
+
+J. AND J. HOPKINSON.
+
+_Intermezzo and Minuet for Pianoforte._ By George A. Lovell.--Two very
+nicely-written little pieces. The minuet is especially attractive.
+
+_Barcarole for Pianoforte._ By Carl Hause.--A good drawing-room piece.
+The middle movement in F minor makes an effective contrast to the first
+part.
+
+
+HUTCHINGS AND ROMER.
+
+_The Little Sweep._ Song. Written and composed by James C. Beazley,
+R.A.M.--There is no such title as R.A.M. A.R.A.M. and M.R.A.M. we know,
+but we must protest against this unlawful use of the name of our oldest
+academy of music. The song is a stirring and dramatic account of how a
+lost child was recovered by his mother. It is to be declaimed by a
+contralto.
+
+
+HUTCHINGS AND CO.
+
+_The Christian's Armour._ Oratorio. By Joseph L. Roeckel; the text
+compiled by Mrs. Alexander Roberts from Ephesians vi.; interspersed with
+hymns from several sources.--A useful work for services of song or
+chapel festivities. There is a sameness about the work, and it suggests
+a weary feeling towards the close. The choruses are mostly rather weak
+chorale. Occasionally an evidently fugal subject is announced, which is
+never destined to form the subject for a fugue. However, the story is
+well put together, the music is quite easy, and many choirs, unable to
+conquer greater difficulties, will feel at home in this so-called
+"oratorio."
+
+_Six Morceaux de Salon._ Pour violin, avec accompagnement de piano. Par
+Guido Papini. Op. 66.--The author of "La Mecanisme du jeune Violiniste"
+has given us in these little pieces a charming addition to the
+_repertoire_ of the amateur violinist. Specially tender and expressive
+is No. 4. The piano shares with the violin both the difficulties and the
+interests of each of the _morceaux_.
+
+_Victoria Gavotte._ For piano. By Tito Mattei.--A capital piano piece.
+We presume from the title that this is Signor Mattei's contribution to
+the Jubilee Commemoration.
+
+
+ROBERT COCKS AND CO.
+
+_Gladys._ Rustic Dance. Composed for the pianoforte by Howard Talbot.--A
+bright, telling piece. It would be very useful as an _entr'acte_ in your
+Christmas charades.
+
+_For Old Sake's Sake._ Song for contraltos. By Behrend.
+
+
+W. MORLEY AND CO.
+
+_Watching the Embers._ Song. Composed by Ciro Pinsuti to Weatherly's
+words.--With a pretty refrain, but for the most part made up of a series
+of common phrases. It is to be obtained in B flat, C, and D minors.
+
+_Childie._ Song. By Behrend. Published in keys to suit all voices.--The
+song is very similar to all his others. An old lady advising a child to
+die young.
+
+_The Biter Bit._ Song. Words and music by Henry Pontet.--A warning to
+any who would marry for money, and not for love. In learning the above
+three songs I am sure that singers will be as much distracted as I have
+been by little squares like lottery coupons announcing that somebody
+else's song cost L250. If this statement could appear elsewhere--say on
+separate slips--the songs would be more pleasant to read.
+
+
+HENRY KLEIN.
+
+_The Land of Song._ Song for tenors and sopranos by that clever
+composer, Franz Leideritz. Not so original as "Flowers from Home," the
+memory of which still delights us.
+
+
+ORSBORN AND TUCKWOOD.
+
+_Sailing Across the Sea._ Song. By Vernon Rey.--Prettily told and easy
+to learn.
+
+_Merry Melodies._ A series of duets for two violins for schools and
+classes, arranged by Arthur Graham. We see from the title-page that
+there are to be arrangements of the works of eminent composers, but the
+names are not given.
+
+
+W. J. WILLCOCKS AND CO.
+
+_Offertoire and Fugue in B flat._ _Grand Offertoire, founded upon
+subjects in Schumann's Quintet, op. 44._--These are two finely-written
+organ solos by George F. Vincent. Valuable additions to our stock of
+English organ music.
+
+
+MARRIOTT AND WILLIAMS.
+
+_Twenty Miles to London Town._ Song. Written and composed by Gerald M.
+Lane.--Mr. Lane is more fortunate in his music than in his words. The
+ballad--for genuine English ballad it is--is of the "Bailiff's Daughter
+of Islington" type, and is published in F, G, and A.
+
+_Captor and Captive._ A song of Araby. By Edwin J. Quance.--A good
+stirring song for baritones.
+
+
+BOWERMAN AND CO.
+
+_Deuxieme Nocturne pour Piano._ Par G. J. Rubini.--An unpretending piano
+piece of the Gustave Lange type.
+
+
+
+
+EXPLANATION OF FRENCH AND OTHER TERMS USED IN MODERN COOKERY.
+
+PART I.
+
+
+_Allemande._--Concentrated white veloute (see veloute) sauce, seasoned
+with nutmeg and lemon juice, and thickened with yolks of eggs and cream.
+
+_Angelica._--A plant, the stalks of which are preserved with sugar; as
+it retains its green colour it is pretty for ornamenting sweet dishes,
+cakes, etc.
+
+_Appareil._--This word is applicable to a preparation composed of
+various ingredients, as appareil de gateau (mixture for a cake).
+
+_Aspic._--Name given to clear savoury jelly, to distinguish it from
+sweet jelly. Cold entrees, which are moulded and have the ingredients
+set in jelly, are also called aspics.
+
+_Assiette volante._--A small dish (holding no more than a plate) which
+is handed round the table without ever being placed on it. Things that
+must be eaten very hot are often served in this way. Little savouries,
+foie-gras, or cheese fondus in paper cases are thus handed.
+
+_Au bleu._--An expensive way of boiling fish. A broth is made by boiling
+three onions, two carrots, two turnips, some parsley, pepper, salt,
+sufficient water, a tumbler of white wine, and a tumbler of vinegar
+together; the scum is removed as it rises, the fish is simmered in the
+broth. This broth is called Court bouillon. Fish cooked thus is eaten
+hot or cold, with suitable sauce.
+
+_Baba._--A Polish cake of a very light description.
+
+_Bain marie._--A sort of bath-saucepan, which stands on a stove with hot
+water in it, and has small bright saucepans stood in the water for the
+contents to cook slowly without reducing or spoiling them. A bain marie
+has no cover.
+
+_Bande._--The strip of paste that is put round tart; sometimes the word
+is also applied to a strip of paper or bacon.
+
+_Barde de lard._--A slice of bacon. To barder a bird is to fasten a
+slice of bacon over it.
+
+_Bechamel sauce._--Equal quantities of veloute sauce and cream boiled
+together. The sauce was named after a celebrated cook.
+
+_Beignets._--Fritters.
+
+_Beurre noir._--Butter stirred in a frying-pan over a brisk fire until
+it is brown, then lemon-juice or vinegar, and pepper and salt are added
+to it.
+
+_Beurre fondus._--Melted, that is to say oiled, butter.
+
+_Bigarade sauce._--Melted butter, with the thin rind and the juice of a
+Seville orange boiled in it.
+
+_Blanch._--To parboil or scald. To whiten meat or poultry, or remove the
+skins of fruit or vegetables by plunging them into boiling water, and
+then sometimes putting them into cold water afterwards, as almonds are
+blanched.
+
+_Blanquette._--A kind of fricassee.
+
+_Boudin._--A very delicate entree prepared with quenelle forcemeat or
+with fine mince.
+
+_Bouquet garni._--A handful of parsley, a sprig of thyme, a small bay
+leaf, and six green onions, tied securely together with strong thread.
+
+_Bouilli._--Boiled meat; but fresh beef, well boiled, is generally
+understood by this term.
+
+_Bouillie._--A sort of hasty pudding. Bouillie-au-lait is flour and milk
+boiled together.
+
+_Bouillon._--Thin broth or soup.
+
+_Braise._--To stew meat that has been previously blanched, very slowly
+with bacon or other fat, until it is tender.
+
+_Braisiere._--A saucepan with a lid with a rim to it, on which lighted
+charcoal can be put.
+
+_Brider._--To put thin string or thread through poultry, game, etc., to
+keep it in shape.
+
+_Brioche._--A sort of light cake, rather like Bath bun, but not sweet,
+having as much salt as sugar in it.
+
+_Brandy butter._--Fresh butter, sugar, and brandy beaten together to a
+cream.
+
+_Caramel._--Made by melting a little loaf sugar in a saucepan, and as
+soon as it is brown, before it burns, adding some water to it. Sometimes
+used as a colouring for stews. Made into a syrup by adding more sugar
+after the water, it is a very good pudding sauce.
+
+_Casserole._--A stew-pan. The name given to a crust of rice moulded in
+the shape of a pie, then baked with mince or a puree of game in it.
+
+_Cerner._--Is to cut paste half way through with a knife or cutter, so
+that part can be removed when cooked to make room for something else.
+
+_Charlotte._--Consists of very thin slices of bread, steeped in oiled
+butter, and placed in order in a mould, which is then filled with fruit
+or preserve.
+
+_Chartreuse of vegetables._--Consists of vegetables tastefully arranged
+in a plain mould, which is then filled with either game, pigeons, larks,
+tendons, scollops, or anything suitably prepared.
+
+_Chartreuse a la Parisienne._--An ornamental dish made principally with
+quenelle forcemeat, and filled with some kind of ragout, scollops, etc.
+
+_Chausse._--A jelly bag.
+
+_Compote._--Fruits preserved in syrup. Apple and any other kind of fruit
+jelly. This term is also used to designate some savoury dishes, prepared
+with larks, quails, or pigeons, with truffles, mushrooms, or peas.
+
+_Consomme._--Strong and clear broth used as a basis for many soups and
+gravies.
+
+_Conti_ (_potage_). Lentil soup.
+
+_Contise._--Small scollops of truffles; red tongue, or other things that
+are with a knife inlaid in fillets of any kind to ornament them, are
+said to be contises.
+
+_Court bouillon._--See _au bleu_.
+
+_Croquettes._--A preparation of minced or pounded meat, or of potatoes
+or rice, with a coating of bread-crumbs. Croquettes means something
+crisp.
+
+_Croquantes._--Fruit with sugar boiled to crispness.
+
+_Croustades._--An ornamental pie-case, sometimes made of shaped bread,
+and filled with mince, etc.
+
+_Croutons._--Sippets of bread fried in butter; used to garnish. They are
+various sizes and shapes; sometimes served with soups.
+
+_Cuilleree._--A spoonful. In most French recipes I have found ten
+spoonfuls equal to a quarter of a pint of fluid.
+
+_Cuisson._--The name given to the liquid in which anything has been
+cooked.
+
+_Dariole._--A sort of cake served hot. The name of small round moulds in
+which various little cakes are baked or puddings steamed.
+
+_Daubiere._--An oval stew-pan in which daubes are cooked. Daubes are
+meat or fowl stewed in sauce.
+
+_Degorger._--To soak in water for a longer or shorter time.
+
+_Des._--Very small square dice.
+
+_Desosser._--To bone; to remove the bones from fish, meat, game, or
+poultry.
+
+_Dorer._--To paint the surface of tarts or cakes with a brush, with egg
+or sugar, so that they may be glazed when cooked.
+
+_Dorure._--The glaze one uses for pastry; sometimes beaten white of egg,
+sometimes yolk of egg and cold water, sometimes sugar only.
+
+_Entrees._--A name for side dishes, such as cutlets, fricassees,
+fricandeaux, sweetbreads, etc.
+
+_Entrees_ (cold).--Consist of cutlets, fillets of game, poultry, &c.;
+salads of various kinds, aspics, ham, and many other things.
+
+_Entremets._--Second course side dishes. They are of four kinds--namely,
+cold entrees, dressed vegetables, scalloped shellfish, or dressed eggs,
+and lastly, sweets of any kind, puddings, jellies, creams, fritters,
+pastry, etc.
+
+_Escalopes._--Collops; small round pieces of meat or fish, beaten with a
+steak beater before they are cooked, to make them tender.
+
+_Espagnole._--Rich, strong stock made with beef, veal and ham, flavoured
+with vegetables, and thickened with brown roux. This and veloute are the
+two main sauces from which nearly all others are made. The espagnole for
+brown, the veloute for white.
+
+_Etamine._--See Tammy.
+
+_Etuver._--To stew meat with little moisture, and over a very slow fire,
+or with hot cinders over and under the saucepan.
+
+_Faggot._--A bouquet garni.
+
+_Fanchonettes and florentines._--Varieties of small pastry, covered with
+white of egg and sugar.
+
+_Faire tomber a glace._--Means to boil down stock or gravy until it is
+as thick as glaze, and is coloured brown.
+
+_Farce._--Is ordinary forcemeat, such as is used for raised pies.
+
+_Feuil etage._--Very light puff paste.
+
+_Flamber._--To singe fowls and game after they have been plucked.
+
+_Flans._--A flan is made by rolling a piece of paste out rather larger
+than the tin in which it is to be baked, then turning up the edge of the
+paste to form a sort of wall round. Flans are filled with fruit or
+preserve, and baked.
+
+_Foncer._--To put slices of ham or bacon in the bottom of a saucepan, to
+line a mould with raw paste, or to put the first layer of anything in a
+mould--it may be a layer of white paper.
+
+_Fontaine._--A heap of flour with a hollow in the middle, into which to
+pour the water.
+
+_Fondu._--Or fondue. A cheese souffle.
+
+_Fricandeau._--Fillets of poultry or the best pieces of veal, neatly
+trimmed, larded, and well glazed, with their liquor reduced to glaze.
+They are served as entrees.
+
+_Fricassee._--A white stew, generally made with chicken and white sauce,
+to which mushrooms or other things may be added.
+
+_Fraiser._--A way of handling certain pastry to make it more compact and
+easier to work.
+
+_Fremir_, _frissonner._--To keep a liquid just on the boil--what is
+called simmering.
+
+_Galette._--A broad flat cake.
+
+_Gateau._--Cake. This word is also used for some kinds of tarts, and for
+different puddings. A gateau is also made of pig's liver; it is
+therefore rather difficult to define what a "gateau" is.
+
+_Gaufres._--Or wafers. Light spongy biscuits cooked in irons over a
+stove.
+
+_Glacer._--To glaze; to brush hot meat or poultry over with concentrated
+meat gravy or sauce, so that it shall have a brown and shiny appearance.
+Glaze can be bought in skins. Glacer, in confectionery, means to ice
+pastry or fruit with sugar.
+
+_Gniocchi._--Small balls of paste made with flour, eggs, and cheese to
+put into soup.
+
+_Gramme._--A French weight. An ounce avoirdupois is nearly equal to
+thirty grammes.
+
+_Gras._--Made with meat and fat.
+
+_Gratins_ (_au_).--Term applied to certain dishes of fish, game,
+poultry, vegetables, and macaroni dressed with rich sauces, and
+generally finished with bread-crumbs or bread-raspings over the top.
+
+_Gratiner._--Is to brown by heat, almost burn.
+
+_Grenadins._--Similar to a fricandeau, but smaller; grenadins are served
+with vegetable purees.
+
+(_To be continued._)
+
+
+
+
+THE SHEPHERD'S FAIRY.
+
+A PASTORALE.
+
+BY DARLEY DALE, Author of "Fair Katherine," etc.
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+DAME HURSEY THE WOOLGATHERER.
+
+[Illustration: "HE STRUCK ACROSS UNBEATEN PATHS."]
+
+
+When John Smith, as for reasons of his own he called himself, left
+Pierre, he pulled his hat well over his eyes and started off across the
+downs in the direction of Lewes. He knew the country well, and partly on
+this account, partly because he did not wish to be recognised, he struck
+across unbeaten paths, where he was not likely to meet anyone, avoiding
+the high roads as much as he could, and travelling as near as possible
+as the crow flies, over downs and meadows to the village he was seeking.
+It was a good six miles, and he had neither time nor inclination to
+pause and look at the scenery around him, so full of charm to those who
+live among it, so repellent at first to the stranger's eye, which has
+not been educated to notice the various tints and colours which sweep
+over the soft rounded outlines of those purple downs, but is at once
+caught by the grey hollows of the hills and the patches of white chalk
+which peep out every here and there on the steeps, and at a distance
+look like the perpetual snow of Alpine regions. The scenery of the
+Sussex Downs is like the Sussex people in this respect--it requires to
+be well known to be thoroughly appreciated; cold and reserved at first,
+it is only on better acquaintance you learn the sterling worth, the
+truth, the real kindness of heart, and the hospitality which
+characterise the Sussex people. And the downs themselves will not yield
+all their beauty at once; you must live among them to thoroughly know
+and love them; cold and grey and monotonous as they look at first, in
+the autumn especially, you will see what a variety of colours they can
+show when the fields are golden with corn, and the downs themselves
+richly dotted with wild flowers, and the clouds cast fleeting shadows
+over the slopes, and the purple and green of the nearer hills melt away
+into delicate blues and rosy greys in the distance. And then in winter
+the clouds play such tricks with the soft rounded hills and their white
+chalk sides, which chalk will reveal itself in all its nakedness every
+here and there, that it is often easy to imagine yourself in
+Switzerland, and difficult exceedingly to tell where the downs end and
+the clouds begin, so softly have they blended together, those grey
+clouds, those white and purple downs. No, the downs are not monotonous
+to those who look with careful eyes, at least, though the casual
+observer may see nothing in them but multitudes of sheep. Unique they
+may be, unlike the rest of England they certainly are, but not
+monotonous. And then the dales, with the villages nestling in the
+bottom, are so picturesque, and the green pastures, separated by dykes,
+have a homelike appearance, with the small black Sussex cattle with
+their long white horns, at least to a Sussex eye.
+
+Over some of these meadows the carpenter, with the little French baby in
+his arms, now made his way. Hitherto he had been lucky and had met no
+one, but now he was approaching a village a few miles from Lewes, which,
+for the purposes of this story, we will call Bournemer, and though the
+sun had set, it was still too light for him to risk being recognised, so
+he still kept to the fields, which he could the more easily do, as the
+house he sought was nearly a mile from the village. At last he saw it
+standing in the next field with a clump of trees on one side of it; it
+was little more than a cottage, though from the sheds adjoining it might
+have been taken for a small farmhouse; it was sheltered from the north
+by the down at the foot of which it lay, its red roof telling well
+against the soft grey background in the evening light. It faced the
+field, the road at the foot of the down running at the back of it, and
+already there was a light in one of the lower rooms; the front door was
+closed, but the gate of the field was open, details which the carpenter
+took in at a glance, and interpreted to mean that the shepherd was gone
+to fold his sheep for the night, and his wife was at home awaiting his
+return to supper.
+
+"He will be back soon. I must be quick; now is my time," said the
+carpenter to himself, making his way towards the house by the clump of
+trees, which afforded him a little shelter. Here he paused for a few
+minutes, and, after listening intently, put the baby on the ground while
+he took off his shoes. Then, picking it up, he crept quickly and
+noiselessly across the path towards the front door, on the step of which
+he laid his burden, and then crept back to the trees, where he put on
+his shoes, and with the purse which Leon had given him for the baby's
+maintenance in his pocket, he made his way back to the boat on the
+beach, congratulating himself on the success of his scheme. No one, he
+argued, was any the worse for it, while he was one thousand francs the
+better. He had wronged no one, as the baby was sure to be well taken
+care of. John Shelley was certain to take it in, and would probably
+think the Lord had sent it to him, and, with a chuckle over the
+shepherd's simplicity, he went his way.
+
+The baby was asleep when he deposited it on the doorstep, but it woke
+shortly after, and began to cry lustily for food, but the doors and
+windows being all closed, its wailing did not penetrate to the inside of
+the house. But before the carpenter had been gone half an hour footsteps
+approached the house, and the shepherd and his dog entered the gate of
+the field in which it stood. A fine, big, handsome man looked this
+shepherd as he paused to fasten the gate; about thirty years old, fair,
+with a florid complexion, blue eyes, and a long, yellowish beard, a face
+more remarkable for its kindly good humour than for its intelligence. He
+was dressed in a long smock, and he carried a crook, so that there was
+no mistaking his occupation, of which, by the way, he was very proud;
+his father and his grandfather and their fathers and grandfathers had
+been shepherds before him for many generations, and that he should ever
+be anything else than a shepherd was the last idea likely to enter John
+Shelley's mind. A shepherd by birth and education, he followed his
+calling with an ardour which would have amounted to passion in a warmer
+temperament. His sheep were his first thought on waking, his last as he
+closed his eyes at night, and he understood them and their ways
+thoroughly. The life suited him exactly; it might be a lonely life,
+wandering for hours on the downs without meeting a living creature day
+after day, except, perhaps, occasionally a neighbouring shepherd, but he
+was used to it. It might be an anxious life, especially in lambing time,
+but he was lucky, and rarely lost any lambs. It might be a dangerous
+life sometimes in the winter fogs, rambling about on the hills with the
+risk of falling into a chalk pit and breaking his neck, but he was
+always too anxious about his sheep when overtaken by a fog to think of
+his own danger. Then the wages were good, and the same all the year
+round, with the chance of making some extra money in the shearing
+season, and so much a head on each lamb that he reared; and to all
+intents and purposes he was his own master, for the farmer to whom the
+sheep belonged entrusted the management of the flock entirely to him.
+
+But while the shepherd was fastening the gate the dog ran to the baby,
+whose cry had reached his quick ears before it did his master's, and
+having sniffed all round it, he set up some short, quick barks, and ran
+back to the shepherd, calling his attention to the baby as plainly as
+his inability to speak would allow him.
+
+"What is it, Rover? what is it? Down, sir, it is only the baby crying;
+the window must be open," said the shepherd, as he approached the house,
+but Rover, as if to contradict his master, ran up to the bundle on the
+doorstep, and barked louder than ever.
+
+John Shelley took longer to take in the fact that an infant was lying
+crying on his doorstep than his dog had done. He stooped and looked, and
+took off his hat to rub his head thoughtfully and stimulate his brain
+that he might grasp the idea, and then he stooped again, and this time
+picked up the baby, and throwing open the door of the large kitchen,
+with its sanded floor of red bricks, stood on the threshold, holding out
+the wailing child, and saying--
+
+"Look here, Polly, see what I have found on the doorstep."
+
+Mrs. Shelley, who was sitting working, with her foot on a cradle which
+she was rocking gently to and fro, more from habit, since the baby was
+asleep, than for any real reason, looked up and saw in her husband's
+arms a bundle wrapped in a red shawl embroidered with gold.
+
+"What is it, John?" she asked; but a cry from the bundle answered the
+question, and she sprang to her husband's side in astonishment.
+
+She was a tall, good-looking woman, five or six years younger than the
+shepherd, with brown hair and eyes, and a rich colour in her cheeks,
+which came and went when she was excited; a bright intelligent face,
+not beautiful, scarcely handsome in repose, but which at times was so
+animated that she often passed for a very pretty woman.
+
+"Give it to me. Oh, John! John! where can it have come from? The dear
+little creature! And see what lovely things it has? Only look at this
+satin quilt in which it is wrapped, and, see, John, a toy of coral with
+gold bells! My pretty one, hush! hush! hush!" And Mrs. Shelley rocked
+the child in her arms; but her astonishment and admiration got the
+better of her motherly instinct for a moment, and she proceeded with her
+examination of its clothes. "Its nightdress is the finest cambric and
+trimmed with real lace, and see this exquisite handkerchief tucked in
+for a feeder; look! there is a coronet on it, John. I verily believe the
+'Pharisees,' as the children say, brought it. Do go and see if there is
+a fairy ring in the meadow, then I shall be sure they did!"
+
+Now, Sussex peasants--shepherds, especially--were very superstitious in
+the days in which this baby was found, and both John Shelley and his
+wife half believed that the fungus rings, so often found on the downs,
+were made by the fairies, or "Pharisees," as they called them. So,
+partly to see if he could find any further clue to the child, partly to
+look for the fungus ring, John Shelley took a lantern and went out to
+explore the premises.
+
+As soon as he was gone, Mrs. Shelley, who was an impulsive woman, gave
+the little stranger the supper that by right belonged to her own infant.
+
+[Illustration: A VISIT FROM DAME HURSEY.]
+
+"My boy is stronger than this little fragile creature, and he must wait
+till I have fed it," she said to herself. "Poor little mite, I don't
+believe it has been undressed for days, its beautiful dress is so dirty.
+I shall have time to bathe it and put it on some of Charlie's clean
+things before John comes in to his supper."
+
+And as John was very slow and deliberate in all his actions, and his
+wife very quick in all hers, by the time he came back the little
+stranger was washed and dressed, and fed, and sleeping quietly in the
+cradle, while Mrs. Shelley nursed her own boy.
+
+"Well, John, have you found any fairy rings?"
+
+"No, Polly; no, I can't make it out at all; it is very odd--very odd
+indeed. I can't think where the child came from," said John, shaking his
+head, slowly. "I don't believe the fairies brought it, though," he
+added, after a pause.
+
+"Who do you think did, then?" asked Mrs. Shelley, quickly.
+
+"I don't know who brought it, but I tell you what, Polly, I believe God
+sent it and means us to take care of it."
+
+"Take care of it! Why, of course we must, John. You don't suppose I
+dreamt of sending it to the workhouse, do you? Little darling! Why, it
+is the very thing we have been longing for, a little girl; it shall be
+Charlie's foster-sister. All I hope is, whoever brought it will let us
+keep it. I love it already!"
+
+"But, Polly, it isn't our child. We must take care of it, of course, for
+to-night, but you will have to go to Parson Leslie to-morrow and ask him
+what we ought to do to find out who it belongs to."
+
+"Indeed, and I shall do no such thing," said Mrs. Shelley, hastily.
+
+But the shepherd was master in his own home, and announced decidedly--
+
+"Then I must go to-night, late as it is."
+
+"And knock the parson up? It will be eleven o'clock before you get
+there. Sit down and get your supper, do, John, and we can talk about
+consulting him to-morrow."
+
+"That won't do, Polly; either I must go to the rector to-night or you
+must promise to go to-morrow. Which is it to be?"
+
+"There never was such a pig-headed man as you. If you set your mind on a
+thing there is no turning you. I suppose I shall have to go, or you'll
+be rushing off now, and I want my supper. One thing I am sure of, John,
+and that is, the baby belongs to rich people, and, I think, to some
+nobleman, for all the things have a coronet on them, and its clothes are
+all so fine."
+
+"Is there no name on any of them?"
+
+"No, nor anything to give us the least idea who the child is. It has
+evidently been accustomed to luxury, though, and somehow I fancy it is a
+foreign child. I never saw any baby's clothes made as these are," said
+Mrs. Shelley.
+
+A foreign child was an idea John Shelley could not accept so suddenly.
+His slow phlegmatic mind could not travel beyond his own
+country--scarcely beyond the Sussex downs.
+
+"More likely to be one of the quality's children. They don't make their
+clothes as we do, I expect; but if you show Mr. Leslie that coronet he
+may be able to make something of it."
+
+And so it was arranged that Mrs. Shelley should go the next day and
+consult the rector about their new-found treasure; but she fully made up
+her mind to use all the eloquence in her power to persuade Mr. Leslie to
+convince John it was plainly their duty to keep the baby which had been
+so mysteriously brought to them until its rightful owners claimed it.
+
+The next morning John Shelley was up betimes, as, indeed, he always was;
+but it was shearing time, and he was unusually busy, and it was,
+moreover, Saturday, and he hoped, with the help of the men who went
+round the country shearing in the month of June, to finish his flock
+that evening, so taking his breakfast and dinner with him, he told Mrs.
+Shelley not to expect him back till the evening. Across the dewy meadows
+in the fresh June morning, the loveliest part of the day, went John
+Shelley, startling a skylark every now and then from the ground, from
+whence it rose carolling forth its matin song, gently at first, but
+louder and louder as it sprang higher and higher, until lost to sight,
+its glorious song still audible, though John Shelley was too much
+occupied with his own thoughts, and, perhaps, too much accustomed to the
+singing of the lark, to pay much attention to it. Even his dogs, Rover
+and Snap, failed to wake him from his meditation, until he reached the
+meadow where he had folded his sheep for the night, and then every
+thought, except whether the sheep were all safe, vanished from his mind
+as he stood counting them. A few words to the dogs explained his wishes
+that the shorn sheep were to be driven out and the unshorn left in the
+fold for the present; and then, after a great deal of barking on the
+part of the dogs, and shouting from the shepherd, and rushing and
+scrambling on the part of the sheep, their bells jingling a not
+unmusical accompaniment to the thrushes and blackbirds, which were
+pouring out their morning song in the adjoining copse, this manoeuvre
+was effected, and John led his shorn flock to the downs, walking in
+front with his crook in his hand, while the dogs brought up the rear,
+yelping and barking at the heels of any erring sheep that strayed
+outside the flock.
+
+The shepherd was a man who concentrated all his thoughts on the business
+he had on hand, and as he led his sheep to the down on which he meant to
+leave them to the care of the dogs for the day, he was making a nice
+calculation of how long it would take him and his assistants to finish
+the shearing, when, just as he was about to leave the sheep, he was
+accosted by an old woman. She was tall, thin, with a slight stoop, a
+hooked nose, bright black eyes, and rough, crisp, grizzly hair, which
+gave her rather a witch-like appearance; nor did the bonnet perched on
+the top of her head, its crown in the air, tend to dispel this notion.
+She had a knotted stick in one hand, and a basket with some pieces of
+wool off the sheeps' backs which she had collected from the bushes in
+the other. It was Dame Hursey, the wool-gatherer, well known to John
+Shelley and every other shepherd in the neighbourhood, with all of whom
+she often had a gossip, and celebrated in the district as the mother of
+an unfortunate son, a fine, promising young sailor, who, having been
+convicted of robbery some years ago, and served a long sentence in Lewes
+gaol, had never been heard of since, unless his mother was in his
+confidence.
+
+A great gossip was Dame Hursey; she always knew all that went on in the
+neighbourhood, for she led a wandering, restless life, never at home
+except at night, sticking and wool-gathering in the autumn and winter,
+haymaking and gleaning in the summer, gossiping, whenever she had a
+chance, at all seasons. If anyone were likely to know anything about
+this strange baby, always supposing the fairies had had nothing to do
+with it, it was Dame Hursey, and the shepherd, being relieved of any
+further anxiety about the sheep, walked with her and told her the story.
+
+John Shelley was neither a quick-witted nor an observant man, except
+with regard to the weather, every sign of which he took in, or he would
+have noticed that Dame Hursey started perceptibly when he told her the
+time he found the baby, and that a glance of quick intelligence shot
+into her bright eyes as she heard the story; but when he had finished
+she gave it as her firm opinion that the "Pharisees," and no one else,
+must have brought the child, and she urged John on no account to part
+with it, as there was no telling what revenge the fairies might take if
+their wishes were set aside. And the old wool-gatherer proceeded to tell
+such wonderful stories of the terrible vengeance wrought by these
+mysterious little beings on people who had despised their gifts, that
+the shepherd was glad to put an end to such unpleasant suggestions by
+walking off at a rapid pace to his unshorn sheep.
+
+"It is strange, very strange, that I should have met my George the very
+same night, coming from Shelley's place too. He has had something to do
+with this baby as sure as wool is wool. I'll go round by Mrs. Shelley's
+and have a look at this wonderful child; perhaps I may find out
+something. I doubt it will be a bad thing for George if he is found out
+this time, if, as I suspect, he knows a deal more about it than we do,
+and he was up to no good last night or he would not have made me swear
+not to say I had seen him as he did. Well, the child is safe enough with
+the Shelleys, and I'll do my best to frighten them into keeping it,"
+muttered Dame Hursey to herself, as she bent her steps towards the
+shepherd's house.
+
+(_To be continued._)
+
+
+
+
+VARIETIES.
+
+
+"EXCELLENT HEART."
+
+Take a good-sized, tender heart. Extract all seeds of selfishness, and
+proceed to stuff as follows:--
+
+1 lb. crumbs of comfort.
+
+1 quart milk of human kindness.
+
+Several drops essence of goodness and happiness.
+
+Good dripping from the eaves of Love's dwelling.
+
+Blend these well with a little of the oil of Time to mellow and soften.
+
+Place the heart on a warm hearth with Love's rays full upon it and some
+of the light of other days. Move it now and then, but do not probe it.
+Keep the world's cold blasts from it if possible, but do not allow it to
+be absorbed in its own juices. It will take time to prepare, but when
+ready is fit for king or peasant and welcome at any table.
+
+SAUCE FOR ABOVE.
+
+Pint or more good spirits, a few honeyed words; a little cream of
+society may improve, but is not necessary. Carefully avoid cold water,
+vinegar, or pepper, or acidity in any form.
+
+The above will keep for years.--S. L.
+
+
+CONTENTED.--If you can live free from want, care for no more, for the
+rest is vanity.
+
+
+THE STORMS OF ADVERSITY.--A smooth sea never made a skilful mariner,
+neither do uninterrupted prosperity and success qualify anyone for
+usefulness and happiness. The storms of adversity, like the storms of
+the ocean, arouse the faculties and excite the intention, prudence,
+skill and fortitude of the voyager.
+
+
+A WISE MOTHER.--The celebrated Orientalist, Sir William Jones, when a
+mere child was very inquisitive. His mother was a woman of great
+intelligence, and he would apply to her for the information which he
+desired; but her constant reply was: "Read, and you will know." This
+gave him a passion for books, which was one of the principal means of
+making him what he was.
+
+
+TWENTY-FOUR NOTES IN ONE BOW.--The _Daily Post_ of February 22nd, 1732,
+contains a curious announcement with regard to Castrucci, the violinist,
+namely, that he would play a solo "in which he engages himself to
+execute twenty-four notes in one bow." This piece of charlatanism, so
+misplaced in a truly able musician, was excellently capped on the
+following day by a nameless fiddler advertising his intention to play
+twenty-five notes in one bow.
+
+
+A CAT STORY.--There was a favourite Tom cat owned by a family in
+Callander, in Scotland, and it had on several occasions shown more than
+ordinary sagacity. One day Tom made off with a piece of beef, and the
+servant followed him cautiously, with the intention of catching him and
+administering a little wholesome correction. To her amazement, she saw
+the cat go into a corner of the yard, in which she knew a rat-hole
+existed, and lay the beef down by the side of it. Leaving the beef
+there, puss hid himself a short distance off and watched until a rat
+made its appearance. Tom's tail then began to wag, and just as the rat
+was moving away with the bait he sprang upon it and killed it.
+
+
+HEARING WITH DIFFICULTY.--"Dr. Willis tells us," says Burney, in his
+"History of Music," "of a lady who could _hear only while a drum was
+beating_; insomuch that her husband actually hired a drummer as a
+servant in order to enjoy the pleasure of her conversation."
+
+
+COURAGE.--Courage which grows from constitution often forsakes people
+when they have occasion for it; courage that arises from a sense of duty
+acts in a uniform manner.
+
+
+THE INFLUENCE OF FORTUNE.--Fortune, good or ill, does not change men or
+women; it but developes their character.
+
+
+WEAK MINDS.--Two things indicate a weak mind--to be silent when it is
+proper to speak, and to speak when it is proper to be silent.--_Persian
+Proverb._
+
+
+A SUCCESSFUL WEDDING.--A New York girl has just enjoyed the triumph of
+having the biggest wedding given in that city for years. She whispered
+around that the man she was to marry had a red-haired wife somewhere,
+who would be at hand to interrupt the ceremony. The church was crowded.
+
+
+TWO SIDES TO PLEASURE.--Pleasure is to woman what the sun is to the
+flower; if modestly enjoyed it beautifies, it refreshes and improves; if
+immoderately, it withers and destroys.--_Colton._
+
+
+THE ILLS OF LIFE.--There are three modes of bearing the ills of life: by
+indifference, which is the most common; by philosophy, which is the most
+ostentatious; and by religion, which is the most effectual.
+
+
+AN OBSERVATION ON ROGUES.--After long experience of the world, I affirm,
+before God, I never knew a rogue who was not unhappy.--_Junius._
+
+
+ANSWER TO DOUBLE ACROSTIC (p. 30).
+
+ 1. L i P
+ 2. A ristotl E (a)
+ 3. M a r t y R
+ 4. B l o c K
+ 5. E l I
+ 6. R e s i N (b)
+ 7. T h ur lo W
+ 8. S coevo l A (c)
+ 9. I ndicato R (d)
+10. M e r a B (e)
+11. N a z E
+12. E clipti C
+13. L o K (f)
+
+Lambert Simnel. Perkin Warbeck.
+
+(a). His adage was "Amicus Plato, amicus Socrates, magis tamen amica
+veritas." From his custom of delivering instruction whilst walking, his
+disciples were styled "Peripatetics."
+
+(b). Familiarly pronounced "rosin."
+
+(c). Left-handed.
+
+(d). Indicator Major, the great honeybird of South Africa.
+
+(e). See 1 Samuel, xviii.
+
+(f). Lo(c)k.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: A CROWN OF FLOWERS
+
+being
+
+POEMS and PICTURES
+
+Collected from the pages of
+
+THE GIRLS OWN PAPER]
+
+EDITED BY CHARLES PETERS.
+
+
+The Poems are written by the Author of "John Halifax Gentleman," Sarah
+Doudney, Helen Marion Burnside, F. E. Weatherly, Annie Matheson, Anne
+Beale, Mrs. G. Linnaeus Banks, the Rev. W. Cowan, Sydney Grey, Edward
+Oxenford, Isabella Fyvie Mayo, Clara Thwaites, Harriet L.
+Childe-Pemberton, the Dowager Lady Barrow, and others.
+
+Illustrated by Frank Dicksee, A.R.A., M. Ellen Edwards, W. J. Hennessy,
+Davidson Knowles, John C. Staples, Robert Barnes, Charles Green, Arthur
+Hopkins, William Small, Frank Dadd, the late Cecil Lawson, and others.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"As _A Crown of Flowers_ is carefully printed upon fine paper, full
+value is given to the engravings, which is one of the features of the
+magazine from which they are selected, and shows what a marked advance
+has been made of recent years in the character of such illustrations,
+which will, in the present instance, vie with anything of the kind
+produced on this or the other side of the Atlantic."--_The Pictorial
+World._
+
+
+
+
+ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.
+
+
+EDUCATIONAL.
+
+E. A. T.--There is a School of Telegraphy in Moorgate-buildings, at the
+back of Telegraph-street, E.C. All candidates for free admission must
+have passed an examination in handwriting and the first four rules of
+arithmetic under the Civil Service Commissioners, in Cannon-row, W.C.,
+aged not under fourteen nor over eighteen years. They must be gifted
+with quickness of eye and ear and a delicate touch. In three or four
+months they have acquired the art, working four hours a day. They must
+be proficient in the use of four instruments. The pupils in this school
+are only intended for service in London.
+
+CEDRICA.--In reference to Gall's or Mercator's projection, you may
+perceive that by doing away with perspective you obtain the relative
+distances, as well as the height of the mountains compared with the
+general surface, without deducting through foreshortening. You write
+fairly well, but too large to be pretty.
+
+SINE.--The aurorae are closely connected with the earth's magnetism,
+although their exact relationship is unknown. The appearance takes place
+equally round both magnetic poles. The most general opinion seems to be
+that they are illuminations of the lines of force which undoubtedly
+circulate round our earth. At all events, the corona forms itself round
+the magnetic poles, and its lines correspond to the earth's magnetic
+field. Displays of aurorae are almost always accompanied by magnetic
+storms, which so much affect our telegraph instruments, although the
+latter may occur when there is no visible aurora. An artificial aurora
+was produced by electrical means by Professor Lindstroem, in 67 deg. north
+latitude, which was found to exhibit the spectrum of the true aurora.
+You will find all information respecting the "Zodiacal light" in
+"Guillemin on the Heavens."
+
+C. H. C.--No examinations are required for teachers in high schools; but
+of course preference is always given to those who have passed
+examinations, and they obtain better salaries. The senior or the higher
+Cambridge examinations for women would be the best, and would ensure a
+good position.
+
+
+MISCELLANEOUS.
+
+MARIE.--Your having given your parrot meat has given her a taste for raw
+meat. Perhaps a chemist could suggest a wash or powder to shake in under
+the feathers, that would taste bitter and disagreeable and yet prove
+harmless. Possibly your bird is troubled with small vermin, which
+irritate the skin and induce it to pick at the roots of the feathers.
+Examine the skin and plumage. We have given a long recipe for destroying
+the vermin in canaries.
+
+TUM YUM.--You had better buy a little bottle of oil-gold and paint your
+picture-frame with it. See our article, "Lissom Hands and Pretty Feet."
+
+ERICA RAEBURN.--Your verses are not correctly written, but the
+sentiments expressed are good. When you make an adverb of the word
+"true" you should drop the final "e."
+
+M. H. M.--Write or see a map-setter, such as Wyld, or any other of
+those in or near Trafalgar-square and Charing Cross. The ways and means
+of colouring and disposing of your maps will be explained to you by
+these people.
+
+PECKHAM RYE.--The poet Wordsworth had an only daughter, Dora, married to
+Mr. Quillinan. She was burnt to death in 1847, and left two daughters.
+The bishops are nephews of the poet.
+
+PHARMACEUTICAL.--The word "Pharmacon" can be found in all Greek
+lexicons. It is probably of Oriental extraction. It originally meant any
+medicine taken internally or externally, and apparently its original
+signification was good--or, at all events, not bad. Then, secondly, it
+came, like the word "accident," to get a bad sense attached to it, and
+it was used for a "poisonous drug," from which is derived its third and
+last sense, an "enchanted potion," or "enchantment." In the New
+Testament the word is translated "sorcery," not "drugs." See Rev. xxii.
+15.
+
+DAFFODIL.--Pampas grass may be cleaned by putting it into a large vessel
+of clean cold water, when after some time all the dust and dirt will
+come out, and it may be lightly shaken till dry. It may also be bleached
+with chloride of lime.
+
+SUNBEAM.--Do not on any account do so dangerous a thing as to put
+paraffin oil on your hair. Besides, the very bad smell of the oil would
+be most offensive to others if not to yourself.
+
+DELIA T. (Lausanne).--From your writing we conclude that you are very
+young. If so, your verses give some promise of better ones when older.
+
+JACKDAY.--It is suitable for every day. You write very well. There is no
+"e" in truly.
+
+LITTLE EMILY.--See "Girls' Christian Names," pages 39, 134, 235, 381,
+vol. iv.
+
+OCKLAWAKA.--Certainly, it is quite improper to walk about alone with a
+man to whom you are not engaged. We know of no cure suitable for all
+alike for sea-sickness. Lie down on deck, drink water before being sick,
+and beware of starving. At the same time, do not select pork nor a suet
+dumpling just at first. In cases of very severe sickness, swallowing
+small scraps of ice before and after a spoonful of _consomme_ or jelly
+is desirable, and an icebag should be applied to the spine.
+
+A TRING GIRL should consult a doctor about the moles if very
+unornamental.
+
+LADY JANE GREY.--The "seven whistlers" are curlew, or herringspear
+birds, thought to be storm-bringers when heard overhead at sea. You will
+find a story in Buckland's "Curiosities of Natural History" about them.
+
+ANNIE SPIKE should write to the Religious Tract Society, 56,
+Paternoster-row, E.C., for the tracts she needs. The lines are not
+poetry--nothing but badly-rhymed prose.
+
+HARTY.--Wills can be inspected at Somerset House, in the Strand, W.C.
+
+UNE PETITE FLEUR.--No one could interfere with you in keeping a private
+school, so far as we know.
+
+JAMIE'S DARLING.--We thank you warmly for your kind letter, and wish you
+much happiness in your new life and position.
+
+NO STONE UNTURNED must send her tale to a publisher; but we do not think
+she will get much--probably nothing; but, on the contrary, will have to
+pay, for a first attempt.
+
+ASPHODEL.--The 29th of April, 1870, was a Friday. When a man says he is
+"very much in love" with the girl to whom he is speaking, he means her
+to give him some encouragement to say more, and in a business-like,
+practical way.
+
+A FEARFUL ONE.--A polypus in the nose has to be cut out, but the patient
+must be under the influence of chloroform. It is more usually a man's
+than a woman's disease. Your letters should be rounder.
+
+UNE DEMOISELLE.--It is our ordinary form of greeting to say "How do you
+do?" It is an idiomatic phrase, and does not exact an answer as to the
+state of your health any more than the salutation "Good day." If anxious
+for information as to how you are, more direct inquiries will follow the
+salutation. Only ignorant persons reply to "How do you do?" "Very well,
+thank you; how are you?"
+
+A. B.--The first and second volumes of the G. O. P. are entirely out of
+print, as also are all the indexes, excepting that for vol. vi. None of
+these will be reprinted. We request our readers to take note of what we
+say, as it will save them waste of time in writing for them.
+
+RUBY KINGSLEY.--We cannot continue giving space for repeating the story
+of the willow pattern.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+MISS KING, the Secretary of the Society for Promoting the Employment of
+Women, 22, Berners-street, Oxford-street, W., writes:--In the G.O.P. for
+September there is an article (one of a series) on wood engraving by Mr.
+R. Taylor. I have read the articles with great interest, and I entirely
+agree with the greater part of what Mr. Taylor says. But he writes as if
+there were no opening for girls in the trade. I fully admit that only a
+small number are at present employed in it, but he writes that he does
+not believe that engraving can be effectually taught in schools or
+classes, and that he has not met with a single individual who has
+attained by this means skill enough to earn a livelihood. Now it is a
+fact that there are 12 or 14 girls employed at an engraver's in the
+City, who have learnt engraving at the City and Guilds of London Art
+School, which was established about six years ago, and some of these
+girls are doing excellent work and earning very good wages. Engraving is
+an art which requires persevering study for four or five years at the
+least, so that the school has not yet been established for a
+sufficiently long time to have trained a large number of girls, but the
+instruction given there is thoroughly good, and if the girls will
+persevere as long with it as they would be obliged to do if they were
+regularly apprenticed, I do not think there is any fear but that they
+will succeed in getting employment; but their work must be good. If you
+will kindly look at page 9 of our Report, published in May last, you
+will see an account of the school. There are vacancies now in the
+school, particulars of which I shall be happy to give to anyone who will
+call here between 11 and 5. I shall be greatly obliged if you will
+mention this school and its successful work in the next number of the
+G.O.P., for I fear that Mr. Taylor's statement is calculated to injure
+it materially.
+
+I am, dear sir,
+    Yours obediently,
+        GERTRUDE J. KING, Sec.
+
+A full account of the Kennington class was given in the G.O.P., January,
+1884, page 180, in the article on Art in the series of "Work for All."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. VIII, No.
+355, October 16, 1886, by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GIRL'S OWN PAPER, VOL. ***
+
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