It was fully half an hour later when Peggy crept along the passage, and
took advantage of a quiet moment to slip into the room and seat herself
in a sheltered corner. Quick as she was, however, somebody’s eyes were
even quicker, for a tall figure stepped before her, and an aggrieved
voice cried loudly—
“Well, I hope you are smart enough to satisfy yourself, now that you
_are_ ready! You have taken long enough, I must say. What about that
first waltz that you promised to have with me!”
Peggy drew in her breath with a gasp of dismay.
“Oh, Rob, I am sorry! I forgot all about it. I’ve been so perturbed.
Something awful has occurred. You heard about it of course——”
“No, I didn’t! What on earth—” began the boy anxiously; but so soon as
he heard the two words “Rosalind’s dress!” he shrugged his shoulders
in contemptuous indifference. “Oh, that! I heard something about it,
but I didn’t take much notice. Spilt some ink, didn’t you? What’s the
odds if you did? Accidents will happen, and she has a dozen others to
choose from. I don’t see anything wrong with the dress. It looks decent
enough.”
Peggy followed the direction of his eyes and caught a glimpse of
Rosalind floating past on the arm of a tall soldierly youth. She was
sparkling with smiles, and looking as fresh and spotless as on the
moment when she had stepped across the threshold of her own room.
Neither face nor dress bore any trace of the misfortune of an hour
before, and Peggy heaved a sigh of relief as she watched her to and fro.
“Jolly enough, isn’t she? There’s nothing for you to fret about, you
see,” said Rob consolingly. “She has forgotten all about it, and the
best thing you can do is to follow her example. What would you think
of some light refreshment? Let’s go to the dining-room, and drown
our sorrows in strawberry ice. Then we can have a waltz, and try a
vanilla,—and a polka, and some lemonade! That’s my idea of enjoying
myself. Come along, while you get the chance!——”
“Oh, Rob, you _are_ greedy!” protested Peggy; nevertheless she rose
blithely enough, and her eyes began to sparkle with some of their
wonted vivacity. There was something strong and re-assuring about
Robert’s presence; he looked upon things in such an eminently sensible,
matter-of-fact way, that one was ashamed to give way to moods and
tenses in his company.
Peggy began to feel that there was still some possibility of happiness
in life, and on her way to the door she came face to face with Lady
Darcy, who re-assured her still further by smiling as amiably as if
nothing had happened.
“Well, dear, enjoying yourself? Got plenty of partners?” Then in a
whispered aside, “The dress looks all right! Such a clever suggestion
of yours. Dear, dear, what a fright we had!” and she swept away,
leaving an impression of beauty, grace, and affability, which the girl
was powerless to resist. When Lady Darcy chose to show herself at her
best, there was a charm about her which subjugated all hearts, and from
the moment that the sweet tired eyes smiled into hers, Peggy Saville
forgot her troubles and tripped away to eat strawberry ices, and dance
over the polished floor, with a heart as light as her heels.
One party is very much like another. The room may be larger or smaller,
the supper more or less substantial, but the programme is the same in
both cases, and there is little to be told about even the grandest of
its kind. Somebody wore pink; somebody wore blue; somebody fell down on
the floor in the middle of the lancers, which are no longer the stately
and dignified dance of yore, but an ungainly romp more befitting a
kitchen than a ballroom; somebody went in to supper twice over, and
somebody never went at all, but blushed unseen in a corner, thinking
longingly of turkey, trifle, and crackers; and then the carriages began
to roll up to the door, brothers and sisters paired demurely together,
stammered out a bashful “Enjoyed myself so much! Thanks for a pleasant
evening,” and raced upstairs for coats and shawls.
By half-past twelve all the guests had departed except the Vicarage
party, and the sons and daughters of the old Squire who lived close by,
who had been pressed to stay behind for that last half hour which is
often the most enjoyable of the whole evening.
Lord and Lady Darcy and the grown-up visitors retired into the
drawing-room to regale themselves with sandwiches and ices, and the
young people stormed the supper room, interrupted the servants
in their work of clearing away the good things, seated themselves
indiscriminately on floor, chair, or table, and despatched a second
supper with undiminished appetite. Then Esther mounted the platform
where the band had been seated, and played a last waltz, and a very
last waltz, and “really the last waltz of all.” The Squire’s son played
a polka with two fingers, and a great deal of loud pedal, and the fun
grew faster and more uproarious with every moment. Even Rosalind threw
aside young lady-like affectations and pranced about without thinking
of appearances, and when at last the others left the room to prepare
for the drive home she seized Peggy’s arm in eager excitement.
“Peggy! Peggy! such a joke. I told them to come back to say goodbye,
and I am going to play a twick! I’m going to be a ghost, and glide out
from behind the shwubs, and fwighten them. I can do it beautifully.
See!” She turned down the gas as she spoke, threw her light gauze skirt
over her head, and came creeping across the room with stealthy tread,
and arms outstretched, while Peggy clapped her hands in delight.
“Lovely! lovely! It looks exactly like wings. It makes me quite creepy.
Don’t come out if Mellicent is alone whatever you do. She would
be scared out of her seven senses. Just float gently along toward
them, and keep your hands forward so as to hide your face. They will
recognise you if you don’t.”
“Oh, if you can see my face, we must have less light. There are too
many candles. I’ll put out the ones on the mantelpiece. Stay where you
are and tell me when it is wight,” Rosalind cried gaily, and ran across
the room on her tiny pink, silk slippers.
So long as she lived Peggy Saville remembered the next minutes; to the
last day of her life she had only to shut her eyes and the scene rose
up before her, clear and vivid as in a picture. The stretch of empty
room, with its fragrant banks of flowers; the graceful figure flitting
across the floor, its outline swathed in folds of misty white; the
glimpse of a lovely, laughing face as Rosalind stretched out her arm
to reach the silver candelabra, the sudden flare of light which caught
the robe of gauze, and swept it into flame. It all happened within the
space of a minute, but it was one of those minutes the memory of which
no years can destroy. She had hardly time to realise the terror of the
situation before Rosalind was rushing towards her with outstretched
hands, calling aloud in accents of frenzied appeal—
“Peggy! Peggy! Oh, save me, Peggy! I’m burning! Save me! Save me!”
(_To be continued._)
THE GIRL’S OWN QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.
THE EXAMINERS REPORT ON THE FIRST TWENTY-FOUR QUESTIONS.
This competition has been taken up with enthusiasm, and such a number
of carefully-prepared papers have been sent in, covering questions
1-24, that we anticipate that this will prove one of the most
successful trials of ability and perseverance we have had for a long
time.
It is very gratifying, for a girl who takes part in it not only gets
to know a great many facts of interest, but has excellent practice in
the useful art of finding out—an art which she will discover many
opportunities for exercising in after life.
That the competition may prove still more serviceable, we give here
a series of notes on each of the twenty-four questions sent in up to
December 30th. Girls will be able in this way to make out when they
answered rightly and when wrongly, and, when they did not answer at
all, what they might have answered had they only known.
General remarks on the competition and on the competitors must, of
course, be delayed till all the papers have been sent in and been
examined.
* * * * *
=1. Did a Queen ever voluntarily lay down the sceptre and retire into
private life?=
Several competitors left this query unanswered. One girl frankly
declared, “I do not think that any woman, once having tasted the
sweets of power, would ever give it up!” The most frequent name
given erroneously was that of Lady Jane Grey, the unfortunate nine
days’ queen. Those girls answered correctly who gave the remarkable
abdication of Christina, Queen of Sweden, who of her own free will
retired from regal business in 1654, heartily sick of the “splendid
slavery of royalty.” The leading incidents of her eccentric career were
well given in few words by many competitors.
=2. What stone is said to endow whoever kisses it with wonderful
powers of speech?=
Few had any difficulty about this question, and many gave answers
abounding in interesting details. The competitor who simply answered,
“The Blarney Stone,” was right enough, but was quite an exception in
being sparing of her words. Almost everyone knew that the stone was at
Blarney Castle, near Cork. Some explained how to kiss it in the proper
manner, and nobody disputed the saying that, when one’s lips have once
touched it, the power of persuasive speech is sure to follow.
“There is a stone there
That whoever kisses
Oh! he never misses
To grow eloquent.”
=3. How is it that, though the moon turns round on its axis, we never
see the other side?=
Almost everyone tried to answer this query, but a good many—especially
among our younger contributors—failed; not for want of originality—oh,
no!—but for want of information. One, for example, put it that it was
because the earth turned round as well as the moon, another asserted
that it all arose from our never seeing the moon in the daytime—“the
sun’s rays are so strong then that they hide it.” The right answer is
that it results from the moon turning round only once on its own axis
in the same time that it takes to journey round the earth.
For the general good, let us quote an illustration given by a
competitor, which makes this very clear: “Place a vase of flowers,”
she says, “on a table, take up your position opposite the window, and
then walk round the table, keeping your face to the flowers. When you
are half-way round, you will have your back to the window; but, on
reaching the starting-point, you will find you have your face to the
window again. You will have turned completely round (on your axis) once
yourself, and at the same time have gone round the table, yet never
have shown your back to the flowers.” Now the table is the earth; you
are the moon; your face stands for the moon’s shining countenance; and
your back for that unknown side which the earth never sees.
=4. Why is hard water very unsuitable for cooking and washing?=
As was fitting with sensible girls, we had numerous and intelligent
answers to this question. There was a knowing air about them. A strong
case was made out against hard water—a waster of fuel, a waster of
time, a waster of tea, a destroyer of the colour of vegetables, a
waster of soap, an enemy to the skin. Poor hard water!
=5. What celebrated work was written in a week to defray the cost of
the funeral of the author’s mother?=
Rather more skipped this question than gave the go-by to our first one;
but nearly all who attempted an answer gave the right one. And, indeed,
it is one of the familiar facts of literary history that Dr. Samuel
Johnson wrote his “Rasselas” in a week for the purpose of defraying the
expense of his mother’s funeral and paying some small debts she had
left behind. How did one competitor make it out to be “The Task” by
Cowper, and another Sir Walter Scott’s “Legend of Montrose” and “Black
Dwarf”? As a curiosity we may mention that a competitor who gives an
account of Dr. Johnson all right, says she has got her information from
her grandfather, “who knew him.” As Johnson died a hundred and fifteen
years ago, our friend must have a remarkably aged grandfather!
=6. How did the thistle come to be the emblem of Scotland?=
In a matter of legend we did not expect all to tell the same tale,
neither did they. Most girls, however, had it that the thistle was
raised to this proud position out of national gratitude, and gave the
story of the Danes trying to surprise the Scots by night, when one of
them set his foot on a thistle and gave such a yell that he roused the
Scots, who thereupon repulsed their foes. This was a question very well
answered on the whole.
=7. What sea has water so thick that you can move in it with
difficulty?=
The greater number of competitors gave the right answer—the Dead Sea,
the density of the intensely salt water of which is so great that
the human body will not sink in it. A good number, however, gave the
Sargasso Sea in the North Atlantic, the remarkable feature there being
the presence of an enormous mass of gulf weed. But it is the weeds
that are thick there, not the water, and we said, “water so thick.” In
the same way the girls who mentioned the Arctic Sea because of the ice
should have taken note that we did not speak about “ice so thick.”
=8. What are the characteristics of the music of Chopin?=
Music being a girl’s subject, we naturally looked for good answers to
this question. Good they were, the marked features of the music of this
“bold and proud poetic spirit” being well indicated—his romance and
sentiment, his refined harmony, his care to avoid commonplaces, his
triumphs in the technical treatment of the pianoforte, and many other
points illustrating how, as someone says, “he spoke of new things well
worth hearing and found new ways of saying such things.”
=9. Who is the greatest poetess the world has ever seen?=
There was room here for differences of opinion. Sappho, Mrs. Browning,
Vittoria Colonna, Christina Rossetti, Jean Ingelow and Mrs. Hemans all
found advocates, but the majority said Sappho, whilst Mrs. Browning
made a good second. Certainly, Sappho, “the tenth muse,” has the
advantage in world-wide fame. To quote a sensible competitor, “Perhaps
the dimness of distant ages clinging to her and her poetry spread a
romantic glamour over her works; still, duly considering all these
points, we, though hesitatingly, concede the palm to Sappho.”
=10. How is a rainbow a sign of bad weather in the morning, and a
sign of good weather in the evening?=
One of the last papers we looked at ventured on the assertion that this
is a “popular delusion.” However, almost all our competitors were on
the other side and gave reasons for the fact. It was a query that had
been taken pains over. The reasons, it should be added, were in some
cases not very firmly grasped, so it may be useful to everybody—the
“popular delusion” competitor included—if we quote the following from
the “Salmonia” of Sir Humphry Davy:—
“A rainbow can only occur when the clouds containing or depositing the
rain are opposite to the sun; and in the evening the rainbow is in the
east and in the morning in the west; and as our heavy rains in this
climate are usually brought by the westerly wind, a rainbow in the
west indicates that the bad weather is on the road by the wind to us;
whereas the rainbow in the east proves that the rain in these clouds is
passing from us.”
=11. Has a besieged town ever been saved by a pig?=
This was a stumbling-block. We are within the mark in saying that a
hundred and fifty competitors did not answer at all. A good many others
answered wrongly, and one girl frankly denied that such an incident
ever took place. “A besieged town,” she says, “never has been saved
by a pig.” The pig story we had in view in framing the question was
connected with Taunton. When that town was besieged during the Civil
War, the garrison of the Castle were at last reduced to a single pig.
“As, however, they wished to persuade the besiegers that they were well
off for provisions, they drove the solitary and unfortunate animal
round the ramparts, pricking it occasionally to make it squeal. The
enemy soon retired, naturally thinking there was no chance of starving
out a garrison who had such an unlimited supply of bacon.”
Another pig story was given by several competitors, connected with
the siege of Rennes in Brittany by the English about the middle of
the fourteenth century. In this case a pig was used to decoy into
the besieged town, that they might serve as food for the famished
inhabitants, a large herd of swine, regarding which the English foe had
quite other intentions.
=12. How fast can an expert penman write?=
Many good answers were given to this question, the best being those in
which girls, not satisfied with information derived from books, showed
they had experimented for themselves. “I wrote the so-many words of
this answer in so-long,” was a reply of the right sort, especially when
the handwriting looked like that of an expert, and the rest of the
information like that of a girl of sense. Forty words a minute seemed
to be considered a good pace, but it could not be kept up for long. A
great deal of dexterity, not to say perseverance, would be needed to
write by the hour at a faster rate than about twenty-six words in a
minute. It is different, of course, with shorthand, by means of which
expert writers can write legibly as fast as anyone can speak.
=13. When did the pianoforte first come into use?=
The number who did not attempt answering this question was so small
as to be not worth speaking about. Girls found out that, whilst the
subject was a little obscure, it was generally agreed that Bartolommeo
Cristofori, a harpsichord maker of Padua, was the man of genius who
invented and produced the pianoforte in the beginning of the eighteenth
century. It was not, however, until the present century began that the
use of the instrument became at all general.
=14. What is the most polite nation in the world?=
Almost everybody had something to say on this question, to which many
answers were possible, depending on what one thought true politeness.
Most gave the first place to the French, whilst a few named the
Italians and the Spanish. Of people farther a-field the Chinese and
the Japanese got the preference with some, especially the Japanese.
There were reasons given for the choice in many instances, and some
philosophy was occasionally thrown in, as when a girl added a good word
for the comparatively blunt and unpolished ways of John Bull: “A rough
exterior with a true heart beneath it,” she says, “being better than a
veneer of politeness without any depth.”
=15. What is the nearest star to the earth?=
This is the sun, regarding which we may quote from Mr. J. Norman
Lockyer. “The sun is a star, bigger and brighter than the other stars,
not because it is unlike them but simply because it is so near us.”
A good many gave what was equivalent to this answer but more did
not. There was a confusion too in some minds between stars, planets,
and satellites, which led competitors into mistakes that would have
otherwise been avoided. But let not those who went outside our solar
system and said _Alpha_ Centauri concern themselves; it was, in its
way, a good answer, though the distance of α Centauri exceeds our sun’s
distance 230,000 times!
=16. What philosopher of antiquity married a shrew?=
This poor unfortunate man, nearly all seemed to know, was Socrates, not
the worst part of whose wisdom was shown in the patience with which he
endured the temper of his wife Xanthippe. But we would like to know
why after being asked about an ancient philosopher one girl gave as
an example, Richard Hooker, the theologian, who was not ancient; and
another, Ben Jonson, the dramatist, who was not ancient either; and
a third, James Ferguson, the astronomer, who died little more than a
century ago.
=17. What flower in the middle of the seventeenth century became the
subject of a popular mania?=
No, it was not the white rose, or the orange-lily, or the tobacco
plant, or the hyacinth, as some competitors had it; it was the tulip.
Whilst the tulipomania lasted—and it was specially prevalent in
Holland—quite fabulous prices were paid for bulbs. But it was really,
as one girl points out, a form of gambling in which admiration of the
flower and interest in its culture were very secondary matters. Many
correct replies were received to this question.
=18. Which is the best soil on which to build a house?=
This drew forth many sensible replies, indicating that girls fully
realised that the soil must be a good one, dry and wholesome, or the
house built on it cannot be healthy. Sometimes a girl inserted a bit of
local colour; a girl, for example, writing from Worcestershire, whilst
praising gravel as forming the best soil on which to build, says that
in her county, what is locally called “cat’s brain” is preferred to
pure gravel—cat’s brain being a mixture of gravel and a little loam.
=19. Did anyone ever swim across the Channel from England to
France?=
Here was an easy question. Girls apparently had found little difficulty
in learning all about Captain Webb, who in August, 1875, performed the
marvellous feat of swimming across the Channel without once touching a
boat or artificial support of any kind.
=20. What great lady once, in a temper, cut off her long and
beautiful hair and flung it in her husband’s face?=
This query was a puzzler. Even more failed to answer it than failed to
reply to our number eleven. The lady in question was the famous Sarah,
Duchess of Marlborough, at one time friend and favourite of Queen
Anne. Many girls who gave a correct answer referred as their source of
information to THE GIRL’S OWN PAPER, an article on that extraordinary,
eccentric and imperious woman having appeared in our pages several
years ago.
=21. What is the origin of the name foolscap as applied to paper of a
certain size?=
There was room here for several different statements. According to
some, what is now known as foolscap, had before the Commonwealth time
the watermark of a King’s crown, but Cromwell, to show his dislike to
everything connected with royalty, directed a fool’s cap to be put in
place of the crown. Others had it that Charles II. was the first to
give it the name of foolscap, the cap put on by Cromwell being intended
by the Protector to represent a Cap of Liberty. One legend is good till
another legend is told.
=22. Have flowers ever been used as time-keepers?=
This called forth answers packed with information, few girls failing to
say something on the subject. Many showed that it is quite possible to
so arrange flowers in a garden that approximately all the purposes of a
clock will be answered. One pointed out that as long ago as the time of
Pliny forty-six flowers were known to open and shut at certain hours of
the day, and that this number has since been largely increased.
=23. What famous relic of antiquity on its way to this country nearly
found its last resting-place at the bottom of the sea?=
Well answered, nearly everybody! Yes, the relic was the famous
Cleopatra’s Needle, now standing on the Thames Embankment, which, when
being brought from Alexandria in the latter part of 1877 to England,
was nearly lost in a terrific storm.
=24. Who was the famous carrier who gave rise to a proverb by always
making his customers take the horse nearest the stable door?=
About twenty per cent. of our competitors failed to find out that this
was Thomas Hobson of Cambridge, the celebrated University carrier who
died in 1630-1, and who had the honour of two epitaphs written upon him
by Milton. In Addison’s _Spectator_, No. 509, “Tobias” is given instead
of “Thomas.”
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.
MEDICAL.
FROM THE SOUTH.—Your cheeks burn after meals because you have
indigestion. If you pay attention to your digestion your trouble will
soon cease. Do you masticate your food properly? and do you rest
after meals? These are two of the cures of indigestion—and they are
generally overlooked. You should wear a veil when you go out, for cold
winds of themselves may make the cheeks burn. A veil does a great deal
to temper the severity of the wind.
LITTLE PUSSY.—Your complaint is by no means uncommon. Thousands,
we might almost say millions, of girls suffer from the same form of
nervousness as you do. A short time back we published an article on
this complaint, which deals specially with that form of nervousness
from which you suffer.
PEGGIE.—It is very common for persons, especially children, to grind
their teeth during sleep. There are many things which can account
for the habit. Errors of diet are the chief of these. Late, or large
suppers are very potent causes. Another cause is irritation about
the face or head. The presence of bad teeth, of enlarged tonsils, or
adenoids, or of anything hindering free respiration through the nose
are also very apt to cause tooth grinding during sleep. The treatment
for it is to breathe through your nose, or if you cannot do so now,
have your nose seen to so as to enable you to breathe properly, and
avoid late suppers. You should also be careful not to sleep upon your
back.
A. M. O. L.—Yes; sulphur soap and sulphur ointment used as we advised
“Fair Isabel” to use them in last year’s volume, page 448. Whatever you
do, be very careful of the soap you use for your face.
DILLY.—You are quite right in persevering in the treatment of acne.
What troubles you now is really a very simple matter. The sulphur kills
the outer layer of the skin and that causes the flaking and cracking of
the skin which annoys you. Now what you should do is to leave off the
ointment for a fortnight or more and see how you get on. If the acne
gets worse, then return to the sulphur ointment, only use it diluted
with an equal quantity of lanoline or vaseline. Your face will soon get
right again. Wear a veil when you go out, and apply a little glycerine
and rose water (a dram of glycerine to an ounce of rose water).
ALMA.—Do not let your daughter grow up with a hare-lip. This hideous
deformity is readily cured by a small operation. Nothing is left of it
but a small scar to mark the site of the operation. The earlier the
operation is done the more excellent will be the result.
BELLE.—Undoubtedly the use of tight corsets is a very fertile cause
of indigestion. And, indeed, it is a potent factor of that terrible
form of indigestion associated with ulceration of the stomach. Some of
the greatest medical authorities aver that the reason why that most
serious disease is so far more common in women than in men, is because
the former wear corsets. Be this as it may, it is an absolute fact that
it is quite impossible to cure indigestion if the sufferer wears tight
corsets. There is no necessity to abandon corsets altogether, but you
must wear them loose. And why should you not wear them loose? It is no
longer fashionable to have a waist like a wasp!
VEGA.—Your condition is one of the commonest which the aural surgeon
is called upon to treat. You have done perfectly right and you have
been well treated. You really have no cause to complain, for it is
a condition which often requires years of treatment to completely
cure. The giddiness, after syringing, is usually due to injecting
the fluid too forcibly. What kind of syringe do you use? You must go
on with the treatment. You suggest that the syringing increases the
discharge, because since you have left off treatment the discharge has
stopped. But you are labouring under a great fallacy. The discharge
has not stopped, but it has caked in the ear and cannot find an exit.
You must be very careful to guard against this, as it is a dangerous
condition. There is, or rather there may be, a connection between the
discharge from your right ear and the weakness in your right eye.
Without a knowledge of anatomy and medicine you could not appreciate
this connection if we were to describe it. Suffice it to say that the
connection is through the nose. Both the ear and the eye have tubes
ending in the nose.
S. G.—We really cannot give you much advice without further
information. You say you have had “inflammation.” Where? When? And of
what kind? More than three-quarters of the diseases of man are due
to inflammation. What we believe is the matter with you is anæmia
and debility. And the treatment we advise is plenty of good food and
outdoor exercise, or as much of these two as you can get. A short
course of a mild preparation of iron would probably do you good. But we
think that cod-liver oil or malt extract would be better still.
VEGETARIAN.—Vegetables vary very much in the ease with which they can
be digested. There are very few vegetables indeed which are really
easily digested. Potatoes, parsnips, uncooked celery and salads,
artichokes, and to these we would add the green vegetables, give
difficulty to the digestion, though they should certainly not be
excluded from the dietary. Dried peas, Indian corn and haricot beans
are about as difficult to digest as paving stones. Indeed, by actual
experience, we have proved that paving stones are more soluble in the
gastric juice than is Indian corn! Tomatoes are fairly easy to digest,
but are liable to produce acidity and heartburn. Carrots, turnips,
green artichokes and asparagus are moderately easy to digest.
AMELIA.—Read the answer we gave to “Vegetarian.” The old saying that—
“An onion a day
Keeps the doctor away.”
is moderately accurate. Onions will keep away the doctor as they will
everyone else who possesses an “æsthetic olfactory apparatus.” But,
apart from that, raw onions are indigestible. There is a popular
idea that onions only scent the breath if they disagree, but this is
incorrect. The reason why the breath of persons smells after eating
onions is that the vegetable contains a large quantity of an aromatic
oil which is excreted by the breath.
HARROW.—We cannot give you the address of any person who removes
superfluous hair by electrolysis. For, in the first place, we will
advertise no one. In the second place, except in very few cases, we
disapprove of electrolysis; and, in the third place, electrolysis being
a surgical procedure, it is strongly against our principles to allow
any but a surgeon to perform it. If therefore you wish to have your
hairs removed, and you think that possibly electrolysis may effect
this, at all events, temporarily, you must go to a specialist in skin
diseases. You will have to pay highly, but no higher than you would
have to pay a so-called “professional epilator,” and you can have the
assurance that the surgeon will not consent to the procedure unless he
himself thinks that the treatment will prove of value.
TURQUOISE.—Rare as Méniere’s disease is, we know it, alas, too well!
It is one of those diseases which baffle medicine. There are very
many excellent physicians in Dublin, and the reason why they will
not express a definite opinion as to the curability of your friend’s
case is because they do not know. We do not know—nobody knows how
long the disease will last, or if it can be cured. Some cases recover
spontaneously, others recover after medical treatment, others after a
severe surgical procedure, others again never recover. We suppose your
friend has been to an aural specialist. We advise her to go again, and
tell him that her hopes are beginning to sink, and that lately she has
become despondent. Perhaps then he may suggest some further and more
radical attempts to relieve her.
GIRLS’ EMPLOYMENTS.
FIRENZE (_Dressmaking in Paris_).—We fear it would be by no means
easy to obtain employment in a Parisian dressmaking firm. The French
are not so eager to employ English dressmakers as we in this country
are to engage French women. On the other hand, English tailoring is
very fashionable in Paris. If you do go to Paris, you had certainly
better ask the Girls’ Friendly Society beforehand whether you could be
received into the Home at 48, Rue de Provence.
E. W. (_Dispensing_).—The course of preparation for a dispenser is
a long one, and also somewhat expensive. In the first instance you
would need to pass the preliminary examination of the Pharmaceutical
Society, Bloomsbury Square, London. For this, as you suppose, you
would require enough Latin to pass an examination in the first books
of Virgil or Cæsar. You would also be examined in arithmetic and in
English subjects. Having passed this, you must be trained for three
years in a dispensary or chemist’s shop. If you select a dispensary,
you might apply to become a pupil at the New Hospital for Women, Euston
Road, London, or at the Ryde Dispensary, Isle of Wight. A course of
study must also be followed either in the Pharmaceutical Society’s
classes in Bloomsbury, or in certain other centres of teaching, such as
Owen’s College, Manchester. At the end of three years’ training (which,
exclusive of board and lodging, would cost about £70), you would take
the Minor Examination. The Major Examination is usually only taken by
those persons who wish to set up shops as pharmaceutical chemists.
[Illustration: RULES.
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N. L. and MA BELLE (_Hospital Nursing_).—You will need to wait till
you are twenty-one before you can be admitted to any hospital, and
the majority of hospitals demand that probationers shall be not less
than twenty-three. At twenty-one you might possibly be admitted to the
Chelsea Infirmary, or to one or two of the children’s hospitals. You
should address your application to “The Matron, —— Hospital.” An
infirmary is to be recommended in cases where girls are not able to
pay to be trained, but require to earn something from the first. It
may be worth while to add that a large infirmary is being erected in
connection with the Bethnal Green Union, and there will be openings in
it for a certain number of probationers.
E. D. H. B. (_Telephone Service_).—You are unfortunately too old to
enter the service of the National Telephone Company. The limits of
age for clerks entering the service are from seventeen to nineteen.
A doctor’s certificate is necessary, and girls must be not less than
5 ft. 3 in. in height. Altogether it is clear that you must turn
your attention to some other occupation. Much walking or standing
would probably not be advisable for you. Some sedentary work, such as
millinery or dressmaking, would seem to be preferable if you could do
it.
MAY (_Post Office Clerkship_).—You ask whether it is better for
your future to enter as a girl clerk between the age of sixteen and
eighteen, or as a woman clerk between eighteen and twenty. The general
opinion is that it is decidedly better to enter as a girl clerk. The
vacancies for women clerks that are thrown open to competition, become
fewer in proportion as girl clerks are promoted to fill them. We have
never heard that copies of questions set in past examinations were
published regularly; but specimens are, we believe, sometimes given in
the handbooks of Civil Service coaches. If you attended classes at the
Birkbeck Institute you would probably be taught all that is requisite
for the examination.
TULIP (_Kindergarten Teaching_).—Had you not expressed an
unwillingness to come to London, we should have advised the Froebel
Institute, West Kensington, as one of the best places in which to be
trained for Kindergarten work. But since you do not wish to leave
your home near Cheltenham, we would suggest that you inquire whether
training could be given to you at the Kindergarten which exists in
connection with the Cheltenham Ladies’ College. Otherwise we know of no
place in your neighbourhood where a young teacher could be trained.
MASSEUSE (_Registry Office Wanted_).—A registry is carried on by the
Society of Trained Masseuses, 12, Buckingham Street, Strand. You should
apply to the Secretary, and give at the same time a full account of
your qualifications as a Swedish masseuse.
MARIE (_The Stage_).—Your description of your friend is hardly
definite enough for us to judge of her chances as an actress. We would
recommend her to ask for advice from the Actors’ Association, St.
Martin’s Lane, Trafalgar Square. To be “pretty” is a help, no doubt,
but it is by no means enough. So many English girls are pretty, or at
all events, can look pretty when nicely dressed. It is the aptitude for
acting that is all-important. You say that she wishes to learn some
instrument; but not the piano or the violin, neither of which she can
play. Also that it must be an instrument to which she need not sing.
Really we are quite at a loss. We have known a lady play the clarionet,
but it is an instrument calculated to prove decidedly “trying” to the
appearance of the performer.
MAYFLOWER (_Dressmaking_).—The Paris firm you mention has no shop in
London.
C. J. M. (_Starting a Servants’ Registry_).—Before starting a registry
you should acquaint yourself with the terms usually charged by good
registries. It is becoming very much the practice not to charge either
servants or employers until an engagement is effected; but then,
of course, to make a tolerably high charge, and one proportioned
to the amount of wages offered. You should also try to secure the
interest of as many ladies as possible, and especially of the wives
of country clergy, who are in the way of hearing of girls who desire
to enter service. When your registry is established it would be
advisable to make application to the Secretary of the Associated
Guild of Registries, to have it enrolled upon the list of registries
which the Guild recommends. This would be considered a guarantee of
your registry’s _bonâ fide_ character. The Associated Guild may be
addressed, care of the Girls’ Friendly Society, 39, Victoria Street,
Westminster.
MISCELLANEOUS.
CONSTANT READER.—Polish the cocoanut shells with glass-paper, and then
rub with French polish. They might be fitted into a small stand, like
that of a wine-glass only larger, made at any ordinary turner’s for a
trifling sum, and glued in, and then it would be of use as a flower
vase.
INQUIRER.—It matters nothing in any legal transaction by what fancy
name you may be known amongst your friends. It is your baptismal name,
duly registered, by which you must be called in the banns. If anyone
should question your individuality, they have only to inquire at the
church vestry.
ALPHA.—To make Scotch shortbread, take two pounds of flour, one
pound of butter, and six ounces of loaf-sugar. Rub these into a stiff
paste; cut into square or oblong cakes of about half an inch thick,
pinch along the edges to make a border, and put them on a baking-tin,
buttered first of course, and bake in a moderately hot oven till of a
light brown.
HEATHER.—We see no reason why you should not accept the invitation
of the Vicar’s family to call on their “at home” day. As your mother
cannot call, take her card and go with your sisters as desired.
MABEL.—We are sorry for you; but unless personal violence be offered,
or you have reason to know that some other person has supplanted you,
you have no legal ground for a separation. Incompatibility of temper
is sometimes a mutually agreed-upon excuse for living apart. In your
case, we think you might confide in your parents, and ask their advice,
for the question is a very grave one, and your father might see fit to
represent to his son-in-law that his daughter’s health was suffering
from unhappiness through something amiss between them, and express his
wish to promote more pleasant relations and a better understanding
between them. Are you sure that you are doing your best to make your
husband’s home comfortable and cheerful? If he comes home to see you
with red eyes and a doleful face, and see no attempt to make his
home bright and attractive, then some of the blame lies on your own
shoulders. Ask God to show you any errors of your own, and to guide you
in the path of duty.
FAN.—The origin of wearing a widow’s cap appears to be Eastern, where
the shaving of the head and covering it is a token of mourning. The
Romans instituted a cap for widows, and obliged them to wear weeds for
ten months; and they were forbidden to marry again under a year.