BROTHERLY COUNSEL.
“Oscar, now that we are alone, now that nobody can interrupt us, I want
to talk to you about my plan.”
Sheila’s face was flushed, her big eyes were sparkling. She looked less
the child, Oscar thought, and more the woman than when he had seen
her last. He had been struck by this when he first saw her on board
the boat. He had thought the same thing many times that day as the
thundering express bore them from Plymouth to London. Now they were
alone in Sheila’s room in the hotel where they were to spend the night.
A big fire blazed on the hearth. The curtains were drawn, and brother
and sister were alone together. The rumble in the streets below made a
ceaseless murmur, but it was different from the rattle and roar of the
train. They could talk at their ease now.
On the way up to town Sheila had poured her whole history into Oscar’s
ears, and had heard the story of his own trouble at home, and the
shadow which rested upon him. She had not said much, there had been no
excited outburst such as he had expected. Perhaps the presence of other
people in the carriage was a check upon her, or perhaps she had learned
something of the lesson of self-control and reticence.
Anyway she had been unwontedly quiet during the last hours of the
journey, and Oscar, who had felt very weary after his long hasty night
journey down to Plymouth, had dozed in his corner. But now, after
their arrival here, after their substantial meal below, they had come
upstairs for a confidential talk which had been impossible before.
“Oscar, I have thought it all out. It came to me first on ship-board,
even before I knew anything about you and what had happened in the
office. (Why didn’t you tell me in your letters?) I made up my mind
then and there that I would never, never, never live at Cossart Place
again. Aunt Cossart has behaved infamously to me. She has tried to
spoil my life and make me always wretched and miserable. I will never
forgive her. I will never see her again!”
Oscar looked straight at his sister, but said nothing, for Sheila was
proceeding with her old impetuosity.
“You can’t understand what it was like there. Even Mrs. Reid understood
and was indignant. Oh, yes, I know she was, by the little things she
said, though, of course, she would not say much. Everybody knew. I feel
as though I could never bear to see any of them again. She is a hateful
woman. The Barretts told me how furious people were with her when they
knew she was going to send me home. Everybody guessed why—that was the
horridest part of it. And I had been so happy. Everybody was so kind,
and I had to go without even saying good-bye, but I felt I couldn’t—I
couldn’t! The Barrett girls declared they believed everybody would cut
them for it. I’m sure I hope they will! Oh, I can’t help being angry—I
can’t indeed!”
“Sheila dear, don’t get excited,” said Oscar soothingly. “I can
understand that it was very hard. It is very hard to be misunderstood,
and to have things put down to us that we know we have not done, but we
have talked over all that before. Tell me about this plan of yours.”
“Oh, yes. Oscar, you will be twenty-one soon, won’t you?”
“Yes. What has that to do with it?”
“Everything, for you will have command over our money then.”
“Yes; at least over my half, anyway, perhaps over it all. But it is not
much, Sheila.”
“I know it is not; but it is enough to make us a little home. Now
listen, Oscar, for I have it all planned out. You shall go on at the
office if you must, because it’s something to do, and Uncle Tom has
been kind in a way, though if he suspects you—however, we won’t talk
any more about that. But we won’t go on living with the Cossarts any
more, I’m quite determined on that. We shall have enough to have a
little home of our own, even if it’s only a lodging; and you will go to
the office, and I’ll try and get some music pupils, or little children
to teach in the mornings, or something to help. And I’ll keep our home
as nice as possible, and we’ll have cosy evenings together, and we’ll
have nothing to do with the people who have behaved so badly to us. Oh,
I don’t mean that we’ll cut them or anything, but we won’t go on living
with them and eating their bread. I couldn’t possibly dream of going
back to Cossart Place ever; and they don’t want me at Uncle Tom’s, and
besides, how could I go on living in the same house with that Cyril? I
can’t think how you can do it, Oscar, I really can’t.”
Sheila leant forward with flushed cheeks and shining eyes. Oscar was
leaning back in his chair, his face a little in the shadow. Sheila
had been struck on first seeing him with the sharpened look of his
features, and the tired expression in his eyes; the same thing struck
her again more forcibly at this moment, although she spoke no word of
it.
“Say you think it a nice plan, Oscar, for I’m sure you do!” she cried
eagerly.
“No, Sheila, I don’t think it would do,” he said slowly.
“Oh, Oscar, what do you mean? I’m sure it would. We should be so happy
together, you and I. And it’s often so horrid being with people who
misunderstand us. I think we’ve had enough of that. Oh, don’t say you
won’t think of it!”
“I am thinking of it, Sheila, I’m thinking hard, for I hate to thwart
you; but I don’t think it would do, and you would find that living in
a very small way, and trying to earn something yourself, are two very
difficult matters for people brought up as we have been.”
“But, Oscar, we should belong to ourselves and each other. We should be
free from those horrid things that happen in other people’s houses.”
“But we should have other troubles and worries to face, Sheila. And do
you know, I think it would not only be very ungrateful to our relations
to take ourselves off like that, but I think it would be very bad for
us ourselves.”
“Bad for us? I don’t understand.”
“I think it is always bad for people to rebel too much against the life
which—well—which God seems to have arranged for them. Sheila, don’t you
think that in the old days you and I had rather too much of our own
way?”
“I never thought about it—did we?”
“I think so. Everything was made so smooth for us, and we had so few
battles to fight. I sometimes think it might have been better for us
if we had had more. Sheila, take my case; it is true I know nothing
about this lost money, but in one sense the fault is mine. I always did
the thing that was the easiest and pleasantest at the moment, though
North warned me again and again that my easy-going ways were slovenly,
and might lead to confusion and worse. I never quite believed him, and
never seriously tried to conquer my tendencies, and you see what has
happened. Whoever is to blame, the thing could not have been but for my
fault.”
“Well, I think that’s a very hard way of looking at it; but what then?”
“I have not quite finished, Sheila; I want to talk about your case.
It has been something the same with you, little sister. You have
always liked to drift along easily with the current, doing what was
pleasantest at the moment. If people were kind and made you welcome,
you responded to all their overtures, without always stopping to think
what Aunt Cossart would like, or if it were quite considerate to Effie.
They were quite small things, but little by little they made trouble;
and then came this great storm which has made you so miserable. You
were not to blame, as I was; I don’t think you were ever warned, and it
was difficult for you to see from day to day how things were going; but
I think perhaps, Sheila, we have both been selfish in our own way, and
have not thought enough——”
“You’re not selfish, you’re not careless,” cried Sheila interrupting
excitedly. “I only wish I were one quarter as good. Oh, Oscar, I do
believe I have been selfish, though I never meant it. I never thought
of such a thing. We have always been used to being happy—to have people
like us. It seemed so natural. I didn’t mean any harm.”
“No, Sheila, I am sure you didn’t; but you know life is not given to us
just to enjoy for ourselves. We must try and think of other people too,
to put them first. It is harder for you than for some, because father
always spoiled you; and everybody likes you, and you are so pretty and
fascinating.”
But Sheila jumped up and put her hand upon his lips.
“Don’t, Oscar! I don’t want to be praised; I begin to feel that I have
been rather naughty and selfish, though I wouldn’t believe it when my
conscience pricked now and then. I was wrong to be so furious with Aunt
Cossart. Sometimes it made me a little frightened—when I wanted to say
my prayers—and didn’t know how to get out ‘Forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive—’ Oh, Oscar, I don’t think I’ve forgiven Aunt Cossart
yet. Suppose there had been a storm, and the vessel had sunk! How
dreadful that would have been!”
“You will forgive everything, Sheila, when you think about it a little
more. When we begin to understand how many faults we have ourselves, we
see that we must forgive, we can’t help it. Everything seems to sink
out of sight except the thought of His forgiveness of us, and what it
cost to win it.”
Sheila suddenly fell upon her knees before Oscar, and looked anxiously
into his face. It was seldom indeed he had spoken to her quite so
openly. A quick thrill of anxiety ran through her.
“Oscar, have you forgiven Cyril?”
“Yes,” he answered in a low voice. “Indeed, sometimes I think it is he
who has to forgive me more than I him. For remember, Sheila, it was my
carelessness that put in his way the opportunity—suggested, perhaps,
the temptation. When I think of that, I feel that it is I who need the
forgiveness.”
Sheila looked awed at the thought suggested—that terrible thought so
often overlooked and set aside, that not alone to ourselves do we sin
and do amiss; but that in some way or other our comrades and friends
may become involved in our wrong-doing.
“‘_Sic vos non vobis_,’” quoted Oscar in a dreamy fashion. “I begin to
understand those words, Sheila, as I never did before.”
“But it is rather dreadful, Oscar; it makes it seem as though our sins
went on and on so!”
“Yes, that is what I want to understand better. Our sins are forgiven,
but the effects of them so often go on and on. We must think of that,
too, Sheila; it will help to make our faults hateful to us. It will
make us more patient when we have to bear blame that we do not quite
merit; for how much more blame do we deserve than we ever get!”
Sheila was silent a long time, looking up into Oscar’s face.
“And my plan?” she asked tentatively.
“Would be a selfish one,” answered Oscar quickly, “for it would hurt
the feelings of our relations; and I think it would be a shirking of
the discipline of life, which we both stand in so much need of, Sheila!”
“You don’t.”
“Yes, I do. It would be very much pleasanter for us to have a little
independent crib of our own, where we should be able to indulge
ourselves and each other, and get away from all the little frictions
of life in a family where things are not done quite in the way we have
been used to. But it would be like running away from what seems to
have been given us to bear; and I expect we should find we soon had a
big new crop of worries and bothers, quite as big as the old ones. So
I think, Sheila, we will not force things ourselves. We will go back
to Uncle Tom’s, and wait and see what turns up. We will both try and
be patient, and do what is right, never minding whether or not it is
what we like best ourselves. We must try and learn the lesson of not
pleasing ourselves always. You know Who set us the example of that?”
Sheila subsided upon the floor, and laid her head on Oscar’s knee,
taking his hand between hers.
“You are getting so good, Oscar,” she said, “I am almost afraid of you.
You are not ill, are you?”
“Ill? No. Why do you ask?”
“Because you don’t look well, and when people are so very very good,
one sometimes fancies they are——”
Sheila paused, and Oscar said with a little tone of mirth in his quiet
voice—
“I am not going to die of goodness yet, Sheila! You need not be afraid
on that score.”
It was with a good deal of shrinking that Sheila prepared to face
the Cossarts on the morrow. She knew that they would by this time
have received the letter her aunt must have written, and that Mrs.
Cossart would not have drawn her picture with a very strict regard
to truth. She would have thought more of justifying her precipitate
action than of anything else; and Sheila was terribly sensitive
where Ronald Dumaresq was concerned, and felt as though any mention
of his name would be worse than the cut of a whip. And her cousins
were not sensitive on these points. They would be almost certain to
cross-question her and make a joke of everything.
It needed all her courage and resolution to face the meeting; but when
they drew up at the door and were met by Ray in the passage, it was not
of Sheila’s sudden return that the whole house was thinking. Indeed Ray
only gave her a rather hurried kiss, warm and sisterly, but distinctly
hasty, and then turned to Oscar and took him by the shoulders, bringing
him into the strong light of the window.
“Oscar, how are you? Are you sure you feel well?”
“Y—yes, all right, just a little tired with all the travelling, you
know. But what do you ask for?”
“Oh, we are in such a fright. Typhoid fever has broken out in the town.
The little office-boy you have been visiting so often has it; and
everybody was saying that you were looking ill. Five cases are reported
to-day, and they say there will be more. You are quite sure you are
well, Oscar? Sheila, did he eat his breakfast this morning?”
“He hardly ate anything either last night or to-day,” cried Sheila, in
sudden anxiety. “He has a bad headache. We thought it was from the long
journey.”
The girls stood looking at each other in dismay. The same fear was in
both hearts. Oscar turned from them and began climbing the stairs with
a strange languor in his movements.
“I think I’ll go to my room,” he said, “but don’t bother, I shall be
all right there.”
“He’s got it!” cried Ray, under her breath; and Sheila turned white to
the lips.
(_To be continued._)
OUR PUZZLE POEMS: AN ACCIDENTAL CYCLE.
FOREIGN AWARDS.
AN ACCIDENTAL CYCLE I.
_Prize Winners (Seven Shillings Each)._
Polly Lawrance, Elridge, Belle Ville, St. Michael, Barbados.
Mrs. G. Marrett, Hyderabad, Deccan, India.
Helen Shilstone, Ellangowan, Fontabelle, Barbados.
_Very Highly Commended._
Ethel Beven (Ceylon), Nellie M. Daft (Portugal), Katy Donaldson
(France), Hilda Jonklaas (Ceylon), M. R. Laurie (Barbados), H. Low
(Canada), Florence Stephenson (Cape Town).
_Highly Commended._
Sadie Barrat (Canada), Louis E. Blazé (Ceylon), Elsie Davies
(Australia), L. Gamlen (France), Clara J. Hardy (Australia), J. W.
W. Hogan (Penang), Josephine E. Jones (Portugal), Jessie Mitchell
(Canada), Gertrude E. Moore (New Zealand), L. O’Sullivan (Rangoon),
Mrs. Talbot Smith (S. Australia), Mrs. Sprigg (Cape Colony), Mrs.
Waddington (Bermuda).
_Honourable Mention._
Mrs. H. Andrews (Canada), Maggie Glasgow (Australia), Mabel C. King
(Canada), Mrs. Hastings Ogilvie (Deccan), Mrs. W. T. Moore (Bengal), G.
Waterstrom (Australia), Gladys Wilding (New Zealand).
* * * * *
AN ACCIDENTAL CYCLE II.
_Prize Winners (Seven Shillings Each)._
Elizabeth M. Lang, 17, Rue Bayard, Pau, France.
Maude Saunders, Ascott House, Church Street, Abbotsford, Melbourne.
Helen Shilstone, Ellangowan, Fontabelle, Barbados.
_Most Highly Commended._
M. Browne (India), Clara J. Hardy, Edith Hardy (Australia), Agnes L.
Lewis (Switzerland), Elsie M. Otheman (New York), Mrs. Coupland Thomas
(California).
_Very Highly Commended._
Sadie Barrat (Canada), Florence L. Beeckman (New York), Elsie Binns
(New Jersey), Rose Creed (Lille), Nellie M. Daft (Lisbon), Elsie N.
Davies, Maggie Glasgow (Australia), Susan H. Greaves (Barbados),
J. W. W. Hogan (Penang), Anna I. Hood (France), Josephine E. Jones
(Portugal), Hilda Jonklaas (Ceylon), F. G. B. King, M. R. Laurie, Polly
Lawrance (Barbados), H. Low (Canada), Elizabeth MacPherson (Australia),
Gertrude E. Moore (New Zealand), James Roberts (Jamaica), Mrs. Rose
(India), John S. Sutherland (Antigua), Annie G. Taylor (Australia),
M. A. Thomas (California), Gena Thomson (Australia), Mrs. Waddington
(Bermuda), G. Waterstrom, Elsie M. Wylie (Australia).
_Highly Commended._
Mrs. H. Andrews (Canada), Florence E. Bapty (India), Hilda T. Batten
(New Zealand), Winifred Bizzey (Canada), Madeleine Bonzel (France),
Mrs. H. Campbell (Demerara), Grace Carmichael (Barbados), Lillian
Dobson (Australia), Clara Downs (Barbados), Emily H. Glass (India),
Annette M. Gray, Ruby Guest (Australia), L. Guibert (Mauritius),
Gertrude Hunt (New Zealand), May Koenig (Germany), Clara Lapata
(Brussels), Sarah Lewis (South Africa), Mrs. G. Marrett (India), Jessie
Mitchell (Canada), Lottie Moore (Australia), L. O’Sullivan, Hilda
D’Rozario (India), Mrs. Sprigg, Florence Stephenson (South Africa),
Emily Suttaby (Canada), Ada F. Sykes, Lucie K. Thompson, Herbert Traill
(India), Ethel M. Wilson (New Zealand).
* * * * *
AN ACCIDENTAL CYCLE III.
_Prize Winners (Half-a-Guinea Each)._
Elsie V. Davies, Wheatland Road, Malvern, Victoria, Australia.
Edith Lewis, 200, De Grassi Street, Toronto, Canada.
_Very Highly Commended._
Jessie Arthur (New Zealand), Mrs. H. Campbell (Demerara), Florence
Deeth (France), Maude Gibney (Switzerland), Clara J. Hardy, Edith Hardy
(Australia), Mabel C. King (Canada), M. R. Laurie, Polly Lawrance
(Barbados), Mrs. Manners (India), Gertrude E. Moore (New Zealand),
Mrs. E. E. Murray (Australia), Helen Shilstone (Barbados), Mrs. Talbot
Smith (S. Australia), Emily Suttah (Canada), Ada F. Sykes (India),
Annie G. Taylor (Australia), Mrs. Waddington (Bermuda), Mrs. J. Whitton
(Tasmania).
_Highly Commended._
Florence E. Bapty (India), Rose Creed (France), Emily H. Glass (India),
Ethel L. Glendenning (New Zealand), Louise Guibert (Mauritius),
Gertrude Hunt (New Zealand), J. W. W. Hogan (Penang), Nellie M.
Jenkinson (Australia), Hilda Jonklaas (Ceylon), May Koenig (Germany),
Elizabeth M. Lang (France), Clara Lapata (Brussels), Mrs. G. Marrett,
Mrs. Hastings Ogilvie, Hilda D’Rozario (India), Maud Saunders
(Australia), John S. Sutherland (Antigua), Lucie K. Thompson (India),
G. Waterstrom, Jessie M. Webster (Australia).
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.
TRAINING IN HOUSEWIFERY.—“_As a regular and appreciative reader of THE
GIRL’S OWN PAPER, I have become much interested in the question of
higher grade housekeeping. I have obtained the consent of my parents
to enter a home to be trained. Would you kindly furnish me with the
addresses of some establishments where training is given?_—KATE.”
“Kate’s” determination to equip herself thoroughly for the duties
of housekeeping, is a most wise one. The girl who is trained in all
departments of domestic work can turn her knowledge to account in
every situation in life in which she may be placed, and is never
likely to find the problem of earning her bread a difficult one.
“Kate,” doubtless, knows already the National Training School of
Cookery and Domestic Economy, Buckingham Palace Road. This institution
is principally intended for the training of teachers, and we judge
from “Kate’s” letter that in her case a school would be preferred
that trains girls specifically for domestic employment. A School
of Housewifery and Domestic Science of this kind has lately been
established in connection with the North Hackney High School for
Girls, at 101, Stamford Hill, N. “Kate” would be well advised to visit
this school and see the classes at work. In the country are many
excellent schools. Good housewifery training can be obtained at several
institutions in the country. The following are all well recommended:
Belsize House, Brunswick Square, Gloucester, in connection with the
Gloucestershire School of Cookery and Domestic Economy, principal,
Miss Florence Baddeley; Camp End School for Household Training, near
Malvern, conducted by Miss Buck and Miss Brander; Fryerne School of
Household Management, Fryerne, Caterham, principal, Miss Mitchell;
and the Wiltshire School of Cookery and Domestic Economy, Trowbridge,
secretary, Miss A. Bridgman. At each of these institutions, resident
pupils are received, and the course of training consists not only of
cookery, but of household work generally.
BOOK ILLUSTRATION.—“_I have taken lessons in drawing and painting for
five years, and except for holding a second-class certificate instead
of a first in one subject, I have gained the art class teacher’s
certificate. Just lately I have been taking lessons in black and white
work, and should like to become a book-illustrator._—J. L. R.”
We do not wish to damp the hopes of “J. L. R.,” but it takes much more
than lessons in the technique of black and white drawing to make a
book-illustrator. Girls who become successful illustrators show early
a real talent for drawing. They can not only copy an object before
them, but they can express in a few strokes certain clever, effective,
or humorous ideas, which are born within their own brain. Without the
possession of this rare gift, we could not advise a girl to turn her
thoughts towards book-illustration or even towards drawing of any
kind, if it is necessary for her to earn money by it. All the best
illustrators, fashion artists, designers of covers, etc., seem to be
agreed that an artist cannot be taught much more than the principles
of drawing, but that everything else must be acquired by the individual
through constant study and thought. No doubt the beginner is much
helped by observing good illustrative work, and even by trying to
copy it. It is also a good plan to enter for some of the competitions
which are held by the editors of the art magazines. We would, however,
seek to dissuade “J. L. R.” from becoming a teacher of art, as it is
most difficult for all but the most gifted women to obtain permanent
employment as teachers of drawing and painting alone.
_A correspondent, E. A. E., asks the association connected with the
words “Quo vadis?”_
When the persecution under Nero first broke out in Rome, the tradition
runs that St. Peter was persuaded by his friends to flee from the city.
He was hurrying along the Appian Way, when suddenly he was encountered
face to face by his risen Lord. In amazement he asked, “_Domine, quo
vadis?_” (Master, whither goest Thou?) “I go to Rome,” was the answer,
“to be crucified afresh.” “But, Lord, wast Thou not crucified once for
all?” “I saw thee fleeing from death,” replied the Master, “and I go to
be crucified in thy stead.” Abashed at the implied rebuke, St. Peter
turned again, cheered by the Divine utterance, “Fear not, for I am with
thee.” A little church now marks the legendary site of the interview.
This beautiful story is given by Origen, and is also found in the “Acts
of Peter and Paul” in _Apocryphal Writings_ (Ante-Nicene fathers).
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.
GIRLS’ EMPLOYMENTS.
MARY H. C. (_Stewardess_).—The position of stewardess is not easy
for a girl to obtain who has no connection with steamship companies.
The companies usually prefer for these appointments the widows or
daughters of employees. It is not also a position for which quite a
young girl would be thought eligible. We think your parents are very
wise in desiring you to know a trade, as an employment of this kind
can always be practised; but there is, as you say, the difficulty that
many trades which girls can adopt are of a sedentary character, and
might not suit you for that reason. How would you like dairy-work? This
is a good business to know, as girls who can take charge of dairies
or teach dairy-work are often wanted. You could be well taught in the
Reading Agricultural College (where you might also learn poultry and
bee-keeping), at the County Council Dairy Institute, Worleston, near
Nantwich, Cheshire, or at the Midland Dairy Institute, Kingston, Notts.
Laundry-work also is a most remunerative business to anyone who has
been trained for the post of manageress in a steam laundry; but as you
are not very strong, this might not prove a desirable occupation for
you.
BLACKAMOOR (_Companion, etc._).—1. You are one of our quite young
readers, we divine, and so perhaps will not take it amiss if we observe
that your spelling is a trifle weak; but as you write carefully this
will doubtless soon be improved. When you are older, we think you will
give up the idea of becoming a lady’s companion, and think it rather a
poor employment. Some girls make themselves valued in this capacity,
but they are young women who understand household duties thoroughly,
and can, as the expression goes, turn their hand to anything. But we
should like you to try in preference to do some one thing well, in
particular, as this is the more useful faculty nowadays.—2. Your second
question shows that you have the laudable ambition of a true Scottish
girl to become well educated. You aspire to obtain a “bursary,” or, as
we call it in England, a “scholarship,” at some school whence you could
eventually proceed to Girton. The St. Leonard’s School at St. Andrew’s
is a particularly good one. We advise you to write to the Principal,
asking her whether any bursaries are offered by the school for which
you could compete. You could also obtain some useful preliminary
instruction through the St. George’s Oral and Correspondence Classes,
of which the secretary is Miss S. E. Murray, 5, Melville Street,
Edinburgh. Pupils are helped in home study through these classes, and
also prepared for the Edinburgh Local Examinations.
K. L. (_Journalistic Work in China or Japan_).—China would offer no
field for journalistic employment to girls of nineteen, and is almost
the last country to select. Japan would be much safer, but we doubt
whether it would offer much field for journalistic work. If you wish
to become a journalist, surely, as your home is in Canada, it would be
much wiser to try the United States. You could at all events obtain
journalistic experience there, and a few years later you would be in
a better position to judge whether the East could offer you congenial
employment. No doubt if you did not require to earn money, it might be
quite possible to gratify your wish for Oriental travel; but as this
is not the case you would only be encountering insuperable obstacles
by trying at your age to introduce Western ideas concerning girls’
employment into the East.
DOLLY VARDEN (_Telephone Clerkship_).—You wish to know at what age
girls can be received into a telephone office. The National Telephone
Company accepts girls between the ages of seventeen and nineteen.
Their height, it is stipulated, must be not less than 5 feet 3 inches.
They must bring with them two letters of recommendation and a doctor’s
certificate. Good education and pronunciation are also demanded. Clerks
are engaged on a monthly agreement, and are received at first on
probation without payment, and afterwards at 5s. a week for half-time,
namely four hours a day. When engaged for full time, that is, eight
hours a day, less time for luncheon and tea, they are paid 5s. a week,
rising by 1s. a week yearly to 15s. Promotion to higher and better paid
work is accorded to suitable girls in order of seniority. We rather
fear that the complaint from which you have suffered might prove to be
an obstacle in your way, as the duties of a telephone clerk entail much
standing.
MAY DÉSIRÉE (_Telephone Clerkship_).—See reply to “Dolly Varden,” in
which we have dealt with this employment fully.
TOPSY (_Stewardess, etc._).—1. Positions as stewardess are only to be
obtained through the steamship companies; but would it not be wiser,
Topsy, to remain a dairy-maid as you are at present? A girl who knows
dairy-work is useful in all parts of the country and colonies, and has
a far better chance of earning her living, if she loses a situation,
than a stewardess out of place.—2. Used postage stamps have no value.
MEDICAL.
FELICITAS.—You cannot be too careful about the baby’s bottle. We
suppose the bottle is of value, but it is responsible for so much
suffering and illness of infants that we really doubt whether we would
not be better without it. There are two forms of baby’s bottles,
the old-fashioned torpedo-shaped bottle, clumsy, troublesome, and
inconvenient, but withal possible to clean, and necessitating careful
feeding, and the newer “Alexandra” bottle, convenient, no trouble,
æsthetic, but impossible to keep clean, and allowing carelessness in
feeding the infant. Never use the new bottle—it is quite impossible to
clean india-rubber; the bottle gets dirty, sour milk collects in the
tube, the child gets dyspepsia, and may die simply from a dirty bottle.
You must not let a child suck at the bottle at all hours of the day
and night, “just to keep it quiet and allow its mother a little rest.”
Children must be fed regularly. The habit of giving children things
to eat or suck to keep them quiet is responsible for a vast number of
deaths and lives of misery and uselessness. Indeed, it is not too much
to say that this pernicious practice of giving babies something to eat
or drink to prevent them from crying is more fatal to infants than all
the infectious diseases from which they suffer put together. You must
keep the bottle clean, and immediately after use rinse it out with
boiling water, and keep it soaking in boracic acid solution, and again
rinse it out with hot water before using it.
BONNIE.—1. The reason why it is easy for you to breathe through your
nose during the day, but difficult to do so at night, is that the
recumbent position causes the mucous membrane of the nose to become
congested. The nose always becomes congested when the person is lying
down, but the amount of obstruction varies very greatly even in health.
Of course, in the absolutely healthy condition, the congestion is never
sufficient to prevent breathing through the nose. But a very slight
cause may make nose-breathing quite impossible at night. The best
treatment for such conditions is an extra pillow and a nasal spray of
menthol in paraleine (1 in 8). Even in health it is the rule to breathe
through the nose and the mouth after severe exertions.—2. A hair-wash
of quinine, rosemary, and cantharides, is a good preparation to
prevent the hair from falling out, that is, it is as good as any other
hair-wash. Of course, nothing whatever applied to the hair itself can
have the slightest influence on its growth. The remedy must be applied
either through the blood or to the hair roots in order to be effective.
Quinine often causes headache if taken internally; applied externally
it would not have this action. It would not darken the hair. Try borax
or very dilute carbolic acid (1 in 1000) to wash your hair with.
MOLLY.—By the “eye tooth” is usually meant the canine or “dog tooth,”
the third in order from the middle line of the mouth. By some persons
the first molar or first double tooth in the upper jaw, or the sixth
from the middle line, is called the “eye tooth,” and with greater
reason than the canine, for the first molar is more connected with
the eye than is the canine. Extracting the canine tooth is of no more
danger than extracting any other tooth, but as its root is rather long,
it is a little more difficult. There are thirty-two teeth in the adult
jaw, eight on each side of both upper and lower jaws.
HESTER.—You object to our statement that eczema is a local disease,
and is not usually dependent upon the state of the blood, because you
feel ill when you have an acute attack of eczema and are relieved by
internal treatment. But this does not affect our statement that eczema
is a local disease due to a local inoculation, and is not due to
disease of the blood. We suppose you will admit that a severe burn is
a local injury, and that that, at least, is not due to “something in
the blood.” Well, often in a severe burn the constitutional symptoms
are desperate. We may have to confine all our attention to the heart
and nervous system at first when treating a severe burn. But still we
maintain that the burn is a local injury, and by local means alone can
the burn be made to heal. And so with eczema. Here is a local disease,
but the constitutional symptoms may be, although they very rarely
are, severe. And occasionally they do need internal treatment. But no
internal treatment will cause the eczema to heal without external aid.
The treatment for all local disease must be local, although internal
medication may be required as well.
A COUNTRY LASS.—Wild honey is often poisonous. That made by bumble-bees
is usually harmful, giving rise to severe headache, purging, and
vomiting. Xenophon, in his _Anabasis_, accurately describes the effects
produced upon his soldiers by eating wild honey, probably made by bees
from the Pontic azalea.
E. F. T.—Try an ointment of ichthiol (2 per cent.), and a wash of
carbolic acid (1 in 100). You must be very careful that the carbolic
acid does not get into your eyes and mouth.
STUDY AND STUDIO.
⁂ We may remind our subscribers that there are in connection with the
Royal Academy of Music, Tenterden Street, Hanover Square, London, W.,
twenty-one exhibitions and scholarships, which in most cases entitle
the winners to three years’ free instruction at the Academy. The next
election for the Henry Smart Scholarship is for female candidates, and
will take place at the Royal Academy of Music on Monday, September
25th, 1899. The subjects of examination will be organ-playing and
composition. The John Thomas Welsh Scholarship will be competed for
on Friday, September 22nd, 1899. Full particulars of these and other
scholarships can be obtained of the Secretary, Royal Academy of Music.
SEA-FOAM (Chefoo, N. China).—Many thanks for your modest and
interesting letter. We regret the delay in offering criticism upon
your poems, but can now say that they are very thoughtful, and are
not marked by any of the blemishes in construction which we have
often to point out to our correspondents. Blank verse, however, is a
difficult medium for the novice, and we think “The Rainbow” is your
most successful effort. The idea expressed in “Influence” is very
good. On p. 2 you use “e’en yet” and “still” together. Only one of
the expressions is necessary. You also use “lives” and “endeth” with
the same nominative. You should either say “liveth” and “endeth,” or
“lives” and “ends.” Never let your words be obviously shaped by the
length of a line. “An unspoken thought” is striking. We should advise
you to study the laws of versification, and to persevere, selecting
some other metre, to begin with, than the ambitious blank verse.
ONE BY ONE.—We repeat our apology to you. Your sketch of Teddie is
pathetic, but shows, as you yourself observe, that you have not studied
the laws of composition. On the first page there are far too many
“ands,” and it is better not to write of “the joyous little birdies
with their bright plumage and their sweet, sweet notes.” (We do not
think that the English song-birds are remarkable for gay plumage.) You
should procure Dr. Abbot’s little book _How to Write Clearly_, and read
a good deal of good prose and poetry.
LOUISA GREGORY.—You need to study writing and spelling before you
attempt to compose stories. We advise you daily to copy some extract
for the sake of learning to spell, and also to practise writing in a
copy-book, to teach you to form your letters correctly.
INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENCE.
MARIQUITA, aged 14, wishes to correspond with a French girl about her
own age, each writing in the other’s language; the letters would be
corrected and returned. Address, 33, Hawthorn Bank, Marslands Road,
Sale, near Manchester.
A BUSH GIRL, Queensland, Australia, would like to correspond with “AN
ANXIOUS ONE” and “ARMENIAN SWEET SEVENTEEN,” Smyrna. Will they forward
us their addresses for “A BUSH GIRL” to see?
MISS GERTRUDE DICKSON, King Street, Bangalore, Mysore, India, will
be glad to correspond with Miss François. We published the latter’s
address, so Miss Dickson might have written direct. She is a collector
of stamps; and, if Miss François has found a correspondent—which is
probable—would be glad to hear in English from any other reader of THE
GIRL’S OWN PAPER.
A PROPINQUER, who collects foreign view post-cards, would be very glad
to exchange some with “O MIMOSA SAN,” if she will send her address.
MISS QUEENIE CLARKE, Hillside House, Rawtenstall, Manchester, would
like to correspond in French with MISS GIGIA RICCIARDI (March).
LIZZIE VAN REES, aged 17, Hilversum, Holland, wishes to correspond with
GRETE FROMBERG, Berlin, and with an English girl of her own age.
MISS EDITH WOGAMAN, Curra Creek, _viâ_ Wellington, New South Wales
(19), wishes to correspond with “MISS INQUISITIVE” or another “nice
girl.”
MISS KATE PROUT, Bolarum, Deccan, India (19) would like an English girl
to write to her at once, and “hopes they will be great friends.”
MISS BEATRICE MILLER, 2, Talbot Villas, Prince’s Road, Buckhurst Hill,
Essex, would like to correspond with a French girl. She is fond of
painting, but backward in French. Letters should be corrected and
returned.
JANET and GRACE COUPER, aged 16 and 14, would like to correspond and
exchange stamps with girls in the West Indies, India, Holland, and
Central America. Address, Te Waikaha, Havelock, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand.
MISS DAISY BOUVERIE (18) would like to correspond with an American
young lady. Address, 514, Commercial Road, Landport, Portsmouth.
MISS NICHOLLS, Laburnum Villa, Leamington, would be pleased to
correspond with an Italian lady interested in art, science, or
literature—both writing in Italian.
MISCELLANEOUS.
INSECTO.—The beetles have been so crushed that it is not easy to say
absolutely what they are. But we think there can be very little doubt
that they are _Anobium domesticum_, a wood-boring beetle very common
in old houses. The boring is, of course, the work of the larvæ, which
are believed to take often three years to come to perfection and
change into the pupæ—the little round holes being the open ends of
their galleries. Canon Fowler says, “They may, to a great extent, be
got rid of by the application of benzine, with which a small quantity
of carbolic acid has been mixed;” if they have bored into furniture
which is delicately polished, “the benzine had better be applied alone.
Unpolished furniture would be best freed from the pest by immersion
in boiling water, if the articles are not too unwieldy to admit of
such treatment. Moderately strong carbolic acid will at once destroy
both grubs, eggs, and perfect insects, but the furniture to which
it is applied will require re-polishing.” As the query is as to the
destruction of floor-boards, we should think the carbolic acid would
not be difficult.
AN IMPOVERISHED ONE.—We know of nothing to remove the black marks,
unless French chalk may answer the purpose. Scrape a little on them at
the back and try.
DOLLY.—The smoking of your lamp may be prevented by a little more
effort at thorough cleanliness. Take out the wick, soak it in vinegar,
dry it well, and cut it exactly straight. Wash the lamp in soda-water,
and when you fill it with oil, put a few little pieces of camphor in
the latter, as this will improve the light. To whiten the dirty-looking
boards, use newly-slaked lime—one part—and three parts of white sand.
Another method is to apply moistened fuller’s earth thickly over the
stains, and, after about twenty-four hours, rub it in gently, and then
clear it off. A third plan is to lay chloride of lime on the boards,
damp it frequently, and then wash them well with soda-water.
BIRDY.—We quite sympathise with you in the feeling of indignation
aroused at seeing the quantity of little skylarks that cover the
counters of poulterers in London. Much is said, and great efforts are
made, with reference to the slaughter of birds for bonnet decoration.
But women’s vanity is not alone to be censured for the destruction
of birds with beautiful plumage. The larks and thrushes and other
singing birds find a market to supply the tables of men’s clubs. It
was calculated some time ago that upwards of 40,000 skylarks were sent
up from the country every day during the season, and before long, at
this rate, the little bird which called forth the genius of Shelley,
Wordsworth, and others of our poets, and inspired such exquisite odes,
will become a rare specimen amongst our native songsters. The law
should be a stringent one against the destruction of any songster.
M. G. G.—Return the withdrawal order to the Head Office in London if
you wish it to be cancelled. Address the letter “Savings Bank, G. P. O.,
London,” unstamped, saying you wish it to be cancelled. Many thanks to
the Parochial Nurse.
HARMONY.—We should think that a daily paper would be the best for your
advertisement. That is where people usually look, we believe. Very few
take an exclusively musical journal unless extremely interested in the
subject.
J. NELSON.—We see no reason why you should not give your clergyman
a parting present, though it is difficult to say what it should be,
unless we knew to what part of the world he was going. Something simple
and useful is generally the best. Hairbrushes in a case, a box of nice
soap, some handkerchiefs, an old-fashioned housewife well filled,
half-a-dozen bedroom towels marked in embroidery; all of these would be
useful. But you could ask some intimate friend to tell you exactly what
he needed, and you might get a good suggestion in that way.
CURIOUS.—The observation you have made respecting the retreat of the
glacier at Grindelwald is quite correct. Some years ago the distance to
be ascended to reach it was not nearly so great as it now is. But this
is not an isolated case. The gradual retreat of the glacier is general,
and in proportion the higher limit of vegetation is coming down. The
rhododendron, which formerly ranged up to 2,350 metres some twenty
years ago, now reaches only to 2,000. M. Martin ascribes this change to
the fact that there is less snow, and less protection against the cold
in winter, and less moisture during the heat of summer. The vines do
not grow as high as formerly. The mountaineers do not reside at such
altitudes as they once did.
A. R.—The stork is a fatal enemy to snakes, and indeed so are all the
birds of the marshes, for they check their prodigious multiplication.
It is true that snakes may be perhaps a little repulsive in appearance,
but they perform great services in the economy of nature, for they make
incessant war on the worms and insects which abound in the slimy mud of
the swamps in which they generally make their abode. The storks always
make their nests on roofs and chimneys.
F. Q. M. J. E.—When a widow marries again, she certainly requires
wedding-cards, and she would put the name she bore during her first
marriage on her cards, and not her maiden name, unless under peculiar
and exceptional circumstances.
OUR NEW PUZZLE POEM.
[Illustration]
⁂ PRIZES to the amount of six guineas (one of which will be reserved
for competitors living abroad) are offered for the best solutions of
the above Puzzle Poem. The following conditions must be observed:—
1. Solutions to be written on one side of the paper only.
2. Each paper to be headed with the name and address of the competitor.
3. Attention must be paid to spelling, punctuation, and neatness.
4. Send by post to Editor, GIRL’S OWN PAPER, 56, Paternoster Row,
London. “Puzzle Poem” to be written on the top left-hand corner of the
envelope.
5. The last day for receiving solutions from Great Britain and Ireland
will be October 16, 1899; from Abroad, December 16, 1899.
The competition is open to all without any restrictions as to sex or
age.
* * * * *
[Transcriber’s Note—the following changes have been made to this text.
Page 767: county to country—“country to select”.]