MISCELLANEOUS.
Winifred Mary wants “a remedy for taking sunburn off the face and hands.” Shut yourself up in a bandbox, my dear, and when winter clouds and winds return you may open the lid and inspect the condition of your complexion. If a cure have been effected, come out; if not, shut yourself up in the dark a little longer. If you live to rejoice in the return of the summer’s sunshine you had better wear gloves and a veil.
Rose Henshaw.—We regret our inability to avail ourselves of your story. If you send your address in full, it shall be returned to you.
Lizzie Herbert.—We are glad you are happy in your marriage, even in the circumstances you name. But “one swallow does not make a summer.” We only laid down general rules, more especially for girls in the upper ranks of life. In your special case you seem to have acted wisely.
Hezekiah.—We think that the “best thing to make you look as if you had not been crying” is not to cry. We imagine that your royal namesake cared little whether his eyes were red or not, because his was real grief.
Anne S.—No stranger could venture to give advice for deafness without seeing the patients and becoming acquainted with a variety of circumstances connected with them. Deafness may be hereditary or accidental, from a cold, an abscess, a plug of cotton, a secretion of wax, a fall, and thickening of the membrane, or a broken drum from a loud noise. It is an ailment too serious for guess-work.
Violet.—The sons of a commoner could not inherit the rank their own father did not hold merely because their mother’s former husband was a peer. However, there are some few peerages that run in the female line, the mother being a peeress “in her own right,” not by marriage only. See our letters on “Girls’ Allowances,” in vol. v., pages 54, 91, 246 and 764.
Myrtle.—Provided a licence were obtained, the marriage would be legal anywhere. If “Myrtle” is a Protestant, the ceremony should be performed by her own minister as well.
Fitzgerald.—We are much obliged for the account of your visit to Wales, and regret that we can make no use of it; but it is very well written for a girl of your age.
Une Jeune Fille.—You would find a mention in the “Princesses of Wales” of the Princess Charlotte, at page 773, vol. vi. We have read the verses, but as yet they do not show much promise of future poetry in them.
A Sorrowful Wife.—The Act passed last session will enable you to summon your husband for maintenance without the intervention of the Poor Law Guardians. Hitherto deserted wives have been obliged to throw themselves on the parish before taking proceedings; but the necessity for so doing no longer exists, and the benefit cannot be too widely known, as it is a very excellent change.
E. G. (Leeds).—We sympathise much with you in your sorrow and trouble, and were glad to hear from you.
Marguerite Vance.—She would be his niece by the half-blood, and, of course, he could not marry her.
Winnie must keep her feet dry and warm, and place herself away from the fire when she comes in from a walk, as the heat of the fire will make her nose burn.
Ella Kingsley.—Sir Walter Scott, Mrs. Oliphant, Mrs. Craik, Rosa N. Carey, and Anne Beale, are all good and careful writers, whose books are quite fit for young girls to read.
Minnie M. (Maidstone).—Your verses are pretty, and give some promise, but need correction.
Polly.—The condition of your hair seems to imply a deterioration of your general health, for which you probably need tonics and better living. Vaseline is highly spoken of for the hair, and might be of use.
Maggie.—1. As silkworms’ eggs are sold in Covent Garden Market, perhaps they might buy yours, if they can be proved thoroughly healthy and strong. 2. The acidulated drops such as are almost universally sold are most injurious to the enamel of the teeth.
Cecilia.—Your lines on “Evangeline” give some promise for the future. The first sixteen lines are correct, the last sixteen are not so, neither in the number of feet nor fall of the beat, or emphasis.
May.—The fault lies with yourself if you “hold back,” and be “unable to raise yourself from sin to a certain extent,” because our Divine Lord has promised to “give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him.” It most certainly is not our Father’s will that we should not “attain grace for a little while.” The evil will that keeps you back is that of your own heart and of the arch-tempter and deceiver. In reciting to uneducated people or children, select what they can comprehend, but what is good, though simple.
Miss Dayns.—Persons requiring any publication issued by the Religious Tract Society, whether a number of this paper or otherwise, should apply to the publisher (as we are always telling our correspondents), as the Editor has nothing to do with that department. He regrets that he has no knowledge of what Miss Dayns’s question was, nor in which number it may yet be answered. The number of answers inserted depends on the amount of space.
Christabel.—Ash Wednesday is the first day in Lent in the English and Roman Church. In the latter the priest makes the sign of the cross on the foreheads of the people, saying, “Remember thou art but dust and ashes, and to dust thou shalt return.” Shrove Tuesday is the day preceding Lent, when in the latter church the people go to confess and be shriven.
Una.—1. We think the process of hardening, as carried out by exposure to cold, is of questionable wisdom in most cases. 2. We have made no personal trial of the instrument you name, but heard a friend commend its utility.
Vivian Kate.—1. A young man who presumed to introduce himself to a girl could know nothing of common propriety nor of the respect due to an unprotected woman. Any knowledge of etiquette in such an individual is, of course, out of the question. In the circles of society where the rules of etiquette obtain, such impertinent intrusion on the part of a man would not be tolerated. 2. Wash the blue sateen in tepid water.
Hopefull.—The water takes up all the camphor requisite, and will last for some time in the wash. You can use it again when you make it fresh.
Dora (Aged 13) sends a poem, written when confined to the house by indisposition one Sunday, from which we can only quote one verse—
“And one, though pale, yet beautiful,
Lay in a darkened room,
But the sweet texts she uttered
Seemed to dispel the gloom.”
Did she mean this description of an invalid to apply to herself?
Mary.—1. The town named by you, Altrincham, in Cheshire, is usually spelt “Altringham,” and pronounced accordingly. 2. We say “crocuses,” not “croci.”
Lonely Girl writes her nom de plume so illegibly that we cannot decipher it, so do not know what she wrote about on the first occasion that she addressed us; but she may feel happy in the assurance that we do not think, judging from her second letter, that she could have written anything needing the apology she now makes on the chance of having done so.
Anti-Ant.—You may keep the ants from shelves by keeping the latter washed with a strong solution of alum and water. You should also sprinkle insecticide powder over the floor, only be careful if you have a cat. Should this prove insufficient, apply to a chemist. Without doubt, Sir John Lubbock would appreciate his pets’ all-pervading presence as little as you do were he a guest in your house and found them, as you say, in his “meat, bacon, bread, cheese, pastry, sugar, plate, and cup” at all times and seasons!
Gwendoline R.—1. We could not condense into two or three lines all the rules of lawn tennis contained in the manuals of instruction respecting the game. You should buy one of these. 2. Eat no more sweetmeats if you wish to cure your complaints.
Geranium should write to our publisher. The editor’s department is perfectly distinct from his.
Feathers.—Curl the ostrich feathers by gently drawing every filament between the edge of a blunt penknife and your thumb.
Polly.—1. By “elective affinity” we suppose natural selection was meant. 2. Your handwriting is rather a poor one.
Katherine van Hemskirk.—We are sure that you could not do better than send the articles of clothing you name to the Home for Upper-class Children, 11, South-grove, Tunbridge Wells. Any of our readers who have school books or any suitable books for such a home would do a useful and charitable act in sending contributions of these kinds to this little institution.
Buchan and J. B.—The verses by these young people express good sentiments in feeble language. They ought to make themselves acquainted with the rules of metrical composition. This at least could be accomplished, though the gift of original ideas cannot be acquired by any amount of study.
One of Two.—For the meaning of girls’ Christian names, see our articles in vol. iv. In Webster’s large illustrated dictionary of the English language you will find those of most names, male as well as female.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Aus “Carmen Sylva’s Leben,” von Natalie, Freiin von Stachelberg—(From “Carmen Sylva’s Life,” by Nathalie, Baroness of Stachelberg. Third revised edition. Heidelberg. 1886).
[Transcriber’s Note—the following changes have been made to this text.
Page 261: dont’s to don’ts—“don’ts”.]