MISCELLANEOUS.
Jim’s Darling.—Your mother should see that the two children obey you, and if they need punishment she should inflict it, not you. Your spelling and writing are both very defective.
Red Berrie.—“Genius” appears to us to mean originality and creative power; talent does not imply originality. We generally apply the word to those who ably interpret the ideas and carry out the discoveries of others.
Janet Moreton.—Stopped teeth sometimes last for years if well done. If the stopping should come out, it ought to be at once replaced.
Daisy Naomi seems to need a tonic. We advise her to read the articles by “Medicus.” Cod-liver oil would probably be of service to her. Naomi needs a doctor’s advice as to her digestion.
Alys and Mabelle.—“Nigel” is pronounced as it is spelt; the last syllable as the first in “gelatine.”
K. M. W. is anxious that others who, like herself, have lost their voices, should know how much she has benefited from the treatment by the electric battery, which she obtained at St. Thomas’s Hospital. She hopes not only to recover her voice completely for speaking, but also for singing.
Mona.—The lines, “Break, break, break! On thy cold grey stones, O Sea!” are by Lord Tennyson. They have been several times set to music, and you can obtain the songs at any music-seller’s.
Fair Rosamond.—When you first observed that the strange man made a habit of occupying the same seat as yourself, you should have gone elsewhere. Now you have habitually sanctioned the liberty he took, seeing you without a chaperon or companion, and this has made your case difficult. You can only say that you acted indiscreetly in the first instance in allowing yourself to be drawn into conversing with a perfect stranger, and that you regret that you must withdraw from further intercourse, unless properly introduced and suitable references be given. Even were he thoroughly respectable, he may be in no position to pay his addresses to you in point of fortune.
Four Maidens.—Young ladies in England have their names put on their mothers’ visiting cards, unless under peculiar circumstances. If they have no mother, their names would appear together—i.e., Miss Smith—Miss Belinda Smith.
Sarnia.—Your school children, whom you train to sing in the choir of your church, would be rendered more efficient were they to sing through a few ordinary scales for a few minutes previously to practising the chants and hymns. It would only extend the time some five or ten minutes beyond the hour hitherto devoted to the lesson once weekly. There would be no necessity for consulting them on the subject, nor even drawing attention to the brief prolongation of the time. Were you to propose an extra day for practising, they might grumble or find difficulty in attending.
Mignonette.—The 20th of April, 1868, was a Monday. Many thanks for your nice letter.
D. E. S.—Messrs. Cassell publish a “Guide to Female Employment in Government Offices.”
Maude must make inquiries, and try to find some writing, copying, or needlework. She gives us no indications of what she can do, so is evidently not a practical young person.
Alice Rockhampton.—1. The words, Ricordo di Napoli, mean “a remembrance, or memento, of Naples.” 2. We should think lemonade a very good summer drink.
H. S. G. H.—The 28th August, 1852, was a Saturday, and the 5th January, 1864, was a Tuesday.
Scotch Lassie.—We should advise you to take a situation as cook-housekeeper. Your writing does not seem good enough for a clerk.
Natalie Metz.—In writing such articles, a doctor makes use of his acquired knowledge, of course. How do you suppose a doctor could prescribe with success if he did not know about every portion of the human organism and its use and functions?
Phyllis H.—You may use the tweezers, but we do not think you should try anything else.
Thistle sends us a letter of inquiry as to how she can earn her own living. She says, “I have no special talent for anything; I am no musician, I have no accomplishments, I am a bad writer, I dislike teaching, also nursing, and I cannot learn languages.” We see nothing left but domestic service or matrimony, and Thistle had better begin to learn cooking and housekeeping, so as to be prepared for either position.
An Anxious One would do well to try the Dental Hospital and have advice about her teeth.
Maude C.—Felt hats, if good enough, can be re-dyed and blocked without much expense. The 4th Feb., 1869, was a Thursday.
Nesta.—The 15th March, 1871, was a Wednesday; and the 28th February, 1874, was a Saturday.
Audrey Gallop.—The German Auf Wiedersehn means the same as the French au revoir. We have no similar idiom in English, the meaning being, “a wish for our next meeting.”
A June Rose.—Most young girls if short-sighted prefer eyeglasses to spectacles, but it is quite a matter of individual preference.
Busy Bee must go through the usual course of submitting her story to the various publishers. There is no royal road to literary success.
Makie.—We could not give space for such a quantity of statistics. Buy a “Whitaker’s Almanack.” The story you mention about the Queen has been recently contradicted, we believe.
Emmeline Kennedy.—1. The distance from Rydal to Ambleside is given differently in guides and gazetteers—viz., as two miles, a mile and a quarter, and a mile and a half. You say it is a “short mile,” but you will allow it is not a matter of very vital importance. A quarter of a mile from the shores of any lake may be very truly described as being on or near the banks of that lake. You will understand that we are not called upon to visit each locality and test the correctness of gazetteers and guides, so we are quite willing to believe your statement correct. 2. The poet Wordsworth had, as you say, an only daughter, Dora; married to Mr. Quillinan. She died in 1847, leaving no family. Mr. Quillinan had, however, two daughters by his first wife, who was a daughter of Sir Egerton Bridges. This poor lady was burnt to death. Mr. Quillinan himself died suddenly in 1857.
Cecil.—The lines you quote are from a short poem by Lord Byron.
Constant Reader.—Colour-blindness is, unfortunately, very common, and more especially among men. It is rare among women. Red and green are the colours which, through some defect in the eyes, are the more generally confounded. Sailors and soldiers have to be carefully examined to ascertain their ability to distinguish signals, and engine-drivers likewise.
Nora, the Anxious.—You had better apply to Mrs. Houston Smith respecting situations as mother’s help; office, 409, Oxford-street, W.
A. M. B.—We quite understand your difficulty in understanding our Lord’s statement (St. Mark xiii. 30, and St. Luke xxi. 32). It may be explained in more than one way. If He referred to His Second Advent, you must remember that the term “generation” is sometimes employed to denote the nation as a whole, and in this sense this is true, as we see in reference to the Jewish people, who exist to this day, notwithstanding the cruel exterminating persecutions to which, through all the subsequent centuries, they have been subjected. If the statement referred to the destruction of Jerusalem, the term “generation” bore the signification which we put on that term, for those standing by (very many of them) lived to see that prophecy fulfilled. Our Lord’s discourse referred to both events, although the two prophecies are rather unaccountably run together by the evangelists in their record of them.
Marrow Bones repeats an old query, which we have ceased to answer. Read “The Art of Letter-writing,” vol. i, page 237.
Sandown.—The few holidays accorded to the banks include Christmas Day and Good Friday, and though national, they are properly called bank holidays also. Christmas Day was a great festival of the ancient Romans, but the day was observed by Christians to commemorate a very different event.
Sarah.—The man who made use of such an expression as that to which you refer is certainly very profane, and wanting in the feelings of a gentleman towards those in whose presence he spoke. It is a species of swearing of a very low class and horrible kind. If these girls allowed such language to be used without denouncing its gross profanity and the personal insult to themselves, as listeners, they showed want of common self-respect, not to speak of reverent feeling.
Ellennette.—Perhaps it would be of some service to have the old boards planed, then well saturated with turpentine, and, when dry, painted thickly with two or three coats of paint. The vermin will scarcely be able to penetrate this, if any survive the turpentine bath. We have not tried this plan, but should do so under the same distressing circumstances. Some have found the use of a kettle of boiling water very effectual. We should use this first, then the turpentine, and then the paint.
Incognito.—The Ides in the Ancient Roman Calendar were eight days in each month. The first, denominated the Idus, fell on the 15th of March, May, July, and October, and on the 13th of the other months. The Ides came between the Calends and the Nones, and were reckoned backwards. Thus, the 14th of March, May, July, and October, and the 12th of the other months, was called “the day before the Ides.” In the calendar of the “Breviary,” and in the Chancery of Rome, this needlessly complicated mode of reckoning is still retained.
A Cheshire Cat.—When the reflecting surface is concave the contiguous reflected rays themselves intersect, and as we pass along any line on the surface—say the line of intersection, by a given plane—the reflected rays by their ultimate intersections form a plane curve. By varying the plane of section an indefinite number of such curves result, and these all lie upon the surface known as the caustic, to which every reflected ray is a tangent. A concave lens must of necessity render originally parallel rays divergent. The principal focus of the convex lens is the point at which the rays which pass through it, near and parallel to its axis, converge. The science of optics is one that needs to be taught.
Bunch of Grapes.—1. We do not hold ourselves bound to inform our readers of the why and wherefore respecting our plan of conducting our paper. 2. If the terra-cotta be very dirty, sponge with turpentine, and then with soap and water.
M. S. O.—No further continuation of the article on “Paper Boxes” was given in the G. O. P. “My Work Basket” is continued at intervals as space will permit.
Particular.—From Angus’s “Handbook of the English Tongue,” we quote the following with reference to your query:—“In old writers, and occasionally in modern print, ‘an’ is sometimes erroneously placed before semi-vowels or vocal ‘h,’ as ‘an usurpation,’ ‘an historical account.’” Thus, you see that “a historical account” was right. You should get the book in question; it is published at 56, Paternoster-row, E.C.
FOOTNOTES:
12-11-1.
Caledonian Railway.—Traffic for week ending 31st ultimo, £2,250 decrease.
[2] There passes through the Clearing House annually the incomprehensible sum of £6,000,000,000 a year in the shape of cheques.
[Transcriber’s note—the following changes have been made to this text.
Page 394: duplicate word “sight” removed—“sight, and we”.
Page 395: he to the—“of the storm.”
Page 396: Dandalo to Dandolo—“Dandolo, who went”.
Page 400: Weidersehn to Wiedersehn—“Auf Wiedersehn”.]