STUDY AND STUDIO.
Country Lass.—By far your best course would be to enter some small ladies' school, where you would associate with well-educated women. We do not think the scheme you mention would be very feasible. It is difficult for us to mention any one school; the fees (unless under special arrangements) would vary from £50 to £100 a year. Would you like to go on the Continent? If so, we should advise Lausanne. Perhaps you can give us a few more particulars.
Iris.—1. You might procure Creighton's First History of France, published at 3s. 6d., or Smith's Student's History, published at 7s. 6d. There is a book by Charlotte Yonge—Aunt Charlotte's Stories from French History—but we do not know it.—2. A thunderbolt, in the sense of a metallic substance, or bolt, hurled through the air by a thunderstorm, does not exist. The term is properly applied to the stream of electrical fluid passing from the clouds to the earth. Aërolites, or meteoric stones, have no connection with thunderstorms. Two questions are our limit.
Emerald.—We are sorry we cannot tell you of a good grammar of the Irish language. Perhaps some correspondent, noting your wish to obtain one, may help you.
Pateeth.—1. Write to the publishers of any of Jerome K. Jerome's works, and inquire for the recitation in question.—2. We do not know of any way of disposing of silver paper. Inquire at a confectioner's.
Dorothy will find the poem “Nothing to Wear” in Alfred Mile's American Reciter, price 6d.
“The Eldest Girl.”—Certainly we do not object to our girl-readers “writing about the articles and stories in the paper, saying what they like and dislike in them,” so long as the letters are as pleasant and courteous as your own.
Felicia.—Your quotation—
“The mighty master smiled to see
That love was in the next degree,”
is from Alexander's Feast, by Dryden.
Arithmetician.—Many thanks for your solution of the problem in our August number.
Amateur Society.—We have received a notice of “The Budget” Manuscript Magazine Club; subjects optional; good criticism; two prizes yearly. Address, Miss Louise M. Larner, 22, Ladbroke Road, Notting Hill, W.
Zingara.—1. We do not recommend books on fortune-telling by cards.—2. We have observed in one or two of the larger weekly illustrated ladies' papers that character is described in the correspondence column from handwriting. A glance through these papers at any public library will inform you where to apply.
Bessie Matthews.—Your letter is beautifully written, and the white ink on the blue paper is very pretty, if a little too dazzling for ordinary use. We thank you for your information, which we repeat elsewhere.
Cissie (Southend).—You do not give us your Christian name, which we require for International Correspondence. “R.” is not enough.
Phœbe Wilson.—There is a picture in the National Gallery, we believe, of the first title you mention, but it is quite impossible for us to tell you either the painter or the value of your pictures by the names alone. You should let a local picture-dealer see them in the first instance, and if they are thought to be of value, you might send photographs or a rough sketch of them to “Christie, Manson & Woods,” or “Agnew's,” New Bond Street, London, asking for information.
Mercia.—We do not consider you at all too old to begin to study at a school of art. With perseverance and diligence you will doubtless make rapid progress. These are the great requisites; a very youthful age is a secondary consideration.
E. W. H.—The teacher who trains your voice will tell you whether it is a contralto, mezzo, or soprano. We should consider that F or G was about the lowest note for a contralto; but it is for the master who teaches you to judge of the compass of your voice, not for you to inform him of its range.