Rex.—Certainly call on and visit your pupils’ mothers, if invited. You do not need any other introduction. Unless introduced to the friends met in the street, it is well to walk on a short distance and wait.
Ein Unartiges Madchen.—1. Punch and Judy dates its origin to one of the old mystery plays, Pontius Pilate and the Jews. The story as we represent it is attributed to Silvio Fiorillo, an Italian comedian of the seventeenth century. The moral is decidedly bad, as the evil is made to triumph over the good, and defies and defeats all law and justice. 2. Slope your writing more from right to left.
One who is Waiting.—The story you tell us of a cat taking care of two chickens when her kittens were taken from her is very wonderful; but we believe it has its parallel in one told by Sir John Lubbock, of a cat that brought up two ducklings, and was distracted at seeing them take to the water. We much approve of the wishes and feelings you express, and you have our sympathy. We wish you God-speed.
Winifred H.—1. Grey is a very delicate colour, and probably the rain has extracted the dye, and nothing could restore the loss but having the material redyed in a darker shade. 2. It is not necessary that the name of a writer should appear; but the difficulty is that we cannot accept the articles and stories of unknown writers. We rarely take those of authors who have not made their names as such.
“Truly Sweet Eighteen” (?).—We should say that, as a descriptive name, “Truly Vain” would be truer. If you find that you earn too little by dressmaking, perhaps you could turn your four years’ experience of that trade to good account by adding to your acquirements that of hair-dressing, and then you could take a situation as lady’s-maid.
Humble Minor.—We never heard of an infant who would not go to his mother voluntarily, unless to go to a wet-nurse, whom he might naturally suppose, if he could not think, was his real mother. If he have a fearful temper, and be not a screamer from teething, or any other pain, he should be gently corrected for his violence. Some children scream themselves into fits. Children should have the best and richest unwatered milk.
One in Trouble.—It is well that you only broke one looking-glass, and that your father only tries to comfort you. Be more careful in the future, and do not listen to silly “prophets of evil.” Those who trust in God’s care and commit themselves to Him in well-doing, need not “take thought for the morrow” in an anxious way. It would be a want of faith.
Oak Tree.—Do as your mother wishes. You are not yet nineteen, and are under her authority. But perhaps she might spare you to go out for a few hours daily, to take children out for a walk, and teach them to write, read, sew, and some few other lessons. If not, she might let you assist in some shop where the hours were not long. Perhaps you might hold a little class of children at home.
Charity.—1. We do not know to what your mother refers by that name, but you will find allusions to the “Book of Life” in the Epistle to the Philippians iv. 3, and in the Book of Revelations iii. 5, and in five more places. 2. If you wish some day to be a doctor, begin by studying a shilling manual called “Sick Nursing at Home” (Gill, 170, Strand, W.C.), and then join an ambulance class.
Ella Mary.—What are known as “Mystery plays” are referred for their origin to the pilgrims who journeyed to the East in the eleventh century. The earliest known in England took place at Dunstable early in the following century. The oldest extant dates to the reign of Edward III. The “Chester Mysteries” date back to 1327. Those of the French only commenced in the fourteenth century.