Kinder Gartner.—We think that you might extract the grease stains from the paper by covering it with blotting-paper and holding a hot flat-iron near it. But you must do it gradually and watchfully, or you may curl up the tinted paper. You had better lay the blotting-paper at the back of the embossing.
Mrs. Wainwright.—In former times surnames were variously spelt by members of the same families owning them. That of the famous Flemish painter, Sir Anthony Vandyck, or Vandyke, is an exemplification of this fact. In Benjamin Vincent’s “Dictionary of Biography,” in Gorton’s “Biographical Dictionary,” the “Student’s Encyclopædia,” and in Phillip’s “Dictionary of Biographical Reference,” Sir Anthony’s name is spelt with a “c”. So also is that of Daniel Vandyck, a French painter of the seventeenth century, and Philippus Vandyck, a Dutch painter, 1680-1752. A good connoisseur would be able to tell you to which of these masters your picture may be attributed.
Ashe Ingen Court.—Rosenburg’s “Guide to Flower Painting,” published by Rowney, is a good shilling manual. Noble’s “Guide to Water-colours,” also published by the same, and Green’s “Sketching from Nature,” three volumes, one shilling each, are all satisfactory, and would fulfil your requirements.
Mittie Smith.—To transfer prints to glass you must lay a thin coating of Venice turpentine over the face of the print, and then proceed as if you were doing decalcomanie.
HOUSEKEEPING.
A. W.—Cocoa is made from the nibs in a tin-pot like a coffee-pot. Put in half a teacupful each morning, fill the pot with cold water, and keep it on the stove all day, so that the goodness may stew out of the nibs. Use it at breakfast, or when required, each day, and when empty fill as directed, leaving each day’s cocoa nibs in the pot till the end of the week.
Rale Cearney.—The cheese course comes before the dessert.
Yarmouth Bloater.—1. Steaming is considered the best way of cleaning feathers, but in the country, where they must be done at home, they should be put into warm water, to which should be added a little soda or chloride of lime. After this wash they are rinsed in cold water and put to dry on a clean cloth. If dried in a stove, they must be put into bags of clean muslin, and placed in the oven with the door open till the drying is complete and they are fit for use. We are sorry to hear you do not lend the volumes of the G.O.P. even to your sisters; it seems like an old story many times read and told, but not often taken to heart—the talents laid carefully by in a napkin. Read the verse at 1 Tim. vi. 18, and be willing to communicate even your most cherished articles.
MUSIC.
Five Years Subscriber.—Rubbing the hands and fingers well with oil will render them supple, and also scale practice.