The favour with which the paper was received has been continued up to the present time, and the Editor is in hopes that, by pursuing the course that has done so well hitherto, he will be enabled to retain it for many a day to come.
No matter what a girl’s tastes or needs may be, on looking into The Girl’s Own Paper, she will sooner or later find what she is in want of. We are not going here to compile a list of the thousand and one subjects that have been treated of in our pages. It is enough to say that there is not a single topic of interest to girlhood to which our paper has not given, or is not going to give, attention. Whether a girl merely wants to read what will make the hours fly fast, or, what is more important, wants to know what will add to her value and usefulness, let her turn to The Girl’s Own Paper. There never has been in this country, or indeed in any other, a storehouse of material by means of which girls can make the most of their lives, at all to be compared with it.
A valuable feature of our paper has been the Answers to Correspondents, which have appeared with such regularity, and been read with such pleasure, ever since its commencement. The magnitude of this department, and its ceaseless flow of incoming letters, would surprise anyone admitted behind the scenes for the first time. In these answers, innumerable items of information have been given, countless criticisms have been ventured on, and an attempt has been made to solve a great many of the problems and difficulties that enter into the thoughts and lives of our readers.
Letters have also been received daily, during these nineteen years and more, by the Editor, which have not been answered publicly in our correspondence columns, and these communications he has now much satisfaction in mentioning. They have come from girls in all parts of the world, and without exception have borne testimony to the usefulness of The Girl’s Own Paper. Not a few have told how it has had a good and wholesome influence on the minds of the writers, acknowledging in no measured terms that it has enabled them to lead wiser and better lives. And many a solitary girl has written how she has found it the best possible company, coming to her—and punctually too—with all the inspiring influence of a cheerful friend.
Another feature not to be forgotten in the progress of The Girl’s Own Paper is to be found in the many competitions, by means of which we have from time to time tested the ingenuity, taste, accomplishments, skill, and perseverance of our readers. These have occasionally roused a remarkable degree of enthusiasm. In one of the most successful, we well remember, the papers came in such numbers, that the Post Office had to send a special van with them, and one sackful took four men to carry it upstairs.