May (Post Office Clerkship).—You ask whether it is better for your future to enter as a girl clerk between the age of sixteen and eighteen, or as a woman clerk between eighteen and twenty. The general opinion is that it is decidedly better to enter as a girl clerk. The vacancies for women clerks that are thrown open to competition, become fewer in proportion as girl clerks are promoted to fill them. We have never heard that copies of questions set in past examinations were published regularly; but specimens are, we believe, sometimes given in the handbooks of Civil Service coaches. If you attended classes at the Birkbeck Institute you would probably be taught all that is requisite for the examination.
Tulip (Kindergarten Teaching).—Had you not expressed an unwillingness to come to London, we should have advised the Froebel Institute, West Kensington, as one of the best places in which to be trained for Kindergarten work. But since you do not wish to leave your home near Cheltenham, we would suggest that you inquire whether training could be given to you at the Kindergarten which exists in connection with the Cheltenham Ladies’ College. Otherwise we know of no place in your neighbourhood where a young teacher could be trained.
Masseuse (Registry Office Wanted).—A registry is carried on by the Society of Trained Masseuses, 12, Buckingham Street, Strand. You should apply to the Secretary, and give at the same time a full account of your qualifications as a Swedish masseuse.
Marie (The Stage).—Your description of your friend is hardly definite enough for us to judge of her chances as an actress. We would recommend her to ask for advice from the Actors’ Association, St. Martin’s Lane, Trafalgar Square. To be “pretty” is a help, no doubt, but it is by no means enough. So many English girls are pretty, or at all events, can look pretty when nicely dressed. It is the aptitude for acting that is all-important. You say that she wishes to learn some instrument; but not the piano or the violin, neither of which she can play. Also that it must be an instrument to which she need not sing. Really we are quite at a loss. We have known a lady play the clarionet, but it is an instrument calculated to prove decidedly “trying” to the appearance of the performer.
Mayflower (Dressmaking).—The Paris firm you mention has no shop in London.
C. J. M. (Starting a Servants’ Registry).—Before starting a registry you should acquaint yourself with the terms usually charged by good registries. It is becoming very much the practice not to charge either servants or employers until an engagement is effected; but then, of course, to make a tolerably high charge, and one proportioned to the amount of wages offered. You should also try to secure the interest of as many ladies as possible, and especially of the wives of country clergy, who are in the way of hearing of girls who desire to enter service. When your registry is established it would be advisable to make application to the Secretary of the Associated Guild of Registries, to have it enrolled upon the list of registries which the Guild recommends. This would be considered a guarantee of your registry’s bonâ fide character. The Associated Guild may be addressed, care of the Girls’ Friendly Society, 39, Victoria Street, Westminster.
MISCELLANEOUS.
Constant Reader.—Polish the cocoanut shells with glass-paper, and then rub with French polish. They might be fitted into a small stand, like that of a wine-glass only larger, made at any ordinary turner’s for a trifling sum, and glued in, and then it would be of use as a flower vase.
Inquirer.—It matters nothing in any legal transaction by what fancy name you may be known amongst your friends. It is your baptismal name, duly registered, by which you must be called in the banns. If anyone should question your individuality, they have only to inquire at the church vestry.
Alpha.—To make Scotch shortbread, take two pounds of flour, one pound of butter, and six ounces of loaf-sugar. Rub these into a stiff paste; cut into square or oblong cakes of about half an inch thick, pinch along the edges to make a border, and put them on a baking-tin, buttered first of course, and bake in a moderately hot oven till of a light brown.