Curious.—It is an old superstition that you can cure warts by rubbing them with a potato, and then giving the potato to a pig to eat. Like most similar superstitions it does not bear investigation.
STUDY AND STUDIO.
“Jo March.”—1. Your fairy story is bright and pretty. You use the word “and” too often, and the closing scene about the giants and fairies reads as though it were hurried, in comparison with the rest of the little sketch. Were the flowers for the ladder unfading?—2. We think you might possibly succeed with fairy stories if you practised composition. What you have sent us is scarcely enough to show decided talent.
Cecilia—1. You ought to be guided by your teacher as to the number of hours you should practise daily. It is said that Paganini, when asked how long it would take to learn the violin, replied, “Twelve hours a day for twenty years.” On the other hand, we have heard on very illustrious authority that three hours taken in separate periods of practice is enough for anyone. One thing you may receive as certain—that when you get jaded and listless, practising ceases to be of use. So long as you can keep your attention alive and alert, practising will do you good. Let us urge you to persevere and be diligent. “The gods give nothing without labour unto mankind” is an old Greek saying, and though you may not always “like” practising, you will reap the reward in years to come if you apply yourself strenuously now.—2. For learning music by heart, your second suggestion is the best—to study it quite accurately, little by little. You may occasionally of course try to give a general reproduction of a piece, but that method alone would not make you play really well from memory.
Mrs. Walker, Litlington Rectory, Berwick, Sussex, kindly sends us the rules of various improvement societies, and offers to give information about them to any of our girl readers. They are the following:—Early Rising Society, Reading Society, Musical Society, Walking Society, Language Society, Plain Work Society, Knitting and Fancy Work Society. Surely the readers who consult us about societies will find something here to suit every need. We advise them to apply to the Hon. Secretary, Mrs. Walker, enclosing a stamped envelope.
Sympathetic.—The real name of “Claribel” was Charlotte Alington Barnard. She was born in 1830, and married in 1854. Her master was Mr. W. H. Holmes. She published a hundred ballads which have won extraordinary popularity. She died at Dover in 1869. This is all we know of her history. Possibly the sadder tone (to which you refer) of her later ballads may have been due to failing strength and health, as her death occurred quite in the prime of life.
Historian.—We find it difficult to answer your question about the Czar and the succession to the Russian throne without seeing the paragraph to which you refer, but certainly there is no Salic law in Russia. We cannot trace the letter you sent us six months ago. Questions can never be answered immediately, as we go to press long before you receive your magazine, but we endeavour to reply as quickly as possible.
INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENCE.
“Florence” has four would-be correspondents—(Miss) E. Randall, Hopeville, The Greenway, Uxbridge, Middlesex; H. Hughes, Downfield, Stroud, Gloucestershire; Amy Day, 70, Broomfield Street, Crisp Street, Poplar; and Mabel Brown, 24, Brigden Street, Brighton. If “Florence” would allow us to print her address here, it would expedite matters.
Miss Elsie Highton, Brigham, Keswick, Cumberland, would like to correspond with Miss Marguerite Rahier, or with another French lady.