GIRLS' EMPLOYMENTS.
Agnes (Training for Children's Nurse).—Your daughter is certainly wise in deciding to become a children's nurse rather than a nursery governess. Her gentle birth and education will be to her advantage in seeking such a position; at the same time it is a pity that a regular training cannot be afforded. Under the circumstances we would suggest that your daughter should seek a situation under a lady nurse, who would train her in the necessary duties. Such a situation is not often to be heard of; nevertheless we think you might find one after careful inquiry. For such purposes it would be better to apply to an employment agency than to advertise. Through such public organisations as the Central Bureau for the Employment of Women, 60, Chancery Lane, W.C., and the Society for Promoting the Employment of Women, 22, Berners Street, W., you might hear of a suitable vacancy. If you wish to have the addresses of thoroughly trustworthy private, as well as public registries, you cannot do better than order one of the lists of registries from the Hon. Secretary of the Associated Guild of Registries, 39, Victoria Street, S.W., enclosing three half-pence for cost and postage. These lists have recently been issued for the first time, and will gradually be extended. They promise to be of great utility to parents and guardians as well as to young women who are seeking employment. For registries vary much in character, and there are some which experienced advisers would not at all recommend. We do not answer privately, our answers being intended for the benefit of readers of The "G. O. P." generally.
Amicus (Home Employment).—We know of no society that exists for the purpose of providing ladies with work to do at home, nor do we know of any firm of cigarette manufacturers who give out work. Quite possibly cigarette-making is undertaken by home-workers living in the immediate neighbourhood of a manufactory; but manufacturers would hardly care to send tobacco and paper a hundred miles away from their establishment. We would suggest that you should learn typewriting and shorthand, and then seek a situation as clerk in one of the manufactories in your own city.
Ivy and Lora (Training for a Hospital Nurse).—It is true that we have repeatedly answered questions similar to yours. Nevertheless as you have failed to observe these replies, we gladly respond to your query. There is hardly any hospital to which you could be admitted before the age of twenty-one—twenty-three or twenty-four is preferred by most institutions. In general a probationer can enter either by payment of a fee or by giving services free, or in return for only a small salary the first year. You could apply to the matron of any general hospital for rules of admission for nurses, if you enclosed stamps for postage. Among the best training schools for nurses in London are the London Hospital, St. Thomas's, St. Bartholomew's, King's College, St. Mary's, and University College Hospitals.
Alpedian, although a boy, takes great pleasure in reading The Girl's Own Paper. We are very glad to hear it, Alpedian. Nevertheless we cannot undertake to advise boys as well as girls in these columns. However, in reply to your special questions, we may say that a boy must be articled to a firm of solicitors for some years, and the fee is usually a high one. Afterwards your prospects of success would depend partly on yourself and partly on any connection you might possess among barristers. A solicitor with no legal connection is apt to have an uphill fight for work.
Ann (Missionary Work).—Missionary societies do not always insist on candidates passing any examination, but they would only accept the services of a young woman who had received a good general education. Candidates for work in missions generally spend a period of probation in some of the training schools. Further particulars could be obtained from the Secretary of the Society for Promoting Female Education in the East, 267, Vauxhall Bridge Road, S.W. To judge from your handwriting, you are at present rather young to enter on such work as this. There is always, however, plenty of useful work that girls may do among the poor at home. Girls' Clubs, for instance, often require helpers.
MISCELLANEOUS.
Lily.—Your brother certainly shows great promise. He should, however, try to perfect himself in mathematics, as architectural construction depends greatly upon this science, and especially upon mechanics. He should also sketch buildings from nature, and make measured drawings of some building, a church or house or such like, and carefully read works upon architecture, such, for instance as The Glossary of Architecture, Fergusson's Architectural Handbook, Rosengarten's Handbook of Architectural Styles (translated by W. Collett-Sanders). He would also gain some information from "Architecture, or the Art of Buildings," published in The Girl's Own Paper, October 24, 1885, to May 22, 1886, and contained in The Girl's Own Annual, commencing October 3, 1885. Although against our rules we return the drawings to you as you requested for which you sent stamps, but you give a very meagre address.
Jessie.—The Egyptian-looking obelisk of which you speak, near Forres, in Elginshire, called "Sueno's Stone," has puzzled many an antiquary, and the opinions they have severally formed do not seem at all unanimous as to its origin. It is a very remarkable one—the broken remains standing 25 feet in height, and cut out of a block of the hardest granite to be found in Scotland. The opinion of the Rev. C. Cordiner (a distinguished antiquary of the last century) was, that it was raised to commemorate the victory of the Scots over the Scandinavian invaders, who had established themselves on the neighbouring promontory of Burghead, in the 9th century. The monument is covered with figures of armed men, some equestrian, with bows, swords and spears, as well as a cross on the obverse side and sundry other objects.