Ignoramus wishes for a French girl correspondent of seventeen to twenty.
Dorothy Cross, Minterne, Cerne, Dorset, and Miss Madelina Pullin, The Parsonage Farm, Warminster, Wilts, wish to correspond with French girls aged about fourteen.
"Cissie," Southend, should send her full name and address.
"A Reader of the 'G. O. P.,' J. B. Ashford," a girl aged seventeen, wishes for either a French or German correspondent, or both. Address, 55, Marlow Road, Anerley, London, S.E.
MISCELLANEOUS.
Dombey.—We have not made the experiment ourselves, but we have heard that you may restore a faded photograph by placing it in a saturated solution of bichloride of mercury, leaving it in the bath for a few minutes, and then washing and drying it; of course it must be unmounted. There is another method; but whatever experiment you make should be first tried on one which is of no value to you. For our part, we should prefer to leave the photo in the experienced hands of a professional artist, and we cannot take any responsibility in giving the foregoing recipe.
Marta.—There is no cruelty attached to the trade in ostrich feathers. The birds are not killed, excepting only at Buenos Ayres, to provide the market with them; nor are they made to suffer from plucking like the poor geese, to supply quill pens. Each plume is cut with a sharp knife close to the skin, and this gives no pain any more than the cutting of our hair. The stumps wither and fall out; or after ten days may be removed. The greatest supply comes from the Cape; but they are also produced in Tripoli, Egypt, and Morocco. But the trade prices for birds has much gone down.
A. B.—The name "Collect," as applied to the short prayer employed before the Epistle and Gospel, simply expressed the fact that it has reference to the main subjects of the latter extracts collected together. The term "Bible" only meant "a book" in the time of Chaucer. It has been restricted in its application to the Divinely-inspired collection of writings, and the article "the" was super-added. And so the term "Scriptures" is employed with the definite article, to show that these writings are separate from all others; sometimes the word "holy" being further employed to mark them as standing alone, and in a rank superior to that of any others, however distinguished and authoritative.
Edith.—Should anyone step on your foot, or accidentally push against you, and apologise, say "Not at all, don't mention it." Do not say "All right," and certainly not the vulgar reply, "Granted," from which an inference could naturally be drawn that you considered an apology was due, which would not be complimentary.
L. E. Bird.—The initial letters placed on an invitation card—"R. S. V. P."—are those of the French words, Répondez, s'il vous plait, which, translated into English, means, "Answer, if you please." Your handwriting is scarcely formed, but very legible, and promises well for a running hand, with practice.