ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.
Josephine.—Your symptoms point to tight-lacing—red nose, spots, bad digestion, bad breath, etc. A fine woman with a handsome figure (say five feet five inches in height) should measure twenty-six inches round the waist, and in later life twenty-eight. Of course, a very small or very thin girl would naturally measure less. You know which description applies to yourself. The modern girl, with a waist like a tobacco-pipe, and bulging out above and below like a bloated-looking spider, may solace herself with the assurance that her liver is cut in half, and that she would make an admirable specimen for a lecturer to descant upon. We advise her to bequeath her remains to some hospital for the benefit of science and the warning of others.Seagull.—Beechy Head is not the highest cliff on our coast-line; that at Holyhead is higher, and measures 719 feet, while the former is only 564 above the sealine. The Great Orme’s Head, in Wales, is 678 feet, and Braich-y-Pwll 584 in height; but St. Catherine’s Cliff, on the south coast of the Isle of Wight, is higher than all those before-named, and rises to 830 feet.Prudence Prim.—Do you know a small illustrated book called “The Flowers of the Field”? Perhaps that would suit you; published by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. After a certain time, letters waiting till called for at a foreign post-office are opened and directed back to the respective writers. Your writing is too careless; some letters well formed, others very nondescript.Pat Ogal.—Send the nun’s veiling dress and white kid gloves to a cleaner’s, and if you can make a bargain about the dress, do. For gloves you pay 2d. a pair.S. L. W. W.—1. There is a little book called “Line upon Line,” and another called “The Peep of Day,” which are very suitable for children of such tender years. 2. You should try to spell better. The word “instruction” is not spelt “inscurction.”Bertha.—Have you never heard of a little appliance called a needle-threader? You would find it most useful, and could procure one at a fancy-work shop.Joan R.—Try to forget yourself, and to help and be polite to everyone else—busy for them even in the smallest attentions. You will have no time for brooding over your nervousness when you are married, so there is probably “a good time coming” for you. Try to prepare for it by studying nursing, cookery, patching and darning, etc.An Anxious Onewill find her question many times answered if she takes the trouble to look through our correspondence columns under “Miscellaneous.”E. K.—If you cut off the worn finger ends and sew them neatly at the seams, they would be of use in a hospital for female patients in winter. We may suggest the New Hospital for Women, 222, Marylebone-road, N.W., of which we have given an illustrated account. Any contributions in half-worn clothing (or new articles) of use for wear would be gratefully received there, books included.Lover of the Sea.—1. The hair darkens as years roll on, and the change begins to take place at three years old, if not before. In middle life it is very many shades darker than in youth. 2. The Bible does not say that “it is never too late to repent.” We are always told “to-day is the accepted time; to-day is the day of salvation ... now, while it is called to-day,” etc. No promise is made for to-morrow. If you put off making your peace with God, He may not bestow on you the grace of repentance and the desire to turn to Him.Jerry.—Your verses are very freely written, and give a good deal of promise, though some little errors need correction. Part of the small illustration with pen and ink gives hope of better things to come, and both do you credit; but it must be a matter of consideration whether the verses can be inserted in the G. O. P. You did not have them certified, which is a strict rule of ours when selecting amateur contributions.A Country Member of the G. F. S.—You appear to be in a very sad state of health, and to need change of air, good diet, and perhaps, when suffering from an attack of neuralgia, a tonic; but the latter should be prescribed by a doctor.Alberta Roxley.—1. You do not give a sufficiently explicit description of the “Hymn to Music” for us to divine which you mean. 2. The “Wide, Wide World” has no sequel. Why are all our girls so crazy about sequels? There are very few written, and a good thing too; a new story is better than an old dish warmed up.Little Pussshould ask her mother or governess for suitable books to read. Some on natural history would be interesting, as well as necessary for her to study.One Anxious to Know.—Should a husband die intestate, but leave a wife and a sister, half goes to the wife and the other half to his sister, or his brother, as the case may be. If the man had had children, the wife would only have had a third instead of half.Wee Willy Wankie.—1. It depends on the age and size of your boy companion. The less little girls of fifteen walk in the London streets (the squares and certain residential quarters excepted) the better, if without a lady companion much older than themselves, or a maid. 2. What a ridiculous question your second is! “At what age should a girl become engaged?” There is no “should” about the matter, and there is no special age either. Any age after twenty-one, up to seventy, provided the right man proposed and no family duties stood in the way. All depends on God’s good Providence. He may see fit that you should never marry.Scotch Lassie.—We do not see that you were rendered more liable to the complaint you name on account of having a bad digestion.Topsy Turvey.—Yes, there are luminous plants, which give a phosphorescent light. The root-stock of a jungle orchid becomes luminous when wetted; wrapped in a piece of damp cloth, in an hour’s time it becomes very bright. A certain member of the fungi family, which, if you have a damp cellar, may be found growing on the walls, is known to emit so much light as to enable you to read without other means. The nasturtium, double marigold, and hairy red poppy and potatoes, when in process of decomposition, are all phosphorescent, more especially the latter.Misletoe.—If you wished to paint portraits or landscapes, your first step would be to learn to draw and study perspective; then the colours, and how to produce others by blending them. So, if you have any original thoughts, and beautiful similes occur to you by which you could illustrate those thoughts, you should study the art of metrical composition in all its varieties, so that corresponding lines should always correspond and the emphasis fall on the right syllable. What you send us is not even good prose, the mere construction is all wrong, and there is no new idea in it; but the religious feelings expressed are very good.Jack.—If such an unfeminine name be selected by a girl, we certainly advise her to wear gloves when rowing. Perhaps thick washed-leather ones would be the most suitable. We suppose you mean a sign denoting a pause, only you make a straight line over a dot instead of a curved one with the points downwards. A pause leaves the duration of the note, or the rest over which it is placed, to the performer’s taste and musical feeling. Were there no dot beneath the short curved line, it would be a “bind” or “tie” connecting two notes, the first of which alone is to be struck.
Josephine.—Your symptoms point to tight-lacing—red nose, spots, bad digestion, bad breath, etc. A fine woman with a handsome figure (say five feet five inches in height) should measure twenty-six inches round the waist, and in later life twenty-eight. Of course, a very small or very thin girl would naturally measure less. You know which description applies to yourself. The modern girl, with a waist like a tobacco-pipe, and bulging out above and below like a bloated-looking spider, may solace herself with the assurance that her liver is cut in half, and that she would make an admirable specimen for a lecturer to descant upon. We advise her to bequeath her remains to some hospital for the benefit of science and the warning of others.
Seagull.—Beechy Head is not the highest cliff on our coast-line; that at Holyhead is higher, and measures 719 feet, while the former is only 564 above the sealine. The Great Orme’s Head, in Wales, is 678 feet, and Braich-y-Pwll 584 in height; but St. Catherine’s Cliff, on the south coast of the Isle of Wight, is higher than all those before-named, and rises to 830 feet.
Prudence Prim.—Do you know a small illustrated book called “The Flowers of the Field”? Perhaps that would suit you; published by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. After a certain time, letters waiting till called for at a foreign post-office are opened and directed back to the respective writers. Your writing is too careless; some letters well formed, others very nondescript.
Pat Ogal.—Send the nun’s veiling dress and white kid gloves to a cleaner’s, and if you can make a bargain about the dress, do. For gloves you pay 2d. a pair.
S. L. W. W.—1. There is a little book called “Line upon Line,” and another called “The Peep of Day,” which are very suitable for children of such tender years. 2. You should try to spell better. The word “instruction” is not spelt “inscurction.”
Bertha.—Have you never heard of a little appliance called a needle-threader? You would find it most useful, and could procure one at a fancy-work shop.
Joan R.—Try to forget yourself, and to help and be polite to everyone else—busy for them even in the smallest attentions. You will have no time for brooding over your nervousness when you are married, so there is probably “a good time coming” for you. Try to prepare for it by studying nursing, cookery, patching and darning, etc.
An Anxious Onewill find her question many times answered if she takes the trouble to look through our correspondence columns under “Miscellaneous.”
E. K.—If you cut off the worn finger ends and sew them neatly at the seams, they would be of use in a hospital for female patients in winter. We may suggest the New Hospital for Women, 222, Marylebone-road, N.W., of which we have given an illustrated account. Any contributions in half-worn clothing (or new articles) of use for wear would be gratefully received there, books included.
Lover of the Sea.—1. The hair darkens as years roll on, and the change begins to take place at three years old, if not before. In middle life it is very many shades darker than in youth. 2. The Bible does not say that “it is never too late to repent.” We are always told “to-day is the accepted time; to-day is the day of salvation ... now, while it is called to-day,” etc. No promise is made for to-morrow. If you put off making your peace with God, He may not bestow on you the grace of repentance and the desire to turn to Him.
Jerry.—Your verses are very freely written, and give a good deal of promise, though some little errors need correction. Part of the small illustration with pen and ink gives hope of better things to come, and both do you credit; but it must be a matter of consideration whether the verses can be inserted in the G. O. P. You did not have them certified, which is a strict rule of ours when selecting amateur contributions.
A Country Member of the G. F. S.—You appear to be in a very sad state of health, and to need change of air, good diet, and perhaps, when suffering from an attack of neuralgia, a tonic; but the latter should be prescribed by a doctor.
Alberta Roxley.—1. You do not give a sufficiently explicit description of the “Hymn to Music” for us to divine which you mean. 2. The “Wide, Wide World” has no sequel. Why are all our girls so crazy about sequels? There are very few written, and a good thing too; a new story is better than an old dish warmed up.
Little Pussshould ask her mother or governess for suitable books to read. Some on natural history would be interesting, as well as necessary for her to study.
One Anxious to Know.—Should a husband die intestate, but leave a wife and a sister, half goes to the wife and the other half to his sister, or his brother, as the case may be. If the man had had children, the wife would only have had a third instead of half.
Wee Willy Wankie.—1. It depends on the age and size of your boy companion. The less little girls of fifteen walk in the London streets (the squares and certain residential quarters excepted) the better, if without a lady companion much older than themselves, or a maid. 2. What a ridiculous question your second is! “At what age should a girl become engaged?” There is no “should” about the matter, and there is no special age either. Any age after twenty-one, up to seventy, provided the right man proposed and no family duties stood in the way. All depends on God’s good Providence. He may see fit that you should never marry.
Scotch Lassie.—We do not see that you were rendered more liable to the complaint you name on account of having a bad digestion.
Topsy Turvey.—Yes, there are luminous plants, which give a phosphorescent light. The root-stock of a jungle orchid becomes luminous when wetted; wrapped in a piece of damp cloth, in an hour’s time it becomes very bright. A certain member of the fungi family, which, if you have a damp cellar, may be found growing on the walls, is known to emit so much light as to enable you to read without other means. The nasturtium, double marigold, and hairy red poppy and potatoes, when in process of decomposition, are all phosphorescent, more especially the latter.
Misletoe.—If you wished to paint portraits or landscapes, your first step would be to learn to draw and study perspective; then the colours, and how to produce others by blending them. So, if you have any original thoughts, and beautiful similes occur to you by which you could illustrate those thoughts, you should study the art of metrical composition in all its varieties, so that corresponding lines should always correspond and the emphasis fall on the right syllable. What you send us is not even good prose, the mere construction is all wrong, and there is no new idea in it; but the religious feelings expressed are very good.
Jack.—If such an unfeminine name be selected by a girl, we certainly advise her to wear gloves when rowing. Perhaps thick washed-leather ones would be the most suitable. We suppose you mean a sign denoting a pause, only you make a straight line over a dot instead of a curved one with the points downwards. A pause leaves the duration of the note, or the rest over which it is placed, to the performer’s taste and musical feeling. Were there no dot beneath the short curved line, it would be a “bind” or “tie” connecting two notes, the first of which alone is to be struck.