VARIETIES.
Music run Mad.
“Yes,” says Heine, writing of the piano, “the piano is the instrument of martyrdom whereby the present elegant world is racked and tortured for all its affectations. If only the innocent had not to endure it with them! (Alas! my neighbours next door, two young daughters of Albion, are at this moment practising a brilliant study fortwo lefthands.)
“These sharp, rattling tones, without a natural ‘dying fall’—these heartless, whirling tumults—this archi-prosaic rumbling and tinkling—this pianoforte mania kills all thought and feeling, and we grow stupid, insensible, and imbecile. This hand-over-hand dexterity of the piano—these triumphal processions of pianovirtuosi—are characteristic of our time, and prove utterly the triumph of mechanical power over the soul. Technical ability, the precision of an automaton, identification with the wire-strung wooden machine—this sounding instrumentification of humanity, is now lauded and exalted as the highest attainment of man.”
Endless Labour.
“Some respite to husbands the weather may send;But housewives’ affairs have never an end.”—Tusser.
“Some respite to husbands the weather may send;But housewives’ affairs have never an end.”—Tusser.
“Some respite to husbands the weather may send;But housewives’ affairs have never an end.”
“Some respite to husbands the weather may send;
But housewives’ affairs have never an end.”
—Tusser.
—Tusser.
An Anagram.—“The best anagram,” says Chevreau, “I have met with is one which was shown me by the Duchess de la Tremouille. She was the sister of the Duc de Bouillon and of Marshal Turenne, and her name was Marie de la Tour—in Spanish, Maria de la Torre—which a Spanish anagrammatist found to be exactly ‘Amor de la Tierra.’”
Our Wants.—We are ruined, not by what we really want, but by what we think we want; it is wise therefore never to go abroad in search of our wants.
Working Wonders.—“Time works wonders,” said a young man of twenty-seven, when he returned home and found his elder sister only eighteen.
To the Editor ofThe Girl’s Own Paper.
Sir,—Will you kindly allow me space to express my warm thanks for the numerous parcels of old Christmas cards, scrapbooks, and dolls for Indian children, which I have received in response to my appeal in your December number?
I have acknowledged most of these gifts direct to the friendly donors; but some were sent anonymously, and I am glad to take this opportunity of thanking all who contributed. The “Two Little English Girls” (S. and N. H.) and “A Young Domestic Servant” are among those who gave no address, and their parcels were very welcome. I was able to send off the cards that arrived just after Christmas Day at once to Madras in a case that had been packed. The others I will transmit very shortly, mostly to Madras, but some to a school at Poona, the lady superintendent of which has asked me to let her have some pictures for her little scholars. Miss Govindarajulu, the Deputy-Inspector at Madras, wrote to me lately that the head master of a girls’ school had begged for a second supply of cards, as he had found the attendance of the children so much improved in consequence of his having had some for distribution last March. She says that sometimes Mrs. Brander lets the children choose which cards they like best, and they always take those with the brightest colours. This leads me to tell your readers that a very pretty effect is produced by pasting or gumming Christmas cards, each separately, on to a piece of gay-coloured calico. A little margin of calico should be left round the card, and this should be snipped, so as to form a fringe.
Mrs. Brander has been continuing her inspection tours, travelling from one place to another to examine the girls’ schools. She went lately from a town called Salem, which she reached by railway, to a small place thirty-one miles distant—Atur. The road is so frequented by thieves that she was advised to engage drivers for her procession of carts belonging to the caste of those very thieves, so as to ensure not being attacked. This was done, and they proved “most polite and excellent drivers.” The school at Atur contained only forty children; but Mrs. Brander felt that she did good by visiting it. The prizes that she had brought were distributed, and the little girls were delighted to receive them. An important native gentleman of the place who came to the ceremony made a good speech in the Tamil language, and altogether Mrs. Brander’s arrival was felt to be an encouraging incident in the life of that far-off place.
I shall be glad after a while to tell your readers how their kind presents were used; and I may add that I shall still be grateful for more.
E. A. Manning.
35, Blomfield-road, Maida-hill,January 18.