Well, our girls not being very hungry (for their lungs are full of impure air, and they feel tired and weary—rather sleepy too—all from the same cause), they think they will make themselves "a nice cup of tea—strong, you know." They do not care whether they have milk with it or not, so long as the tea is strong and gives them a fillip. With this they will eat a little roll and butter or bread and cheese. This so-called meal is either partaken of in the room in which they work, or our girls go out for it. In the latter case they stand a little better chance; for often the fact of going out of the room in which they have been seated all the morning brings with it a sense of returning appetite, and induces them to procure a more substantial meal. But even this is rarely the case; for they have an odd sinking at the chest, and if they eat a heavy meal and sit down directly after it, they get that weight behind their waistbands, they cannot breathe, and they feel altogether miserable. They do not feel like this, they think, after the good, strong tea—the clearest proof to them that they should look to it as a main resource during the midday rest. Probably tea is again hailed with delight during another break in the work-hours; and at the end of the day our weary one is so fearfully tired, although she has been sitting all day, that she feels as though her limbs would never carry her home. Come what may, she must ride. She puts herself into the first Underground Railway carriage that will take her to her destination, and, exchanging the carbonic acid gas of the workroom for the sulphurous gas of the underground tunnels, she arrives home spent and utterly tired out, longing to get to bed and rest her weary limbs and pillow the poor, fatigued head. In the morning, feeling refreshed after Nature's kind and grateful rest, she plucks up again and walks to the scene of her duties. But she has to be there by a certain time, and, somehow, she always manages to be just a little late in starting, so that at the last she has to hurry to arrive at the appointed hour. She looks at every clock she passes; she starts at some which tell her that it is later than she thought, feels relieved at others which are more merciful; and, putting on an extra spurt at the last, manages to arrive just to the minute.

But what good can our girl get from a walk taken under such circumstances? It is ten times as fatiguing—the mind is harassed, the heart is beating wildly, and the breathing is short and hurried.

The routine of the previous day is then repeated. There is the same shyness of air, the same imperfect meal, the same lassitude, the same finale.

Pursue this course, or one similar to it, for a few months and we defy any girl to keep well. She may not yet break down altogether, but she will have lapsed from positive into negative health, and the merest straw may turn her negative health into actual bodily incapacity—which means the loss of work and wages to which we have referred.

And is it to be wondered at? Our girl has been steadily withholding from Nature all those elements upon which she imperatively insists as the condition under which alone she will consent to carry on her work. Long-suffering she is, and ever eager to repair any neglect that has not been carried too far. Only return to the right path, and she busily sets to work to make good the ravages which have followed upon our ignorance or neglect of her laws. But it must be the right path. None other will do. She will not be cajoled into working with any other than her own simple tools.

Our girls have withheld from her air, food, exercise—the three great factors of her powers—and have given for them miserable substitutes. Though kind, she cannot be put off with excuses. She is inexorable, and the same results will follow our neglect of her laws, whether it be due to a want of acquaintance with them or want of attention. It is as much, if not more, from these causes, then, that our girl has become ill than from the supposed overwork. Overwork might have been the immediate cause; that is to say, her collapse might have followed upon a little extra pressure or hurry of work; but the real cause will be found to lie in that steady neglect of the primary laws of health to which we have alluded, and upon which too much emphasis cannot be laid. Had it not been so, the fatigue engendered by an extra hour's work would have been set right by a good night's rest.

And when our girl is ill, her recovery will depend upon the degree to which she is enabled to meet the demands of Nature. If she can have plenty of rest, peace of mind, fresh air, light, digestible, and nourishing food, sunshine, and genial surroundings, she will soon be herself again. But if our brave worker has not these indispensables, or has them in a chance, get-me-if-you-can sort of way, then she lingers on, and often rises from her couch but half cured, and plunges on again under the old conditions, until something occurs which some persons call "a chance," some by another name, which mercifully changes the current of her life for a while, or perhaps for a permanency.

It is said that "men do work while women weep." That is part of an old-time ditty. In this generation women do not leave all the work to their brothers, and we will hope that in proportion as we work more, so we weep less. And women are not to be pitied that it is so. Work is one of the greatest of blessings, and when its aim is high, is, we believe, blessed. There is no reason why our work should be irksome to us, or should be aught but a pleasure. We must make up our minds to a certain number of disagreeables, and be prepared to meet them as they arise; but beyond that we should endeavour to take a pleasure in our work and a pride in its correct fulfilment. This will be easy to do with health, but without it will require more moral resolution than many of us possess.

Let us then turn this subject over in our minds and see if nothing can be done to make matters a little smoother; to enable us to be happy in our work-a-day lives; to lessen the chances of becoming ill, and, in spite of circumstances, to meet Nature's demands in one way or another.

First, then, as to air. That early morning walk is a good thing. It is well to get the lungs filled with pure morning air. Even in the London streets the air is tolerably good at that time. But many of our girls live a little way from the crowded streets, and only come into them for business or professional purposes. Some live too far to walk the whole distance into town. If that is the case, they should ride part of the distance. They should choose for the walking that part of the route which has the most trees about it, going a little out of their way even to walk through one of the parks or squares. They should not hurry, but should take care previously to allow themselves ample time. This can quite well be done by a little management, and when our girls are imbued with a sense of its importance we are sure will be. They should, if possible, meet one of their companions who is going the same way, and should chat to their hearts' content. (We are not afraid of the non-performance of this part of our prescription.) This will exercise the lungs, send plenty of fresh air into them, and lessen fatigue. A walk, under such conditions, is of untold value.

Our girl then will begin her day in better spirits. She will feel in a lighter mood; difficulties will be brushed aside. Instead of a furtive glance at the clock, and a thankful gasp that she has arrived in time, she will never think of the hour till she enters the room, for she has not troubled her mind about it, knowing she has given herself ample time. With all the arts of persuasion at her command she will then seek to lead her companions to have the windows open, just a chink or two at the top; and will gradually lead them round to her own conviction of the necessity for fresh air, and of the great desirability there is for an outlet for the carbonised air which is being emitted by one and all from their lungs. Before long she will have gained her point, and the open window will be a daily fact.

We are speaking now, of course, of our sensible girl, the one who has taken in the justice of our remarks, and who intends to act up to them as far as she can.

At luncheon time she will produce from her store some well cut sandwiches, made preferably with brown bread, and, with heroic determination, refuse tea (for it is hard to give up a habit), and will, instead, regale herself with a glass of milk, or a cup of cocoa; or, if she has neither of these, she will make a little strong beef-tea of Liebig's extract of meat, and partake of it with her roll and butter, remembering that, by the addition of an egg, she will make her broth more sustaining.

If she goes out to a restaurant and does not care for meat, she will recollect that its properties may be found more or less in eggs, in milk, in lentils, in haricot beans, in oatmeal, and in peas. Oatmeal porridge and milk form an excellent, inexpensive, and nutritious lunch or midday dinner. In some form or other one of these nitrogenous foods should be taken during the midday meal; and, if the taste and finances permit, should be supplemented by a little fresh, stewed, or dried fruit. Fruit is most wholesome, and is well enclosed within the border line of necessities.

Then, when tea time comes round, our sensible girl will either take milk again, or else will dilute her tea largely with milk, or, failing that, with water, and will refuse altogether to drink tea that has "stood" for more than a quarter of an hour. In the evening she will feel less tired (i.e., less exhausted from want of air and food), and will repeat her method of procedure of the morning on her journey home. Arrived there, she will feel far less weary and exhausted, and will enjoy a quiet, social evening, a book, a little music, or some such relaxation.

But we can hear her, O. S. G., saying, after pursuing this regime for awhile, "It is true I am better in a great many ways, but I do still have back-ache, I do still have the weight in my chest, which I know now to be indigestion; you say nothing about that. Even your pea-soup or your oatmeal porridge punishes me, and make me wish we could altogether live without eating."

Be not so impatient, my dear sensible one, we are coming to that now. One great reason of your back-ache is that stoop of yours. You seem to think it essential to maintain your spine in the shape of the letter C. You have got into a very bad habit, and if you try now to sit upright you get as tired as possible—your back, too, is not the only sufferer; your digestive organs are all cruelly cramped—all the delicate machinery, by the aid of which occur the changes of the food in its conversion to the different bodily tissues, is impeded in its action, is hemmed in, is fretted. Instead of a free circulation, and an unimpeded course between all the channels of communication, the functions of digestion are carried on with difficulty, and the stooping pose is the cause of many other complications into which we have not space to enter here.

We have said that exercise is necessary. A great part of that is indeed gained by the walk to and from business. But that is not sufficient. Indeed, we do not consider that walking exercise, exclusive of any other, is sufficient to keep the body in health; but in the instance we are imagining it is especially insufficient. The body ill brooks being kept in one posture for any length of time; and during sedentary occupation some of the muscles are maintained in a state of extension, whilst others are as unduly kept in a state of relaxation. These relative conditions, kept up as they are for hours and hours, cannot fail to have their marked results on the health of our girl. If she were at home, she would throw her work aside, get up and walk about a little, or run upstairs to stretch out her limbs; but in business this is not to be thought of; so she must bear it as best she can. Not so, say we. There is even here a remedy—even here a way of procuring an immense amount of relief. Our only fear for its adoption, however, rests in its extreme simplicity. But when our girl thinks a little more she will learn that all really great and effective things are simple, and that it is only their useless wrappings that blind people to their real simple grandeur. We shall give O. S. G. our remedy in its modest garb of truthfulness, and she will, we think, not reject it. We would advise her, then, three or four times during the day, to stand upright by her chair—she need not even move from her place—throw her shoulders back, stretch her head up, expand her chest, and arch the spine well inwards, remaining in that position for at least half a minute. This will entirely change the posture of all the muscles, those which before were expanded being now contracted, and vice versa. She will then send her arms straight up over her head, and either bring them down from there like a wheel, or, if she has not room for this, will bend her arms so as to form a V with each arm, the two points of the V being respectively the shoulder and hand and the lower point the elbow. If done properly, this will beautifully expand the chest, and will contract the muscles of the back both laterally and longitudinally. Our girl must take care, however, to keep her head very erect, if she would have the whole benefit of the exercise. The whole business occupies about a minute and a half; it is as easy and as simple as breathing; and, we repeat, its usefulness is not to be measured.

The chief difficulty in this part of our regime, after its extreme simplicity, will lie in its novelty. It will seem absurd and ridiculous to those who do not understand these matters, but O. S. G. will have to learn to bear the ridicule of others some time during her life, and she might as well begin now. She may be sure that only those will laugh at her whose opinions are not worth considering, and if she quietly persists in doing what is right, the ridicule will first be changed into respect, and then into imitation.

O. S. G. must remember that her health is her all. At least, it is the all of the girl of whom we are speaking. Now, it is most imperative that she should guard that health as she would a treasure. Once aware of the simple rules which must be observed to that end, she will shape her actions so as to make them fit in with the circumstances of her life.

The dress of our girl workers is also a point to be considered. It should be durable, suitable, comfortable, and should be made simply and practically. The dress is far better when made in one, i.e., not divided at the waist, then the weight of the garment is equally distributed over the body, from the waist and shoulders. There should be no steels or kindred impediments, which have to be considered in sitting down. A durable wool material, thicker in winter, thinner and lighter in colour and texture in summer, is always the most durable, and keeps its freshness longer. The bodice should fit well and comfortably at the neck and round the arm-holes, so that there is no pressure anywhere.

For a working gown there is nothing, in our opinion, to equal the princess dress, made to clear the ground, and modernised, if our girl wills, by a flouncing, and a little puffed drapery behind, either with or without a scarf loosely tied round the waist.

For slender girls the round-gathered dress and bodice (in one) are very useful and suitable. The principal advantage of the princess dress is its continuity from the shoulders downwards, leaving the waist free of bands and tapes. With spotless collars and cuffs, our girl will be both suitably and well dressed. A good woollen combination under-garment for warmth and protection from the cold, thicker in winter, thinner in summer. One, or at the most two, woollen petticoats, made with sloping bands, to prevent pressure at the waist, will form a very comfortable and practical dress, and, moreover, one that will present a very fair appearance.

No, we know we have said nothing about stays; we are no friend to them; we dislike them heartily, and we shall never rest until we can release our girls from their trammels. We know the difficulties that present themselves on all sides, but these can be met and overcome. Once release our girls from this bone and steel bondage, her health will rise to a high state of excellence. But she has so accustomed herself to use her stays as a prop upon which she leans, that not without great resolution on her part will she consent to pass through the small discomfort of the change.

Once she has done so, however, she will wonder that she never thought of it before, so light, so free, so agile will she feel. These stays are our girls' worst foes, and have as much to answer for the indigestion as all else put together.

If our girls wish to be happy, merry workers, as well as hard, responsible workers, they will have to learn to do without stays; they will have to train their own muscles to supply them with the support they now seek in the corset.

"How are we to do this?" we hear some exclaim, who have followed us so far. "How are we, who work from morn till eve, to begin 'training our muscles?' We have no time now for that sort of thing."

Get a little more patience, dear girls. Reforms go slowly, but steadily, if willing hearts go together. We hope ere long to show you that this, too, is possible.

Meantime, for an immediate step in the right direction, let us urge upon those who have not the courage to throw aside the corset, to set about rendering it less harmful. Let the working corset be soft, and denuded of its bones, and let the front steel be exchanged for a very flexible one, and let the stays, above all, be very loosely laced. We feel we are weak in conceding thus much even, but we look upon it as the thin end of the wedge, which represents the fulfilment of our aim.

We think we have now said enough to set our girls thinking, and though we have far from exhausted our subject, we hope that each reader will be able to deduce some hints which may be applicable to herself.



BOOKS FOR TIRED GIRLS.

Have not some readers of THE GIRL'S OWN PAPER a few to spare?

A little reading-room and library for business girls is about to be opened in the new Y.W.C.A. Buildings, 316, Regent-street, now quickly nearing completion. Help is greatly needed in making it really attractive for those whose minds are hungry after the day's mechanical work, but who are too weary to take up a prosy volume.

Brightly written works of history, biography, natural history, travels, etc., would be warmly welcomed, and good poetry and fiction; also graver books, specially such as would be helpful to Sunday-school teachers.

Parcels should be addressed to Miss L. Trotter, 316, Regent-street, London, who will thankfully acknowledge them.



ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

EDUCATIONAL.

H. F. and CONAMARA.—Write to Griffith and Farran, St. Paul's-churchyard, E.C., for a small shilling manual called a "Directory of Girls' Clubs," which will give you a large choice of educational, literary, industrial, artistic, and religious societies instituted for the benefit of girls, the cost being little more than nominal.

M. HEDGE.—The change of your address, from what has been given in the "Directory of Girls' Clubs," will probably cause you inconvenience, which it is now too late to avoid. You should have named the probability of a change. In any case, we can tell our readers that those who wish to avail themselves of your useful Society for Studying Languages, should address the secretary at Lyndhurst Lodge, Chelsea-road, Southsea, Hants.

A. G. O. E.—We scarcely think that any system for helping the memory for ordinary use would be of service to you in the matter of playing long pieces of music by heart; it is so much a mechanical operation, the hands often acting while the mind is preoccupied with other matters. Try to learn a simple air, not a long piece of six pages.

A SWISS GIRL.—The Cambridge and Oxford examinations are open to students of all nationalities alike. For information respecting those of either university, write direct. If you wish to compete in the Cambridge junior local examination, held in December, you must be under seventeen. Write to the Rev. G. F. Browne, St. Catherine's College; fee, L1. For the Cambridge senior you must be under eighteen. The Cambridge higher (local) examinations are held in December and in June; fees, L1 and L2. An honour certificate in this examination admits to Tripos examinations the members of Girton and Newnham who have resided during a sufficient number of terms, provided the student has passed a language and mathematics. If your age should exclude you, you might go to the universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow, or St. Andrews, where no limitations are made in respect to age.

GUESS.—We advise you to write to the British chaplain of the Embassy Chapel, in the Rue d'Aguesseau, for information and the best advice, as he has taken a special interest in the matter of English girls being sent to French schools, and has publicly addressed the question in all its many bearings. Address the British Chaplain.

ANXIOUS MOTHER.—See our answer to "Guess." There is a French Protestant institution, directed by Madame Yeatman Monoury, 27, Bd. Eugene, Parc de Neuilly, Paris, which is, or was, patronised by the Rev. Canon Fleming, the late Bishop of Carlisle, Bishop of Down, Lord Napier of Magdala, and other persons of consideration. There is also a Protestant school at 27, Rue des Bois, pres du Bois de Boulogne, for which the charge amounts to L60 per annum. Apply to the lady directress, Mademoiselle Jonte.

ART.

A COLONIAL SUBJECT.—The illuminating body mentioned is used on parchment and hot-pressed drawing-paper. It is mixed with the water-colours to render them opaque.

R. C. M.—1. To press flowers, gather them when dry, not quite full-blown, and before the sun has faded them; press them between sheets of botanical-paper, change and dry the latter constantly. 2. You can draw an outline upon a mirror with red pencil and Indian ink. It is better, however, to mark the design through tracing-paper with a knitting-needle.

ASTHORE and DOLLY.—The generality of the advertisements named by you are not to be relied on, and we advise your not spending your money as you propose.

LARRY WILFER.—Female art scholarships are conferred by the Slade School, by the Crystal Palace School of Art, and by the National Art Training School, South Kensington. Apply for farther information to the secretaries of each of these schools.

A WOULD-BE ARTIST.—There is a school of wood-engraving at 122, Kennington Park-road. The yearly fee for instruction is L3, and free scholarships after the first year are obtainable by students. These latter must be upwards of sixteen years of age.

PRINCESS PEACE.—1. There is a preparation sold by Lechertier and Barbe for fixing chalk drawings. It is a liquid, which is blown upon the picture when finished with an apparatus resembling a scent-spray (price 2s.). 2. If you can obtain regular employment from a good firm, wood-carving is profitable, especially when you can originate your designs; but these appointments are not to be had every day. Show some of your work to an upholsterer, or a carver and gilder, and you may either obtain an engagement or at least an order.

HOUSEKEEPING.

A YOUNG WIFE is certainly entitled to display any large articles of silver she may possess on her sideboard in the dining-room.

PASTORA should have the silver cleaned by a silversmith. 2. A recipe for "pot pourri" has lately been given.

A FARMER'S DAUGHTER.—The feathers required a very much longer time for drying, and must also be "stripped," as it is called, i.e., all the large thick stalks taken out. It is these which have not dried, and retain the animal particles, causing the smell.

PINCHER and FREDA.—A recipe for "pot pourri" was given at page 224, vol. v.

A YOUNG DOMESTIC.—We should recommend the eiderdown quilt being sent to a cleaner's, as it will only lead to disappointment if you wash it at home. Put a little glycerine on the tea-stain before it goes to the wash.

PRIMROSE should try a little tripoli and water upon the surface of the table. It will remove the spots.

PRIMEVERE.—There have been no other papers but those you mention on "Economical Housekeeping," but we shall probably give more on both subjects.

WILLOUGHBY.—We do not think that either green gooseberry jam or jelly can be kept green; they always boil a light red.

NOVICE IN HOUSEKEEPING.—If you paid more attention to ascertaining what meat, game, fish, poultry, fruit, and vegetables were in season (fully in), and then procured them at places where you had not to pay for extra high rents, as you do when shops are situated in expensive localities, you would bring down your bills greatly.

MISCELLANEOUS.

INKY PEN.—We sympathise much with your anxiety, but we can only say to you as we say to all who wish to succeed in literary work, you must try and try again for a long time before you will succeed, and success is not even then assured.

E. MC. T.—Your sedentary life as a dressmaker does not agree with you. You should try to take more exercise and warming food. Dress in woollen under-clothing, and rub the body well in the morning with a cloth dipped in salt and water.

VIOLET VERNON.—We have heard that the homoeopathists have a special cure for such little excrescences.

TOM-TIT writes very well. The 2nd of January, 1865, was a Monday.

NYMPHIA ALLA.—Disease or weakness of the nervous system is often, unhappily, an inheritance from our parents. Not that they may be nervous themselves, but that their course of life—late hours, over-taxed brain, poor living, fast living, drink, or bad constitution, etc., result, one or more, in bequeathing a wretched inheritance of weak nerves, not positive disease, to their children. Live generously, go to bed early, be much in the open air, and take a tonic if required, and by a doctor's advice.

ALONE.—We sympathise with you, and approve of the sentiments you express in verse; but the latter is not even correct in composition, quite apart from its lack of any ideality, which is inseparable from true poetry. No sentence should be divided (excepting as a joke in a burlesque piece) between two lines thus—

"But 'what' He was preparing for Him was not on earth; it was where"

B. W. complains of "taking fits of laughter into her head." Evidently, she has apartments to let in that repository. In any case, it is well that she should find so much to entertain her and feel so bright and happy. This state of things will only change too soon.

FIDDLESTICKS.—Your verses have been written without due knowledge of metrical composition.

MATY GERTY.—We are glad to hear that you have rosy cheeks. Surely you would not like to look like a washed-out, pasty-faced, sickly little girl? Young folks often get spots in the face from eating too fast, swallowing half-masticated food, and indulging in too much jam and sugar and "lollypops." By this means they spoil their teeth as well as their skin.

GLADYS.—Your neck should be examined by a good surgeon. You may have broken some small tendons, and need to be bandaged. It might be desirable to go to one of our first-class hospitals, and so get the opinion of more than one experienced surgeon. You write a pretty hand. On no account change it to the coarse "park-paling" style of writing which so many girls affect to look "strong-minded." They do not take us in by it!

VERY GRATEFUL WOMAN.—Homoeopathic doctors give vegetable medicines—not minerals. The principle of the system is "like cures like." Allopaths give drugs of a directly opposite character to the disease, instead of that which, taken in health and in different proportions, would produce the disease to be cured.



L. M. O.—The famous Library of Alexandria was burnt by the Saracens in 642 A.D. It was a union of two collections. One was made by the Ptolemies, and the other was that of Pergamus, formed by Eumenes, and given by Mark Antony to Cleopatra. Eumenes was a chief officer in the army of Alexander, and well worthy to succeed him, as he did.



JOEY.—We will consider your wishes in future, if possible.

UNHAPPY S. (we cannot read the name).—We feel for you much in being separated from a home so dear to you; but you must look away from all second and human causes of this separation to the ruling Hand of One who is as good and as merciful as He is wise and mighty. If you wish for peace and real happiness, seek His favour and guidance and personal care in daily prayer. Lay your troubles at His feet, and ask Him to give you a contented spirit, and grace to be thankful and reverently loving towards "Him who first loved us."

ROSEBUD.—Wear stuff shoes, instead of leather, and let them be very easy and wide in the toe.

AMERICA.—You will find a full list of Miss Wetherall's (Susan Warner's) works in any encyclopaedia. We have not room in our over-crowded correspondence column for long lists of books, so only give the chief works of interest.

SWEET NINETEEN (?).—The young ladies of a family are called Miss Edith, Miss Margaret, etc., by gentlemen who do not know them well.

IONA would not require to know the name of the head of the department. She should ask for the secretary or the head clerk.

PRIMROSE.—Lord Beaconsfield was by birth a Jew, and of very ancient and distinguished family; but he became a Christian by conviction. Having had no personal acquaintance with him, we could not possibly answer such a question as yours, even were it right to do so.

DAISY A.—Your contribution is declined, with thanks. It is not devoid of merit, but needs more experience in writing.

GEORGIANA W.—We are much obliged, but do not think the essay fit for our amateur page, nor is the subject new nor interesting enough.

ETON GARDENS had better wear gloves to protect the hands. We know no other way.

A FIJI GIRL.—The work of a bookkeeper is the same almost everywhere. She keeps books, and in a hotel she would make out the accounts of the visitors, of course.

DAMARIS.—The lady bows first, of course, if she has been formally introduced. Invite the brother, certainly. If you know the family you do not need a separate introduction to him.

LAURA.—We have always prophets of evil amongst our friends, and a celebrated American advises that "no one should prophesy unless he knows." There are no reasons for believing that there are any real inspired prophets now, if that be what you mean.

STRUGGLING BIRD.—We sympathise with you; but in committing your way to God in prayer, you do the best that we could recommend. It is best to avoid any exercise of authority over your sister, who is so wild and wilful; but should she do anything very wrong, you will have to lay the case before your father, painful and ungracious as the duty may be. You are right in regarding example as better than precept.

CAMOMILE is thanked for her grateful letter. If she used a better pen her friends would like her writing better.

FERNIE.—1. Herne Bay is on the east coast, and thus exposed to the trying winds from that quarter, to which you specially object. Ventnor, in the Isle of Wight, various places on the south coast of England and in the Channel Islands, especially in Jersey and the Isle of Sark, would suit your mother. The latter island is specially ordered as a cure for asthma. 2. After pressing the leaves between sheets of blotting-paper, varnish them with a solution of gum-arabic.

SIRENA.—If you eat hot cake or buttered bread, of course take off one glove at afternoon tea.

A YOUNG WIFE.—We are not quite sure that we should advise any business man to give up in England and go to Australia unless he saw his way very clearly indeed. Why do you not write to your friend who has already emigrated, and take his advice on the subject? Write also for full particulars of expenses and advice to the secretary of the Colonial Emigration Society, 13, Dorset-street, Portman-square, W. The rates of passage, third-class, are, L18 and kit; sailing vessel, second-class, from L20 to L28; third-class, L17 to L21.

A LOYAL IRISH GIRL.—We are very glad that you have been improved by the late competition. We are much obliged by your kind offer. Your letter is very creditably written and composed.

SWEET WILLIAM.—Directions for bookbinding were given in vol. ii., pages 342, 426, and 810.

R. L. I.—Our paper can be got in all the colonies. Many thanks for the information that the free grants of land were stopped in Tasmania in January last.

A NURSERY GOVERNESS, we think, is unhappy and discontented because she dwells on herself and her own feelings too much, and thinks too little of other people and their happiness. She must try to live most in others, and in giving pleasure and love to them. As yet she fails to comprehend the Christ-like character which is so lovely an acquisition, and the higher service to which we are destined by following Him in all things. Love is the keynote, and, if she try, in so doing is the happiest and truest life to be found.

YOUNG LOCHINVAR should bear in mind the enormous ages attained by the antediluvian patriarchs, and that the world around them was so quickly populated that Cain might, and did, meet with plenty of people who possibly, as he thought, would regard him as a monster to be driven from amongst them. A long course of years succeeded that on which he slew his brother through envy and a hatred as to what was holy and God-fearing. In the first days of man upon earth they married their sisters, there being no physical objection to it ordained by a merciful God.

M. R. (Norwood).—We pity you! To what a miserable, unwholesome state of deformity you have reduced yourself! We do not open our columns to persons who boast of having so far degraded themselves.

F. M. C.—On no account take a cold bath if it do not agree with you. Have it tepid, or as warm as you feel comfortable. If the bath-sheet were warmed you would run no chance of being chilled. The 17th June, 1865, was a Saturday. The violin is not an easy instrument to learn, and requires a good ear; but we should recommend it in preference to the banjo or the concertina. The guitar is also unsuited for general music.

LIZZIE MATTIE CLOVER.—Coals are called "black diamonds" because coals and diamonds are both carbon.

SINGLE DAHLIA.—You do not name your age. Try St. Mary's Hospital, Paddington, W. Write to the matron. We could not say whether it would be against you. The 12th March, 1864, was a Saturday.

HOPEFUL.—Perhaps you need a tonic. Ask a medical man, and take plenty of exercise and a tepid bath every morning.

LUCY.—From what you say of your being "saucy" to your stepmother, and that you are slapped "whenever you tell lies," and that you think you "ought to do as you choose," we see that you have been a spoilt child, and deserve some sort of correction. You are evidently well and suitably fed. We greatly disapprove of tight-lacing. If you were good, obedient, and respectful, you might then venture to say when the maid laced you in. It is to be regretted that so young a girl should wear any at all.

A BUNCH OF VIOLETS might undertake bookkeeping, or, if she know any thing of millinery, she might get a little extra work from that. Her pay in the shop is very small. Everyone should be paid enough to live upon, and 8s. a week is not enough to live and dress upon.

THE END