K. Bartlett.—We have attentively read the verses of your friend. It is always a difficult matter to decide from two or three specimens whether a girl should “give up writing altogether.” We cannot, however, say that there are indications here of poetic merit so great as to afford you the hope she may one day become a poet. The phrasing is that of a cultured woman, but there is no originality of thought or expression, and the form needs improvement. In “Springtime,” the best of the three poems, the author uses the second person singular and plural indiscriminately (“thee” and “your”). In the third poem, the conjunction “under unkind” is unmusical. “Flows” in the first poem, is not an apt expression for the outburst of the song of birds at dawn. No doubt the study of good poetry, and practice, would do much to improve your friend’s capacity for verse-writing, and there can be no reason, if she has leisure, why she should not persevere. While we cannot prophesy triumphant success, we can at least say that a measure of success in writing pleasant lyrics is fully possible.

Thistle.—Your lines are unequal, and the form is incorrect. Compare these two extracts—

“The fourth of the sisters there Her own mind knows not yet,”

and

“Outside that little summer-house On the lawn so smooth and green.”

Both occupy the same place in the verse, and should therefore correspond in metre. It is no easy task to write verse that will find acceptance.

“Bill.”—1. Some friend of yours with a knowledge of musical composition might set “Marie” to music for you. The lines are very irregular, and would need special treatment.—2. Your writing is vigorous and distinctive, but you are inclined to write untidily, omitting fragments of words and scrawling now and again. If you never allowed yourself to scribble, and were very careful, you would write well by-and-by.

Sesame.—We advise you to write to the Secretary of Girton College, Miss Shore Nightingale, 11, Queensborough Terrace, Bayswater, London; and to the Secretary of Newnham, Miss M. G. Kennedy, Shenstone, Cambridge. From these ladies you will obtain full particulars. With regard to scholarships, we refer you to Mrs. Watson’s articles on “What are the County Councils doing for Girls?” in The Girl’s Own Paper for March, July, August, and September, 1897.

INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENCE.

Marjory Ingle, aged sixteen, Denmark House, Ely, Cambridgeshire, would like a French correspondent about her own age. She would much prefer one well educated and interested in study.

Miss A. Nicholls, Laburnum Villa, Leamington, Miss L. Jones, c/o Morris Hughes, Castle Street, Llangollen, N. Wales, Mademoiselle Désirée Tuffli, Châlet à Monruz, Neuchâtel, Switzerland, and Miss Marguerite Fitzroy Dixon, 19, IX Florence Street, Ottawa, wish to correspond with Miss Anice Cress, Mysore, S. India, and inquire if that address is sufficient. Miss Dixon would also like to write to Miss Marguerite Rahier.

Mademoiselle Vilma Tuffli, Châlet à Monruz, Neuchâtel, Switzerland, would like to exchange illustrated post-cards with anyone who collects them.

Miss Mary Kleyntjens, Maastricht, Holland, wishes to exchange view post-cards with O Mimosa San.

Edelweiss at Innsbruck would like to correspond with a French girl of about her own age (19). She knows French pretty well, but has not much opportunity of writing French letters.

Miss Ruby Tizarel, Trosse House School, Neumark, Germany, will be glad to write in French, German, or English, and receive answers in either language from a young lady of about her own age (17).

Miss Nelly Pollak, a German girl, wishes to correspond with an English girl, aged about sixteen, living in England, or any British colony. Her address is Vienna, I., Reichsrathstrasse 3.

“Cintra,” aged sixteen, would like a French correspondent.

Miss Wynnie L. Moore Jones, Ladies’ College, Portland Road, Remuera, Auckland, N.Z., and Miss L. Salmon, c/o E. L. Thornton, Esq., Fonte da Moura, Oporto, Portugal, would like to exchange New Zealand and Portuguese stamps for others.

Violet M. and Florence Violet (not Voilet) Foster.—In view of the increasing applications for foreign correspondents, we cannot undertake to insert requests from English girls for English correspondents, unless some special reason is given for their employing the medium of a magazine. F. V. Foster must not be offended if we say she should try to improve her writing and spelling. Violet M.’s letter is a pleasant one, and if she is lonely through circumstances and unable to find friends, we will consider her application.

Geraldine wishes to correspond with a Swiss-French or French lady of good family and education in French. The latter writing in English will have all letters returned corrected, and the correspondent will require her French letters corrected and returned also.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Japonica.—We do not see how “Japonica” can require advice on such a subject. Most girls of eighteen have some knowledge of the rules of propriety; and if in doubt as to allowing stray young men to kiss her, ignorance which we do not believe, she can consult any older person—her mother, or one of her brothers—as to how far it is permissible. We often think that such letters as “Japonica’s” are written by foolish and vain girls to show off, not to obtain advice. There could be no other motive in writing to us on the subject.

Winnie has probably not consulted her parents on this point, or she might find that there is really some very strong objection, of which she is in ignorance, to the “good Christian young man” whom she says “she has found.” Tell your parents all about it, and do not try to persuade us to counsel you to be disobedient to their wishes.

Esmeralda.—Why not take The Boy’s Own Paper, 56, Paternoster Row, E.C. You might purchase a number and see how you liked it.

Puzzled.—The smell of which you complain arises from the skins being only partially cured and not thoroughly dried. Skunk, however, retains an unpleasant odour in most cases. Drying the skins in a brick oven for a little time, taking care not to burn them, might do good. But we fear there is little help for this trouble.

Threepence.—There is no royal road to handwriting. It is an art which must be carefully acquired; and if you wish to improve yours, you must get some copies and set to work in a painstaking way. Select a handwriting you admire and proceed to copy it, letter by letter, word by word. If you persevere, you will succeed in about a month’s time in making a total change.

Chadband.—1. The Rev. Mr. Chadband is a character in Dickens’s Bleak House. He was a religious hypocrite. The word “Chadbandism” is a novelty, applied as it has been lately, in the daily press.—2. Chauvinism means a blind idolatry of Napoleon I. Just now it seems to mean a warlike spirit, a blind patriotism. The word Chauvin is taken from Les Aides de Camp, by Bayard and Dumanoir; and was made popular by Charet’s Conscrit Chauvin. Conspuez, which is the word most heard in Paris of to-day, is from the verb conspuer, which means to spit upon or to despise. A Bordereau is a memorandum, or account of some occurrence, event, or conversation. Dossier means a barrister’s brief, and also a bundle of papers. In the way used, it means what we should call “the case” against a prisoner. We do not wonder that you are puzzled if you do not understand French.

FOOTNOTES:

[Transcriber’s Note—the following corrections have been made to the text:

Page 426: dignatatem changed to dignitatem—“infra dignitatem”.]