Mary H. C. (Stewardess).—The position of stewardess is not easy for a girl to obtain who has no connection with steamship companies. The companies usually prefer for these appointments the widows or daughters of employees. It is not also a position for which quite a young girl would be thought eligible. We think your parents are very wise in desiring you to know a trade, as an employment of this kind can always be practised; but there is, as you say, the difficulty that many trades which girls can adopt are of a sedentary character, and might not suit you for that reason. How would you like dairy-work? This is a good business to know, as girls who can take charge of dairies or teach dairy-work are often wanted. You could be well taught in the Reading Agricultural College (where you might also learn poultry and bee-keeping), at the County Council Dairy Institute, Worleston, near Nantwich, Cheshire, or at the Midland Dairy Institute, Kingston, Notts. Laundry-work also is a most remunerative business to anyone who has been trained for the post of manageress in a steam laundry; but as you are not very strong, this might not prove a desirable occupation for you.

Blackamoor (Companion, etc.).—1. You are one of our quite young readers, we divine, and so perhaps will not take it amiss if we observe that your spelling is a trifle weak; but as you write carefully this will doubtless soon be improved. When you are older, we think you will give up the idea of becoming a lady’s companion, and think it rather a poor employment. Some girls make themselves valued in this capacity, but they are young women who understand household duties thoroughly, and can, as the expression goes, turn their hand to anything. But we should like you to try in preference to do some one thing well, in particular, as this is the more useful faculty nowadays.—2. Your second question shows that you have the laudable ambition of a true Scottish girl to become well educated. You aspire to obtain a “bursary,” or, as we call it in England, a “scholarship,” at some school whence you could eventually proceed to Girton. The St. Leonard’s School at St. Andrew’s is a particularly good one. We advise you to write to the Principal, asking her whether any bursaries are offered by the school for which you could compete. You could also obtain some useful preliminary instruction through the St. George’s Oral and Correspondence Classes, of which the secretary is Miss S. E. Murray, 5, Melville Street, Edinburgh. Pupils are helped in home study through these classes, and also prepared for the Edinburgh Local Examinations.

K. L. (Journalistic Work in China or Japan).—China would offer no field for journalistic employment to girls of nineteen, and is almost the last country to select. Japan would be much safer, but we doubt whether it would offer much field for journalistic work. If you wish to become a journalist, surely, as your home is in Canada, it would be much wiser to try the United States. You could at all events obtain journalistic experience there, and a few years later you would be in a better position to judge whether the East could offer you congenial employment. No doubt if you did not require to earn money, it might be quite possible to gratify your wish for Oriental travel; but as this is not the case you would only be encountering insuperable obstacles by trying at your age to introduce Western ideas concerning girls’ employment into the East.

Dolly Varden (Telephone Clerkship).—You wish to know at what age girls can be received into a telephone office. The National Telephone Company accepts girls between the ages of seventeen and nineteen. Their height, it is stipulated, must be not less than 5 feet 3 inches. They must bring with them two letters of recommendation and a doctor’s certificate. Good education and pronunciation are also demanded. Clerks are engaged on a monthly agreement, and are received at first on probation without payment, and afterwards at 5s. a week for half-time, namely four hours a day. When engaged for full time, that is, eight hours a day, less time for luncheon and tea, they are paid 5s. a week, rising by 1s. a week yearly to 15s. Promotion to higher and better paid work is accorded to suitable girls in order of seniority. We rather fear that the complaint from which you have suffered might prove to be an obstacle in your way, as the duties of a telephone clerk entail much standing.

May Désirée (Telephone Clerkship).—See reply to “Dolly Varden,” in which we have dealt with this employment fully.

Topsy (Stewardess, etc.).—1. Positions as stewardess are only to be obtained through the steamship companies; but would it not be wiser, Topsy, to remain a dairy-maid as you are at present? A girl who knows dairy-work is useful in all parts of the country and colonies, and has a far better chance of earning her living, if she loses a situation, than a stewardess out of place.—2. Used postage stamps have no value.

MEDICAL.

Felicitas.—You cannot be too careful about the baby’s bottle. We suppose the bottle is of value, but it is responsible for so much suffering and illness of infants that we really doubt whether we would not be better without it. There are two forms of baby’s bottles, the old-fashioned torpedo-shaped bottle, clumsy, troublesome, and inconvenient, but withal possible to clean, and necessitating careful feeding, and the newer “Alexandra” bottle, convenient, no trouble, æsthetic, but impossible to keep clean, and allowing carelessness in feeding the infant. Never use the new bottle—it is quite impossible to clean india-rubber; the bottle gets dirty, sour milk collects in the tube, the child gets dyspepsia, and may die simply from a dirty bottle. You must not let a child suck at the bottle at all hours of the day and night, “just to keep it quiet and allow its mother a little rest.” Children must be fed regularly. The habit of giving children things to eat or suck to keep them quiet is responsible for a vast number of deaths and lives of misery and uselessness. Indeed, it is not too much to say that this pernicious practice of giving babies something to eat or drink to prevent them from crying is more fatal to infants than all the infectious diseases from which they suffer put together. You must keep the bottle clean, and immediately after use rinse it out with boiling water, and keep it soaking in boracic acid solution, and again rinse it out with hot water before using it.

Bonnie.—1. The reason why it is easy for you to breathe through your nose during the day, but difficult to do so at night, is that the recumbent position causes the mucous membrane of the nose to become congested. The nose always becomes congested when the person is lying down, but the amount of obstruction varies very greatly even in health. Of course, in the absolutely healthy condition, the congestion is never sufficient to prevent breathing through the nose. But a very slight cause may make nose-breathing quite impossible at night. The best treatment for such conditions is an extra pillow and a nasal spray of menthol in paraleine (1 in 8). Even in health it is the rule to breathe through the nose and the mouth after severe exertions.—2. A hair-wash of quinine, rosemary, and cantharides, is a good preparation to prevent the hair from falling out, that is, it is as good as any other hair-wash. Of course, nothing whatever applied to the hair itself can have the slightest influence on its growth. The remedy must be applied either through the blood or to the hair roots in order to be effective. Quinine often causes headache if taken internally; applied externally it would not have this action. It would not darken the hair. Try borax or very dilute carbolic acid (1 in 1000) to wash your hair with.

Molly.—By the “eye tooth” is usually meant the canine or “dog tooth,” the third in order from the middle line of the mouth. By some persons the first molar or first double tooth in the upper jaw, or the sixth from the middle line, is called the “eye tooth,” and with greater reason than the canine, for the first molar is more connected with the eye than is the canine. Extracting the canine tooth is of no more danger than extracting any other tooth, but as its root is rather long, it is a little more difficult. There are thirty-two teeth in the adult jaw, eight on each side of both upper and lower jaws.

Hester.—You object to our statement that eczema is a local disease, and is not usually dependent upon the state of the blood, because you feel ill when you have an acute attack of eczema and are relieved by internal treatment. But this does not affect our statement that eczema is a local disease due to a local inoculation, and is not due to disease of the blood. We suppose you will admit that a severe burn is a local injury, and that that, at least, is not due to “something in the blood.” Well, often in a severe burn the constitutional symptoms are desperate. We may have to confine all our attention to the heart and nervous system at first when treating a severe burn. But still we maintain that the burn is a local injury, and by local means alone can the burn be made to heal. And so with eczema. Here is a local disease, but the constitutional symptoms may be, although they very rarely are, severe. And occasionally they do need internal treatment. But no internal treatment will cause the eczema to heal without external aid. The treatment for all local disease must be local, although internal medication may be required as well.

A Country Lass.—Wild honey is often poisonous. That made by bumble-bees is usually harmful, giving rise to severe headache, purging, and vomiting. Xenophon, in his Anabasis, accurately describes the effects produced upon his soldiers by eating wild honey, probably made by bees from the Pontic azalea.

E. F. T.—Try an ointment of ichthiol (2 per cent.), and a wash of carbolic acid (1 in 100). You must be very careful that the carbolic acid does not get into your eyes and mouth.

STUDY AND STUDIO.

⁂ We may remind our subscribers that there are in connection with the Royal Academy of Music, Tenterden Street, Hanover Square, London, W., twenty-one exhibitions and scholarships, which in most cases entitle the winners to three years’ free instruction at the Academy. The next election for the Henry Smart Scholarship is for female candidates, and will take place at the Royal Academy of Music on Monday, September 25th, 1899. The subjects of examination will be organ-playing and composition. The John Thomas Welsh Scholarship will be competed for on Friday, September 22nd, 1899. Full particulars of these and other scholarships can be obtained of the Secretary, Royal Academy of Music.

Sea-Foam (Chefoo, N. China).—Many thanks for your modest and interesting letter. We regret the delay in offering criticism upon your poems, but can now say that they are very thoughtful, and are not marked by any of the blemishes in construction which we have often to point out to our correspondents. Blank verse, however, is a difficult medium for the novice, and we think “The Rainbow” is your most successful effort. The idea expressed in “Influence” is very good. On p. 2 you use “e’en yet” and “still” together. Only one of the expressions is necessary. You also use “lives” and “endeth” with the same nominative. You should either say “liveth” and “endeth,” or “lives” and “ends.” Never let your words be obviously shaped by the length of a line. “An unspoken thought” is striking. We should advise you to study the laws of versification, and to persevere, selecting some other metre, to begin with, than the ambitious blank verse.

One by One.—We repeat our apology to you. Your sketch of Teddie is pathetic, but shows, as you yourself observe, that you have not studied the laws of composition. On the first page there are far too many “ands,” and it is better not to write of “the joyous little birdies with their bright plumage and their sweet, sweet notes.” (We do not think that the English song-birds are remarkable for gay plumage.) You should procure Dr. Abbot’s little book How to Write Clearly, and read a good deal of good prose and poetry.

Louisa Gregory.—You need to study writing and spelling before you attempt to compose stories. We advise you daily to copy some extract for the sake of learning to spell, and also to practise writing in a copy-book, to teach you to form your letters correctly.

INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENCE.

Mariquita, aged 14, wishes to correspond with a French girl about her own age, each writing in the other’s language; the letters would be corrected and returned. Address, 33, Hawthorn Bank, Marslands Road, Sale, near Manchester.

A Bush Girl, Queensland, Australia, would like to correspond with “An Anxious One” and “Armenian Sweet Seventeen,” Smyrna. Will they forward us their addresses for “A Bush Girl” to see?

Miss Gertrude Dickson, King Street, Bangalore, Mysore, India, will be glad to correspond with Miss François. We published the latter’s address, so Miss Dickson might have written direct. She is a collector of stamps; and, if Miss François has found a correspondent—which is probable—would be glad to hear in English from any other reader of The Girl’s Own Paper.

A Propinquer, who collects foreign view post-cards, would be very glad to exchange some with “O Mimosa San,” if she will send her address.

Miss Queenie Clarke, Hillside House, Rawtenstall, Manchester, would like to correspond in French with Miss Gigia Ricciardi (March).

Lizzie van Rees, aged 17, Hilversum, Holland, wishes to correspond with Grete Fromberg, Berlin, and with an English girl of her own age.

Miss Edith Wogaman, Curra Creek, viâ Wellington, New South Wales (19), wishes to correspond with “Miss Inquisitive” or another “nice girl.”

Miss Kate Prout, Bolarum, Deccan, India (19) would like an English girl to write to her at once, and “hopes they will be great friends.”

Miss Beatrice Miller, 2, Talbot Villas, Prince’s Road, Buckhurst Hill, Essex, would like to correspond with a French girl. She is fond of painting, but backward in French. Letters should be corrected and returned.

Janet and Grace Couper, aged 16 and 14, would like to correspond and exchange stamps with girls in the West Indies, India, Holland, and Central America. Address, Te Waikaha, Havelock, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand.

Miss Daisy Bouverie (18) would like to correspond with an American young lady. Address, 514, Commercial Road, Landport, Portsmouth.

Miss Nicholls, Laburnum Villa, Leamington, would be pleased to correspond with an Italian lady interested in art, science, or literature—both writing in Italian.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Insecto.—The beetles have been so crushed that it is not easy to say absolutely what they are. But we think there can be very little doubt that they are Anobium domesticum, a wood-boring beetle very common in old houses. The boring is, of course, the work of the larvæ, which are believed to take often three years to come to perfection and change into the pupæ—the little round holes being the open ends of their galleries. Canon Fowler says, “They may, to a great extent, be got rid of by the application of benzine, with which a small quantity of carbolic acid has been mixed;” if they have bored into furniture which is delicately polished, “the benzine had better be applied alone. Unpolished furniture would be best freed from the pest by immersion in boiling water, if the articles are not too unwieldy to admit of such treatment. Moderately strong carbolic acid will at once destroy both grubs, eggs, and perfect insects, but the furniture to which it is applied will require re-polishing.” As the query is as to the destruction of floor-boards, we should think the carbolic acid would not be difficult.

An Impoverished One.—We know of nothing to remove the black marks, unless French chalk may answer the purpose. Scrape a little on them at the back and try.

Dolly.—The smoking of your lamp may be prevented by a little more effort at thorough cleanliness. Take out the wick, soak it in vinegar, dry it well, and cut it exactly straight. Wash the lamp in soda-water, and when you fill it with oil, put a few little pieces of camphor in the latter, as this will improve the light. To whiten the dirty-looking boards, use newly-slaked lime—one part—and three parts of white sand. Another method is to apply moistened fuller’s earth thickly over the stains, and, after about twenty-four hours, rub it in gently, and then clear it off. A third plan is to lay chloride of lime on the boards, damp it frequently, and then wash them well with soda-water.

Birdy.—We quite sympathise with you in the feeling of indignation aroused at seeing the quantity of little skylarks that cover the counters of poulterers in London. Much is said, and great efforts are made, with reference to the slaughter of birds for bonnet decoration. But women’s vanity is not alone to be censured for the destruction of birds with beautiful plumage. The larks and thrushes and other singing birds find a market to supply the tables of men’s clubs. It was calculated some time ago that upwards of 40,000 skylarks were sent up from the country every day during the season, and before long, at this rate, the little bird which called forth the genius of Shelley, Wordsworth, and others of our poets, and inspired such exquisite odes, will become a rare specimen amongst our native songsters. The law should be a stringent one against the destruction of any songster.

M. G. G.—Return the withdrawal order to the Head Office in London if you wish it to be cancelled. Address the letter “Savings Bank, G. P. O., London,” unstamped, saying you wish it to be cancelled. Many thanks to the Parochial Nurse.

Harmony.—We should think that a daily paper would be the best for your advertisement. That is where people usually look, we believe. Very few take an exclusively musical journal unless extremely interested in the subject.

J. Nelson.—We see no reason why you should not give your clergyman a parting present, though it is difficult to say what it should be, unless we knew to what part of the world he was going. Something simple and useful is generally the best. Hairbrushes in a case, a box of nice soap, some handkerchiefs, an old-fashioned housewife well filled, half-a-dozen bedroom towels marked in embroidery; all of these would be useful. But you could ask some intimate friend to tell you exactly what he needed, and you might get a good suggestion in that way.

Curious.—The observation you have made respecting the retreat of the glacier at Grindelwald is quite correct. Some years ago the distance to be ascended to reach it was not nearly so great as it now is. But this is not an isolated case. The gradual retreat of the glacier is general, and in proportion the higher limit of vegetation is coming down. The rhododendron, which formerly ranged up to 2,350 metres some twenty years ago, now reaches only to 2,000. M. Martin ascribes this change to the fact that there is less snow, and less protection against the cold in winter, and less moisture during the heat of summer. The vines do not grow as high as formerly. The mountaineers do not reside at such altitudes as they once did.

A. R.—The stork is a fatal enemy to snakes, and indeed so are all the birds of the marshes, for they check their prodigious multiplication. It is true that snakes may be perhaps a little repulsive in appearance, but they perform great services in the economy of nature, for they make incessant war on the worms and insects which abound in the slimy mud of the swamps in which they generally make their abode. The storks always make their nests on roofs and chimneys.

F. Q. M. J. E.—When a widow marries again, she certainly requires wedding-cards, and she would put the name she bore during her first marriage on her cards, and not her maiden name, unless under peculiar and exceptional circumstances.