Esther.—Feed the child on milk diluted with an equal quantity of barley-water. Do not give her any patent foods, as these are one of the most fertile causes of rickets. A little meat gravy or a very small amount of chicken or hashed mutton might be given to her occasionally with advantage. A teaspoonful of rich cream twice a day is useful as a preventive from rickets.

Torquay.—Why concern yourself with troubles which may never occur? How can you tell that you will have such anxieties as you suggest? The chances are very much against it. Again, the measures you mention are exceedingly prejudicial to your own health, for many of the most intractable cases of hysteria can be traced to this cause.

A Lover of Beauty.—You should try either brilliantine, cantharidine pomade, or a hair-wash made of rosemary to make your hair soft and wavy. You must not, however, be disappointed if you find that no preparation will produce the kind of hair that you desire.

Nellie.—You cannot expect a physician to know what is the matter with you if you make a point of hiding your symptoms. We can only tell you that your trouble is probably either due to diabetes or to some local ailment. For the rest you must go to your doctor and tell him all about yourself. Your trouble may be one which a very little simple treatment may readily cure, but you may be suffering from an extremely serious disease, which you are allowing to run its course unheeded from a silly conventionalism. If you do not like to tell your own doctor about yourself, go to a stranger in a distant part. But pray get someone to treat you!

A Working Woman.—It is never easy to be sure as to the cause of noises in the head. So many unhealthy conditions may produce this most distressing symptom that it is quite a long work to exclude all possible causes save one, and so to come to a definite conclusion. You ask us whether the noises that trouble you proceed from the ears or head, but there is another possible cause of the trouble that you have not considered; that cause is anæmia. This is very commonly indeed associated with noises in the head, usually surging, rushing, or hissing noises. Moreover, the noises are always more pronounced after exertion or fatigue. This agrees well with your own account, and we therefore think that as your general health improves, as it will do with proper treatment, the noises will gradually decrease and eventually disappear. The fact that your hearing is not at all affected, is a strong point against the noises being due to disease of the auditory nerve. It is not, however, an absolutely certain test of the condition of the nerve. When noises in the head are due to brain disease, they are almost invariably accompanied with severe and frequent, if not constant, headaches. The treatment that we advise is for you to attend to the general laws of health and diet. As regards drugs we think that you would derive most benefit from tabloids of bone marrow. These can be obtained from any chemist. The dose is one tabloid crushed up in a little milk three times a day after meals. They must be taken with great caution at first; on the appearance of trembling, headaches or profuse perspiration, the use of the tabloids should be discontinued for three days. If taken with care, this remedy is exceedingly efficacious and is perfectly safe.

Little Village Doctor.—Your friend is suffering from one of those nondescript diseases which are so common, so difficult to clearly understand or explain, and so very refractory to treatment. We are not all born with the same amount of vital energy, and some of these indefinite illnesses which last for so long a time may simply mean that the suffering individual has not been endowed with sufficient life. We can only, therefore, give you some general information which may or may not prove of value to your friend. In The Girl's Own Paper many articles have appeared on the subject of healthy living; and during the present year we hope to publish several more papers on the chief laws of health. It is obedience to these laws which is of utmost value in cases such as that of your friend. It is doubtful whether any drugs are likely to do her good. Those drugs which partake more of the nature of food may be useful. Cod-liver oil, maltine, thick cream, or possibly bone marrow, might be worth a trial.

Jessie.—Probably you are suffering from flat-foot, and your doctor wished to take an impression of your foot to decide what form of boot you should wear. For the treatment of flat-foot is chiefly a question of well-made boots which bear some resemblance to the human foot. You will find an account of flat-foot in an article on "clothing" which appeared in last year's Girl's Own Paper. Puffiness of the ankle is very common in kidney disease; but as the ankles may swell from very many causes, of which kidney trouble is one of the least common, it would be rather rash to conclude that your kidneys were affected because your ankles were weak and swelled slightly.

STUDY AND STUDIO.

A Rose Flower.—We are sorry we cannot praise the verses you send. What is the meaning of

"If all His love I fully earned, He'd guard me every hour"?

No one can be said to "fully earn" all the love of God. "Saw" and "fro" do not rhyme, and "lightning" is not spelt with an "e."

Asphodel.—"Memory" is the better of your two poems. You have much to learn as to rhythm and metre. Also you should keep your verbs (in one statement) in the same tense. "The spring is breaking" and "The earth looked forth" do not correspond. It is difficult to draw comparisons, but we are afraid your verses are not quite up to the average of those sent us, although we have read much worse attempts.

Smilloc.—We should advise you to write to the Secretary of the Welsh Male Choir, enclosing a stamp for reply. We do not know the song sung at High Wycombe. If you cannot trace the Welsh Choir to any address, write to the Secretary of the Flower Show, High Wycombe, asking where you should direct your inquiry.

Montrose.—The most beautiful volume of sacred poetry with which we are acquainted is Verses, by Christina G. Rossetti (Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge). It contains 225 pages, and the price is (about) 2s. 6d. There are many miscellaneous collections, the price of which you can learn from any bookseller, e.g., The Book of Praise, compiled by Sir Roundell Palmer; Lyra Anglicana, Apostolica, Germanica, Christiana.

C. A. M.—There are a great many classes for correspondence. We have mentioned in this column that R. G. P., Fairview, Four Oaks, Sutton Coldfield, gives correspondence lessons at 1s. per lesson. Particulars of instruction by correspondence can be obtained from the Secretary, Association for the Education of Women, Clarendon Building, Oxford. There are also the Queen Margaret Correspondence Classes; apply Hon. Secretary, 31, Lansdowne Crescent, Glasgow; and the St. George's Correspondence Classes; apply to the Secretary, 5, Melville Street, Edinburgh. We applaud your wish to improve your arithmetic, and hope you will try in one of these directions.

Alexandra Carageorgiades (Cyprus).—Thank you for your pleasant little letter. The Girls' Outdoor Book is illustrated. If your friend Miss Mitchell reads this, she will know you send your love to her.

Wymondhamite.—Many thanks for your suggestions. We have already received answers concerning "The Doctor's Fee," but are grateful to you for your kind letter. Your answer and inquiry appear in "Our Open Letter Box."

OUR OPEN LETTER-BOX.

Violet wishes to know the author of two verses beginning,

"It is in loving, not in being loved," "The heart is blest."

We cannot find them among Dr. Bonar's "Hymns of Faith and Hope," though Violet suggests they are by him.

Briar Rose asks for a book of recitations containing "The Little Hero" and "The Sioux Chief's Daughter."

We have two answers to "Lennox." One is from "C. J. Hamilton," who complains of her misquotation, and gives George Macdonald's lines as follows:—

"Alas! how easily things go wrong. A sigh too much, or a kiss too long, And then comes a mist and a weeping rain, And life is never the same again. Alas! how hardly things go right. 'Tis hard to watch on a summer's night, For the sigh will come, and the kiss will stay, And a summer night is a winter day."

"Bertha" sends us "the whole of the poem" as quoted in a book entitled The Everyday of Life, by the Rev. J. R. Miller, D.D. To the verses already transcribed, which we ourselves recognise as the only ones from the pen of George Macdonald, she also adds that quoted by "Lennox" and another.

"And yet how easily things go right, If the sigh and the kiss of the winter's night Come deep from the soul in the stronger ray That is born in the light of the winter's day. And things can never go badly wrong If the heart be true and the love be strong; For the mist, if it comes, and the weeping rain Will be changed by the love into sunshine again."

It sounds to us as if these two verses had been added by some over-zealous friend, but we may be mistaken.

"Ninette" (Budapesth) asks for an English book containing "The Song of the Shirt" (Thomas Hood), and also "Somebody's Darling."

Assandune asks for a recitation, "The Tired Mother."

We have also two answers to "Ethel Rimmer." The poem by Christina Rossetti beginning

"When I am dead, my dearest, Sing no sad songs for me,"

is set to music by Malcolm Lawson, and appeared in the Strand Musical Magazine for 1895, vol. 1 (June number); suitable for mezzo-soprano; so says Clara J. Nicholson. "Wymondhamite" says that the lines have been set by Arthur Somervell, and published by J. and J. Hopkinson, 34, Margaret Street, Cavendish Square, W., price 2s. nett. "Wymondhamite" asks, on her own account, for six lines by Helen Marion Burnside, enshrining the following ideas in a birthday wish: "She commends her friend to the love of God because her own is too weak and too finite, and winds up with wishing her as much earthly prosperity as is good for her."

Irish Shamrock inquires for a cheap song-book in which she could find the song, without music, "Kate O'Shane," by Luiley; "Ellen O'Leary," and "Dermot Astore." "Cast thy bread upon the waters," we may inform her, is not from a hymn, but is a line from the Bible: Ecclesiastes xi. 1. The whole passage has been set to music.

Soldier's Daughter informs "Kate" that there is a poem on Kate Barlass called "The King's Tragedy," by Christina Rossetti. Guided by this hint, we have ascertained that "The King's Tragedy" is by Dante Gabriel (not Christina) Rossetti, and is to be found in the collected edition of his poems. The Queen called out to Kate, "Bar the door, lass," and she thus obtained her name. Perhaps this poem may be the one required.

MISCELLANEOUS.

J. L.—If it be merely weakness of the eyes, bathing frequently in a weak solution of vinegar and cold water will be found strengthening; a change of employment, writing being less trying than reading, and knitting and coarse crochet-work than plain sewing. When the eyes are tired and ache, change your occupation at once; set the house or drawers or books in order; take a turn in the garden, or a walk out of doors, and look at distant objects. Read our "New Doctor's" Medical answers on these subjects.

Chinese White.—We regret we have not space to give you the long list of printers and publishers for which you ask.

Miss M. Carley.—Married or unmarried you may wear a mourning ring wherever you find it will fit the best.

A. B. C.—For getting rid of the pest of little red ants that infest cupboards, we have recommended the use of a solution of alum, but we have just been advised to employ it hot. The right proportions are as follows:—Take two pounds of alum, dissolve it in two or three quarts of boiling water, and let it stand on the fire until the alum has disappeared; then apply it with a brush, while nearly boiling, to every joint and crevice in your closets, wooden bedsteads, pantry shelves, and also to those in the floor, and of the skirting boards and wainscotes. When you have your ceilings whitewashed, add plenty of alum to the lime, and when your house paint is washed, use cool alum water, which is obnoxious to cockroaches. Sugar barrels and boxes may be kept free from ants by the simple plan of drawing a wide chalk band round the edge of the receptacle, taking care that the band be unbroken, or else the vermin will cross over the broken line.

Star-gazer.—The largest telescope, at present existing, is that at the Lick Observatory, having an object glass of thirty-six inches diameter. Next follows that at Pulkova, Russia, having a glass of thirty inches. The next below that is at the University of Virginia, of twenty-six inches. Harvard possesses the fourth in size, with a twenty-four inch glass; and the fifth is that of Princeton College. That of Yerkes, the latest of the celebrated productions at Cambridge, Mass., is rated at forty inches in diameter. But all the American Telescopes, even the last-named, are eclipsed by the forthcoming monster of Paris, exceeding even the Lick by eleven inches. It will be 186 feet in length, and on view, ready for use, in 1900, at the proposed Exposition. The image is to be received on a level mirror, 75 inches in diameter.

Daisy.—Do not be misled by the advertisements, offering high wages to female emigrants, as domestic servants at Johannesburg and the Transvaal. A government "caution" has been issued.

Robert.—You seem to be getting on very well with your class of boys, and to manage them satisfactorily. We can only suggest that you should select a book for them occasionally, out of which you might read, such as Dr. Smiles' Self-Help, and also that you relate to them something about brave and noble men like General Gordon and many others. A boys' magazine will sometimes help you to think of topics, such as the Boy's Own Paper. You might get a penny number now and then.

Curiosity.—Why not take Cottage Gardening, published weekly by Cassell & Co., price ½d. There are plenty of small manuals which you will find advertised in it.

John Dory.—There will be another eclipse of the moon this year, which will be total, and visible at Greenwich on December 27th; but of the sun, the two that are due will be invisible at Greenwich. There have been three each, of the sun and moon, this year. The first record of a solar eclipse is to be found in Chinese history, and took place about 2169 B.C., in the reign of Shingkang, when the unfortunate astronomers, Ho and Hi, were put to death for not having predicted the phenomenon. The famous eclipse, predicted by Thales of Miletus, and which (according to Herodotus) interrupted the battle between the Medes and Lydians, occurred on May, 28th, 585 B.C.; Sir G. B. Airy is our authority for the date; as also for those of Xerxes, B.C. 478, and Agathocles, B.C. 310. These are the earliest of which we have authentic records.

A New Reader.—The mirror glass used in painting is silver-plated and bevelled. The latter makes the work look richer. The glass need not be new, but it must be thoroughly cleaned, either with spirits of turpentine and a chamois leather, or covered with wet whiting and rubbed away with the leather when dry. Then polish well, and leave quite clear. The tracing on the mirror is done from a design with red carbonised paper, and then retraced with a reed pen and lithographic ink to fix it for painting. The colours used are the ordinary tube colours employed in oil painting.

Fluffie and Busy Bee.—Recipes for rock, a cream toffee, will be found in vol. xvii., page 695, and also in vol. xviii.

Priscilla.—At a double wedding the two brides go up the aisle with their father, or brother if no father be living, one on each arm. The bridesmaids follow, the elder sisters going first. The bridegrooms may wear white or pale grey gloves.