Soda.—We think you must refer to the Deppé method of learning the pianoforte. If you apply to Miss Chaplin, 138, Marylebone Road, she will give you full particulars of a class that has been formed, as well as of private instruction. We cannot pronounce on the merits of the system, but believe it is highly esteemed by many authorities.

Ailsa.—1. Your lines are decidedly above the average of those submitted to us for criticism. You evidently understand how to write in metre, though your rhymes are not always good, e.g., “glories” and “chorus.”—2. You can hardly get your words set to music unless you know some musical composer who will do it. You might apply to a well-known musical firm, but we fear it would be of no use.

“Cobo.”—We are quite certain you could not hope to earn money by book-illustration without some instruction in “black and white.” If you gave us your address, we could direct you where to apply for this; but you might inquire of the Secretary, Technical Education Board, St. Martin’s Lane, London, or refer to Mrs. Watson’s articles on “What are the County Councils Doing for Girls?” in The Girl’s Own Paper for 1897.

Daughter of a Sixteen Years’ Subscriber.—We commend to you the advice of our last answer. There are a great number of scholarships for girls now offered by the County Council, of which you can easily obtain the fullest particulars.

“Always in a Hurry.”—We think your writing is very fairly good, and do not consider, especially as you are so busy, that you need use a copy-book. Keep a regular space between the lines of a letter, and do not leave a margin at the end of them; also guard against sudden blacknesses, which spoil the general effect. We are inquiring for your extract, and thank you for your information and kind letter.

Soror.—The fee for the National Art Training School, South Kensington, is £5 per session of five months, with an entrance fee of 10s. The hours are from 9 A.M. to 3.30 P.M., every day except Saturday. No doubt the lady superintendent could recommend your sister some place where she could board. A great many girl-students of art and music board at Alexandra House, South Kensington. You might apply there also. Do you know of the Crystal Palace Company’s School of Art? There is a board-residentiary house in connection with it, and there are annual scholarships.

Canary.—1. Your quotation—

is from a short poem by Charles Kingsley, which begins—

You will find it in any edition of his works, and it has been set to music.—2. September 28th, 1887, was a Wednesday. Two questions are our limit.

South Africa (Agency for Lady Housekeepers).—A list of respectable employment agencies has been compiled by the Associated Guild of Registries, and may be obtained from the publishers, Messrs. Gardner, Darton & Co., 44, Victoria Street, S.W. You could apply to any of the registries mentioned in that list with entire confidence. But the point to remember is this, that no agency can promise to find situations which are very scarce and desired by a vast number of people, such, for instance, as the post of lady housekeeper you mention. If you would undertake the duties of a working housekeeper or working matron, it is probable you would easily find employment, and would not then have cause to complain that registry-office keepers take fees and do not provide work.

Dum Vivimus Vivamus (Employment for Part Time).—This is always exceedingly difficult to obtain, and, for this reason, employers who only want part of a person’s time usually pay at a higher rate than they otherwise would do, knowing that it is difficult for a girl to fill up the other half. You think of employing the three days of the week that are left free in copying letters and addressing envelopes. But this we cannot counsel, such work being both scarce and miserably paid. But, living as you do tolerably near Norwich, it seems to us that it would be far better for you to engage regularly and for all your time in one of the industries of that city. Some girls are employed at a large circulating library and printing works, and this kind of occupation might suit you. Then there are some electrical organ works in Colegate Street, where girls who have deft fingers and are well educated can sometimes find employment of a superior class to that of the principal factories. But Norwich abounds in occupations for girls in connection with its large manufactories, and it is therefore hardly needful to enumerate the many kinds of business which are carried on in that city.

Unsettled (Emigration).—From what you tell us of yourself and your circumstances, we are led to believe that emigration might be a desirable course for you. For a young woman standing alone in the world as you do, the life of a cotton-mill hand is apt to become dreary, whereas in Manitoba you might make friends and interests of your own. The climate, too, cannot fail to prove beneficial to you, and the life will altogether be hostile to the bronchitis from which you now occasionally suffer. Possibly the British Women’s Emigration Association, Imperial Institute, Kensington, London, could arrange for you to go out to Canada with a protected party; and you should make a note of the address of the Girls’ Home of Welcome, 272, Assiniboine Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba, for you could be received there and boarded free of charge for the first twenty-four hours after arrival, and doubtless the Superintendent could make some suggestions with regard to your finding employment. You should continue to occupy your evening hours in attending some cookery and laundry classes. April is considered the best month for arriving in Canada. The through fare to Winnipeg is about £7 10s.

Gertrude (Painting Cards, etc.).—The manufacturers of Christmas cards only care to receive designs which they can colour and reproduce in great number. They have no use for hand-painted cards. But as you are wise enough not to insist, like so many girls, on doing work only in your own home, it is quite possible you might obtain employment with either a firm of chromo-lithographers or the highest class of manufacturing stationers. You would be well prepared for the chromo-lithographic business by studying for a time at the Royal Female School of Art, Queen Square, Bloomsbury. In the stationery trade girls are employed, but as they are mainly occupied in tinting the spaces which are afterwards embossed with a crest or monogram, there is not much scope for progress beyond a fixed point. The payment, however, is good in the best establishments, and the work is certainly not arduous.

Laen (Home Work).—They must be very clever and exceptional girls indeed who can earn £2 or £3 a week by work done at home. Promises of such amounts are sometimes held out by advertisements; but inquiry often reveals that the girls who reply are expected to spend something first, and then to await payment, which never comes. It is probably some advertisement of this kind that gives rise to your question.

Nemo.—The cause of the perspiration having an unpleasant smell has been attributed to many things. Just lately a germ has been discovered which has the power of rendering the perspiration offensive in a very short time. Usually the sweat is perfectly inodorous when exuded, but in some families a condition known as bromhydrosis obtains, in which the perspiration is of an offensive odour. In some diseases, where excessive perspiration occurs, the sweat soon develops an offensive smell, doubtless due to the machinations of the germ mentioned above. The commonest diseases in which excessive sweating occurs are ague, phthisis, and rheumatic fever. We advise you to take a bath every day, and to change your linen as frequently as you can. A lump of borax, or better still, a wineglassful of vinegar added to your bath will help you to rid yourself of this unpleasant annoyance. If this does not succeed, sponge over the parts of the body which perspire the most freely with a mixture of toilet vinegar and water (1 in 6).

Patient.—You may be suffering from gall-stones, or you may not. This disease is one of the most difficult of all disorders to detect; indeed, it is but rarely diagnosed with certainty. Gall-stones by no means always give rise to symptoms. Jaundice is sometimes due to gall-stones, but as this is a sign of many diseases, it does not follow that because you are jaundiced you have gall-stones. And the converse is equally fallacious, for gall-stones do not always cause jaundice. You must go to a physician, and he will do his best for you; but as we said before, it is by no means always possible to tell whether gall-stones are present.

Eyes.—1. Your eyes become tired because you use them too much. You say you are constantly reading or writing, so your poor eyes are kept constantly at work. You should, if possible, allow your eyes some rest, or more properly recreation, for the eyes cannot rest during the light; but above all things you must be careful not to give your eyes unnecessary labour. Never read small print, or read in a dim or flickering light. Use white paper in preference to blue or cream-colour. If you have reason to believe that your eyes are not quite normal, go to an oculist and have them tested, and obtain spectacles if such are needed. The puffiness under the eyes is only a symptom denoting that the eyes have been over-used. An eye-wash consisting of ten grains of boracic acid, and half a teaspoonful of compound tincture of lavender in a pint of warm water will cause the swelling to subside. Indigestion does affect the eyes in several ways, not the least important of which is to render them less able to resist the effects of over-use.—2. Cure your indigestion and your colour will improve.

Nydia.—You suffer from flushing caused by indigestion. You have been treated for indigestion, and all your symptoms have disappeared except this flushing—not at all an uncommon history, for flushing is one of the most difficult symptoms of indigestion to quell. You know how to treat dyspepsia, so we need not go over that ground again; but to cure flushing, the most important points to attend to are, to avoid tea and coffee, and to drink very sparingly with meals, to masticate thoroughly, and not to run about after meals.

Despondent.—Yes! girls do suffer from gout. We have seen typical acute gout in girls in their “teens.” It is not, however, very common, and, as far as we have seen, it only occurs in members of a gouty family.

Marguerite Jaune and Evelyn.—It is quite easy to paint on satin with water-colours if a certain amount of body-colour be employed as a foundation, and one drop of Miss Turck’s water-colour fixative or medium be added to each colour. We could not pronounce an opinion on the superiority of one hospital over another in the matter of training nurses. The following are the general rules that obtain in all our hospitals. The age, from 25 to 40, good references as to character, and condition of health. After a test of a few weeks, they enter on a year of probation, during which time their wages are on an average £12, with (or without) partial uniform. They are usually expected to remain in the service of the hospital where they have been trained for a further period of three years, in the course of which their wages rise to £22 or £25.

Speedwell.—The specimen is Claytonia perfoliata. It is a native of N.-W. America, Mexico and Cuba, but has now become naturalised in England. Plants should be laid flat between sheets of blotting-paper and a weight placed upon them; some flat irons or large stones will do; or better still, if they can be put in a press they will readily dry and retain their colour to some extent. Every day the sheets of blotting-paper should be thoroughly dried and the plants replaced until they are perfectly dried.

M. A. T.—The French phrase, “Je vous en fais mes compliments empressés,” means, “I present my hearty compliments on” so-and-so, or such an event. Literally rendered (according to French idiom), “I you on it make my compliments earnestly” (or more literally “emphasised”).

Raby.—A Conservative is a medium Tory, one who wishes to preserve the union of Church and State, and not radically to alter the Constitution. The term was first used in 1830, in the January number of the Quarterly Review. Liberal was a term first employed in 1815, when Lord Byron and his friends started the periodical called The Liberal, to represent their views. A Radical is an ultra-Liberal, verging on republican opinions. The term was first applied in 1818 to those who wished to introduce radical reform into the representative system. The Liberal-Unionists are those Whigs and Radicals who united in 1886 with Lord Salisbury and the Conservative party to oppose Home Rule for Ireland. The present Duke of Devonshire was head of the Whigs, and Mr. Chamberlain head of the Radicals, who seceded. The term Whig appears to be extinct at present. There is a very great change in all opinions, and to quote a recent speech, “the Conservatives have become more liberal, and the Liberals more conservative” than of yore.

Lusitania.—The term “stock,” as employed in English cookery books, signifies the foundation of soup, and is made from meat and bones. To make good soup from it, the stock should be in jelly when cold. Pea-flour, vegetables, lentils, and so forth, and whatever flavouring may be desired, should be added to it. The cold which some people suffer in the feet and hands arises from mal-nutrition, an insufficiency of warmth-giving food, as also of suitable clothing; and thirdly, from an insufficient amount of exercise. Tight stays also greatly impede the due circulation of the blood. When you finish taking exercise and sit down to your avocations or recreations, put your feet into a fur slipper or foot-warmer, such as employed in a carriage. The heat-producing foods are those containing starch, sugar, gum, and fat.

Irene.—“Sir R. Loder,” with no initial letters after his name, is simply a knight, a dignity which is not hereditary, and cannot descend to his son. “Sir Thomas Hesketh, Bart.,” is a baronet, which is a dignity inherited by his eldest son. “Bart.” is an abbreviation—solely restricted to writing—of “baronet.”

Four Years’ Reader.—You had better go to a musical instrument shop, or communicate with the manager by letter, respecting the instrument you name. Without reasonable doubt he will give some addresses of masters for it. You should not spell “entitled” “entiteled,” “whom” “whome,” nor “oblige” “oblidge.”

H. Gamble.—There is a hospital for epilepsy at Portland Terrace, Regent’s Park, near St. John’s Wood Road Station, where patients may be received free, or according to the means of the family. There is another, the West End Hospital, 73, Welbeck Street, W.: but whether patients may be received there free you must inquire.