Title: The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. VIII, Issue 368, January 15, 1887
Author: Various
Language: English
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VIII, ISSUE 368, JANUARY 15, 1887 ***



[Illustration: THE GIRL’S OWN PAPER]

VOL. VIII.—NO. 368.]      JANUARY 15, 1887.      [PRICE ONE PENNY.



THE SHEPHERD’S FAIRY.

A PASTORALE.

BY DARLEY DALE, Author of “Fair Katherine,” etc.


[Illustration: “HE STOPPED AND WANTED TO KNOW WHERE SHE WAS GOING.”]

_All rights reserved._]


CHAPTER XV.

CONCERNING A HORSESHOE.

The greater part of the majority of lives is passed in a groove.
Sometimes a great crash comes, and all the machinery is put out of
gear, but then the life is resumed, and all goes on quietly again—not
as before, the change was too violent for that, but in another groove,
in which it moves until another crisis comes. These crises come to all,
even the most uneventful lives, but they come oftener to some than to
others, and when they do come they invariably come suddenly and in the
most unexpected way. Let the road of life be ever so long and straight
and dull and monotonous, it is sure to lead to a turning some day,
though, perhaps, the new road on which we enter with such hope and zest
may be longer and duller and rougher than the first. And, after all,
monotonous lives are often the happiest, though the young are very
sceptical on this point, until their own lives have been upset by one
or two of the great changes which come sooner or later to everyone.

Jack’s sudden departure was such a crisis in his life, and, indeed,
it affected the whole family, though after he was gone they settled
down again into the old quiet daily routine. It was not the same as
before; it never is. This is really the sad part of it; not that life
is monotonous, as people often complain, but that after a great change,
no matter how brief—a few minutes may be long enough to effect such a
change—but after such a change the life can never go on again exactly
the same as it was before; it may be happier or the reverse. One thing
is certain, it will never be the same again. And the older we grow the
more sad does it seem that the good old times are gone for ever—they
can never come back any more.

Our children grow up and are both a blessing and a comfort to our
fading lives, but the days are gone for ever when the curly-headed
cherub, now a man of six feet high, awoke us at unearthly hours for a
romp, before a sepulchral voice outside announced that his bath was
ready, to our intense relief. He has cherubs of his own now, and can
sympathise with our feelings, when the nurse’s knock was heard, and the
time will come when he too, like us, will wish in vain for those happy
days to return.

The Shelleys’ change had been so sudden; in a few hours it was all
settled, and Jack gone to America, who, earlier in the day, had been
shearing sheep, as though that was to be the only anxiety in his
shepherd’s life. After he was gone they were at first so occupied with
nursing Charlie they had scarcely time to realise all that had happened
on that June morning; but in a few weeks Charlie was quite well again,
and then they resumed their former lives. But it was all different now;
Charlie took Jack’s place as under-shepherd, and went with his father
to the downs every day instead of Jack. Fairy spent a great deal of
her time at the rectory, for now Jack was gone she felt her anomalous
position, for, fond as she was of the shepherd and his wife and of
Charlie, she could not help feeling there was a gulf between them and
her, which, in Jack’s case, did not exist, for intellectually he was
her superior.

As she grew older, Fairy began to realise that there was another
difference between her and her foster parents, besides the difference
of education, for she was a lady in thought and feeling as well as by
birth, and, thanks to Mr. Leslie, by education. Not that there was
anything to jar upon her feelings in John Shelley or his wife; for
simple, honest folk as they were, there was nothing vulgar about them;
and it is vulgarity which jars against a refined mind; but all the same
there was a difference between them and her, a difference she had not
felt as a child, but which, now she was growing into a woman, pressed
upon her.

She felt this difference more with Charlie than the others, for John
Shelley’s piety made her look up to him with reverence; and Mrs.
Shelley’s sound common sense and true motherly kindness had won her
respect and affection; but Charlie, fond as she was of him, was rather
a trial to Fairy. His thick hobnailed shoes which he persisted in
wearing in the house, his smock-frock, to which, on the shepherd, Fairy
had no objection, for, as she often said, he looked like one of the
old patriarchs in it, but Charlie’s smock was by no means becoming;
he looked what he was—a clodhopping youth in it; his dirty stained
hands, which no amount of washing could ever make clean, his broad,
Sussex brogue, and his habit of chucking at his forelock if he met Mr.
Leslie, were thorns in the flesh to Fairy, as they had been to Jack;
and certainly there was no danger of her ever feeling or evincing
more than a sisterly affection for the bucolic Charlie. No wonder if
Fairy, feeling lonely when Jack was gone, took to remaining oftener at
the rectory, after her lesson hours were over, than she had done when
he was at home, particularly as she was a great favourite there, not
only with the young people, who could do nothing without Fairy, but
with Mr. and Mrs. Leslie also, both of whom had come to be very fond
of her. They pitied her, too, knowing well the difficulties of her
position, though Fairy was much too loyal to the Shelleys to speak of
them; and they were anxious to help her as far as lay in their power.
At present all they were able to do was to give her the same advantages
of education as they bestowed on their own four plain daughters.
Unluckily, Fairy did not show any great fondness for study, though she
readily learnt French and music, and any accomplishments, for she was
very clever with her fingers, and both painted and played very well,
for those days.

What was to become of Fairy in the future was a problem which often
exercised Mr. and Mrs. Leslie’s brains, and the only solution they
could arrive at was that Jack must make his fortune in America, and
come back and marry her, since it was quite clear she could not live
for ever with the shepherd; neither was she fitted to be a governess;
and there was no other way of well-educated women earning their living
in those days, and there would be some insurmountable obstacles to
marrying her to any one else. A gentleman would hesitate at marrying a
girl brought up in a peasant’s cottage, and it was quite certain Fairy
would not marry anyone but a gentleman, unless, indeed, she took Jack;
so, after due consideration, Mr. and Mrs. Leslie settled there was no
other future open to her.

Meanwhile there was plenty of time before Fairy need want to fly away
from the shepherd’s sheltering roof, for if Jack came back at the end
of two years she would only then be eighteen. And as time went on the
accounts of Jack were very satisfactory. Not only did his own letters
lead his friends to gather that he was making his way, but Mr. Leslie
occasionally received glowing accounts from his friend the banker of
the very promising young man he had sent out to him, and there seemed
very little doubt that Jack would do uncommonly well for himself.

He wrote every mail, either to his mother or Fairy; indeed, his letters
were the chief incidents in their lives, and were eagerly looked for,
for little occurred to vary the monotony of the daily routine, except,
in due course, the sheep-fairs, lambing-time, the sheep-washing and
shearing, and the White Ram, until, in the spring of the second year
after Jack went away, a disease broke out among the flocks, which gave
John Shelley a great deal of anxiety, although hitherto his sheep had
escaped. Indeed, he had been very fortunate since Jack left, and at
the time of his third White Ram his flock was in a most prosperous
condition. Charlie had developed into an excellent shepherd; his heart
was as much in his work now as his father’s; he knew and loved all
his sheep, and he was by no means above going to the fairs with them;
on the contrary, he was very proud of his position of under-shepherd,
and then he had no scruples, like Jack, about snareing wheatears. He
made quite a little fortune in this way during the summer months, and
in winter he trapped moles and sold them for so much a dozen; in the
autumn he gathered mushrooms and sold them—indeed, all was fish that
came to Charlie’s net; and in one way he was as observant as Jack,
though while Jack pursued his observations from a pure love of natural
history, Charlie always had an eye on the main chance.

He cared nothing for the beauty of the scenery—probably he saw none,
although Ray, the naturalist, thought the South Downs equal to any
scenery in Europe. All Charlie saw was an expanse of short crisp turf,
excellent pasturage for his sheep. He never brought Fairy home a bunch
of flowers, as Jack had been wont to do every day except in the depth
of winter, and when she asked him to get her some bee orchises from
Mount Caburn, Charlie either did not know where they grew or else had
not time to gather them; and then Fairy would go to John Shelley, and
beg him to get her some orchids before they were all over, and, busy as
he might be, John never refused.

One hot July day when John Shelley’s White Ram was already a thing of
the past, he came home unexpectedly about ten in the morning, looking
so very grave that Fairy, who was painting on the kitchen table, asked
what was the matter. John often looked grave now; indeed, he had never
been quite the same since Jack had struck that unlucky blow; the
suspense and anxiety he endured then, and the narrow escape he felt
they had had of a terrible tragedy being enacted in the midst of their
happy home circle, and then the loss of his eldest son, which he felt
exceedingly, for he was very proud of clever, handsome Jack; all had
saddened him. Perhaps, too, the knowledge that he had attained the goal
of his earthly ambition, to be captain of the Lewes shearing company,
and had nothing more to hope for in this world, made him grave; at any
rate, though he had always lived for the future—for the life beyond
the grave, he did so more than ever now; and though he was too good a
man and too busy to indulge in any morbid thoughts, yet he set very
little store on this life, and often longed for the time to come when
he should lay his burden down and cross the dark river which leads to
those fields of light where the wicked cease from troubling and the
weary are at rest.

For Fairy the shepherd had ever a smile; she was the light of his home,
the poetry of his life; one glance at her delicate, bright little face,
crowned with its wealth of golden hair, was sufficient to chase all
gloom from his brow; and now, though he looked unusually grave, he
smiled at her.

“Where is mother, little one?”

“She is lying down with one of her bad headaches; she would clean up
the house first, but at last I persuaded her to let me cook the dinner,
so I am going to; surely, it is not time yet. Why have you come home so
soon, John?”

“Mother ill! That is bad. ‘It never rains but it pours,’ as they say.
What am I to do?”

“Why, John; what is the matter? Has anything happened to Charlie?”

“No, child, no, not that I know of; but my sheep have got it.”

No need for Fairy to ask what the sheep had got, for this disease had
been Charlie’s sole topic of conversation ever since it had broken out,
so, to tell the truth, she was rather weary of it; but for John’s sheep
to have it was a serious matter she knew; moreover, she always took
special interest in “our sheep,” as she called them.

“Oh, John, have our sheep got it? Oh, I am sorry! I thought you would
be sure to escape. How many are ill?”

“Only ten at present; but though I have taken them away from the
others, it is so infectious I am afraid they will all get it.”

“Did you come home to tell mother?” asked Fairy.

“No, I came back to ask her to go to Lewes and tell Hobbs, the
veterinary, to come and see them as soon as possible, while I take
those who are all right to the downs, and go on to look at Charlie’s
flock; he may not have noticed the first symptoms. Perhaps I can find
someone in the village to go, as mother is ill.”

“Nonsense, John, I will go; I shall like the walk this lovely day. I
don’t mind the sun a bit; I love it; besides, I shall be back before
the heat of the day. Tell me where I am to go, and what I am to say.”

“But, my pretty one, mother does not like you to go to Lewes alone,
does she?”

“In a case like this she would not mind; it is great nonsense at all,
I think, for the Leslie girls go in alone, one or other of them, every
day.”

John smiled, partly at the way in which Fairy identified herself with
the Leslie girls, as if they were in the same position as herself, and
partly at her naivety in not seeing that it was one thing for a plain
girl like Maud Leslie to walk about Lewes alone, and quite another for
the shepherd’s pretty dainty little foster daughter. However, he was
very anxious about his sheep, and wanted the veterinary fetched as
quickly as possible, and he knew he could trust Fairy to go far better
than a boy in the village, so he accepted her offer, and gave her the
necessary directions.

Fairy ran upstairs to tell Mrs. Shelley where she was going and to
fetch her hat, and then set off in high glee, very much enjoying the
novelty of going to Lewes alone, though Mrs. Shelley, as she first
bent and kissed her before starting, grumbled at John’s imprudence
in allowing it. And certainly there was something to be said on Mrs.
Shelley’s side of the question, for Fairy was a girl who could not
walk out without attracting attention; not that she was so exceedingly
beautiful, but there was such a brilliancy in her beauty, which was of
the pocket-Venus type, such a freshness and brightness about her, that
everyone who saw her involuntarily turned to look after this little
sunbeam who had just shed a ray of light across his path. She was
dressed in a very simple white dress, with a large straw hat, with a
piece of blue ribbon round it on her head. Fairy was very fond of white
dresses, and very extravagant, for she never would wear a soiled one,
and good Mrs. Shelley, who took a great pride in the girl’s appearance,
washed and starched and ironed them for her without complaining.

Fairy’s way lay down the lane and across some fields, by a kind of
drift, to the Winter-bourne, now a mere tiny brook, which you could
easily step over, and then down a road with fields on one side and the
Priory grounds on the other, to the town.

She met no one till she reached the bourne, and she tripped along
quickly, resolutely denying herself the pleasure of gathering all the
wild roses she came across, partly because, she told herself, she must
make haste on her important errand, partly because it would soil her
dress.

“I must gather all I can as I come back,” said Fairy, with a longing
glance at the fence, covered with the lovely wild roses, pink and white
and cream-coloured, the loveliest of all our wild flowers—the “rose of
all the roses.”

But when she came back that golden head was too full of other thoughts
to remember the roses.

At the bourne Fairy met Mr. Leslie on horseback. He stopped and wanted
to know where she was going.

“To Lewes, on business, very important business, for John,” said Fairy,
grandly.

“Indeed! I wish my mare were not so tired, that I might come with you,
but I am just back from Brighton, and I expect, as the poor people
here say, the fairies got into my stable and rode her about all last
night, for she is far from fresh this morning. But I must not keep you.
Good-bye; don’t let anyone pick you up and run off with you before Jack
comes back. I heard from him this morning; he talks of coming home at
the end of this year.”

“So soon? Mother will be glad. Good-bye,” said Fairy, her bright little
face lighting up with pleasure, though she did not blush or look
conscious; facts Mr. Leslie noticed, and went home to tell his wife
Fairy was too much of a child to be in love, and he was sure she had no
thought of Jack as a husband.

In this he was right; Fairy had no thought of Jack nor of anyone else
as a husband just then; she was fancy-free as she disappeared down the
road which led to the picturesque old town, lying before her in its
amphitheatre of hills, whose white chalk patches looked strangely cold
and repellent on this warm July morning. But those chalk hills often
give one a chill at first. Fairy was too much accustomed to them to
notice or feel it any more than she noticed or felt the cold, blunt,
downright, and, at first, repelling manner of the Sussex peasant, who
probably derives some of his characteristics from the country in which
he is born and bred, and lives and moves and has his being, for it is
certain that scenery influences character to a much greater extent
than is commonly supposed. Fairy knew that this was only one phase of
the Sussex downs; another time those hills—by the way, the word “down”
is derived from an old Saxon word, meaning “hill”—another time those
hills would look soft, and warm, and sweet, and attractive, just as the
Sussex peasant, on better acquaintance, proves himself honest and true
and kind-hearted, in spite of his uncouth manners.

(_To be continued._)

[Illustration]



[Illustration: BERCEUSE.]

BY

J. W. HINTON, M.A., MUS.D.


[Music]



MERLE’S CRUSADE.

BY ROSA NOUCHETTE CAREY, Author of “Aunt Diana,” “For Lilias,” etc.


CHAPTER XIV.

“BREAD AND SALT.”

I thought Mrs. Markham looked somewhat displeased.

“We must ask your mother’s permission, Master Rolf;” then, turning to
her, “I hope you will allow him to go with us this afternoon,” for,
in spite of his rude ways, I felt full of pity for the lonely little
boy; he seemed to have no playfellows except poor Judson, who was a
low-spirited, overworked young woman. It must have been dreary for him
to be in a household of grown-up people, who all voted him a plague and
took no trouble to amuse him. Spoilt children are seldom happy ones;
and it did not need a second look at Rolf’s pale, sickly face to read
the lines of discontent and peevishness.

“I am rather surprised that Miss Fenton should make such a request
after her treatment of my boy yesterday,” returned Mrs. Markham,
ungraciously. I think if she had dared to contradict Rolf she would not
have given her consent, but a sulky look was already clouding his face.

“Never mind about that,” he said, impatiently; “Miss Fenton is going to
make the tail for my kite; and I am going out with her this afternoon,
and I shall and will go.”

“Master Rolf, that is not the way to answer your mother.”

“You may leave me to rebuke my own child,” she observed, coldly. “Very
well, Rolf; you may go, but you need not be so cross about it. I came
to see about the children, Miss Fenton; I think it is too hot for them
to go on the beach this afternoon.”

“Joyce will wear her sun-bonnet; and there is a nice breeze,” I
returned, somewhat ruffled by this interference. I fancy she did it to
aggravate me, for there was no fault to be found with the weather, and
I knew my mistress always left these things to me.

She remained for a few minutes making little suggestions about the
ventilation and the nursery arrangements, which I bore as patiently as
I could, though the harsh, metallic voice irritated me dreadfully. I
did not wish to be disrespectful to Mrs. Markham, but I did not feel
bound to obey her orders, and I knew I should tell her so if any grave
dispute arose between us. I was rather relieved when she left the room
at last, taking Rolf with her; but a few minutes afterwards Judson
glided in on tiptoe.

“Oh, Miss Fenton,” she said, in a pathetic voice, “I am so grateful
to you for promising to take charge of Master Rolf this afternoon; I
thought there would be such a piece of work; Master Rolf thought he
was going out in the carriage, and Mrs. Markham has friends and cannot
find room for him; and what I should have done with him I hardly know,
all the afternoon.”

“If Rolf is good I have no objection to take charge of him; I am very
fond of children, only they must be obedient.”

“Obedience is an unknown word to Master Rolf,” returned Judson,
lugubriously; “times out of number that boy has got me into trouble,
just because he would not mind a word I said. Why, he got the colonel’s
sword out of his mother’s wardrobe one day and nearly killed himself,
and another morning he fired off his grandfather’s gun, that had been
loaded by mistake, and shot poor old Pincher, not that he meant to do
it; he was aiming at one of the pheasants.”

This was not pleasant to hear, and I inwardly resolved not to trust the
children out of my sight; for who could tell what unforeseen accident
might arise from Rolf’s recklessness?

“Mrs. Markham blames me for all that happens,” went on Judson, “and
Master Rolf knows that, and there is no checking him; he is not nearly
so mischievous when his mother is near, because she loses patience, and
has more than once boxed his ears soundly. She spoils him dreadfully,
and he takes liberties with her as no child ought to take with a
parent; but now and then, when he has aggravated her past bearing, I
have known her punish him pretty sharply.”

This was sad; injudicious indulgence, and injudicious severity. Who
could wonder if the results were unsatisfactory?

“No one dares to say a word to him except his mother,” went on Judson;
“it is just her temper when she flies out at him; but she worships the
very ground he walks on. If his finger aches she thinks he is going to
die, and the house is in an uproar; and yet when he is ill he is as
contrary as possible, and will not take a thing from her, for all her
petting and coaxing.”

It seemed a relief to Judson to pour out her woes, and I could
hardly refuse to listen to her. She was evidently attached to her
mistress, with whom she had lived since her marriage; but she was
one of those helpless beings who are made the butt of other people’s
wills and passions; she had no dignity of mind to repel even childish
impertinence; her nervous, vacillating ways would only increase Rolf’s
tyrannical nature.

I could understand how a high-spirited boy would resist any command
enforced by that plaintive voice. A few quick concise words would
influence him more than a torrent of feeble reproaches from Judson. He
was not without generous impulses—what English boy is?—he had grasped
at once my meaning when I rebuked him for his want of gentlemanly
honour, but he was precocious and over-bearing, and had lived too much
in the society of grown-up people.

My knowledge of the world was not great, but I know how deficient
in reticence many grown-up people are in the presence of children;
the stream of talk that is poured into the little pitchers is often
defiled with low conventional views of duty, and painfully uncharitable
remarks; the pure mirror of a child’s mind—and how pure that mind often
is!—is frequently sullied by some unchristian observations from lips
that to the child are half divine. “See how ye offend one of these
little ones,” was the Master’s warning; and yet if we could look into
one of these young minds, we should often see its placid serenity
broken up and ruffled by some unthinking speech, flung like a pitiless
pebble into its brightness.

After all, we spent a pleasant afternoon on the beach, and I do not
believe the children enjoyed themselves more than Hannah and I.

It was not a long walk to the shore if we had followed the direct
route; but I wanted to see the pretty village of Netherton more
closely; so we walked past the church and down the main street, and
turned off by the row of bungalows that skirted the cliff, and,
crossing the cornfields, made our way down a narrow cutting to a little
strip of shingly beach, with its border of yellow sands washed by the
summer surf. I would willingly have sat under the breakwater all the
afternoon, watching the baby waves lapping upon the sands, and laying
driblets of brown and green seaweed on the shore, while Reggie brought
me wet pebbles and little dried up crabs and empty mussel shells,
but Rolf wanted me to help with his sand castle; indeed, we were all
pressed into the service; even Reggie dug up tiny dabs of sand and
flung it at us, under the belief that he was helping too.

What a pretty scene it was, when the castle was finished, and its
ramparts adorned with long green festoons and pennants of brown
ribbons; and Reggie sat at the top kicking his little bare legs with
delight, while Rolf dug the trench down to the sea, which filled and
bubbled over in a miniature lake, in which disported the luckless crabs
and jelly fish which he had collected for his aquarium.

There is something sad in the transitoriness of children’s play on the
shore; they are so eager to build up their sand towers and mounds. When
the feeble structure is finished the little workpeople give a cry of
joy, as though some great task were accomplished. Then the waves creep
up stealthily; there is a little cold lisping outside the outworks, as
though the treacherous foes were lurking around; in a few seconds the
toy castle is in ruins. The children look at the grey pool that has
engulfed their treasure with wide, disappointed eyes.

“Oh, the greedy sea,” they say, “it has destroyed our castle!” But
to-morrow they will come again with beautiful childish faith and build
another, and still another, until some new game is proposed, or they
are weary of play.

It was quite late in the afternoon when we turned our faces homeward.
Joyce was tired, so we put her in the perambulator, and I carried
Reggie. Rolf hung behind rather sulkily; fatigue evidently made him
cross; but he brightened up in an instant when the sound of horses’
hoofs struck on our ears, and in another moment a little cavalcade came
in sight—Miss Cheriton mounted on her pretty brown mare Brownie, and
her father and Mr. Hawtry on each side of her.

She smiled and waved her hand to us, and Mr. Hawtry raised his hat
slightly. They would have passed on, but Rolf exclaimed, “Oh, do take
me up for a ride, Mr. Hawtry, I am so tired!” and Mr. Hawtry looked at
Miss Cheriton, and pulled up at once.

“Put your foot on my boot, then, and I can reach you,” he returned; and
as Hannah lifted him up, not without difficulty, he threw his arm round
him, and kept him steady. “Now, then, hold tight; we must overtake the
others,” I heard him say, and they were soon out of sight.

“It must be werry nice to be Rolf,” sighed Joyce, enviously, as Hannah
wheeled her up the dusty road.

I think we were all glad when we had reached the cool nursery, and
found a plentiful tea spread on the round table. The children were so
sleepy that we were obliged to put them to bed as soon as they had
finished their tea.

Rolf did not make his appearance until later, and then he burst into
the room with his arms full of paper and string, and we were very soon
hard at work on the window-seat, constructing the tail for his kite.

He was in high spirits, and talked volubly all the time.

“I told mother about bread and salt,” he began, “and she liked the idea
very much. She made me repeat it again to grandpapa, and he patted me
on the head, and gave me half-a-crown. When grandpapa is pleased about
anything he always gives people half-a-crown. I think he ought to give
you one, Fenny. Do you mind my calling you Fenny? it sounds so nice,
rather like funny, and you are so funny sometimes.”

“It sounds much more like Fanny,” I returned.

“Oh, do you think so? I will ask Aunt Gay what she thinks. Aunt Gay is
so fond of you, she told me so to-day, only she said it was a secret,
so you must keep it. I told Mr. Hawtry the story about the robber
servant this evening after dinner, and he said that he was a plucky
fellow, in spite of his being a robber; and so I think. Do you like Mr.
Hawtry, Fenny?”

“I do not know him, dear.”

“Oh, no, of course, you are only a nurse, and so you don’t come in
the drawing-room like other people; you would not know how to behave,
would you? Mr. Hawtry said something about you this evening. Mother was
talking to him, you know how, only I can’t tell you—bread and salt,
you know,” and here Rolf looked excessively solemn; “and Mr. Hawtry
said—no, don’t stop me, it is nothing bad, nothing like mother; oh,
dear, it will come out, I know—he only said, ‘She seems a very quiet,
well-conducted young person, and not at all above her duties,’ for you
were carrying Reggie, you know.”

“Oh, Rolf, do hold your tongue,” I exclaimed, crossly, for this was too
much for my forbearance. What business had Mrs. Markham to talk me over
with strangers? I ought to have stopped Rolf, but my curiosity was too
strong at that moment. “A quiet, well-conducted young person,” indeed.
I felt in a fever of indignation.

Rolf looked up from his kite with some surprise.

“Does talking disturb you? We are getting on beautifully. What a lovely
tail my kite will have!” Then, as though a thought struck him, “Are you
ever cross, Fenny; really cross, I mean?”

“Yes, very often, Rolf,” for being a fairly conscientious person, I
could not deny my faults of temper.

“Oh!” with a peculiar intonation, “I wonder if Aunt Gay knows that. Do
you remember any anecdotes about crossness, Fenny?”

I am afraid of what my answer might have been, for I was considerably
nettled at Rolf’s malicious tone, but happily Judson came at that
moment with a message from Mrs. Markham that even Rolf did not dare to
disobey, for he ran off at once, without bidding me good-night, and
leaving all his tackle strewn over the floor for Judson to clear.

As soon as I was left in solitude, I went to the open window. It was
clear moonlight again. There were the tree-shadows, and the long,
silvery path across the meadows; a warm radiance from the drawing-room
was flung across the terrace. The same sweet bird-like voice that I had
heard in the orchard that morning was singing an old-fashioned ballad—

    “My mother bids me bind my hair.”

Someone clapped their hands and said “Bravo!” when it was finished.

“What a lovely evening! Do come into the garden, Adelaide; it is quite
warm and balmy.” And then there was a rustle and movement underneath
me, a sweep of dark drapery, followed by the whisk of a white gown, as
Gay ran down the steps, pursued by Rolf. Two gentlemen sauntered down
the terrace; one of them was Mr. Hawtry; I could hear his voice quite
plainly.

“This is a capital cigarette, squire. When a man is not much of a
smoker, he will not put up with an inferior article. I have some cigars
by me now——” The remainder of the interesting sentence was lost in the
distance.

Men are rather satirical on the subject of women’s talk. They quiz
us dreadfully, and insist that our main topic is bonnets, but I am
not sure that we could not retaliate with equal force. Bonnets can
be treated as works of art, but could anything be more trivial and
worthless than a cigar?

They were still talking about the odious things when they returned,
only I was too disgusted to listen any more. I was in a bad humour,
that was certain—one of those moods when only a real tough piece of
work can relieve one. I closed the window and drew down the blind,
and then armed myself with my pocket dictionary. I would write a long
letter to my mistress, and tell her about our afternoon on the beach,
and I would pick out the hardest and most difficult words—those that I
generally eschewed.

I heard afterwards I had written a beautiful letter, without a single
mistake, and that my mistress read it over and over again—that is, that
she considered it beautiful, because it was all about the children.

“Nonsense, Merle, it was a sweet letter, and I showed it to my husband.”

I was in a better humour when I had finished it, and called Hannah.

“Hannah, we shall go on the beach to-morrow morning, and so I shall
be able to spare you in the afternoon; I shall not take the children
farther than the garden. You can go and have tea with your sister, if
you like, and you need not hurry home. I am growing far too idle, and
I have not half enough to do,” for I wanted to check any expression of
gratitude on the girl’s part, but a tap at the door silenced us both.

It was only Miss Cheriton come to wish me good-night. She had a basket
of fruit and a dainty little bunch of roses in her hand.

“I saw the light in your window, and thought of the poor prisoner
behind it, and I thought this would cheer you up,” laying her pretty
offerings on the table. “I am going to take you all for a drive
to-morrow through Orton-on-Sea; the children will like to see the shops
and jetty. Well, good-night; I am dreadfully sleepy; to-morrow we will
have another long talk.” And then she left me alone with the roses.

(_To be continued._)

[Illustration]



FAITH AND UNFAITH.

BY SARAH DOUDNEY.


[Illustration: “SHE SAT ALONE BY THE FIRE ONE DAY.”]

“Faith and unfaith can ne’er be equal powers.”—_Tennyson._

    She sat alone by the fire one day;
      The winds were sobbing outside the pane,
    And over the meadows and hillsides grey
      The clouds hung heavy with rain.

    But down in the garden-paths she knew
      Last summer’s leaves were lingering yet,
    Leaves that had taken the sun and the dew
      Of days she would fain forget.

    She sat alone, and the firelight gleamed
      On a little golden ring she wore,
    And her tears fell fast for the hopes that beamed
      In the years that come no more.

    She drew the ring from her hand, and said,
      “Why should I cling to the outward sign
    Of a love that now in his heart lies dead,
      Though it lives and burns in mine?”

    But a voice said, “Silence is not death;
      Wait on in patience and bear your pain;
    You may dim the gold by a single breath,
      But it shines out bright again!

    “Love is not love if it cannot trust,
      And faith should shine like the virgin gold,
    A treasure unsullied by moth or rust,
      That never is bought and sold.”



THE INHERITANCE OF A GOOD NAME.

BY LOUISA MENZIES.


CHAPTER II.

VENUS’S FLY-TRAP.

“Mark, will you come to Sunbridge Woods and look for Venus’s
fly-trap?”[1]

“With all my heart, Sorella; but what will mother do?”

“Oh, mother will be quite happy in the garden under your tent. She
cannot walk in the heat, you know; but perhaps she’ll come and meet us
if she does not drive with auntie.”

“Let us go and ask her,” said Mark; and led the way to the cool little
parlour, where their mother was engaged in some parish writing for her
brother, her writing-table so placed that she could look up from time
to time at her husband’s portrait, which seemed to her, simple soul
that she was! to look down on her with tender care and encouragement.
Margaret never told her thoughts even to her daughter, but both Mark
and Eva knew why their mother loved that place better than any other.

Mark propounded Eva’s scheme, which met with no opposition from their
mother, who was well content to know that they were happy and together.

“Will you not take Elgitha?” she asked. “She loves to get a walk in the
woods.”

Eva would rather have had her brother all to herself, but a suggestion
from her mother was law to her; so Mark ran up to the rectory to see if
Elgitha might come with them, while Eveline put on her walking dress
and prepared her basket, scissors, etc.

Elgitha was now a big girl of thirteen. Small and delicate as she had
been in her infancy, she was now developing a rather large frame, and
was at that awkward age when a girl seems all angles, and does not
know what to do with her hands and feet. Being an ugly likeness of her
father, and in character more resembling the Echlins than the Manners,
she in no way dimmed the lustre of Gilbert’s glory in her mother’s
eyes, and was on all occasions extremely glad to escape to her aunt and
cousins at the cottage.

The idea of a walk in the woods with Mark and Eveline was enchanting,
a delightful relief to the tedium of a _tête-à-tête_ drive with her
mother in the phaeton, and Elgitha floundered into her walking gear
with all possible speed. They met Eva at the garden gate, and, after
she had put her cousin’s dress to rights with a few judicious touches,
the three set off across the fields in the direction of Sunbridge. They
crossed cornfields just ripening into yellow, spotted here and there
with nodding poppies and blue cornflowers, and Elgitha sought counsel,
as to the weather from the shepherd’s weather-glass, white or red,
or, as to the time, from the seeding dandelion. The sun was high in
the heavens, and blinding in his majesty, so that it was with a sense
of exquisite relief that they gained the shelter of the woods, laden
with full summer foliage, and whispering sweetly in the gentle wind.
At Eva’s wish they sat down to rest under a lime just bursting into
blossom.

It was a day when to be alive was pleasure, and Mark lay on his back
gazing up into the world of tender green, dreaming deliciously; but
Elgitha had not reached the dreamy age, and, having sat for five
minutes, pulling to pieces a bunch of poppies which she had gathered,
and watching their tender leaves float in the wind, she suddenly
started up at the sight of a horseman riding along the high road, where
it skirted the wood some two hundred paces distant.

“Hullo!” she shouted. “Gilbert, I wonder where he is going. Hullo!
stop; where are you going?” And plunging through moss and bracken, she
managed to make a right angle, and, climbing a five-barred gate, stood
in front of her brother, as he came riding slowly along the road.

Gilbert was startled, but the horse knew Elgitha, whinnied, and stopped.

“How on earth did you come here?” said Gilbert, not in the most amiable
manner.

“Oh! Mark and Eva are here,” explained Elgitha; “we have come out for a
walk.”

“Then why do you tear along like a lunatic Meg Merrilies?”

“What a good idea!” laughed Elgitha; “you are Mr. Bertram riding from
Ellangowan, and I am Meg; but I ought to be standing on the top of the
gate to tell you your doom.”

“Nonsense, child; let the horse’s head free,” for Elgitha was fondling
her father’s old favourite.

“The horse! Just as if the dear old thing hadn’t got a name! Poor
darling old Dusty, who has carried you, man and boy, for these fifteen
years. I’m ashamed of you, Gil.”

“I’m ashamed of him!” replied Gilbert, “the stupid old beast; he hasn’t
a bit of spunk left in him, if he ever had any. A nice specimen, isn’t
he, Mark?” for Mark and Eveline had not joined them. “What would St.
Maur or Tullietudlem say to him? They’d hardly think him fit for dogs’
meat at Cambridge, would they?”

Mark patted the neck of the old horse, who had carried the rector for
over twenty years.

“Dusty prefers Sunbridge to Cambridge; he’s quick enough for the
rector, and can get over a quantity of ground if need be.”

“He and the rector suit each other, I’ve no doubt; but I wish the
rector would keep something a little more up to the mark for his
friends. It makes a fellow look such an owl to be astride of such a
Rosinante. Mrs. Alderman Jacobson and those black-browed girls of
hers passed me ten minutes ago in a splendid barouche with a couple
of thoroughbreds—such beauties, Eva, that dark mottled grey that you
love so, matched to an inch with silver-plated harness that positively
dazzled me. It is scandalous; his grandfather, old Nat Jacobson, used
to peregrinate the metropolis in search of cast-off wearing apparel
with a black bag and a pyramid of old beavers on his patriarchal head.”

“Oh, Gil, how can you?” remonstrated Elgitha; “it is a case of industry
rewarded. If our grandfathers had toiled as Nat Jacobson toiled, and
accepted as fish whatever came into their nets, they might have added
barn to barn and acre to acre, and left us the wherewithal to skim
through the world in barouches drawn by silver-harnessed dappled greys.”

“True enough, most wise maid of Sunbridge, but I don’t think I should
ever acquire a taste for making money; people in our position are not
fitted for making money; but if our pater instead of being a model
curate, had spent his energies on a good milk walk, you wouldn’t have
to plod about on foot all your days, and I shouldn’t have had the
confounded nuisance of choosing a profession.”

“Pity him—only pity him!” exclaimed Eva, laughing; “the poor young man
has to make up his mind within the next twelve months whether he will
be a lawyer or a clergyman. There’s yet a doctor, Gilbert. Why don’t
you try medicine?”

“Pah! nasty messy work! Do you think I’d be at the call of every
hysterical girl or hypochondriac old bachelor, pottering about from
one stuffy room to another, with nothing to relieve the tedium but an
occasional dish of scandal?”

“Have a care!” cried Mark; “the day may come when you shall need the
help of Æsculapius yourself. For my part, I think no one more admirable
than the true doctor, who often in the exercise of his art can
‘minister to the mind diseased,’ and, when all other hope is gone, can
point the way to hope in heaven.”

“I believe, Mark,” said Gilbert, in disgust, “that you would find
something to say in favour of an undertaker.”

“Perhaps I could; but as neither of us is called to weigh the pros and
cons of that extremely useful calling, I confess I have not given it
due consideration. You have the choice of the Church and the Bar, I of
the Church or the Civil Service. I suppose, whichever we choose, we are
neither of us to be pitied?”

“Bother your optimism! I believe it is your horrible contentedness that
drives me into pessimism! I believe you would have me think that you
enjoy dragging along through these woods at the heels of a couple of
girls!”

“You can think what you please, Gilbert, it will not affect my comfort.
I shouldn’t enjoy dragging at the heels of St. Maur or Tullietudlem, so
let us agree to differ and wish each other a good morning. The woods
at least are cooler than the high road, and as Eva is bent on having a
specimen of Dame Venus’s fly-trap, we may have far to go.”

“And, pray, what may Venus’s fly-trap be?” said Gilbert, who never had
any particular taste for his own company.

“I’ll show you, if we are lucky enough to find one,” cried Eva,
following her brother into the wood. Elgitha stopped to give Dusty a
farewell hug, then plunged after them, and Gilbert was left to his
own devices. He slowly resumed his way, the sweetness of his temper
not increased by the encounter, for though he affected to despise the
company of girls, it was not pleasant to find them indifferent to him,
and, sneer at Mark as he would, his frank, happy face filled him with
envy.

Mark, of course, must decide on his calling before long. Whatever
his decision, he must make his own way; his mother could give him no
artificial support; it was very wise of him to make the best of it. Of
course, if his pater had lived, things would have been very different,
and Mark would have been—well, probably just like his present self,
and would have found everything a “confounded bore.” And so _post
equitem sedet atra cura_, and the lad of nineteen is handicapped with
a heavy heart, in spite of his good father, his high-born and doting
mother—in spite of his most expensive education and a moderate fortune
in prospect.

The botanisers meanwhile threaded the mazes of the leafy trees with
many a gay laugh and many a simple joke, and with much admiration of
the multiform beauties spread before their eyes, until they came to a
damp hollow, carpetted with moss of an emerald green brightness, which
Eveline immediately recognised as the favourite habitat of the dainty
moss which they were seeking.

They separated, each taking a division, and many lovely things,
insect and vegetable, were presented to their eyes—tiny beetles,
scarcely the size of a pin’s head, harnessed in green and gold, tiny
flies with lustrous bodies floating on gauzy wings, mosses with dainty
blossoms, scarce distinguishable in colour from the plant itself, often
covering a treacherous ooze, and over all the whispering trees and
the occasional coo of the woodpigeon—but the prize they sought still
eluded them. Mark expressed it as his opinion that it only existed in
Eveline’s imagination, and Eveline was, sorrowfully, about to give up
the search, when Elgitha raised a loud shout of triumph, and there was
a great leap, a splash, and a tumble.

“What are you doing?” exclaimed Mark, hastening to the help of his
floundering cousin.

“Don’t mind me! don’t mind me! Here it is! I’ve found it, Lina, I’ve
found it!”

“Let me look!” cried Eva, almost equally excited.

“Come round this way,” said Mark, guiding his sister on firm ground to
the edge of the swamp. “If Elgitha had not been so impatient she might
have won her prize with dry feet!”

“_Veni, vidi, vici!_” exclaimed the victorious Elgitha, holding aloft
her prize; and, glancing at her soaking feet and stained dress, she
continued, “When Julius Cæsar wrote that you don’t suppose he looked
spick and span as when he went to dine with Pompeius Magnus.”

“Elgitha thinks the prize well worth the cost,” said Eva, admiring the
lovely growth; “look at its delicate fan-like leaves, pale green, with
tiny rosy spikes—dangerous beauties, too; look at these poor bodies
of slain flies, here, ensnared by this leaf—and these new ones just
unfolding their spikes, how innocent they look!”

“Nature’s coquettes!” laughed Mark. “Strange, is it not, to see the
traps that are everywhere set for silly flies? But come, girls, we
had best be getting home. We have accomplished the object of our
expedition, taken our Pergama, as Elgitha would say, and the sooner we
get our victorious maid home the better. It would be an ignominious
catastrophe to have the discoverer of Venus’s fly-trap in bed for a
week with mustard poultices and water gruel.”

Elgitha, elated with her success, protested, but in vain, for Eveline
agreed with Mark, and observed that even if they had not been
successful it was time that they should be getting home again.

The walk back was accomplished with sedater spirits, and as they neared
home the brother and sister insensibly fell into grave discourse, while
Elgitha, now rather tired, dragged a little behind.

The course of their future life was what they talked about, and Mark
explained the reasons that made him hesitate to go into the Church, the
course which his college successes seemed to indicate.

“It seems to me imperative,” said Mark, “that I should be no burden on
my mother’s slender resources. I should dearly like to be able to make
a home for you both.”

“But if Gilbert decides against taking orders there’s Bigglethwaite.
I’m sure Aunt Elgitha would rather have you there than anyone
else—better even than Gilbert, I think.”

“We must not think of Bigglethwaite, Lina; might as well fix on
Rosenhurst itself. Failing Gilbert, the earl has someone no doubt in
view, but I believe that it will end in Gilbert’s taking orders.”

“But he will never be fit,” remonstrated Eva.

“That is a hard thing to say. I don’t suppose that he will find the Bar
pay, but I would rather not hang about waiting for his determination.
I will make up my mind before October.”

“And you don’t know whether to be a clergyman, a schoolmaster, or to
try for the Civil Service.”

“That is exactly how matters stand, Dilecta, so you see I am more
perplexed than Gilbert; his choice lies between two; I am distracted by
three.”

“And in all probability an accident will decide at last.”

“Probably, if, indeed, there be such a thing as accident.”

“My mother would like you to be a clergyman, I think.”

“I think she would, and what would my sister prefer?”

“I don’t know; I don’t think I very much care, for you will always be
my own dear brother. Whichever will let me see most of you, I think.”

“You don’t ask me which I prefer,” pouted Elgitha, coming up behind.

“I didn’t know you were listening, goosie,” said Mark, drawing her arm
through his, “But, come now, favour us with your opinion.”

“Well, Mark, my honest and true opinion is that you, if you don’t get
away from stupid old Rosenhurst as soon as ever you can, you will be a
goose of the first feather.”

“And wherefore, O most profound Sybilla?”

“Because there is nothing on earth to do; one day is just exactly like
another, and as to being a parson, it just takes an angel like father
to put up with it.”

“You naughty girl; what do you mean?”

“Why, isn’t he at everybody’s beck and call from Sunday morning to
Saturday night? If Farmer Baynes quarrels with his son, father has
to hear both sides, and to try and make them hear reason; if Widow
Marvel’s ten babies are down with typhoid fever, because she will not
keep the place decently clean, he has to supplement the work of the
doctor, and go in and out of the filthy hole as if he liked it. Nobody
is in any trouble, no one does any sin, but it all comes back upon
father. Don’t you know that that’s what makes him look so white—that
and Gilbert together?”

“Elgitha,” said Mark, gravely, “your father is one of God’s saints, and
of such as he is the kingdom of heaven. Do not grudge him to the work;
his reward is ready. But why would you have me leave Rosenhurst? Do you
think sin and sorrow are not as frequent elsewhere?”

“Perhaps; but at any rate other places cannot be as stupid.”

“And yet, child, if you go away, before a year is out you will be
looking back to these stupid days with fond regret, and will remember
nothing of Rosenhurst but its roses and lilies.”

“I’d wager you something to the contrary, only I know you wouldn’t bet;
but here we are home again. Don’t open the gate, please; I’m going
round at the back. Mother’ll be in an awful fume if she sees this
frock; Mary’ll get it cleaned for me. Here, Lina, take Aunt Margaret
this trophy,” holding out a dainty specimen of the fly-trap, snugly
packed in moss.

“Nay, dear, that is the prettiest piece of all; take it to Aunt
Elgitha.”

“Oh, she wouldn’t care for it; she’d forget to put it in water, and so
should I. Aunt Margaret will love it, and know just what it wants, and
keep it alive for weeks, and paint it and learn it by heart. Good-bye
for the present; I suppose you will be coming in for a little music
by-and-by?”

“That is as the superior powers may have determined,” said Mark,
holding the gate for her to enter, and so the expedition ended.

(_To be continued._)


FOOTNOTES:

[1] Eveline would be botanically more correct if she called the
beautiful English plant “sundew.” It is of the same order as the
foreign “Venus’s fly-trap,” and also attracts and kills small flies.



VARIETIES.


O NANNY, WILT THOU GANG WI’ ME?

Some time ago, in THE GIRL’S OWN PAPER, there appeared an interesting
sketch of the “Reliques of Ancient English Poetry,” with some facts of
the life of Bishop Percy. In the account given, no mention is made of
the once popular ballad, “O Nanny, wilt thou gang wi’ me?” or the event
that gave rise to its production. The circumstances, however, were of
such an unusual character, that they will certainly bear telling once
more.

It was in 1771, about six years after the publication of the
“Reliques,” and at the very height of Percy’s literary fame, that Mrs.
Percy was summoned to the Court of George III. and appointed nurse to
the infant Prince Edward, afterwards Duke of Kent, and ultimately the
father of our present good and most gracious sovereign Queen Victoria.
Mrs. Percy is said to have been a very amiable and excellent woman.
Miss M. L. Hawkins, in writing of the occurrence, says: “His Royal
Highness Prince Edward’s temper, as a private gentleman, did not
discredit his nurse, for his humanity was conspicuous.”

It was when Mrs. Percy had fulfilled the duties of her high position as
personal attendant to the young prince, and on her return to the quiet
Northamptonshire vicarage of Easton Mandit, that Dr. Percy greeted his
long absent wife with the following verses:—

    “O Nanny, wilt thou gang with me,
      Nor sigh to leave the flaunting town?
    Can silent glens have charms for thee,
      The lowly cot, and russet gown?
    No longer dressed in silken sheen,
      No longer decked with jewels rare;
    Say, canst thou quit each courtly scene,
      Where thou wert fairest of the fair?

    “O Nanny, when thou’rt far away,
      Wilt thou not cast a wish behind?
    Say, canst thou face the parching ray,
      Nor shrink before the wintry wind?
    Oh, can that soft and gentle mien
      Extremes of hardship learn to bear,
    Nor, sad, regret each courtly scene,
      Where thou wert fairest of the fair?

    “O Nanny, canst thou love so true,
      Through perils keen with me to go?
    Or, when thy swain mishap shall rue,
      To share with him the pang of woe?
    Say, should disease or pain befall,
      Wilt thou assume the nurse’s care,
    Nor, wistful, those gay scenes recall
      Where thou wert fairest of the fair?

    “And when at last thy love shall die,
      Wilt thou receive his parting breath?
    Wilt thou repress each struggling sigh,
      And cheer with smiles the bed of death?
    And wilt thou o’er his breathless clay
      Strew flowers and drop the tender tear,
    Nor then regret those scenes so gay,
      Where thou wert fairest of the fair?”

When the ballad was first published it is said to have been
exceedingly popular, and greatly enhanced the reputation of its
author. The _Gentleman’s Magazine_ for 1780 speaks of it as being “not
undeservedly” regarded as “the most beautiful song in the English
language.”

Mrs. Percy was a native of Northamptonshire, and the daughter of Barton
Gutteridge, Esq., of Desborough. Her union with Dr. Percy proved to be
a very happy one, though clouded over on several occasions with grief
and sorrow at the loss of some of their children, particularly at the
death of their only son Henry, a promising young man of twenty years
of age. The greatest affection existed between husband and wife, and
continued to the end of their days. A very pleasing illustration of
this fact is given in Pickford’s Life of Percy. The incident occurred
in Ireland when Percy held the see of Dromore. On one occasion, when
the bishop was from home, a violent storm came on in the evening, and
was of such a character that the friends with whom he was staying
earnestly entreated him to remain for the night, but the companionship
of the “Nanny of his Muse” was a more powerful magnet than the pleading
of kind friends or shelter from the tempest, so he ventured forth
heedless of the howling winds and drenching rain. Subsequently he
commemorated the event by writing the following lines, which were first
published in 1867:—

    “Deep howls the storm with chilling blast,
      Fast falls the snow and rain,
    Down rush the floods with headlong haste,
      And deluge all the plain.

    “Yet all in vain the tempests roar,
      And whirls the drifted snow;
    In vain the torrents scorn the shore,
      To Delia I must go.

    “In vain the shades of evening fall,
      And horrid dangers threat;
    What can the lover’s heart appal,
      Or check his eager feet?

    “The darksome vale the fearless tries,
      And winds its trackless wood,
    High o’er the cliff’s dread summit flies,
      And rushes through the flood.

    “Love bids achieve the hardy task
      And act the wondrous part,
    He wings the feet with eagle speed,
      And lends the lion-heart.

    “Then led by thee, all-powerful boy,
      I’ll dare the hideous night,
    Thy dart shall guard me from annoy,
      Thy torch my footsteps light.

    “The cheerful blaze, the social hour,
      The friends—all plead in vain;
    Love calls—I brave each adverse power
      Of peril and of pain.”

Mrs. Percy died on the 31st December, 1806. Her remains were interred
within the Cathedral of Dromore. Several poems were published on her
decease in the _Gentleman’s Magazine_ at that time. One of them,
descriptive of the graces of this excellent lady, reads thus:—

    “Within the precincts of this silent cell
    Distinguished Percy’s sacred relicks dwell;
    Whose youthful charms adorn’d the courtly scene,
    And won the favour of a British Queen
    Whose moral excellence, and virtues rare,
    Shone as conspicuous as her face was fair.
    By none throughout a long and happy life
    Was she surpassed as mother, friend, or wife.
    Alike from ostentation free, and pride,
    Humanity her motive, sense her guide.
    Her charity with constant current flowed,
    And its best gifts so usefully bestowed,
    That ere her spirit reached its native sphere,
    Her goodness marked her as an angel here.”

Dr. Percy lived on for five years longer, passing away on September
30th, 1811, revered and beloved for his piety, liberality, benevolence,
and hospitality, by persons of every rank and religious denomination.

            _Leisure Hour._


A DOUBTFUL ADVANTAGE.—A young working man was being shown the
advantages of having a home of his own instead of knocking about in
lodgings. “I don’t see,” said he, “the good of giving some woman half
my victuals to get t’other half cooked.”


CONTENT.

    Sweet are the thoughts that savour of content;
      The quiet mind is richer than a crown.
    Sweet are the nights in careless slumber spent;
      The poor estate scorns fortune’s angry frown.
    Such sweet content, such minds, such sleep, such bliss,
    Beggars enjoy which princes often miss.

    —_Greene._


WOMAN’S SPHERE.

    They talk about a woman’s sphere
      As though it had no limit.
    There’s not a place in earth or heaven,
    There’s not a task to mankind given,
    There’s not a blessing or a woe,
    There’s not a whispered yes or no,
    There’s not a life, or death, or birth
    That has a feather’s weight of worth,
      Without a woman in it.


A MISERABLE YOUNG WOMAN.—To those who, without any real knowledge
of music, make the air around them hideous by their everlasting
strumming on a piano, the following passage in Carlyle’s life may prove
instructive:—“The miserable young woman in the next house to me spends
all her young bright days, not in learning to darn stockings, sew
shirts, bake pastry, or any art, mystery, or business that will profit
herself or others; not even in amusing herself or skipping on the grass
plots with laughter of her mates; but simply and solely in raging from
dawn to dark, to night and midnight, on a hapless piano, which, it is
evident, she will never in this world render more musical than a pair
of barn clappers! The miserable young female!”


A SWEEPING ARGUMENT.—“That is a sweeping argument,” remarked the
husband, whose wife used a broom to convince him that he ought to have
been home several hours previously.


THE GREAT ART OF LIFE.—It is the great art and philosophy of life
to make the best of the present, whether it be good or bad; to bear
the bad with resignation and patience, and to enjoy the good with
thankfulness and moderation.


BEAUTIFUL HANDS.—A white hand is a very desirable ornament, and a
hand can never be white unless it be kept clean; nor is this all, for
if a young lady excels her companions in this respect, she must keep
her hands in constant motion, which will cause the blood to circulate
freely and have a wonderful effect. The motion recommended is working
at her needle, brightening her house and making herself as useful as
possible in the performance of all domestic duties.—_Mrs. Jamieson._



MORE ABOUT Y.W.C.A.; “GIRL’S OWN PAPER” BRANCH.

BY THE HON. GERTRUDE KINNAIRD.


About three years ago a paper appeared in the pages of this magazine
entitled “Y.W.C.A.” It will be interesting to trace the growth of the
seed then sown, and to see whether it found any ground where it could
take root and grow. That some soil was prepared to receive it appeared
evident from the very first, for letters flowed in to the writer of
that paper from many parts of the country.

Some of these letters were from girls living in the neighbourhoods
where the Young Women’s Christian Association had established branches,
but about which they knew nothing, although its benefits were just what
they needed. They had not even heard of the existence of an association
in which provision is made for the social, intellectual, moral, and
spiritual welfare of young women. These girls were at once put into
communication with the local secretary, who received them with a hearty
welcome, and it is pleasant to record the eagerness displayed by our
new members in availing themselves of the opportunity afforded to them
by our Association to become allied with the great band of young women
now encircling the globe who desire to live godly, righteous, and sober
lives in this present evil world.

On the other hand, a large number of letters came from those who
lived at a greater or less distance from any existing branch, and it
became necessary to find some link by which these young people could
be joined together. They were therefore formed into the “Girl’s Own
Paper Branch,” a name which has since been abbreviated to “Girl’s
Own Branch”; and a very efficient Secretary was found in Miss Violet
Tweedy, who was somewhat unwilling to undertake this work, but now
writes, “I love the work, and would not give up my girls for anything;
it is one of my greatest pleasures writing and receiving letters from
them.”

It is extremely important to observe the words “Scattered Members’
Branch,” and we will pause to consider this striking feature of the
work of the Y.W.C.A., enabling it to extend its influence into places
where no Institute or Home has found its way, and among those who
cannot avail themselves of their special advantages.

Of such branches some of the most prominent are, the “Art Students’
Branch,” with this aim—to bring together in Christian, social
intercourse, those who are studying art in our great centres of
population, and the Secretary of this branch will be glad to receive
the names of any students likely to be in London; the “Hospital Nurses’
Branch,” started for the purpose of uniting in sympathy those who are
labouring to alleviate pain and suffering; the “Restaurant Girls’
Branch;” the “Rural Servants’ Branches,” etc., etc.

Let us now return to the history of our “Girl’s Own Branch.” The duty
of the Secretary was to correspond with the members, supply them with
the Monthly Letter, and induce them to take in one of the Association
magazines. It was only about three years ago that our branch first saw
the light, and during that period it has proved to have a healthy and
vigorous life. In all 82 have joined, of whom a great many have been
transferred to other branches, two have married, two have been removed
by death, leaving 40 now in constant correspondence with the secretary.

That the individual members are alive may be judged from these facts:—

One member has a Saturday evening Bible class of twenty factory girls,
whom she helps in many ways.

Another collected £1 for the Shaftesbury Memorial Fund, and a third
collected for the Old Ford Institute; and all have helped in the
special Christmas collections.

One of the members is an inmate of an incurable hospital, and is most
helpful to the secretary by specially remembering in prayer any of her
fellow-members who may desire to be thus aided.

We will now ask you to listen to the testimonies of the members by
quoting a few passages from their letters, to which many more might be
added:—

“I never thought seriously till I joined the Association,” writes one,
“and now I am a totally different girl—so happy. I was confirmed last
week, and shall always look back to the day with joy.”

“I think it seems so kind and good of ladies,” writes another, “to take
such an interest in us poor girls. You little know half the good you
do us or what our lives really are. I sometimes feel ready to give up
in despair, when everything seems to go wrong, and at those times your
letters seem sent of God to cheer me up and help me to go on again.
They are read and re-read again and again, and I thank you for them
much.”

A young member writes:—“Thank you very much for writing to me. I do
enjoy your letters. I quite feel as though I knew you; but I should
like to see you ever so much.”

Yet another:—“You have granted me such a privilege by asking me to
write to you, which I shall be pleased to do.”

The last extract is from a girl of seventeen, who, after describing her
life, adds:—“I have ordered, may I say, _our_ Association papers.... I
must now close, longing to have one of your ever welcome letters soon.”

Surely there is no need to question the usefulness of the Association.
These letters tell their own story by the simple, unaffected manner
in which the writers assert that they have received positive benefits
through linking themselves to it.

It will not be out of place to add a word or two as to the objects of
the Y.W.C.A. for the benefit of those who have not seen the article
referred to, besides other notices which have appeared from time to
time.

The products of nature are not valued in proportion to their size or
outward appearance, but more generally with reference to their use for
the sustaining of life. The spreading cedar is far more magnificent and
beautiful than the little potato-plant, and yet the cedar would be less
missed than the potato.

The rosy-cheeked, shining apple makes more show than the little
seed-corn, and yet there is no comparison as to which we could most
easily spare. The apple we could dispense with; it would be difficult
to dispense with what has been aptly termed “the staff of life.”

So with the Y.W.C.A. It does not assume to itself a great place in the
way of presenting you with a magnificent appearance; but nevertheless
its work is sure, and it is steadily making its influence felt through
the length and breadth of the land. If anyone should wish to feel this
influence, they must join the Association, follow it in its work, watch
its effects, and the verdict must be favourable.

The Association is writing its name ineffaceably in the changed lives,
enlarged hopes, higher aims, and nobler motives of many of its members.

Another point sometimes forgotten is that the object of the Association
is to build up character, remembering that “it depends upon what we
are as to what the world is like.”

    “Dark is the world to thee;
    Thyself the reason why.”

Its aim is not to bring the members out of the spheres in which they
have been placed, but to help them to do their duty better in that
station of life where God Has placed them.

Its aim is to lead them to see that it does make a vast difference
how they fulfil those duties, and that if they are actuated by high
Christian motives, they will find this the way to ennoble all work.

Its aim is to teach its members who have the talent, or leisure, or
education, or artistic training, to use this for the common weal, and
save them from the selfish narrowness of a useless life.

Thus the Y.W.C.A. does its quiet work day by day. Sometimes it offers
its protection to a girl who sets foot in London or some other
large town for the first time, the Stations Visitor sent out by the
Travellers’ Aid Department (Office, 16A, Old Cavendish-street, W.),
meeting her at the Station or Wharf. Sometimes it saves a girl from
falling into the snares, now so often laid for them in advertisements
offering high wages and little work, which means ruin and degradation.
Any girl may apply to the Employment Agency, 17, Old Cavendish-street,
or to the Business Agency, 316, Regent-street, for a safe situation,
or for information concerning registries and advertisements. Sometimes
it gives occupation for the leisure hours when tired fingers and weary
brain need relaxation and change. There are 40 institutes and homes in
London alone, and 125 branches, and similar work is carried on all over
the country.

The Association has thus proved itself indispensable to many a lonely,
tempted girl. Thank God for the Young Women’s Christian Association!
The London Association has published four reasons why every girl should
join.


Y.W.C.A.

WHY SHOULD I JOIN?

Because every young woman should identify herself with an Association
which is pre-eminently her own, and thus support it by her influence
and example.

Because if you yourself do not need the special advantages of our
Association, remember the thousands of our sisters who do; therefore,
enrol yourself as a member, and encourage every one whom you may come
across to do the same.

Because, if you desire to work for God, here is a delightful sphere for
all the time and talents you have to spare, as almost all our local
branches are needing helpers.

Because, by joining, and also influencing others to join, you may be
the means of bringing many in who will by-and-by say, “Thank God I ever
came in here!”

Enough has been said to prove that the seed sown in THE GIRL’S OWN
PAPER three years ago has taken root and flourished, and we would
ask every young reader to join their own branch at once. They may
join as Associates or Prayer Union Members, paying 1s. a year, or
as Working Members, 2s. 6d. a year, or as Honorary Associates, 5s.
a year, by writing to Miss V. Tweedy, Widmore House, Bromley, Kent;
or, if they prefer, to the Secretary, at the Central Office, 17,
Old Cavendish-street, W. Subscriptions in aid of the work will be
thankfully received by the Hon. Secretaries—Mrs. H. Arbuthnot, 15,
Craven-hill-gardens, London, W., and the Hon. Emily Kinnaird, 2, Pall
Mall East, S.W.



TINNED MEATS; THEIR VALUE TO HOUSEKEEPERS

BY A. G. PAYNE, Author of “Common-sense Cookery,” “Choice Dishes at
Small Cost,” “The Housekeeper’s Guide,” &c.


PART II.

In my last article on tinned meats I described how to give a nice
little dinner at a short notice, supposing the larder only contained
a cold shoulder of mutton. I will now give a few hints on the general
management of tinned meats. I will also fulfil my promise of describing
how to make that most useful article in cooking, brown roux, which in
my opinion is absolutely essential should we wish to make our tinned
thick soups a success.

First let us consider the best way of managing tins, the contents of
which are generally eaten cold, and do not require warming up.

Perhaps the two most common examples of tinned provisions are sardines
and tinned lobster. For very many years sardines have been a popular
breakfast dish, and the plan has been to open the tin of sardines, and
leave the sardines in the tin till all are finished. Tinned lobster is
a more modern invention, and inexperienced housekeepers, from habit,
have treated the lobster exactly as they have the sardines, viz., they
have opened the tin and left the lobster in the tin. I would warn you
that this method of dealing with tinned lobster is not merely wrong,
but absolutely dangerous. From time to time reports have arisen on the
danger of eating tinned goods, and every now and then we hear of cases
of persons being ill, who date the origin of their illness from eating
some species of preserved provision. You would do well to bear in mind
that the persons to blame are not the makers of the tinned goods, but
the housekeeper who opens them and then fails to exercise her common
sense. Probably every housekeeper is aware of the fact that if you make
soup it is necessary to turn the soup out in a basin before going to
bed. Every cookery book teaches us the fact that if we leave the soup
in the saucepan all night long it spoils. Why? Why should soup get bad
in a metallic vessel, where it would not get bad in a porcelain one?
The answer is very simple—on account of the metal being acted on by the
air. If you leave a moist knife in the kitchen, in two or three days
it becomes rusty. Why, then, should we expect meat or fish or food of
any kind whatever to keep good in a tin, when we know it would not keep
good in a tin saucepan? The fact is, we have never thought about it at
all. But I do not think I need enlarge upon the subject, as, if you
have any common sense, a hint will be sufficient, and if you have no
common sense, it is useless to attempt to reason with you. Therefore
bear this one most important point in mind—whenever you open any kind
of tinned provision, turn it out of the tin directly the tin is opened;
otherwise it will instantly commence to undergo a chemical change,
which becomes stronger the longer it is opened. Some persons, perhaps,
will say, How is it that we have been in the habit for years, perhaps,
of opening sardines, and have never experienced any inconvenience
whatever? The simple reason is that the sardines are preserved in
oil, and that the oil prevents the action of the air on the metal. To
explain my meaning, you may try the following experiment:—Take two
bright knives; dip one in water and the other in thick oil. Leave the
two knives for three or four days. The one dipped in water will be
covered with rust, owing to the action of the air on the metal (perhaps
some of you are sufficiently acquainted with chemistry to know what I
mean by saying that the metal oxidises); the knife that has been dipped
in oil, on being wiped, will be found as bright as it was before,
owing to the action of the air being prevented on the metal by the oil.

Space will not allow of my giving a list of all the nice little
delicacies that are now preserved in tins, but I will mention a
few—potted beef, ham, tongue, chicken, turkey, etc. Then there are pork
patties in tins, savoury patties, Oxford brawn, while, if you wish
to have what may be termed higher class delicacies, there is _paté
de foie gras_, as well as truffled woodcock, lark, snipe, plover,
partridges, quails, etc., all of which are sold in tins, the tins being
rather more than half-a-crown a piece. If we take one of these tins
and open it in the ordinary manner, leaving the tin half on as a lid,
it is by no means an elegant-looking dish, whereas if we cut the tin
entirely round the edge and take the top off, then make a little hole
the other side in order to let the air get in, we can turn the whole
of the contents of the tin out in a shape exactly as we could turn
jelly out of a copper mould. The tin of potted beef, if that is what we
have, can be turned out on an ornamental piece of paper placed in the
middle of a dish. The dish can then be ornamented with a little bright
green parsley, and a little cut lemon, and can be made to look really
appetising. In fact, there is no more excuse for sending potted meat
to table in the tin than there would be for sending a mould of jelly
to table in the mould. What would you say if you were asked out to a
dinner were the man to hand round the mould of jelly in the mould, and
you were to scoop it out with a spoon? and yet this is what you have
virtually done over and over again at breakfast.

[Illustration: IN THE KITCHEN.]

I will now give you a list of the different kinds of soups that can be
obtained in tins, and will explain how to make brown roux, which is
used for improving every kind of thick soup, and also show how thin
soups may be improved. The following soups may be obtained in tins:
real turtle soup, game, grouse, oyster, hare, chicken broth, giblet,
hotch potch, kidney, mulligatawny, mock turtle, ox cheek, ox tail
(thick and clear), tomato, cressy, gravy, green pea, julienne, mutton
broth, Palestine, bouilli, vegetable, venison, and vermicelli.

Brown roux is simply flour fried brown in butter. Probably most cooks
have heard of the ordinary method of thickening soups with flour. The
result is that the soup has a gruelly taste. If, however, the flour
is fried a light brown before it is used for thickening the soup, it
produces quite a different effect. In fact, in one case the flour is
cooked, and in the other case it is raw, and the difference in the
flavour is as great as that between a dish of pastry before it is put
in the oven to be baked, and afterwards. You all know what a nice
thing a rich piece of pie-crust is, especially if it be made from puff
paste. Of course before it was put in the oven to be baked it would be
absolutely uneatable. So with our brown roux. If you wish to make it
properly proceed as follows: Take, if possible, an enamelled stewpan,
and place in it half a pound of butter and melt it. When the butter has
run to oil you will find that there is a sediment at the bottom, which
looks something like milk, as, indeed, it is, as also a frothy scum
at the top; skim this off, and then pour off the oiled butter into a
basin and throw away the sediment. Now add to this clarified butter,
which should have the appearance of good salad oil, half a pound of
dry flour. Remember that you cannot fry anything properly unless it be
first thoroughly dry. The flour and butter will form a sort of pudding,
and you must stir this pudding over the fire with a spoon until the
pudding begins to turn a light brown. As soon as it is turned a light
brown colour, take the stewpan off the fire, but go on stirring. As the
stewpan keeps hot a long time the flour will go on cooking for quite
a quarter of an hour after it has been taken off the fire. You can if
you like slacken the heat by throwing in a piece of onion. Of course,
the onion will very soon turn brown itself. When the brown flour or
roux has got comparatively cool, put it into a basin or small jar, and
put it by for use. You will find it most convenient to make this in
sufficient quantity to last, say, for a month. It will keep good for
almost any length of time.

Every kind of thick soup sold in tins will be greatly improved by a
good dessertspoonful of this brown roux being added to each pint of
soup after the tin has been opened and the contents poured into a
small saucepan. In addition to brown roux you must add a good-sized
teaspoonful of extract of meat. Recollect the brown roux should be
crumbled into the soup, and the soup should be allowed to boil for a
few minutes in order that it may get thick.

Of course we cannot use brown roux for clear soups. Now these clear
soups are undoubtedly, as a rule, very poor. I would suggest the
following means of improving them. Add first of all a brimming
teaspoonful of extract of meat, then to every pint of clear soup take
a teaspoonful of cornflour. Mix the cornflour with a little cold water
in a cup, say a dessertspoonful of cold water, or a little more, and
while the soup is boiling in the saucepan, add the cornflour to it.
You do not wish to make the soup thick, as could be done by adding a
large quantity of cornflour, but by adding a small quantity you give it
what may be called a consistency. The soup, instead of being as thin
as water, is more like milk, and although the soup is not in reality
any richer, it conveys the idea of being exceedingly good. Another
method of improving clear tinned soups in flavour is by the addition
of celery. If you have a head of celery in the house, take a small
stick, and with a knife cut it into very thin slices indeed. Boil this
in the soup, and you will find that it will improve the flavour very
considerably, that is, if the soup contains other kinds of vegetables.
Another method is to boil a couple of beads of garlic in the clear
soup, but then many persons object to the flavour of garlic. Still,
if garlic is used with care it is not nearly so objectionable as many
people think. There is a strong prejudice against the use of garlic in
this country, but I believe this prejudice is brought about by the fact
that English cooks as a rule do not understand how to use it. Garlic
should be used to impart a slight flavour, and should rarely if ever be
chopped up to be eaten.

I will now go on to another class of preserved provisions, viz., fish.
Sardines and pilchards are preserved in oil, and are very nice eaten
just as they are, only bear in mind that cut lemon and cayenne pepper
is a very great improvement to them in their natural state.

A very simple method of having a nice dish in a hurry for breakfast or
for dinner can be made as follows:—Open a tin of sardines or a tin of
pilchards, pour the oil of the tin into a frying-pan, and add to it a
brimming teaspoonful or more of curry powder, moistened in a little
water. Add a teaspoonful of cornflour, also moistened in a little
water. Stir the whole for a time till you get a thick, oily gravy. Now
add the fish, either sardines or pilchards, and gradually make them hot
in this quickly-made curry sauce, and with a spoon keep pouring the
sauce over the fish. You must be careful not to break the fish. As soon
as the fish are thoroughly hot through, take them out of the frying pan
with a slice similar to that you use for taking out fried eggs, place
them on a hot dish, and scrape all the oily curry gravy over the top.

Some few years ago great things were expected from what was called the
Australian meat in tins. Since the introduction of frozen meat, we have
heard a great deal less about meat in tins. Still these tins are very
useful to persons living in out-of-the-way places in the country, where
frozen meat would be just as difficult to obtain as ordinary butchers’
meat. Australian meat differs very much in quality. As a rule you will
find that unless the meat is surrounded by a good deal of jelly it is
not worth having at all. When the Australian meat has plenty of jelly
with it, and you can turn it out in a solid lump, I am not sure but
what the best method is to have it as it is—cold. It wants cutting with
a very sharp knife indeed. It is very light of digestion. You can send
it to table just as it is, surrounded with the white part of a lettuce,
placed alternately with beetroot. Australian meat can, however, be
sent to table hot, and there are several ways of doing it. One method
is to make it into an Irish stew. Warm the tin just sufficiently to
melt the jelly, pour off all the jelly into a saucepan, and slice
up half-a-dozen good-sized onions and boil them in the jelly. Boil,
say, an equal weight of potatoes to meat, also separately, in some
water. Then place the hot cooked potatoes, the tender-boiled onions,
and gravy with the meat in a saucepan, and as soon as the meat is hot
through send it to table. The reason why we proceed this way is that
the drawback to Australian meat is that it is already over-cooked;
consequently, you must avoid cooking it more than can be helped.

Tinned meat can also be made into curry in a similar way—that is,
after you have melted the jelly you pour it off and use it to make
some strong, rich curry sauce. The meat should then be placed in the
curry sauce and served as soon as it is hot through. The meat should be
shredded with a couple of silver forks, so that the curry can be eaten
with a fork.

Australian meat can also be used for making a meat pie. To make a good
meat pie, you must melt the jelly, pour it into a saucepan, and boil
with it six beads of garlic, and also add some gelatine to make the
jelly when cold nice and firm. In fact, it should be quite as firm as
an ordinary mould of jelly. Now place the Australian meat in a piedish,
pour the gravy over it, and place a few very thin slices of bacon
on the top. You can also mix with the pie a teaspoonful of chopped
parsley, and be sure to add plenty of black pepper. Few cooks realise
what a large amount of black pepper is required for a meat pie. You
can also add to the pie half-a-dozen hard-boiled eggs cut in halves.
Now cover the piedish over with the crust, and bake it in the oven. As
soon as the pastry is done, the pie is done; the meat, as I have said
before, is already over-cooked. Try and manage to keep by you a little
of the gravy, and when the pie is cold, add the remainder. Pour this
gravy into the pie through the top, and fill the gravy up so that it
reaches the crust. Remember, this pie can only be eaten cold. If you
use garlic in a meat pie, you cannot cut the pie while it is hot. The
gravy should be poured in when it is nearly set.

(_To be continued._)

[Illustration]



A “PRINCESS OF THULE” IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.

BY REV. THOMAS B. WILLSON, M.A.


Away in the far, far West of Ireland, the great Clew Bay indents the
coast of the County of Mayo. At the northern entrance of this bay rise
the mighty cliffs of Achill, against which the long Atlantic rollers
dash themselves, in all weathers, with unceasing spray, and after a
storm with terrific fury. On the south the promontory of Old Head, near
Lewisburg, rises abruptly from the sea, but with less striking cliffs
than on the northern side.

The bay is surrounded by hills and mountains, bare for the most
part of trees, but clad in the richest purple by the heather in
the summer-time. Conspicuous among the mountains is the wondrous
cone-shaped Croagh Patrick, towering in an almost perpendicular mass on
the southern shore, above the ruined abbey of Murrisk. From the top of
it St. Patrick, according to popular legend, expelled the serpents for
ever from Ireland, and it is regarded as a specially holy place by the
people, who in great numbers make an annual pilgrimage to the top.

Many are the islands which dot the surface of the bay, some large,
some very minute. There are said to be no less than three hundred
and sixty-five of them, one for every day in the year, and if one
looks upon the wondrous archipelago from a neighbouring height, they
can well believe the number to be not much exaggerated. The little
town of Westport is the only place of any importance on the bay, the
terminus of the railway from Dublin, a spot which has seen better
days, its large empty warehouses on the quay telling the sad tale of
long-departed commerce.

Gorgeous are the sunsets to be seen in summer over this bay; and a
conspicuous object, as the sun sinks into his “watery bed” in the
Atlantic, bringing a new day to our brethren beyond the seas, is the
great Clare Island, which forms a sort of natural breakwater at the
entrance of the bay, restraining the full sweep of the great Atlantic
rollers. Deep purple look the mountains and cliffs of the island as
the sun sinks lower and lower, and the bare rugged cliffs and smaller
adjacent islands seem transformed as if by magic, until they almost
appear to be the Laureate’s

    “Summer isles of Eden lying in dark purple spheres of sea.”

This rugged island in the sixteenth century was the home of a very
remarkable woman, who may not unfitly be called a “Princess of
Thule”—one very different indeed from Mr. Black’s charming heroine,
cast in a much sterner and rougher mould—but a princess, nevertheless,
and one undoubtedly from “Ultima Thule.”

Here lived and died the celebrated Grana Uaile, whose name in its
Anglicised form we know as Grace O’Maley. She was the daughter of
Breanhaun Crone O’Maille, or O’Maley, the Chief of Murrisk and of the
Isles of O’Maley, of which Clare was the most important. The O’Maleys
were a powerful clan, and had fought bravely in many of the local
struggles. Breanhaun O’Maley died when his daughter had just grown to
womanhood, leaving behind him a son, who was quite a child, and the one
daughter, Grace. The laws of succession were not firmly established in
those days and in that part of Ireland, and the strong-minded woman
found little difficulty in setting aside the claim of the boy, and
establishing herself as Chieftainess of the clan or sept of O’Maley.
She soon gathered together a number of followers, who were ready to
support this dauntless woman in those very unsettled days for Ireland,
when the Virgin Queen sat upon the throne of England.

Quickly she became famous as the head of a powerful clan, and as a
leader of rare courage and intrepidity. The Lord Deputy Sidney, writing
of her in 1576, says, “O’Maley is powerful in galleys and seamen.” It
is not curious that the matrimonial affairs of this remarkable woman
were somewhat peculiar. She was twice married. First, to one of the
O’Flahertys of Connemara. They were a powerful clan in the county
of Galway, and had a stronghold called Krishlane-na-Kirca, or the
Hens’ Castle, on the shores of Lough Corrib, the remains of which are
still to be seen. The O’Flahertys were a wild and turbulent race in
those days, the terror of the merchants of the then prosperous city
of Galway, who commonly inserted in the prayers in their churches a
petition to be delivered “from the ferocious O’Flahertys.” On his death
she married Sir William Burke, a man of English race, who, however,
had cast off allegiance to the English Crown, and was better known as
the MacWilliam Eighter. It was a curious union, as Grana Uaile would
only agree to it “for a year certain.” At the end of that period she
disowned him, but did not attempt to contract any further alliance.
She sided, however, with Sir Richard Bingham against these Bourkes,
and they were defeated in a battle, a result largely achieved by the
followers of Grana Uaile.

As a return for this timely aid, Queen Elizabeth invited this western
princess to pay her a visit in London. The invitation was accepted by
her, and she set sail from her castle in Clare Island for Chester,
the usual port of arrival from Ireland in those days. Before reaching
Chester she gave birth to a son, the only child of her curious second
marriage, and named him Tobaduah-na-Lung, or Toby of the Ship. From
Chester she proceeded to London, to her interview with Elizabeth.
The Queen was at that time residing at Hampton Court, and thither
Grace made her way. It must have been a curious scene, the meeting of
these two women. The haughty Tudor Queen, and the wild, half-savage
Chieftainess of the far West. The contrast in their dress, too, must
have been very striking. We are all familiar with the pictures of the
great Queen of England, adorned with her enormous ruff and elaborate
dresses; it certainly must have looked curious beside Grace O’Maley,
who, we are told, was attired in “thirty yards of yellow linen, and
a mantle of red frieze”! Grana was little ready to fall into the
subservient ways of courtiers. She shook hands with Elizabeth, and
treated her in every way as an equal, regarding herself (and rightly
enough, too) as an independent princess. The offer of a lap-dog the
head of the sept of O’Maley rejected with scorn. Afterwards Elizabeth
offered to create her a countess, but this honour she declined, on the
ground that she was the head of her own people; but was willing that a
dignity should be bestowed on her infant son.

Many have been the strange visitors received by English monarchs, but
few more curious scenes have been witnessed than the reception of Grana
Uaile by Queen Elizabeth at Hampton Court.

On the voyage home from England a very striking and romantic incident
occurred, which gives some idea of the state of society in those
days (it was 1575), and of the character of the Princess of Clare
Island. On leaving the English coast severe weather was encountered,
and instead of sailing at once north-west for her island home, Grana
was driven across the Channel to the coast of the county Dublin. On
the northern shore of the beautiful Dublin Bay the peninsula of Howth
runs out into the sea, at the extremity of which was in ancient times
a fortress often used by the Northmen, whose name for the promontory,
Hoved, or head, has been corrupted into Howth. The Hill of Howth, as it
is called, came into the possession of the family of St. Lawrence in
the early times after the English conquest of Ireland; or rather its
partial conquest, for it was not until after the reign of Elizabeth
that the English authority was anything more than nominal, except along
the eastern coast, in the part known as the English pale. The family
of St. Lawrence were Barons (now Earls) of Howth, and had built their
castle on the north-western slope of the hill, facing the mainland,
and close to the isthmus which unites the hill to the main part of the
county of Dublin. To the shelter afforded by the Hill of Howth, Grana
Uaile and her ships were driven. She sought hospitality at the Castle,
but on reaching it found the gates closed. The family were at dinner.
Full of anger at this, she turned again to her ships, and on the way
she chanced to find the heir of the St. Lawrences, then a little child,
playing by the seashore. Here was a chance of revenge for the insult
she had met with, and one which Grana would not be slow to avail
herself of. The boy was captured by her retainers, placed on board her
ship, and with this precious booty she made haste to reach her island
home.

Great, we may well believe, was the anger and consternation of the
family to find themselves robbed of their son and heir. There was not
much use in appealing to the English Government, for the Queen’s writ
could hardly be said to “run” in Western Mayo in the days of Elizabeth,
any more than it sometimes does now in Kerry or Galway, so recourse had
to be had to negotiation. After a considerable delay, Grana consented
to release her captive, and this curious condition was attached to a
substantial sum of money paid as ransom:—Whenever the family went to
dinner, the gates of the Castle were to be thrown wide open, and a
place was to be laid for one more guest than was expected! In making
this provision, she clearly intended that no subsequent wayfarer should
go hungry or empty away from Howth Castle. This curious custom was, I
believe, continued in the family down to quite recent times.

This was the last striking exploit of Grana Uaile. She lived on in her
island home, and died there at last, and was buried on the island, in
the ancient Carmelite Abbey founded in 1224, the ruins of which are
still to be seen, as well as the island fortress of this remarkable
woman. A good many years ago a skull, which local tradition represented
as hers, used to be shown to the rare tourists who visited Clare
Island, but it is said to have disappeared.

Those whose summer wanderings lead them to the remote parts of the West
of Ireland, and who do not mind, if need be, a good tossing on an often
rough sea, might well spend a pleasant day in visiting Clare Island,
and seeing for themselves the ruins of the Castle where our “Princess
of Thule” lived and died in the days of “Good Queen Bess.”



[Illustration: ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS]


WORK.

DAISY GREEN.—Your bridesmaids should wear white gloves, and so should
you. The best man has nothing to do with the bride. He has to bring
the bridegroom to the church, stand by him at the altar, and see that
he does not run away; also, he has to attend to the accommodation of
all the guests in their respective carriages, and to devote himself
specially to the bridesmaids, for whom he has to return thanks, should
their health be drunk. The bride drives to the church with her father,
or whoever gives her away, and sits facing the horses. If you have but
one carriage, send it back for your bridesmaids, as your parents must
drive with you to the church. The men of your family can walk. If they
can hire a cab, it would be the more economical plan in rainy weather.

DOTTY.—1. Send the macramé lace to a cleaner. Their appliances are
better than private home ones, and the price of cleaning is low. 2.
In the name Helen, of course the “h” is aspirated, otherwise the name
would be Ellen. It would be acting like a Cockney to drop it and
confound the two names. Pronounce Mozart “Mo-zart.”

LOUISE.—We do not think there is any sale in England for cocoons; it
costs so much to reel the silk off. If you have a large number you
might perhaps do something with them in America, where the address
of the Women’s Silk Culture Association is 1,328, Chesnut-street,
Philadelphia. Women are largely interested there in sericulture.

MARY E. M.—1. Your fawn-coloured gown will look well for winter wear
if dyed a rich dark red. Before ordering the dyeing, go to the dyer
and ascertain from him whether your material will take the colour you
desire satisfactorily, because some pale colours will not do so, and
should be seen by an experienced workman. 2. With reference to the
training of your voice, the first thing to be done is to effect the
cure of your deafness; then take a few lessons from a good teacher—an
Italian, if possible. Bad tricks are formed by untaught singers,
such as singing through closed teeth, taking notes in a wrong voice,
or commencing with the letter “n.” A gentleman we once knew used to
distract us by saying, “‘N,’ as it fell upon a day,” etc.

AN ELDEST DAUGHTER.—One of the best methods of making use of scraps of
cloth is to cut them into pieces the size of a penny, taking a penny as
a model, and sew them on, overlapping each other, on a piece of thick
canvas for a foundation, for the hearthrug. If you mark out a pattern
on this, such as a large diamond in the centre and a small diamond on
either side, you can carry them out in colours, making the foundation
black. Rub the ivory with whiting, slightly moistened.

NINA KASELTI may clean the zephyr woollen shawl with tinsel mixed in it
in hot bran. She should rub very gently, just as if washing it in the
bran. Flour would answer equally well.

A YOUNG MOTHER.—Shilling knitting books are to be obtained at nearly
every fancy shop. You can also get the little combinations in Germany
ready made without trouble. We have seen them.

A POOR COUNTRY LASSIE.—We should think you would be very wise to learn
millinery, as it is a very nice, pleasant business, and you would not
suffer from fatigue.


MISCELLANEOUS.

UNHAPPY CIS.—The subject of drunkenness seems a very hopeless one.
Of course, people can cure themselves with God’s help and their own
determination. We should advise your mother to seek legal advice and
get protection for herself and her children. Such a step might bring
him to reason. In America we hear that drunkards who wish to cure
themselves are put on a vegetable diet. You have our warmest sympathy.

KITTEN should use a drying wash for her hair. The best is composed of a
quart of hot water, in which a piece of carbonate of soda is dissolved
and a piece of lump ammonia, each the size of a large walnut. Use the
water warm, and dry the hair well.

IOLANTHE.—The possession of a Queen Anne farthing is, alas! not
equivalent to that of Miss Miggs’s annual gold mine, nor will Iolanthe
be “found in tea and sugar” by securing a purchaser for it! Perhaps
some friend might be induced to give a halfpenny for it in exchange.

ANNIE LAURIE.—1. If the books be much stained they should be taken to
pieces and placed in a decoction of alum and hot water. This may remove
the discolourment; but the book should be passed again through a thin
solution of size after such a bath to give body and firmness to the
paper. Although telling you what should be done, we by no means advise
you to attempt so delicate a process yourself, and recommend you to
place the volume in the hands of an experienced binder. 2. The origin
of women adopting their husbands’ names is to be found amongst the
ancient Romans. They were distinguished as “Julia of Pompey,” and so
forth. We omit the “of.”

GERTRUDE TEMPERLY.—Your little suggestion for awakening a greater
feeling of sympathy between our rough, uneducated, and even depraved
fellow-creatures and the respectable classes, who would endeavour
to raise their moral condition, is certainly well meaning; but, in
reference to a young girl of those respectable classes, mothers would
be very wrong to allow their young daughters to visit the fallen and
depraved, and to elevate them by shaking hands with them, by the
(magnetic?) influence of “the touch of their hands.”

MARY B.—We could not take the responsibility of recommending a winter
residence if there is any complication of disease; but we advise you to
procure the _Leisure Hour_ for October, 1886, and read the advice given
at page 714, in the article entitled “Winter Migration.”

PICKWICK CLUB.—You should tell us from what cause your headaches arise,
and then we might suggest a palliative, if not a means of cure. Our
correspondents forget that we are perfectly unacquainted with their
respective constitutions, occupations, manner of living, description
of residence, remedies already tried, and complications of complaints.
Could we possibly do more than speak in very general terms in reply?

AUTUMN.—The style of address employed to old or young ladies depends
on the position in life of the person who addresses them. A shop
attendant should say “madam,” a domestic servant or poor person should
say “ma’am.” Equals in position amongst the gentry of the upper classes
never employ either word to each other. The Emperor Napoleon III. and
his son, the young Prince Imperial, were buried at Chislehurst.

A BOOTLE GIRL.—We recommend you to apply to the Colonial Emigration
Society, the Manchester branch of which is under the direction of
Miss Emily Faithfull. The office is at 9, Albert-square Manchester.
The office is open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturdays excepted; also
on Monday evenings from 7 till 8. Both free and assisted passages are
given under certain circumstances, and the best advice given also.

SNOWDROP and IVYLEAF should first consult a doctor and next a dentist.
2. Old stamps are of no value whatever to anyone. 3. We think Handel or
Haydn was the writer.

POLLY PERKINS.—1. Cold green tea is the best thing to use for the
eyelids in case of styes; but you would do well to consult a doctor. 2.
You must advertise for such a situation.

SEAWEED.—The duties of a stewardess are to wait on the lady passengers,
help to dress them, and bring them the basin or their food if too ill
to rise from their berths. The salary seems to vary with different
lines of steamers.

       *       *       *       *       *

[Transcriber’s Note—the following changes have been made to this text.

Page 247: out to our—“turned our faces”.

Page 250: flytrap to fly-trap—“specimen of the fly-trap”.]




*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. VIII, Issue 368, January 15, 1887" ***

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