16 July 1881 'The Art of Shopping' by Mary Selwood

What is it in shopping which so attracts the feminine mind? It must be admitted that the sterner sex are, as a rule, indifferent to the charms of such expeditions, and will suffer much, rather than accompany a lady to a round of shops. And yet a charm there must be, or else why all this crowd of people invariably found at every favourite establishment, many of whom, if they told the strict truth, must own to having come for some trifling purchases which might just as well have been indefinitely postponed, or done without altogether?

Others will go shopping, as they wrongly call it, simply to look in at the windows on the chance of seeing something pretty and cheap, when they rush in and buy it, and go home rejoicing and boasting to all their friends of the bargain they have lighted on.

Let such foolish ones lay to heart this axiom: "Never buy a thing simply because it is cheap."

"Oh, but it is sure to come in some time," they reply.

Perhaps it may, sooner or later, probably later; and meanwhile it will be laid aside, getting dingy and out of date, and when at last a use comes for it its freshness is gone, and you wish you had never bought it, and could go and get new.

Some members of the shopping world have wonderful notions of economy. They will walk long distances to save a few pence in their purchases, not taking into account the wear of shoe leather or the waste of time, or the mental and bodily fatigue, which surely is of some account if our energies are worth anything.

"Oh, why don't you go to Brown's for that ribbon? I got the very same thing there for 5 3/4 d only yesterday," such a one will say to a friend who is paying 6d for it at Jones's. Now Brown's is nearly a mile away and this economical lady forgot to mention that by the time she got to the shop she was so exhausted that she had to take a hansom home, so that in the end she lost considerably by the transaction.

Certainly there is no object in paying more than is necessary, even though it is but a farthing a yard; but a great deal of extravagance is practised and called economy by people who have not studied the art of shopping. As a rule it is not economical, but the reverse, to buy cheap imitations instead of the real thing; they are in the end not cheap, but dear. A poor thing, of bad material or badly made, may pass muster for a little time, but very soon its outside gloss of respectability begins to fade, its true self shows through, and everybody can see that it is nothing but a sham. And do we not all in our hearts despise shams? And rightly too, for they are the very essence of vulgarity.

But buy a good thing, and besides lasting ten times as long as the inferior, it will look good and respectable, and unspeakably more refined, even when worn away to its last threads. So the true wisdom and economy is to have honestly good things, and, if necessary, fewer of them, and not to deck our houses and ourselves in an ostentatious super-abundance of "bargains (which are not bargains) picked up so cheaply" here and there and everywhere.

Unless one can afford to fritter away an amazing amount of money, it is well on entertaining a tempting shop not to think: "Now what shall I buy, what do I want?" but to keep in mind the query: "What can I do without?"

A prudent shopper will keep her eyes from straying amongst the tempting array as she walks up the shop, lest, seeing thee temptation to buy should be too strong for her strength of mind. She will turn a deaf ear to the insinuations of the shopkeeper anent a "special cheap line in gloves," or "a manufacturer's stock of ribbons at less than cost price," conscious that though they may be cheap in one way, they would not be so to her, because she does not want them.

Shoppers may be arranged in three classes; probably we can all fix on one of our acquaintances as typical of each class.

First, then, the desperately economical, not to say stingy, shopper, of whom mention has already been made. Having possibly abundant means, yet nothing gives her so much pleasure as to buy her goods more cheaply than anyone else. Always on the look out for bargains, she moves her patronage from one shop to another, not because the goods are better, but she has the idea that they may be cheaper, or that the vendor may be more readily beaten down in price.

For this dreadful individual, on being shown any article, immediately, and as a matter of course, begins to persuade the shopman to take less than the price. Perhaps in the hope of retaining her custom he does abate a trifle at first, but, finding that there is no end to her bargaining, he becomes impatient and indifferent whether she goes elsewhere or not.

The members of the 2d class are not so numerous as those of the other two, but still they exist in no small numbers.

A lady of class number two will not and cannot believe that anything is good unless the full or more than the full price is paid for it.

"This is nice tender beef, my dear," she says to her daughter, the housekeeper .

"It is American, mother, eightpence half-penny a pound."

"Ah, well, I thought it was very flavourless all the time."

Or, after admiring the new carpet in a friend's room, she is told it was bought at a little reduction because the pattern was not fashionable, she will say, sympathisingly, "Well, it won't wear of course; it is such a mistake to buy underpriced goods when you want wear."

No shops are to be patronised except those "good old-fashioned" ones, which charge a trifle more for everything than everybody else. The addition to the price appears to add flavour and air to the wares  which is quite wanting in those bought at more reasonable prices.

Ah, well, class two, you are foolish, prejudiced, aggravating, but nevertheless to be preferred to your predecessor.

In the third class we find those who understand how to shop. Without being niggardly, they will not pay more than a thing is worth, though it will be on sale at the best and most old-fashioned shop in the world. On hearing the price, if she thinks it excessive, she will say so, quietly but straightforwardly, not in the hope of getting it reduced, but to explain her not purchasing it. The truth is much better than a number of foolish groundless reasons which the attendant probably sees through in a moment and despises accordingly.

Again, if she be pleased with an article in quality and price, she will gratify the shopkeepers by saying so equally frankly.

On the other hand, she will never buy cheap rubbish; she carefully examines it and detects the good from the bad, and lets no amount of persuasion or cheapness tell against her own good judgment. She chooses out certain shops and goes to them as much and as continuously as she fairly can. She knows what she wants before going in, or if she does not know exactly she tells the attendant clearly what purpose it is for, and he is always willing to suggest. By this means she avoids the annoying practice of getting the counter covered with unsuitable goods, and finally departing without purchasing at all.

Should she have unavoidably caused extra trouble, or taken up a good deal of time, a polite "I am sorry to have troubled you" will mollify the poor tired server, and do away with the grumbling remarks which would probably be made after her departure.

If she meets an acquaintance in a shop, after greeting her she will finish her purchases before entering into conversation, so as not to keep the attendant waiting, for his time is valuable, though she may have plenty of leisure.

But a word must be said about servers. Are they themselves always perfect? Can they know how much custom they sometimes drive away from their masters' shops by their surliness and unwillingness to oblige? As a rule, they are amazingly patient and good-humoured, but still one hears too frequently such a speech as this. "Oh, I never go to Brown's, they have such disagreeable, uncivil people to serve; I prefer to walk a little further on to Jones's. It is not such a good shop, but they are so polite, and seem so anxious to please."

If they only knew how pleasant it is to be served by a civil, obliging person, and how annoying to have an impatient or unwilling one, they would certainly exert themselves to preserve at least an outward show of patience and good temper, even if they cannot manage to affect the interest in their customers which is such a charm in the attendants at many shops.

The importunate shopkeeper, too, is very annoying, who, when one is in a great hurry, persists in bringing out box after box of "special lines" and displaying them, regardless of your assurances that you d not require anything more.

Also, it is very provoking to be told that a certain article matches your pattern, or is suitable for your purpose, when it is quite evident that it would not do at all. This importunity is often due to the "rules of the house," where the assistants are paid a commission on articles which they contrive to sell. It is never done at the stores, and hence one of the comforts of shopping at these places instead of at shops. Pressing people to buy in that way seldom has the desired effect, and certainly makes them reluctant to go to the shop again.

The one thing to be considered on both sides by sellers and buyers is how to do to others as we would be done by.

11 June 1881 - Answers to Correspondents - Miscellaneous

RITA – We must again request our correspondents not to ask the same questions over and over again, as we have not time or leisure to answer a question more than once, and it is wearisome to general readers. "Noblesse oblige" is a French proverb to signify that more is expected of those in high position and superior advantages than of their inferiors.

WATER WITCH – It is impossible to say whether the planets are inhabited or not, but we believe the last opinion formed by scientific men is that if they be, the people must be entirely different to ourselves.

M.F. – The "Onion Fair" at Birmingham takes place at about the end of August, or the early part of Spetember, the time probably being that when the onions ripen, and are taken from the soil. We hope you will continue all your studies, as no little girl could be sufficiently educated at fourteen.

CLARICE – Instructions can be given as to the usages of society in regard to some things, but no lessons can ensure "an attractive and pleasing manner." What is artificial and not habitual or natural cannot be attractive to those most worth pleasing. Habitual manner must be the expressions of the mind and heart. It is not usual to leave the room in parting with a visitor, except it be a friend so intimate that you chat with her to the door, or a stranger whom it would be advisable to see out.

DROFFIG – The lines are not worth printing. It is kindest to give a plain answer, as you can employ your time and good feeling in a better way.

A.B. – You are deficient in grammar, when you say that someone "wishes an introduction to my sister and I." Do not also be deficient in prudence.

A MAID IN TROUBLE – It would be well if you were as troubled about the inside of your head as the outside; spelling and writing are very poor.  For the hair any stimulating spirit may be as effective as bay rum.

23 April 1881 - 'The Weddings of the World' by A.H. Wall - 'A Wedding in China'

And here you are complaining about wanting the vote, western women. Look how good you have it compared to your poor Oriental sisters.

When a son is born he sleeps upon a bed; he is clothed with rich robes, and plays with pearls; everyone obeys his princely voice. When a girl is born she is cast upon the ground, is wrapped in a cloth, and plays with a tile." Thus wrote Pan-houi-pan of her own sex, in her own country, China, adding, "She can be neither vicious nor virtuous; she has only to prepare the food, make the wine, and abstain from troubling her parents."

Pain-houi-pan write with neither regret nor indignation of this strange contrast. In her opinion it was both proper and wise to mark by neglect and indifference the inferiority of a creature born without a soul, even in the helpless days of its infancy. In her still popular works she is continually reminding women that they have no purpose in creation beyond that of being useful and pleasing to the superior sex. The birth of such a being as a woman was a thing to be ashamed of – a sure sign of heaven's disfavour, in the estimation of Pan-houi-pain, and in that of all her countrymen and women.

A modern well-known traveller, M. Huc, describing his adventures in China, says on one occasion when leaving Lean-chan, his Chinese companion, speaking of women being Christians, exclaimed laughingly, "Isn't that nonsense!" And being told that it was not, and that, moreover, certain Chinese women were Christians, he asked, with an air of being completely puzzled, "What can women become Christians for?"

"What for?" was the reply; "to save their souls – like the men."

"But," responded the astonished Chinaman, "they have no souls. You can't make Christians of them!"

"We endeavoured," says the author in question, "to remove the worthy Chinaman's scruples – to give him a few sounder ideas on the subject of women's souls, but we are by no means sure that we succeeded. The very notion tickled his fancy so much that he laughed with all his might. 'Nevertheless,' said he, 'I will be sure to recollect what you have been telling me, and, when I get home again to my family, I will tell my wife that she has got a soul.' She will be not a little astonished, I think.'"

But, despite his laughter, it is not improbable that in his secret heart he regarded this new view of Christianity with no little dread. It seemed to him, doubtless, a veritable serpent in the garden, so that when he got home he may have prayed heartily to his grotesque little wooden god that a knowledge of equality and consequent discontent and rebellion, might never beget evil within the doors of his own little domestic paradise. For the women of China, brought up in a slavish spirit of obedience and servile humility, are generally meek and gentle, patient, timid, and long suffering, deriving from ignorance a degree of content which, as a rule, is not altogether unproductive of happiness. John Chinaman would not have his women either wise or independent. They see no evil in being without a soul; they have no rights, and they want no rights. He is content with women because they are content to regard the ministering to his luxurious comforts and enjoyments as their highest, grandest, and sole privilege. For that only are they born, bred and educated. And, again, as a rule, the good-humoured, cheerful, chatty Chinese women, devoting themselves with all their might to parents, husbands, and sons, with a generous abnegation of self which is – dare I say? – worthy of a better and nobler cause – is admirable. Even amongst the poorest you see them decent in their apparel, modest in their behaviour, assiduous in the pursuit of their heavy monotonous labours, on the water or in the garden, field, farm, or at the loom, and seldom without a pleasant word and smile. Sometimes they are fortunate enough to win gratitude, sometimes happy enough to create love, but, as a rule, I fear the predominant idea they awaken in their masters' minds is merely that cold emotionless one that when they have done their utmost in serving or pleasing, they have but done that duty for which no thanks are fairly due.

The Chinese girl who has poor parents leads the degraded life of a slave; no out-door labour is too long or too hard for her, no treatment too bad, no punishment too severe. If her parents are lowly but not so poor, she is regarded as the household drudge, whom no kind of work can injure or degrade. In either case she stagnates in ignorance, unable either to read or write; but, strange to say, she does not grow either dull, brutal or apathetic. A kind word moves her to tears, and to win her heartfelt gratitude is a very easy task. The daughter of wealth fares a little better. She is not so active, and, therefore, not perhaps so happy, but her domestic work is light, and she can read and write a little, and she has amusements. She is taught music and singing. She goes to the theatre, receives occasional visitors, and now and [t is taken to the temple in a sedan chair, or a kind of wheelbarrow with curtains. But she keeps to her own chamber, has her meals apart from her father and brother, devotes considerable time to her toilet and the growth and preservation of her long claw-like nails, and yawning and sighing over her almost purposeless indolent life, is frequently glad to stupefy herself with the opium pipe.

At length there comes a time when the girl may be married, a time for which she has been longing with all her heart. Amongst those whom the law of China compel to marry, and with one of their own rank, her charms are duly but indirectly magnified, and they all know that she will be the bride of the highest bidder. Her nose is beautifully short, her lips delightfully thick, no lashes disfigure her charming black eyes. The length of her finger-nails is surprising! If these fail to attract and no bidder appears, the disconsolate father says that she was a mistake, regrets that she was not drowned directly after her birth, as thousands of other female infants are every year, and mournfully contemplates the cost of her living.

If a good offer comes, and no more bidders are likely to appear, immediate preparations are made  for the wedding. At last the girl will be somebody; she is delighted to find herself for once an object of general interest; it is a grand discovery when she finds that even a girl can make all the people about her glad and merry! Her spirits rise, life assumes a brighter aspect, she dreams day-dreams, sees herself honoured and respected as a house mother, her dignity asserted even by the law, which has hitherto recognised her rather as an object for punishment than protection. She will soon no longer be a mere useless piece of furniture or a domestic drudge; or, as a Chinese author says, she should be "a shadow and an echo in the house." She knows well enough that for a time she will but live her old life over again; that marriage will not give her a right to call anything her own; that she will stand in silence to serve at table and feed on the leavings of the men; and that outside her own inner room or rooms no living soul will  acknowledge her authority. But she knows also that she will be the proud mother of boys, that she will have children to love her and to be cared for.

On the day of her wedding the house is early astir. There is the greatest zeal displayed for her adornment; her looks are anxiously watched, and the perfection of her toilet is an object of overwhelming importance. Her splendid silken robes flash, gleam and glitter with jewels and gold; her long plaits of raven hair are adorned with flowers and precious stones. She totters on her poor cribbled feet into a kind of cage, a brilliant palanquin, where she sits in state like a queen on her throne, and is carefully inspected. Most carefully, for only consider! What a dreadful thing it will be if when the bridegroom first sees her he should express disappointment; say that those who described her deceived him, and wind up by declaring that rather than have her he will sacrifice all the dowery money he has paid, and submit to the usual fine in a like amount. When the procession is ready to escort her, the lattice work of her cage is closed and locked, and the bearers raise and carry her in triumph to the home of her purchaser. Musicians playing fifes, drums, and hautboys, precede her; torch-bearers and flambeau bears surround her! Her family march in solemn state behind; and everything comprising her portion, clothes, furniture &c., follows, each article displayed by one person, male or female.

Shut up alone she hears the music and the joyous shouts and the trampling feet; sees the red light of the torches and flambeaux, falling flickeringly upon her gold and jewellery; thinks of her new home amongst strangers whom she has never seen; dreads the little sound to come, that of the unknown bridegroom's key in the lock of her gilded cage; wonders what he will be like, in what words will he first address her; trembles with intense anxiety.

Meanwhile, the bridegroom, in another fever of anxiety, stands in holiday attire within his outer door. The feast is spread, the guests have arrived, he only waits his bride. What will she be like? How will he be pleased? Will the blind bargain really prove a good one? At last he hears the approaching music and shouting; at last the procession halts before his house; her gay and gilded bridal cage – the palanquin – is before him. The trusty domestic who bears its key gives it to him with a lowly obeisance, and then, amidst sudden and profound silence, he turns it in the lock. The gilded lattice-work swings open; he looks for a moment upon the girl he has purchased – does not suddenly shut the door and turn away, as she tremblingly fears he may, but gravely assists her to alight, while the merry music bursts forth afresh, and the shouting is louder than ever.

Entering the house, the ceremony which unites them, as firmly as the most ceremonious one can, is thus performed.  For the first time she sits down to eat and drink with a strange man – perhaps she does not even know his name – and having previously prostrated themselves before their parents and saluted the Tiers, or idol, in the hall four times, they feed together, drink each from the other's cup, and they are then man and wife, united as completely as Chinese law can unite them.

The bride is then given into the hands of her new female relatives, who entertain her and her family  for the rest of the day at a feast in their own section of the dwellings, while the bridegroom and his friends make merry in another.

One month after there is another ceremonious meeting of the two families, when the bride's family come to see her  for the first time, and this is followed by a third, when the bride revisits her old home.

23 April 1881 - 'How to Keep a Journal' by James Mason

I'm not sure why he's addressing it to his wife Nanette but you do you, James.

Some people are very sensitive on the subject of keeping a journal; should you ever hint at their doing such a thing, they look just as if a dog had bitten them. And yet it is a highly respectable practice, and one indulged in by many men and women remarkable for their good sense. Indeed, I shall go farther and assert that the keeping of a journal in some form or other is a necessary duty if one would derive the utmost profit, material and spiritual, from one's daily life.

It is quite a mistake to think that memory will answer well enough, and that all the events of our lives can be carried in our heads. Set them down in black and white, for memories are fickle and the deepest impressions in a few years fade away. I have even noticed that many a sensation, which at the moment seemed as if it would last for ever, has become very dim after a week.

A journal is a convenient storehouse of personal experience. "But," you say, "my personal experience is not worth the storing. I am only a girl leading a quiet life, without adventures and without incidents - one to whom to-day is like every other day, and every other day like to-day." For all that keep a journal, and you will be surprised how much you will find worth setting down and worth reading over, too. Your journal, it is true, will not be one of sensational interest, but for this, like those happy nations who have no history, you may be thankful.

It is not a hard task, my dear. The chief difficulty lies not in the starting of the journal, but in the keeping of it up. But you are not clever, you object. Stuff and nonsense! We know better than that. Cleverness, however, is not requisite, for your journal is to be nothing more than a faithful record of what goes on in that little world of which you are the centre. Fine writing, ornamental flourishes, and philosophic flights are all out of place.

In its pages, for one thing, you should make mention of all the people you know. There will be the friends who are dear to you, the pleasant acquaintances you have met, and the people of interest who have crossed your path. Family gatherings should be noticed, and all the changes which year after year are altering your circle  for the better or  for the worse. You should record the letters you write under the dates when they were written; the preachers you have heard, and the concerts you have attended.

Your studies should also have a conspicuous place, so that turning to your journal you may ascertain at once when, for example, you began to learn French, or when you took your first lesson in singing, and what progress, rapid or slow, you have made in those lines of learning, in which one day you mean to be proficient. The prizes and certificates you contend for should be included, and, as in a journal one is, as it were, talking to oneself, I hope you will never fail to mention your failures as well as your successes.

The places you visit should also be entered. You may chance never to see them a second time, so it is a good plan in every case to write on the spot a few lines of description for the purpose of at some future time reviving your recollection.

Our lives are greatly influenced by the accidents that befall us, and the circumstances into the midst of which we are thrown. These should always be recorded. But we must be cautious in doing this, or, at any rate, in indulging in prediction, lest we get into the habit of thinking every incident a revolution, and every trifle a catastrophe. There are some moments, no doubt, about which there can be no mistake - when sudden light breaks in upon the mind, and all things appear, and indeed are to us, quite new; but these are very rare, and it is not prudent to assume, even in a journal, that they have arrived.

What a host of other things remain to be included in your journal! There are the records of your little adventures, and, spite of what you have said, you know you have little adventures; your bright days of happiness; the books you have read, and what you have thought of them; the names of the books you have bought, and the magazines you have subscribed to; the clever sayings you have heard; the odd things you have seen; the romances in real life you have met with - and everyone meets with some - the strange ups and downs of this world of change, as these affect and interest yourself; the many good resolutions you have formed, and, alas! The many good resolutions you have broken.

Should you be anything of a naturalist, you will find an additional pleasure in recording all the phenomena of the circling year, and of posting up in your journal your notes from the book of nature. Human life must ever be of most interest; but birds and flowers and wind and rain have a charm of their own, and it is no proof of a superior intelligence to be above taking an interest in butterflies and beetles.

One common fault of journal-writing is a morbid self-consciousness. No fault could be worse, either in a journal or in anything else; but I am not afraid that you, who are always so natural, will fall into it. The journal you will keep will be one of incident and observation rather than one of reflection; it will not be so much a picture of your mind as a record of the events of your life. And such, to my thinking is for most persons the most sensible form of journal.

The great interest of a journal of course begins after it has been kept for some time. We turn it up then to review our past life, and see our existence as an artistic whole. We observe what changes have come over us; how our surroundings have altered, and our friends, and our pursuits, and our likes and dislikes.

You think you will never change, do you? Wait a while, and, perhaps, as some one has put it, "you will then burn all you now worship and worship all you now think only good to burn." And as for other people, why our stars often prove but meteors, and the idols of our existence have a sad habit of getting cracked and sometimes even of bursting outright.

A journal reminds us of many a day-dream we have indulged in, and of many a speculation as to the future which has not been realised. It is prudent, by the way, to confine these speculations to one's journal. I know you think you will one day be a duchess, but don't speak about it, which makes you almost as ridiculous as the American who was so confident of being successful at the Presidential election, that he liberally distributed his carte-de-visite with the inscription, "Mr So-and-So, Future President of the United States".

Every year you should make a point of going regularly over your journal, and taking note of all you have seen and done. This will enable you to lead a more orderly life in future; to see, sometimes, in a remarkable manner, the connection between the present and the past; and to recognise, over and over again, the Hand which is leading us and the care that is protecting us in every moment.

You may have noticed that those who keep journals are, as a rule, good conversationalists, and specially entertaining when they relate their own experience. No doubt this comes from the act of writing. An incident which we have taken pains to narrate pithily with the pen can usually be repeated quite as pithily with the tongue. Journals are also very handy for letter-writers, especially for those who have a large friendly correspondence. There is no need for sitting down and biting one's pen for information; turn up your journal and there it is. The only awkward feature is that should your correspondence ever come to be collected for the purpose of writing your life, it may be found that you have sent the same thing and in much the same words to half-a-dozen different people. But, much as I admire you, this is not at all likely.

The book which it is best to use is one of the large diaries, of which so many are published at the beginning of every year. We should have one with three days to a page, which is a good allowance for most people. A great advantage possessed by this form of journal is that it admits of our entering engagements in advance, calls to be made, promises to be kept, and so on.

There are usually two or three pages of blank paper at the beginning of the diaries we speak of, and these may be easily and profitably filled up.  It is a sensible plan to begin by setting down all those good resolutions by which we would regulate our lives. Almost everyone who is thoughtful has such good resolutions, though perhaps not reduced to writing, but the writing of them in this way brings them constantly under our notice and prevents their being hid away, as they are very apt to be, when most needed, in some dark corner of the memory.

After these resolutions should come a list of friends, and of all those people we would like to keep in mind, with their addresses. This should be succeeded by a list of birthday and other anniversaries.

Then should follow what may be called our *general plans; books to be read, places to be visited, walks to be taken, subjects we propose to study; all things, in short, regarding which we have no date fixed.

Last of all should come any notes regarding the money we may have to spend during the year; how much may be allowed for this and how much for that, so that we may at no time be in danger of "outrunning the constable."

As the year goes on, this portion of the journal will, no doubt, be subjected to alteration, for we will be modifying our resolutions, changing our circle, and completing our plans. With every new journal, of course, it should be entirely re-written.

A journal should be written up every day, no matter how tired or busy you may be. Make it a habit, and, custom being second nature, you will soon feel as uncomfortable if you go to bed without making the necessary entries as you would if, on getting up in the morning, you neglected to wash your face. "I shall write it up to-morrow," says the voice of laziness; that is the first step towards failure.

No doubt it is a labour, but don't shirk it. Let every day finish its own business; make that one of your good resolutions, and write up your journal every day and on the spot. A journal is valuable in proportion to the freshness of the impressions it records. With what keen feeling we remember, it may be years after this, this entry was penned with some loved voice still ringing in our ears, and that in some dear old home to which we return no more. When you and I, Nanette, came in from rambling in the forest, do you think I put off till to-morrow the wonderful things you said, and the glories of nature we saw? Not I.

Perhaps, however, you may be from home, when it would be inconvenient to carry a journal. Then carry a note-book and make the entries in it, to be copied into your journal when you have the opportunity.

It has often been remarked that quiet times, when you have most leisure for writing, are just those when there is least to write about, and that in busy times, when there is plenty to say, you cannot spare a moment. Write, say I, let the times be what they may; but write most when you have least leisure, for then you are both seeing and hearing most.

Should a journal be kept in regular form – that is, should it read just like a book? Not at all; at least not necessarily. Perhaps the more disjointed it is the better, because it is then most natural.

It certainly must not be in the grand style as if you were a heroine, or in the formal style, as if you wrote for publication and kept one eye on the paper and another on posterity Let it be nothing more than a quiet and honest record of your daily life, in which you strike no attitudes and aim at being nothing but yourself.

And when should this journal be started? To-day is always the best day; so open the book and make the first entry – "Read today an article in THE GIRL'S OWN PAPER on 'How to Keep a Journal' and this is the result." Good Nanette! May you live to keep it for many a year!

2 April 1881 - 'Examinations, and How to Prepare For Them' by James Mason

There can scarcely be a reader of THE GIRL'S OWN PAPER who does not know something about examinations, either by reading, by conversation, or from practical experience; and it is not in the least to be supposed that all our readers hold the same views with regard to them. Some like examinations; some dislike them; some think they do good, while others think that they do harm. Let us try to discover some of the causes for these widely different views, and calmly consider the question of examinations generally.

The word examination literally means to test by a balance, to weigh exactly; educationally, that is, in the sense in which we wish to examine it, means to inquire into, to try by question. An examination may test our general knowledge without any special preparation for it, or it may follow a particular course of study, and it may be either written or oral.

Everyone knows that there are some things about which one has "assort of an idea," a hazy kind of feeling that one knows "all about it," but that if one were called upon to make a speech, or to give a written account of the subject in question, one would make rather a sorry figure. This being admitted, it becomes clear that we do not always know as much as we think we know. The difference between what some people know, and what they think they now is often very considerable! One strong argument in favour of examinations is that it is good for us to know exactly what we know, or at least to be tested by another standard than our own, in order to prevent our falling into false positions, or attempting to undertake work for which we are totally incompetent.

Imagine some one who thinks he knows "all about" medicine and setting up for a doctor, or someone who thinks he knows all about ships and the sea and applying  for the office of captain! What would be the inevitable result if each of these men was able to command the position sought without any form of inquiry being made or proof to be shown that he was "duly qualified"? That people have acted in this way, if not exactly in these special cases, is a fact, and a fact which has been productive of very injurious results. Notably has this been the case with teachers, it not having been unusual to suppose that anyone can teach!

Happily this way of thinking is now beginning to be old-fashioned, and examinations are doing their utmost to place education on a higher level. Schools are inspected, pupils are examined, teachers obtain certificates, and many positions both for girls and boys, men and women, can only be obtained by public examination. It is less a question now whether the place suits the person, than whether the person suits the place.

Examinations are certainly an established fact, and it is probable that the earnest desire, on the part of those who are real workers and thoroughly honest, is the main cause of their enormous extension. That they may be carried to excess is possible. That intensely competitive examinations are healthy is doubtful. That all examinations are prejudicial to health is an utterly false assertion. The causes of the disrepute into which examinations sometimes fall are worthy of investigation, and they must be sought for in the many and various motives of the different grades of persons connected with them. It is scarcely necessary to say that none of these persons are entirely disinterested; they include children, parents, teachers, and examiners. I think I may safely say that some faults belong to each of these classes, and though I do not propose to discuss each seriatim, yet the general bearing of this remark will be borne out by what follows.

Examinations have a right use and a wrong one; they have their advantages, but they also have their disadvantages; and consequently we find that there are bad results as well as good ones to be traced to them. A few words as to their right uses.

1. As tests of exact and real knowledge they are invaluable; they place ne in an honest position with regard to one's fellows. They help us to distinguish what we know from what we fancy we know. They point out to us those subjects of study which require our special attention; they show us our weak points, besides giving us the satisfaction of knowing that we have accomplished something. In other words they encourage us to work and correct our errors in working, and help us to become "realities" and not "shams."

2. As encouragements their value is scarcely of less importance, and to those who are brave enough to work  for the love of the work itself the satisfaction which comes from having done well in an examination is beyond description.

3. As guides, especially to private students, who have few opportunities of judging from any other standpoints than their own, they point out the position they take in the world at large when measured by a general standard of opinion.

Many points might be given here, but we will pass on to another view of the case, what has been called the wrong uses of examinations:-

1. The narrowing of the depth and breadth of intelligent culture and the degeneracy into a system of cram and superficial knowledge in order to secure a "pass" must always be looked upon by true educationists as a wrong use of examinations. A necessary evil some people call it, surely without having sufficiently weighed the matter. Where does the fault lie? In the pupil? In the teacher? In the examination questions? Where?

2. The pushing on of quick pupils to obtain distinctions, to the disadvantage of the moderate and slow workers in a class, is another wrong use to which some persons put examinations.

3. The undue pressure put upon some to secure success, whether self-inflicted or otherwise, cannot be a good or right use of examinations, and yet how often one hears of this pressure. Injudicious parents in some cases urging their children forward; enthusiastic and eager teachers overtaking young brains; or ambitious and over-wrought students pursuing a reckless and ill-regulated course of study to pass an examination, which in its very preparation has eaten out the life and health!

The inquiry into this phase of the subject might be pursued much further, but we will proceed to find out some of the effects of examinations, both good and bad, and leave our readers to decide what they consider to be advantages or disadvantages. In their reflections here, too, we would ask them to consider whether the system of examinations is always at fault, or whether the evils which arise may not spring in many cases rather from its abuse than its legitimate use.

1. Examinations help us to establish an approximate standard of the acquirements and culture of people in the mass. This enables us to classify and arrange persons and things. It helps us to put "the right person in the right place."

2. Examinations often require great detail and minuteness of work, hence they encourage patient research and steady perseverance. In many cases they create a desire  for the best, for excellence in everything one undertakes, for reading up much more than is required to "pass" the special subjects of study, for wider and better reading than one has been accustomed to indulge in, for real thought and serious inquiry for legitimate grounds upon which to form a judgment on a given subject; in fact, they tend to produce the most admirable order of mind.

3. But examinations are often productive of undue emulation, jealousy, and prejudice. They sometimes, especially when success (as often happens) follows "cramming," produce a conceited, ill-regulated, and contemptuous order of mind; we know these people tolerably well, and give them a class to themselves in the world. We call them "prigs."

4. Some examinations have such definitely marked features that, after a little careful analysis of previously given questions, their requirements may be reduced to the state of a series of probabilities. This often leads "adventurers" both among teachers and pupils, to "cram" up to the particular points and produce an artificial and much-to-be-deprecated educational polish. One might compare this to veneered furniture, plated metal, &c., which are often well got up, expensive, showy, but valueless.

5. Examinations are accused of producing nervous diseases and mental disorders. We cannot deny that they sometimes do this. But why? Are there no circumstances to blame outside the examination?

What little child is there who is incapable of answering a question? Who is thrown into a state of nervous excitement because a question has been asked? There may be some children of this kind, but are they healthy? What boys or girls are there who will not have to answer many questions during life; accept many positions not always quite in keeping with their wishes; fulfil many duties which are not real pleasures? What man or woman is there who will not be called upon to pass many judgments; to take decisive steps in many duties of life; to undertake many duties which will not be perfectly agreeable?

My reader who has so far followed will agree with me that some sort of preparation should be given to the little one  for the duties of youth, and to the youth  for the duties of maturity. Perhaps no better preparation could be given in many cases than by a steady system of examinations. One point only I insist on, the examination shall be suited to the age, acquirements, and temperament of the examined. By degrees the nervousness, indecision, hesitation, fear, &c., will all disappear, and a clear, cool, decided, well-regulated mind must be the natural outcome of such a course of training. When people plunge headlong into impossible studies and work at impossible speed to make up for defective training or idleness, or to satisfy an unworthy ambition, or from some other cause, then these evils will result; but I deny that the examination itself is the sole cause of the evil.

6. One evil I should like to point out specially to the readers of THE GIRL'S OWN PAPER. It is the increased production of unsatisfactory books - "cram-books." They are, as a rule, replete with errors, but they are cheap and have a wide circulation. They should be avoided. They are deceptive, and those who build up their minds on such a foundation will be shallow, frivolous, and conceited.

Let us now for a short time turn our attention to the best methods of preparing for an examination.

All who have read carefully up to this point will realise that the writer assumes that no one would attempt to pass a public examination without having a good foundation of general knowledge. Now we may fairly launch out into the question of particulars.

1. First obtain the syllabus of subjects which you will be expected to answer questions upon.

2. Obtain the necessary books required.

3. Fix the certain amount of time to be devoted daily to each subject, and keep to it.

4. Concentrate your whole thought and attention on the subject in hand. Do not for one moment suppose that you can comfortably carry on a conversation with your friends while you are "getting up" the prescribed page.

5. Make from memory notes of the portions you feel you have mastered, and compare those with the books you have studied.

6. Clear up every difficulty as you go, either by reference to other books or to persons to whom you can apply.

7. Never be satisfied with "that will do" unless you have done your best.

8. Provide yourself with copies of questions, which have already been given in previous examinations, and test yourself by them.

A good preparation for examination can scarcely fail to produce a good pass, and to secure this let us sum up a few points to be remembered:-

1. Carry out fully all the printed rules provided for you.

2. Write clearly and distinctly, and spell well.

3. Write your answer (for the most part) at once on the examination paper. Do not make rough copies. There is not time to copy, for one thing; and in copying mistakes often occur.

4. Do not write something that you happen to know in the place of something that you happen not to know. Answer the question asked of you, and keep to the point. The question, the whole question, and nothing but the question, will be a good motto for examinees.

5. Do not spend too much time over the first few questions. Find out how many questions are expected of you and arrange the time given to the best possible advantage.

6. Read your question at least twice before writing your answer, and be sure that you see exactly what is required of you.

This inquiry, though far from complete, will perhaps open up a new vein of thought to some who are interested in examinations. It will be clear that there are several ways of viewing an examination before we give a judgment as to its use, and that there are certain natural defects in examination systems as in most other things in life. We do not put them forward as being perfect, but we do wish to show that those who dread them most and abuse them most are probably the people who have never thought of them in the true light, and who include among them some persons who regard them in the light of modern innovations, and as instruments of torture.

5 March 1881 - 'Female Names' No.3 - 'Edith'

Yes, there have been two previous 'Female Names' papers, but this is the name of my favourite Crawley sister, so we are skipping right to it, especially omitting name number one, as this is my blog. (Okay, I will transcribe the others too if anybody wants me to, just email me or leave a comment.) 

How very little most of us think of our Christian names! Yet, if we would only see it, every name is a little poem in itself, and every name contains a moral lesson which we all of us should be the better for attending to. Our name may, it is true, have been given to us somewhat at haphazard; we may have been called after one of our godparents or relatives, or possibly after some illustrious personage. Or again a name may have been chosen because it is pretty or romantic. But however we may have come by our Christian name, we cannot change it, much as we may wish to, so let us make the best of it, and try to learn what we can about its meaning and its associations.

It is a good sign that at the present day we are returning to our fine old English names once more; we have done with the Letitias, Euphemias, Clarissas, Arabellas, and Sophonisbas of the last century, and even such names as Julia and Amelia are becoming less common every year. We consider this a very decided improvement, for why should we go to Latin or Greek for names when our own English tongue supplies us with such a variety of beautiful appellations? Our surnames are  for the most part pure English, and  for the future let our Christian names be English likewise.

Surely such a name as that of Edith is not inferior in sound to any grandiloquent classical appellation, and it has the advantage of being pure Anglo-Saxon, and of possessing a most beautiful meaning. The earliest form of the name may sound somewhat harsh to modern ears, but to those who first used it the meaning it conveyed was so apparent as to atone for any defect in the sound. Eadgyth, as the name was first written, meant "a noble gift," and was a name very frequently given to the princesses of the West Saxon Royal house. Indeed, our early kings were very fond of the first syllable of this name, and it occurs in a great many of the Royal cognomens. Thus we have three kings before the Conquest called Ead-ward, two Ead-munds, one Ead-wig, and one Ead-gar, and besides these there are found such names as Ead-ric, Ead-bald, and Ead-bert among the various members of the Royal house. This prefix ead, then, was a widely used one, and very beautiful it is, signifying "noble," "pleasant," "happy," "prosperous." And so when a fair daughter was born to one of our Anglo-Saxon kings, he often called her Ead-gyth, "the noble gift from God," just as the Greeks gave their children the name of Dorothea. Of these early Ead-gyths, or Ediths, the most famous were the daughter of Edward the Elder, who became the wife of the mighty Emperor Otto the Great; and the daughter of King Edgar whose holy life and good deeds earned for her the title of Saint Edith. The wife of the Confessor was Edith, daughter of Earl Godwine, whose virtues were praised by English and Normans alike. The latter, who hated Godwine, because he had once driven all the Normans out of England, made a verse which said that as a rose springs from a thorn, so had Edith sprung from Godwine. Of another Edith, whose beauty gave her the name of Swan's-neck, it is told that she, and she alone, recognised the body of her lover Harold as he lay dead on the fatal field of Hastings.

When the Normans got hold of England, of course all English names were dropped, and instead of Edwards and Harolds we find Roberts and Williams, and so strange did the English names seem that when Edith of Scotland, who was the niece of Edgar Etheling, was brought into England to be married to King Henry, her name was changed to Matilda, or Maud, which was as favourite an appellation with the Normans as Edith had been with the Anglo-Saxons. So that we must not forget that the real name of "Good Queen Maud" was Edith. Many are the stories told by the old chroniclers of her piety and her charity, how she washed the feet of the poor, and tended the lepers, relieved the wretched and studied to increase her holiness. Everyone who saw her was the better  for the sight, and when she died the whole nation mourned as if each man had lost his mother.

Of Edith, King Edgar's daughter, a story is told which shows her to have possessed a degree of common sense in religious matters very uncommon in those days. She possessed a natural love for fair attire, for which he was one day rebuked by a monk, who thought by his untidiness and slovenliness to manifest his great devotion and unworldliness. But Edith quickly answered that she thought a mind might be as pure and devout under seemly raiments as beneath tattered rags.

From the time of Good Queen Maud we hardly meet with any Ediths till we come to the present century when the grand old name began to be revived, and we find Charles Lamb, after enumerating some fashionable names of the day, declare, "These all than Saxon Edith please me less." Since his time Edith has gradually been getting into favour, and it bids fair to be, as it really deserves to be, one of the most popular of our female names. All those girls who bear the name should never forget its meaning, and should try to be in reality happy, blessed gifts to their parents, while from "Saint" Edith and from Good Queen Maud they may learn lessons which are not altogether unneeded in our day.

15 January 1881 - 'What the Flowers Say' by James Mason

I have preserved the slightly odd placement of the pictures amongst the text. And #TIL there's a flower that symbolises "You're not pretty, but at least you're not stupid too".

"Is there any moral shut within the bosom of the rose?" - Tennyson

You may look at flowers in two ways - botanically, which is very interesting, or sentimentally and poetically, which is more interesting still. They are almost all surrounded by a halo of human thought, and we find in them - or fancy we find in them, which is much the same thing - an approach to human expression. We speak of them as possessing pride, modesty, boldness, delicacy, as inspired by joy, sorrow, and ambition. We give them a voice and a language.

We do not, of course, always know what they say. You remember the man in the fairy tale who had the gift of understanding the speech of animals, but lost it through telling the secret to his wife. Now it is not unlikely that the exact language spoken by the flowers, if ever it was known, has been lost in some such fashion. We comprehend it very imperfectly, guessing at it as we might guess at the speech of our dogs and cats.

Some people can never understand its meaning, any more than they can make out what is told by any of the other wonders of nature. Such are not desirable acquaintances at all. Keep far away, says a wise man, from those who have no sympathy for flowers.

The great thing requisite is to be in love with what is beautiful, and to have an open and tender heart. To all happy natures of whom this is the description flowers say strange things, and birds and beasts make surprising revelations.

The object of this article is to speak of the language of flowers as it is at present understood. By the matter-of-fact this language has been held of small account, and has often been sadly misrepresented, but, girls, to speak seriously, it contains a genuine truth to which good sense will not refuse attention. The more the things of nature are mixed up with our own spiritual being the more interesting, the more enjoyable, the more beautiful the world will appear. Connect things with thoughts, then things are truly valuable.

If the study of the language of flowers did nothing more than send you to the garden and the fields, it would not be an unsatisfactory result. The value of the open air is not half understood, and how few, after all these years, have discovered that there is more genuine happiness to be obtained in the healthy round of rural life than amidst all the bustle of society.

There is a great deal of poetry still left in the country, though perhaps not quite so much - and the more's the pity - as in the olden times when "the elves danced full oft in many a green mead," and the cowslips were the pensioners of the fairy queen.

Flowers are in a special manner connected with the romance of life. They are mixed up with all our remembrances, and the older we grow the most quiet nooks they occupy in our hearts. It would be a curious calculation how many withered flowers there are in the world treasured as relics beyond price, and forming the links that connect us with a happy past. It is, therefore, of great interest to know the sentiments connected with different flowers, and the human attributes and human passions which they are held to denote and express.

There can be no doubt that the language of flowers came originally from the East, the home of so many marvels. It received a great deal of attention in Europe in the Middle Ages, and was of good service to lords and ladies, who in those times knew as little how to write as how to read. We have not the only example of utility in the case of the fair prisoner who, having no opportunity of speaking to her lover, informed him of her captivity by throwing from a lofty tower a rose bathed in her tears.

Those who have tried to reduce the language of flowers to a system have laid down several rules for its use. The first of these is that a flower presented in an upright position expressed a certain thought, but given with its head hanging downwards utters just the contrary sentiment. You may also, they say, vary the expression of flowers by altering their position. The marigold laced on the head, for example, signifies sorrow of mind; above the heart, pangs of love; resting on the breast, ennui. It makes a difference, too, if you present a flower with or without its leaves or without its thorns, if it happens to have any thorns. A rosebud, with all its thorns and leaves, means, "I fear, but I hope;" stripped of its thorns, "There is everything to hope for;" stripped of its leaves, "There is everything to fear."

But all this is too elaborate for most people, and we must always bear in mind that the poetry of nature may be ruined by indulgence in fantastic whims.

Let us speak first of the rose, the flower of love and beauty. No other has been more highly praised by poets in every country and in all past times. It has had the most high-sounding names given to it: Queen of Flowers, Daughter of the Sky, Glory of Spring, and Ornament of the Earth show the depth of enthusiasm it has excited. We therefore naturally expect it to take a leading place in speaking the language of flowers. And so it does.

Roses represent a different sentiment according to their colour. The white rose indicates "candour;" the musk rose "affectation;" the single rose "simplicity;" the damask rose "freshness;" the cabbage rose goes forth as "an ambassador of love;" and a white and red rose together form a symbol of unity.

A yellow rose means "decrease of love" or "jealousy," yellow, according to one of the articles of folk-lore, being a jealous colour. If you wish to indicate "charming grace and beauty," you must select a China rose. That must have been the flower sent by the poet with the famous verses -

"Go, lovely rose,
Tell her that wastes her time and me
That now she knows,
When I resemble her to thee,
How sweet and fair she seems to be."

In the East, the rose is above all others the flower of affection. There is a beautiful story which represents the bulbul - so the Armenians call the nightingale - as falling in love with the rose, and as only beginning to sing when inspired by the tender passion. This fable has been put into verse by Thackeray -

"Under the bought I sat and listened still,
I could not have my fill.
'How comes,' I said, 'such music to his bill?
Tell me for whom he sings so sweet a trill.
'Once I was dumb,' then did the bird disclose,
'But looked upon the Rose;
And in the garden where the loved one grows
I straightway did begin sweet music to compose.'"

The rose used to be employed as the symbol of silence, and from this arose a phrase one often hears, "under the rose." It seems that in ancient times it was a custom to place chaplets of roses above the heads of the guests, and on these occasions when people wished what they said to go no farther than those present they remarked that their observations were made "under the rose." Thus the phrase we use took its origin.

The lily is the emblem of majesty and purity. This flower is closely connected with the legendary history of the Virgin Mary, the lily which generally appears in pictures in connection with her being the great white lily of our gardens. As a token of purity it was frequently placed by artists in the Middle Ages in the hands of female saints.

The lily of the valley has always been held to be symbolical of purity and holiness. In some country places this humble but graceful plant is understood as pointing men's thoughts to a better world; it is called there the "ladder to heaven," a name evidently suggested by the arrangement of the flowers.

The snowdrop is another of those emblems of purity of which the world cannot have too many. This flower has become invested with a kind of sacredness; no doubt because it forms about the first sign that after the long sleep of winter Nature is rousing herself to begin the life and work of spring.

AS an emblem of modesty we have the daisy, the badge of Maid Margaret, that was so meek and mild, a very popular saint in the olden time. Another flower speaking the same language is the humble violet. The violet is also a lover's flower, and stands for constancy. As the old rhyme has it -

"The violet is for faithfulness
Which in me shall abide."

We have a contrast to these plants of modest looks and lowly thoughts in the tulip, which is held to be a symbol of grandeur and magnificence. During last century this flower created a sensation at which we may well imagine violets, daisies, and all quiet-minded flowers were much amazed. The love of tulips became a mania. IT was no rare thing to see a family ruined through the passion of the father for tulips.

The thistle in the language of flowers stands for "retaliation." To the Scotchman, however, as everyone knows, it speaks of nothing but the glories of his own native land, of which it is the emblem.

It became the emblem of Scotland, if legends be true, in the following way - When the Danes invaded Scotland, a long time ago, it was thought a shabby thing to attack an enemy except in broad daylight. On one occasion the invaders resolved to avail themselves of stratagem, and to come upon the Scots by night. To prevent their tramp from being heard they marched barefooted. They thus got unobserved within a short distance of the Scottish forces; but a Dane unluckily set his foot on a superb prickly thistle, and he gave such a howl of pain that the Scots heard him. They immediately ran to their arms and defeated the foe with great slaughter. After this the thistle was, out of pure gratitude, made the emblem of the Scottish kingdom.

Another Scottish flower is the harebell, the blue-bell of Scotland. In the language of flowers the harebell represents "submission." According to the poet -

"The harebell, for her stainless azure hue,
Claims to be worn of none but those are true."

All blue flowers, however, the bard should have noticed, have equal rights in this way, it being laid down in the old rhyme that blue is the colour of true love, as green is that of grief, and yellow that of love forsaken.

Now we come to "the sweet forget-me-nots that grow for happy lovers."

The language of this flower lies in its name, and its name it is said arose from the following incident - Two lovers were once loitering on the margin of a lake, when the maiden noticed some flowers growing on the surface of the water, near an island at some distance from the shore. She expressed a wish to obtain them, and her knight, in the true spirit of ancient chivalry, at once plunged into the water, and swimming to the spot plucked the wished-for plant. His strength, however, failed, and feeling that he could not regain the shore, although very near it, he threw the flowers on the bank; then, casting a last affectionate look upon his lady-love, he cried, "Forget me not," and was buried in the waters.

Rosemary stands for remembrance. At one time this plant was thought to strengthen the memory, and in consequence of this it became the symbol of remembrance amongst friends and lovers. A lover would say to his lass -

"Rosemary is for remembrance
Between us day and night;
Wishing that I might always have
You present in my sight."

Ophelia, in her madness, gives rosemary to her brother, "There's rosemary, that's for remembrance; pray, love, remember."

Silence is represented by lavender. There is a superstition in some parts of the Continent that lavender has the power of restoring speech to those who have lost it.

Eglantine means just the reverse of lavender, and stands for "you speak well."

Amongst our winter decorations holly has an important place, and it speaks a language of great interest. The Romans of old held holly to be a sign of peace and goodwill, and it has thus come to be the emblem of the principal festival of a religion which preaches peace and goodwill to all mankind. With the northern nations of Europe holly used to be a type of the life which preserved nature through the desolations of winter.

The laurel speaks of triumph or glory. In the middle ages this plant served to crown poets, artists, and men of learning, who had particularly distinguished themselves. From this practice we have derived our expression poet-laureate. During the time when Rome ruled the world the laurel was held to be the emblem of victory, and also that of clemency. Whenever a despatch was sent telling of a great success it was wrapped up in, and ornamented with laurel leaves. And in triumphal processions leaves of laurel were worn by the victorious generals, and the common soldiers bore sprigs of it in their hands.

Friendship, fidelity and marriage are represented by ivy. This pleasant duty has been performed by this plant for many a day. In Greece wreaths of ivy used to be presented to newly-married people as a suitable emblem of undying affection amid the ravages of time.

But we must not linger over the subject in this way or we shall never have done. Our purpose, girls, is to give just enough to show you that there is a language of flowers and that it is worth looking into for yourselves. We shall hurry on and just mention a few more of the commoner plants with the language popularly assigned to them.

Rushes are held to signify "submission" or "docility," and if any day you watch the wind sweeping over them you will see that the plant speaks quite in character. Heath signifies solitude. Pink verbena, on the contrary, has a leaning towards society, and is an emblem of "family union." Jasmine stands for "amiability," fern for "sincerity," and foxglove, which always wears a brazen-faced air, for "insincerity."

The acacia stands for "friendship" or "platonic affection." There is a deeper sentiment at work when one presents a sprig of mignonette, which signifies "your qualities surpass your charms" - mental qualities, be it understood, and personal charms. Apple-blossom is still more serious, for it means "preference;" but "preference' is cold compared with "generous and devoted affection," and that is indicated by a sprig of honeysuckle.

As the flame of affection burns still brighter, the heliotrope, the camellia, the pansy, and the mistletoe, find employment. The heliotrope says "I am ever faithful and devoted;" the camellia, "In me behold constancy itself;"  the pansy, "I think of you, think of me;" and the mistletoe, "Whatever difficulties are in the way of winning you, I shall surmount them all." And may that be the fortune of all the honest-hearted hard-working lovers in the world.

7 August 1880 - 'Our Own Colleges'

In a previous article we dealt with the subject of "Our Own Schools," and it is our intention in the present to speak of those more advanced institutions whose special care is, to use the phrase of the day, "the higher education of women." There is no question as to the importance of the subject. Addison, in one of his essays, pictures the human soul as a block of marble in a quarry which shows none of its inherent beauties till the polisher sets to work and brings out the colours, makes the surface shine, and discovers every ornamental spot and vein that runs through it. So, he says, it is with education: "when it works upon a noble mind, it draws out to vice every latent virtue and perfection, which without such help are never able to make their appearance."

Cambridge will be our starting point. The Cambridge institution which comes first to mind in connection with woman's education is Girton College. This college dates its origin from the year 1869, when it was opened at Hitchin. It was incorporated in 1872, removed to the parish of Girton, near Cambridge, in 1873, and had its accommodation considerably enlarged three years ago.

Candidates for admission to Girton College must pass an entrance examination, and furnish satisfactory certificates of character. Except in special cases students are not received under eighteen years of age. Entrance examinations are held in London in March and June, the fee being one pound. The subjects include the principles and practice of arithmetic, English grammar, physical and political geography, English history, and Scripture history - not required, however, in the case of conscientious objections - and any two of several optional subjects, of which one must be a language.

The instruction given by the college consists of divinity; modern languages - English, French and German; classics; mathematics (pure and mixed); moral science, natural science, history, and vocal music. Students are at liberty to select  a course of study but no student may take more than a maximum or less than a minimum number of subjects.

Degree certificates are conferred by Girton College on such students as are proved by examination to have arrived at a fixed standard of proficiency. The course for an ordinary degree certificate occupies about three years, half of each year being spent in college; for honours the time allowed is somewhat longer. A certificate called a college certificate is conferred on any student who passes, to the satisfaction of the college, examinations similar in subjects and standard to those qualifying for B.A. of the University of Cambridge. The following deviations, however, are permitted: French and English, or German and English, may be substituted for Latin or Greek, and English, French, and German for both Latin and Greek. The theological part of the examination may also be omitted, of objected to.

The charge for board, lodging and instruction at Girton College amounts to £35 per term. This covers the whole of the college expenses.

Girton College being a model institution of its kind, has received substantial support from many of the leading friends of progress. Several scholarships have been founded, and, to speak only of what is recent, considerable grants have been made by some of the wealthy companies of the city of London to the building fund of the college. The assistance given in this way has been specially opportune, as, in consequence of the rapid increase in the number of students, it became necessary to add to the building, and a debt was thus incurred, of which about £5,000, we believe, still remains to be paid off.

The number of students at present attending Girton College is over forty. One of them, our readers will most likely recollect, attracted considerable attention early this year by passing an examination, which but for her sex would have placed her in the position of Eighth Wrangler.

Newnham Hall is another Cambridge institution which owes its origin to the increased interest taken in the higher education of women. It was founded in 1875 to receive students coming from a distance to attend lectures, and the demands on its accommodation have been such that a sister establishment, under the name of Norwich House, was opened in the October of 1877,  for the reception of sixteen students. The students at Newnham Hall number thirty-three, and the Principal has at present applications from far more than she can admit.

To enter Newnham Hall the student must first of all furnish the Principal with satisfactory reference. Then, unless under special circumstances, she must, if she means to qualify  for the Cambridge Higher Local Examination, pass in English history, English literature, and arithmetic before coming into residence. Those who have taken honours in the Cambridge Senior Local Examinations are exempt from this rule. No student must be under seventeen years of age.

The charge for board and lodging is twenty guineas for each term of eight weeks. The fees for instruction vary slightly according to the line of study, but they will, in most cases, be covered by four and a half guineas a term.

In connection with Newnham Hall there are several entrance exhibitions of five guineas a term, awarded to students who require assistance and whose ability is unmistakeable. These exhibitions are tenable with scholarships, and the scholarships to be competed for are becoming every year of greater importance. A limited number of fifteen guineas a year are awarded to students whose means are small and who have attained some intellectual distinction. Not to speak of others, three scholarships of fifty pounds a year for two years were given at the Higher Local Examination in June of this year by the Cambridge Association for Promoting the Higher Education of Women.

The lectures delivered at Cambridge under the auspices of the association we have just named embrace all the subjects included in the Cambridge Higher Local Examination, combined with more advanced teaching in the different subjects of the University course for students who have passed this examination. They are open to women not under seventeen years of age, who must reside in some house approved of by the committee of the association.

There are over thirty professors whose lectures at Cambridge are open to women, indeed women may derive benefit from almost the entire teaching staff of the University. The subjects of these lectures are: astronomy, botany, archaeology, law, moral philosophy, pure mathematics, civil law, fine art, Sanskrit, natural experimental philosophy, political economy, international law, geology, anatomy, Hebrew, Greek, medicine, chemistry, Latin, mineralogoy, Arabic, modern history, Anglo-Saxon, mechanism, applied mechanics, and divinity.

Oxford, in 1879, followed the example so nobly set by Cambridge, and Lady Margaret Hall was opened  for the benefit of women desirous of improving themselves by study. Its special object is to afford such students the protection and training of an academical house on the principles of the Church of England, but ample provision is made  for the liberty of members of other religious bodies.

Those desirous of admission to Margaret Hall must of course forward unexceptionable references to the Principal, and students coming from any other place of education must bring a letter of recommendation from its authorities. Students will not be allowed to reside for less than an academical year without special leave.

Board and lodging at this Hall costs £25 a term, or £75 a year, exclusive of charges which are strictly personal. The authorities hope that, as the Hall grows, it will be found possible to reduce this amount. Sisters or other ladies sharing the same room are allowed a reduction, and provision is made in certain cases, by exhibitions or otherwise for students whose resources are limited. The fees for instruction amount to about £15 a year.

Somerville Hall at Oxford was also opened in 1879. It is intended  for the reception of students who have left home to attend the lectures of the Oxford Association for Promoting the Higher Education of Women. Whatever the religious denomination to which its inmates belong they are all placed on the same footing. The life of the students is modelled on that of an English family. Prayers are read daily, and on Sundays students are expected, as a rule, to attend some place of worship. The students must be at least seventeen years old.

There are four exhibitions of twenty-five pounds each tenable at this Hall by students who are preparing to become teachers. Students have also a chance of winning the "Mary Somerville" scholarship of thirty pounds a year for three years for mathematics This scholarship is awarded after examination by a Committee of the Association for Promoting the Higher Education of Women in Oxford.

Turning our attention now to the Metropolis, we find much to speak about. First of all, there is Queen's College, in Harley-street, an institution founded in 1848 and incorporated by Royal Charter in 1853. It is intended for the general education of ladies and for granting certificates of knowledge.

There is a useful four years' course at Queen's College, to which girls are admitted at the age of fourteen. The higher course is for students above eighteen. It prepares  for the first B.A. examination of the University of London, and includes such subjects as church history, botany, English language, French literature, Greek, Latin, mathematics, physiology, Roman history, English history, German, harmony, chemistry, geology.

The fees are one guinea for each course of ten lectures; four guineas  for the lectures of a whole term. The first lecture of each course is free, and five shillings is charged for any subsequent single lecture.

Two scholarships of thirty guineas each for two years are open to competition, at the beginning of the Michaelmas term, to students preparing  for the B.A. examination. Candidates must be at least eighteen years of age.

Certificates of associateship, which may prove of considerable use in making one's way in the world, are given to scholars of not less than six years' standing, on their proving their proficiency in the subjects studied by them, and paying a fee of one guinea. Certificates of proficiency in any single subject are granted to ladies, whether connected with the College or not, on their fulfilling certain conditions and passing the required examination.

Trinity College, London, has recently opened its examination in arts and music to women. Special classes for ladies at cheap rates are conducted by qualified professors, and the examinations are open to candidates who have been educated there or elsewhere.

At Bedford College in York-place, Portman-square, young women may also pursue their studies with advantage. The work of the classes here prepares for matriculation and graduation at the University of London. The fees for regular students who pursue a systematic course of study, are eight guineas a term; for occasional students, who may select any number of separate classes, the charge is two guineas a term for one class meeting twice a week, and one guinea and a half for any additional class after the first.

Regular students not under eighteen years of age, who have diligently attended classes for at least three sessions, and have passed with credit the examinations of those classes, are entitled to the diploma of "Associate of Bedford College."

The ladies' division of the Crystal Palace School of Art, Science and Engineering now numbers about five hundred pupils. It was established about twenty years ago, with the idea of utilising the valuable courts and collections of the Crystal Palace for instruction in art. The system of tuition is in some subjects in the style of private tutorial instruction by the best masters, but other subjects are taught on the University method, in accordance with the regulations of the Syndicate of the University of Cambridge, by whom some lectures and classes are conducted. The number of students admitted into any class is strictly limited.

The City of London College for Ladies has a senior departments, in which there are classes for ladies who wish to study special subjects and for pupils wishing to prepare  for the Cambridge, Oxford, and other higher examinations for women, including those of London and St. Andrew's Universities. We must not omit also to notice that the highest division of the North London Collegiate School for Girls takes rank as a college for women.

At the University College, London, classes in all subjects are open to both men and women, who are taught in some classes together and in others separately. Particulars as to these classes may be obtained from the College Calendar. This well-known institution was founded in 1826, and opened two years later as "The University of London." A change, however, was made in 1836, when it received a charter as University College. The Royal Charter of 1856 was annulled and the college was re-incorporated with additional powers in 1869.

For advancing the education of women of limited means and little leisure several institutions have been established in London and other large towns. The Brompton Evening College for Women is one of these. This college was founded by the Women's Educational Union to supply women employed during the day with systematic teaching by evening classes, and to provide a comfortable resort and pleasant occupation for leisure hours. There are classes in various subjects, both elementary and advanced.

Another institution of the same class is the College for Working Women in Fitzroy-square. An endeavour is made here, by systematic teaching, to supply women occupied during the day with higher education than has generally been within their reach, and also to promote mutual help and fellowship between teachers and students and all members of the college. Periodical examinations are held, and at these students may obtain certificates of the Society of Arts free of expense.

The College for Men and Women, in Queen-square, Bloomsbury, was founded in 1863, with much the same object as the two just mentioned. The number of students at present is about three hundred and fifty. The fees for each course are from one shilling to four shillings a term. To all establishments of this class one cannot but wish success. Young ladies who have little else to do than attend classes and study their lessons can hardly realise the enthusiasm that must exist before one can throw one's heart into learning after a hard day's work.

Before we leave speaking of education in London we must devote a word or two to London University. This is not an institute for teaching, nor a body of teachers and scholars, but a body of persons empowered to examine candidates and confer degrees. It was created under a Royal Charter in 1836, at the same time that the University of London, as we have already mentioned, received its charter and changed its name to University College. A totally new charter was granted in 1863.

Women are now admitted to all degrees at London University without exception. This is under a supplemental charter, granted on the 14th of May, 1878.

The degrees obtainable are those of Bachelor and Master of Arts, Bachelor and Doctor of Medicine, Bachelor and Doctor of Laws, Bachelor and Doctor of Science, Bachelor and Master of Surgery, Bachelor and Doctor of Music, and Doctor of Literature. For information as to the examinations for these degrees, and also the exhibitions and scholarships to be competed for in connection with the University of London, we must refer the reader to the University Calendar, our own space not being equal to the occasion.

Some provision is made in Bristol  for the higher education of women in the University College. This college is intended to supply for persons of either sex above the ordinary school age the means of continuing their studies in science, languages, history, and literature. The fees for day lectures are generally five guineas for each course, for three terms, and four guineas for two consecutive terms. Those for evening lectures are seven shillings for one term, half-a-guinea for two terms, and fifteen shillings for three terms. There are several college scholarships open to women as well as men, and the Clifton Association for Promoting the Higher Education of Women offers four scholarships for women, each forth fifteen pounds, and tenable for one year.

At the Liverpool Institute there are classes for women specially designed for such as wish to work their way in the world. No students are received under sixteen. The fees for each class are ten shillings a term.

Dublin possesses a useful institution in the shape of Alexandra College, established in 1866, to the classes of which girls above fifteen years of age are admitted. We meet here with the novelty of correspondence classes, the students belonging to which reside at a distance and are supplied with the regular weekly work of any class and with examination papers. The themes and exercises are corrected and the examination papers marked by the regular professors on payment of the college fees.

Certificates of general proficiency are granted at Alexandra College to such students as pass a satisfactory examination in English language and literature, and in at least four other subjects, literary or scientific, selected by themselves. Special certificates are also granted in separate subjects to pupils who have studied the subjects in which they desire to be examined for six terms, or for any less number of terms within which a course of lectures is completed.

Queen's College, in Molesworth-street, Dublin, is also devoted to the general education of women. There is a finishing course here, recommended to governesses, embracing English language and literature, English composition, ancient and modern history, geography, mathematics, drawing and painting, natural science, one modern language, Latin, Greek, pianoforte, and theory of music, choral singing, elocution, political economy, logic, and the art of teaching.

In Belfast, at the Methodist College, there are classes for lady students. The rate of fees may be judged by the quotation of one guinea a term for one subject of two hours a week. Admission to all the classes is four guineas and a half per term. At the end of year ladies who have attended a class in any subject regularly, and who pass the final examination satisfactorily, receive a certificate. Special certificates of general proficiency are given to any student who, after having regularly attended classes for two years, passes a satisfactory examination in no fewer than five subjects, two of which must be English and French.

And so ends this paper. We have mentioned briefly the leading colleges in the country, for women, and we shall not detain the reader by enlarging on the advantages to be gained by attending them. It will be enough if we all lay to heart this sage advice: "Above all things, study. Whether  for the sake of learning, or for any other reason, study. For, whatever the motives that impel you at first, you will soon love study for its own sake."

31 July 1880 - 'Girton College' by J.A. Owen

(Girton College today, photo taken from Wikipedia.)

"The higher education of women" is a hackneyed phrase, which has served as a peg to may - who do not stop to consider what the words may mean - whereon to hang anything they may wish to say in ridicule of the general desire of women in the present day to possess for themselves, and to give to others, those educational and intellectual advantages, which have so long been denied them.

A little definite information as to how the movement arose, out of which the foundation of Girton College sprang, may be acceptable to some of our readers.

In 1871, Mrs. William Grey, who had long had the more systematic and thorough education of girls at heart, and had endeavoured to promote it in every way, initiated at the meeting of the Social Science Association held at Leeds that year, the union for promoting this "higher education."

The name by which the movement is officially known is "National Union for Improving the Education of Women for all Classes," and its office is at 1, Queen-street, Brompton; the secretary, Miss Louisa Brough. The president is the Princess Louise; and amongst its vice-presidents are Archbishop Trench, the Bishops of London, Exeter and Manchester, Dowager Lady Stanley of Alderley, Dean Stanley, and other distinguished names. The central committee has as its chairman Captain Douglas Galton.

Out of this union came the girls' public day schools, usually called "High Schools," in which so many of you are being educated. Owing to its efforts, also, the authorities of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge consented to allow girls to be candidates for the examinations established at different local centres. None over the age of eighteen were to be eligible for these. This was a restriction which was thought by some to be both arbitrary and ungenerous. Why, they said, should women who had the desire and the means for study be limited in this way? IN order to meet their needs and wishes an association was formed, having for its object the founding of a college which should stand in relation t girls' schools and home teaching as the Universities do towards the public schools for boys.

According to the report, this association aimed at erecting, maintaining, and conducting a college  for the higher education of women (hence the phrase now so common); to take such steps as from time to time may be thought most expedient and effectual to obtain  for the students admission to the examinations for degrees of the University of Cambridge, and to place the college in connection with that University.

Religious instruction and services according to the principles of the Church of England are given in the said college, but attendance on these is not required from any student of full age, or whose parents or guardians may object thereto in writing. No person is admitted who has not passed the entrance examination, unless they have passed one of the senior local university examinations. These examinations are held in London in March and June, the fee being £1; and every candidate must pass the preliminary - arithmetic, English grammar and composition, physical and political geography, English and Scripture (New Testament) history; and, besides these, in any two of the following subjects: Latin - translation of easy passages from Latin into English, and the reverse; Greek, French, German, Algebra, geometry, trigonometry (up to and including the solution of triangles), and conic sections. Not all these, remember, but a choice of any two.

Some people imagine that all who enter Girton must try for a University degree. In reference to this, Miss E. Davies, the treasurer of the college, writes: "This impression is entirely contrary to fact, and, as it is calculated to frighten away those who might be glad to become students and also to discourage support on the ground of its being an unreasonable requirement, it is important in the interests of the college that it should be dispelled. No student, as such, apart from special conditions attached to certain scholarships, is or ever has been, required to take any University examination, or to try for any kind of certificate. They choose their own course. If they choose to try for 'degree examinations,' we do our best to obtain the opportunity for them on the same conditions as those which the University imposes on undergraduates."

About half of the students look forward to being teachers; not governesses in private families, but teachers and head mistresses in schools. The rest work without any special career in view, chiefly from the love of study.

The college was opened on October 16,1869, and a house hired at Hitchin  for the temporary reception of students. In October, 1873, the present building at Girton was ready for occupation, with accommodation for twenty-one students and the necessary class-rooms. Since that time considerable enlargements and additions have been made. During last term over forty-two were residing in the college. The Michaelmas term begins about the middle of October, and lasts eight weeks; the Lent term, beginning about the end of January, lasts eight weeks; and the Easter term, beginning in April, lasts eight weeks. The charge for board, lodging , and instruction is £35 per term, to be paid in advance. This sum covers all charges.

 For the encouragement of would-be students of limited means several scholarships are attached to the college. Last year Mrs. Russell Gurney presented the sum of £1,000 as the endowment fund of an entrance scholarship, to be called the "Russel Gurney Scholarship" in memory of her husband, and to be awarded upon the results of an examination in history. The Right Hon. Russell gurney, late Recorder of London, was one of Girton's first and best friends. Lady Goldsmid also presented £1,200, in memory of her husband, Sir Francis Goldsmid, to found the "Sir Francis Goldsmid scholarship." This was awarded  for the first time last March. Then there are two scholarships of £60 and £40 each, for three years, given by the Goldsmiths' Company; a scholarship of the £35 a year, founded by Mr. F.D. Mocatta; the "Gilchrist scholarship" of £50 a year, for three years; a foundation scholarship of £90 a year, for four years; one formerly of £50, now increased to the value of 80 guineas a year, for three years, founded by the Clothworkers' Company for the benefit of a lady of limited means; Mr. R.S. Wright gave a scholarship of £100 a year, for three years; an entrance exhibition of 50 guineas a year, for three years, to a lady of limited means, who is engaged in or preparing for teaching, is also given by Lady Stanley of Alderley.

The course of study comprises divinity, modern languages, English, French, and German classics, mathematics, moral science, natural science, history, and vocal music. This course is, in a measure, optional. To quote again from Miss Davies, "The entrance examination puts a hindrance in the way of those whose early education has been so defective as to leave them unprepared for advanced studies. The examination is by no means severe, and the candidates who have failed to pass it were certainly not fit to enter upon a course of higher education.

"Then, as to the nature of the teaching given at the college, which is, perhaps, its most important distinction. This, though it goes by the name of lectures, is very different from the sort of teaching usually understood by that term. It is given to very small classes, in which the students ask as well as answer questions. We consult the lecturers as to whether the instruction can be best given to a class or individually, and in some subjects, especially in mathematics, the differences in the stage of progress and the manner of working are such as to make it desirable that it should be to a great extent individually."

An old Girton student, an American lady, the founder of a scholarship mentioned above, has given in an American paper an account of student life at Girton, which presents an attractive and pleasant picture. From it we shall draw a little of our description. But first as to the daily routine, which is as follows:  7 a.m., prayers; 8.15 to 9 a.m., breakfast; 12 to 3 p.m., luncheon - which means that these two meals are allowed to remain so long on the tables, and the students come in as convenience serves and help themselves; 6 p.m., dinner. Students must enter their names on the marking roll at some time between the hours of 8 a.m. and 9 a.m., 12 and 3 p.m., and 6 and 7 p.m. Every student must be present at all the lectures belonging to her course, except when leave of absence has been granted by the mistress.

Students can have tea in their rooms at four o'clock, and after dinner up to nine o'clock.

The college gates are closed in winter at 6 p.m., in summer at dusk; after which students may not be out beyond the grounds. They may accept invitations from families, but not pay visits of any sort to college rooms without permission. They must not be later than 11 p.m., and must not accept evening invitations for more than one a week in any one term. In asking leave of absence the student must say where she is going. The house is closed at 10 p.m. Subject to such regulations as the mistress sees fit to prescribe, visitors may be invited to join in games in the college grounds and in the gymnasium, and may be entertained at luncheon or dinner in hall, or at tea in the private rooms at a fixed charge. The term friend or guest only applies to ladies, except in the case of parent or guardian. There is a public room in which general visitors, subject to the approval of the mistress, may be seen.

A bedroom and a study, or one large room serving as both, is set apart for each student, fitted with every necessary convenience: these are cheerful, airy rooms. In each is a large table, on which the occupant can place her papers, text books, etc. These rooms are made bright-looking, according to the individual character of the student, with photographs, flowering plants, art needlework, etc.

After luncheon, where plenty of good milk is supplied, they go off in pairs for an hour's walk over the fields, through hedge and ditch, rambling "at their own sweet will." If the weather is bad they turn into the gymnasium, which is a covered court separate from the college building. It is used much for "fives." In spring and autumn cricket and lawn tennis are played on the lawns near the building. After lecture many of the students take exercise before dinner. Some of them make riding parties; those who can afford to hire. Most of the lectures take place in the afternoon, and, on an average, a student has only one lecture a day. The variety of subjects causes the attendance on each course to be rather small as yet. The lecturer reviews the work done by each student since the last lecture; any questions are answered, and special help needed is given. Then the lecturer gives his lecture proper, without the limitations of class book.

After dinner there is often choral music. After that, the students usually give themselves for a time to their labours, which are only broken by the advent of tea, coffee, or cocoa, in many cases. Others who are socially inclined receive their friends in their own rooms.

The descriptions one hears from Girton students sound very pleasant, and make some of us older women wish such advantages had been open to us at fifteen or twenty years ago. It is amusing in these days to read over again the description of college life, given in Tennyson's "Princess," and pleasant to women to realise what progress in almost everything relating to woman's place in the world has been made since the time when that charming poem was written.