Various

“ One evening in November, as Jack was coming down the High-street of Lewes, whither he had had to accompany his father, much against his will, to the last sheep fair, he saw a large bird flying slowly overhead. He followed it down a by-street, and saw it was getting lower and lower, evidently tired, until at last it sunk exhausted on the ground, a few paces from Jack, who secured it without much difficulty. It was a wild goose come southwards for the winter, and, being exhausted either for want of food or by its long journey, had become separated from its companions. ”

“ Do you not love Sundays in the country, Merle? The very birds seem to sing more sweetly, and the stillness of which you speak seems in the very air. My Sundays were very different then. We lived near the church, and we could hear the chiming of the bells as we walked through the village. I taught in the Sunday-school; I recollect some of the children’s names now. Father always liked us to go to the evening service. I remember, too, we invariably sang Bishop Ken’s evening hymn. One evening a little robin found its way into the church. ”

“ The cash buyer has many advantages, not the least being an easy mind and a knowledge at all times of what she is worth. Let every girl, then, keep in mind for the rest of her days the remark of the American writer, who said, “I have discovered the philosopher’s stone. It consists of four short words of homely English—‘Pay as you go.’” The easiness of credit has been the ruin of many people, by inducing them to buy what they could not hope, unless by a miracle, ever to pay for.
So much for the business woman in her dealings in a private capacity with business people. ”

“ Every word of it?” asked Dame Hursey, fixing her black eyes on the child.
“Yes. Shall I read it again?” said Fairy.
“No. Next Saturday afternoon at three o’clock, on the top of Mount Harry. I shall be there safe enough. Thank you, my pretty one; I shan’t forget that one good turn deserves another. Good-night,” and the old wool-gatherer dived into a lane, and was out of sight before Fairy had recovered her astonishment, when she took to her heels and fled breathless to Mrs. Shelley, who was anxiously watching at the gate for her. ”

“ No greater change had ever come to a woman. In spite of her great love, there must have been times when Violet Morton looked back on her innocent and happy girlhood with something like regret, if ever a true-hearted wife and mother permits herself to indulge in such a feeling.
Mr. Morton was a devoted husband, but he was an autocrat, and, in spite of many fine qualities, was not without that selfishness that leavens many a man’s nature. He wanted his wife to himself ”

“ People who have any money transactions at all, and do not wish their affairs to get into hopeless confusion, must keep books of some sort—that is to say, they must adopt a plan of writing down their transactions in regular order for easy reference.
It may be a primitive method or a very elaborate one—that depends on the nature and requirements of the business—but some system there must be, and of book-keeping in at least its general principles every business woman should make a study. ”

“ Morton, it seems to me as though we owe some duty to ourselves. If we neglect the highest part of ourselves we are committing a sort of mental suicide. How often has Aunt Agatha told me that!”
“How do you mean?” she asked, anxiously.
“We all need a quiet time for thought. It always seems to me that on Sunday one lays down one’s burthens for a time. It is such a rest to shut out the world for one day in the week, to forget the harass of one’s work, to take up higher duties, to lift one’s standard afresh, and prove one’s armour. ”

“ They have too much to do, and are driven to death, or too little, and have no resources. If they are ill they know they shall never get well; if they are well they expect soon to be ill. Their daily work is either drudgery, which they hate, or so difficult and complex that they cannot execute it.
In contrast to these, we meet sometimes with men and women so bright and cheery that their very presence is a positive pleasure. They discover the favourable side of the weather, of their business, of home surroundings, of social relations, even of political affairs. ”

“ By its means we gain an exact knowledge of how we stand, we see what comes in and what goes out, how much we owe and how much other people owe us, and whether we are putting any of our money into bags with holes.
There are many good books published on the subject of book-keeping, and by all means study the best treatise you can get; but better than all books is actual practice. The experience of keeping an account of one’s own transactions for a week gives more insight than all the books that have ever been written. ”

“ Besides understanding about the right method of keeping books and making out accounts, the thorough business woman will know well about the art of buying. Here we see how a knowledge of business ways may assist in the upbuilding of happy homes. One who understands the art of buying will return triumphant from marketing expeditions, and when she goes shopping there will be no fear of her wasting the contents of the family purse.
The good buyer does not spend much time in going her rounds. ”

“ When you have to make out accounts always do it as neatly as possible. A neat account has a well-to-do air, and may do as much good to one’s credit sometimes as a handsome balance at the bank. Hard-up people are seldom neat either in accounts, or correspondence, or anything else.
Accounts or invoices in business are usually made out on ruled and printed forms, and are headed with the address of the seller. ”

“ In the early days of the present century, during which period the events of this story took place, the education of the lower classes was of the meagrest description; boys like Jack Shelley, with intellectual capacities above the level of their own class, had none of the opportunities afforded at the present day of rising from their humble position. Jack, indeed, was fortunate in getting hold of Fairy’s books, which he very soon mastered; but in those times young ladies were taught very little besides history and geography, and a little French, and Fairy was not fond of study ”

“ Then every little while they go particularly into all their accounts and strike a balance as it is called—that is to say, make out a statement of their assets and liabilities, and arrange things for a fresh start. The word assets, we may as well mention, stands for property or sums of money owing to anyone, and liabilities means just the reverse.
There are two mistakes often made in balancing books which a business woman must take care never to fall into. ”

“ Always carefully disregard this, keeping a small piece for comparison.
“There are, however, some houses where, if you at all understand your business, real bargains are at times to be had.”
The business woman is not often to be seen at auctions either, and if ever she does go, she makes sure beforehand that the sale is to be conducted on strictly honourable principles, and presided over by an auctioneer who is above suspicion. She is well aware that there are many unscrupulous individuals who, under cover of an auctioneer’s licence, lend themselves to transactions the reverse of honest. ”

“ The main fact to be grasped in book-keeping is the distinction between debtor and creditor; you must get it well into your head that the person or thing represented by an account is “debtor to” what he, she, or it receives, and “creditor by” whatever he, she, or it gives or parts with.
The simpler business books are the better, so long as they answer the purpose for which they are intended. They must be clear to the person who keeps them, and clear also to any who have to consult them. ”

“ Book-keeping and the making out of accounts requires ability in calculation. Indeed, no one can succeed in getting a character for business capacity who has not all the rules of arithmetic at her fingers’ ends. ”

“ Her taste for poetry hence fitted Jack indirectly, for Mr. Leslie gave her a Shakespeare on her tenth Christmas Day, and from the first day Jack caught sight of it he never rested till he had saved up enough money to buy himself one, which was his constant companion on the downs. He was an{114} intense lover of nature as well as of poetry, and his shepherd’s life helped him in this respect; for during the long hours he passed daily on the lonely downs, he had plenty of time for observation of all the birds and animal life he came across. ”

“ What is called posting in book-keeping is the operation of transferring items from one book to another, and arranging them there under their proper heads. The difference between the Dr. and Cr. sides of an account is known as the balance.
Transactions are entered in their books by business people at once. They never put off making an entry till to-morrow, for they are well aware that there is no putting any dependence on memory. ”

“ In the Christian life it is often so, and then you are discouraged because you fail. The first rule seems to be, To love your brother as yourself; for if you cannot act unselfishly, kindly, and affectionately towards those you see, you cannot love the God you have not seen. ”

“ The reason for your being then free to please yourself is that actions for unclaimed debt arising out of a simple contract are limited to six years from the date of the cause of action. After six years you are safe against being called on to pay the money a second time.
Bills are occasionally rendered a second time after being paid, not the least, perhaps, from an intention to defraud, but simply from carelessness. People omit to enter the money they receive in their books, and forget they have got it ”

“ These take place at auction rooms of more or less legitimate position, are usually held in the evening, and consist chiefly of articles vamped up or made expressly for the purpose. No one should go to them who wants to get value for her money.
In all dealings with tradespeople, a good business woman will do her best to pay cash. As she does this, she always goes to ready-money shops. Shops that give credit must charge higher prices, for they must have interest for the money out of which they lie ”

“ I O U’s are not much in favour in business; they are rather friendly documents than business ones.
An I O U does not need a stamp, whatever the amount may be, as it is simply an acknowledgment of a debt, and neither a receipt nor a promissory note—that is, a note giving a promise to pay at a particular time. ”

“ M. L. P.—It is to be regretted on your own account, if not on that of others, who might be glad to avail themselves of your musical society, that you should contemplate giving it up without first inducing someone to take your place. Your society, we imagine, is already entered in a directory of girls’ clubs, shortly to appear, and too late now to be omitted.
Old Man’s Darling.—You will often find songs in our paper. It is sad to hear that you “get wild with your nose,” which at seven or eight o’clock p.m. ”

“ Mozart, speaking of a girl whom he heard at Augsburg in 1777, says, “She will never master what is the most difficult and necessary, and, in fact, the principal thing in music—namely, time; because from her infancy she has never been in the habit of playing in correct time.” ”

“ A few days after the Brent goose was sent to the Pells, Fairy, on coming back from the Rectory at four o’clock, found she had left one of her books behind her, and as Charlie was not to be found, being in all probability at the Pells, paying an afternoon visit on his goose, Fairy with some difficulty persuaded Mrs. Shelley to let her go back to the Rectory alone, declaring she would be home again before dark. ”

“ One of the commonest tricks of all is that of putting in the window, say, a handsome mantle, worth eight or ten guineas, and labelled, say, £3 15s., and keeping inside for sale others made up in precisely the same style, but of utterly worthless material. If they decline to sell you the actual thing out of the window, be sure that the whole affair is a swindle. ”

“ Primrose League.—Having given your sister the best advice, you are not bound to do more, but try to win her by love with patience. It would be better for her to have a governess at home than to go to school. ”

“ His drawback was he could not afford to buy any good book on birds—they were all far beyond his means; but Mr. Leslie had “Bewick,” and one of Jack’s greatest treats was to go and fetch Fairy, when she spent an evening at the Rectory, and be allowed half an hour’s study of this most fascinating book.
But besides natural history and Shakespeare, Jack studied mathematics on the downs; he bought an old Euclid and an algebra in a book-shop at Lewes, and these, with his Shakespeare and one or two other books, he kept in a hole in a chalk-pit on one of the downs ”

“ Masters and Servants.—There is only one way to have good servants; that is, to be worthy of being well served. All nature and all humanity will serve a good master and rebel against an ignoble one.—Richter. ”

“ It is pleasant to hear that our advice has been helpful to you, and we only wish your health would improve. But we think you might lay the matter before God in faith, and ask Him to cure you and raise you up, according to the promise, “the prayer of faith shall save the sick.” ”

“ If you find that you earn too little by dressmaking, perhaps you could turn your four years’ experience of that trade to good account by adding to your acquirements that of hair-dressing, and then you could take a situation as lady’s-maid.
Humble Minor.—We never heard of an infant who would not go to his mother voluntarily, unless to go to a wet-nurse, whom he might naturally suppose, if he could not think, was his real mother. If he have a fearful temper, and be not a screamer from teething, or any other pain, he should be gently corrected for his violence. ”

“ It is not necessary that the name of a writer should appear; but the difficulty is that we cannot accept the articles and stories of unknown writers. We rarely take those of authors who have not made their names as such. ”

“ The second is to calculate that property we possess is worth what we paid for it, never considering that as a general rule things decrease in value every year through use and change of fashion and other causes. ”