Various

“ You never do anything I ask you!”
“I am very sorry, Joan.”
“What’s the good of being sorry?” asked Joan, pettishly. “No, no! I don’t mean it!” She turned round sharply and saw that her friend’s eyes were full of tears. In a second, she had flung down her book and was kneeling at Embrance’s chair: “Do forgive me, it isn’t true. You are the only person in the world who has real patience with me. ”

“ Ella did so, and it fell from her hand a stiff lump, leaving her palm quite clean.
“That is quite right,” said Mrs. Wilson, encouragingly, after slowly arranging her gold spectacles, and peering at the mass in the basin. “See that it is always stiff like that; and never give them more than they will run after when you throw it for them. If you find any is left, do not give them so much next time. At night give them each as much grain as you can take up in your hand, but no more. You may give the ducks a little more, but stop at once when their hunger is not keen. ”

“ No poor person’s, I’ll be bound,” said Dame Hursey, whose curiosity about Fairy exceeded even her interest in her son’s family affairs.
“She is the niece of my late master, a French gentleman, and it was by his wish I took her to John Shelley, only instead of going in as I pretended I had done, I left her on the doorstep, and went off with the purse; and if ever I cursed in my life I have cursed that money, which, for aught I knew till a few minutes ago, had made me a murderer, though for that matter I may be one still, for the baroness may have fretted herself into her grave for her baby.” ”

“ The Duomo of Milan is like no other building in the world, it belongs to no distinct style of architecture, and in art it had neither parents nor children. Nothing was ever built like it before, and nothing will ever be built like it again. We do not say that it is the most beautiful church ever built, nor do we deny that, architecturally speaking, it possesses many grave faults, but what we mean is this: Of all other churches we say they are built in such and such a style, or are of such and such an order of architecture. But of this we say simply, it is the Duomo of Milan. ”

“ Man does not know, but God does, what work you do for His sake, only be sure that you are so doing it. If the music be really the unattainable “silk purse,” how much may be done in teaching the inharmonious little choir to phrase well, to throw out by judicious accent the sense of canticle and hymn, and so lead the congregation to think of the lesson it contains! How much zeal may be kindled by the teacher’s energy! ”

“ This is how it came about:—The older bachelor, who is impressionable and of a poetical and non-technical turn of mind, enjoys an undisturbed first sight of a magnificent building, without first of all inquiring into its structural and architectural details; and if there is one thing more than another which annoys him, it is to have the “dry bones” of workmanship dinned into his ears and thrust before his mental vision when the complete building should rather impress on him all that it has to say of great achievement and power. ”

“ There is no girl so friendless or so heartless that there is no one she loves or wishes to remind of that love at this season, while there are many surrounded by affectionate relations and true friends, whose love they warmly return, and whom they wish to please with a gift, and yet have but a small sum at command, and must think carefully over its division. ”

“ If she works in the best spirit she will feel that, like David, she cannot offer to God of that which doth cost her nothing, and she will be ready to forego little pleasures in order that the practice may not be interfered with, or the evening of the week changed. This last is a most important point; as the lives of working people, from whose ranks most members of choirs are recruited, do not adapt themselves to change, they seldom receive in its integrity a hasty message sent round to put off, and of all things, a walk for nothing after a day’s work is to be avoided. ”

“ If Horace could once get orders for her, her fortune was made, and in her spare time, she would paint landscapes for exhibitions. “Then, you must give up these rooms,” exclaimed Joan, eagerly, “and we can go and live somewhere where there is a garden. And, dear Embrance, you’ll let me buy you another dress. You ought really never to wear that cold colour.” ”

“ Enough has been said to show that we do not consider the task of teaching a choir an easy one, nor will it always repay with success those who have given it much trouble. The teacher must sometimes find herself grappling with the effort of making the proverbial “sow’s ear into a silk purse.” ”

“ The reader will not, perhaps, think us very encouraging; but it is obvious that where excellent voices are to be had, forming them into a choir only needs intelligence and a firm hand from one who is equal in knowledge to the task undertaken. We have, therefore, tried to suit our advice to the needs of the many, who must perforce work under difficulty, being obliged to take, not the materials they desire to have, but only the heterogeneous ones at hand. ”

“ Sure, I was right, she is no common child, no fit wife even for gentleman Jack,” exclaimed the old woman, opening her umbrella, partly to keep the fog off, partly as a sort of screen to shut in the secret she had yearned so long to learn. But George was following up his own train of thought, and went on, heedless of her interruption—
“Though, as true as I stand here, I never knew till last week that Monsieur Léon was drowned, and the Hirondelle lost a day or two after I left her. Likely as not the baron thinks the child was drowned too, since they have never found her. ”

“ The girl who can walk into a shop and select the first handsome article in it for mamma, and pay for it from an amply-supplied purse, neither awakens in herself or her mother the same holy feelings that are excited when baby works an impossible kettle-holder “all by herself,” and which she “bided” out of the pennies given her for sweeties. ”

“ We would next place hopefulness in the teacher’s catalogue of moral furniture. The learners will soon find out if they are being taught without hope of their improvement; listless work will be the result, and the shy, anxious members will give it up in despair. The power of encouraging effort, of detecting and commending the slightest sign of improvement, of persuading the members mentioned above that the work is within their grasp, if persevered in, is most necessary, and a kindly sunny disposition ever ready to look at the brightest side is simply invaluable. ”

“ Next time, inspired by nurse’s tale of sufferings, I make the simplest dish imaginable, which could not disagree with a baby, and it comes down almost untouched, with a sarcastic remark from Aunt Mary that when she is well she does not mind how plain her food is, but that in her present state of health she needs something to tempt the appetite a little. ”

“ One cannot get rid of the notion that some kind of relationship exists between the two. We begin almost to suspect that some mighty Alp, with its snow-clad peaks, must have been its mother—so much is it like the kind of architecture that would have sprung from the mountains. ”

“ Jack’s own dog was younger and not so steady as Rover, so he kept him at home. This Rover was a son of the Rover who had first discovered the fairies’ baby on his master’s doorstep that midsummer evening, but John Shelley called all his dogs Rover, and was rather scandalised when Jack insisted on naming his dog Bruce; it was an innovation, and the shepherd disliked anything new; however, in this he was persuaded to yield, Mrs. Shelley and Fairy taking Jack’s part, and saying two Rovers in one family at the same time would never do. ”

“ Half a yard of plush, which costs two shillings, will make a pair of flower-pot covers.
From America comes to us a novelty in bedroom decoration, and one very suitable as a present to a young lady who uses her bedroom as a sitting-room and likes it prettily decorated. This is known as a “pillow sham,” and is a long strip of linen or cambric ornamented with lace and ribbons, and laid over the top part of the bed in the daytime only. It fits the width of the bed whatever size that is, and does not fall down the sides. ”

“ You may not be of the same opinion; but you will gain nothing but good by putting your own views in the background and thus learning to obey as well as to teach. And may we not hope that the loving Father will acknowledge such work, even if imperfect in its results, as done by His child to His Glory? ”

“ We propose now to take up the subject of training choirs for the same excellent service, on the understanding that the future teacher has taken the advice already given as to her own musical improvement. Personal fitness for this branch of instruction is most necessary; as if once the taught discover they know anything of which the teacher has not more perfect knowledge, that teacher’s task will be a hard one. ”

“ Regularity in the teacher is sure to be imitated by the learners, and steady work must tell in the end.
The next point should be firmness tempered with wisdom. The teacher must be supreme, or no choir will prosper. ”

“ If they are not there, and God forbid they should be, we shall know they have not come to much harm beyond a fright. When we have passed the chalkpits we can climb up Mount Harry and come back by the jail; I have my compass, we can’t go far wrong with that.”
Jack fell in with this plan at once; it was by far the best thing they could do; but then John Shelley, in his slow, methodical way, invariably hit upon the wisest plan of action in an emergency, as Jack very well knew. Accordingly, off they started, each with a lantern and the shepherd’s dog leading the way. ”

“ When cold it formed a stiff jelly. Ella always found the flavouring a difficulty, for Mrs. Wilson’s taste as an invalid was of course very different from what it was when in health, and her digestion was very easily upset; but the cook obstinately declared that she knew her mistress’s tastes better than Ella, and in spite of all orders persisted in putting in flavouring according to her own fancy; so that many dishes which might have been simple and nourishing enough to be frequently asked for, had to be altogether prohibited, as being too spicy for the invalid’s delicate digestion. ”

“ For a small present, costing at the utmost one shilling, the fashionable little “hold-all bags” are good. These bags are four in number, and are connected together only at the top; they are filled with odds and ends, such as buttons and silks, until they stand upright and all of a row, and they find a conspicuous place among drawing-room nick-nacks.
To make them, purchase one yard of good satin ribbon, in colour either ruby, navy blue, or chestnut brown, with the reverse side of a pale blue or old gold shade. The ribbon should be from two and a half to three inches wide. ”

“ If the worker is an adept at drawn-thread work, the pillow sham can be made very inexpensively and of material that will last through much wear, but when drawn-thread work is not used, Torchon and other strongly made lace is required. An easy way for making a pillow sham is to buy four new hem-stitched-bordered handkerchiefs, and upon the corner of one of the handkerchiefs to embroider the first letter of the owner’s Christian name, making it four inches high and slanting it from the corner to the middle of the handkerchief. ”

“ We find them revelling in art when foreign armies were overunning the country and decimating the population. We find it under tyranny and oppression of the most galling description—surrounded by acts of horror and infamy of the most despicable kind. We find it often in combination with ignorance and folly that are simply contemptible. ”