Various

“ The disgust aroused by the spider is by no means a just one, and the fear some people have of these insects is most unreasonable and absurd. In tropical countries the bites of some are dangerous, but not nearly so much so as is supposed. Our own spiders are harmless enough. I never destroy the webs they make in my garden, the circular nets which they stretch from one branch to another, which are considered by experts to show a perfection of weaving, whilst those webs which are woven in odd corners of our dwellings reveal an intelligence in their arrangement which is perfectly marvellous. ”

“ Dinna forget that medicines are, as a rule, but palliative, and to call them curatives is, in nine cases out of ten, a very great misnomer. All doctors will tell you the same; but they are exceedingly useful and even most necessary at times. Only dinna forget that they do not repair, nor rebuild the framework of our bodies. Only good, well-chosen food can do that. But, as it does not do to eat when you are not hungry, because then the stomach and other organs are too delicate to digest, you must get up an appetite by exercise, recreation and fresh air. ”

“ And so we consider with complacence the fact that the cat kills the mouse, the owl catches up the field vole and the beetle; the swallow rids the air of insect pests which would render life intolerable, the ladybird lives on the aphides that devour our plants—those fat green insects which destroy our roses and honeysuckle.
The spider does his own appointed work in a way which shows astute intelligence. ”

“ The typhoid—No. 10—was a poor flower-girl. She had not failed to notice how the nurses loved the fair blossoms, and with reviving life her warm little heart filled with gratitude for the tenderness and care she had received. She could only think of one vent for her feelings.
"Look here, Sister," she said. "I generally stand at the top o' Cheapside or thereabouts. Do come my way. I'll be looking out for you. And I'll give you such a bowkay!"
Susie, if she was inclined to fret for "mother" and "home," had a plucky little soul with which to greet other woes. ”

“ Like Marie Antoinette, she always worked at her embroidery or tapestry when receiving her most intimate friends, and chatting with them late in the evening.
After her separation from Napoleon she took up her abode in beautiful Malmaison, where, between botany and needlework, she spent most of her time. The hangings of the saloon were entirely her own work, and the exquisite furniture of her drawing-room was upholstered in embroidery and tapestry worked by herself and her ladies in previous happy years. ”

“ Both in the Tuileries and in the Temple the Queen and Madame Elizabeth did very simple work, that is to say, work not requiring concentration of thought, which would have been impossible for them under the circumstances. One can picture them, silent and sad, with heads bent and speaking little, while their needles passed in and out the canvas watered with tears. ”

“ Dinna forget that. For, if you have health, you are bound to have happiness, so long as shocks of grief and real sorrow keep aloof. Even then, if you are strong, you will be better able to withstand these, than if you were chicken-hearted and weakly.
There is one symptom of weakness, by the way, that is often over-looked. A girl may be as fresh and bonnie as a thistle or a rose, yet if she is too sensitive and too sentimental she cannot be really well. Over-sensitiveness may be caused in a good many ways, but it is very apt to lead on to hysteria, and this is a very serious ailment. ”

“ Belinda Ann (or as I heard her friends call her, Blinderann) was in no wise behind the others, and sprang hither and thither with the best.
My hostess sank into a seat beside me and murmured apologetically—
"I let them do this to work off a little of their exuberant spirits, for they would never sit still a whole evening, and would fight probably if they had no other outlet. Some nights, if there is any specially good concert or entertainment, I allow each girl to bring one male relative or friend, but oddly enough they don't often avail themselves of the permission. ”

“ Shall we seem to be straining the image if we allow our thoughts to be carried by this picture to the home of our heavenly King, where, as we are promised, our eyes shall see Him "in His beauty"? "To patient faith," says the hymn, "the prize is sure."
The spider, we might say, is essentially of an aspiring nature. She weaves her net high up in corners where the duster and broom of the busy housemaid will not easily reach her. She fasts long and is not drawn away from the spot where she expects to get the reward of her patience. ”

“ Dinna forget that. If she cannot get away, she must get a new fad of some kind. Only there is one thing, mother, which pray dinna forget. You must never let her think that you think she is ill. You've got to draw her away from her imaginary miseries, and all will soon be well. ”

“ Nothing seems to go right with her, nothing ever will be right again. There is no beauty anywhere in life, which, taken on the whole, is a great big fraud. Why was she ever sent into this world at all, at all, against her will? She is sure she didn't wish to be born, and she wishes she were well out of it. She is sad, melancholy, abstracted, and does nothing with any will.
Well, what shall we do with a girl of this kind? What say you, mother? Medicine? Was that what you suggested? Well, medicine, even if she could swallow the whole pharmacopœia, would do her no more good than a pinch of snuff ”

“ The "Mason Spider's" home consists of a hole several inches deep in the ground, and perfectly cylindrical. It is lined with hangings. The one nearest the rough sides is thick, and carelessly woven. Over this, like a skilful decorator, he places a hanging of fine silk, carefully wrought. The door or lid of this dwelling is furnished with a cushion of silk inside, whilst above it is made of the same material as the soil, so that when the master is at home there is nothing to reveal that fact, his door being closed. Layers of earth and silk compose the lid. ”

“ There is a species of spider which carries, attached to her body, a round, white, silky bag of eggs, just about as big as a pea. It is heavy, but nothing would induce the affectionate mother to part with it. The French naturalist, Bonnet, in order to test this love for her offspring, once threw such a mother spider into the hole of an ant-lion, in the sand where the great insect lay in hiding for its prey. The poor spider tried to run away but the ant-lion caught at the bag of eggs and tried to drag it under the sand. ”

“ It is called the Great Spider in South America, and its cocoon is three inches long and one broad.
Thinking of the creatures of prey and their quarry is always a painful subject. Yet we know surely that the all-wise Creator would not order the balance of nature to be kept up in this way if it involved cruelty. There is cruelty in some of the methods of vivisection—in the horrible way, for instance, in which one French scientist at least has studied and tested by torture how far a poor loving mother dog will bear being maimed, before it can be induced to leave its offspring. ”

“ The Princess Royal, when only ten years old, was such an accomplished needlewoman that she worked a suit of rich embroidery for her brother, the Prince of Wales, which he wore on his birthday.
Queen Charlotte used to find the strict English Sunday hang heavily on her hands. Her industrious fingers "ached," as she said, "for employment. If I read all day my poor eyes get tired. I do not like to go to sleep, so I lock my door that nobody may be shocked, and take my knitting for a little while, and then I read a good book again."
Her chief delight was needlework. ”

“ Many of us can work hard and well by fits and starts, but we weary of sustained effort, and we are "found sleeping." Or like the pilgrims to the Celestial City we are tempted to stray and delight ourselves in flowery "Bypath meadows." Play, healthy recreation, we must have, but it must be such as helps us in the race of life and not such as weakens our purpose and hinders us from reaching the desired goal. ”

“ I like things to be pretty, and when you see them through a microscope they generally look hideous. I saw my own hand once—ugh!" Peggy shuddered. "Twenty pounds! Well, I can only say that my whole worldly wealth is at your disposal. Draw on me for anything you like—up to seven and six! That's all the money I have till the beginning of the month."
"Thanks!—I didn't intend to borrow, I have a better idea than that. I was reading a magazine the other day, and came upon a list of prize competitions. The first prize offered was thirty pounds, and I'm going to win that prize. ”

“ Queen Adelaide herself was a beautiful needlewoman, and set an example to all her people.
Thus we have seen how our queens have kept alive the useful and ornamental art of needlework—an art invented by woman and kept going by her for the necessities, comfort, and ornament of the whole peoples of the world.
Dr. Johnson says: "Women have a great advantage, viz., that they may take up with little things without disgracing themselves; a man cannot except by fiddling." I suppose he refers to needlework. ”

“ When they are a little older, it is true, the spider is held up to them as a wonderful example of perseverance in that story of King Robert the Bruce, who, when he was banished from his country, lying in concealment in a miserable hovel, and considering whether it would not be well to give up the struggle to secure his own, and with it restore freedom to his country, was attracted by the sight of a spider hanging at the end of a thread and trying to swing from one part of the cabin roof to another in order there to fix its line. ”

“ In reply to your inquiry as to whether "there is no harm in flirting," we must tell you that there is a type of flirting which is distinctly vulgar, and does not elevate a girl in the eyes of the man who is amusing himself with her. On the other hand, it is only fair to say that some people apply the term "flirting" to very harmless and innocent gaiety and brightness, which is perfectly natural when young people meet together.
INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENCE.
"Lys de France" writes to inform her many would-be correspondents that she has already made her choice. ”

“ Death is the common lot, and most of the creatures preyed on pass swiftly away in the full height of enjoyment without lingering sickness or decay. I have known a spider's web put to a very odd purpose by a lady I knew well in New Zealand, a very successful poultry rearer. When her chickens had "the pip," she declared that she cured them by a buttered pill consisting of spiders' webs. And I have known also Chinamen give dying men, as a last remedy, a tiny chicken pounded up in a mortar, bones, feathers, and all, and welded into a huge pill. ”

“ Better at home than anywhere else. The person who told you that indigestion could not be cured without sea air is not a reliable authority. Attention to diet is everything in indigestion. Last year in The Girl's Own Paper we published two articles on indigestion. Let your friend read these, and also the answers to correspondents which deal with the subject of indigestion. We seem to be always discussing indigestion, nervousness or face spots. She must not eat apples either raw or cooked. ”

“ At last Jupiter grew tired of hearing over and over again the one request and said, "What would you have?"
"I crave to become a contented man," replied the philosopher. "Never yet have I enjoyed a really peaceful day, for I have never been entirely contented. Even now, aged as I am, there is always something that I long for." ”

“ If your friend reads what we have advised, she will find all she needs to cure herself of indigestion.
Stavesacre.—We are thoroughly aware that this drug is used to destroy lice in the hair. It is not a drug which we would advise anyone to use. It is a violent poison, and in our experience it does not do what it is intended to do.
Mimosa.—1. It is hardly correct to say that "nearly every girl is anæmic." A great many girls do suffer from that malady, but "nearly every girl" is an exaggeration. ”

“ In a month or two the cure was complete, and I used to see the girl—she was young—careering across the common, her bonnie yellow hair and the pony's mane streaming{207} out in the wind and her face as merry as a May morning.
Does Winter damage Beauty?
It need not, if beauty is only looked well after. But how shall it be? Not by powders and paint, dear young readers—dinna forget that. Leave rouge and the rest of it to Miss So-and-so and all the other "quite old things" whom you know. Be ye natural; unless, indeed, you have some real blemish. ”

“ Some of our scientists, as I said before, have pushed their studies of moral qualities in the so-called brute world to a most unjustifiable extent, it would seem.
When the young of this affectionate mother are hatched, and they have got out of the bag where they were kept so safely, they attach themselves to her body. She carries them everywhere she goes and feeds them until they are able to fend for themselves. ”

“ The voice of the girl does not alter so much as does that of the boy. It also "forms" more gradually, and there is rarely or never a distinct "cracking" of the voice of the girl like that which usually occurs in the boy. At nineteen years of age the speaking voice is fully formed, but the singing voice may go on improving till thirty or even later. ”