Various

“ How great an honour if you could enjoy his friendship, and spend an hour with him from time to time in intimate conversation! What a means of culture you would consider it to be!
But the power of reading admits you to the society of the wise and great without let or hindrance, and to their society at their best moments. It is often a very disappointing thing to be introduced to the literary hero or heroine of one’s adoration. One expects an utterance equal to the author’s reputation, and there comes instead some commonplace suggested by the surrounding circumstances. ”

“ If you get into the habit of this light, disconnected, desultory reading, you will find it spoil your taste and your appetite for anything else. The loss you will suffer will be simply incalculable. Amuse a few spare minutes at the railway station, on the tedious journey, by all means: but do not let your reading stop short at mere entertainment or information about dress.
It is a terrible thing when this power of reading—the instrument, almost the only instrument, of self-culture—is turned so persistently to other ends that it becomes a warped and worthless tool. ”

“ Time is precious and is fleeting fast. There would be less poring over fashion-plates, fewer pennies spent on miscellaneous collections of tawdry scraps of useless information garnished with comic anecdotes, if it were realised that each hour spent in aimless, silly reading is an hour lost, never to be regained.
This may seem “a counsel of perfection.” We do not say, read nothing at all of the ephemeral literature whose aim is to enliven and amuse, but if you have any desire for self-culture, read something else as well. ”

“ And here’s Polly, the prettiest girl in all London, past twenty-one, and not yet married. No, nor no chance to be married, while old Nap lives; and depend on’t, he’ll not die yet, for many a long year. Is Polly to wait and wait, till her prettiness goes, and she turns into an elderly maiden, whom no man of ton will ever deign to cast eyes upon, while Captain Ivor spends perhaps fifteen or twenty years in France, and forgets his past fancy, and marries some beauteous young Frenchwoman?”
Molly gazed at Polly’s downcast face. “But Polly knows Captain Ivor better!” ”

“ Surely Gwendoline would speak to them now; she could not mean to cut them all for this mistake they had made. Surely their friendship was of more value to her than Linnæa March’s. They would much rather she would scold them roundly, and be done with it.
“There is no question of my forgiving you. The fault was mine, and I must suffer for it. I blame no one but myself.”
She was gone, and the girls were free to talk it over—this strange and unexpected development of affairs. To say they were astonished would be to put the case very mildly. They were perfectly thunderstruck. ”

“ She is simply making use of me for her own convenience!”
“It is not the first or only time that you have been asked, as you know well, Peggy. And sometimes you have enjoyed yourself very much. You said you would never forget the pink luncheon. In spite of all you say, you owe Rosalind thanks for some pleasant times; and now you can be of some service to her—— Well, I’m not going to force you, dear. I hate unwilling workers, and if it’s not in your heart to go, stay at home, and settle with your conscience as best you can.” ”

“ And study is a priceless relief and refuge to women in any grade of society. A girl who really loves reading possesses an inexhaustible charm to lift her above the little worries of daily life, in whatever sphere that life may be. ”

“ Tiresome, presuming thing that it is—always poking itself forward and making remarks when it isn’t wanted. I suppose I shall have to go, and run about from morning till night, holding a pair of scissors and nasty little balls of string, for Rosalind’s use! Genius indeed! What’s the use of talking about genius? I know very well I shall not be allowed to do anything but run about and wait upon her. It’s no use staring at me, Mrs. Asplin. I mean it all—every single word.”
“No, you don’t, Peggy! No, you don’t, my little kind, warm-hearted Peggy! ”

“ Molly looked rapturously around and about in eager quest. But she saw no wondrous human form to correspond to the image in her mind. A lame man, of good height, rather robust in make, healthy, but scarcely “elegant,” with brown hair, flaxen eyebrows, a long upper lip, and a frank genial expression—no, that was not Molly Baron’s ideal of an immortal poet. His eyes were only light grey in colour, not dark and wild, as a poet’s should have been. Yet the gleams of arch brightness which lighted up his face, as he talked, went a long way towards redeeming it from homeliness. ”

“ The simile, it is true, does break down, as similes are apt to do if pushed too far. And, dear reader, we freely confess that in the term “self-culture” all the difficulty is expressed. It is a hard matter to be dependent upon one’s unaided efforts in this matter. We may even go further and confess that nothing can quite make up for the contact with people of culture, the student life in the atmosphere of a college, the marvellous, enchanting process of education received when one is old enough to appreciate it. ”

“ Every book that we take up without a purpose is an opportunity lost of taking up a book with a purpose; every bit of stray information which we cram into our heads without any sense of its importance is for the most part a bit of the most useful information driven out of our heads and choked off from our minds.... ”

“ Toil on.—If you want knowledge you must toil for it; if food you must toil for it; if pleasure you must toil for it. Toil is the law. Pleasure comes through toil, and not by self-indulgence and indolence. When a girl gets to love work her life is a happy one. ”

“ It is the best thing in the world to have something of this sort as a point in the day, and far too few people know and use this secret. You would have your district still and all your business as usual, but you would have this hour in your day, in the midst of it all, and it would soon become of the greatest solace to you. Desultory reading is a mere anodyne, regular reading, well chosen, is restoring and edifying. ”

“ Meanwhile Belinda Ann, by means of a dexterous application of her thin sharp elbows and a running fire of chaff, secured us an entrance into the tram which was already inconveniently crowded in my opinion; but everyone was so heartily good-natured, no one could possibly show temper at being a little squeezed.
Belinda Ann ensconced herself near the door, where she kept a lively look-out for every fresh arrival, whom she greeted with some choice specimen of wit which, if replied to in the proper spirit, afforded her unbounded satisfaction. ”

“ Much can be done by the most ignorant—no one can say how much—and at any rate it is worth the while of every reader who scans this page to do something towards the process of self-culture. For there are outside helps within the reach of all. No girl, however cut off she may be from people who can help her to study, can be, especially in the present day, altogether cut off from Books.
How much books may do, is a commonplace often dilated upon. ”

“ In Switzerland one finds a summer stay in the valleys, beautiful and fertile as they are, beset by certain annoyances, of which perhaps the most dire and disturbing is a peculiar sort of fly, like a horse-fly, that settles and stings even through a thick glove. The most lovely summer resorts beside the lakes are infested by this creature, which comes everywhere with slow, sleepy virulence, alighting upon face and hands and thrusting in its poison. To escape it, one must go to the mountains ”

“ Like to remain so also. Who next?”
“Jack!” Molly said, with equal rapidity.
“Nay, Jack is nobody. Jack is one of ourselves, and is in and out perpetually. Jack’s a genteel young fellow enough, I make no question, but somewhat better than Jack awaits you this evening. Eh, Polly—what if it be—no other than Captain Peirce?”
“Captain Peirce better than Jack! Nay!” Molly said indignantly.
Polly’s colour went up again, as it was wont to do on slight provocation, delicately and prettily. Polly also tossed her head, and arranged the light scarf, which covered her shoulders. ”

“ Cancer is a very common disease, and therefore the fact that two or three of your relatives have died of cancer may simply be a coincidence, and not a case of hereditary influence at all. As we see the case, we would not prohibit a woman from marrying because one or two of her relatives have died of cancer. If she is a member of one of the families in which cancer is the usual termination of its members, then the question must be looked at in another light. ”

“ Of course tea is harmful when taken in excess; but what on this earth is not? It is not an easily digested drink—nor is any other fluid easy to digest (except milk, and that does not agree with all stomachs) . Freshly-brewed tea is the most digestible of fluids which we habitually drink hot. We are quite sure that it is more easily digested than cocoa. ”

“ But for a landsman—why, the Thames is as good as he may look to find. And I tell you what, sir, the water of the river Thames is the finest drinking-water in the world! Only has to stand and ferment a little, and then it’ll keep as long as ever you want it. [1] Yes, sir, it will indeed.”
Molly, being sublimely indifferent to the qualities of London drinking-water, which in those days was not considered a question of pressing interest, wandered farther afield. A slight pucker came between her brows, as she made out Polly at a short distance, with Captain Albert Peirce in close attendance. ”

“ SELF-CULTURE FOR GIRLS. PART II.
In our last paper on this subject we reduced the word “culture” to its simple and original meaning, and used the familiar illustration of a plot of garden ground, showing that weeds would spring up if cultivation were neglected; that things useful and beautiful alike flourish in the ideal garden; that the quality of the soil and other conditions should be taken into account by the wise cultivator; and that, culture being a process as well as a result, a little work in that direction is better than none at all. We might follow the simile further ”

“ That grows to seed.’
“So our mental faculties, our whole nature, are like a garden susceptible of being properly cultivated; but when there is no gardener, no intelligence from without to direct the process, what is to be done?” ”

“ Second brews and tea that has been allowed to draw too long are not easily digested, for they contain a very large quantity of tannic acid. China tea is preferable to Indian tea. You should never drink tea, nor any other drink, without eating something before it. Of course, you must be moderate in tea-drinking. It is the excessive tea-drinking by women in the afternoon which causes most of the dyspepsia due to tea which is so very common. It is said that cocoa is more digestible than tea, and that persons who drink cocoa rarely take more than half-a-pint of it at a time. ”

“ Roy held inviolate the first place in his twin-sister’s affections; but Jack came closely after.
“Were you spouting Mr. Scott’s last new poem, Molly?” demanded Jack, as he deposited himself in an empty chair by her side.
“You love to plague me, Jack! Why should I be spouting aught?”
Jack gave her a quizzical look.
“’Tis dull work for a young maiden to be seated here. What may Mrs. Bryce be after, not to find you partners?”
“Jack, be cautious, she is near. See!”—with a motion of her fan. “And I am not dull. I am never dull. I have danced two whole dances, Jack.” ”

“ She had not grown tall, and she was more rounded than in earlier years. Her black eyes looked less big and less anxious, partly because the face had lost its peakiness. A healthy complexion and an expression of straightforward earnestness served in place of good looks. Molly Baron would never be a “belle,” but she might become a woman to whom men and women alike would turn, with a restful certainty of finding in her what they wanted. Her reply was more prompt than Polly’s had been, and it consisted of one single syllable.
“Roy!”
“But Roy, like Captain Ivor, is a prisoner, child. ”

“ I’m not! I’m not! I’m savage, and it’s no use pretending——”
“Yes, you are! I know it! What is the good of having a special gift if one doesn’t put it to good use? Ah, that’s the face I like to see! I didn’t recognise my Peggy with that ugly frown. I’ll write and say you’ll come with pleasure.”
“It’s to please you, then, not Rosalind!” said Peggy obstinately. But Mrs. Asplin only laughed, dropped a kiss upon her cheek, and walked away to answer the invitation forthwith. ”

“ I am going to take all the subjects in Class I.—mathematics, Latin, French, geometrical drawing, and English composition; I’ll astonish them in the last subject! Plenty of dash and go, eh Peggy,—that’s the style to fetch ’em! In Class II. you can only take two subjects, so I’m going in for chemistry and physics. I rather fancy myself in physics, and if I don’t come out at the head of the list, or precious near the head, it won’t be for want of trying. I have worked like a nigger these last six months ”

“ The general effect of a village consisting of thatched and whitewashed cottages is very pleasing, especially when there is an ancient stone or flint-built church in their midst. The clean bright whitewash forms a lovely contrast to the soft velvety look of the thatch. ”

“ It’s just that foolish tongue that is running away with you, dearie. In your heart you are pleased to do a service for a friend, and are going to put your whole strength into doing it as well and tastefully as it can be done. ”

“ Life is often a very hard and sordid thing, and far too many women are forced to spend their days in detail of a distasteful kind. We must not extol a spirit of discontent with “the trivial round, the common task,” and must remember the French motto, “When one cannot have what one likes, one must like what one has.” Yet we all need a resource. Every man or woman, young or old, ought to have a refuge wherein to flee from the worries and minute cares of “this troublesome world”—a refuge that shall prove ”