OUR DRAWING-ROOM.

ADA INGOT will feel obliged if the Editor can tell her when and where Mr. Sothern (the actor) was born; if he is married, and to whom. [Mr. Sothern is married. His wife is a lady unconnected with the theatrical profession. His son, Mr. Lytton Sothern, is also an actor.]

PAULINE writes.-Although I have taken THE YOUNG ENGLISHWOMAN for some time, and like it exceedingly, I have never troubled the Editor before; but seeing how kindly he answers the numerous questions, asked by the subscribers, I venture to trouble you with a few. Will you please tell me the correct way to pronounce, Milan, Genoa, and Alexandria? [Milan, Genoa, Alexandria.] Will you tell me a nice style of doing my hair? which is thin and rather short. I am only seventeen, and do not not wish to look any older, so I should like it to be a simple, and a way that does not take long. [Curl it all over.] Is the hair worn in two plaits fashionable for a girl of fifteen? [Yes, the two plaits are tied at the end with ribbon.] Will you kindly answer, in the August number, if I have conformed with the rules. [You have.]

I. A. M. writes,-Will the Editor kindly tell me in the Drawing-room," if I can use anything to whiten my teeth? [Send to Douglas, Bond Street, for a dentifrice.] Also, what will make eyelashes grow and not injure my eyes? [Golden ointment.] Would the kind Editor also tell me if it is not very peculiar of a lady to clap her hands at a public entertainment? [It is not usual.] Also, if tumblers are not put on a dinner-table, how are people to do who drink water? [A waterbottle and tumbler are placed here and there on the table. Those who drink water use these tumblers.]

NELLIE writes,-I am sorry to be of so much trouble to you; what I mean by the scrap books is this, I mean those that they insert anything in them that you wish to remember, verses of poetry, or anything you wish to collect. I saw one at a friend's house lately; perhaps you will understand what I mean. Now I am going to give up all thoughts of trying to learn anything, as it is not possible for me to learn by myself. I have neither brothers nor sisters to help me, and I can't expect to be always troubling friends, at least, is not very nice to have to confess to so much ignorance. I am the worst scholar you have; I am of an ambitious disposition; and when I read the articles on girls, they seemed to make learning so easy, I thought it would be no trouble to attain to that standard in learning, but when I begin to try, it seems harder than ever. I wish I was strong enough to attend school, but I must remain ignorant. I am a very good reader, and am very fond of reading. don't know what sort of a speller I am, but I judge not a very good one. I am sorry I did not keep to the rules last time. [It is a very good plan to keep an extract book. Writing out a favourite passage helps one to remember it. It is also a very good exercise for those who are anxious to improve themselves, as you seem to be. Get Vere Foster's copybooks at once. Read history, and make notes of all you read. Find every place that is mentioned on the map. After you have read two or three pages, shut the book and write it all out again as well as you can remember. If you do not know how to spell a word, go to the dictionary. Give yourself plenty of room in writing, and do not write so closely as you did in writing to me. If you try this steadily, you will be sure to get on. Do not be discouraged if you progress but slowly at first. Do not try to learn French

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until you can write good English easily and rapidly. You make very few mistakes in spelling. Write again in a couple of months and say how you get on. Don't give up because it is difficult. Nothing worth doing is ever done without trouble.] I see one of your correspondents wants a recipe for ketchup, so I have sent the enclosed, I had not time to write it down. I see one of your correspondents would copy any verses, songs, we want, provided they know them. I wish she would copy me, Onward, Christian Soldiers, and Always Think Before you Speak.

Mushroom Ketchup.-Take the full grown flaps of mushrooms, crush them in your hands, throw a handful of salt into every peck of mushrooms and let them stand all night, then put them into stew-pans, and set them in a quick oven for twelve hours, and strain them through a hair-sieve; to every gallon of liquor put of cloves, Jamaica black pepper, and ginger, one ounce of each, and a half pound of common salt, set it on a slow fire, and let it boil till half the liquor is wasted away, then put it in a clean pot; when cold, bottle it for use.

REINE (July), The lines are from "To Lucasta, on Going to the Wars," by Richard Lovelace, who wrote in the seventeenth century:

GITANA would feel much obliged if the kind Editor would tell her when a girl of fourteen and her father come into the neighbourhood, are they entitled to calls as much as if there were a grown up lady in the case. Or is it proper to wait until the girl has left school? [If there is not a grown-up lady in the household, ladies do not call. If introductions are brought, the girl is asked out to meet other girls, but morning calls are not made till she has left school.] Gitana was early deprived of a mother's care, and finds now, at sixteen, that evil weeds have grown up and choked all the good in her nature; would it be possible to weed them out with perseverance, alone as she is, and no one to help her? [It is never impossible, though always difficult, to weed out our faults. It is doubly difficult for you, poor Gitana, so young, and apparently so friendless. But you must not think you have no one to help you. The best and wisest Friend of all is always ready to help, and perhaps you will cling all the more closely to Him because you have so few earthly friends.] Having seen an advertisement of The Beating of my Own Heart, in your April number, Gitana sent for it at the address, M. A., Post Office, Atherstone," but her letter has been returned with "not been called for," on the outside.

TWOPENNY writes,-Seeing how kindly you answer the most trivial questions, I have ventured to trouble you about my hair. It is very long and rather unusually thick, I believe, but perfectly straight. Now I see in all the pictures of fashionable coiffures, the hair is

wavy-beautiful, large, smooth waves. Can you tell me how to get this, particularly in front. I find plaiting it at night does not have the desired effect at all, it only makes it frizzy, and using common hair-pins the same, besides breaking the hair. And then, again, I want the waves to begin from the head, not have about two inches of straight hair first. [The effect is produced by crimping-pins. They can be had of Douglas, Bond Street, for 2s. 6d. The hair is made damp with water, and twisted in and out close to the roots.] There is another question I want to ask on the same subject. I have a bald patch on the top of my head a little larger than a shilling, from continually tying my hair there. Since the fashions have changed I have ceased doing it, hoping the rest would make the hair grow, but although I have left off for several months, it looks just the same. Can you tell me what to do? The hair dresser says it will be all right in a little time, but surely months ought to make some difference. [Mr. Douglas, Bond Street, will send you a preparation to make the hair grow, but it will be some time before the bald spot disappears.] Will you kindly tell me of something new in waterproofs? I am so tired of the old styles but do not know of anything fresh. Do they not make lady's Ulsters, if so, what are they like? I should not like anything that would look fast. I do not want it till the autumn, so, perhaps, if you know of nothing now, you will tell me another month. Please put the probable cost. I am eighteen years of age, and five feet six inches in height. (Ladies' Ulsters do not look at all fast, but they are not very becoming. Complete costumes are now made in waterproof alpaca, with skirt neatly trimmed with tucks, and neat half-fitting jacket.] If you will answer these questions, your will greatly oblige your well-wisher.

AIGUILLE would feel extremely obliged if any of our correspondents would give a few recipes for invalids' puddings, made without eggs. Also what sort of cord is used for hanging pictures besides common blind cord.

H. B. Declined with thanks.

KATE W. presents her compliments to Sylvia, and will feel much obliged if she will tell her next month which is the right finger for the engagement-ring to be worn on, as opinions differ about it. [The third finger on the left hand, the same as for the wedding-ring.] She will also be glad to know how the scarves that are now so much worn, are to be fastened on. [With a bow of ribbon.] She likes the magazine very much, and wishes it every success.

HEDGEHOG would feel much obliged, if some kind correspondent would give a recipe for making Swiss Buns. We have taken your valuable magazine for many years, but never before troubled you with a question.

H. S. H. would be obliged if Sylvia will kindly answer the following questions in the August number. What age should a young lady begin to wear a bonnet? [About seventeen.] Would it look nice to wear a coloured hat, gloves, and scarf, with a white piqué dress to church. [In the country, yes.] I am seventeen, and only five feet in height, do you think I shall be any taller? [Most girls continue to grow after they are seventeen.] What is the medium height. [Five feet four.] I have taken your magazine for some time now, and appreciate it very much.

LILLA would be glad if the kind Editor will answer the following questions. Could custard puddings be served alone? [Yes] And if so, would any sauce be required? [No.] Would it be proper to serve fruit tarts cold

when one has visitors to dinner. [Yes.] Should the Beau Ideal Embroidery be tacked on things the same as crochet edgings, or how? [Sewed on as ordinary embroidery.] When one has friends taking tea with one, would it be rude to leave the room to put the tea in the teapot? [Yes.] Is there anything that would remove dark, brown spots from the face? [What sort of dark, brown spots?] And will Sylvia tell Lilla if the enclosed silk is of good quality, or is it a cheap thing? [It is a cheap, thin silk.] And what colours would suit best for a person of fair complexion, and very high colour, and golden, brown hair. [Blue, violet, mauve, and lavender.]

"

ALDITHA. The poem you ask for, "Beautiful Snow" is so touching, and the story of its author so sad, that I give both here; but our readers will kindly take notice, that for the future, when they ask for words of songs, they must enclose stamped, directed envelopes, in which the words can be forwarded to them, if any one copies them out. We cannot, for instance, fill up our space with the words of such silly songs as, "I Really am so Sleepy," for which we were asked in June. Major Sigourney, nephew of the celebrated poetess of that name, was the author of Beautiful Snow," but for a long time this fact was unknown. The writer had sad reasons for concealing his identity. He had in early life married a Miss Filmore, a lady of great personal attractions, and with her made a voyage to Europe. During their absence rumours unfavourable to her character reached the Sigourney family. The reports seem to have been well founded, for shortly after her return to New York, she showed that the curse of the nineteenth century-the demon drink-had added another name to the list of his victims. She abandoned her husband, became an outcast, and was next heard of as an inmate of the penitentiary on Blackwell's Island. Her husband's love was still sufficiently strong to induce him to make another effort to save her, and through his influence she was released, only again to desert her home. In the winter of 1853 the papers spoke of a young and beautiful woman having been found dead under the snow, in a disreputable street in New York. Something seemed to tell Sigourney that the body was that of his wife. Upon making inquiries, he found his surmises were but too true, and, after claiming the remains, he had them interred in the picturesque "silent city" which overlooks the busy harbour of New York. The story of that erring wife was told in the touching language of "Beautiful Snow." What wonder that he

shunned the publicity that its authorship would have conferred. The latest effort of his genius was a poem addressed to his only child, and is a touching companion to the first. A few years ago, Major Sigourney was found dead in the outskirts of New York, under circumstances leading to the belief that he had shot Limself.

BEAUTIFUL SNOW.

Oh! the snow, the beautiful snow,
Filling the sky and the earth below;
Over the housetops, over the street,
Over the heads of the people you meet,
Dancing, flirting, skimming along-
Beautiful snow, it can do nothing wrong;
Flying to kiss a fair lady's cheek,
Clinging to lips in frolicksome freak;
Beautiful snow, from the heavens above-
Pure as an angel, gentle as love.
Oh! the snow, the beautiful snow,
How the flakes gather and laugh as they go,
Whirling about in their maddening fun--
It plays, in its glee, with every one :
Chasing, laughing, hurrying by,

It lights on the face and sparkles the eye:
And the dogs, with a bark and a bound,
Snap at the crystals that eddy around:
The town is alive, and its heart in a glow,
To welcome the coming of beautiful snow.

How widely the crowd goes swaying along
Hailing each other with humour and song;
How the gay sledges, like meteors, flash by,
Bright for a moment, then lost to the eye;
Ringing, swinging, dashing they go,
Over the crust of the beautiful snow--
Snow so pure, when it falls from the sky,
As to make one regret to see it lie,

To be trampled and tracked by the thousands of feet,

Till it blends with the filth in the horrible street.

Once I was pure as the snow, but I fell-
Fell, like the snow-flakes, from heaven to hell;
Fell, to be trampled as filth in the street-
Fell, to be scoffed, to be spit on, and beat;
Pleading, cursing, dreading to die,
Selling my soul to whoever would buy ;
Dealing in shame for a morsel of bread;
Hating the living, and fearing the dead:
Merciful God! have I fallen so low,
And yet I was once like the beautiful snow!

Once I was fair as the beautiful snow, With an eye like its crystal and heart like its glow;

Once I was loved for my innocent graceFlattered and sought, for the charms of my face;

Father, mother, sister, and all,

God and myself, I have lost by my fall;
The veriest wretch that goes shivering by
Will make a wide swoop lest I wander too
nigh;

For all that is on or above me I know
There is nothing so pure as the beautiful snow.

How strange it should be that this beautiful

snow.

Should fall on a sinner with nowhere to go! How strange it should be, when night comes again,

If the snow and the ice struck my desperate brain !

Fainting, freezing, dying alone,

Too wicked for prayer, too weak for a moan
To be heard in the streets of the crazy town,
Gone mad in the joy of the snow coming down-
To lie and to die in my terrible woe,
With a bed and a shroud of the beautiful

snow.

Helpless and foul as the trampled snow
Sinner! despair not; Christ stoopeth low
To rescue the soul that is lost in its sin,
And raise it to life and enjoyment again:
Groaning, bleeding, dying for thee,
The Crucified hung on the accursed tree;
His accents of mercy fall soft on thine ear-
Is there mercy for me?-will He heed my
prayer?-

O God! in the stream that for sinners doth flow,

Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.

S. writes,-Having seen one of your correspondents wishes to know how to prepare skeleton leaves, I forward the following recipe, which I have tried and found quite successful: Dissolve 4 oz. common washing soda in a quart of boiling water, then add 2 oz. slaked quicklime and boil for about fifteen minutes; allow the solution to cool; afterwards pour off the clear liquor into a clean saucepan. When the solution is at the boiling point, place the leaves carefully in the pan, and boil the whole together for an hour. Boiling water should be added occasionally, but only to replace that lost by evaporation. A good test is to try them, after boiling for an hour, and if the cellular matter does not rub off easily betwixt the finger and thumb beneath cold water, boil again for a short time. When the fleshy matter is sufficiently softened, rub the leaves separately and very gently beneath cold water until the perfect skeleton is exposed. To make them pure white, put them in a solu

tion of chloride of lime; a large teaspoonful of chloride of lime to a quart of water, add a few drops of vinegar to the solution to set free the chlorine, or bleaching gas. Do not let them remain in the bleaching liquor longer than fifteen minutes, as it is apt to make them brittle. After bleaching, press them in white blotting paper. Simple leaves are the best to begin upon. Vine, poplar, beech and ivy leaves make excellent skeletons. The best time to gather leaves for this purpose, is from July to September. Never collect specimens in wet

weather.

S. R. writes,-Will you kindly tell me how best to dispose of a large number of Times newspapers, several years complete? Your recent alterations are a great improvement, I think.

ELLA would feel obliged if Sylvia would kindly answer a few questions. Will cutting increase the length of the eyelashes, and is it possible to darken them? [It is said that if children's eyelashes are cut at the tips, they will grow very long, but I cannot vouch for the truth of the saying. I do not know of anything that will darken the eyelashes.] Can red marks be removed from the eyelashes? Is rum good for the hair?

CONTESSA writes,-In renewing my six months' subscription to your esteemed journal, beg to thank you for the hours of pleasure passed with it, and also to say that each number appears more interesting. It is a journal I would put in my little daughter's hands when she is old enough to understand it, and this is the highest eulogy I can pay you. If Sylvia succeeds in having a musical page in THE YOUNG ENGLISHWOMAN, I could send her occasionally a little music for the pianoforte, which perhaps would please in an English drawing-room, as it does in Italy. I also compose for the guitar very pretty accompaniments for Neapolitan or Venetian songs, those of the popolo, which are simple and wondrously sweet. I mention this because I take an interest in the journal, and if I could in any way add to its interest, I would gladly do so. You give us coloured costumes in your front page, and further on a description of the costumes. Could you not give us the price of each costume ready made by Madame Goubaud? Ladies' in the higher circle of life have no time to make up their own dresses, they have never been taught the art. It would be so convenient to me if you could. [A simple Venetian song, with pretty accompaniment for the piano, would doubtless be valued by our readers; but the guitar is very little played in England. Many thanks for your kind commendation and good wishes. We sometimes buy costumes and other articles for subscribers abroad, and if you should wish for any particular costume, we could have it made and sent out to you. It would be difficult to tell the price without knowing what material you would like, the quality, etc. Madame Goubaud does not supply costumes, only paper patterns of them.]

EDITH would be very much obliged if Sylvia could kindly give her some hints how to do about her baby's baptism. The ceremony is not to be performed in church, but in the house. Should there be cake and wine after the baptism? [Yes.] What kind of wine, port and sherry? [Yes.] As she has no silver tray, should a common one be covered or uncovered, for the glasses? [Uncovered.] Should the cake be cut or uncut? [Cut it in the room.]

B. S. K. writes,-Will you kindly inform me of the address of Messrs. Barr and Sugden. In your June number of 1871, you refer favourably to a propagating case made by them which I should be glad to purchase, on receiving a prospectus from them, and I approve of it. Please reply in your next issue. [Messrs. Barr and Sugden, 12, King Street, Covent Garden, London, W.C.]

EXCHANGE COLUMN.

1. All letters on this subject must be addressed

To the Editor of

THE YOUNG ENGLISHWOMAN,

Warwick House, Paternoster Row,
London, E.C.

(Young Englishwoman's Exchange.)

RULES.

2. All letters must contain a large, fullydirected, stamped envelope, the stamp to be enclosed, not affixed.

3. Notices must be written legibly on one side of a sheet of paper, separate and distinct from communications for the Drawing-room or Work-room.

4. Announcements of the nature of an Advertisement cannot appear in this column.

5. The charge for insertion in THE YOUNG ENGLISHWOMAN'S Exchange is threepence for every twelve words, and one penny extra for every additional four words, except in cases where the address is published. The insertion, in these cases, is free.

6. The only articles that can be advertised for sale are Books and Music.

7. All articles of wearing apparel advertised

MISS CLYDE, Northdown Lodge, Bideford, Devonshire, sends 20 roots of Devonshire ferns, 6 varieties for 12 stamps. She sends a box containing 9 varieties, for 5s.

Correct delineation of character from handwriting. Young Englishwomen, please send 13 stamps to N. N. Address with Editor.

M. L. has for sale a magic lantern, price 10 10s., original price £15 15s.; double lantern, and fittings for gas and lime light complete. Almost new. Address with Editor.

Ivo would feel obliged by an order from any lady for a very handsome wool crochet counterpane, price £5 55., or antimacassars. Please state colours. Address with Editor.

THE

HE amount of new music that is produced month after month by our music publishing houses, seems rather to increase than diminish, and on looking over the large piles that come before us, one feels that it is a matter for congratulation that the average quality of the enormous mass is so good as it is. The proportion of absolutely worthless music, whether vocal or instrumental, is really very small; though, on the other hand, there is very little indeed that rises to the highest level. Great musical composers, like great geniuses in every branch of art, are rare; only one Handel, or Mozart, or Mendelssohn is produced in a generation. Let us be thankful that the composers of the second or even third rank write as intelligently and tastefully as they do. It is to these degrees of excellence that the pieces sent to us this month for notice, almost, without exception, belong; and while we can call attention to no extraordinary effort of genius among them, we can, at all events, conscientiously recommend many of them to such of our readers as are on the look out for an attractive addition to their musical repertory. Foremost among them we would place two transcriptions-one of Beethoven's "Lettre à Elise," a charming and very simple pianoforte piece, fingered, and with marks of expression, added with much taste and judgment by J. C. Hess, and a Minuet of Hadyn in E major, edited by M. de Fontaine; both of these are published by Messrs. Hammond and Co., and can be unreservedly recommended.

A very useful, and at the same time easy and effective set of pianoforte sketches are Gustave Lange's C. Bunte Blätter (Hammond and Co.) All of them are well within the capacity of any ordinary player, and are remarkably tuneful and flowing. We must confess to preferring Nos. 1 and 6, called respectively "On the Lake," and "The Gift," to the

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rest of the series; but all of them will repay the not very great trouble of learning. From the same publishers we have a thoroughly good mazurka “Francine,” a good melodious bit of dance music, with its especial character well and clearly marked; a very spirited galop "Champagne," by Gustave Biey, which will set the toes of most of our readers going when they hear it, and two fairly good waltzes, “Or et Azur," and "Reve Son," by Georges Lamothe. Our selection of vocal music is somewhat less attractive. Mr. John Cheshire's setting of Byron's famous words, "I saw Thee Weep" (Simpson and Co.), is tuneful certainly, but in every sense commonplace. The composer has by no means written up" to the evident beauty and pathos of the words. Its principal recommendations are that it is written for a voice of moderate compass, and is easy to sing. Mr. J. L. Hatton's "Honour Bright" (Simpson and Co.) is a setting, not in the veteran song-writer's best style, of some weak words by C. J. Rowe. It is dedicated to Mr. Santley, but it will better suit a tenor than a baritone, as though there are no extremely high notes in it, it lies throughout in the upper register of the voice. The song of the "Lover and the Star" (Simpson and Co.) has the twofold recommendation of being written by the composer of the "Lover and the Bird," and being sung by Mademoiselle Liebhart; beyond these it does not appear to us to have many. From Messrs. Cramer we have a fairly successful, if not very original, setting by Mr. F. Crowest, the author of "The Great Tone Poets," a handy little volume which has achieved more than a moderate success, of some quaint, tasteful words by H. Gerworth. We do not remember to have seen Mr. Crowest's name in the list of song-writers before, but we are glad to be able to congratulate him on this effort, which, for a first one, is highly creditable.