The Girl’s Own Paper

MERLE’S CRUSADE. — CHAPTER XIV.

By ROSA NOUCHETTE CAREY, Author of “Aunt Diana,” “For Lilias,” etc.

“BREAD AND SALT.”

thought Mrs. Markham looked somewhat displeased.

“We must ask your mother’s permission, Master Rolf;” then, turning to her, “I hope you will allow him to go with us this afternoon,” for, in spite of his rude ways, I felt full of pity for the lonely little boy; he seemed to have no playfellows except poor Judson, who was a low-spirited, overworked young woman. It must have been dreary for him to be in a household of grown-up people, who all voted him a plague and took no trouble to amuse him. Spoilt children are seldom happy ones; and it did not need a second look at Rolf’s pale, sickly face to read the lines of discontent and peevishness.

“I am rather surprised that Miss Fenton should make such a request after her treatment of my boy yesterday,” returned Mrs. Markham, ungraciously. I think if she had dared to contradict Rolf she would not have given her consent, but a sulky look was already clouding his face.

“Never mind about that,” he said, impatiently; “Miss Fenton is going to make the tail for my kite; and I am going out with her this afternoon, and I shall and will go.”

“Master Rolf, that is not the way to answer your mother.”

“You may leave me to rebuke my own child,” she observed, coldly. “Very well, Rolf; you may go, but you need not be so cross about it. I came to see about the children, Miss Fenton; I think it is too hot for them to go on the beach this afternoon.”

“Joyce will wear her sun-bonnet; and there is a nice breeze,” I returned, somewhat ruffled by this interference. I fancy she did it to aggravate me, for there was no fault to be found with the weather, and I knew my mistress always left these things to me.

She remained for a few minutes making little suggestions about the ventilation and the nursery arrangements, which I bore as patiently as I could, though the harsh, metallic voice irritated me dreadfully. I did not wish to be disrespectful to Mrs. Markham, but I did not feel bound to obey her orders, and I knew I should tell her so if any grave dispute arose between us. I was rather relieved when she left the room at last, taking Rolf with her; but a few minutes afterwards Judson glided in on tiptoe.

“Oh, Miss Fenton,” she said, in a pathetic voice, “I am so grateful to you for promising to take charge of Master Rolf this afternoon; I thought there would be such a piece of work; Master Rolf thought he was going out in the carriage, and Mrs. Markham has friends and cannot find room for him; and what I should have done with him I hardly know, all the afternoon.”

“If Rolf is good I have no objection to take charge of him; I am very fond of children, only they must be obedient.”

“Obedience is an unknown word to Master Rolf,” returned Judson, lugubriously; “times out of number that boy has got me into trouble, just because he would not mind a word I said. Why, he got the colonel’s sword out of his mother’s wardrobe one day and nearly killed himself, and another morning he fired off his grandfather’s gun, that had been loaded by mistake, and shot poor old Pincher, not that he meant to do it; he was aiming at one of the pheasants.”

This was not pleasant to hear, and I inwardly resolved not to trust the children out of my sight; for who could tell what unforeseen accident might arise from Rolf’s recklessness?

“Mrs. Markham blames me for all that happens,” went on Judson, “and Master Rolf knows that, and there is no checking him; he is not nearly so mischievous when his mother is near, because she loses patience, and has more than once boxed his ears soundly. She spoils him dreadfully, and he takes liberties with her as no child ought to take with a parent; but now and then, when he has aggravated her past bearing, I have known her punish him pretty sharply.”

This was sad; injudicious indulgence, and injudicious severity. Who could wonder if the results were unsatisfactory?

“No one dares to say a word to him except his mother,” went on Judson; “it is just her temper when she flies out at him; but she worships the very ground he walks on. If his finger aches she thinks he is going to die, and the house is in an uproar; and yet when he is ill he is as contrary as possible, and will not take a thing from her, for all her petting and coaxing.”

It seemed a relief to Judson to pour out her woes, and I could hardly refuse to listen to her. She was evidently attached to her mistress, with whom she had lived since her marriage; but she was one of those helpless beings who are made the butt of other people’s wills and passions; she had no dignity of mind to repel even childish impertinence; her nervous, vacillating ways would only increase Rolf’s tyrannical nature.

I could understand how a high-spirited boy would resist any command enforced by that plaintive voice. A few quick concise words would influence him more than a torrent of feeble reproaches from Judson. He was not without generous impulses—what English boy is?—he had grasped at once my meaning when I rebuked him for his want of gentlemanly honour, but he was precocious and over-bearing, and had lived too much in the society of grown-up people.

My knowledge of the world was not great, but I know how deficient in reticence many grown-up people are in the presence of children; the stream of talk that is poured into the little pitchers is often defiled with low conventional views of duty, and painfully uncharitable remarks; the pure mirror of a child’s mind—and how pure that mind often is!—is frequently sullied by some unchristian observations from lips that to the child are half divine. “See how ye offend one of these little ones,” was the Master’s warning; and yet if we could look into one of these young minds, we should often see its placid serenity broken up and ruffled by some unthinking speech, flung like a pitiless pebble into its brightness.

After all, we spent a pleasant afternoon on the beach, and I do not believe the children enjoyed themselves more than Hannah and I.

It was not a long walk to the shore if we had followed the direct route; but I wanted to see the pretty village of Netherton more closely; so we walked past the church and down the main street, and turned off by the row of bungalows that skirted the cliff, and, crossing the cornfields, made our way down a narrow cutting to a little strip of shingly beach, with its border of yellow sands washed by the summer surf. I would willingly have sat under the breakwater all the afternoon, watching the baby waves lapping upon the sands, and laying driblets of brown and green seaweed on the shore, while Reggie brought me wet pebbles and little dried up crabs and empty mussel shells, but Rolf wanted me to help with his sand castle; indeed, we were all pressed into the service; even Reggie dug up tiny dabs of sand and flung it at us, under the belief that he was helping too.

What a pretty scene it was, when the castle was finished, and its ramparts adorned with long green festoons and pennants of brown ribbons; and Reggie sat at the top kicking his little bare legs with delight, while Rolf dug the trench down to the sea, which filled and bubbled over in a miniature lake, in which disported the luckless crabs and jelly fish which he had collected for his aquarium.

There is something sad in the transitoriness of children’s play on the shore; they are so eager to build up their sand towers and mounds. When the feeble structure is finished the little workpeople give a cry of joy, as though some great task were accomplished. Then the waves creep up stealthily; there is a little cold lisping outside the outworks, as though the treacherous foes were lurking around; in a few seconds the toy castle is in ruins. The children look at the grey pool that has engulfed their treasure with wide, disappointed eyes.

“Oh, the greedy sea,” they say, “it has destroyed our castle!” But to-morrow they will come again with beautiful childish faith and build another, and still another, until some new game is proposed, or they are weary of play.

It was quite late in the afternoon when we turned our faces homeward. Joyce was tired, so we put her in the perambulator, and I carried Reggie. Rolf hung behind rather sulkily; fatigue evidently made him cross; but he brightened up in an instant when the sound of horses’ hoofs struck on our ears, and in another moment a little cavalcade came in sight—Miss Cheriton mounted on her pretty brown mare Brownie, and her father and Mr. Hawtry on each side of her.

She smiled and waved her hand to us, and Mr. Hawtry raised his hat slightly. They would have passed on, but Rolf exclaimed, “Oh, do take me up for a ride, Mr. Hawtry, I am so tired!” and Mr. Hawtry looked at Miss Cheriton, and pulled up at once.

“Put your foot on my boot, then, and I can reach you,” he returned; and as Hannah lifted him up, not without difficulty, he threw his arm round him, and kept him steady. “Now, then, hold tight; we must overtake the others,” I heard him say, and they were soon out of sight.

“It must be werry nice to be Rolf,” sighed Joyce, enviously, as Hannah wheeled her up the dusty road.

I think we were all glad when we had reached the cool nursery, and found a plentiful tea spread on the round table. The children were so sleepy that we were obliged to put them to bed as soon as they had finished their tea.

Rolf did not make his appearance until later, and then he burst into the room with his arms full of paper and string, and we were very soon hard at work on the window-seat, constructing the tail for his kite.

He was in high spirits, and talked volubly all the time.

“I told mother about bread and salt,” he began, “and she liked the idea very much. She made me repeat it again to grandpapa, and he patted me on the head, and gave me half-a-crown. When grandpapa is pleased about anything he always gives people half-a-crown. I think he ought to give you one, Fenny. Do you mind my calling you Fenny? it sounds so nice, rather like funny, and you are so funny sometimes.”

“It sounds much more like Fanny,” I returned.

“Oh, do you think so? I will ask Aunt Gay what she thinks. Aunt Gay is so fond of you, she told me so to-day, only she said it was a secret, so you must keep it. I told Mr. Hawtry the story about the robber servant this evening after dinner, and he said that he was a plucky fellow, in spite of his being a robber; and so I think. Do you like Mr. Hawtry, Fenny?”

“I do not know him, dear.”

“Oh, no, of course, you are only a nurse, and so you don’t come in the drawing-room like other people; you would not know how to behave, would you? Mr. Hawtry said something about you this evening. Mother was talking to him, you know how, only I can’t tell you—bread and salt, you know,” and here Rolf looked excessively solemn; “and Mr. Hawtry said—no, don’t stop me, it is nothing bad, nothing like mother; oh, dear, it will come out, I know—he only said, ‘She seems a very quiet, well-conducted young person, and not at all above her duties,’ for you were carrying Reggie, you know.”

“Oh, Rolf, do hold your tongue,” I exclaimed, crossly, for this was too much for my forbearance. What business had Mrs. Markham to talk me over with strangers? I ought to have stopped Rolf, but my curiosity was too strong at that moment. “A quiet, well-conducted young person,” indeed. I felt in a fever of indignation.

Rolf looked up from his kite with some surprise.

“Does talking disturb you? We are getting on beautifully. What a lovely tail my kite will have!” Then, as though a thought struck him, “Are you ever cross, Fenny; really cross, I mean?”

“Yes, very often, Rolf,” for being a fairly conscientious person, I could not deny my faults of temper.

“Oh!” with a peculiar intonation, “I wonder if Aunt Gay knows that. Do you remember any anecdotes about crossness, Fenny?”

I am afraid of what my answer might have been, for I was considerably nettled at Rolf’s malicious tone, but happily Judson came at that moment with a message from Mrs. Markham that even Rolf did not dare to disobey, for he ran off at once, without bidding me good-night, and leaving all his tackle strewn over the floor for Judson to clear.

As soon as I was left in solitude, I went to the open window. It was clear moonlight again. There were the tree-shadows, and the long, silvery path across the meadows; a warm radiance from the drawing-room was flung across the terrace. The same sweet bird-like voice that I had heard in the orchard that morning was singing an old-fashioned ballad—

Someone clapped their hands and said “Bravo!” when it was finished.

“What a lovely evening! Do come into the garden, Adelaide; it is quite warm and balmy.” And then there was a rustle and movement underneath me, a sweep of dark drapery, followed by the whisk of a white gown, as Gay ran down the steps, pursued by Rolf. Two gentlemen sauntered down the terrace; one of them was Mr. Hawtry; I could hear his voice quite plainly.

“This is a capital cigarette, squire. When a man is not much of a smoker, he will not put up with an inferior article. I have some cigars by me now——” The remainder of the interesting sentence was lost in the distance.

Men are rather satirical on the subject of women’s talk. They quiz us dreadfully, and insist that our main topic is bonnets, but I am not sure that we could not retaliate with equal force. Bonnets can be treated as works of art, but could anything be more trivial and worthless than a cigar?

They were still talking about the odious things when they returned, only I was too disgusted to listen any more. I was in a bad humour, that was certain—one of those moods when only a real tough piece of work can relieve one. I closed the window and drew down the blind, and then armed myself with my pocket dictionary. I would write a long letter to my mistress, and tell her about our afternoon on the beach, and I would pick out the hardest and most difficult words—those that I generally eschewed.

I heard afterwards I had written a beautiful letter, without a single mistake, and that my mistress read it over and over again—that is, that she considered it beautiful, because it was all about the children.

“Nonsense, Merle, it was a sweet letter, and I showed it to my husband.”

I was in a better humour when I had finished it, and called Hannah.

“Hannah, we shall go on the beach to-morrow morning, and so I shall be able to spare you in the afternoon; I shall not take the children farther than the garden. You can go and have tea with your sister, if you like, and you need not hurry home. I am growing far too idle, and I have not half enough to do,” for I wanted to check any expression of gratitude on the girl’s part, but a tap at the door silenced us both.

It was only Miss Cheriton come to wish me good-night. She had a basket of fruit and a dainty little bunch of roses in her hand.

“I saw the light in your window, and thought of the poor prisoner behind it, and I thought this would cheer you up,” laying her pretty offerings on the table. “I am going to take you all for a drive to-morrow through Orton-on-Sea; the children will like to see the shops and jetty. Well, good-night; I am dreadfully sleepy; to-morrow we will have another long talk.” And then she left me alone with the roses.

(To be continued.)

“SHE SAT ALONE BY THE FIRE ONE DAY.”

FAITH AND UNFAITH.

By SARAH DOUDNEY.

“Faith and unfaith can ne’er be equal powers.”—Tennyson.

THE INHERITANCE OF A GOOD NAME. — CHAPTER II.

By LOUISA MENZIES.

VENUS’S FLY-TRAP.

ark, will you come to Sunbridge Woods and look for Venus’s fly-trap?”[1]

“With all my heart, Sorella; but what will mother do?”

“Oh, mother will be quite happy in the garden under your tent. She cannot walk in the heat, you know; but perhaps she’ll come and meet us if she does not drive with auntie.”

“Let us go and ask her,” said Mark; and led the way to the cool little parlour, where their mother was engaged in some parish writing for her brother, her writing-table so placed that she could look up from time to time at her husband’s portrait, which seemed to her, simple soul that she was! to look down on her with tender care and encouragement. Margaret never told her thoughts even to her daughter, but both Mark and Eva knew why their mother loved that place better than any other.

Mark propounded Eva’s scheme, which met with no opposition from their mother, who was well content to know that they were happy and together.

“Will you not take Elgitha?” she asked. “She loves to get a walk in the woods.”

Eva would rather have had her brother all to herself, but a suggestion from her mother was law to her; so Mark ran up to the rectory to see if Elgitha might come with them, while Eveline put on her walking dress and prepared her basket, scissors, etc.

Elgitha was now a big girl of thirteen. Small and delicate as she had been in her infancy, she was now developing a rather large frame, and was at that awkward age when a girl seems all angles, and does not know what to do with her hands and feet. Being an ugly likeness of her father, and in character more resembling the Echlins than the Manners, she in no way dimmed the lustre of Gilbert’s glory in her mother’s eyes, and was on all occasions extremely glad to escape to her aunt and cousins at the cottage.

The idea of a walk in the woods with Mark and Eveline was enchanting, a delightful relief to the tedium of a tête-à-tête drive with her mother in the phaeton, and Elgitha floundered into her walking gear with all possible speed. They met Eva at the garden gate, and, after she had put her cousin’s dress to rights with a few judicious touches, the three set off across the fields in the direction of Sunbridge. They crossed cornfields just ripening into yellow, spotted here and there with nodding poppies and blue cornflowers, and Elgitha sought counsel, as to the weather from the shepherd’s weather-glass, white or red, or, as to the time, from the seeding dandelion. The sun was high in the heavens, and blinding in his majesty, so that it was with a sense of exquisite relief that they gained the shelter of the woods, laden with full summer foliage, and whispering sweetly in the gentle wind. At Eva’s wish they sat down to rest under a lime just bursting into blossom.

It was a day when to be alive was pleasure, and Mark lay on his back gazing up into the world of tender green, dreaming deliciously; but Elgitha had not reached the dreamy age, and, having sat for five minutes, pulling to pieces a bunch of poppies which she had gathered, and watching their tender leaves float in the wind, she suddenly started up at the sight of a horseman riding along the high road, where it skirted the wood some two hundred paces distant.

“Hullo!” she shouted. “Gilbert, I wonder where he is going. Hullo! stop; where are you going?” And plunging through moss and bracken, she managed to make a right angle, and, climbing a five-barred gate, stood in front of her brother, as he came riding slowly along the road.

Gilbert was startled, but the horse knew Elgitha, whinnied, and stopped.

“How on earth did you come here?” said Gilbert, not in the most amiable manner.

“Oh! Mark and Eva are here,” explained Elgitha; “we have come out for a walk.”

“Then why do you tear along like a lunatic Meg Merrilies?”

“What a good idea!” laughed Elgitha; “you are Mr. Bertram riding from Ellangowan, and I am Meg; but I ought to be standing on the top of the gate to tell you your doom.”

“Nonsense, child; let the horse’s head free,” for Elgitha was fondling her father’s old favourite.

“The horse! Just as if the dear old thing hadn’t got a name! Poor darling old Dusty, who has carried you, man and boy, for these fifteen years. I’m ashamed of you, Gil.”

“I’m ashamed of him!” replied Gilbert, “the stupid old beast; he hasn’t a bit of spunk left in him, if he ever had any. A nice specimen, isn’t he, Mark?” for Mark and Eveline had not joined them. “What would St. Maur or Tullietudlem say to him? They’d hardly think him fit for dogs’ meat at Cambridge, would they?”

Mark patted the neck of the old horse, who had carried the rector for over twenty years.

“Dusty prefers Sunbridge to Cambridge; he’s quick enough for the rector, and can get over a quantity of ground if need be.”

“He and the rector suit each other, I’ve no doubt; but I wish the rector would keep something a little more up to the mark for his friends. It makes a fellow look such an owl to be astride of such a Rosinante. Mrs. Alderman Jacobson and those black-browed girls of hers passed me ten minutes ago in a splendid barouche with a couple of thoroughbreds—such beauties, Eva, that dark mottled grey that you love so, matched to an inch with silver-plated harness that positively dazzled me. It is scandalous; his grandfather, old Nat Jacobson, used to peregrinate the metropolis in search of cast-off wearing apparel with a black bag and a pyramid of old beavers on his patriarchal head.”

“Oh, Gil, how can you?” remonstrated Elgitha; “it is a case of industry rewarded. If our grandfathers had toiled as Nat Jacobson toiled, and accepted as fish whatever came into their nets, they might have added barn to barn and acre to acre, and left us the wherewithal to skim through the world in barouches drawn by silver-harnessed dappled greys.”

“True enough, most wise maid of Sunbridge, but I don’t think I should ever acquire a taste for making money; people in our position are not fitted for making money; but if our pater instead of being a model curate, had spent his energies on a good milk walk, you wouldn’t have to plod about on foot all your days, and I shouldn’t have had the confounded nuisance of choosing a profession.”

“Pity him—only pity him!” exclaimed Eva, laughing; “the poor young man has to make up his mind within the next twelve months whether he will be a lawyer or a clergyman. There’s yet a doctor, Gilbert. Why don’t you try medicine?”

“Pah! nasty messy work! Do you think I’d be at the call of every hysterical girl or hypochondriac old bachelor, pottering about from one stuffy room to another, with nothing to relieve the tedium but an occasional dish of scandal?”

“Have a care!” cried Mark; “the day may come when you shall need the help of Æsculapius yourself. For my part, I think no one more admirable than the true doctor, who often in the exercise of his art can ‘minister to the mind diseased,’ and, when all other hope is gone, can point the way to hope in heaven.”

“I believe, Mark,” said Gilbert, in disgust, “that you would find something to say in favour of an undertaker.”

“Perhaps I could; but as neither of us is called to weigh the pros and cons of that extremely useful calling, I confess I have not given it due consideration. You have the choice of the Church and the Bar, I of the Church or the Civil Service. I suppose, whichever we choose, we are neither of us to be pitied?”

“Bother your optimism! I believe it is your horrible contentedness that drives me into pessimism! I believe you would have me think that you enjoy dragging along through these woods at the heels of a couple of girls!”

“You can think what you please, Gilbert, it will not affect my comfort. I shouldn’t enjoy dragging at the heels of St. Maur or Tullietudlem, so let us agree to differ and wish each other a good morning. The woods at least are cooler than the high road, and as Eva is bent on having a specimen of Dame Venus’s fly-trap, we may have far to go.”

“And, pray, what may Venus’s fly-trap be?” said Gilbert, who never had any particular taste for his own company.

“I’ll show you, if we are lucky enough to find one,” cried Eva, following her brother into the wood. Elgitha stopped to give Dusty a farewell hug, then plunged after them, and Gilbert was left to his own devices. He slowly resumed his way, the sweetness of his temper not increased by the encounter, for though he affected to despise the company of girls, it was not pleasant to find them indifferent to him, and, sneer at Mark as he would, his frank, happy face filled him with envy.

Mark, of course, must decide on his calling before long. Whatever his decision, he must make his own way; his mother could give him no artificial support; it was very wise of him to make the best of it. Of course, if his pater had lived, things would have been very different, and Mark would have been—well, probably just like his present self, and would have found everything a “confounded bore.” And so post equitem sedet atra cura, and the lad of nineteen is handicapped with a heavy heart, in spite of his good father, his high-born and doting mother—in spite of his most expensive education and a moderate fortune in prospect.

The botanisers meanwhile threaded the mazes of the leafy trees with many a gay laugh and many a simple joke, and with much admiration of the multiform beauties spread before their eyes, until they came to a damp hollow, carpetted with moss of an emerald green brightness, which Eveline immediately recognised as the favourite habitat of the dainty moss which they were seeking.

They separated, each taking a division, and many lovely things, insect and vegetable, were presented to their eyes—tiny beetles, scarcely the size of a pin’s head, harnessed in green and gold, tiny flies with lustrous bodies floating on gauzy wings, mosses with dainty blossoms, scarce distinguishable in colour from the plant itself, often covering a treacherous ooze, and over all the whispering trees and the occasional coo of the woodpigeon—but the prize they sought still eluded them. Mark expressed it as his opinion that it only existed in Eveline’s imagination, and Eveline was, sorrowfully, about to give up the search, when Elgitha raised a loud shout of triumph, and there was a great leap, a splash, and a tumble.

“What are you doing?” exclaimed Mark, hastening to the help of his floundering cousin.

“Don’t mind me! don’t mind me! Here it is! I’ve found it, Lina, I’ve found it!”

“Let me look!” cried Eva, almost equally excited.

“Come round this way,” said Mark, guiding his sister on firm ground to the edge of the swamp. “If Elgitha had not been so impatient she might have won her prize with dry feet!”

“Veni, vidi, vici!” exclaimed the victorious Elgitha, holding aloft her prize; and, glancing at her soaking feet and stained dress, she continued, “When Julius Cæsar wrote that you don’t suppose he looked spick and span as when he went to dine with Pompeius Magnus.”

“Elgitha thinks the prize well worth the cost,” said Eva, admiring the lovely growth; “look at its delicate fan-like leaves, pale green, with tiny rosy spikes—dangerous beauties, too; look at these poor bodies of slain flies, here, ensnared by this leaf—and these new ones just unfolding their spikes, how innocent they look!”

“Nature’s coquettes!” laughed Mark. “Strange, is it not, to see the traps that are everywhere set for silly flies? But come, girls, we had best be getting home. We have accomplished the object of our expedition, taken our Pergama, as Elgitha would say, and the sooner we get our victorious maid home the better. It would be an ignominious catastrophe to have the discoverer of Venus’s fly-trap in bed for a week with mustard poultices and water gruel.”

Elgitha, elated with her success, protested, but in vain, for Eveline agreed with Mark, and observed that even if they had not been successful it was time that they should be getting home again.

The walk back was accomplished with sedater spirits, and as they neared home the brother and sister insensibly fell into grave discourse, while Elgitha, now rather tired, dragged a little behind.

The course of their future life was what they talked about, and Mark explained the reasons that made him hesitate to go into the Church, the course which his college successes seemed to indicate.

“It seems to me imperative,” said Mark, “that I should be no burden on my mother’s slender resources. I should dearly like to be able to make a home for you both.”

“But if Gilbert decides against taking orders there’s Bigglethwaite. I’m sure Aunt Elgitha would rather have you there than anyone else—better even than Gilbert, I think.”

“We must not think of Bigglethwaite, Lina; might as well fix on Rosenhurst itself. Failing Gilbert, the earl has someone no doubt in view, but I believe that it will end in Gilbert’s taking orders.”

“But he will never be fit,” remonstrated Eva.

“That is a hard thing to say. I don’t suppose that he will find the Bar pay, but I would rather not hang about waiting for his determination. I will make up my mind before October.”

“And you don’t know whether to be a clergyman, a schoolmaster, or to try for the Civil Service.”

“That is exactly how matters stand, Dilecta, so you see I am more perplexed than Gilbert; his choice lies between two; I am distracted by three.”

“And in all probability an accident will decide at last.”

“Probably, if, indeed, there be such a thing as accident.”

“My mother would like you to be a clergyman, I think.”

“I think she would, and what would my sister prefer?”

“I don’t know; I don’t think I very much care, for you will always be my own dear brother. Whichever will let me see most of you, I think.”

“You don’t ask me which I prefer,” pouted Elgitha, coming up behind.

“I didn’t know you were listening, goosie,” said Mark, drawing her arm through his, “But, come now, favour us with your opinion.”

“Well, Mark, my honest and true opinion is that you, if you don’t get away from stupid old Rosenhurst as soon as ever you can, you will be a goose of the first feather.”

“And wherefore, O most profound Sybilla?”

“Because there is nothing on earth to do; one day is just exactly like another, and as to being a parson, it just takes an angel like father to put up with it.”

“You naughty girl; what do you mean?”

“Why, isn’t he at everybody’s beck and call from Sunday morning to Saturday night? If Farmer Baynes quarrels with his son, father has to hear both sides, and to try and make them hear reason; if Widow Marvel’s ten babies are down with typhoid fever, because she will not keep the place decently clean, he has to supplement the work of the doctor, and go in and out of the filthy hole as if he liked it. Nobody is in any trouble, no one does any sin, but it all comes back upon father. Don’t you know that that’s what makes him look so white—that and Gilbert together?”

“Elgitha,” said Mark, gravely, “your father is one of God’s saints, and of such as he is the kingdom of heaven. Do not grudge him to the work; his reward is ready. But why would you have me leave Rosenhurst? Do you think sin and sorrow are not as frequent elsewhere?”

“Perhaps; but at any rate other places cannot be as stupid.”

“And yet, child, if you go away, before a year is out you will be looking back to these stupid days with fond regret, and will remember nothing of Rosenhurst but its roses and lilies.”

“I’d wager you something to the contrary, only I know you wouldn’t bet; but here we are home again. Don’t open the gate, please; I’m going round at the back. Mother’ll be in an awful fume if she sees this frock; Mary’ll get it cleaned for me. Here, Lina, take Aunt Margaret this trophy,” holding out a dainty specimen of the fly-trap, snugly packed in moss.

“Nay, dear, that is the prettiest piece of all; take it to Aunt Elgitha.”

“Oh, she wouldn’t care for it; she’d forget to put it in water, and so should I. Aunt Margaret will love it, and know just what it wants, and keep it alive for weeks, and paint it and learn it by heart. Good-bye for the present; I suppose you will be coming in for a little music by-and-by?”

“That is as the superior powers may have determined,” said Mark, holding the gate for her to enter, and so the expedition ended.

(To be continued.)

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VARIETIES.

O Nanny, wilt thou gang wi’ me?

Some time ago, in The Girl’s Own Paper, there appeared an interesting sketch of the “Reliques of Ancient English Poetry,” with some facts of the life of Bishop Percy. In the account given, no mention is made of the once popular ballad, “O Nanny, wilt thou gang wi’ me?” or the event that gave rise to its production. The circumstances, however, were of such an unusual character, that they will certainly bear telling once more.

It was in 1771, about six years after the publication of the “Reliques,” and at the very height of Percy’s literary fame, that Mrs. Percy was summoned to the Court of George III. and appointed nurse to the infant Prince Edward, afterwards Duke of Kent, and ultimately the father of our present good and most gracious sovereign Queen Victoria. Mrs. Percy is said to have been a very amiable and excellent woman. Miss M. L. Hawkins, in writing of the occurrence, says: “His Royal Highness Prince Edward’s temper, as a private gentleman, did not discredit his nurse, for his humanity was conspicuous.”

It was when Mrs. Percy had fulfilled the duties of her high position as personal attendant to the young prince, and on her return to the quiet Northamptonshire vicarage of Easton Mandit, that Dr. Percy greeted his long absent wife with the following verses:—

When the ballad was first published it is said to have been exceedingly popular, and greatly enhanced the reputation of its author. The Gentleman’s Magazine for 1780 speaks of it as being “not undeservedly” regarded as “the most beautiful song in the English language.”

Mrs. Percy was a native of Northamptonshire, and the daughter of Barton Gutteridge, Esq., of Desborough. Her union with Dr. Percy proved to be a very happy one, though clouded over on several occasions with grief and sorrow at the loss of some of their children, particularly at the death of their only son Henry, a promising young man of twenty years of age. The greatest affection existed between husband and wife, and continued to the end of their days. A very pleasing illustration of this fact is given in Pickford’s Life of Percy. The incident occurred in Ireland when Percy held the see of Dromore. On one occasion, when the bishop was from home, a violent storm came on in the evening, and was of such a character that the friends with whom he was staying earnestly entreated him to remain for the night, but the companionship of the “Nanny of his Muse” was a more powerful magnet than the pleading of kind friends or shelter from the tempest, so he ventured forth heedless of the howling winds and drenching rain. Subsequently he commemorated the event by writing the following lines, which were first published in 1867:—

Mrs. Percy died on the 31st December, 1806. Her remains were interred within the Cathedral of Dromore. Several poems were published on her decease in the Gentleman’s Magazine at that time. One of them, descriptive of the graces of this excellent lady, reads thus:—

Dr. Percy lived on for five years longer, passing away on September 30th, 1811, revered and beloved for his piety, liberality, benevolence, and hospitality, by persons of every rank and religious denomination.

Leisure Hour.

A Doubtful Advantage.—A young working man was being shown the advantages of having a home of his own instead of knocking about in lodgings. “I don’t see,” said he, “the good of giving some woman half my victuals to get t’other half cooked.”

Content.

Woman’s Sphere.

A Miserable Young Woman.—To those who, without any real knowledge of music, make the air around them hideous by their everlasting strumming on a piano, the following passage in Carlyle’s life may prove instructive:—“The miserable young woman in the next house to me spends all her young bright days, not in learning to darn stockings, sew shirts, bake pastry, or any art, mystery, or business that will profit herself or others; not even in amusing herself or skipping on the grass plots with laughter of her mates; but simply and solely in raging from dawn to dark, to night and midnight, on a hapless piano, which, it is evident, she will never in this world render more musical than a pair of barn clappers! The miserable young female!”

A Sweeping Argument.—“That is a sweeping argument,” remarked the husband, whose wife used a broom to convince him that he ought to have been home several hours previously.

The Great Art of Life.—It is the great art and philosophy of life to make the best of the present, whether it be good or bad; to bear the bad with resignation and patience, and to enjoy the good with thankfulness and moderation.

Beautiful Hands.—A white hand is a very desirable ornament, and a hand can never be white unless it be kept clean; nor is this all, for if a young lady excels her companions in this respect, she must keep her hands in constant motion, which will cause the blood to circulate freely and have a wonderful effect. The motion recommended is working at her needle, brightening her house and making herself as useful as possible in the performance of all domestic duties.—Mrs. Jamieson.

MORE ABOUT Y.W.C.A.; “GIRL’S OWN PAPER” BRANCH.

By the Hon. GERTRUDE KINNAIRD.

About three years ago a paper appeared in the pages of this magazine entitled “Y.W.C.A.” It will be interesting to trace the growth of the seed then sown, and to see whether it found any ground where it could take root and grow. That some soil was prepared to receive it appeared evident from the very first, for letters flowed in to the writer of that paper from many parts of the country.

Some of these letters were from girls living in the neighbourhoods where the Young Women’s Christian Association had established branches, but about which they knew nothing, although its benefits were just what they needed. They had not even heard of the existence of an association in which provision is made for the social, intellectual, moral, and spiritual welfare of young women. These girls were at once put into communication with the local secretary, who received them with a hearty welcome, and it is pleasant to record the eagerness displayed by our new members in availing themselves of the opportunity afforded to them by our Association to become allied with the great band of young women now encircling the globe who desire to live godly, righteous, and sober lives in this present evil world.

On the other hand, a large number of letters came from those who lived at a greater or less distance from any existing branch, and it became necessary to find some link by which these young people could be joined together. They were therefore formed into the “Girl’s Own Paper Branch,” a name which has since been abbreviated to “Girl’s Own Branch”; and a very efficient Secretary was found in Miss Violet Tweedy, who was somewhat unwilling to undertake this work, but now writes, “I love the work, and would not give up my girls for anything; it is one of my greatest pleasures writing and receiving letters from them.”

It is extremely important to observe the words “Scattered Members’ Branch,” and we will pause to consider this striking feature of the work of the Y.W.C.A., enabling it to extend its influence into places where no Institute or Home has found its way, and among those who cannot avail themselves of their special advantages.

Of such branches some of the most prominent are, the “Art Students’ Branch,” with this aim—to bring together in Christian, social intercourse, those who are studying art in our great centres of population, and the Secretary of this branch will be glad to receive the names of any students likely to be in London; the “Hospital Nurses’ Branch,” started for the purpose of uniting in sympathy those who are labouring to alleviate pain and suffering; the “Restaurant Girls’ Branch;” the “Rural Servants’ Branches,” etc., etc.

Let us now return to the history of our “Girl’s Own Branch.” The duty of the Secretary was to correspond with the members, supply them with the Monthly Letter, and induce them to take in one of the Association magazines. It was only about three years ago that our branch first saw the light, and during that period it has proved to have a healthy and vigorous life. In all 82 have joined, of whom a great many have been transferred to other branches, two have married, two have been removed by death, leaving 40 now in constant correspondence with the secretary.

That the individual members are alive may be judged from these facts:—

One member has a Saturday evening Bible class of twenty factory girls, whom she helps in many ways.

Another collected £1 for the Shaftesbury Memorial Fund, and a third collected for the Old Ford Institute; and all have helped in the special Christmas collections.

One of the members is an inmate of an incurable hospital, and is most helpful to the secretary by specially remembering in prayer any of her fellow-members who may desire to be thus aided.

We will now ask you to listen to the testimonies of the members by quoting a few passages from their letters, to which many more might be added:—

“I never thought seriously till I joined the Association,” writes one, “and now I am a totally different girl—so happy. I was confirmed last week, and shall always look back to the day with joy.”

“I think it seems so kind and good of ladies,” writes another, “to take such an interest in us poor girls. You little know half the good you do us or what our lives really are. I sometimes feel ready to give up in despair, when everything seems to go wrong, and at those times your letters seem sent of God to cheer me up and help me to go on again. They are read and re-read again and again, and I thank you for them much.”

A young member writes:—“Thank you very much for writing to me. I do enjoy your letters. I quite feel as though I knew you; but I should like to see you ever so much.”

Yet another:—“You have granted me such a privilege by asking me to write to you, which I shall be pleased to do.”

The last extract is from a girl of seventeen, who, after describing her life, adds:—“I have ordered, may I say, our Association papers.... I must now close, longing to have one of your ever welcome letters soon.”

Surely there is no need to question the usefulness of the Association. These letters tell their own story by the simple, unaffected manner in which the writers assert that they have received positive benefits through linking themselves to it.

It will not be out of place to add a word or two as to the objects of the Y.W.C.A. for the benefit of those who have not seen the article referred to, besides other notices which have appeared from time to time.

The products of nature are not valued in proportion to their size or outward appearance, but more generally with reference to their use for the sustaining of life. The spreading cedar is far more magnificent and beautiful than the little potato-plant, and yet the cedar would be less missed than the potato.

The rosy-cheeked, shining apple makes more show than the little seed-corn, and yet there is no comparison as to which we could most easily spare. The apple we could dispense with; it would be difficult to dispense with what has been aptly termed “the staff of life.”

So with the Y.W.C.A. It does not assume to itself a great place in the way of presenting you with a magnificent appearance; but nevertheless its work is sure, and it is steadily making its influence felt through the length and breadth of the land. If anyone should wish to feel this influence, they must join the Association, follow it in its work, watch its effects, and the verdict must be favourable.

The Association is writing its name ineffaceably in the changed lives, enlarged hopes, higher aims, and nobler motives of many of its members.

Another point sometimes forgotten is that the object of the Association is to build up character, remembering that “it depends upon what we are as to what the world is like.”

Its aim is not to bring the members out of the spheres in which they have been placed, but to help them to do their duty better in that station of life where God Has placed them.

Its aim is to lead them to see that it does make a vast difference how they fulfil those duties, and that if they are actuated by high Christian motives, they will find this the way to ennoble all work.

Its aim is to teach its members who have the talent, or leisure, or education, or artistic training, to use this for the common weal, and save them from the selfish narrowness of a useless life.

Thus the Y.W.C.A. does its quiet work day by day. Sometimes it offers its protection to a girl who sets foot in London or some other large town for the first time, the Stations Visitor sent out by the Travellers’ Aid Department (Office, 16A, Old Cavendish-street, W.), meeting her at the Station or Wharf. Sometimes it saves a girl from falling into the snares, now so often laid for them in advertisements offering high wages and little work, which means ruin and degradation. Any girl may apply to the Employment Agency, 17, Old Cavendish-street, or to the Business Agency, 316, Regent-street, for a safe situation, or for information concerning registries and advertisements. Sometimes it gives occupation for the leisure hours when tired fingers and weary brain need relaxation and change. There are 40 institutes and homes in London alone, and 125 branches, and similar work is carried on all over the country.

The Association has thus proved itself indispensable to many a lonely, tempted girl. Thank God for the Young Women’s Christian Association! The London Association has published four reasons why every girl should join.

Y.W.C.A.
Why Should I Join?

Because every young woman should identify herself with an Association which is pre-eminently her own, and thus support it by her influence and example.

Because if you yourself do not need the special advantages of our Association, remember the thousands of our sisters who do; therefore, enrol yourself as a member, and encourage every one whom you may come across to do the same.

Because, if you desire to work for God, here is a delightful sphere for all the time and talents you have to spare, as almost all our local branches are needing helpers.

Because, by joining, and also influencing others to join, you may be the means of bringing many in who will by-and-by say, “Thank God I ever came in here!”

Enough has been said to prove that the seed sown in The Girl’s Own Paper three years ago has taken root and flourished, and we would ask every young reader to join their own branch at once. They may join as Associates or Prayer Union Members, paying 1s. a year, or as Working Members, 2s. 6d. a year, or as Honorary Associates, 5s. a year, by writing to Miss V. Tweedy, Widmore House, Bromley, Kent; or, if they prefer, to the Secretary, at the Central Office, 17, Old Cavendish-street, W. Subscriptions in aid of the work will be thankfully received by the Hon. Secretaries—Mrs. H. Arbuthnot, 15, Craven-hill-gardens, London, W., and the Hon. Emily Kinnaird, 2, Pall Mall East, S.W.

TINNED MEATS; THEIR VALUE TO HOUSEKEEPERS — PART II.

By A. G. PAYNE, Author of “Common-sense Cookery,” “Choice Dishes at Small Cost,” “The Housekeeper’s Guide,” &c.

In my last article on tinned meats I described how to give a nice little dinner at a short notice, supposing the larder only contained a cold shoulder of mutton. I will now give a few hints on the general management of tinned meats. I will also fulfil my promise of describing how to make that most useful article in cooking, brown roux, which in my opinion is absolutely essential should we wish to make our tinned thick soups a success.

First let us consider the best way of managing tins, the contents of which are generally eaten cold, and do not require warming up.

Perhaps the two most common examples of tinned provisions are sardines and tinned lobster. For very many years sardines have been a popular breakfast dish, and the plan has been to open the tin of sardines, and leave the sardines in the tin till all are finished. Tinned lobster is a more modern invention, and inexperienced housekeepers, from habit, have treated the lobster exactly as they have the sardines, viz., they have opened the tin and left the lobster in the tin. I would warn you that this method of dealing with tinned lobster is not merely wrong, but absolutely dangerous. From time to time reports have arisen on the danger of eating tinned goods, and every now and then we hear of cases of persons being ill, who date the origin of their illness from eating some species of preserved provision. You would do well to bear in mind that the persons to blame are not the makers of the tinned goods, but the housekeeper who opens them and then fails to exercise her common sense. Probably every housekeeper is aware of the fact that if you make soup it is necessary to turn the soup out in a basin before going to bed. Every cookery book teaches us the fact that if we leave the soup in the saucepan all night long it spoils. Why? Why should soup get bad in a metallic vessel, where it would not get bad in a porcelain one? The answer is very simple—on account of the metal being acted on by the air. If you leave a moist knife in the kitchen, in two or three days it becomes rusty. Why, then, should we expect meat or fish or food of any kind whatever to keep good in a tin, when we know it would not keep good in a tin saucepan? The fact is, we have never thought about it at all. But I do not think I need enlarge upon the subject, as, if you have any common sense, a hint will be sufficient, and if you have no common sense, it is useless to attempt to reason with you. Therefore bear this one most important point in mind—whenever you open any kind of tinned provision, turn it out of the tin directly the tin is opened; otherwise it will instantly commence to undergo a chemical change, which becomes stronger the longer it is opened. Some persons, perhaps, will say, How is it that we have been in the habit for years, perhaps, of opening sardines, and have never experienced any inconvenience whatever? The simple reason is that the sardines are preserved in oil, and that the oil prevents the action of the air on the metal. To explain my meaning, you may try the following experiment:—Take two bright knives; dip one in water and the other in thick oil. Leave the two knives for three or four days. The one dipped in water will be covered with rust, owing to the action of the air on the metal (perhaps some of you are sufficiently acquainted with chemistry to know what I mean by saying that the metal oxidises); the knife that has been dipped in oil, on being wiped, will be found as bright as it was before, owing to the action of the air being prevented on the metal by the oil.

Space will not allow of my giving a list of all the nice little delicacies that are now preserved in tins, but I will mention a few—potted beef, ham, tongue, chicken, turkey, etc. Then there are pork patties in tins, savoury patties, Oxford brawn, while, if you wish to have what may be termed higher class delicacies, there is paté de foie gras, as well as truffled woodcock, lark, snipe, plover, partridges, quails, etc., all of which are sold in tins, the tins being rather more than half-a-crown a piece. If we take one of these tins and open it in the ordinary manner, leaving the tin half on as a lid, it is by no means an elegant-looking dish, whereas if we cut the tin entirely round the edge and take the top off, then make a little hole the other side in order to let the air get in, we can turn the whole of the contents of the tin out in a shape exactly as we could turn jelly out of a copper mould. The tin of potted beef, if that is what we have, can be turned out on an ornamental piece of paper placed in the middle of a dish. The dish can then be ornamented with a little bright green parsley, and a little cut lemon, and can be made to look really appetising. In fact, there is no more excuse for sending potted meat to table in the tin than there would be for sending a mould of jelly to table in the mould. What would you say if you were asked out to a dinner were the man to hand round the mould of jelly in the mould, and you were to scoop it out with a spoon? and yet this is what you have virtually done over and over again at breakfast.

IN THE KITCHEN.

I will now give you a list of the different kinds of soups that can be obtained in tins, and will explain how to make brown roux, which is used for improving every kind of thick soup, and also show how thin soups may be improved. The following soups may be obtained in tins: real turtle soup, game, grouse, oyster, hare, chicken broth, giblet, hotch potch, kidney, mulligatawny, mock turtle, ox cheek, ox tail (thick and clear), tomato, cressy, gravy, green pea, julienne, mutton broth, Palestine, bouilli, vegetable, venison, and vermicelli.

Brown roux is simply flour fried brown in butter. Probably most cooks have heard of the ordinary method of thickening soups with flour. The result is that the soup has a gruelly taste. If, however, the flour is fried a light brown before it is used for thickening the soup, it produces quite a different effect. In fact, in one case the flour is cooked, and in the other case it is raw, and the difference in the flavour is as great as that between a dish of pastry before it is put in the oven to be baked, and afterwards. You all know what a nice thing a rich piece of pie-crust is, especially if it be made from puff paste. Of course before it was put in the oven to be baked it would be absolutely uneatable. So with our brown roux. If you wish to make it properly proceed as follows: Take, if possible, an enamelled stewpan, and place in it half a pound of butter and melt it. When the butter has run to oil you will find that there is a sediment at the bottom, which looks something like milk, as, indeed, it is, as also a frothy scum at the top; skim this off, and then pour off the oiled butter into a basin and throw away the sediment. Now add to this clarified butter, which should have the appearance of good salad oil, half a pound of dry flour. Remember that you cannot fry anything properly unless it be first thoroughly dry. The flour and butter will form a sort of pudding, and you must stir this pudding over the fire with a spoon until the pudding begins to turn a light brown. As soon as it is turned a light brown colour, take the stewpan off the fire, but go on stirring. As the stewpan keeps hot a long time the flour will go on cooking for quite a quarter of an hour after it has been taken off the fire. You can if you like slacken the heat by throwing in a piece of onion. Of course, the onion will very soon turn brown itself. When the brown flour or roux has got comparatively cool, put it into a basin or small jar, and put it by for use. You will find it most convenient to make this in sufficient quantity to last, say, for a month. It will keep good for almost any length of time.

Every kind of thick soup sold in tins will be greatly improved by a good dessertspoonful of this brown roux being added to each pint of soup after the tin has been opened and the contents poured into a small saucepan. In addition to brown roux you must add a good-sized teaspoonful of extract of meat. Recollect the brown roux should be crumbled into the soup, and the soup should be allowed to boil for a few minutes in order that it may get thick.

Of course we cannot use brown roux for clear soups. Now these clear soups are undoubtedly, as a rule, very poor. I would suggest the following means of improving them. Add first of all a brimming teaspoonful of extract of meat, then to every pint of clear soup take a teaspoonful of cornflour. Mix the cornflour with a little cold water in a cup, say a dessertspoonful of cold water, or a little more, and while the soup is boiling in the saucepan, add the cornflour to it. You do not wish to make the soup thick, as could be done by adding a large quantity of cornflour, but by adding a small quantity you give it what may be called a consistency. The soup, instead of being as thin as water, is more like milk, and although the soup is not in reality any richer, it conveys the idea of being exceedingly good. Another method of improving clear tinned soups in flavour is by the addition of celery. If you have a head of celery in the house, take a small stick, and with a knife cut it into very thin slices indeed. Boil this in the soup, and you will find that it will improve the flavour very considerably, that is, if the soup contains other kinds of vegetables. Another method is to boil a couple of beads of garlic in the clear soup, but then many persons object to the flavour of garlic. Still, if garlic is used with care it is not nearly so objectionable as many people think. There is a strong prejudice against the use of garlic in this country, but I believe this prejudice is brought about by the fact that English cooks as a rule do not understand how to use it. Garlic should be used to impart a slight flavour, and should rarely if ever be chopped up to be eaten.

I will now go on to another class of preserved provisions, viz., fish. Sardines and pilchards are preserved in oil, and are very nice eaten just as they are, only bear in mind that cut lemon and cayenne pepper is a very great improvement to them in their natural state.

A very simple method of having a nice dish in a hurry for breakfast or for dinner can be made as follows:—Open a tin of sardines or a tin of pilchards, pour the oil of the tin into a frying-pan, and add to it a brimming teaspoonful or more of curry powder, moistened in a little water. Add a teaspoonful of cornflour, also moistened in a little water. Stir the whole for a time till you get a thick, oily gravy. Now add the fish, either sardines or pilchards, and gradually make them hot in this quickly-made curry sauce, and with a spoon keep pouring the sauce over the fish. You must be careful not to break the fish. As soon as the fish are thoroughly hot through, take them out of the frying pan with a slice similar to that you use for taking out fried eggs, place them on a hot dish, and scrape all the oily curry gravy over the top.

Some few years ago great things were expected from what was called the Australian meat in tins. Since the introduction of frozen meat, we have heard a great deal less about meat in tins. Still these tins are very useful to persons living in out-of-the-way places in the country, where frozen meat would be just as difficult to obtain as ordinary butchers’ meat. Australian meat differs very much in quality. As a rule you will find that unless the meat is surrounded by a good deal of jelly it is not worth having at all. When the Australian meat has plenty of jelly with it, and you can turn it out in a solid lump, I am not sure but what the best method is to have it as it is—cold. It wants cutting with a very sharp knife indeed. It is very light of digestion. You can send it to table just as it is, surrounded with the white part of a lettuce, placed alternately with beetroot. Australian meat can, however, be sent to table hot, and there are several ways of doing it. One method is to make it into an Irish stew. Warm the tin just sufficiently to melt the jelly, pour off all the jelly into a saucepan, and slice up half-a-dozen good-sized onions and boil them in the jelly. Boil, say, an equal weight of potatoes to meat, also separately, in some water. Then place the hot cooked potatoes, the tender-boiled onions, and gravy with the meat in a saucepan, and as soon as the meat is hot through send it to table. The reason why we proceed this way is that the drawback to Australian meat is that it is already over-cooked; consequently, you must avoid cooking it more than can be helped.

Tinned meat can also be made into curry in a similar way—that is, after you have melted the jelly you pour it off and use it to make some strong, rich curry sauce. The meat should then be placed in the curry sauce and served as soon as it is hot through. The meat should be shredded with a couple of silver forks, so that the curry can be eaten with a fork.

Australian meat can also be used for making a meat pie. To make a good meat pie, you must melt the jelly, pour it into a saucepan, and boil with it six beads of garlic, and also add some gelatine to make the jelly when cold nice and firm. In fact, it should be quite as firm as an ordinary mould of jelly. Now place the Australian meat in a piedish, pour the gravy over it, and place a few very thin slices of bacon on the top. You can also mix with the pie a teaspoonful of chopped parsley, and be sure to add plenty of black pepper. Few cooks realise what a large amount of black pepper is required for a meat pie. You can also add to the pie half-a-dozen hard-boiled eggs cut in halves. Now cover the piedish over with the crust, and bake it in the oven. As soon as the pastry is done, the pie is done; the meat, as I have said before, is already over-cooked. Try and manage to keep by you a little of the gravy, and when the pie is cold, add the remainder. Pour this gravy into the pie through the top, and fill the gravy up so that it reaches the crust. Remember, this pie can only be eaten cold. If you use garlic in a meat pie, you cannot cut the pie while it is hot. The gravy should be poured in when it is nearly set.

(To be continued.)

A “PRINCESS OF THULE” IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.

By Rev. THOMAS B. WILLSON, M.A.

Away in the far, far West of Ireland, the great Clew Bay indents the coast of the County of Mayo. At the northern entrance of this bay rise the mighty cliffs of Achill, against which the long Atlantic rollers dash themselves, in all weathers, with unceasing spray, and after a storm with terrific fury. On the south the promontory of Old Head, near Lewisburg, rises abruptly from the sea, but with less striking cliffs than on the northern side.

The bay is surrounded by hills and mountains, bare for the most part of trees, but clad in the richest purple by the heather in the summer-time. Conspicuous among the mountains is the wondrous cone-shaped Croagh Patrick, towering in an almost perpendicular mass on the southern shore, above the ruined abbey of Murrisk. From the top of it St. Patrick, according to popular legend, expelled the serpents for ever from Ireland, and it is regarded as a specially holy place by the people, who in great numbers make an annual pilgrimage to the top.

Many are the islands which dot the surface of the bay, some large, some very minute. There are said to be no less than three hundred and sixty-five of them, one for every day in the year, and if one looks upon the wondrous archipelago from a neighbouring height, they can well believe the number to be not much exaggerated. The little town of Westport is the only place of any importance on the bay, the terminus of the railway from Dublin, a spot which has seen better days, its large empty warehouses on the quay telling the sad tale of long-departed commerce.

Gorgeous are the sunsets to be seen in summer over this bay; and a conspicuous object, as the sun sinks into his “watery bed” in the Atlantic, bringing a new day to our brethren beyond the seas, is the great Clare Island, which forms a sort of natural breakwater at the entrance of the bay, restraining the full sweep of the great Atlantic rollers. Deep purple look the mountains and cliffs of the island as the sun sinks lower and lower, and the bare rugged cliffs and smaller adjacent islands seem transformed as if by magic, until they almost appear to be the Laureate’s

This rugged island in the sixteenth century was the home of a very remarkable woman, who may not unfitly be called a “Princess of Thule”—one very different indeed from Mr. Black’s charming heroine, cast in a much sterner and rougher mould—but a princess, nevertheless, and one undoubtedly from “Ultima Thule.”

Here lived and died the celebrated Grana Uaile, whose name in its Anglicised form we know as Grace O’Maley. She was the daughter of Breanhaun Crone O’Maille, or O’Maley, the Chief of Murrisk and of the Isles of O’Maley, of which Clare was the most important. The O’Maleys were a powerful clan, and had fought bravely in many of the local struggles. Breanhaun O’Maley died when his daughter had just grown to womanhood, leaving behind him a son, who was quite a child, and the one daughter, Grace. The laws of succession were not firmly established in those days and in that part of Ireland, and the strong-minded woman found little difficulty in setting aside the claim of the boy, and establishing herself as Chieftainess of the clan or sept of O’Maley. She soon gathered together a number of followers, who were ready to support this dauntless woman in those very unsettled days for Ireland, when the Virgin Queen sat upon the throne of England.

Quickly she became famous as the head of a powerful clan, and as a leader of rare courage and intrepidity. The Lord Deputy Sidney, writing of her in 1576, says, “O’Maley is powerful in galleys and seamen.” It is not curious that the matrimonial affairs of this remarkable woman were somewhat peculiar. She was twice married. First, to one of the O’Flahertys of Connemara. They were a powerful clan in the county of Galway, and had a stronghold called Krishlane-na-Kirca, or the Hens’ Castle, on the shores of Lough Corrib, the remains of which are still to be seen. The O’Flahertys were a wild and turbulent race in those days, the terror of the merchants of the then prosperous city of Galway, who commonly inserted in the prayers in their churches a petition to be delivered “from the ferocious O’Flahertys.” On his death she married Sir William Burke, a man of English race, who, however, had cast off allegiance to the English Crown, and was better known as the MacWilliam Eighter. It was a curious union, as Grana Uaile would only agree to it “for a year certain.” At the end of that period she disowned him, but did not attempt to contract any further alliance. She sided, however, with Sir Richard Bingham against these Bourkes, and they were defeated in a battle, a result largely achieved by the followers of Grana Uaile.

As a return for this timely aid, Queen Elizabeth invited this western princess to pay her a visit in London. The invitation was accepted by her, and she set sail from her castle in Clare Island for Chester, the usual port of arrival from Ireland in those days. Before reaching Chester she gave birth to a son, the only child of her curious second marriage, and named him Tobaduah-na-Lung, or Toby of the Ship. From Chester she proceeded to London, to her interview with Elizabeth. The Queen was at that time residing at Hampton Court, and thither Grace made her way. It must have been a curious scene, the meeting of these two women. The haughty Tudor Queen, and the wild, half-savage Chieftainess of the far West. The contrast in their dress, too, must have been very striking. We are all familiar with the pictures of the great Queen of England, adorned with her enormous ruff and elaborate dresses; it certainly must have looked curious beside Grace O’Maley, who, we are told, was attired in “thirty yards of yellow linen, and a mantle of red frieze”! Grana was little ready to fall into the subservient ways of courtiers. She shook hands with Elizabeth, and treated her in every way as an equal, regarding herself (and rightly enough, too) as an independent princess. The offer of a lap-dog the head of the sept of O’Maley rejected with scorn. Afterwards Elizabeth offered to create her a countess, but this honour she declined, on the ground that she was the head of her own people; but was willing that a dignity should be bestowed on her infant son.

Many have been the strange visitors received by English monarchs, but few more curious scenes have been witnessed than the reception of Grana Uaile by Queen Elizabeth at Hampton Court.

On the voyage home from England a very striking and romantic incident occurred, which gives some idea of the state of society in those days (it was 1575), and of the character of the Princess of Clare Island. On leaving the English coast severe weather was encountered, and instead of sailing at once north-west for her island home, Grana was driven across the Channel to the coast of the county Dublin. On the northern shore of the beautiful Dublin Bay the peninsula of Howth runs out into the sea, at the extremity of which was in ancient times a fortress often used by the Northmen, whose name for the promontory, Hoved, or head, has been corrupted into Howth. The Hill of Howth, as it is called, came into the possession of the family of St. Lawrence in the early times after the English conquest of Ireland; or rather its partial conquest, for it was not until after the reign of Elizabeth that the English authority was anything more than nominal, except along the eastern coast, in the part known as the English pale. The family of St. Lawrence were Barons (now Earls) of Howth, and had built their castle on the north-western slope of the hill, facing the mainland, and close to the isthmus which unites the hill to the main part of the county of Dublin. To the shelter afforded by the Hill of Howth, Grana Uaile and her ships were driven. She sought hospitality at the Castle, but on reaching it found the gates closed. The family were at dinner. Full of anger at this, she turned again to her ships, and on the way she chanced to find the heir of the St. Lawrences, then a little child, playing by the seashore. Here was a chance of revenge for the insult she had met with, and one which Grana would not be slow to avail herself of. The boy was captured by her retainers, placed on board her ship, and with this precious booty she made haste to reach her island home.

Great, we may well believe, was the anger and consternation of the family to find themselves robbed of their son and heir. There was not much use in appealing to the English Government, for the Queen’s writ could hardly be said to “run” in Western Mayo in the days of Elizabeth, any more than it sometimes does now in Kerry or Galway, so recourse had to be had to negotiation. After a considerable delay, Grana consented to release her captive, and this curious condition was attached to a substantial sum of money paid as ransom:—Whenever the family went to dinner, the gates of the Castle were to be thrown wide open, and a place was to be laid for one more guest than was expected! In making this provision, she clearly intended that no subsequent wayfarer should go hungry or empty away from Howth Castle. This curious custom was, I believe, continued in the family down to quite recent times.

This was the last striking exploit of Grana Uaile. She lived on in her island home, and died there at last, and was buried on the island, in the ancient Carmelite Abbey founded in 1224, the ruins of which are still to be seen, as well as the island fortress of this remarkable woman. A good many years ago a skull, which local tradition represented as hers, used to be shown to the rare tourists who visited Clare Island, but it is said to have disappeared.

Those whose summer wanderings lead them to the remote parts of the West of Ireland, and who do not mind, if need be, a good tossing on an often rough sea, might well spend a pleasant day in visiting Clare Island, and seeing for themselves the ruins of the Castle where our “Princess of Thule” lived and died in the days of “Good Queen Bess.”

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[Transcriber’s Note—the following changes have been made to this text.

Page 247: out to our—“turned our faces”.

Page 250: flytrap to fly-trap—“specimen of the fly-trap”.]