A LETTER FROM "SHAMROCK."

Southern Cross, Volume 2, Issue 16, 21 July 1894, Page 3

A LETTER FROM "SHAMROCK."

EDUCATION our of SCHOOL. MUSIC IN THE HOME. CONCERNING PALMISTRY. A SIMPLE TEST. Dear Linda, — I hope your readers were interested in my little sketch of life In India. Having 1 a wholesome fear of the editorial W.P.8., I was afraid to make my letter too long, or I might have told you how my interest and admiration were excited by the way in which the aforesaid manager’s family contrived to keep up intercourse with the outside world. Although the nearest town was sixty miles distant, they were in constant cemmunication with the lending library, and read all the new hooks. The young folks were well-educated, and occupied many an evening with music, the boys playing the violin, accompanied by their sisters upon the piano. Does not this prove that no one need be ignorant if there is a real wish for knowledge ? I suppose nowhere in our colony are persons quite so isolated as the family in question—at any rate the roads are passable by horses, and our libraries are replete with books which will teach and educate the reader. May I here mention one very useful contemporary history not nearly as well known as it might be ? I refer to White’s “ Eighteen Christian Centuries,” which will be found in the Athenaeum catalogue. I am sure many of us have felt that, in reading the history of different European nations, we could form no idea of the whole. Mr Whyte reduces each century to a chapter, giving the general outline of events which were taking place. Moreover, he says that as we recognise persons by their features, so, in the same way, we should recognise the centuries. To this end he places at the commencement of each chapter a sort of list of the contents, frnd if these headings are committed to memory the reader will have a very fair idea of general history. I am sure that many boys and girls who have left school early and gone to work feel keenly the need of carrying on their education. It is well when they do, for after all no one can really educate us; the utmost which they can do is to teach us how to educate ourselves to cultivate habits of observation, and to use the faculties God has given us. Out in the country especially the long dark evenings furnish an excellent opportunity for self-improvement. If any of our readers are too far out, or unable, for any other reason, to get books from town, let them begin with any useful book which is at hand. Surely every family possesses one or two of these, at least, and to be learning anything is better than to be learning nothing’. A copy-book and pen and ink will also prove beneficial, and one more hint let any whose spelling is defective keep a dictionary always at band, consulting it when ever they feel the least doubt about a word. To these young folks I would say —“ Do not feel discouraged if you seem to be making no progress. Plod away steadily, and in time you will see the result of your plodding.” What a pity it is that so many young ladies give up their music after marriage. I was recently invited to spend a quiet evening with a few friends, and inquired beforehand who would act as accompanist to a song. “ No one hut yourself,” was the reply. “ But Mrs S. plays —at least she did before her marriage,” I rejoined. “ Well, she was asked to do so the other night, and said she never touched the piano she had no time to now she had a little son to attend to as well as house and servant to look after, and,” continued my friend, “ I said to her ‘ Whatever you do, don’t let your music slip. Yon will want it when that hoy grows up. Half-an-hour daily will suffice to keep you in practice ; then, if your son should sing or should learn to play the violin you can accompany him on the piano.’ ”

Many a lad would learn to find his amusements in the home if the evening hours were made bright and happy, who would otherwise find them in questionable company. A few weeks ago, Linda, you ex| pressed your opinion upon the subject of palmistry. In a general way lam not prepared to differ from your conclusions. In the study of the hand, however, the position of the thumb is an index of character upon one point at least. Hold the hand up, stretching the thumb as far away as possible from the fingers. In proportion as the thumb, while held in that position, describes a curve on the under side, the hand is that of an organiser. I, have tried this over and over again, and always found it to be correct when sufficiently acquainted with the character ©f the person to whom th» test was applied to be able to judge. Shamrock.