TOMBOY.—Has your mother provided a leather (calfskin) suit for you of the “bloomer” or bathing-dress style? If not, how about the dresses she gives you? Surely they are very unsuitable for the “climbing of trees”? You may enjoy plenty of good exercise, in a great variety of ways, that will not injure your clothes. Of course, if a mad dog or ferocious bull were racing after you, no one could object to your climbing either a tree or a wall, and you might prepare for such an event by some lessons in gymnastic exercises. BIRNE seems injudicious in her attempt to take high notes. She risks the over-straining of her voice, and in so doing may lose it altogether. One hour’s practice daily is quite sufficient, if not preparing as a professional, in which case the period allotted for it should be divided; and you should not attempt to sing after taking outdoor exercise. HIGH-SCHOOL GIRL.—1. Playing such games with your brothers under the circumstances you name could not be at all objectionable. 2. Your verses need counting through, and the beat or emphasis placed on the proper syllable, as on the corresponding one in its corresponding line. The verses have, otherwise, some merit. WHITE ROSEBUD.—The old brass coin which you describe appears to be only a token, and of no value. [Illustration: ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS] THOMAS D.—The story of the Barmecide Feast is given in the “Arabian Nights,” in the tale of the “Barber’s Sixth Brother.” Schacabac, the hare-lipped, a poor man in the greatest distress, called one day on the rich Barmecide, who, in merry jest, asked him to dine with him. Barmecide first washed in hypothetical water, Schacabac following his example; Barmecide then pretended to eat of various dainties; Schacabac did the same, and praised them highly, and so the feast was carried on to its close; Barmecide was so pleased that Schacabac had the good taste and temper to enter into the spirit of the joke without resentment that he ordered a real banquet, at which he made Schacabac a welcome guest. Thus, a Barmecide feast is a dream feast, an illusion, a “castle in the air.” C. B. D.—1. We cannot quite make out whether you intended to hoax us or have been imposed on yourself by some would-be funny person. No such person as John Yarrow appears in “Alibone,” nor in any such book as a poet or elocutionist, nor as having refused the Poet Laureateship before it was offered to Tennyson. 2. What the “gold key of Windsor” is you must ask your informant to explain. Perhaps it is what the Irishman called “the kay to stay out” when he was ordered from the house! SOLDIER’S DAUGHTER.—A “drumhead” court-martial was a military court held on the spot, and the trial concluded without further meeting. The word originated from the fact that the big drum was placed on the three smaller ones for a table, and the court formed round it, the regiment being “in square” to witness the proceedings.