PANSY (_Advice_).—It would be a great mistake to become a companion, although you do say that such a career is your ambition. Companions occupy an anomalous position; their duties are undefined, and their services are consequently little valued. And, after middle life, the companion usually finds herself without an engagement, and without a profession of any kind. You say you do not wish to become a governess, but at the same time you feel yourself competent to teach children from seven years old to twelve. Now, under these circumstances would it not be wise to become an elementary school teacher? Your pupils would be of the ages mentioned, and you would have an occupation by which you could almost certainly earn a living. Elementary teachers are now in great demand, for this very reason, that so many girls will try to become companions and secretaries. Had you been under eighteen, you might have become an apprentice as a pupil-teacher in an elementary school; but as you are eighteen already, you had better pass the Queen’s Scholarship Examination, and then seek employment as an assistant teacher, or, much better, enter a teachers’ training college. You could study all the requirements more fully by obtaining through a bookseller a copy of the New Code, issued by the Education Department. If you wanted further advice, it is probable that some Board School or National School mistress in your own town would give it. SNOWBALL (_Typewriting, etc._).—A typist and shorthand writer, employed as a clerk in a City office, usually receives a weekly salary of from 18s. to 21s. to begin with, rising at the end of a year or two (if she is really competent) to 25s. and, after that, rising again possibly to 30s., 35s., or any amount not exceeding £2. But many girls do not advance beyond 25s. per week, and employment is to some extent precarious, as so many girls can now do typing and write shorthand with moderate skill. But we consider that a girl occupies a tolerably secure position who can do verbatim reporting, and can be relied on to take down all that is said at a long meeting, which, when interruption and discussion takes place, is by no means an easy task. But as you are quite young, write a good clear hand, which you will doubtless improve within the next twelvemonth, and are determined to work, we should counsel the Post Office Department of the Civil Service in your case, especially if you pass the Cambridge Junior Examination well, for which you are preparing yourself. You should try to get into the Service as a girl clerk as soon as you are sixteen; that is better than waiting till you are eighteen to enter as a woman clerk. Pay great attention meantime to your studies in French, German, geography, arithmetic, and handwriting. Girl clerks begin at a salary at £35, and women clerks at £55. The latter are eligible for a pension after a certain number of years’ service.