IVY LEAVES.—1. The specimen of prose composition you enclose is written in a curious way, as though it were intended for poetry. Prose usually flows consecutively on, line after line. You have evidently a love for nature and an eye for the beautiful, but more than this is needed for success in literature. You should read all you can.—2. Mary Queen of Scots was born at Linlithgow in 1542, a few days before the death of her father. GLADWYS.—You give no details of the sort of recitation you require, short or long, pathetic or humorous. “Aunt Tabitha,” by Oliver Wendell Holmes; “The Bishop and the Caterpillar” (_Boy’s Own Paper_); “The Walrus and the Carpenter,” by Lewis Carroll, are effective. “Over the Hill to the Poor House,” and “Over the Hill from the Poor House” are to be found, with other good recitations, in Alfred Miles’s _American Reciter_, price 6d. Of course, the volumes of Tennyson, Browning, Mrs. Browning, Longfellow, Whittier, Adelaide Anne Proctor, will provide you with an endless chain of lyrics. OUR OPEN LETTER BOX. TATIANA wishes to find a hymn beginning— “O that I had wings like a dove.” Another verse is— “My weary wings, Lord Jesu, mark, And when Thou thinkest best, Stretch out Thy arm from out the ark And take me to my rest.” She has been told that it is by F. Palgrave, but cannot trace it in his books. “E. T.” wishes to know who wrote a poem entitled “The Trumpeter’s Betrothed,” and where she can obtain it. “DOUBTFUL” has answers from “ALWAYS IN A HURRY,” “LEONORE,” MABEL ENTWISTLE, and A. MARTIN, who refer her for the poem “Somebody’s Mother” to Part I. of the _Thousand Best Poems in the World_, published by Hutchinson, and to the _A 1 Reciter_, edited by A. H. Miles. Three kind correspondents, A. M. ISAACS, EDITH ROLLASON, and “EDYTHE” copy out the poem and send it to us for her. “ALWAYS IN A HURRY” asks for a poem in which occurs the line— “Many a song in heaven was begun on earth with a groan.” “BRIGHT STAR” wishes to know who composed the music to the song “Down our Street,” and where she will be likely to get it. Can any reader help “SAILOR” to a copy (words and music) of a song called “The Sailor’s Grave”? It is not Sir A. Sullivan’s, but an old song popular some thirty years ago. The first line is— “Our barque was far, far from the land.” SEATON DEVON asks for the author or publisher of a song for children, beginning— “Please, have you seen my dolly, The one that I most admire?” MABEL ENTWISTLE wishes to collect pictorial postcards from various parts of the world, and would gladly pay for the cards and postage if any subscriber, who happens to be going abroad, would send her some. The address is 1, William Street, Darwen, Lancashire. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENCE.