FAIR JAPAN.--No; it will do you no harm to ride a bicycle. If you sit well on the machine, and do not ride too fast, bicycling is a good and healthy exercise. All girls of thirteen and fourteen "grow very fast." We do not quite understand your second question--"When a girl leaves school, what science ought she to know best?" The only science commonly learnt at school is mathematics. If you want to know which science is the best to study after leaving school, it depends entirely upon yourself. That science in which you have greatest interest is the best to learn. Whatever science you take up, you must study for many years before you can become proficient in it. STUDY AND STUDIO. C. A. E.--We have read your rhymed fairy tale with interest. It is not, however, sufficiently good for publication. We will criticise any story you like to send, but it should be short. On the first page of _The Valour of Veramon_ a line ending with "deem" finds no rhyme, and on the last page: "Their rescuer married one; the rest found husbands at his court," is a halting line. The verse does not run smoothly enough, and this from no fault of the "recurring letter S." We applaud, however, your choice of a fairy tale; it is a far better subject than sentimental woes and afflictions. You will find the rules in a recent number. We do not return MSS. unless a stamped envelope is sent for the purpose. F. H.--We only accept the work of experienced writers for THE GIRL'S OWN PAPER. The sentiment of your elegy on Mr. Gladstone is excellent, but it is not very poetical. Your rhymes, however, are usually correct. B. C. D. QUIXADA (S. Australia).--1. Your "lullaby" is irregular in metre. Such a poem should flow smoothly throughout. "The Orphan's Song" is also incorrect in metre. Every poem should have a certain metre in which it is written, the lines being of regulated lengths. You will observe that there are more syllables in "Mother, mother you have left me" than in "Angels they will sing around," yet they are both "first lines."--2. We believe the sound in a shell held close to the ear is due to the imprisoned air. The same sound can be observed when the hand is curved over the ear. ADELINA GRILLO.--You will ere this have seen your request in print, and we hope you have found a correspondent. A READER OF THE GIRL'S OWN PAPER.--Many thanks for your note. We will consider the point you raise.