CHURCH DECORATION. 



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to the greatest advantage on gas stands and the old-fashioned branching candlesticks. 

 Small-pointed pockets, made of zinc and painted a dark green colour, are made and 

 supplied specially for holding flowers in these positions, in sufficient water to keep them 

 fresh for a few days. Some of the greenery should drape downwards, and the flowers 

 must not be packed too neatly or tightly. The standards of gas-brackets or candle- 

 sticks would be further improved by having trails of ivy twined round them. The 

 free use of long trails of ivy is quite the redeeming feature in many too neatly decorated 

 churches. 



Flowers, coloured foliage, fern fronds, and grasses, arc frequently employed with good 

 effect in the decoration of pulpits and fonts. If flowers are scarce at Christmas a wreath, 

 neatly formed with small sprays of mixed evergreens, may be fixed under the top edge of 

 the pulpit, and another at the base, while a cross or other emblem can be placed in each 

 panel ; not, however, if this means obscuring beautifully carved figures. Sometimes 

 pulpits are festooned with evergreen wreathing, but on no account ought artificial or 

 paper flowers to be used in connection with this or other form of church decoration. 

 These tawdry substitutes for real flowers are largely employed in churches on the Con- 

 tinent, but should not be tolerated in this country. In churches where flowers are 

 forthcoming, the lower rim of the pulpit is fitted with tin troughs, deep enough to hold 

 water, with more troughs or pockets taken half-way up the columns, and when taste- 

 fully filled with flowers and greenery a good effect is created. Flowers have been 

 mentioned for Christmas decoration. At Easter, white flowers are preferred, and the 

 correct colour for "Whitsuntide is scarlet. For Harvest Thanksgiving, Cape goose- 

 berries, barberries, bright flowers, coloured bracken and corn are effective. At the base 

 of the pedestal of a pulpit, various offerings in the form of corn, fruit, vegetables, and 

 plants are frequently grouped. 



Fonts vary greatly in design. Some lend themselves well to tasteful decoration, and 

 still more do not. They may be wreathed and festooned similarly to pulpits and a tall 

 cross of white flowers set up in the centre is appropriate. Banks of moss, with here 

 and there small groups of flowers, or neat plants, with ivy trails taken up the pedestals 

 are suitable for beautifying the base. If there are covers to the font, these may be 

 mossed over, where this can be done with effect, white flowers and fern fronds being 

 grouped at short intervals. It is a mistake to fill uncovered fonts with plants or 

 greenery. 



In the chancel there is frequently scope for decorating work. The screen itself 



VOL. III. 



