THE YOUNG SCIENTIST. 
55 
neatly done, the result will be pleasing | 
and satisfactory. | 
— An inexpensive winter i^laque is | 
oval-shaped and painted on wood. It 
represents two brown owds perched on 
the broken branch of a tree in a snow- 
storm, while one of them is gallantly hold- 
ing an umbrella to shield his companion 
I'rom the falling flakes. There is no 
brilliant coloring in this to cover up de- 
fects, and, to look w^ell, the design must 
be executed with skill; then it is both 
pretty and odd. 
— A speck of embroidered work, worth 
$60, to be applied to a chair seat, is but a 
drop in the ocean of decorative splendor. 
— A scrap-basket formed of a small Jap- 
anese umbrella is a novel and pretty arti- 
cle shown at the New York Exchange for 
Women's Work. This is mounted on a 
six-inch stand of cherry wood, with point 
downward and the frame half exi)anded, 
and kept in this position by being wound 
around each rib by a silken cord passed 
from one to another near the top. Silk 
balls of different colors hang from all the 
iwints where the sticks are wound, and 
the handle is ornamented by a bow of 
pink and blue ribbon combined. 
— Katie B sends us her thanks for 
presenting her communication of last 
month in such a readable form. She says : 
" Many handsome things, suitable for the 
house may be made from some of the 
cheapest of materials. I have made 
several covers for bureaus and toilet 
stands, of crash. Designs of leaves, 
flowers, twigs or fruit may be used and 
worked in generally with linen floss. 
Covers or tidies made of these materials 
have much to recommend them, as they 
can be washed whenever required, and do 
not lose any of their beauty by the opera- 
tion. The work is generally made solid, 
and finished off by an insertion of drawn 
work and fringe. For furnishing bureau 
sets it has become quite fashionable of 
late to use etched linen, the favorite de- 
sign being a thistle and bud, the full 
blown flower rising above the latter. 
Usually they are finished of with bows 
.and ends of light colored sal in ribbon." 
— At a " Studio Tea " given in the large 
class-room of the "Ladies Art Associa- 
tion Studio Building," in Fourteenth 
street. New York City, tea was served by 
a company of young girls in picturesque 
costumes. The decorations of the large 
class-room and the studios, all of which 
were thrown open, w^ere of a symbolic 
character ; easels decorated with the 
leaves of the red oak, stood for artistic 
strength ; busts garlanded with rosemary 
for thought; paintings framed in laurel 
and ivy, and a ladder of evergreens, 
painted palettes and i:>ictures displayed 
on carved easels, were among the attrac- 
tions of the occasion. The window drap- 
eries hanging by brass rings from maul- 
stick rods with a smatl palette for orna- 
mental end ; dadoes of burlaps tacked to 
a narrow moulding, and headed by a 
narrow band of garnet cloth, and the 
walls of a studio painted with trunks of 
forest trees spreading branches over win- 
dows and doors, and wall hangings for 
picture backgrounds, offered valuable 
hints for house decorations. The tables, 
about twenty in number, were laid in old 
style, old-fashioned homespun linen, 
prettily associated with color; ancient 
silver urns on Dutch tiles and brass tea 
kettles sending forth wreaths of fragrant 
steam ; quaint American porcelain from 
the only hard porcelain pottery in the 
United States, and the qaintest of old- 
fashioned chintz covered chairs, with the 
bevy of rustic artist attendants, com- 
pleted a pretty picture. 
INGENIOUS HOME-MADE PICTURE CARDS. 
A great deal of ingenuity has been re- 
cently developed owing to the steady and 
increasing demand for novelties in picture 
cards. This being the case many very 
amusing and also truly artistic combin- 
ations of natural materials have appeared 
in the hands of the large dealers of cards 
in New York City. I have selected one 
of tlie most unique, comical, and at the 
satne time most easily made, as the 
materials are always obtainable. The 
two owls consist ot single keymeled peanuts 
that have just a suggestion of a stem at- 
tached to them. This stem is intended to 
form the beak of the owls, yet it is not 
