4 : 76 
'AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
[November, 
TEE E©U§E]EI(D)lLIQ)o 
For other Household Items see “ Basket ” pages. 
Home-Made Picture Frames. 
(BY CABBIE CLOVBRNOOK.) 
“We girls ” at home have, as the dealers say, made 
a specialty of frames. We took some plain molding 
that had done duty on an old-fashioned door-casing, 
had it measured and sawed into shape, and with 
the help of a single sheet of dark pebbled paper, 
and one-half sheet of gilt, made a frame that, I 
think, no one has suspected is not really rosewood 
and gilt. We have paid homage to the white, short- 
lived beauty of frames of parched corn, and the 
long list of odd and rustic devices that we have 
seen in print, or been 
shown us by friends, 
but none of us had 
thought it possible 
that any beauty could 
be hidden in coarse 
brown wrapping pa¬ 
per. First, a frame 
of suitable size and 
width for the picture 
selected must be cut 
from stiff pasteboard, 
figure 1, taking care 
to have it perfectly 
true. An old box- 
cover will answer the 
purpose very well. If 
you have never seen 
brown paper well 
Fig.l.— the back of frame, varnished, it may be 
best to select several bits of different color 
and texture, and apply two good coats of 
varnish, then you can easily decide which should 
he used for the frame; that of medium thickness 
and stiffness is best. Cut out squares, of three- 
fourths of an inch in size, figure 2, fold with the 
fingers, first from corner to corner, then double 
again upon the remaining comer, making a triangle 
of four thickuesses of paper, figure 3. Sew these 
small triangles on the outer edge of the frame, and 
also on the inner, letting the points reach out be¬ 
yond the edge, and also overlap so that the middle 
of the base of the first 
will be touched by the 
lower point of its next 
neighbor. Continue to 
sew rows on the frame 
from each edge until the 
bases of the triangles 
meet in the middle of 
the frame, remember¬ 
ing to have the outer Fig. 2.— method of fold- 
points of the second ING THE PAPER - 
row fall over the opening between the points of the 
first row. When the frame is filled, if its sides are 
straight, a narrow strip of paper, with edges 
folded in—laid over the bases—will finish it neatly 
as shown in figure 4. I ought to have mentioned 
at first that loops of strong tape should be sewed 
on the back for convenience in hanging, which car. 
best be done before the front of the frame is made. 
If the frame is oval.in shape, a strip would not lie 
smoothly ; and squares, like the first used, but 
folded to retain their first shape, one-fourth the 
size when finished, are laid on over the bases, 
overlapping each other. Some may think them 
prettier for any shape of frame, than the strip. 
When well varnished it is completed. Thin soft 
corn husks can be used in the place of paper, in 
their natural color or dyed. 
Another style of paper frame, which I like better 
than the first, is made by cutting strips of paper, 
one inch wide, and one-half inch 
longer than twice the width of the 
frame measured in an exact diago¬ 
nal. Fold the whole strip so as to 
halve the width, find the middle 
in length, fold a point in such a 
way that the equal arms shall be sides of a right 
angle, as shown in figure 5. When enough of the 
pieces are prepared, they will be managed more 
Fig. 3. 
easily by commencing the frame half way down 
the side. Sew the first by the point a little over 
the outer edge of the frame ; fasten the second so 
that the arms shall be parallel with the first, that 
which lies on one side should have the arm placed 
under that of the first, that on the other side should 
be over the other arm of the first, as shown in fig. 6. 
When all are sewed on—interlaced like basketwork 
—fasten the ends on the inner edge of the frame, 
Fig. 4.— PORTION OF FRAME. 
trim evenly, and finish by a narrow strip of the 
same or of gilt when the frame is dry, from var¬ 
nishing. The corners of the frame will be improved 
by a rosette of points to hide the irregularity. 
Figure 7 shows such a frame complete. If oval, 
the basket-work can easily 
be carried around the 
frame, but some other 
finishing will be Deeded 
for the inner edge — an 
oval of gilt paper cut in 
tiny points is as pretty as 
anything I can suggest. 
If preferred, half the 
strips can be of light pa¬ 
per, the others dark, when 
interlaced they will look well, but I prefer the dark, 
that, when finished, is almost the colorof rosewood. 
5.— THE PAPER FOLDED. 
Home Topics. 
BY FAITH ROCHESTER. 
A Fashion Note. 
I don’t pay much attention to the fashions. There 
is such a variety of patterns, both old and new, the 
old coming new again, “as round and round we 
run,” that no woman can tell what is the “very 
latest style,” unless she “gives her mind to it ” to 
a degrading extent. Amid the conflicting reports 
I hear at last one announcement that gives me 
pleasure : “ Simplicity is elegance nowl" Indeed ! 
When was elegance anything else ? Here we are all 
bunched and upholstered and tied back, with ruffles 
and shirrs, and pleatings, and pipings, all over us, 
in dutiful obedience to Fashion’s behests, and now 
—“simplicity is elegance !” Here are our best silks 
and satins all cut up and shirred, and plaited accord¬ 
ing to directions, and it is no easy matter when the 
eye is wearied, and the taste nauseated with fussi¬ 
ness upon fussiness, to get rid of our ruffles and 
plaitings, and straighten and press out the slashed 
and shirred goods—into elegant simplicity. 
I knew it would come to this—though after all 
I doubt whether it has really come ; an era of sim¬ 
plicity in dress, a little rest from the long reign of 
“ fuss and feathers.” It cannot have come to stay, 
for woman is not yet sufficiently educated to under¬ 
stand the reason and use of clothing, and the first 
principles of beauty and art. The earliest, or bar¬ 
baric, idea of dress was mere ornamentation—paint 
and feathers, and tinselry ; and woman has not out¬ 
grown it. Thousands of women individually know 
Fig. 6.—PORTION OF FRAME. 
and keenly feel how disgraceful and degrading this 
is, and they wear clothes which they emphatically 
condemn as uncomfortable, inconvenient, and ugly. 
They conform to the changing fashions, avoiding 
the most glaring outrages, because singularity in 
dress, without great wealth or beauty to back it, is 
social martyrdom, affecting not their own happiness 
alone, but the comfort of their friends. Few of us 
are as independent, in this respect, as we might be. 
Most of us could wear fewer ruffles and furbelows,, 
without any loss of self-respect, or of the esteem 
of the community at large. We might all help to' 
create the public opinion, that good comfortable 
and serviceable fabrics are more important than pret¬ 
ty trimmings, and that comfort and convenience of 
clothing are essential to genuine beauty and grace. 
A Fashion for Mothers to Keep. 
The warm, colored, outside drawers for little girls, 
ought not to be given up. Many still wear them,, 
but I think they are less common than they were a 
few years ago. Woolen under-drawers reaching to. 
the ankles are necessary for girls and women in 
winter. These being the real “ under-clothing,” it 
is hardly reasonable to put white cotton drawers 
over them—the same as are worn next the body in 
summer. For warmth and protection, strong,, 
colored, woolen cloth is the best that can be found. 
Being an outer garment in reality it seldom needs 
washing, and to most mothers this "is a recom¬ 
mendation. Fastened with a band below the knee, 
the dress skirt will usually conceal the drawers,, 
and when exposed there is no sacrifice of modesty. 
It is such a serious task to keep the long merino 
stockings darned on the knees, that I think we do 
well to encourage a style of dressing the lower 
limbs, that relieves us from this needless labor. 
The banded drawers, being loose over the knee, are 
not so easily worn through, and are more easily 
mended. Please, fashion makers, consider well 
these very important things for the sake of all 
poor and overworked mothers and their children. 
Make the fashions graceful and pretty, and teach 
us by precept and pattern that “ simplicity is ele¬ 
gance!” Let us, who have the fashions to follow, 
hold fast that which is good—among other things, 
the colored winter drawers for our children. 
Childrens’ Brains. 
I have been looking over, with interest, one 
of the series of American Health Primers, on 
“Brain Work and Overwork.” One thing that in¬ 
terested me was, what I found incidentally about 
the nourishing of childrens’ brains. It has long 
Fig. 7.—THE FRAME COMPLETE. 
seemed to me that children are often stunted and 
defrauded mentally by their unhealthy ways of 
living. Pure air, good food, and drink, plenty of 
sleep and recreation, and healthy modes of mental 
activity, are all essential to the proper growth and 
development of the brain. It is sometimes the 
ease that the child’s food contains too little nourish¬ 
ment to supply the needs of both body and brain, 
and one or the other is enfeebled as the result of 
this deficiency. Sometimes the food supplied taxes 
the digestive organs so greatly as to make mental 
labor almost impossible, and the child is dull and 
slow to learn. This may be one result of munching 
confectionary and indulging in rich cake and pastry. 
I know of children who are habitually fed with 
rich food and confectionary, but who have such 
good constitutions and so active an out-door life in 
pure air that they contrive to grow and keep from 
actual sickness most of the time ; but when they 
go to school they make very little progress, and are 
a constant trial to their teachers. When I hear 
