1883.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
243 
THE 
oiraokp 
Painted Fans and Panels. 
—- 
Now that art, in every form, is attracting: so 
much attention, and is spreading its refining influ¬ 
ence over all classes of society, it may be of use 
to girls who live at a distance from the great cities 
if we give a few hints in regard to painting in 
water colors and oil. 
A pretty design for a fan is a spray of vine 
leaves to be painted in water colors. The best 
quality of silk or satin should be used, or it will be 
very likely to crack in the folding. To prepare a 
mounted fan for painting, it must be stretched 
upon a board, and thumb-tacks placed at short dis¬ 
tances, just beyond the edge, so as to hold it firmly 
in place without piercing the material. 
If the outline is to be transferred, black lead 
paper must be used upon light colors, and red or 
blue transfer paper upon dark ; but care should be 
taken to remove the superfluous color from these 
papers by rubbing them for some time with a cloth, 
else the material will very likely be spoiled. If you 
can draw the pattern with a brush dipped in white, 
or neutral tint, it is much the neatest way. Silk is 
easier to paint upon than satin, but both require a 
sizing; and for this, the white of an egg will be 
found to answer the purpose. All the colors used 
for silk or satin must be mixed with Chinese white 1 , 
and it is a good plan, first, td go over the whole 
design with white. If the colors do not ruu readily, 
add a little soap. In painting this vine design, use 
DESIGN FOR PAINTING ON SILK OK SATIN. 
only flat colors—green or gray—that is, without 
shades, and put in the veining and outlines in dark 
brown. Clusters of daisies are extremely pretty 
upon white, and garlands of tea roses upon black 
satin, when the stems may be carried down upon 
the sticks. 
Wooden picture, and looking-glass frames are 
very effective, painted in oil with some bold de¬ 
sign. They are about an inch thick, and may be of 
walnut, showing the natural grain of the wood, or 
else of common pine, well rubbed with gilt or 
bronze powder. It is considered more artistic to 
have sprays only across the corners, as in the illus¬ 
tration. The picture here given shows a vase of 
chrysanthemums, the light tints of which would 
be well thrown out by a dark brown frame. 
Rural Opportunities for Culture and De¬ 
velopment. 
Most children born and bred in the country grow 
A DESIGN FOR A FAN. 
up in ignorance of the wonders constantly before 
them. It is hard to account for this; children have 
such sharp eyes, and so much curiosity. Parents 
often lament their own ignorance, and wish to 
give their children the best educational ad¬ 
vantages. About the best thing they can do 
for a child in the way of an intel¬ 
lectual start, is to teach it to ob¬ 
serve accurately. This is the best 
foundation for a good education. 
The study of natural science 
grows more and more in favor, but 
really good teachers are not easily 
found, as few of them have gained 
their knowledge at first hand, or by 
actual observation and original in¬ 
vestigation. They had it second 
hand or from books. I heard late¬ 
ly of a teacher who told his botany 
class that our early wild flowers 
were nearly all annuals, springing 
each year from seed dropped by the 
parent plant in the previous year. 
This he asserted, though a pupil 
who had lived in the country with 
eyes and ears open, suggested 
that they were perennial herbs. 
Country people do not make the 
best of their advantages for learn¬ 
ing. Most people seem to think 
that the road to learning is always ' 
through books; that almost any¬ 
thing that they find set down in a 
book as facts about nature is su¬ 
perior to their own discoveries, and 
so they notice nothing with atten¬ 
tion. I heard a middle-aged man 
say, not long ago: “ There is some¬ 
thing very peculiar about the snow 
this winter. The snowflakes are 
almost all little stars! I never 
noticed it until my daughter called 
my attention to it as we were riding 
one day. There were several on 
my coat-sleeve, and since then I 
have noticed it in almost every 
snow storm, but the stars are not 
all alike.” Think of that man, 
living an out-door life, and never noticing the 
beauty of the snow-flake, and the variety of stars 
or wheels, with the perfect law of sizes running 
through all. That man had naturally an inquiring 
mind. I thought him too inquisitive about my 
family affairs and my husband’s business, and he 
was always on the alert to pick up any item of gos¬ 
sip, and quick to see all personal peculiarities. 
It is a pity that grown up people have so little 
ability to answer children’s natural questions. If 
children are usually told “I don’t know; don’t 
bother me with questions,” they learn to leave un¬ 
observed the curious things about them. We are 
obliged to say, “ I don’t know,” very often, but we 
can at least show sympathy with the child’s curi¬ 
osity, can let it express its wonder, and en¬ 
courage it to observe and learn all it can about the 
specimen that attracts its curiosity. I think that 
parents have far greater need of good books for 
reference than of nice furniture or ornaments of 
any kind—clean rag carpet and an* Unabridged 
Dictionary; cheap 
muslin shades at the 
windows, and a good 
Botany ; plain, strong 
furniture, and an 
Encyclopedia. Other 
books of the same 
useful class are actual 
necessities. Then 
when children ask 
questions about the 
natural objects that 
interest them, we can 
do our best to give a 
correct answer. It is 
no disgrace at all to 
say that we do not 
know, if we only 
show an honest desire to know, or at least to help 
the child to gratify its own desire for knowledge. 
The best study is from the natural objects them¬ 
selves, but we do well to avail ourselves of the 
long research and patient observations made by 
others and gathered into books for our use. 
A PICTURE NEATLY FRAMED. 
Within sight is an envelope box, in which, 
fastened by its own weaving to the cover, is the 
chrysalis of a magnificent worm found on the plum 
tree last August. The “Guide to the Study of In- 
