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A THING OP BEAUTY. 
I propose to use a broken plaster image, a glass 
jar cover, and a broken whip glass, so as to make 
them all ornamental instead of being a lot of rubbish, 
as they are now. In the first place I will describe the 
materials a little more explicitly so all may under¬ 
stand. The image was made to represent a fruit boy; 
it is about a foot high, and had a basket on his head 
containing fruit, but this got broken off and left the 
figure entire with one hand uplifted, as if the basket 
were there and he was supporting it. The glass cover 
is about six inches in diameter, with a rim round it 
three-fourths of an inch high, and has a knob on the 
top. The whip glass is a common glass, such as may 
be seen any day in the stores, and will hold about as 
much as a two-inch pot. 
Now for the composition of the wonderful object. 
Plaster images, as every one knows, are hollow; well 
this one is no exception to the rule, and I found that 
the knob of the cover would go inside his head, but 
first I poured some liquid plaster in the place where 
his brains ought to have been, but was filling it about 
half full when I inserted the knob on top of the cover, 
which filled it up so that the cover rested securely, and 
it looks as though it grew there, and in the centre of 
this I propose to insert the whip glass on a stem, so 
that the bottom of it will be on a level with the top 
of the rim of the cover. 
Now for the beauty part, for as it stands it is not 
very ornamental. The lower dish, or the old cover, I 
propose to fill with earth and plant it with Colliseum 
Ivy; the centre I am not decided about, but have 
thought about putting in some white-leaved plant, and 
also about filling it with a little earth and putting in 
water for a Calla. I have seen somewhere in the 
Cabinet that small dwarf Callas, about six inches 
tall, grew by the roads in Ohio. If I could get one of 
them I think it would look pretty. Can any of your 
readers help me to one ? 
Now if any of you have these three things—the 
image, the cover, and the whip glass, they may imitate 
my flower boy and welcome, as there is no patent on 
it, and no place for any, except perhaps the filling the 
head with plaster; that might be done with some 
human beings to their great advantage, if not to other 
people. If it takes well I will tell you about my 
hanging basket before long. A Man. 
finished by b.retelles of similar foulard, entirely covered 
with English embroidery. The bretelles cross in front. 
The model dress—issued by a prominent house—is 
blue and white—that is to say, a blue skirt, waist, and 
sleeves, and white overskirt and bretelles, forming- 
sashes behind, and with the elaborate and elegant 
back draping on the hip that foulard so happily lends 
itself to.— Lady's Journal. 
TRAVELLING SUITS. 
It is rarely that travelling suits—which, in America, 
have scarcely the importance attained in Europe— 
have displayed the elegance of the foreign dresses of 
this description. London makers have particularly 
distinguished themselves by some happy hits; but it 
remained for the Parisian artistes to inaugurate the 
jieculiarly novel and striking, indeed the artistically 
combined, effects that will soon delight the eye, and 
of which some specimens are even now on private 
view. 
Who but a French modiste could get out that happy 
blending of the gender masculine and the gender 
feminine evinced in the piquancy of the vests and 
jabots, the little abbe cloaks jauntily worn on one 
shoulder or hanging, like the old style petits-collets of 
the Regency, about the neck in a supremely careless 
if supremely 'graceful style ? Who else could have 
issued the mousquetaire frock-coat, with its skirts and 
its revers f And who could harmonize the quaint 
medieval fraise so that it might blend without too 
startling an effect upon common sense accessories? 
Notice, too, that all these dresses are short. You will 
never find a French or English woman, when travel¬ 
ling, dragging after her a dress that trails even a single 
inch; but it would not surprise the writer, who has 
seen such things before, to see again, in America, 
demi-trains on the cars or boats during the travelling 
season.— Lady's Journal. 
THE FASHIONS. 
FOULARD “ SEA-SIDE” SUITS. “ BORDS-DE-MER.” 
In Paris, a novel style of sea-side suits is in rapid 
course of preparation. It is of foulard, made in an 
entirely new style. 
A dress of lemon-color, pink, blue, lavender, green 
—of a very delicate shade—grey, ecru, “ mode,” or 
light fenille-morte brown, has an almost flat skirt, 
with a high waist. The sleeves reach to the elbow, 
and have two Marie Antoinette flounces, arranged in 
small, compact plaits. The skirt has merely a similar 
flounce, eight inches wide on the front breadth, twelve 
in the side breadth, and eighteen at the back breadth. 
Over this is a white foulard skirt, with a ivhite figure 
— either a flower, a medallion, or a spray, or, in some 
of the most elegant, a stripe, also white — and it has a 
very deep trimming all around the lower edge, of 
English embroidery of extremely delicate and elegant 
design, being wrought in white silk, and finished with 
a handsome white silk fringe. The costume is 
Novel Hanging-Basket. —To make a “horn oi 
plenty” hanging-basket, procure a large horn; the 
horns of Texas cattle are curiosities to most people, 
and can be found at the slaughter-house. Scrape 
smooth with glass, make a hole in the little end with 
a small gimblet, put in pieces of charcoal, and fill up 
with earth. Put in plenty of vines, attach a small 
brass chain, which will cost about ten cents a yard, to 
each end, and suspend like a powder horn. Fancy 
hanging baskets can bo made by scraping the horns 
and gluing the shavings, which will be white and 
crimped, on the horns very thickly, or tie them on with 
white thread. Fill with Everlasting or artificial 
flowers. Hazel. 
Hanging-Basket.— Tear into strips three-fourths 
of an inch wide, old, coarse but white cotton cloth. 
Ravel from each edge until there is but three threads 
left in the centre of the strip. Now fasten one end to 
something, or somebody, if there is an agreeable per¬ 
son near, and twist. It will make chenille cord—not 
silk worth twenty-five cents a yard, but you can make 
twenty-five yards for about one cent. After you have 
“ lots” ready, make a hoop of the usual commodity— 
a piece of hoop skirt wire. Let it be eight inches in 
diameter, and cover with cotton. Fasten the chenille 
around it in many over-lapping festoons. Have some 
pieces cross from side to side, and fasten a long full 
tassel from them. Put on long pieces to hang it by. 
Put two in a place in eight places. Suspend another 
large tassel midway between the basket and where the 
cords meet at the top. If you like, put cunning little 
knots of colored satin ribbon where the cords join the 
basket. These baskets are easily and cheaply made, 
and are charming. 
Cleaning Black Silk _The following excellent 
mode of cleaning black silk is recommended by Harper's 
Bazar : Rub each breadth carefully with a woolen cloth 
to get the dust from the surface, then sponge it all off 
with water in which one or two black kid gloves have 
been boiled, a quart of water for a pair of gloves; 
iron while wet with extremely hot irons on the wrong- 
side. For colored silks, boil gloves of the same color; for 
this purpose it is well to save old kid gloves of all colors. 
Another mode tried with great success, is the same pro¬ 
cess of rubbing off the dirt with a woolen rag; then mix 
an equal quantity of strong tea and vinegar with which 
the silk is washed by rubbing it with a piece of flan¬ 
nel. It must be made very wet; smooth the silk carefully, 
folding it, and in about fifteen minutes iron it on the 
wrong side with very hot irons. This applies only to 
black silk, black ribbon, cravats, but might be injuri¬ 
ous to color. 
Toilet Mats. —A way for making very pretty toilet 
mats is to take corset laces. Commence by sewing 
round and round until about an inch and a half or two 
inches in diameter, then sew a round of loops made in 
the shape of the figure eight, three more plain rows, 
and finish with a row of single loops; run a nar¬ 
row red ribbon through the first row of holes. An¬ 
other way to make a whole set for the toilet 
table, viz.: pincushion, brush, glass and bottle mats. 
With white Java canvass, work a vine pattern with 
two shades of red zephyr on each piece; fringe the 
edges of the canvass. Ornament your homely clay 
flower-pots with any fancy design in putty; paint to 
suit, varnish, and you have a “thing of beauty” ror 
ever. I have tried it and can recommend it to others. 
Would some of your lady friends tell me how to make 
a pretty cornucopia? Amelia. 
A Beautiful Transparency.— Take two panes of 
glass; cover one pane with shire Swiss muslin; lay 
your muslin on the table, the pane of glass on it; 
draw the edges of the muslin over and secure it by 
drawing stitches from side to side, seeing that the 
threads of the muslin run straight. Arrange your 
ferns and leaves in the design you wish—a wreath, 
cross or bouquet, with the under side of the leaf on the 
muslin. After they are arranged, confine them by 
just a touch of mucilage or gum tragacanth, to the 
under side of the leaf; carefully moisten the edge of 
the muslin with the mucilage and let it dry on the 
glass; lay the second pane of glass on, and bind the 
two panes together by gumming on a strip of linen or 
strong muslin. Now trim off the edges of the Swiss, 
and cover the binding with ribbon. Make a loop by 
passing the ribbon the second time over the top, leav¬ 
ing it long enough to hang by ; fasten the ribbon by 
sewing the corners. Some flowers retain their color 
well after pressing, especially the Pansy and little yel¬ 
low Buttercup, and work in well. Also the Lycopodi¬ 
ums after being pressed, are very desirable in arrang¬ 
ing your transparency. I have a cross arranged in 
this way of small maple leaves and Ferns and Lycopo¬ 
dium, which has hung in a sunny window for three 
years, and is pretty yet. Covering the inside jianes of 
glass with Swiss muslin, after arranging your window 
with ferns and leaves, as directed in the March num¬ 
ber, softens the light and adds much to its beauty. 
Flower Pot Cover. -Take colored glazed paper, 
lay in folds about three-fourths of an inch wide, fold¬ 
ing back and forth, scollop the top edge with a pink¬ 
ing iron, or cut in scollops or points ; have the paper 
an inch or more deeper than the pot, and full enough 
to set in flutes around the pot; draw the two edsres to¬ 
gether with pins or a few stitches; this makes a pretty 
flower pot cover, and quite inexpensive. M. 
