Reties 
lorat 
SKxabGiixet «wi3 Pictorikl Same llaiiijiauffm. 
3|titt$djtt& JirL 
HOUSEHOLD ART. 
Oriole. 
“The day is cold, and dark and dreary; 
It r-a-i-n-s, and. the winds are never weary.” 
Fannie’s hands hung idly by her side, and her nose 
was flattened against the glass in a way that would 
have seemed ludicrous to one outside. Pat, pat, 
came the crystal drops on the window; and the old 
maple swayed, and wept great tears on a mottled 
aster that nodded courageously, although it was the 
sole survivor of a family that had smiled so brightly in 
the early autumn. 
“ Girls,” cried Cousin Madge springing from the 
sofa, “ ‘ I've thinked it all out,’ as the children say.” 
Very bright blue eyes, and a quick, decided way of 
saying what she meant, had Cousin Madge. “Lena,” 
said she, addressing the little mistress of the cottage, 
“ what did Jack say to you just before he left for the 
store ?” 
“ That he would not be home to dinner.” 
“ That if it did not rain we might give him a call; 
but I should say it rained,” said Fannie. 
“ He said,” pursued Madge, “ that he had seen 
Kate’s new furniture; that yours looked meagre ’in 
comparison, and that he must refurnish with his next 
quarter’s salary.” 
“ 0, yes; but really, his old overcoat-” 
“ Now I propose,” laughingly interrupted Madge, 
“that we three furnish it in a style more useful and 
attractive than Kate’s cold marble tops. We’ll have 
bread and milk for dinner, to save time, and something 
extra for tea, when Jack comes home. Are you 
ready to help ?” 
“ I declare, Madge,” cried Fannie, “when you start 
up so, I feel like shouldering the world and running 
away with it. We are ready. ‘ Thy will, and thine 
alone, forever and a day.’ You shall he called ‘In¬ 
spiration.’ ” 
“And you, ‘Quotation.’' Let me see; your wall¬ 
paper is a drab ground, with a scarlet flower and dark 
green leaf. Have you any green cloth ?” 
“ Several pieces of my old green cashmere.” 
“ Capital! Let us have that scarlet ribbon you 
dyed with aniline the other day.” 
“ Sacred to the memory of dolls by the score,” 
laughed Fan. “ How many times we have adorned 
with that same ribbon our adorable Victorias and 
Katrinas.” 
“Now,” said Madge, “we’ll cut a piece of paste¬ 
board, twenty-three inches long, twenty inches wide 
at one end, and sixteen at the other, which will be 
rounded. I will make three pockets similar to those 
of a comb-case, graded in size, one to he fastened to 
the broadest end, for razor and strop ; one above,.for 
hair-brush and combs, and the smaller one at top, for 
shaving-soap and brush ; the whole to he covered with 
cashmere, with scarlet ribbon plaited around the edges, 
a scarlet loop to hang it by, and Jack’s initials on the 
lower pocket, in scarlet ribbon, made fast with gum. 
Some day we’ll make him a slipper-case of green and 
scarlet, like the one we read about.” 
“ Wouldn’t it be well to tie scarlet ribbon on the 
door-knob ?” asked Fannie, gravely; hut her needle 
flew with a will, and when the dressing case was 
held up for inspection, she was in raptures. “ How 
lovely ! What next, Inspiration ?” 
“ Perhaps Quotation will favor us,” suggested 
Madge. 
“If I was to quote now,” laughed Fannie, “it 
would be Saxe, with variations : 
“ 4 Whatever she did, this maiden fair, 
’Twas certain to fix the public stare; 
And the constant cry was 4 1 declare!’ 
And 'Did you ever! 1 and ; Just look there! 1 
Among the dazzled girls. 111 
“ Madge,” chimed in Lena, “ do you know of any 
pretty style for pincushions ?” 
“I plead guilty,” was the reply. “ Have you any 
zephyr ?” 
“ Only red, shaded in the skein.” 
“ That will do. Now, have you common woolen 
yarn ?” 
“ Not a hit.” 
“ I have,” said Fan; “ I was going to knit pa some 
socks, hut my ardor cooled wonderfully. But it is 
ugly gray, Madge.” 
“ Never mind. Obedient, will you wind it in a 
compact hall, nearly as large as a cocoanut ? We 
must hurry, for we want it done when Jack comes.” 
The little wife wound and wound with alacrity. 
“Fan, we’ll make balls. Cut- a piece of pasteboard 
the size and shape of a cup plate. (If we had no 
pasteboard, we could make some by joining two or 
three pieces of thick paper with common paste, and 
pressing, when partly dry, with a warm iron.) Cut a 
round hole in the centre; thread a needle with zephyr, 
and put it in and out of the hole and around the rim 
until it is filled ; thread a needle with strong thread, 
run it around the edges of the hole, under the zephyr, 
hold firmly and cut the zephyr around the rim; 
you see it is all confusion, after you have removed 
the pasteboard; shear it. closely. Here are our 
halls.” 
“ The little beauties,” cried Fan ; “ I had no idea 
how they were made.” 
“ Now, Lena, that will do. Wind this zephyr 
around the hall evenly, until it conceals the gray. 
We must twist cords of the zephyr; fasten one around 
the centre of the hall, then another around the centre 
the other way, then one between these two, each way, 
making four in all. Now, a short piece of cord to 
attach these two little balls to one side of the large 
one; then a long loopt of cord on the opposite side to 
suspend over your bureau from one of the jutting 
points on the mirror.” 
“ Cousin Madge, you’re worth your weight in gold,” 
cried Lena, using a time-worn expression, hut using it 
sincerely. 
“ Of course you have empty spice boxes,” said her 
cousin, oblivious to the compliment. 
“ Plenty of them.” 
“Bring me two of different sizes. 1 have some 
perforated cardboard, worked with scarlet zephyr, in 
imitation of grape leaves. I will fit this piece to the 
smaller box; then, having fitted one to the larger box, 
I will suspend it with three short cords from the 
smaller one; and on the bottom of the larger, we’ll 
fasten these two scarlet halls with cord. Now we’ll 
suspend the whole affair from the other side of the 
mirror. A match safe, my dears, the lower one for 
burnt matches.” 
Lena and Fannie were speechless with admiration. 
“If we had not wanted it- opposite the cushion, we 
could hang it like a picture—so.” She stepped on a 
stool and pointed to the wall with a button-book, felt : 
her feet slipping, caught at something to save herself, | 
and down sat Inspiration on the floor, flourishing a 
button-hook in one hand and clutching a pillow with 1 
the other. 
“Hurt you?” asked Lena, half laughing, half 
anxious; and then the clock chimed five. “Jack! 
will he here soon, and we must get tea.” I 
“ And we haven’t had our bread and milk !” gasped 
Fannie. 
They looked at each other, then sat down and had 
a hearty laugh. They were tired, hut they didn’t care. 
It had poured out-of-doors all day, hut they didn’t 
know it. Their lips had carolled, their hearts sang, 
their fingers kept time to the music, and the burden of 
the song was : “ When Jack comes home!” 
Madge made feather cake for tea—one cup of 
sugar and milk each, two and a half cups flour, one 
egg, one teaspoonful butter, cream tartar, soda, and 
lemon extract. And when Jack came, they let him 
toast his feet and eat all he wanted, before they showed 
him their handiwork, for they knew-—these wise little 
bodies—that when a man is cold, and wet, and hungry, 
he cannot appreciate the beauties even of paradise. 
Then they took him in there and told him all about it. 
And the great, whiskered fellow played he was a little 
hoy, and danced, and sung “ I’ve got a dressing-case, 
and you haven’t; I’ve got a croquet ball for a cushion; 
I keep my matches in ginger; I don’t button myself 
to the floor with a button-hook, and you do-o-o !” 
Then they all flew at him and dragged him into the 
sitting-room, and I’ll wager that no happier quartette 
possessed marble tops that night. 
PICTURE FRAMES. 
T have made some pretty picture frames. The last 
one was for “ The Graces.” I had a carpenter to 
make a pine hack or support, about two inches larger 
than the engraving, and the corners square at the top. 
I then cut pasteboard for the frame, following the 
oval form at the top; then I doubled papers eight or 
ten times, gradually making it smaller—this was for 
the outer edge of the frame; then I cut paper leaves, 
ivy aud grape, having natural leaves for a pattern, also 
rose leaves. I took old kid gloves and made three 
large hunches of grapes, using cotton to make the 
grapes; then made paper roses or dahlias. With 
strong cotton thread and a large needle, sewed all to 
the pasteboard, arranging a hunch of grapes at the 
top, just in the centre, and a bunch each in the large 
corners to the right and left of the oval, then the 
leaves, roses, and grape tendrils, from the vine; when 
all was finished, I put my picture on the pine hack. 
SHOW TREE. 
Get a round hoard (the bottom of a keg is as good 
as anything), and in the centre of it fasten a hroom- 
liandle in an upright position, leaving it as tall as you 
Wish your tree to he; from one and a half to two feet 
being a very good size. The broomstick should taper 
to a point at the top. Then bring in use some old 
skirt-hoops, aud cut them in strips about one-half 
yard long, and fasten on the pole at equal intervals, so 
as to resemble the branches of a tree. Tear some 
discarded muslin garment in strips three-fourths of an 
inch in width, and fray the edges until only enough 
threads are left to hold it together. Then wrap the 
foot, trunk and branches of the tree carefully, letting 
one row fall over the other, so as not to let the wood 
show. Then make tassels, by taking about five to 
seven strips of the frayed linen, a finger and a-half in 
length, and suspend from the tip end of each branch 
and on the very top. This tree is certainly a thing 
very beautiful, when carefully formed. It is called 
'Snow Tree” on account of its pure, fleecy 
Florence. 
