Is it not wonderful, when you think of it, that with four little fingers
and a thumb, two bright eyes, and the exercise of a subtle quality
called taste, so much may be done to make home attractive? The young
folks who have been asking the Postmistress what they should make for
Christmas gifts no doubt read Aunt Marjorie Precept's "Bits of Advice"
on the subject last week. But perhaps they will like to hear about some
of the pretty things the Postmistress saw when, one very stormy day, she
took a walk through some of the New York stores and bazars on their
account. She looked specially for easy and pretty things which could be
made by small but skillful fingers. A holder for the whisk-broom pleased
her fancy. A frame of willow was covered with maroon silk, over which
bands of black velvet were crossed, and embroidered with daisies. The
willow frame may be purchased, or an ingenious boy could easily make one
for his sister. A lining of old gold with bands of scarlet, or of pale
blue with garnet bands, would be very striking and harmonious, and such
a broom-holder is really artistic.
A graceful present for a young lady is a hair-pin box, mounted--of all
things in the world!--on a wheelbarrow. Here comes in the boy's
bracket-saw, to construct the barrow, into which the box must be very
neatly fitted. The box must be stuffed with sawdust, and tufted closely
with worsted, either by knitting-needles or with the crochet-hook, as
you please. The wheelbarrow may be made of any common wood, and gilded,
or it may be of black walnut, or basswood, without any other ornament
than its carving.
Very elegant wall-pockets are made of old hats. Indeed, the
possibilities of old or new straw hats are endless. You take a roughly
braided bathing-hat which you wore last summer at the beach, line it
with azure satin, twist it into any graceful shape you please, on the
upper surface of the flaring brim paint or embroider a group of flowers,
and to the lower attach a large bow of ribbon with broad loops, and you
have an ornament which sets off the wall splendidly. The deep crown
forms the pocket, and the brim makes the picturesque part, and you would
hardly suppose that with so little you could do so much toward the
brightening of a dull room. Father's summer straw hat (which you hid
away in the attic, so that he should be compelled to buy a new one) will
lend itself to your ideas of the beautiful very readily. Line it with
crimson flannel, fasten a cluster of wheat, a bunch of summer grasses,
or a few spears of oats to one side, and tack one bit of the brim down
with a bow, and there you are with the scrap-basket, which is just what
you need in the sitting-room or library.
Nothing provokes the neat housekeeper's anger like the scratching of
matches on the walls, and it is very hard to teach some people never to
deface the house in this way. Any little eight-year-old girl or boy can
make a splendid match-scratcher by taking a round piece of wood,
covering it with velvet, silk, morocco, or Java canvas, on which a
little pattern has been worked, and then gluing on its reverse side a
piece of sand-paper. Finish it with a loop of ribbon, and present to
Uncle John or Cousin Ralph, and while they may appreciate its delicate
hint, they will not resent it as personal.
A dozen sheets of blotting-paper, fastened together with a bow, and
bearing on the outside a dainty little pencil drawing, either a cute
little Kate Greenaway sort of picture, or a landscape, or a few wild
roses and ferns, with a motto, is an acceptable gift to either a lady or
a gentleman. Still prettier is this gift when a little panel picture,
wood or card-board covered with satin, and then painted, is laid on the
upper surface of the packet.
People who board are often quite bothered to find a good method of
keeping account of the weekly wash. A laundry-cushion, which is simply a
pincushion with the words shirts, collars, cuffs, handkerchiefs, etc.,
in a row down one side, with the numbers from one to a dozen
corresponding to the articles, is a very convenient device for them.
They need only stick a pin into the number of each article they have
sent away, and count the things when they are returned. The writing on
this cushion can be done with indelible ink.
A shaving-case, made of two pieces of pasteboard cut into the shape of a
mug, covered with silk, and filled with tissue-paper, a little
pasteboard handle at one side, is easily made, and will be acceptable to
almost any gentleman.
The pretty articles here described were seen at the Exchange for Women's
Work, No. 4 East Twentieth Street, New York city.
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KATHARINE R. MCD.--Thanks for your kindness in copying for us the
metrical table of the Kings and Queens of England. It will be better,
however, for the boys and girls to go to the history of England; and
follow the line of the royal succession for themselves. We prize most
what costs us most labor.
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