flowers or a little motto. The flowers must be small ones, such as
forget-me-nots or purple and white violets. A great deal of white
paint--body color, as it is called--should be mixed with the color, to
make it thick enough not to soak and stain the silk along the edges of
the pattern. Some people paint the whole design in solid white, let
it dry, and then put on the color over the white. Others mix a little
ox-gall with the paint.


DECORATED CANDLES.

The large wax or composition candles, of a firm texture, are best
for purposes of decoration. Water-color paints can be used, or those
powders which come for coloring wax flowers. In either case it will
be necessary to use a little ox-gall to give the paint consistency.
A band of solid tint--crimson, black, blue or gold--is usually put
around the middle of the candle, with a pattern in flowers or small
bright points above and below. Spirals of blue forget-me-nots all
over the candle are pretty, or sprays of leaves and berries set in a
regular pattern. These gay candles are considered ornamental for a
writing-table, and look well in the brass candlesticks which are
so much used just now, though _we_ confess to a preference for
unornamented candles of one solid tint.


A RUSTIC JARDINIÈRE.

Boys and girls who live in the country hardly know how lucky they are,
or what mines of materials for clever handiwork lie close by them in
the fruitful, generous woods. What with cones and leaves and moss and