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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..388e166 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #53391 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/53391) diff --git a/old/53391-0.txt b/old/53391-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 8df41bd..0000000 --- a/old/53391-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5409 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Home Amusements, by M. E. W. Sherwood - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: Home Amusements - -Author: M. E. W. Sherwood - -Release Date: October 28, 2016 [EBook #53391] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOME AMUSEMENTS *** - - - - -Produced by Chris Curnow, Paul Clark and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive) Last Edit of Project Info - - - - - - - - - -_ADVERTISEMENTS._ - - - MITCHELL, VANCE & CO. - 836 & 838 BROADWAY, - And 13th Street, NEW YORK, - - _Offer an Unequaled Assortment of_ - GAS FIXTURES, - IN CRYSTAL, GILT, BRONZE, AND DECORATIVE - PORCELAIN. - - FINE BRONZE AND MARBLE CLOCKS. - - MODERATOR AND OTHER LAMPS, - IN BRONZE, GILT, PORCELAIN, CLOISONNÉ, ETC. - - Elegant in Styles and in Greatest Variety. - - _A Cordial Invitation to all to examine our Stock._ - - - CHAS. E. BENTLEY, - (SUCCESSOR TO BENTLEY BROS.) - - Manufacturer of - DECORATIVE ART-NEEDLEWORK - In Crewel, Silk, and Floss. - NOVELTIES IN EMBROIDERIES, - - With Work Commenced and Materials to Finish. - Perforating Machines, Stamping Patterns, etc., etc. - - _Wholesale, 39 & 41 EAST 13th ST.,_ - _Retail, 854 BROADWAY._ - - FULL LINE OF MATERIALS USED IN FANCY-WORK. - - ALL THE NEWEST STITCHES TAUGHT IN PRIVATE LESSONS BY THOROUGH EXPERTS. - - STAMPING AND DESIGNING TO ORDER. - - _Send 3 cents for Catalogue._ - - - Gatherings from an Artist’s Portfolio. - - By JAMES E. FREEMAN. - - _One volume, 16mo._ _Cloth $1.25._ - -“The gifted American artist, Mr. James E. Freeman, who has for many -years been a resident of Rome, has brought together in this tasteful -little volume a number of sketches of the noted men of letters, -painters, sculptors, models, and other interesting personages whom he -has had an opportunity to study during the practice of his profession -abroad. Anecdotes and reminiscences of Thackeray, Hans Christian -Andersen, John Gibson, Vernet, Delaroche, Ivanoff, Gordon, the Princess -Borghese, Crawford, Thorwaldsen, and a crowd of equally famous -characters, are mingled with romantic and amusing passages from the -history of representatives of the upper classes of Italian society, -or of the humble ranks from which artists secure the models for their -statues and pictures.”--_New York Tribune._ - -“‘An Artist’s Portfolio’ is a charming book. The writer has gathered -incidents and reminiscences of some of the master writers, painters, -and sculptors, and woven them into a golden thread of story upon -which to string beautiful descriptions and delightful conversations. -He talks about Leslie, John Gibson, Thackeray, and that inimitable -writer, Father Prout (Mahony), in an irresistible manner.”--_New York -Independent._ - - New York: D. APPLETON & CO., 1, 3, & 5 Bond Street. - - - - - Appletons’ Home Books. - - HOME AMUSEMENTS. - - By M. E. W. S., - AUTHOR OF “AMENITIES OF HOME,” ETC. - - “There be some sports are painful; and their labour - Delight in them sets off.” - - “Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes, and groves; - And ye that on the sands with printless foot - Do chase the ebbing Neptune, and do fly him, - When he comes back!” - - I do invoke ye all. - - NEW YORK: - D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, - 1, 3, and 5 BOND STREET. - 1881. - - - - - COPYRIGHT BY - D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, - 1881. - - - - -CONTENTS. - - - PAGE - - I.--PREFATORY 5 - - II.--THE GARRET 7 - - III.--PRIVATE THEATRICALS, ETC. 9 - - IV.--TABLEAUX VIVANTS 20 - - V.--BRAIN GAMES 25 - - VI.--FORTUNE-TELLING 37 - - VII.--AMUSEMENTS FOR A RAINY DAY 45 - - VIII.--EMBROIDERY AND OTHER DECORATIVE ARTS 50 - - IX.--ETCHING 64 - - X.--LAWN TENNIS 67 - - XI.--GARDEN PARTIES 77 - - XII.--DANCING 86 - - XIII.--GARDENS AND FLOWER-STANDS 93 - - XIV.--CAGED BIRDS AND AVIARIES 104 - - XV.--PICNICS 112 - - XVI.--PLAYING WITH FIRE. CERAMICS 117 - - XVII.--ARCHERY 124 - - XVIII.--AMUSEMENTS FOR THE MIDDLE-AGED AND THE AGED 131 - - XIX.--THE PARLOR 135 - - XX.--THE KITCHEN 140 - - XXI.--THE FAMILY HORSE AND OTHER PETS 144 - - XXII.--IN CONCLUSION 148 - - - - -HOME AMUSEMENTS. - - - - -I. - -PREFATORY. - - -Goethe, in “Wilhelm Meister,” struck the key-note of the universal -underlying dramatic instinct. The boy begins to play the drama of life -with his puppets, and afterward exploits the wild dreams of youth in -the company of the strolling players. We are, indeed, all actors. We -all know how early the strutting soldier-instinct crops out, and how -soon the little girl assumes the cares of the amateur nursery. - - “I have learned from neighbor Nelly - What the girl’s doll-instinct means.” - -We begin early to play at living, until Life becomes too strong for us, -and, seizing us in merciless and severe grip, returns our condescension -by making of us the puppets with which the passing tragedy or comedy is -presented. With this idea in mind we have begun our little book with -the play in the garret--the humblest attempt at histrionics--and so -going on, still endeavoring to help those more ambitious artists who, -in remote and secluded spots, may essay to amuse themselves and others -by attempting the _rôle_ of a Cushman, a Wallack, a Sothern, a Booth, -or a Gilbert. - -Our subsequent task has been a more difficult one. To tell people how -to give all sorts of entertainments--in fact, to tell our intelligent -people how to do anything--is nearly as foolish a practice as to carry -coals to Newcastle, and implies that sort of conceit which Thackeray -so wittily suggests when, in his “Rebecca and Rowena,” he presents the -picture of a little imp painting the lily. It is hard to know where -to draw the line. It would be delightful to amuse--to help along with -the great business of making home happy--to tell a mother what to do -with her active young brood, and yet to avoid that dreadful bore of -mentioning to her something which she already knows a great deal better -than we do. - -The Scylla of barrenness and the Charybdis of garrulity are before any -author who tries to speak upon a familiar theme. Let us hope that, -through the kindness of our readers, we may not have wrecked our little -bark on either. - - - - -II. - -THE GARRET. - - -Happy the children who have inherited a garret! We mean the good -old country garret, wherein have been stowed away the accumulations -of many generations of careful housewives. The more worthless these -accumulations, the better for the children. An old aunt who saved all -the old bonnets, an old uncle who had a wardrobe of cast-off garments -to which he had appended the legend, - - “Too poor to wear, too good to give away--” - -these are the purveyors to the histrionic talents of nations yet -unborn. Old garrets are really the factories of History, Poetry, and -the Drama. - -Into such a garret crept the lame little Walter Scott, and what -did he not bring out of it! Talk of the lumber of a garret and the -accumulations of a house, and you mention to the thoughtful the gold -and diamond mines of a future literature. A bright boy or girl will -unearth many a pearl of price from those old trunks, those dilapidated -bureau-drawers, those piles of old love-letters, those garments of the -past, that broken-down guitar, that stringless violin, that too-reedy -flute. The taste for old furniture has rather emptied the garret of -its time-honored chairs and old clocks, but there is still in its -ghost-haunted corners quite enough goblin tapestry for the fancy of the -growing child. - -A country home is, of course, the most precious possession a child can -have--a country home in which his ancestors have lived for years, and -which has a large garret, a capacious cellar, and several barns. One -might wish that every child might be born in Salem or Plymouth, or near -one of those old settlements. But as that would be quite impossible, -considering the acres which we are compelled to cover as a nation, -we may as well see what can be done, in the way of Home Amusements, -with the garret as well as the parlor. The garret, in both town and -country, has been the earliest home of the legitimate drama since the -first youthful aspirant for histrionic honors strapped on the sock and -buskin. A good country barn has also been sometimes the scene not only -of the strolling but of the resident player. - - - - -III. - -PRIVATE THEATRICALS; ACTING PROVERBS AND CHARADES. - - -Wherever the amateur actor pitches his tent or erects his stage, he -must consider wisely the extraneous space behind the acting arena -necessary for his exits and entrances, and his theatrical properties. -In an ordinary house the back parlor, with two doors opening into the -dining-room, makes an ideal theatre; for the exits can be masked, and -the space is specially useful. One door opening into a large hall is -absolutely necessary, if no better arrangement can be made. The best -stage is, of course, like that of a theatre, with areas all around and -behind it, so that the actors have a space to retire into. This is -difficult in a parlor, unless it be a very large one. The difficulty, -however, has been and will be solved by the ingenious. Drawing up the -big sofa in front of the footlights, and arranging a pair of screens -and a curtain, has often served well for a parlor play. - -It is hardly necessary to say that all these arrangements for a play -depend, in the first place, on the requirements of the play itself and -its legitimate business, which may demand a table, a bureau, a piano, -a fireplace, etc. And here we would say to the youthful actor, Select -your play at first with a view to its requiring little change of scene, -and not much furniture. A young actor needs space; he is embarrassed by -too many chairs and tables. Then, again, choose a play which has so -much varied incident in it that it will, as it is said, “play itself.” -Of this branch of our subject we will treat later. - -The first thing to be built is the stage. Any carpenter will lay a few -stout boards on end-pieces, which are simply squared joists, and for -very little money will take away the boards and joists afterward; or -a permanent stage can be built for a few dollars. Sometimes ingenious -boys build their own stage with old boxes; but this is apt to be -dangerous. Very few families are without an old carpet, which will -serve for a stage-covering; and, if this is lacking, green baize is -very cheap. A whole stage-fitting--curtains and all--can be made of -green cambric; but it is better to have all the stuffs of woolen, for -the danger from fire is otherwise great. Footlights may be made of tin, -with pieces of candle put in; or a row of old bottles of equal height, -with candles stuck in the mouth, make a most admirable and very cheap -set of footlights. The mother, an elder brother, or some one with -judgment, should see to all these things, or the play may be spoiled by -an accident. - -The curtain is always a trouble. A light wooden frame should be made -by the carpenter; firm at the joints, and as high as the stage, to the -front part of which it should be attached. This frame forms three sides -of a square, and the curtain must be firmly nailed to the top-piece. -A stiff wire should be run along the lower edge of the curtain, and a -number of rings be attached to the back of it in squares--three rows -of four rings each, extending from top to bottom. Three cords are now -fastened to the wire, and, passing through the rings, are run over -three pulleys on the upper piece of the frame. It is well for all young -managers of garret theatres to get up one of these curtains, even if -they have to hire an upholsterer to help them. The draw-curtain never -works surely, and often hurts the _dénoûment_ of the play. In the case -of the drop-curtain which we have described, one person holds all the -ends of the cords, tied together; and, on pulling this, the curtain -goes up and down as if by magic, and rarely gets out of order, which is -a great gain. - -Now as for stage properties. Almost any household, or any -self-respecting garret, will hold enough of “things.” If it does -not, let the young actors exercise their ingenuity in making up, -with tinsel-paper and other cheap material, all that they will want. -Turnips, properly treated with a jackknife, have heretofore served for -Yorick’s skull in the great play of “Hamlet.” A boy who knows how to -paint can, on a white cotton background, with a pot of common black -paint, indicate a scene. If he be so fortunate as to know a kindly -theatrical manager who will let him for once go behind the scenes, he -will find that the most splendid effects are gained by a very small -outlay. - -As for the theatrical wardrobe, that is a very easy matter, if the -children have an indulgent and tasteful mother, who will help a little -and lend her old finery. - -A brigand’s costume (and brigands are very convenient theatrical -friends) is easily arranged. Procure a black felt hat, fastened up -with a shoe-buckle; a bow and a long feather; a jacket, on which Fanny -will sew some brass buttons; one of mamma’s or sister’s gay scarfs, -tied round the waist several times; an old pair of pantaloons, cut off -at the knee, and long stockings, tied up with scarlet ribbons; a pair -of pumps, with another pair of buckles, and any old pair of pistols, -dirks, or even carving-knives, stuck in the belt, and you have, at very -small expense, a fierce brigand of the Abruzzi. - -Girls’ dresses are still easier of attainment. But the great trouble in -the dressing of girls for their characters is the frequent inattention -to the time and style of the character. A young lady who plays the part -of Marie Antoinette must remember the enormous hoops which were a part -of the costume of the unlucky queen. She must not be content to merely -powder her hair. She must remember time, place, circumstance, and dress -herself accurately, if she wishes to produce a proper dress. A lady -once wore in the part of Helen of Troy, for private theatricals in New -York, a pair of high-heeled French slippers, with the classic _peplum_. -A gentleman of archæological tastes declared that he could not stay in -a house where such crimes were committed against historical accuracy! -She should have worn the classic sandal, of course--not modern black -slippers. - -The “make-up” of a character requires study and observation. In -the painting and shading of faces, adaptation of wigs, application -of mustaches and whiskers, there is much to be done. A box of -water-colors, a little chalk, camel’s-hair pencils, a saucer of rouge, -a burnt cork, and some India ink, all are useful. If these can not be -got, one burnt cork, aided by a little flour, will do it all. Mustaches -can be made by borrowing mamma’s old discarded artificial curls, -cutting them off to a proper length, and gumming them on the upper lip. -The hair of a good old Newfoundland dog has served this purpose. A very -pretty little mustache can be painted with India ink. However, if near -a barber or a hair-dresser--or, still better, a costumer--it is well to -get ready-made mustaches, which come of all colors, already gummed. If -the make-up of an old man is required, study a picture of an old face, -and trace on your own face with a camel’s-hair pencil and India ink the -wrinkles, the lines of an aged countenance. Make a wig of white cotton -if you can not hire one of gray hair. - -If a comic face is needed, stand before a glass and grin, _watch the -lines_ which the grin leaves, and trace them up with a reddish-brown -water-color. Put on rouge particularly about the nose and eyes. A -frown, a smile, a sneer, a simper, or a sad expression, can always be -painted by this process. The gayest face can be made sad by dropping a -line or two from the corners of the mouth and of the eyes. - -For a ferocious brigand, cork the eyebrows heavily, and bring them -together over the eyes. If you wish to produce emaciation or leanness, -cork under the eyes, and in the hollow of the cheek (or make a hollow), -and under the lower lip. To make up a pretty girl, even out of a young -man’s face, requires only some rouge and chalk and a blonde wig. There -should be also a powdering about the eyebrows, ears, and roots of the -hair. There should be a heavy coat of powder on the nose, and after -the rouge is put on, a shower of powder over that. All will wash off -without hurting the complexion. For a drunkard or a villain, purple -spots are painted on chin, cheek, forehead, and nose. - -The theatrical wardrobe, to be complete, should have several different -wigs, and as these can not be made well except by an artist in hair, we -recommend the actors to lay out all their spare cash on these adjuncts. -Having dressed for the part, the acting comes much more easily. No one -knows the effect of dress better than the real actor, who calls it “the -skin of the part.” - -The lines to be spoken should be committed most thoroughly to memory. -Without this no play can be a success. Each performer should write out -his own part, with the “cues,” or the words which come directly before -his own speeches, and commit the whole to memory. When the performer -hears the words of the cue, the words of his own part come to his lips -immediately. - -The exits and entrances, and what is known as “stage business,” are -always difficult to beginners. The necessity of closets, etc., in -a small stage, places to retire to, and the like, can be managed, -however, by screens, and these are so useful in all private theatricals -that one should be made, six feet high by three feet wide, hinged, and -covered with wall-paper, before any plays are attempted. - -We are describing the very cheapest and most unsophisticated private -theatricals--such as those which school-boys and girls could get up in -the country, or in a city basement or garret, with very little money -or help from their parents. And these are the ones which give the most -pleasure. Expensive and adroitly-conducted theatricals, in a city where -experts can be hired to do these things, have no lasting charm. It is, -as in all other things, _the amount of ourselves_ which we put into -anything which makes us enjoy private theatricals. And in a city, grown -people have the privilege of the best theatricals, beside which all -amateur efforts are lamentably tame. But a party of fresh young people, -full of the ichor of youth, can with the slightest help produce the -most delightful effects with very simple means. - -Young girls are too apt, in playing private theatricals, to sacrifice -character to prettiness. Now this is a fatal mistake. To dress a -part with finikin fineness, which is to be a representation of quite -different sorts of qualities, is poor art. Let them rather imitate Miss -Cushman’s rags in Meg Merrilies, or Bastian Le Page’s homely peasant -simplicity in Joan of Arc. Remember, the drama is the mirror of nature, -and should produce its strong outlines and its deep shadows. It is in -this realism that men surpass women. The college theatricals, in which -all parts are played by men, are by far the best. - -In selecting a play, amateurs should try and find one, as we have -said, which “plays itself.” They should not attempt those delicate and -very difficult plays which only great artists can make amusing. They -should select the play which is full of action and situation, like “The -Follies of a Night,” or “Everybody’s Friend.” The most commonplace -actors fail to spoil such plays as these; and there are for younger -performers hundreds of good plays, farces, and musical burlesques -to be found at every book-store. “Naval Engagements,” “A Cure for -the Fidgets,” “The Two Buzzards,” “Betsey Baker,” “Box and Cox,” “A -Regular Fix,” “Incompatibility of Temper,” “Ici l’on parle Français,” -“To oblige Benson,” are among the many which really help the amateur, -instead of crushing him. - -But no one who is not a first-rate actor should attempt “Two can play -at that Game,” “A Morning Call,” “A Happy Pair,” or any of those -beautiful French trifles which look so easy, and in the hands of good -actors are so charming, for they depend upon the most delicate shades -of acting to make them even passable. - -For those players of a larger growth, who attempt the very interesting -business of amateur theatricals on a more ambitious plane, we can -illustrate our meaning as to plays which “play themselves” by two -instances: - -“Ici l’on parle Français” gives the two amusing situations of a man -who is trying to speak French with the aid of a phrase-book, and the -counterpoise of a Frenchman who is trying to speak English in the same -fragmentary manner. Their mutual mistakes keep the house in a roar; and -almost any clever pair of young men can assume these two characters to -great advantage. They each have an eccentric character mapped out for -them, and very little shading is necessary. - -Again, for a very much more poetical and entirely different range of -part, but yet one which “plays itself,” we would suggest “Pygmalion -and Galatea,” Gilbert’s beautiful and poetical play. Here we have the -great novelty of a young lady disguised as a marble statue. She can be -“made up” with white powder and white merino drapery to look very like -a marble statue, and a powerful white lime-light should be thrown on -her from above. There is a tableau within a play to begin with, and -something novel and interesting. The marble statue, however, at the -very start becomes endowed with life, steps down from her pedestal, -walks forward to the footlights, talks, and receives the homage of a -lover. Now, almost any pretty and intelligent maiden can make this part -very interesting. She needs nothing but grace and a good memory to do -this Galatea well. The part plays itself. - -The same young actress could not do Lady Teazle--that delightful and -intricate bit of acting, so dependent upon stage tradition and stage -training that old theatre-goers say that in fifty years only five -actresses have done it well. Still less could she approach the heroine -in the “Morning Call” or the young wife in “Caste.” These parts demand -the long, severe stage training of an accomplished artist. The Galatea -is assisted by the novelty of the position, by the fact that every -young maid is a marble statue, in one sense, until Love makes her a -woman, so that each person may give a strikingly individual portrait; -and, above all, it is a play which is a new creation, and therefore -capable of a new interpretation. - -We do not advise amateurs to undertake Shakespeare, unless it be -“Katherine and Petruchio,” which is so gay and scolding that it -_almost_ plays itself. - -The very beautiful comedies of Robertson seem very easy when one sees -Mr. Wallack’s company play them; but they are very difficult for -amateurs. They depend upon the most delicate shading, the highest art, -and the neatest finish. - -The sterling old comedies--all excepting “The Rivals”--are almost -impossible, even those which are full of incident and full of costume. -Their quick movement seems to evade the player; and what is so terrible -to the listener as to endure even a second’s suspension in the “give -and take” of a comedy? “The Rivals,” strange to say, is a very good -play for amateurs. - -Boucicault’s farces and society plays run very well on the amateur -stage. Lady Gay Spanker is not a difficult part. Bulwer’s “Lady of -Lyons” should never be attempted by amateurs. It becomes mawkishly -sentimental in their hands. But Charles Reade’s “Still Waters run Deep” -is excellent for amateurs; and “Money” runs off rather more easily than -one would suppose. - -Amateurs are very fond of “A Wonderful Woman,” but we can not see -much in it. “The Wonder” is very picturesque. It is one of the plays -which plays itself; and the Spanish costumes are beautiful. The -famous comedies, “My Awful Dad,” “Woodcock’s Little Game,” and “The -Liar,” should be studied very thoroughly by observation and by book -before being attempted by amateurs. The “Little Game” has two very -hard parts to fill, Mrs. Colonel Carver and Woodcock; still it has -been done moderately well. For a parlor comedy, “The Happy Pair” is -a great favorite; and “Box and Cox” can be done by anybody, and is -always funny. Music helps along wonderfully, as witness the immortal -“Pinafore,” which has been played by amateurs to admiration for -hundreds of admiring audiences. - -A stage manager is indispensable. In getting up ambitious plays in -a city, which the courageous amateur sometimes attempts, an actor -from the theatre is generally hired to “coach” the neophytes. In the -country, some intelligent friend should do this, and he can properly -be arbitrary. It is a case for an absolute monarchy. The stage -manager must hear his company read the play over first, and tell John -faithfully if he is better fitted for the part of the lackey rather -than that of the lover. He must disabuse Seraphina of the belief that -she either looks or can play the _ingenu_, and relegate her to the part -of the housekeeper. We all have our natural and acquired capabilities -for various parts, and can do no other. - -Then, after reading the part, comes the rehearsal; and this is the -crucial test. The players must study, rehearse, rehearse, study, -and not be discouraged if they grow worse rather than better. There -is always a part lagging, and the dress rehearsal is invariably a -discouraging thing. But that is a most excellent and advantageous -discouragement if it inspire the actors to new efforts. Nothing can -spoil a private theatrical attempt like conceit and self-satisfaction. -The art is as difficult a one as playing on the violin; and, although -an amateur may learn to play pretty well, the distance between him and -a professional is as great as that between an amateur violinist and -Vieuxtemps. The amateur must remember this fact. - -“Acting proverbs” is an ingenious way of suggesting an idea by its -component parts rather than stating it outright. The parts are not -written, but merely talked over, and are often done by clever young -people on the spur of the moment. It is well, however, to consult -beforehand as to the argument of the play. The books are full of little -plays written upon such proverbs as “All is not Gold that Glitters,” -“Honor among Thieves,” “All is Fair in Love and War,” etc. But we -advise young people to take up less well-known proverbs, and to write -their own plays. They might learn one or two as a sort of exercise, but -the fresh outcrop of their own originality will be much better. The -same may be said with the acting of charades. - -A dramatic charade is a very ingenious thing, and a very neat little -play in four acts can be made from the word AB-DI-CATE. A B, of course, -presents a school scene. And at a watering place, if some witty man -or woman will represent the schoolmaster or schoolmistress, all the -pupils can be the grown men and women who are well known. The entrance -of a fashionable mamma, her instantaneous effect on the severity of the -teacher, the taking off the fool’s-cap from the head of Master Tommy, -who has been in disgrace--all will cause laughter and an opportunity -for local jokes. This is Act I. Di can be represented by the _dyeing_ -process of a barber who has to please many customers; or “The _die_ is -cast”; or an apposite allusion to Walter Scott’s “_Die_ Vernon”; or -some comico-tragico scene of “I can but _die_.” This is Act II. Cate, -to “_cater_,” “_Kate_”--for bad spelling is permitted--all these are -in order. This is Act III. The last act can be the splendid pageant of -a Turkish _Abdication_, in which a sultan abdicates in favor of his -son. All the camel’s-hair shawls, brilliant turbans, and jewelry of the -house and neighborhood can here be introduced with effect. - -Charades in which negroes, Irish or German people, or anybody with a -dialect, enter in and form a part, are very amusing if the boys of the -family have a genius for mimicry. Amateur minstrels are very funny. The -getting up of a party of white men as black men is, however, attended -with expense. The gift of singing a comic song is highly appreciated in -the family circle of amateur dramatists, and a little piece with songs -is very sure to be acceptable. - -If every member of the party will do what he can, without any -false shame, or any egotistical desire to outdo the others, if the -ready-witted will do what they can to help the slow-going, and if the -older members of the family will help along, these amusements will -cheer many a winter’s evening, many a long rainy week, and will improve -all who are connected with them; for memory and elocution, good manners -and a graceful bearing, are all included in the playing of charades, -proverbs, and the little dramas. - - - - -IV. - -TABLEAUX VIVANTS. - - -We now come to one of the most artistic of all Home Amusements--the -_Tableau vivant_. - -Lady Hamilton amused the people of her age, all over Europe, by playing -in a parlor very striking living pictures. All she asked was a corner -of the room, a heavy curtain behind her, and a few shawls and turbans. -Being a beautiful and graceful woman, with the dramatic instinct, she -gave imitations of celebrated statues and pictures, and was no doubt -aided by some very ingenious painting, which she knew how to apply to -her own fair face. The art she discovered is certainly worth trying in -the present age as an amusement. - -The preparations for good tableaux should be somewhat elaborate. A -vista should be built and lined with dark-colored cloth; lights should -fall from the top, sides, and front, so as to avoid shadows. The -groups should be striking, the colors clear, and the attitudes simple. -Sometimes there are such wonderful and unpremeditated effects from -these living pictures that artists hold up their hands in despair; more -often they are ruined by shadows; the lights are not well arranged, -and the whole effect lacks elevation and meaning. It is difficult to -arrange a crowded tableau, but it can be done. - -The principle of a picture--a pyramidal form--should be observed -closely in tableau. To secure this desirable object the persons in the -background must stand on elevations. Boxes covered with dark cloth, -so as to be unnoticeable, are the best of all devices, and the effect -of any object held up in the hand, as a scepter, a bird, a distaff, -or a wreath, must be carefully noted, as it may throw a shadow on the -picture in the background. There never was, or could be, a tableau -which did not have some weak spot, and these shadows are the faults -which most easily beguile; but they can be avoided. - -A group of Puritans make into many very striking pictures. The costume -is beautiful and becoming; red cloth can be laid on the table or floor -to set off the grays; and the many picturesque incidents in our early -history form very pleasing subjects. It is a beautiful dress for women -and a dignified one for men--that gray dress and high ruff, that -broad hat, and plain, long gown. A group of young people might take a -winter’s amusement out of reading up the Puritan annals, and giving at -the Academy or in their own homes a series of Puritan tableaux. - -A tableau can be given in parlors separated by folding-doors; but they -are not by any means as good as those for which a stage, vista and -footlights, flies and side-lights, are arranged. If there is a large -unused room, where these properties can stand, the result is very much -better. There should be a gauze curtain or one of black tarlatan, which -should have no seams in it, and this curtain should hang in front of -the stage all the time. The drop-curtain must be outside of this. The -gauze curtain serves as a sort of varnish to the picture, and adds to -the illusion. - -Although the pure white light of candles, gas, kerosene, or lime-light -is the best for tableaux, very pretty effects are produced by the -introduction of colored lights, such as can be produced by the use -of nitrate of strontia, chlorate of potash, sulphuret of antimony, -sulphur, oxymuriate of potassa, metallic arsenic, and pulverized -charcoal. Muriate of copper makes a bluish-green fire, and many other -colors can be obtained by a little study of chemistry. Here are some -simple recipes: - -To make a _red fire_.--Five ounces nitrate of strontia, dry, one and -a half ounces finely-powdered sulphur. Take five drachms chlorate -of potash and four drachms sulphuret of antimony and powder them -separately in a mortar; then mix them on paper, and, having mixed the -other ingredients, previously powdered, add these last, and rub the -whole together on paper. In use, mix a little spirits of wine with the -powder, and burn in a flat iron plate or pan. - -A _green fire_ may be made by powdering finely and mixing well thirteen -parts flour of sulphur, five parts oxymuriate of potassa, two parts -metallic arsenic, three parts pulverized charcoal, seventy-seven -parts nitrate of baryta; dry it carefully, powder, and mix the whole -thoroughly. A polished reflector fitted on one side of the pan in which -this is burned will concentrate the light and cast a brilliant green -luster on the figures. A bluish-green fire may be produced by burning -muriate of copper finely powdered and mixed with spirits of wine. These -fires smell unpleasantly in the drawing-room; and equally good effects -may almost always be produced by colored globes, if the light is not -needed too quickly. - -Sulphate of copper, when dissolved in water, will give a beautiful -_blue_ color. The common red cabbage gives three colors. Slice the -cabbage and pour boiling water on it; when cold, add a small quantity -of alum, and you have _purple_. Potash dissolved in the water will -give a brilliant _green_. A few drops of muriatic acid will turn the -cabbage-water into a _crimson_. - -Then, again, if a ghostly look be required, mix common salt with -spirits of wine in a metal cup and set it upon a wire frame over a -spirit-lamp. When the cup becomes heated, and the spirits of wine -ignite, the other lights in the room should be extinguished, and that -of the spirit-lamp shaded in some way. The result will be that the -whole group will become like the witches in Macbeth, - - “That look not like the inhabitants of the earth, - But yet are of it.” - -This burning of common salt produces a very weird effect. It seems -that salt has some other properties than the conservative, preserving, -hospitable kind of quality which legend and the daily needs of mankind -have ascribed to it. - -A very fine and artistic set of tableaux can be gotten up by reference -to such a great work as “Boydell’s Shakespeare,” if it happens to -be at hand. Also a study of fine engravings, such as one finds in -the “National Academy.” If these books are not attainable, almost -any pictorial magazine will furnish subjects. Or, if imagination is -consulted, construct a series out of Waverley, or from the but too -well known scenes of the French Revolution, or from George Eliot’s -delightful “Romola”--a book full of remarkable pictures, with the -additional charm of the old Florentine dress. Sometimes a very -impressive poem is given in tableaux, like Tennyson’s “Princess,” or, -the “Dream of Fair Women.” Then there are many artistic but rather -horrible surprises, as “The Head of John the Baptist,” which can be -“cut off” admirably by an intervening table, and so on; but nothing is -so good as a study of the fine groups of the best painters. - -Venetian scenes, from Titian’s and Tintoretto’s pictures, can be -admirably represented in tableaux. The Italian wealth of color is -always impressive; and as engravings of these pictures are attainable, -it is well to represent them. Roman scenes are very effective, and -especially as Alma Tadema arranges them for us, with his fine feeling -for the antique. - -The humor of Hogarth, aided as it is by the picturesque dress of his -day, can be represented in a tableau. But without some such aids -humor is generally lost in a tableau. There is not time for it. Some -of Darley’s groups, as, for instance, the illustrations of “Rip Van -Winkle,” are admirable, and would seem to contradict this statement, -for they are full of fun; but then--they are wonderfully well dressed. -That early Revolutionary dress, borrowed in part from the days of Queen -Anne, is very picturesque. - -If there is some one in the group whose fine sense of the proprieties -of art can be trusted, the allegorical can be attempted. But the danger -is that the allegorical in art is generally ridiculous. Faith, Hope, -and Charity, Mercy and Peace, are better anywhere than in pictures. - -The grotesque is always lost in a tableau, where there seems to be a -sort of æsthetic demand for the heroic, the refined, and the delicate. -A double action may be presented with very good effect; as in some -of those fancies of Retzsch and Ary Scheffer, where an angel bends -over a sleeping child, or a group, unknown to the actors in front, -is representing another picture behind. But the best effects are the -simplest. One should not attempt too much. The old example, called -“The Dull Lecture,” painted by Gilbert Stuart Newton, where a prosy -old philosopher is reading aloud to a pretty girl who is fast asleep, -is a case in point. That has been a favorite tableau for forty years, -nor are its charms yet done away with. Tableaux from Dickens have only -a moderate success, excepting, perhaps, the rather overdone “Christmas -Carol.” The dress is wanting in color and character. - -Tableaux in which animals are introduced are sometimes very effective, -if stuffed bears and lions and tigers can be hired from a museum. A -fine tableau was once composed, from a French print, of the Queen -of Sheba’s visit to Solomon; but the camel on which that lofty lady -arrived was a piece of scene-painting done by a very clever artist, and -it would be difficult to improvise one. - - - - -V. - -BRAIN GAMES. - - -We now come to the winter evening, and the pencil and paper. - -It is a delightful feature of our modern civilization that books are -very cheap, and that the poets are read by everybody. That would be -a very barren house where one did not find Scott, Byron, Goldsmith, -Longfellow, Tennyson, Browning, Bret Harte, and Jean Ingelow. Very few -boys and girls can reach the age of sixteen without having committed to -memory some immortal poem of one of these most popular poets. - -Therefore there would be no embarrassment if we asked the members of -any evening circle to write down three or four lines in the measure of -“Evangeline,” “Lady Clara Vere de Vere,” “The Corsair,” “The Traveler,” -“Marmion,” or “Hervé Riel,” “The Heathen Chinee,” or the pretty “Bird -Song” of Jean Ingelow. Not a parody only, however, but a parody -involving a certain idea or word. - -In the great year of Coggia’s comet this game was thus played, and a -young man was requested to speak of the comet in the style of “Mother -Goose.” The result was as follows: - - “Sing a song of Coggia-- - Comet in the sky! - Wonder if he’ll trouble us, - Whip up you or I! - When his tail is over, - Then begin to crow; - Four-and-twenty doctors, - Tell us all you know!” - -Another of the circle was directed to treat of the Wood Fire in the -measure of Tennyson’s “May Queen.” The result was the following: - - “If you’re snapping, snap out wisely, snap out wisely, burning wood! - You would not snap so wildly if your drying had been good. - Nor had I, sitting near you with the hearth-brush in my hand, - Have found no peace in sitting, for fear of burning brand.” - -This was declared to be too easy a game for such a wild and superfluous -supply of brains, and, therefore, the word _Poker_ was pronounced -to be an essential element of every future poem. Poor Browning and -Longfellow, Bret Harte and Walter Scott, were mercilessly spitted on -that poker. Much foolscap was spoiled, but much fun gained. Here is one -of the poker successes: - - -“AFTER BYRON, WITH A POKER; ALSO AFTER DRINKING FLIP. - - “Here, too, the Poker stands in brass! and fills - The air around with safety! We inhale - The ambrosial aspect which its heat instills - (Part of its immortality) to Flip - (That beer which is half drawn), within the cup - We breathe, and its deep secrets dip. - Who Flip can make--who cares where he may fail! - Before its wide success let Heliogabalus turn pale. - - “We drink, and turn away--we care not where! - Fuzzled, and drunk with porter, till the head - Reels with its fullness. There, for ever there, - Stand thou in triumph, Poker, strong and red! - We are thy captives, and thine ardor share. - Away! there need no words, no terms precise, - To say in loving accents, Flip-cup, thou art nice!” - -To this class of Home Amusements belongs also the famous game of -“Twenty Questions,” which was played so much at one time by the -Cambridge professors that they declared that any subject should be -reached in ten questions. The proper formula for this very intellectual -game is this: Two parties are formed, the questioners and the -answerers, the first having the privilege, after the word has been -chosen, to inquire-- - -“Is your subject animal, vegetable, or mineral?” - -“What is its size?” - -“To what age does it belong?” - -“Is it historical or natural?” - -“Is it ancient or modern?” - -“Is it a manufactured article?” etc. - -The number of subjects which are _none_ of these, or which _are all -three_, or which can not be defined in some way, is of course small. -Thus, a Blush, a Smile, a Tear, an Echo, an Avalanche, a Drought, are -all indescribable by the exact definitions of the above questions. But -the questioner soon arrives at this negative, and begins a new series. - -Perhaps one of the most puzzling of subjects is a “mummy.” It fulfills -certain conditions, but not others; and the final question, “What is -its use?” and the answer, “It is used for fuel,” though true--for the -Arabs cook their dinners by them--does not at all cover the ground -of the supposed use of a mummy. The shield of Achilles, the Hole in -the Wall through which Pyramus and Thisbe kissed, have been asked and -guessed! A Bat baffled even the most ingenious twenty questioners, -while the Parlor into which the Spider invited the Fly was guessed. - -It is a very intellectual and very amusing game, and those who play it -should be as honest as possible in their answers. If puns and wordy -equivoque are allowed, the game ceases to be legitimate. - -Among games requiring memory and attention we may mention “Cross -Purposes,” “The Horned Ambassador,” “I love my Love with an A,” -“The Game of the Ring” (arithmetical), “The Deaf Man,” “The Goose’s -History.” “Story Play” consists in putting a chosen word into a -narrative so cleverly that it will not be readily guessed, although -several people tell different stories with the chosen word several -times repeated. The best way to play this is to have some odd word -which is _not_ the word--like _Banana_--and use it several times; -yet one’s own consciousness of the right word will often betray the -story-teller. “The Dutch Conceit,” “My Lady’s Toilet,” “What is my -Thought like?” “Scheherazade’s Ransom” are very pretty, and may be -found in many Manuals of Games. This last deserves a description. - -Three of the company sustain the parts of the Sultan, the Vizier, and -the Princess Scheherazade. The Sultan takes his seat at the end of the -room, and the Vizier then leads the Princess before him, with her hands -bound behind her. The Vizier then makes a burlesque proclamation that -the Princess, having exhausted all her stories, is about to be punished -unless a sufficient ransom be offered. All the rest of the company -then advance in turn and propose enigmas, which must be solved by the -Sultan or Vizier; sing the first verse of a song, to which the Vizier -must answer with the second verse; or recite any well-known piece -of poetry in alternate lines with the Vizier. Forfeits must be paid -either by the company when successfully encountered by the Sultan or -Vizier, or by the Vizier when unable to respond to his opponents; and -the game goes on till the forfeits amount to any specified number on -either side. Should the company be victorious and obtain the greatest -number of forfeits, the Princess is released, and the Vizier has to -execute all the penalties that may be imposed upon him. If otherwise, -the Princess is led to execution. For this purpose she is blindfolded, -and seated on a low stool. The penalties for the forfeits, which should -be previously prepared, are written on slips of paper and put in a -basket, which she holds in her hands tied behind her. The owners of the -forfeits advance and draw each a slip of paper. As each person comes -forward, the Princess guesses who it is, and, if right, the person must -pay an additional forfeit, the penalty for which is to be exacted by -the Princess herself. When all the penalties have been distributed, the -hands and eyes of the Princess are released, and she then superintends -the execution of the various punishments that have been allotted to the -company. - -Another very good game is to send one of the company out, and as he -comes in again to address him as the supposed character of Napoleon, -a Russian emperor, Gustavus Adolphus, or some well-known character in -history or fiction. For instance, a young lady leaves the room, and as -she enters some one says: - -“Charming and noble heroine, most generous and most faithful! we are -glad to see you. How well you look, after all that has happened to you! -Burned alive? Yes, I should say so; and all that you suffered before! -How did you like wearing armor? and what do you think of ungrateful -kings? How was it at home before you left----? Did you really see those -visions? and how did St. ---- look? And, now that you are come back, -will you ever be so generous and noble as to fight for _any_ cause -except yourself?” - -Of course, the young lady knows that she is Joan of Arc. But it is not -necessary that character should be so plainly indicated, however, as in -this example. - -“The Echo” is another very pretty game. It is played by reciting some -little story, which Echo is supposed to interrupt whenever the narrator -pronounces certain words which recur frequently in his narrative. These -words relate to the profession or trade of him who is the subject of -the story. If, for example, the story is about a soldier, the words -which would recur the most frequently would naturally be “Uniform,” -“Gaiters,” “Chapeau bras,” “Musket,” “Plume,” “Pouch,” “Sword,” -“Saber,” “Gun,” “Knapsack,” “Belt,” “Sash,” “Cap,” “Powder-flask,” -“Accouterments,” and so on. Each one of the company, with the exception -of the person who tells the story, takes the name of Soldier, -Powder-flask, etc., except the name “Accouterments.” When the speaker -pronounces one of these words, he who has taken it for his name ought, -if the word has been said only once, to pronounce it twice; if it has -been said twice, to pronounce it once. When the word “Accouterments” is -uttered, the players--all except the soldier--ought to repeat again the -word “Accouterments” either once or twice. - -These games are amusing, as showing how defective a thing is memory, -and how apt, when under fire, to desert us. It is also very queer to -mark the difference of character exhibited by the players. The most -unexpected revelations are made. - -Another very funny game is “Confession by a Die,” played with cards and -dice. It would look at first like a parody on “Mother Church,” but it -is not so guilty. A person takes some blank cards, and, counting the -company, writes down a sin for each. The unlucky sinner when called -upon must not only confess, but, by throwing the dice also, confess as -many sins as they indicate, and do penance for them all. These can, -with a witty leader, be made very funny. - -“The Secretary” is another good game. The persons sit at a table with -square pieces of paper, and pencils, and each one writes his own -name, handing the paper, carefully folded down, to the Secretary, -who distributes them, saying “Character!” Then each one writes out -an imaginary character, hands it again to the Secretary, who says -“Future!” The papers are again distributed, and the writers forecast -the future. Of course, the Secretary throws in all sorts of other -questions, and, when the game is through, the papers are read. They -form a curious and heterogeneous piece of reading. Sometimes such -curious bits of character-reading crop out that one suspects and dreads -complicity. But, if it is honestly played, the game is amusing. - -Of Ruses and Catch-games, Practical Jokes, and all plays involving -mystification and mortification, we have a great abhorrence. They do -not belong to the class of Home Amusements. Let them be relegated -to that bad limbo of “college hazing,” and other ignoble tricks -which some people call fun. Far better the games which call for wit, -originality, and inspiration; which show knowledge, reading, and -a full _repertoire_; and a familiarity with all the three homely -studies--geography, arithmetic, and history, including natural history. -One of these games is called “The Traveler’s Tour,” and may be made -very interesting, if the leader is ingenious. It is played in this -way: One of the party announces himself the “Traveler.” He is given -an empty bag, and counters with numbers on are distributed among the -players. Thus, if twelve persons are playing, the numbers must count -up to twelve--a set of _ones_ to be given to one, _twos_ to two, and -so on. Then the Traveler asks for information about the places to -which he is going. The first person gives it, if he can; if not, the -second, and so on. If the Traveler considers it correct information, -or worthy of notice, he takes from the person one of his counters, -as a pledge of the obligation he is under to him. The next person in -order takes up the next question, and so on. After the Traveler reaches -his destination, he empties his bag, and sees to whom he has been -indebted for the greatest amount of information. He then makes him the -next Traveler. Of course, this opens the door for all sorts of witty -rejoinders, as the players choose to exaggerate the claims of certain -hotels, the geographical position of places, and the hits at such a -place as Long Branch, for instance, by describing it as an “inland -spot, very retired, where nobody goes,” etc., etc. Or it can be played -seriously, with the map of Europe or America in one’s memory. The -absurd way is, however, the favorite style with most, as in this wise: - -_Traveler._ “I am going to Newport this summer. Which is the best -route?” - -_Answer._ “Well, start by the Erie Railroad and try to form a junction -with the Pittsburg and Ohio.” - -_Trav._ “When shall I get there?” - -_An._ “If you take the Southern Pacific you may reach Newport before -the Fall River boat gets in” (sarcasm on the slowness of the boat). - -_Trav._ “How if I go by the Northern Pacific?” - -_An._ “Well, that is better than the _Wickford_ route.” - -Or _Trav._ says: “I want to go to San Francisco; how shall I start?” - -_An._ “Well, at the rate the Cunarders are going to Europe now, your -quickest way is to take the Gallia, and on reaching Liverpool to go to -India by the Overland Route, and so round the world.” - -The rhyming game is also very amusing. It is done in this way: - -_Speaker._ “I have a word that rhymes with _Game_.” - -_Interlocutor._ “Is it something statesmen crave?” - -_Sp._ “No, it is not _Fame_.” - -_In._ “Is it something that goes halt?” - -_Sp._ “No, it is not _Lame_.” - -_In._ “Is it something tigers need?” - -_Sp._ “No, it is not to _Tame_.” - -_In._ “Is it what we all would like?” - -_Sp._ “No, it is not _Good Name_.” - -_In._ “Is it to shoot at Duck?” - -_Sp._ “Yes, and that Duck to _maim_.” - -Such words as Nun, Thing, Fall, etc., which admit of many rhymes, are -very good ones to choose. The two who play it must be quick-witted and -read each other’s thoughts. - -The end rhymes, which the French like, are very ingenious.[A] Try -making a poem to fit these words, for instance, and you catch the idea: - - Town. Lay. Place. Long. Run. Fame. Rain. - Renown. May. Space. Wrong. Sun. Name. Train. - -The game of “Crambo,” in which each player has to write a noun on one -piece of paper and a question on another, is curious. As, for instance, -the drawer may get the noun “Mountain,” and the question, “Do you love -me?” he must write a sonnet or poem in which he answers the one and -brings in the other. - -The game of “Preferences” has had a long and a successful career. It is -a very good addition to Home Amusements to possess a blank-book lying -on the parlor-table, in which each guest should be asked to write out -answers to the following questions: - - Who is your favorite hero in history? - - Who is your favorite heroine in history? - - Who is your favorite king in history? - - Who is your favorite queen in history? - - What is your favorite male Christian name? - - What is your favorite female Christian name? - - What is your favorite flower? - - What is your favorite color? - - What is your favorite style of music? - - What is your favorite style of climate? - - What is your favorite amusement? - - What is your favorite study? - - What is your favorite exercise? - - What is your favorite book? - - What is your favorite game? etc., etc. - -These questions may be amplified according to the taste of the owner of -the book. - -These books are very common in English country houses, and the -statistics of favoritism have been taken. Napoleon Bonaparte, even in -the land of the Duke of Wellington, had the greatest number of admirers -as a hero; Mary, Queen of Scots, was the favorite queen in a majority -of instances; Lord Byron led off as a poet, and the names Edward and -Alice had the greatest number of votes as admired Christian names. Joan -of Arc is always ahead as a heroine. In America, after a five years’ -experience, a number of books were compared, and resulted in a close -tie between Washington and Napoleon as hero; between Charles X, of -Sweden, and Francis I as king; with Mary, Queen of Scots, far ahead -as queen; with Theodore and Mary as Christian names in advance. Yet -an occasional originality crops out in these “preferences,” and the -examination of the different opinions is always interesting. - -The game of Authors, especially when created by the persons who wish -to play it, is very interesting. The game can be bought, and is a -very common one, as, perhaps, everybody knows; but it can be rendered -uncommon by the preparation of the cards among the members of the -family. There are sixty-four cards to be prepared, with each the name -of a popular author, and any three of his works. The entire set is -numbered from one to sixty-four. Any four cards containing the name -and works of the same author form a book. Thus, “Henry W. Longfellow, -‘Hyperion,’ ‘Evangeline,’ ‘New England Tragedies,’” would form one set. -As the shuffling and distribution of these cards, and the plan of also -drawing from a pile in the middle of the table, creates the greatest -uncertainty as to the whereabouts of a certain card, much amusement -can be derived in the effort to make a book. The cards must be equally -distributed one at a time, beginning at the left of the dealer. The -players then arrange their cards in the hand. If one finds four of a -kind, he immediately declares a book, and lays it face downward on -the table; and then, if holding one of the “Longfellow’s,” he will -say “Evangeline.” He can ask any other player for “Hyperion.” After -receiving either the card or a negative answer, the next player to the -left goes on with his play. Players can only call for such cards as -belong to books of which they hold a portion. Should a player call for -a card which he already holds, that card is forfeited to the person -of whom it was called. The caller always finds the name of the card -he wants among those printed in small type; the person of whom it is -called finds it in large type at the top. - -This game may be made very useful by using the names of kings and -queens, and the learned men of their reigns, instead of authors. It is -a very good way to study history. The popes can be utilized, with their -attendant great men, and by playing the game for a season the dates and -the events of some obscure period of history will be effectually fixed -in the memory. - -As the numbers affixed to the cards may be purely arbitrary, the count -at the end will fluctuate with remarkable impartiality; thus, the -Dickens cards may count but one, while Tupper will be named sixteen; -Carlyle can be two, while Artemus Ward shall be sixty. This is made -very amusing sometimes. King Henry VIII, who set no small store by -himself, can be made to count very little in the kingly game, while the -poor Edward IV may have a higher numeral than he was allowed in life. - - - - -VI. - -FORTUNE-TELLING. - - -We now come to that game which interests old and young. None are so -apathetic but that they relish a look behind the dark curtain. The -apple-paring in the fire, the roasted chestnut and the raisin, the -fire-back and the stars, have been interrogated since time began. -The pack of cards, the tea-cup, the dream-book, the board with the -mystic numbers, and the Bible and Key, have been consulted from time -immemorial. The makers of games have given in their statistics, and -they declare that there are no cards or games so sure of selling well -as those which foretell the Future. - -Now a very pretty Home Amusement is to cultivate, without believing -much in them, the innocent sciences of palmistry and of fortune-telling. -Several years ago this led to the making of a very pretty book -by Mrs. Gilman, of South Carolina--a poetical and very harmless -fortune-teller--made up of lines from the poets. The young ladies of -the period used to draw as future husbands: “A professor, and a log -cabin in the West”; “a lord, and a castle”; “a merchant prince”; “an -irresolute and an obstinate fool”; “a well-favored gentleman,” and so -on, the good fortunes being in great advance of the bad ones. It was a -popular work, and amused many a tea-party. - -Many people, since the advent of Spiritualism, have amused themselves -with that wonderful toy, “Planchette,” and other curious caprices of -mind-reading, clairvoyance, table-tipping, and knocks. The Key, which -seems to possess strong magnetic powers, and all the performances which -the unbeliever calls “nonsense,” or worse, and which the believing -call “manifestations,” are also interesting; but we can not recommend -this sort of tampering with nervous and exciting pleasure, as it has -undoubtedly sometimes unhinged the most truly innocent minds. Such -investigations should be left to strong and sober men, and should be -approached in a very philosophical spirit, or not at all. - -There can be no harm, however, in a playful consultation of the leaves -of the daisy, the four-leaved clover, the fortunate black cat who -brings us luck, the moon over the right shoulder, the oracular “You -shall travel over land and sea”--believing in all the good fortune, -but in none of the bad. The salt should be carefully thrown over -the left shoulder, if spilled, and all the Fates and Fairies should -be propitiated. It gives delightful variety to life to know all the -superstitions and the lore of old nurses and grandmothers. Did we -follow them back, we should find that they each had a poetical origin. -We all like to believe that we can enumerate on our fingers the false -friends, the enemies; but we may hope that the world could not hold the -admirers and the friends whom one four-leaved clover or one black cat -had given us--or promised us. To be sure, “we had dreamed of snakes, -and that meant enemies.” But, after all, are not enemies next best to -friends? They give us consequences, and who that is worth anything was -ever without them? That would be a very colorless individual who should -go through life without an enemy. - -The riches which are hidden in a fortune-telling set of cards -(although like Peter Goldthwaite’s treasure) are very real and -comforting while they last. They are endless, they have few really -trying responsibilities attached, they can not be taxed, they are -absolutely where thieves can not break through and steal. They are so -satisfactory, which real wealth never is; they buy everything we want; -they go farther than any real fortune could go; they are our real and -personal estate, and our poetical dreams; our Lamp of Aladdin, and -our Chemical Bank. They are gained without hurting anybody; they are -dug out of the ground without painful backache or bloodshed; they are -inherited without stain, and can be spent without fear of profligacy. -Of what other fortune can we say as much? - -It would be an unending theme to try to make a catalogue of the -superstitions of all nations. The Irish, with their wild belief in -fairies, that _Leprechaun_--the little man in red, who, if you can -catch him, will make you happy and prosperous for ever after; who has -such a strange relationship to humanity that at birth and death the -Leprechaun must be tended by a mortal! to read, as they do--these -imaginative people--a sermon in every stone; to see luck beneath the -four-leaved clover, and to hang a legend on every bush; to follow the -more spiritually-minded Scotchman in his second sight, who holds that - - “Coming events cast their shadows before.” - -A very learned book has been written on the “Superstitions of Wales” -alone. Eloquent and poetic are the people who have invented the -Banshee, the Brownie (or domestic fairy who does all the work). The -more tragic and less loving superstitions of Italy teach that the “evil -eye” is always to be dreaded. The Breton superstitions are as wild as -the sea-gust which sweeps from their coast. All these are subjects of -profound interest to those who read the great subject of race, from -ethnology, folk-lore, and ballads. The superstitions of a people tell -their innermost characteristics, and are thus profoundly interesting. - -The French have, however, tabularized fortune-telling for us. Their -peculiar ability in arranging ceremonials and _fêtes_, and their -undoubted genius for tactics and strategy, show that they are able to -foresee events with unusual clearness. Their ingenuity in all technical -contrivances is an additional testimony in the same direction, and we -are not surprised that they have here, as is their wont, given us the -practical help which we need in fortune-telling. Mlle. Lenormand, the -sorceress who prophesied to Napoleon his greatness, and to many of the -princes and great men of France their downfall and their misfortunes, -has left us thirty-six cards (to be bought at any book-store), wherein -we can read the decrees of fate. Her preface says, “Thousands of -noblemen did then acknowledge her great talent already during her -lifetime, and did often confess that her method was full of truth and -exactness.” Lenormand was a very clever sibyl; she had great ingenuity; -she throws in enough of the inevitable bad, and finds enough of the -possible good, to at least amuse those who consult her oracles. Whether -we have confidence or faith in the divination, we can not but look for -the lucky cards. In this game “The Cavalier” is a messenger of good -fortune, and, if not surrounded by unlucky cards, brings good news, -which the person may expect either from his own house or from abroad. -This will, however, not take place immediately, but some time after. - -“The Clover Leaf” is a harbinger of good news, but if surrounded by -clouds it indicates great pain; but if No. 2 lies near No. 26 or 28, -the pain will be of short duration, and will soon change to a happy -issue. - -“The Ship,” the symbol of commerce, signifies great wealth, which will -be acquired by trade or inheritance. If near to the person, it means an -early journey. - -“The House” is a certain sign of success and prosperity, and although -the present position of the person may be disagreeable, yet the future -will be bright and happy. If this card lies in the center of the cards -under the person, this is a hint to beware of those who surround him. - -“A Tree,” if distant from the person, signifies good health. Nine -trees, of different cards together, leave no doubt about the -realization of all reasonable wishes. - -“Clouds”: if their clear side is turned toward the person, it is a -lucky sign; with the dark side turned toward the person, something -disagreeable will soon happen. - -“A Serpent” is a sign of misfortune, the extent of which depends -upon the greater or smaller distance from the person; it is followed -invariably by deceit, infidelity, and sorrow. - -“A Coffin,” very near to the person, means, without any doubt, -dangerous diseases, death, or total loss of fortune; more distant from -the person, the card is less dangerous. - -“The Nosegay” means much happiness in every respect. - -“The Scythe” indicates great danger, which will only be avoided if -lucky cards surround him. - -“The Rod” means quarrels in the family, domestic afflictions, want of -peace among married persons, fever, and protracted illness. - -“The Birds” mean hardship to be overcome, but of short duration; -distant from the person, they mean the accomplishment of a pleasant -journey. - -These are descriptions of a few of the picture-cards with which Mlle. -Lenormand tells fortunes still, although she has gone to the land of -certainty, and has herself found out if her symbols and emblems, and -her combinations, really did draw aside the curtain of the future with -invisible strings. We advise all our readers to possess themselves of -her “Fortune-telling Cards” if they wish to become amateur sibyls. - -The cup of tea, and the mysterious wanderings of the grounds around the -cup, so long the favorite medium of the sibyl, seems to be an English -superstition. It fits itself to the old crone domesticity of the -Anglo-Saxon humble home, rather than to the more out-of-door romance of -the Spaniards and the Italians; and yet the most out-of-door people in -the world--the gypsies--use it as a means of discerning the future. - -The cup should be filled with a weak infusion of tea--grounds and -all--and then carefully turning the cup toward one, the tea should be -carefully turned out, waving the cup so skillfully that the tea-leaves -are dispersed over the surface of the cup. Happy the maid who can turn -out the tea without spilling the leaves. If one drop of tea is left in -the cup it will mean--a tear. - -These grounds, or tea-leaves, have been used from the earliest days as -the alphabet of the Parcæ. Before Chinese tea was brought to England -the old fortune-tellers made some sort of a brew out of powdered herbs, -which left their mark on the cup. We can understand how that sinuous -serpent who has had so much to do with our destiny, as a synonym of -evil, can be pictured or “visualized” by such a process; but where the -sibyl finds the light-haired young man crossing a river, where she -finds gold and where trouble, we must leave to the interpreters. - -That most interesting of sibyls, “Norna of the Fitful Head,” used -molten lead as a means of interpreting the unseen, and that can be done -by our modern soothsayers. - -Cards from early antiquity have been used to tell fortunes. The Queen -of Hearts is the heroine, and as about her group the propitious reds, -or the gloomy blacks, so may we hope for good or dread bad luck. The -Ace of Spades is a bearer of evil tidings; the King of Hearts, at the -right of the Queen, is the very Fortunatus himself. And now, who is -this goddess so often invoked? _Fortuna_, courted by all nations, was, -in Greek, _Tyche_, or the goddess of chance. She differed from Destiny -or Fate in so far that she worked without law, giving or taking at -her own good pleasure, and dispensing joy or sorrow indefinitely; her -symbols were those of mutability--a ball, a wheel, a pair of wings, -a rudder. The Romans affirmed that, when she entered their city, she -threw off her wings and shoes, and determined to live with them for -ever; she seems to have thought better of it, however. She was a sister -of the Parcæ, or Fates, those three who spin the thread of life, -measure it, and cut it off. Fortunatus, he of the inexhaustible purse -of gold and the wishing-cap, is too familiar a figure to the readers of -fairy tales to be mentioned here. - -And yet, although all nations have desired to propitiate Fortuna, her -high-priests and interpreters have ever been in disrepute. In Scotland, -that land of demonology and witchcraft, of second-sight, of dreamy -superstition, fortune-tellers were denounced as vagabonds, and their -punishment, by statute, was scourging and burning of the ears. We all -know how the knowledge of the “black art” was denounced in Germany; and -the witches of Salem, while they were approached at dead of night by a -pale magistrate who desired to have his fortune told, were, at his high -behest, tortured, pilloried, and hanged the next week, if the fortune -was a bad one, or, if being well foretold, was slow of accomplishment. -That half-belief which superstitious persons repose in their oracles, -shown in the case of the Indian, who breaks or maims his God if he does -not respond to his prayer, and in the remarkable story of Louis XI, of -France, who used to alternately pray to and abuse his leaden images of -saints, is repeated often in the history of fortune-telling. - -Mother Redcap, “a very witch,” was resorted to by hundreds of persons -in England as a fortune-teller; her image remains on a coin dated -1667. The well-known prophecies of her neighbor, Mother Shipton, have -come down to us. Poor Redcap had all the duckings and the batings -of the populace. She and her black cat were the favorite horrors of -the superstitious inhabitants of Kentish Town, and hundreds of men, -women, and children saw the devil come in state to carry her off. But -Mother Shipton (who was born at Knaresborough in the reign of Henry -VII) became the most popular of British prophets, and, although she -was supposed to have sold her soul to the Old Gentleman, she yet died -in her bed decently and in order at an extreme old age. So Fortuna -is capricious, even in her treatment of her votaries. It is not -strange that “Palmistry” should have taken higher ground than mere -fortune-telling, and indeed the lines of the hand will seem to map out -character, and perhaps destiny, with some accuracy. The books say that -the lines running through the palm indicate will or indecision, force -or weakness, quickness or slowness; indeed, all which makes character -and fate. We are the arbiters of at least a part of our fortune. - -The power to tell fortunes by the hand can be learned from any of -the French books on palmistry, and there are one or two little -English translations. It can be sufficiently curious and varied to -amuse the home circle, and so long as it is done for that purpose, -fortune-telling can do no harm. - -But the moment we rise above the idea that the beans, the tea-grounds, -the black cat, the cards, or the lines in the palm, are but blind -guides, making the most palpable mistakes, then the tampering with the -curtain becomes dangerous, and we had better leave the future alone. - - - - -VII. - -AMUSEMENTS FOR A RAINY DAY. - - -It may seem an impeachment of the taste of our readers to have lingered -so long on the lesser lights of games and fortune-telling as “Home -Amusements,” when we have before us the great world of decorative art: -æsthetic embroidery, dinner-card designing, china painting, the making -of screens, and the thousand and one devices by which the modern family -can amuse itself. - -The making of screens is an amusement which occupies the whole family -most profitably for a rainy day, even if it is to be only the cutting -out of pictures from the illustrated newspapers, and the subsequent -arrangement of them in curious conjunction on a white cotton or muslin -background. The use of screens has dawned upon the American mind within -a few years. They are delightful in a dining-room to keep off a draught -or to hide a closet-door. They break up a too long room admirably. -They are very useful in a bedroom to shut off the washstand and bath; -and they are very comforting to the invalid, as a protection to his -easy-chair against insidious breezes. - -Of course, those of satin or linen, embroidered by a skillful hand; -those painted on canvas by the best painters of to-day; those from -China and Japan--are the screens of the opulent. Very pretty paper -screens may be bought at the shops for three or four dollars. But -those on which a group of pictures are to be pasted are the cheapest -and most amusing of any. And do not go and buy highly-glazed pictures -for the purpose. If you do, the screen looks like a valentine. But -cut out the pictures from old copies of the “London Illustrated -News,” “Punch,” “Harper’s Weekly,” “Harper’s Bazaar,” and the English -“Graphic,” paste them thickly one upon another, and you have a curious -and most interesting mosaic. A lady in 1876, the Centennial year, made -a very beautiful screen of fashion plates from the ordinary magazines -of the period. Already (1881) these fashions look very antiquated, -and the screen is becoming historically valuable. The effect of these -delicately-colored pictures, put on as thickly as possible over the -white muslin, has an effect like a festal procession, and is very -pretty. - -The medium used for adhering the pictures is common flour paste, the -pictures being also washed over the outside with the same, and all the -edges effectually fastened down, the cotton cloth to which they are -applied being tightly stretched over a wooden frame. When domestic -paste is made, the material is frequently injured by scorching, or by -the addition of too much water. Good paste, when spread on paper, will -not strike through it like water, but will remain on the surface, like -butter on a piece of bread. To make paste of a superior quality, that -will not spoil when kept in a cool place for several months, it is -necessary to add dissolved alum as a preservative. When a few quarts -are required, dissolve a dessert-spoonful of alum in two quarts of -tepid water. Put the water in a tin pail that will hold six or eight -quarts, as the flour of which the paste is made will expand greatly -while it is boiling. As soon as the tepid water has cooled, stir in -good rye or wheat flour, until the liquid has the consistency of cream. -See that every lump of flour is crushed before placing the vessel -over the fire. To prevent scorching the paste, place over the fire a -dish-kettle or wash-boiler, partly filled with water, and set the tin -pail containing the material for paste in the water, permitting the -bottom to rest on a few large nails or pebbles, to prevent excessive -heat. Now add a teaspoonful of powdered resin, a few cloves to flavor -the paste, and let it cook until the paste has become as thick as -“Graham mush,” when it will be ready for use. Keep it in a tight jar, -and it will last for a long time. If too thick, add cold water, and -stir it thoroughly. Such paste will hold almost as well as glue. - -The famous picture-books of Walter Crane make a very pretty frieze for -screens; the artists of the family sometimes paint a frieze. In these -days of dadoes the screens are often made with dado, wainscot, and -frieze in three different colored papers, so that there are three tiers -of background for the pictures, if the maker desires to leave spaces -between them. The cutting out of the pictures is an amusing occupation -for all the family on a rainy day. - -This making of screens sometimes leads to another very attractive -work for a rainy day--the preparation for a fancy dress ball. This, -in a lonely country house, far away from the chance of any outward -amusement, has often cheated a fortnight’s bad weather of its -heart-depressing qualities. - -As we have not the stores of old armor, old brocade and satin, powdered -wigs, and costumes of the different reigns, which may be supposed from -modern English novels to be the property of every English mansion, -we must call upon taste and upon our national faculty of invention -to help us in this dilemma. The country store will give us black and -white tarlatan, chintz, cotton flannel (a most excellent medium), and, -indeed, flannels of all sorts. Black lace, jewelry, and flowers are in -every lady’s trunk, and, with some stiff linings and _appliqué_ chintz -flowers, an old silk can be made into a priceless brocade. - -Let us take a Venetian dress first. We will have King _Pantelon_, -the Lord of Misrule, in black with scarlet shirt and three-cornered -hat, and attended by his gay and dissolute crew. We will have the -_Illustrissimi_, wearing the dress of the ancient Venetian nobility, -scarlet cloaks, and long bag wigs, mightily disdainful; the _Chiozotti_ -in black velvet, wide lace collars, and high cloth caps, adorned with -artificial flowers--they shall shower _confetti_ and make jokes; we -shall have dominoes and masks, Egyptians and Neapolitans in velvet, -with scarlet caps and stockings, clapping castanets; we shall have -Armenians, Levant merchants and sailors, Turks in caftans, Greeks and -Dalmatians, regular-featured Mussulmans, Hindoos with jet-black hair, -and Malay Lascars in many-colored turbans, fez, and scarf; grinning -soot-black negroes, Polish Jews in furred caps and long coats, Magyars -in Hessians and pelisses; Bohemian nurses in Czechen costume, a colored -handkerchief in the hair; dark-eyed young _bourgeoises_ in coquettish -black veils; elegant ladies in velvet and point lace; the gondolier, -in his picturesque sailor costume and broad sash; the Finland peasant, -with short skirts, long-dangling ear-rings, and silver pins; the -Maltese with her _fazzoletto_; an old _Contadino_, with short velveteen -knee-breeches, gaiters, and colored cotton umbrella; priests all -in black gown, shovel hat, and black silk stockings; dashing naval -officers; the _Guardia Nazionale_, and weather-beaten fishermen with -bronzed faces and red Phrygian cap. We shall have Lord Byron, pale and -melancholy, and picturesque Masaniello; the patriarchs of the Greek -Church; the Spanish beauties, the Swiss peasant, the German Mädchen; -the madcap Harlequin dress of a Spanish princess. Then there will be -all the seasons--winter, for instance, in tulle, swansdown, and spun -glass; the Marie Antoinettes, in pink brocade with long, square trains -and trimmings of Marabout feathers; the lovely Georgian costume, a -Seville gypsy, a Russian peasant; a flower-girl, a Nymph; Night and -Day; Spanish students and Flemish boors; Pages of Queen Blanche of -Castile; the beautiful white uniform of the _Dragon de Villars_; a -gothic costume; Charlemagne and his Paladins. In short--“the Carnival -of Venice.” All this was done, and well done, at a country house and -the adjacent village (a village of not more than fifteen hundred -inhabitants), and for very little money, only a few years ago. - -The business is done if one only _thinks he can do it_; and there -are numbers enough to work at it. A boarding-school holiday, a -watering-place, a large town bent on “getting up something” for -charity, should have one such home behind it, where a natural-born -leader will set the whole thing going, and the picturesque shores of -Italy will give up their delights to some western town, some inland -village, some quiet and decorous hamlet of New England, where all the -inhabitants are dying of _ennui_. - -But here, from the pictures of our screen, which have suggested all -this, we have been led off from Decorative Art into the business of -giving a ball! We have been entertaining a motley crowd indeed! - - “The day was dull, and dark, and dreary, - It rained, and the rain was never weary.” - -But see! how we have cheated the clouds! The rainy fortnight has been -the most dissipated season possible--all owing to our happy device of -getting up a fancy ball--one of the very many pleasant thoughts which -have grown out of screens and screen-making. - - - - -VIII. - -EMBROIDERY AND OTHER DECORATIVE ARTS. - - -Let us return to our three legitimate decorations--our fan-painting, -our screen-painting, and our embroideries. - -Of Embroidery the world is full, and at its best estate. The foolish -old German wool-worsted work has gone out, and in its place we have -the very elaborate church needle-work of the Middle Ages, and, better -still, its tapestry. - -Some ingenious lady discovered that a plain piece of carpet made a very -good background for a rich curtain, after a few stitches of embroidery -were added; and it took but one step farther for another lady to find -in cotton velvet a good background for tapestry. The figures are -sketched on, and then the embroidery is artistically added, in the -style of the thirteenth century, when the characters were outlined by a -single line, which also designates the shape and folds of the garments. -These outlines are filled in with masses of stitches in two or three -shades of color. It is best, in making tapestry, to adhere to this -simplicity, as in attempting the later richness of the Gobelins the -work degenerates into a vulgar imitation. - -And in stitching away at the tapestry frame, the well-read mamma -might give her daughters a little sketch of the history of tapestry. -How once these artistic draperies were the adornments of those stone -castles which knew no plastered walls. How they caught the story of the -“Iliad” and “Odyssey,” the scenes from the Bible, the whole story of -mythology, the history of great wars. There hangs to-day, at Blenheim, -a perfect set of pictures of the victories of the great Duke of -Marlborough, done for him by the pious Belgian nuns. - -But those works anterior to the sixteenth century have the greatest -interest for the student of tapestry. Gold thread and silk were freely -used in their embellishment, and the effect is rather that of a mosaic -than of a picture. The greens are a study. They are produced with a -dark blue for the dark, and a yellow for the light tints. The wonderful -work of Matilda, called the Bayeux tapestry, wrought on brown linen; -the many historical pieces found in Italy, done in wools; and the -collections all over Europe, show a mastery over the needle which we -have lost. - -But it was left for Francis I, of France, to establish the most -renowned factory for these beautiful things, when at Fontainebleau -he founded what is now the _Gobelins_. The Gobelins were two Dutch -dyers of wool, celebrated for their brilliant scarlets, who eventually -gave their name to the art, and a “Gobelin” got to mean a tapestry. -Under Louis XIV the Luxurious this manufactory attained to highest -importance. They became the Herters and Marcottes of France. Colbert, -the Prime Minister, united under one head all the different bands of -workmen who were employed on furniture and decorations for the royal -palaces of France. To the weavers of carpets and tapestry were added -embroiderers, goldsmiths, wood-carvers, dyers, etc. Charles Lebrun -and his pupils were charged with furnishing designs. Lebrun himself -furnished over twenty-four hundred designs. In 1667 Louis himself -paid a visit of state to the manufactory, accompanied by Colbert, -and examined the magnificent carpets, tapestries, silver plate, and -carvings which formed the splendid “Manufactory of Furniture to the -Crown.” This great establishment, however, went down, as Louis lost -money; and after the death of Lebrun (he was father to the wretched -husband of pretty Madame Le Brun) it returned to its original function -of producing tapestry. These Gobelin tapestries grew to be the most -wonderful reproduction of pictures ever seen. - -But why, one pauses to ask, try to reproduce a picture “done in oils” -by the laborious process of needle-work or weaving? Why by process of -mosaic? It is one of the useless fancies of the human race. The old -tapestry, done by hand when there were no Gobelins, had a meaning and -a use. So has the modern tapestry done by hand. It is cheap, it is -individual, it is original; but for the Gobelins, that favorite luxury -of kings, we fail to see an excuse. However, it is very beautiful, -expensive, and rare. - -The process of tapestry weaving is called the “_haute lisse_,” the warp -being placed vertically, in contradistinction to the “_basse lisse_,” -a work with a horizontal warp, as is usual. The weaver stands with the -model which he is to copy behind him. As the surface of the tapestry -must present a perfectly smooth and even surface, all cuttings must -be made on the wrong side, for the workman never sees the beautiful -work he is doing. This has been made use of in poetry in the following -simile: - - “We work but blindly at the loom, - Nor see the pattern, save in parts; - Not ours to mark the gleam or bloom, - But labor on, with patient hearts. - - “But when the angels overhead - The soul-wrought tapestry unfurls, - Perhaps the tears we vainly shed - May glow amid the threads--like pearls. - - “The sorrow which has crushed the heart - A lily blooms, on azure field; - The strife in which we bore our part - In bud and flower may stand revealed.” - -The Gobelins used gold, silver, pearls, and everything decorative -in their work, at times, to produce effect. The first Revolution -brought destruction to the Gobelins, as it did to everything else, -and many choice pieces were burned. But it rose again under the first -Napoleon, David furnishing designs. In 1871 the Communists again set -fire to the manufactory, burning up the exhibition-room. Four hundred -thousand dollars was the estimated loss. But when we remember that -there perished tapestries of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, -including the “Acts of the Apostles” by Raphael, and the now valuable, -graceful, although affected, charming designs of Boucher, which were -wrought for Pompadour, besides historical portraits and scenes, this -seems a low estimate. The embroidery of the cartoons of Raphael, copies -of which may be seen at Hampton Court, were among the greatest of the -Gobelin triumphs. - -However, to those who have walked the galleries of Florence, who have -seen there the grand and beautiful specimens of embroidered tapestry of -the sixteenth century, there will ever be a charm about old tapestry -in the crude perspective and the sudden shading. It is this, perhaps, -which can be copied. It is this to which the modern tapestry worker -should address herself, if among the amusements of home she counts the -making of curtains, and wall-coverings, and _portières_, which shall -almost suggest the possibility that they once hung in a Florentine -or a Venetian palace. A dark background of some cheap woolen stuff, -a knowledge of drawing, the silk and woolen and cotton and linen -threads now brought to our hand so cheaply--will all furnish forth the -appliances for the making of tapestry hangings, such as a castellan of -the Middle Ages would not have despised. - -Painting on fans has become a very common Home Amusement, and it is -a very elegant one. The white silk fan is usually selected, although -linen, satin, and wood fans are all easy and pleasant mediums. -For painting on silk, some technical knowledge is necessary, some -gum-water, or sizing, to prevent the paint from spreading. For painting -on wood, one needs only the common water-color box, and a simple -knowledge of drawing and painting. Flowers, birds, and butterflies -are the favorite devices, monograms having gone out of fashion. It is -better, if possible, to have the silk stretched on a frame before it -is mounted on sticks, as one still sees the masterpieces of Boucher, -Watteau, and Greuze, not yet mounted, but framed, in galleries--far too -precious to mount, the Marchioness who ordered them having, perhaps, -fortunately forgotten her caprice that we may admire it. - -And what pretty and pleasing and altogether historical memories come -in with the fan! It was created in primeval ages. The Egyptian ladies -had them of lotus-leaves; the Greek and Roman ladies followed. The word -_flabellum_ occurs often in the Roman literature. They also had fans of -peacock-feathers, and of some expansive material painted in brilliant -colors. They were not made to open and shut like ours; that is a modern -invention. They were stiff, with long handles, for ladies were fanned -by their slaves. The _flabellifer_, or fan-bearer, was some young -attendant, generally male, whose common business it was to carry his -mistress’s fan. Would that were the fashion now! There is a Pompeian -painting of Cupid as the fan-bearer of Ariadne, and lamenting her -desertion by Theseus. In Queen Elizabeth’s day the fan was usually made -of feathers, like the fan still used in the East. The handle was richly -ornamented, and set with stones. A fashionable lady was never without -her fan, which was chained to her girdle by a jeweled chain. A satirist -of the day, Stephen Gosson, approves of the fan if used to drive away -flies and for cooling the skin. He, however, continues scornfully: - - “But seeing they were still in hand, - In house, in field, in church, in street, - In summer, winter, water, land, - In cold, in heat, in dry, in wet-- - I judge they are for wives such tools - As babies are in plays for fools.” - -Queen Elizabeth dropped a silver-handled fan into the moat at Amstead -Hall, which occasioned many madrigals. Sir Francis Drake presented to -his royal mistress a “fan of feathers, white and red, enameled with a -half-moon of mother-of-pearl; within that a half-moon garnished with -sparks of diamonds, and a few seed pearls on one side. Having her -Majesty’s picture within it, and on the reverse a crow.” Why not try, -young ladies, to paint a fan like this? Use silver dust to illustrate -“sparks of diamonds.” It would be a very pretty conceit. - -Poor Leicester gave, as his New Year’s gift, in 1574, “a fan of white -feathers set in a handle of gold, garnished on one side with two very -fair emeralds, and fully garnished with rubies and diamonds, and on -each side a white bear (his cognizance), and two pearls hanging, a lion -romping, with a white muzzled bear at his foot.” This fan would be -difficult to copy. It was evidently a love-token from poor, ill-used -Leicester to his haughty queen. Just before Christmas, in 1595, -Elizabeth went to Kew, dined at my Lord Keeper’s house, and there was -handed her a “fine fan, with a handle garnished with diamonds.” - -Fans in Shakespeare’s time seem to have been composed of -ostrich-feathers, and so on, stuck into handles. In “Love and Honor,” -by Sir William Davenant, we find the line, - - “All your plate, Vasco, is the silver handle of your old prisoner’s - fan.” - -Marston says: - - “Another, he - Her silver-handled fan would gladly be.” - -Forty pounds were often given for a fan in Elizabeth’s time. Bishop -Hall, in his “Satires,” in 1597, says: - - “While one piece pays her idle waiting man, - Or buys a hood, or silver-handled fan.” - -The fan of the Countess of Suffolk resembles a powder-puff. - -But gentlemen carried fans in those days. We find in a manuscript in -the Ashmolean Museum, at Oxford, the following allusion: “The gentlemen -then had prodigious fans, as is to be seen in old pictures, like that -instrument which is used to dry feathers, and it had a handle at least -one half as long, with which their daughters oftentimes were corrected. -Sir Edward Cole, Lord Chief Justice, rode the circuit with such a -fan, and William Dugdale told me he was witness of it.” The Earl of -Manchester also used such a fan. “But the fathers and mothers slasht -their daughters, in the time of their besom-discipline, when they were -perfect women.” Both fashions have happily passed away. Lords Chief -Justices no longer “slash” their daughters, nor do they carry fans. - -Of Catharine de Braganza (1664) we read that she and her maids walked -from Whitehall in procession to St. James’s Palace through the park -in glittering costume of silver lace in the bright morning sunshine. -Parasols being unknown in England at that era, the courtly belles used -the gigantic green shading-fans, which had been introduced by the -Queen and her Portuguese ladies, to shield their complexions from the -sun, when they did not wish wholly to obscure their charms by putting -on their masks. Both were in general use in this reign. The green -shading-fan is of Moorish origin, and for more than a century after -the marriage of Catharine of Braganza was considered an indispensable -luxury by our fair and stately ancestral dames, who used them in open -carriages, in the promenade, and at prayers, where they ostentatiously -screened their devotions from public view by spreading them before -their faces while they knelt. - -But China and Japan--the home of fans--are waiting to be let in! and -as soon as the India trade was opened by Catharine’s marriage treaty, -there entered the carved ivory fan, the light bamboo and palm-leaf, the -paper fan, the silk folding fan, mounted on beautiful Japanese sticks; -all came to England about this time. - -The vellum fans of France, on which Watteau first painted his -shepherdesses in hoop-petticoats, and swains in full-bottomed wigs, the -choice impossible goddesses of Boucher, with cupids and nymphs, all -came next. The history of fans, in France alone, would fill a volume; -and the neighboring kingdom of Spain, where the language of fans has -become a very serious study, would give us another volume. The fans of -tortoise-shell, enriched with jewels, are a favorite luxury of to-day. -Oliver Wendell Holmes has written a delightful poem on the “Origin -of the Fan.” In all our art loan collections there is, nowadays, an -exhibition of fans. The young student of fan-painting should strive to -see some of those of Watteau and of Boucher. Tiffany to-day turns out -some very beautiful specimens; and more than one of our artists could -admirably paint a fan or two as his contribution to Fan History. - -Nothing can be prettier as a Home Amusement than fan-painting, into -which much, but not too much, Japanese suggestion should creep. -Remember, young ladies, the plea of that poor stork, of which we have -seen so much, “that he be allowed to put down his other leg!” and spare -us the gilded bird, or give him to us but seldom. - -The art of Illumination, which is now studied occasionally by our -young ladies, goes wonderfully well into fan-painting. Perhaps it is -too good for it. Perhaps the same hand which can copy the old initial -letter which makes the missals rich and rare, should not condescend to -the application of the same delicate manipulation in order to ornament -a fan. But a fan of vellum, painted by an illuminator, is still a very -beautiful thing. - -A fan painted to illustrate a song or a ballad is a very pretty thing. -The common linen fan, on which a clever hand draws with pencil or -ink the story of “Mary, Mary, quite contrary,” becomes a precious -possession. And in these days of Kate Greenaways and Rosina Emmets we -ought to have many charming fan decorators. We should not object if -they selected the old-fashioned _maniéré_ goddesses, hovering cupids, -smiling nymphs, and _posé_ infants of Boucher, if they would give us -his cool, pearly grays, and sweet, soft rose tints. We have had enough -of realism and ugliness, disagreeable cat-tails, and harsh, dirty Joan -of Arcs. Let us have a little beauty by way of a change, at least on -our fans. Perhaps we could “live up to it.” - -Nor should we fail to note the pleasant possibility of all the -dinner-cards of a winter coming fresh from the hands of the young -ladies of the family. What infinite suggestion does one glimpse of -the garden on a June morning give to the fair artist! We can imagine -that some poetical member should thus summon and direct her sister and -brother artists in the following manner: - -“Do give me, Rosamond, that spray of sweet-brier which has caught a -bit of spider-web over its sweetest pink bud. Throw in that green -dragon-fly who is about to dart through the spider’s web. Give me, -Grace, that morning-glory cup with a yellow butterfly floating over it. -It will shame the best Venetian glass of Mrs. Crœsus. - -“You, Jane, paint me those dandelions, strewed by some millionaire -who is tired of his gold. You, Constance, take this volume of the old -poets, and hunt up appropriate mottoes to write under these fancies -from Nature. They shall illuminate our dinners of next winter, and -breathe the breath of Nature through our stiff conventionality. They -shall be our visitors from Titania. - -“Yes, a happy thought! You, Mary, who are so akin to the fairies, give -us your kindred. Paint me Oberon and Queen Mab giving a banquet in yon -lily. What a splendid and baronial apartment! How the golden shower -falls on their royal heads from those laden stamens! True courtiers -they, who never stop flattering. Suggest, if you can, with your brush, -the perfume of luxury which is born and bred in this royal pavilion. -Show me their delicate guests. Here comes the Butterfly, most _repandu_ -of beaus; and the Humming-bird, rich bachelor (hard to catch), who -dashes in for a look at the beauties, and away again--you can put him -in; he is a type for a dinner-card. - -“And you, Paul, who are of a strong, masculine, satirical turn, -shall make all these frogs and toads into guests in another set of -dinner-cards. Give me the frog as an Ambassador. I like his pouting -throat, his puffy air--it so simulates importance. How grand and -disdainful he is! I declare, he looks so like old Mr. ----! But do not -make a portrait; that would give offense. These toads are just about as -lively and as brilliant as the rank and file of diners-out. Put them -all in Worth dresses. Make the dishes on the table after Hawthorne’s -delicate fancy, the shapes of summer vegetables--squashes, cucumbers, -pea-pods. What is that pretty poem I remember about Pods? - - “‘The Monk’s-hood and the Shepherd’s-purse, - And the Poppy’s pepper-caster; - The Rose’s scarlet reticule, - And the somber box of the Aster; - Nasturtion’s biting brandy-flask, - Infused with a wholesome smart; - And the Milkweed’s knot of white floss silk, - Which will not come apart; - For next to the bud where the Poppy nods, - And the sweet Moss-rose--are the late Seed-pods.’” - -“Yes,” said Mary, “pods are very pretty.” - -Well, we have, perhaps, talked nonsense enough about the dinner-cards. -It is a pretty Home Amusement for the back piazza in summer, or for -the close and guarded warm home parlor of winter. Give us the results -of both, young ladies. And since all the wealthy chromo people are -offering such splendid sums for the Christmas, Easter, and even -advertising cards, why should not every group try their hand at -the--perhaps--thousand dollar prize? - -Here is a suggestion for a Christmas card: A group of young pagans -going out of the Catacombs are represented as strewing flowers -and singing gay songs. On the other side a group of austere early -Christians are coming in, singing hymns. Between the two a ray of -light comes down through a fissure of the roof and forms a cross. The -religion that is going out, the religion that is coming in--the cross -is between them. How much a clever hand could make of this moment of -time, so replete with interest to all the world! - -It would seem as if, with all the suggestions of Easter, that no one -would need anything but a paint-box and a pack of blank cards to -interest them at this season. We should have the World being hatched -out of an egg; the Saxon goddess Eastre; the Legend of the Stork; -the German children searching for the Nest in the garden where the -Easter-hen had laid her egg; the great Sunburst; the Sun dancing on -Easter morning; the games of mediæval England, when the women played -ball at one end of the town and the men at the other, and one fine -couple taking occasion to run away to get married on the sly. The -Easter Egg is full of meat for the artist. - -Growing out of these thoughts comes up the great and increasing taste -for symbolism, which finds its highest exponent in church embroidery. -The Catholic Church has ever been a good customer of the decorative art -schools. It needs and consumes or uses much embroidery. But the pious -women of Protestant communion now also deem it a duty and a pleasure -to decorate the altars of their beloved churches with much that is -symbolic and beautiful, and it is a favorite form of Home Amusement to -create an altar-cloth or some draperies which shall engross an hour or -two a day of the time of the best embroideresses in the family. - -[Illustration] - -The favorite symbols are these: The Cross in its various forms; the -monogram composed of the Greek letters Χ (_Ch_) and Ρ (_R_), the first -two in the name of CHRIST; the Apocalyptic letters Α and Ω (_Alpha_ -and _Omega_), often combined into a monogram; and the Greek characters -ΙΗΣ, the first three letters in the name ΙΗΣΟΥΣ (JESUS). This last -symbol is sometimes interpreted thus, in Latin: _J[esus], H[ominum] -S[alvator]_--JESUS, OF MEN THE SAVIOUR. - -Less frequent is the Fish, which was often used by the early Christians -as a kind of secret sign of their faith, the reason being that ΙΧΘΥΣ, -the Greek word for “fish,” contains the initials of an article of their -creed, thus: Ι[ησοῦς] Χ[ριστὸς], Θ[εοῦ] Υ[ιὸς], Σ[ωτὴρ]--_Jesus Christ, -God’s Son, the Saviour_. - -Besides the foregoing, we have the Ship, indicating the Church, as -typified by Noah’s Ark; the Anchor (always in close connection with -the ship) entwined with a dolphin--emblems of Fortitude, Faith, and -Hope; the Dove, occasionally bearing the olive-branch--the symbol of -Christian Charity and Meekness; the Phœnix and the Peacock--symbols of -Eternity; the Cock of Watchfulness; the Lyre of the Worship of God; the -Palm-branch--the heathen symbol of Victory, but in a Christian sense -that of Victory over Death; the Sheaf; the Bunch of Grapes, with other -Biblical signs and allusions, such as the Hart at the Brook; the Brazen -Serpent; the Ark of the Covenant; the Seven-branched Candlestick; the -Serpent in the Garden of Eden; and, lastly, the Cross, with flowers, -with a Crown, with a dove hovering about it. Many of these decorative -symbols suggest themselves to the contemplative mind, and enter into -the appropriate designs for ecclesiastical embroidery. - -This embroidery must be beautifully executed to be worthy of its -mission. The face of Christ has been so exquisitely wrought by some -devout embroideresses that it is like a painting. The work should be -done in a frame, and after considerable study. - -And how pleasant a study for a winter evening becomes the universal -subject of symbolism! We learn that the Eagle and the Thunderbolt were -the symbols of Power under pagan mythology, because the attributes of -the highest among the gods. The Rod, with the two serpents, indicated -Commerce, because Mercury, whose insignia they were, was the God -of Traffic. The Club, the emblem of Strength, was the attribute -of Hercules. The Griffin--most useful animal for all decorative -purposes--was sacred to Apollo. The symbol of the Sphinx was taken -from the fable of Œdipus. We are coming back to the Oriental method of -teaching by parables in all our new internal decoration; and for the -illuminator the knowledge is priceless. - -We mount up from these simpler emblems to a consideration of the -myths of Niobe, of Cupid and Psyche, of Orpheus captivating the wild -beasts of the forest by the sound of his lyre, in which was supposed -to lurk an analogy of the history of our Lord. Then we come down to -the materialism of the ancients, by which a river is symbolized by -a river-god; a city, by a goddess with a mural crown; night, by a -female figure with a torch and a star-bespangled robe; heaven, by -a male figure throwing a veil in an arched form over his head. All -these reflections, born of study and leading to it, are brought in -by the practical application now made in embroidery, painting, and -wall-decorations; and it would be well if, among the Home Amusements, -these graver studies went hand in hand with the pleasant duties of -embroidery and illuminating cards and books. - -Ole Bull says that he arrived at his wonderful effects upon the violin -less by manual practice than by meditation. It would be well to _think_ -much over the subject of art. He _practiced_ less and _thought_ more, -it is said, than other violinists. No occupation conduces more to -quiet and pleasant thought than that of embroidery. We want realism; -but we also want idealism. There is no sort of doubt that Art, once -admitted as a friend of the family, becomes the greatest instigator -of all sorts of Home Amusements, whether peeping out through the -paint-box, the needle, the embroidering-frame, the etching tool, or -the turpentine-bottle and the mineral paints which are to decorate the -plaque. Art is a sprite whose acquaintance should be cultivated. - - - - -IX. - -ETCHING. - - -“Good etching is the poetry of drawing, written down rapidly in -short-hand.” No doubt many a very orderly mamma, who has had a son or -daughter afflicted with a mania for etching, as so many young people -are now, has a vision of bath-tubs misappropriated to mixtures of -what looked very unlike clear water for cleansing purposes, and which -turned out to have plates of copper inside waiting for a bite of acid. -Such mammas will blame us for calling this a Home Amusement; they call -it--it is to be feared--“a Nuisance.” And yet what form of Art is -so near the highest forms of poetry? The etcher is next door to his -subject and his public. He has but the ink and himself between that -cloud-shadow and them. - -Etching is defined by some writers as the stenography of artistic -thought; a system of short-hand writing. Given a copper plate, an -etching-needle, and the proper knowledge--easily learned--of the action -of the acid, and etching can be done at home as well as crochet or -embroidery; and as only the simplest lines and the simplest curves are -admissible, the question of merit narrows itself to one of intelligent -combination. The best etching is that which combines the maximum of -speed with the maximum of expressional clearness; so that the landscape -may be written on a “monument less perishable than brass,” while the -thought is fresh and vivid. An artist can see in the short-hand of an -etching the glory of a sunset amid its clouds. - -Highly-elaborated drawings can also be reproduced by etchings as in -no other way, as we have learned by consulting the Magazines and Art -Periodicals of the day; and although a great etcher must have a genius -for it, many without genius can learn the art. An etching is not a -skeleton of a picture, but a _résumé_. Samuel Palmer, Frederic Taylor, -and Hook, in England; Jules Jacquemart, Flameny, Rajou, Boilvin, Le -Rat, Hédouin, Greux, Courtey, Laguillermie, and others, in France, have -taught us what a beautiful _résumé_ it is, not to speak of our own -gifted interpreters. The original etchers can produce strong sentiment -concerning life and nature; and although there is at first discouraging -uncertainty about results, yet there is a great chance of success. - -And the capriciousness of the thing is one of its charms, as it is, -like poetic expression, dependable upon personal thought and feeling. -It is like the success which attends upon a happy hit in poetry when -one makes a good etching, yet a certain amount of mechanical exactitude -can always be acquired. Let the boys and girls of a large family be -taught etching, and some one will turn out a clever and, perhaps, a -first-rate etcher. - -It is quite too unfortunate that our young girls in the country do not -take more to sketching from Nature, and to water-color. To sit at one’s -window, and, with a “few telling touches,” to give the trees in the -near foreground or the distant reach of the river, is the every-day -amusement of many an English lady. Our first efforts must be labored, -of course; we must patiently observe and copy what we see; but then -comes the attainment of ease, and our Home Amusements are infinitely -enriched. It is best to study at first in single tint until one gets -accustomed to form, and then to try varied colors. - -The mastery of the three primary colors--yellow, red, and blue--is the -Alpha and Omega of painting. As force of color is only to be obtained -by opposing one of these singly to all the others combined, they are -consequently all present whenever opposition occurs; and no picture -is perfectly pleasing without the presence of all three, even though -they may be subdued to the most solemn and sober undertones. Try the -effect of mixing the various colors, and preserve the mixtures you find -most useful. But this is an art which must be learned, and for the -elucidation of which we have no space here. - - - - -X. - -LAWN TENNIS. - - -And now we come to what, perhaps, our readers may imagine we might have -come to before--the out-of-door Games and Amusements which radiate from -Home. - -Lawn Tennis is so preëminently the game of the present moment that we -must give it a central place in our volume. - -It has great antiquity, of course. What fashionable game has not? Did -not Agrippina play at croquet, and Cleopatra institute “Les Graces”? We -know that Diana started archery, for isn’t she always drawn with a bow? -And yet she died an old maid. - -The Greeks styled court tennis as “_Sphairistike_,” and the Romans -called it _Pila_. It was the fashionable pastime of French and English -kings. Charles V, of France, and Henry V, VII, and VIII, of England, -were all good tennis players. Who does not remember the insult which -the French king put upon royal Harry? - -“Tennis balls! My lord?” - -It has been justly described as one of the most ancient games in -Christendom. It became in England the exclusive sport of the wealthy, -owing to the expense of erecting and maintaining covered courts; for in -early days we learn that it was always played within doors. Indeed, the -history of France is full of it. The unhappy Charles IX gave the order -for the massacre of St. Bartholomew from a tennis court. The French -Revolution was born in one. - -But to Major Walter Wingfield do we owe Lawn Tennis. This officer, -of the First Dragoon Guards, attempted, unsuccessfully, in 1874, to -procure a patent for a new game. He had taken the net out of doors, -and no longer did four walls encompass the players. A little pamphlet -is in existence now which fully establishes the claim of this officer -to the rightful title of inventor of lawn tennis. It is called “The -Major’s Game of Lawn Tennis; dedicated to the party assembled at -Nautelywdjin, December, 1873, by W. C. W.,” and is illustrated with -an elaborate pictorial diagram, containing a sketch of a lawn tennis -court, erected in a pretty garden. The only difference appreciable to -a modern player in the appearance of the court is that on one side it -is divided into two squares, and that on the other the server stands in -a diamond-shaped space. With slight exceptions, the game remains as it -did when Major Wingfield invented it. - -Now, in 1881, as in the days of Henry III, of England (about 1222), it -is a favorite with people of superior rank, well befitting the tastes -of the nobility, in the performance of which they could exercise a -commendable zeal, as also their whole physique; that is to say, it is -the fashion. The name undoubtedly comes from Tennois, in the French -district of Champagne, where balls are manufactured, and where, it is -claimed, the game was first introduced. - -A lawn, well clipped and evenly rolled, is the first requirement. The -courts should be laid rectangularly. The game should be gotten up with -reference to the wind, the net being set at right angles with it. Thus -will be avoided the tendency of air currents to carry the balls off or -beyond the bounds; and the play will be then against or with the wind. -In either case its influence can be more accurately calculated. - -The lines of boundary and division should be indicated upon the -greensward by means of whitewash, carefully laid on with brush and -string. The larger or double court should be seventy-eight feet -long by a width of thirty-six feet, inside measure; and the smaller -or single-handed court seventy-eight by twenty-seven feet, inside -measurement. As in the old game of tennis, so in this, the court is -divided across the middle and at right angles to its greatest length -by a net, so stretched and fastened to and by two posts, standing -three feet outside of the side lines, that the height of the net at -each post for the double-handed or larger court is four feet, and in -the middle over the half-court line three feet six inches; and for the -single-handed or smaller court four feet nine inches at the posts, and -three feet in the middle over the half-court line. These divisions are -termed courts, and are subdivided into half-courts by a line midway -between the side lines, and running parallel with the greatest length, -which is known as the half-court line. The four resulting half-courts -are respectively divided by a line on each side of the net, parallel -to and twenty-two feet from it. These two lines, called service lines, -it may be observed, will then be seventeen feet inside of the lines of -boundary for the short sides, known as base lines. - -The implements comprise net, posts, cordage, balls, and rackets. -The net should be taut, the posts straight, the ball hollow, of -India-rubber, covered with white cloth; in size, two inches and a half; -weight, two ounces. The racket is made with a frame of elastic wood, -with a webbing nicely wrought of catgut. The large-sized rackets made -at Philadelphia and in London are the best. - -The players don a costume of flannel for the purpose, wearing shoes of -canvas with corrugated rubber soles, without heels. Indeed, a chapter -might be written on lawn-tennis dresses, aprons, and other fancies. But -these--so they are loose and easy, and not long or cumbrous--may be -left to the fancy of the individual. - -The choice of sides and the right of serving are left to the chance of -toss, with the proviso that if the winner of the toss choose the right -to serve, the other player shall have the choice of sides, or _vice -versa_. - -There are double-handed, three-handed, and four-handed games, each -having some variations. In the double-handed game the players stand on -opposite sides of the net. The player who first delivers the ball is -called the server, and the other the striker-out. The first game having -been played, these interchange; the server becomes the striker-out, -and the striker-out the server; and so alternately in subsequent games -of the set. The server usually announces the intention to serve by -the interrogation “Ready?” If answered affirmatively, the service is -made, the server standing with one foot outside the base line, and from -any part of the base line of the right and left counts alternately, -beginning with the right. - -The ball so served is required to drop within the service line, -half-court line, and side line of the court which is diagonally -opposite to that from which it was served, where the service from the -base line must fall to be a service. If the ball served drops on or -beyond the service line, if it drops in the net, if it drops out of the -court, or on any of the lines which bound it, or if it drops in the -wrong court, or, if in attempting to serve, the server fails to strike -the ball, it is a “fault.” A fault can not be taken, but the ball must -be served the second time from the same court from which the fault was -served. - -Though the service is made if the striker-out is not ready, the service -shall be repeated, unless an attempt is made to return the service -on the part of the striker-out; which action shall be construed to -be equivalent to having been ready. No service is allowed to be -“volleyed”; that is, the striker-out is not allowed to return a service -while the ball is “on the fly,” or before a “bounce.” If such a return -of service is made, it counts a stroke for the server. - -To properly return a service, and have the ball in play, the ball is to -be played back over the net or between the posts before it has touched -the ground a second time, or while on the “first bounce,” and is -subject to no bounds other than the side and base lines of the court. -After the ball is in play, it may be struck while “on the fly,” but -policy would dictate a bounce to determine whether or not it has been -played beyond the boundaries of the court. A ball served, or in play, -may touch the net, and be a good service or return. If it touches the -top cord it is termed a “let,” a “life,” or a “net” ball, and need not -be played if it drops just inside the net, on the striker-out side, -but must be served again. Should it fall on the service side, or in -the wrong court on the striker-out side, or out of bounds, it counts a -“fault.” If, however, it falls so as to be a good return, in any stage -of the game other than service, it must be played as a good ball. In -play, if the striker-out volleys the service, or the ball in play, -or fails to return the service or the ball in play, or returns the -service or the ball in play so that it drops untouched by the server, -on or outside of any of the lines which bound the court, or if the -striker-out otherwise loses a stroke, as we will find presently, when -we consider the conditions common to both server and striker-out, the -server wins a stroke. - -In the handling of the racket the greatest dexterity may be attained -by careful study and practice. The twist ball is a feature of the game -which good players utilize to the greatest advantage. The uncertainty -of its bounces is calculated to outwit the most adroit. - -Since, under certain conditions of failure on the part of the -striker-out, the advantage in count of a stroke comes to the server, -so, too, the striker-out reaps a harvest if the server serves two -consecutive faults, or if the server fails to return the ball in play, -or if the server returns the ball in play so that it drops untouched -by the striker-out on or outside any of the lines which bound the -court, or if the server loses a stroke under conditions common to both -server and striker-out, in any of which cases the striker-out wins a -stroke. There are conditions under which each player loses a stroke: -If the service-ball, or ball in play, touches the player, or anything -worn or carried by him, except the racket in the act of striking; or -if the player strikes or touches the service-ball, or ball in play, -with the racket more than once; or if in returning the service-ball, or -ball in play, the player touches the net with any part of the body, or -with the racket, or with anything that is worn or carried; or if the -ball touches either of the posts; so if the player strikes the ball -before it has passed the net, or if the service-ball, or ball in play, -drops or falls upon a ball lying in either of the players’ courts. -So much for the conditions under which the players, either server or -striker-out, win or lose a stroke. - -As for scoring, there are two systems, each of which has its adherents. -Both should be understood, and the more thoroughly the player -understands both, the more at ease will he be in any company with whom -he may be playing. - -The first plan is this: The first stroke won counts for the player, -winning a score of fifteen; the second stroke won by the same player -counts for that player an additional score of fifteen, making a total -of thirty; the third stroke won counts for him an additional ten, -making the score forty. Unless there is a tie of forty, the fourth -stroke won by that player entitles him to score game. If, however, -both players have won three strokes, the score is called _deuce_, and -so on until at the score of deuce either player wins two consecutive -strokes, when the game is scored for that player. Six games constitute -a “set,” and the player who first wins them wins the set, unless in -case both players win five games, when the score is called “games-all,” -and the next game won by either player is scored advantage game for -that player. If the same player wins the next game he wins the set. If -he loses the next game, the score is again called “games-all”; and so -on until at the score of games-all either player wins two consecutive -games, when he wins the set. An exception to this is where an agreement -is entered into not to play advantage sets, but to decide the set by -one game after arriving at the score of games-all. In this mode of -scoring both the server and the striker-out are entitled to count, -while in the “alternative method” it is different. - -An alternative method of scoring is as follows, in which the -term “hand-in” is substituted for “server,” and “hand-out” for -“striker-out.” In this system the hand-in alone is able to score. If he -loses a stroke he becomes hand-out, and his opponent becomes hand-in, -and serves his turn. Fifteen points won constitutes the game. If both -players have won fourteen points, the game is set to three, and the -score called “love-all.” The hand-in continues to serve, and the player -who first scores three points wins the game. If he or his partner loses -a stroke, the other side shall be hand-in. During the remainder of the -game, when the first hand-in has been put out, his partner shall serve, -beginning from the court from which the last service was not delivered, -and when both partners have been put out, then the other side shall be -hand-in. - -The _hand-in_ shall deliver the service in accordance with the -restrictions mentioned for the server, and the opponents shall receive -the service alternately, each keeping the court which he originally -occupied. In all subsequent strokes the ball may be returned by either -partner on each side. The privilege of being hand-in two or more -successive times may be given. - -What has been said of double-handed games applies equally well to the -three-handed and four-handed games, except that in the three-handed -game the single player shall serve in every alternate game; in the -four-handed game the pair who have the right to serve in the first game -may decide which partner shall do so, and the opposing pair may decide -similarly for the second game. The partner of the player who served in -the first game shall serve in the third, and the partner of the player -who served in the second game shall serve in the fourth, and so on. In -the same order, in all the subsequent games of a set or series of sets, -the players shall take the service alternately throughout each game. - -No player shall receive or return a service delivered to his partner; -and the order of service and of striking-out once arranged, shall not -be altered; nor shall the strikers-out change courts to receive the -service before the end of the set. The players change sides at the -end of every set. When a series of sets is played, the player who was -server in the last game of one set shall be striker-out in the first -game of the next. - -A _Bisque_ is one stroke which may be claimed by the receiver of the -odds at any time during a set, except that a bisque may not be taken -after the service has been delivered. The server may not take a bisque -after a fault, but the striker-out may do so. One or more bisques may -be given in augmentation or diminution of other odds. - -_Half-fifteen_ is one stroke given at the beginning of the second and -every subsequent alternate game of a set. - -_Fifteen_ is one stroke given at the beginning of every game of a set. - -_Half-thirty_ is one stroke given at the beginning of the first game, -two strokes given at the beginning of the second game, and so on -alternately in all the subsequent games of a set. - -_Thirty_ is two strokes given at the beginning of every game of a set. - -_Half-forty_ is two strokes given at the beginning of the first game, -three strokes at the beginning of the second, and so on alternately in -all the subsequent games of the set. - -_Forty_ is three strokes given at the beginning of every game of a set. - -_Half-court_ is when the players having agreed into which court the -giver of the odds of half-court shall play, the latter loses a stroke -if the ball returned by him drops outside any of the lines which bound -that court. - -If the game is to be umpired, there should be one for each side of the -net, who shall call play at the beginning of a game, enforce the rules, -and be sole judge of fair and unfair play, each on his respective side -of the net. - -We have followed the best manual and the best opinions of the most -successful players in the above lengthy abstract for the use of -many who may be confused by the very absurd and contradictory rules -published in the newspapers. These rules of ours are those which were -used at Newport, at the Casino, during the famous Lawn Tournament of -1880, which was so very interesting, and in which the victors were -rewarded by prizes, from Mr. Bennett, of silver pitchers, bracelets, -and rings of great value; and which shows that the game of lawn tennis -deserved the high encomiums pronounced by Henry III on court tennis. It -is a game of science; it does exercise every part of the body; and it -requires skill, good temper, staying power, judgment, and activity. - -Of course, few groups at home will play with the science and skill -displayed in these tournaments; yet the rules of the game should be -thoroughly learned, and those who play scientifically will avoid those -contentions and disputes which spoil any game. - -It is better in giving a lawn-tennis party not to invite any but those -who really are devotees of the game. As to others, the absorption of -the players makes the party stupid. - - - - -XI. - -GARDEN PARTIES. - - -A Garden Party is a scene of enchantment, to which the lawn-tennis net -lends an additional grace and variety. - -A lady, living near a city, who chooses to inaugurate the season -with a garden party, sends her invitations a week in advance, and -carefully incloses a card telling her guests by what roads, railway -trains, and boats she may be reached. There must be no confusion or -lack of carriages at the end of the route. This hospitality must cover -everything. If the weather is fine and the distance short, ladies -generally drive to these entertainments in gay dresses and bonnets -or hats; for a garden party should look as much like a Watteau as -possible. Those who have had the advantage of seeing a garden party -in England--at Holland House, or at Buckingham Palace--will remember -how beautiful, finished, and gay a scene it is. A dressy parasol and a -fan hung at the side are indispensable. Ladies go either in the short -Amazonian dresses which the practice of games has made so fashionable, -or else in Worth’s last and most elegant trailing costumes, trusting to -the grass being dry, and knowing that they can sit on the piazza. - -Most garden-party givers provide band music, which plays either in -the grand hall, or at some spot on the lawn where dancing can go on. -But our turf is not like the English turf, and modern dancing is not -that springing measure of “young Bertine,” as she bounds under the -walnut-trees of Southern France. So we can not count in dancing as one -of the usual pleasures of a garden party, unless a broad platform is -laid; and this has in its way a very pretty effect under the trees or -in a large tent. - -A garden party is for all ages; so there should be in our uncertain -climate full provision for the elderly, who can not always spend an -afternoon on the lawn. Broad piazzas are very useful, and much enjoyed -by those who fear our treacherous malarious soil; and if one can not -exercise, it is better to sit on a piazza than on the grass. - -As it is always prone to rain at picnics and garden parties, it is -better to have the refreshments in the house. Gentlemen can run into -the banquet-hall and get a plate of lobster-salad for a lady, or the -waiters can carry the refreshments about; but for a sudden shower of -rain to descend on a table is miserable, and defeats the object of the -table. - -The lady of the house, however, often improvises a hasty roof or -covering for her table, put up by the carpenter at a small outlay, if -she is determined to have everything _al fresco_. Frozen coffee, iced -tea, punch, ice-cream croquets, salads, jellies, pressed turkey, potted -meats, _pâté de foie gras_, and sandwiches, are spread about. Do not -attempt any hot dishes at a garden party; they are out of place, and -impossible. - -The garden party is said to be “the first hybrid which unites society -and nature.” It is a growing taste with us Americans, and will grow -to be a greater favorite as time goes on. The popularity of the game -of archery, that relic of Robin Hood and Maid Marion, “that vision -of Lincoln green,” is now added to lawn tennis, croquet, and “_les -Graces_,” as one of the most popular features of a garden party. One -would think that there was nothing needed but the long sweep of the -trees upon the lawn, the vision of the distant city, the flower-beds -where geraniums and calceolaria vie in color, the “pleached alley,” -the buttercup in the grass, the Watteau-like picture, or groups of gay -ladies and gallant cavaliers causing “unpremeditated effects” to make -the garden party agreeable. But there is always a need of preparation -for such a party. No lady should trust alone to the power of her guests -to amuse themselves. She must do all that she can. - -In the country a lady can wait for a day of fine weather, and invite -her guests only the day before. The grounds and garden walks, the lawn -tennis, the archery, should all be in order, and a few chairs out -under the trees. It is not long before all her guests begin to enjoy -themselves in their own way, and to appreciate how much better a room -is made by the Gothic arch of the trees than by any sort of cramped-up -house arrangement. - -One can be more general in the invitations to a garden party than to -any other; for if people like each other they can group together, and -if they do not, they can easily walk apart, and get rid of each other. -In a small room, particularly at a dinner party, how two people can -glow and glare at each other, to the dreadful dismay of the hostess! -But at a garden party Nature is too wide for them. They are almost -obliged to seem amused whether they are or not. If not at all amused, -they can, however, go and sulk under the lilacs. Those fragrant -vegetables will not care whether the guests sulk or smile. - -Every country house has its charms. How lovely a garden party can be -given at the Locusts, when all those trees are in flower, sending down -the perfume of Araby the Blest! How the perfume reminds one of St. -John’s Gardens, Oxford, when the lime-trees are in bloom, and every -bough is laden with wild bees who make a music as they sip! A flowering -tree is the most perfect thing which Adam and Eve saved from Paradise. -One seems, in inhaling its fragrance, to have just recovered from a -long illness. - -The best part of a spring or early summer garden party is this first -whiff of fragrance which is brought to the disused or insulted nostril -of the city. We little know until then how the most aristocratic of the -senses has been wronged. We are always, and all of us, most patient -over our city bad smells until we go into the country and realize what -a bath of delicious odors a forest is--a bit of woodland, a field of -growing grass, one sweet cherry-tree, an apple-blossom, a violet! The -perfume of lilacs is the perfume of luxury; and the first scythe of -the mower, as it sweeps through the young blood of the grass, reveals -a thousand scent-bottles all uncorked for our use. A lady in giving -a garden party should always have a bundle of new-mown hay somewhere -about the grounds. - -And at the garden party what may not those who sit on the benches -remember? All the sprightly, frivolous, charming figures who seem to -have posed for us at garden parties in France! Philippe d’Orléans and -La Phalaris; the Duc de Richelieu and the Abbess de Chelles; Watteau, -Voltaire, Carmargo; Louis XV, with Pompadour and Du Barry; Boucher -and Vanloo; Greuze, Voisenon, and Bernis; Guimaud and Sophie Arnould; -Crébillon, the tragic, and Dancourt, the gay! What a faithful study of -naiads and hamadryads did the beautiful women of these days suggest to -the artists at those garden parties when, toward the end of spring, -the trees were in blossom, and the enameled grass carpeted the parks! -Madame de Pompadour asked Louis XV to come and see her hermitage! -Venus, Hebe, Diana the huntress, the three Graces--all were in order! -The garden itself a masterpiece of attraction--a wood, rather than a -garden--a wood peopled with statues, formed of verdant and odorous -arcades, of charming groves, of dark, shaded retreats. Such was the -_Parc aux Cerfs_. - -We think again of the rose-tree of Jean Jacques at the hermitage. We -remember Dufresny, who “studied love in his heart, grandeur at the -court, war upon the field of battle, architecture in the erection of -buildings, _nature in his garden_, music in song.” Dufresny was in love -with gardens. A poet, a friend of Louis XIV, he loved roses better than -any other luxury. It was he who broke up the stiff, old-fashioned plan -of gardening at Vincennes, and introduced Nature with her charming -caprices and fairy fantasies. It was he who said, “Cultivating roses, -marking out paths, planting hedges, is the same as writing sonnets, -songs, and poems.” In his day a picturesque garden was often called -“_à la Dufresny_.” Under his rule Versailles became what it is. “I -shall never be poor while I have a garden!” said he to the King. “I -find there the green vine-tendrils, or the roses, for a crown.” To him -verdant prospects were real terrestrial paradises. - -We can remember how the boy Florian gathered cherries, and forgot his -Greek and Latin! We remember him, in Voltaire’s garden, naming the -poppies after the faithless Trojans. The most beautiful he called -“Hector,” and then demolished him with a blow from his wooden sword. -Later, when he had grown up, still wandering in gardens, he wrote his -eclogues, poems, dramas, fables, and “Numa Pompilius.” His style has -all the tender freshness, the brilliancy, the perfume, the clear color, -of a “garden party.” It is an idyl of primroses and dandelions. - -We hardly think of Buffon at a garden party. (When Voltaire heard of -his “Natural History”--“Not so _natural_,” said the great wit.) The -laborious and tranquil life of the great author of the “Garden of -Plants” seems out of place at a garden party, and yet he lived and -wrote in a garden. He submitted Nature to a crucible, and tore a lily -to pieces to see of what it was made; and yet he brought together the -flowers and trees of all nations. We admire, but do not love Buffon. - -We cross the Channel and see, in imagination, the Princess Anne with -Lady Castlemaine and Miss Stuart, Lady Churchill, and all their -friends, loftily walking in the groves and alleys of Spring Gardens, -emerging into St. James’s Park. The glories of Bird-Cage Walk come -back to us. From these models did Colley Cibber get his “Lady Betty -Modish,” and what a pretty, stylish, affected model it was! Lovely -Lady Fitzhardinge was of the Princess’s party, and later, when Lady -Churchill became Duchess of Marlborough, what garden parties at -Blenheim! - -A garden party always brings back Lady Mary Wortley Montague, who left -many an account of those stately old-time gardens at Rome, Florence, -Naples, Genoa, Avignon--not to speak of the early adventures at -Twickenham, and later at Strawberry Hill. All England is a garden. The -garden party is possible anywhere. - -And the beautiful Duchess of Devonshire and Mrs. Crewe! How they adorn -a garden party! We almost see the splendid cream-colored horses of -George III drive up past Carleton Gardens, to proceed in solemn state -to St. James’s, as we hear the low, rippling laughter of the two -beauties in brocade. - -The Prince of Wales forgot his two hundred thousand pounds of debts as -he received the Buffs and Blues at a garden party, which began at noon -and continued all night, at Carleton House. The Duchess of Devonshire -was then lady paramount of the aristocratic whig circles, in which rank -and literature were blended with political aspirations. It was she who -canvassed for Fox, and allowed the butcher to kiss her for his vote; -and to her was paid the compliment, highly prized, by the link-boy who -asked if he “might light his pipe at her eyes.” These women seem to -have lived in garden parties. - -Sweet Madame de Sévigné, with her children, at _Les Rochers_, and later -at Paris, talking gayly under the trees of her garden, with Corneille, -Racine, Molière, La Fontaine, and Boileau, again wins us back across -the Channel, and back a hundred years or so. - -Garden parties have this advantage: they are like Madame de Staël’s -age--“not dated.” They are of all time. Madame de Sévigné’s garden -party comprised Pascal, Bourdaloue, Mascaron, Bossuet, the restless De -Retz, the Scotchman Montrose, La Rochefoucauld, Marshal Turenne, Le -Grand Colbert, and Condé. The ladies were the Duchess de Longueville, -the political _intrigante_ of the Fronde; the penitent La Vallière; -the heartless Maintenon; Madame de Montespan; the Comtesse d’Olonne, -daughter of Madame de Rambouillet, and one of the _Précieuses_; Madame -de La Fayette, the authoress of “Zaide.” Alas, and alas! we could -not get together such a garden party of to-day! No! not if we had a -fortnight’s time before us, and all the wealth of the Indies. - -Madame de Sévigné was that delightful combination--a beauty, a wit, and -a _femme d’esprit_. As an instance of the flattery to which even genius -stooped in speaking to a monarch who loved flattery and adulation more -than anything, she relates an answer made by Racine to Louis XIV when -that sovereign expressed his regret that the poet had not accompanied -the army in its last campaign. “Sire,” said Racine, “we had none but -town-clothes, and had ordered others to be made; but the places you -attacked were all taken before they could be finished.” “This,” adds -Madame de Sévigné, “was well received.” - -It is in her famous correspondence with her daughter that we find many -an account of a garden party, or a _fête_, which we should gladly have -seen, and which at our own garden parties we are glad to remember. Her -letters contain much talk on books, religion, philosophy, and politics; -on the frowns and smiles of the great monarch; the favor accorded to -this courtier, the disgrace of that; the marriage contracted, the -_bons mots_ circulated. But it is upon society that she is strongest. -She loved nature, too, in a Frenchwoman’s way. When she walked the -garden of her uncle, the Abbé, at Livry, or far away in the solitudes -of Brittany, she rejoiced in the song of the nightingale, in the change -of the leaf, in the glad freshness of the air. She is a poet, without -meaning it. Her garden-party letters are her best letters. - -Very stately must have been those garden parties at Wilton, when Ben -Jonson and Philip Massinger afforded amusement to the intellectual -great. The Masque, an entertainment of the rich and noble in the time -of Elizabeth and James I, called out the powers of these men. The -actors were people of the highest class, sometimes royal personages, -the masques always in the open air. Dancing and music were introduced. -These various actors learned their parts under the tutorship of the -Master of the Revels. Lawes composed music, to which the poetry -of Jonson was sung; and the scenes, decorations, and dresses were -contrived and executed by Inigo Jones. Certain great families copied -the example of the court, and ordered masques to be written, and played -at their own country-seats; calling in for the choruses the children -of the Chapel Royal, who were regularly trained to take their part -in masques. At Wilton, at Belvoir Castle, at Whitehall, at Windsor, -these charming but costly diversions were carried on. Ben Jonson might -have been heard scolding and working over these garden parties at -the house of the beautiful Mary Sidney, sister to the author of the -“Arcadia,” who was afterward Countess of Pembroke. She often gave these -entertainments at Wilton. She there received Queen Elizabeth, Walter -Raleigh, the Earl of Essex, Will Shakespeare, Spenser, and Cecil. -Philip Massinger was in her servants’ hall, a humble retainer. The -pious Countess, for her solemn hours, had Dr. Donne, most devoted of -servitors. The death of her noble brother, Philip Sidney, broke her -heart, and there were no more garden parties at Wilton. We all know -how Walter Scott has described these garden parties in “Kenilworth.” -Indeed, they make us rather out of love with our later attempts. - -Once in our own land a masque was attempted, the famous _Mischianza_ of -Major André, on the Delaware, at Philadelphia. Had not he and Arnold -gone out together in that rather sad way, we might like to tell of that -garden party, but we will skip it. - -After all, man was born, the race was started, in a garden. Adam and -Eve held the first garden party. What a pity that the serpent crawled -in! - - - - -XII. - -DANCING. - - -Dancing is so well known to all young people as a Home Amusement that -it seems perhaps _banale_ to describe it. A glance at the dances now -fashionable may, however, not be out of place. - -From the Virginia Reel to the German Cotillon is indeed a bound. -Our grandfathers were taught to dance the Pirouette, the delicate -Pigeon-wing--indeed, all the paces of the dance such as it was when -Vestris bounded before Louis XVI. When commanded to dance before him, -the dancer loftily replied: “The House of Vestris has always danced for -that of Bourbon.” - -Dancing then was an accomplishment. Who does not recollect seeing some -grandfather still “taking his steps”? Now at the most is permitted the -Galop, which has the needed element of jollity without coarseness. It -is _l’allegro_ of the ballroom. The Gambrinus Polka also lights up -the ballroom occasionally. With these vivacious exceptions, dancing -is reduced to the Waltz--_la valse à trois temps_--the various steps -of which consist of the Hop-Waltz, the Glide-Waltz, the Redowa, and -the Waltz proper. The Boston “Dip,” the “Racket,” and the “Society,” -are spurious. They are not taught by the best dancing masters. They -are “rowdy,” but some people, desirous of notoriety, do dance them at -the Charity Ball. As a famous dancing authority observes, “Did such a -style of dancing prevail, dancing must go down; its enemies would have -unanswerable arguments against it.” The dance of society is now quiet, -easy, natural, modest, and graceful. Those who would make it otherwise -must remember that they are copying the excesses of the _Bal Mabille_. - -The spurious dances mentioned above are ridiculed in “Punch” as the -“pivotal” dances. The Redowa is a pretty form of the Waltz. It is -composed of a step known as the _pas de basque_. Its movements are -indicated as a _fête à glissé_ and a _coupé dessous_; the feet, -however, are never raised from the floor. - -The Galop is a great favorite with the Swedes, Danes, and Russians; it -has a Viking force in it; while the Redowa reminds one of the graceful -Viennese, who dance it so well. The Mazourka, danced to the wild Polish -Mazourka measure, is a more poetical dance, and has many a poem written -to its honor; but it rarely appears seen at a fancy-dress ball. - -The German Cotillon, born many years ago in a Viennese palace to meet -the requirements of court etiquette, is now the favorite dance at home -and at balls, as a way of finishing the evening. Its favors, beginning -with flowers, ribbons, and bits of tinsel, have ripened into fans, -bracelets, gold scarf-pins, and pencil-cases, and many other things -even more expensive. Favors now often cost $5,000 for one fashionable -ball. So the German, thus conducted, can scarcely be called a Home -Amusement. - -To dance by the firelight to the music of the piano is a _Home_ -Amusement. And if there be a good old kitchen, with a hard floor, into -which a negro fiddler can be introduced, and where the _contra-danse_ -can be also added, and the evening can end with Virginia Reel--this is -a Home Amusement. The old-fashioned quadrilles, the Lancers--dances in -which old and young can join--these are home dances! - -“There is something so _conscientious_ about papa’s dancing,” said -a profane youth who was watching his estimable parent through the -decidedly complicated mazes of Money Musk. Youth will always laugh -at age when it attempts the accomplishments. That is a real dance, -however, when papa, mamma, and the children all join in, and when Jane, -aged seven, leads out grandpa. How Dickens luxuriates in Mr. Fizziwig’s -dancing at the Christmas supper in the “Christmas Carol”! Dickens could -never have made the “_German_” so pathetic or so funny! - -All fashion polishes off the edges, and causes an aristocratic icing -to form over the outside of any expression of jollity; so no wonder -that fashionable dancing has become a _glissé_. It would not be well -to attempt any gay dancing at a fashionable ball--that would look like -romping; but surely in the old kitchen, in the private parlor, at -Christmas, on birthdays, one is allowed to romp a little. - -The German is a dance of infinite variety, and a leader of original -fancy constructs new figures constantly. The Waltz, Galop, Redowa, and -Polka steps occur in its many changes. There is a slow walk in the -quadrille figures; a stately march; the bows and courtesies of the old -minuet; and, above all, the _tour de valse_, which is the means of -locomotion from place to place. The changeful exigencies of the various -figures lead the forty or fifty or the two hundred people to meet, -exchange greetings, dance with each other, change their geographical -position many times; and the Grand Army of the Republic did not have a -more varied scope. - -The Kaleidoscope is one of the prettiest figures. The four couples -perform a _tour de valse_, then form as for a quadrille; the next four -couples in order take positions behind the first four couples, each -of the latter couples facing the same as the couples in front. At a -signal from the leader, the ladies of the inner couples cross right -hands, move entirely round, and turn into places by giving left hands -to their partners; at the same time the outer couples waltz half round -to opposite places. At another signal, the inner couples waltz entirely -round, and finish facing outward; at the same time the outer couples -_chassé croisé_, and turn at corners with right hands, then _dechassé_, -and turn partners with left hands. _Valse générale_ with _vis-à-vis_. - -Another pretty figure is _La Corbeille, l’Anneau, et la Fleur_. The -first couple performs a _tour de valse_, after which the gentleman -presents the lady with a little basket containing a ring and a flower, -then resumes his seat. The lady presents the ring to one gentleman, the -flower to another, and the basket to a third. The gentleman to whom -she presents the ring selects a partner for himself; the gentleman -who receives the flower dances with the lady who presents it, while -the other gentleman holds the basket in his hand and dances alone. -Counterpart for the others in their order. - -_Le Miroir_ is another very pretty figure. The first couple performs -a _tour de valse_. The gentleman seats his lady upon a chair in the -middle of the room, and presents her with a small mirror. The leader -then selects a gentleman from the circle, and conducts him behind her -chair. The lady looks in the mirror, and if she decline the partner -offered, by turning the mirror over or shaking her head, the leader -continues to offer partners until the lady accepts. The gentlemen -refused return to their seats, or select partners and join in the -_valse_. - -_Le Cavalier Trompé_ is another favorite figure. Five or six couples -perform a _tour de valse_. They afterward place themselves in ranks -of two, one couple behind the other. The lady of the first gentleman -leaves him, and seeks a gentleman of another column. While this is -going on, the first gentleman must not look behind him. The first -lady and the gentleman whom she has selected separate and advance on -tiptoe on each side of the column, in order to deceive the gentleman -at the head, and endeavor to join each other for a waltz. If the first -gentleman is fortunate enough to seize his lady, he leads off in a -waltz. If not, he must remain at his post until he is able to take a -lady. The last gentleman remaining dances with the last lady. - -_Les Chaînes Continues_ is another good figure. The first four couples -perform a _tour de valse_. Each gentleman chooses a lady, and each lady -a gentleman. The gentlemen place themselves in line, and the ladies -form a line opposite. The first gentleman on the left gives his right -hand to the right hand of his lady, and turns entirely around with -her. He gives his left hand to the left hand of the next lady, while -his lady does the same with the next gentleman. The gentleman and lady -again meet, and turn with right hands, and then turn with left hands -the third lady and gentleman, and so on to the last couple. As soon -as the leader and his lady reach the fourth couple, the second couple -should start, so that there may be a continuous chain between the -ladies and gentlemen. When all have regained their original places in -line, they terminate the figure by a _tour de valse_. - -A very pretty figure, and easily furnished, is called _Les Drapeaux_. -Five or six duplicate sets of small flags of national or fancy devices -must be in readiness. The leader takes a flag of each pattern, and his -lady the duplicates; they perform a _tour de valse_. The conductor then -presents his flags to five or six ladies, and his lady presents the -corresponding flags to as many gentlemen. The gentlemen then seek the -ladies having the duplicates, and with them perform a _tour de valse_, -waving the flags as they dance. Repeated by all the couples. - -Another of the favorite combinations is _Les Rubans_. Six ribbons, each -about a yard in length, and of various colors, are attached to one end -of a stick about twenty-four inches in length; also a duplicate set of -ribbons, attached to another stick, must be in readiness. The first -couple perform a _tour de valse_, and then separate. The gentleman -takes one set of ribbons, and stops successively in front of the ladies -whom he desires to select to take part in the figure. Each of these -ladies rises, and takes hold of the loose end of a ribbon. The first -lady takes the other set of ribbons, bringing forward six gentlemen -in the same manner. The first couple conduct the ladies and gentlemen -toward each other, and each gentleman dances with the lady holding -the ribbon duplicate of his own. The first gentleman dances with his -partner. The figure is repeated by the other couples in their order. - -To give a German, a lady should have all the furniture removed from her -parlors, a crash spread over the carpet, and a set of folding-chairs -introduced for the couples to sit in. The great trouble of this -proceeding is what has led to the giving of Germans, in large cities, -at private balls or in public places. It is considered that all taking -part in a German are formally introduced, and upon no condition -whatever must a lady, so long as she remains in the German, refuse to -dance with any gentleman whom she may chance to receive as a partner. -Every American must learn that he should speak to every one whom he -meets in a friend’s house, if necessary, without an introduction, as -the friend’s house _is_ an introduction. So in the German, the very -fact that _guests are there_ is an introduction. - -In taking a review of the German we may as well say that, in a country -house, the making of the favors is a very pretty amusement. The ribbons -are easily bought at the village store. The same gold-paper and tinsel -which furnishes forth the private theatricals will do for the orders -and insignia, and the prettiest bouquets come from the garden. These -hastily-improvised home Germans are very amusing and very pretty. - -The laws of the German are, however, so strict, and so tiresome -occasionally, that a good many parties have abjured it, and now dance -some of its figures without a leader, and as sporadic attempts. A -leader for the German needs many of the same qualities as the leader -of an army. He must have a comprehensive glance, a quick ear and -eye, and a very great belief in himself. He must have the talent of -command, and make himself seen and felt. He must be full of resource -and quick-witted. With all these qualities he must have tact. It is no -easy matter to get two hundred dancers into all sorts of combinations, -to get them out of it, to offend nobody, but to produce that elegant -kaleidoscope which we call “the German.” - -The term _tour de valse_ is used technically, meaning that the couple -or couples performing it will execute the round dance designated by -the leader once around the room. Should the room be small, they make -a second tour. After the introductory _tour de valse_, care must be -taken by those who perform it not to select ladies and gentlemen from -each other, but from among those who are seated. When the leader claps -his hands to warn those who are prolonging the _valse_, they must -immediately cease dancing. - -The religious objection to dancing having almost died out, we recommend -all parents to have their children taught to dance. It is a necessary -thing toward physical culture. It is the most embarrassing thing -for a man later in life to find himself without the grace which -dancing brings. Nothing contributes so much to Home Amusement as the -informal dance. Nothing can be more innocent. If, in after-life, this -accomplishment leads to late hours and to reckless love of pleasure, we -must remember that all good things can be abused. - - - - -XIII. - -GARDENS AND FLOWER-STANDS. - - -The making of gardens is decidedly and judiciously conceded to be a -Home Amusement, and it is a pity that the new fashion of bedding-out -plants, which is so beautiful in our public parks and in the pleasure -grounds of the rich, should have seemed to so utterly do away with a -taste for the old-fashioned gardens of early English poetry--of Miss -Mitford, of every sweet New England dame of the early days, who had -her garden, with its “pretty posies,” and its bed of sweet marjoram, -lavender, and sage. It is, however, a hopeful sign to see in remote -country towns some effort to keep up the old-fashioned idea of a pretty -flower-plot, and there are always women who have the gift of making -flowers “blow” and grow in a quiet way. - -Yet science can help to bring the old-fashioned garden to perfection, -as well as to make those artificial beds of many-leaved coleus, -and steadier groups. Every garden design, every project of garden -furnishing, and every item of garden work, should be governed by this -consideration, that it is hard work to fight against Nature, and there -is seldom thus a conquest worth obtaining. Aim modestly to gain a -victory over the easily-cultivated native flowers at first, and you -will secure enjoyment. - -Fortunately, if gardening is pursued with earnestness, every soil and -every climate will be found to produce some flowers in rare beauty -and in unexpected luxuriance. Geometric plans, if well carried out, -are very pretty, and the amateur gardener should learn to mass her -geraniums, petunias, and pansies, her gladioli, roses, marigolds, and -poppies, so as to give a good and really splendid result of color. -Nature takes care to send us delicate, pale yellows and lilacs in -Spring in her sweet daffy-down-dilly, and the elegant _fleurs-de-lis_; -and the peonies come on mildly with pink and white before they dash -into red. Then come the Turkish carpets of the portulaca, and so on -until midsummer blazes with poppies, gladioli, and all the gorgeous -zinnias. These may all be found in the commonest garden, without -mentioning the larkspur, the mignonette, the petunia and the sweet-pea, -and a thousand other charming common flowers. The delightful flowers -which sow themselves, and those hardy bulbs, the crocus, tulip, lily -of the valley, snowdrop, and hyacinth, should not be neglected. A -quantity of white-lily bulbs stowed away in the garden reward one -year after year with their elegant flowers and fragrance at no cost -whatever. Pansies, daisies, and polyanthus keep from season to season, -and carnation pinks need to be two years old before they will blossom, -while the chrysanthemums make the garden gay in October. - -Now for borders to the garden beds. Common grass is the best and -easiest, as the gardener’s boy can cut it with a sickle each week -and keep it from spreading. Or the little, cheap mosses make a -pretty border, as does the periwinkle, which looks so like myrtle. -To attempt a border of the gorgeous coleus requires a hothouse and -an accomplished gardener. In the common large country garden rows of -hollyhocks, as against a stone wall, or marking out the long walks, -are most ornamental. Dahlias also are very good in groups. Phlox, -that much-abused plant, is also pretty in masses. Asters too, of many -varieties, delight the eye, and are easy of culture. In trying to raise -shrubs, why not take the American wild pink, or azalea, the laurel and -the rhododendron, and, by studying up their habits, capture them? - -The best soil for the rhododendron is a peat containing much sand and -much vegetable fiber. Any clean, pulverized product of vegetable decay -will like them. It is their native food. The laurel is capricious, -and resents the act of transplantation; but they will flourish if -planted thick enough. They love company, and thrive in it. The best -way to treat them is to study their quality, and to give them the same -conditions which made them grow so luxuriantly on the hill-side. - -But if even these plants resist you, every lady loves a rosarium, and -it will go hard with her but she has a rose garden somewhere. The -gardeners now sell one hundred rose roots for a dollar, at Rochester, -and if planted out and attended to they give a million of dollars in -pleasure back again. - -Some ladies understand budding, and this is a very interesting process. -In this way an army of sweetbriers can be covered with yellow Marshal -Neills and royal Jacqueminots. To propagate by layers is, however, the -easiest way, if, indeed, one does not prefer to buy them all started. -For garden roses we need vigorous growers that are sure to flower -freely, and will contribute to the gayety of the garden. One of the -best--the old-fashioned damask--if set out well, will blossom for -thirty years. A very effective garden of roses is produced by roses -pegged down. A deep, rather rich, loamy soil is to be prepared, the -position selected being rather open. When the plants are about a foot -high peg down the strongest growths. The rose prefers a firm soil. -Those who desire to have firm blooms the second season must cut off a -few inches of the flowering wood as soon as the first bloom is over, -and give the beds a thorough soaking of manure or sewage-water every -third or fourth day. But in this, as in every sort of cultivation of -an especial flower, one should buy an especial treatise on the subject. - -Every lady gardener is troubled by insect pests--the horrid green -canker-worm, the little green louse, the potato-bug; these are -everywhere. One fights them with all sorts of powders and all sorts of -syringes. One very simple cure is not generally known. It is to plant -a lettuce beside your rose; the vermin prefers the lettuce. It is the -same principle which induced the rich owner of a wine-cellar to put -a barrel of whisky beside his best Madeira; the whisky went, but the -Madeira stayed. Dirty flower-pots, filled with dry moss, put in the -neighborhood, will catch large numbers of these gentry, for vermin are -fond of dirt. Dusting with powdered lime, or sulphurized tobacco-dust, -will kill the insects which destroy the asters. Lettuces also save the -asters, and a bed of green lettuce is not an ugly “bedding-out” plant. - -No manure is so good as that common rotted vegetation of the forest. -Bring a pailful home from every drive, and it will make your flowers -grow. Nothing, also, so good as this for that lovely flower, the pansy, -which thus recalls its early start in the forest, The pansy does not -require much water, but in very hot, dry weather the beds should be -sprinkled at night with a watering-pot. - -But these few directions may seem impertinent, as every lady has now -the most ample means of reading up about her garden. The cultivation -of a few flowers in the house--window gardening--is by far the more -essentially a Home Amusement. And, as almost everybody has once bought -a lot of greenhouse plants but to see them fade before her eyes, we -recommend to all to either raise a slip from the root or to start very -young plants in a dark room. Thus accustomed to the atmosphere of the -house they are to live in, they do sometimes live. - -The hardier roses, the calla-lily, all the geraniums (useful dear -creatures), the violets and the pinks, grow well in the house. Hanging -pots of calceolarias and healthy primroses are also possible. Some -ladies can raise azaleas at home, but they are difficult. Then there -is the kangaroo-vine, and the Jerusalem, and all the other very hardy -vines. If a large ivy-vine can he induced to grow over a picture-frame, -it is a beautiful friend in midwinter. - -Then come the delightful hanging baskets, the Wardian fern-cases, -the ornamental stands of pot-plants, and the indoor box of earth for -planting rice and grass seed, the wild flowers, which now have become -exotics, and all the pretty fancies of throwing seed over a wet sponge. -Anything green in winter looks lovely. Nothing more charming than the -branches of nasturtion growing in water can be imagined. They grow -and flower all winter, and the blue convolvulus flourishes well in a -hanging basket; so do the common morning-glory and the scarlet bean, -both delightful, airy visitors at Christmas. - -A wire-work ox-muzzle, filled with moss, makes an admirable basket. -It should be painted dark green, and hang over a box of growing -flowers, so that it can drip when watered and hurt nothing. Put in -the ivy-leaved geranium to drop over its edges; fuchsia, variegated -geranium, bright blue lobelia, and the healthful dracænas, begonias, -and sedums also make a very pretty combination. The gardeners give you -wooden baskets filled with flowers, and ivy, and ferns, but it is Home -Amusement to make these baskets yourself. - -Fern-cases are delightful as winter friends. Wardian cases can be -made very cheaply, and their perpetual condensation and shower is -a very pretty study in physics. A large case, in which large-sized -ferns can be accommodated, is best. As regards cultivation, the first -thing that demands attention is the drainage of the case; for, if that -is defective, neither ferns nor any other plants can be cultivated -successfully. In order to secure good drainage the case should be -fitted with a false bottom, into which the water may drain through -perforated zinc or iron, on which the rock-work and little bank for -the ferns should be placed. The false bottom, being a little kind of -tank or drainer, should be perfectly water-tight, so as to protect the -carpet, and should have a tap fixed in one corner of it, by means of -which the surplus water should be drained off. - -To be able to give free ventilation to the plants every morning is -another essential point, as a stagnant atmosphere is as injurious to -plants as it is to young children. Over the perforated tray of the -case a good layer of broken pottery should be laid, and this should be -covered with cocoanut fiber, on which the rock-work should be laid. -The space in which it is intended that the ferns are to grow should -then be filled in; and nothing is better than peat, rotten turf, and -sharp grit sand as a soil for ferns. In the parts of the case intended -for the planting of rather strong-growing ferns a larger proportion -of rotten turf should be mixed with the peat than in those intended -for less robust varieties. The _adiantum pedatum_ (maidenhair), -_capillus veneris_, _pteris tessulata_, _eretica_, _albo lineata_, -_polypodium vulgare_, _acrophorus chairophyllus_, _hispidus anemia -adiantifolia_, _asplenium striatum_, _bulbiferum_, with _trichomanes_ -and _lelazinellas_, are all useful, pretty ferns for these cases. If -the fern-case be large, it might be advisable to have an arch reaching -from end to end. - -But any intelligent gardener will tell more in an hour than we -could do in a week on the subject of ferns. Many ladies delight in -selecting these lovely aristocrats of the forest themselves. They -find no difficulty in arranging a little family of native ferns in an -improvised Ward’s case; and this pursuit, as a reason for a woodland -ramble and a subsequent fit of industry on the back piazza, is one -which has no end as a Home Amusement. - -Plant-stands for halls are very favorite decorations nowadays; but, of -course, the plants must be hardy, as they will be subject to sudden -changes of temperature. One lady made a fine effect by cultivating -young pine-trees, spruces, and firs in the large stone jars of her -hall. Cocoanut palms or India-rubber plants are the favorite exotics. -Hardy ferns group in well for these hall plant-stands. In the bottom -of each jar should be placed some broken pottery, for drainage, placed -so that the moisture will drain down through the fragments without the -soil choking the jar. Over the potsherds a little cocoanut moss should -be placed, and then a mixture of leaf-mold, rotten turf and peat, -and glass-maker’s sand, to keep the whole porous. On the surface of -the pots and between them should be put wood moss, as in the case of -stands for sitting-rooms. A common seed-pan, filled with _selaginalla -denticulata_ dropped into a small vase, has a fine effect; long sprays -grow out over the sides of the vase and drop down eight to ten inches. - -In an ordinary apartment, where the window-sills are not wide enough -to hold flower-pots, the plan of wire stands is an admirable one for -the window gardener. A piece of oil-cloth under the stand catches -all the drippings, and a servant-girl with a wiping-towel can clean -up all the _débris_. Soft-wooded plants and those with soft leaves -should be arranged as near the window as possible; and if rearranged -and turned against the light often, so much the better. Hard-leaved -plants, like ivy and the India-rubber plant, may be put anywhere away -from the light. But most plants need light before anything. The _yucca -quadricolor_, so much used in the decorative house-jars or vases, -becomes beautifully tinted with crimson if it has enough light. Now, -if a lady has not room for many rustic _jardinières_ and ornamental -flower-stands in her room, she can have zinc-pans and pots, neatly -enameled and painted, set on the floor, in which her larger plants -may be put out, This is a very good idea for grouping; for she thus -produces in her _tout ensemble_ some of the wild confusion and grace of -Nature. - -A climbing rose should go scattering itself over an imperceptible wire -trellis. A geranium should steadily blossom beneath. A group of yucca, -agave, dracæna, Jerusalem cherry, should form a distinct and effective -grouping below. And then beautiful trailing plants should drop from -hanging baskets, and from every “coigne of vantage.” Ivy grows well -in the shade, and may be employed for trailing around sofas, couches, -_tête-à-tête_ chairs, and picture-frames. Ladies sometimes tie a -bottle of water behind a picture-frame, and allow the long shoots of -nasturtion to grow out as if from the wall. The effect is startling. -Mirrors are often cunningly placed behind a flowering plant which is -growing in a hanging basket against the wall, thus doubling the effect. - -As the days grow shorter, and the winter threatens to come upon us -apace, we are always tempted to bring in from the garden the flowers -that we think will last. Just before the fatal frosts, roots of -mignonette should be planted in pots and put in a dark closet for a few -days, where the plant takes root and accommodates itself to its change -of base. It will make a room sweet all winter. - -A lady can make all sorts of ornamental flower-pot coverings, and -herself arrange pretty leather and paper standard covers for the ugly -but useful flower-pot of commerce; or she can buy at most country -potteries some very artistic flower-pots--also useful. And to put -red, green, and blue glass tubes for hyacinths among these gives her -window a very pretty effect. The very study of color in these minor -matters adds much to her window garden. It is lucky for all lovers of -beauty that beauty is now cheap. Art is putting her slender foot down -everywhere; and it is almost possible, in a remote country village, to -get the delicate classic shapes in cheap pottery which the cultivated -Greeks imagined three thousand years ago. - -For internal decoration by means of cut flowers, it seems almost absurd -to attempt to delineate the proper thing to do; for, if a lady has -taste, she will know without being told. But some few hints may not -appear impertinent. - -For the breakfast-table and dinner-table fresh flowers are almost -indispensable. The pretty, cheap, and useful combinations of glass -and silver, of china and pottery, which are made to hold flowers, are -innumerable. Select a high vase, and fill it every day with fresh -grasses, a few daisies, or some graceful ferns combined with white -lilies, and you have always a superb center-piece. - -For the summer, a large lump of ice covered with flowers, in a silver -or glass dish, is delightfully refreshing. It also keeps away the -flies. In grand party decorations ice is now freely used, and if -some way can be devised to get the refuse water out of the way, it -will be always a good thing for a country party or at a grand _fête_ -at Newport. For great blocks of ice covered with vines and flowers, -lighted from behind, have a splendid effect. They cool the air and keep -all the flowers fresh. Flowers, when cut, demand coolness; and the -effect of the white crystal column is always beautiful. - -Some ladies have a large tub put in the corner of the room, and the -pyramid of ice placed in that. Then the tub can be masked by moss, -branches of trees, evergreen, or any floral device, and the ice is -draped with garlands. At a _fête_ at Newport, in 1879, this ice -decoration was much admired. At a ball given by the Prince of Wales -to the Czarina of Russia in the large conservatory of the Royal -Horticultural Society of South Kensington, ten tons of ice were used to -build an ornamental rockery. This was draped with drooping ferns and -graceful vines, and was surrounded with crimson baize and lighted from -behind. - -Nothing is so pretty for the breakfast- or dinner-table as a tall, -slender vase which carries the floral decoration high up above the -articles of food. Nor is a garden necessary for this species of -decoration. Wild flowers, ferns, grasses, and all the beautiful -furniture of forest and field, make these vases doubly elegant. - -In the rose season--in the sweet days of June--most country gardens -overflow with the always regal flower; and this is a table ornament of -the highest. The great, broad, low baskets are best for these full, -rich queens of color and fragrance. Mass your roses for the middle -of the table, and have specimen glasses for some of the more rare -varieties. The rose is a cleanly flower, and can be put anywhere near -food. But if an unlucky visitor has the rose-cold, then it must be put -far away; for the subtile, pungent odor of a rose makes the sufferer -sneeze fearfully. There are some families in which roses are thus -tabooed. - -A basket of roses is the prettiest thing in the world; and the lady -going into the country for the summer had better supply herself with a -number of these, with handles, from the florist or the basket-maker. -If she gets a tin pan also fitted in cunningly, she has the loveliest -table ornamentation all ready. Her buffets, her parlor-table, her -piano, her brackets can all hold these pleasant things, for which no -money need be paid, but which have a value far above money. Never give -these baskets a heavy, packed look, but allow plenty of the rich green -leaves of the rose to set them off. It seems to us that ladies might -create an endless succession of Home Amusements by studying how to vary -the effect of their vases and baskets of flowers. - -A simple bunch of yellow buttercups in the early spring will make a -purple room perfectly beautiful; and dandelions can be massed with -great effect. Yellow flowers are rare, but necessary to produce -fine contrasts of color. We all tend too much to the red and white -easily-obtained effects. They are poor compared with what we can do. - -If Fashion has rather run its worship of the daisy into the ground, -Fashion might have done a worse thing. We can scarcely blame Fashion -for going back to this impressive flower, which in its simplicity has -moved all philosophers, poets, and fortune-tellers to admire and study -it. - -It seems to us that something more cheerful than our usual Christmas -decorations could be invented. We make them too somber. Try mixing in -the beautiful bitter-sweet berries, which are so very easily obtained, -and which keep all winter. The holly is not so common with us as in -England; still, many a New England swamp produces a host of hips and -haws and red berries. - -The business of preserving autumn-leaves shows ten failures to one -success. Yet, when autumn leaves are well preserved, they are very -charming means of winter decoration. They are luminous at evening, -and, mixed with ferns and grasses, are perpetual bouquets. But do not -varnish them: that gives them a waxy effect, which is detestable. Press -them carefully, and iron them under a piece of brown paper. That seems -to preserve the color. - -Grasses, on the contrary, and a thousand pods and seed-vessels, grains -and cat-tails, and certain weeds, dry into beautiful colors and make -most wonderful groups for the parlor mantel. The young ladies of our -vast continent can not do a better thing than to each year add to these -beautiful and most graceful bouquets, which retain, like the fabled -Dryads, all the fascination of Nature, even when they have passed into -sticks and dry leaves. - - - - -XIV. - -CAGED BIRDS AND AVIARIES. - - -From flowers to birds is a natural transition, and we enter upon that -part of Home Amusement which centers around a cage of singing-birds. -It is a dreadful thing to snare and to imprison an innocent bird; -therefore we begin with that bird which seems to take most kindly to -captivity--the canary. - -Travelers tell us that this yellow darling has gray plumage at home; -but as we know them they are generally yellow, white, green, or brown. -Climate, food, and intermixture of breeds has, no doubt, to do with -this. The canary, which in France is nearly white, at Teneriffe is as -brown as a berry. We can not tell why they are always yellow in cages. - -The exact date of the introduction of the canary is not known to us. In -1610 the bird was considered a great rarity. According to some authors, -the island of Elba was the first European ground on which the canary -found a resting-place for its tiny foot. A ship bound for Leghorn, -they say, having on board a number of sweet songsters, foundered near -this island, on which the birds, set at liberty by the accident, -found a refuge; and the climate was so congenial to their nature that -they remained and bred, and would probably have remained there had -not their unlucky, fatal gifts of beauty and song betrayed them to -the bird-catchers, who hunted them so assiduously that not a single -specimen was left on the island. From Italy these birds soon found -their way into France and Germany, from the latter of which countries -and the Tyrol we now receive our best supplies. Canary breeding and -teaching is conducted in the Tyrol on a large scale, and these trainers -have the power always to obtain large prices for their birds. Canary -societies exist in England, and small traders, like Poll Sneedlepipes, -compete for prizes. - -Canary critics recognize two varieties--two grand divisions--in fancy -canaries: “gay birds,” or “gay spangles,” and fancy, or “mealy,” -birds--the first being plain, like the original stock, and the last -variegated. This also includes the _Jonques_, or _Jonquils_, as the -yellow birds are technically called. The varieties of these two grand -divisions are almost innumerable, nearly every year producing a new -one, which, like a prize flower, is in high favor until superseded by a -greater beauty. Every year has its fashionable bird, its professional -beauty, its Mrs. Langtry, until some Mrs. Cornwallis West or Lady -Lonsdale carries off the palm. Like all hobbies, this is a hobby -desperately ridden. It is a “Dutch taste for tulips,” and immense -prices are given for prize canaries, even by men who can not afford to -speculate in such very uncertain stock. - -There are certain standard properties which are always considered -essential toward gaining a prize. The first property considered in the -show bird is the “cap,” which must be of a good gold color. The next -is purity of color through the whole bird. Then the wings and tail, -which must be black quite home to the quill. The fourth relates to -the spangle, which must be distinct. Fifth, size and shape. Besides -these properties there are what are called “additional beauties,” not -essential to the winning of a prize, but adding to a bird’s chances. -These are five in number: pinions, for size and regularity; swallow and -throat, for size; fair breast, for regularity; legs and flight, for -blackness. In explanation of this it may be noted that from the beak to -the back of the neck is called the “cap,” and this should be of a clear -orange-color, full and rich in the ground, and with black edges to the -feathers. The feathers on the loins, or the _saddle_ as it is sometimes -called, as well as those of the breast, must be free from black, while -the wings must have no admixture of any other color. No bird can fairly -compete for a prize which has not black on the stock or neb of the -back, flight, or tail feathers, or that has less than eighteen flying -feathers in each wing or less than twelve in the tail. Such, lady -bird-fanciers, is a prize canary in England! - -Holborn is the great canary mart. In St. Andrew’s Street every third or -fourth house is occupied by a dealer, and those who desire to possess -a first-rate singer should visit that street. It is best to go by -gaslight, when all the birds are on the twitter. - -Now, in America we have the plain yellow bird, with no admixture of -black; and yet the same conditions seem to be observed as to his -treatment. Sacrifice the beauty of your bird to his song, which is -his chief accomplishment. He should have a comfortable mahogany cage, -and be allowed to step into it of his own accord. It should be well -furnished with seed and water. Place a light in front of the cage, and -he will begin to sing. A single hemp-seed or a morsel of chickweed will -induce the little prisoner to sing almost immediately. They are very -amiable and happy in captivity. - -The blackcap, called the “mock-nightingale,” is a very charming -household pet, if he will live. His power of song is almost equal to -that of the nightingale. He is sometimes called “the English -mocking-bird,” and he imitates any songster whom he may hear--blackbird, -thrush, or meadow-lark. They are by no means plentiful birds, and they -bring a good price in the market. They are about the same size as -the linnet, and the prevailing colors of the plumage are ashen-gray -and olive-green. The old birds feed their young on caterpillars, -moths, and other insects. They can be reared, however, on bread and -milk. If brought up with a canary or a nightingale, they will acquire -a beautiful song composed of their own natural notes and those of -these brilliant performers. This bird has been known to live twelve -or sixteen years in confinement. It demands some sort of fruit, like -cherries, currants, or raspberries in summer; a bit of apple, pine, or -orange in winter. To keep it in perfect health, it must have an iron -nail in its cup of water. - -But _chacun à son goût_. Every lady has her preferences as to her -feathered favorites. Suffice it to say a few words as to the care of -these poor little creatures. - -Birds are naturally tender things. They are not born to live in cages; -therefore they should be especially cared for. Domestic pets are apt to -come to untimely ends, particularly if left to the care of servants, -who regard them as a burden and a nuisance, and too often cruelly -neglect them. Birds in captivity are very liable to diseases which do -not attack them in their wild state; and in the various casualties -which endanger their prison life, their owners should seek to protect -them and to cure them. Let it be one of the Home Amusements for the -lady to feed her pet canary--to clean its cage, or see that it is done. -We have seen a little boy of seven take such care of his pet canary -that he shamed all the older people in the house; and a happier bird -never lived. - -If you keep but one bird in a cage in very hot weather, his cage should -be cleansed once a day. If you minister personally to the comfort of -your bird, he will grow very much attached to you. If the perches are -not kept clean, the birds become afflicted with the gout and other -maladies, resulting in the loss of toes. - -Wooden cages, especially of mahogany, are the best, as they are less -likely to harbor insects. If of fir or soft wood, the cage should be -painted green. The wires of a cage should never be painted, as the -wire being non-absorbent, the bird pecks off and eats the paint, which -poisons it. Japanned zinc cages are very well. A cage should not be too -open. There should always be a snug corner or sheltered place, where -the bird can retire and shun observation. It is great cruelty to hang -a cage in the sun unprotected. Remember that in their free state birds -seek the shady tree. In a shower always bring your birds indoors, for -they are apt to take cold if wet in an imprisoned state. - -It is a pity that more of our country residents have not the idea of an -aviary. It is so very pretty--an abiding-place of beauty, love, song, -and happiness. Surely it does not cost so much as a greenhouse. - -The model aviary is built of brick or stone, iron and glass, with a -stove and pipes fitted to keep it of an even temperature all winter. -The floor should be an earthen one, beaten hard, like the floors of -some barns. Bricks are too cold. Planks harbor insects, retain bad -smells, and form coverts for rats and mice. The roof of the aviary -should be semicircular or shelving, with vines and flowing creepers -trailing over it, so that there shall be a rustle of green leaves -steeped in sunshine, and air laden with sweet perfume to delight the -birds within. There should be also creepers and shrubs growing inside -for the birds to nest in. Perches and wicker baskets with horse-hair -and wool should be left around, and there should be a small marble -basin and fountain in the middle, of which the water should be always -fresh and changing for the birds to drink. This is, of course, a -very magnificent aviary, costing money. But what an addition to Home -Amusements to care for the happy family within! The birds can be of -all sorts. At the period of migration--about the last of August--all -birds kept in confinement show a great desire to get out, and often -beat themselves to death against the walls of their cages. In this -time of ardent enterprise the top of the aviary or the cages should be -covered with dark cloth, and the poor things shut out from the light. - -A much cheaper aviary is built in the form of a large cage on the -top of a tree, with open exit and entrances, fitted up with every -convenience of bird-furnishing, and visited twice a day by the boys of -the family. Here many birds come to lodge and get tamed, as the Indian -does by having a house and garden, and often one pair of birds comes -back several times. This is a charming sort of aviary, and very much -to be commended. What romantic tales of a wayside inn do the robin -redbreasts and orioles tell the peeping boy as he goes up the ladder to -feed his familiar friends! It is the prettiest sort of correspondence -with _l’inconnu_! - -It is a curious thing that the lungs of birds in captivity always -suffer from impurity of air, especially when the temperature is at all -varied; this must be one of the points very carefully attended to. - -For food--we now are getting to a very creepy stage of our -narrative--meal-worms, ugh! are the _pièce de résistance_; but -canaries, goldfinches, bullfinches, linnets--all, God bless -them!--prefer seed; while chaffinches, buntings, and the whole tit -family and larks must have seeds, insects, and fat meat--namely, worms. -The nightingales, thrushes, redbreasts, blackcaps, must have worms, -crickets, cockroaches, and ant-eggs. The maggots of the blow-fly -and all such tidbits, meal-worms, and flesh-maggots must be kept in -reserve; and this kind of housekeeping is apt to shock the delicate -sense. Let the boys of the family attend to this part of the birds’ -diet. Boiled cabbage, green peas, all sorts of pudding, dry bread, and -a little finely minced cooked meat, bread-crumbs mashed up and scalded -in milk, milk itself, hemp-seed, a little chickweed, lettuce, and -cresses, can be given to birds with advantage. - -The bathing of birds must be done with great skill and wisdom. After -the operation of a warm bath, with soap, which should be given to -nestlings who are troubled with vermin, great care must be taken that -they are not chilled, as death will be the result. Wrap them up, like -little babies, in flannel. - -In teaching them to sing, the voice, the piano, and flute are all good -teachers. The patient and music-loving Germans teach all birds to sing. -It should be begun in the morning early, when the bird is hungry; and -his lesson should not last more than an hour. - -Early and regular attendance, gentleness and kindness, are the -_rationale_ of bird-tending, as of nearly everything else! - -Those half-captives, the pigeons, should be around every country house. -How beautiful they are in Venice! the pigeons of St. Mark, which have -swooped about that storied piazza for so many years, because regularly -fed there. All boys should learn to cultivate them; to have the lovely -shifting luster of their necks lighting up the ground and making gay -the twilight. How proud and pompous are the pouters! how gentle the -ringdoves! and how pretty the whole family! Peacocks are very stately -visitors, and, except for their horrid shrieks, are especially to be -commended. The old ruffled turkey-gobbler has his charms; and the pages -of Hawthorne teach us how very amusing a group of hens and chickens -may become. We advise every family to have as many birds as they can -possibly feed; for every bird is a study, from the blink-eyed owl which -hides in the fir-tree, to the poor old goose that quacks and hobbles -toward the pond. Indeed, the æsthetics are all pretending that the -goose is the most beautiful of them all!--a perfect love, a type, is -a goose, since Walter Crane and Kate Greenaway came in. But we still -prefer the stately swan, of which splendid specimens are now beginning -to add their attractions to our inland lakes. The goose is all very -well in her way, but the swan is better. - - - - -XV. - -PICNICS. - - -Perhaps it is not well to class among Home Amusements a series of -entertainments which imply, at first sight, the getting away from home. -But, as the basket of luncheon has to be packed at home, and the best -part of a picnic is the getting home again, we must be permitted a -divergence. - -It is curious to see how emphatically fond of picnics the Americans -are. A universal national hunger seems to seize the tired cit as the -first warm day of May beams upon us. They “babble of green fields.” -Best of all charities those which send the poor children off, on boats -and trains, for a whiff of pure air! It is the blessed privilege of the -rich to thin out the crowded tenement, and to send the overplus of an -irrepressible civilization back to Nature for a moment. - -But, for a Home Amusement in the country, what can compare with the joy -of getting ready for a picnic? The baskets for the provisions (and be -sure, Mary, not to forget the salt or the sugar), the coffee-pot that -will stand being poked down into the wood-coals, the fine old swinging -iron kettle, the bread, the knives, and the pail of ice. Ah! - -Then, as to carriages. Not the luxurious cushioned barouche, but the -shabbiest old rattletraps about the place are the proper ones. A good -old hay-wagon is the very best--if it have hay in it. It may do very -well at Newport for the luxurious to drive out to one of Mr. Bennett’s -picnics in a four-in-hand or a drag, or a Victoria or a barouche; but -in the country take the buckboard, the old Rockaway wagon, which holds -nine--the more the merrier--the farm-wagon, and the market-cart. Filled -with youth, beauty, and jollity, these become the chariots of Apollo. - -It is not always easy to get mamma to a picnic; but it is good for -her, and for all the others, if she will go. She is apt to be anxious -about rain, and is afraid of farmer Bell’s bull; and she should be -allowed to go in an easy carriage. She also fears to take cold, and is -mightily frightened at those crazy boats on the lake. But it is better -for all parties if these fears are assuaged and she really goes. The -change does her good, and she acts as a temporary restraint on the too -volatile spirits of the party. - -Another power hard to coerce is Statira, who is the head of the -commissary department. Statira, cook and factotum, was brought up on -the wrong side of a mullein-patch herself, and she is not in love -with the country. She remembers the woods as a place where she went -to look, in her youth, for recalcitrant cows; and in winter, how cold -and bleak the woods were! Her present warm and cultivated kitchen, -with stationary wash-tubs, is to her a far more agreeable spot. She -hesitates, as the young people ask for her delicate apple-pies and her -delicious cakes, “to cram into baskets,” to “eat out in the pasture,” -as she sniffingly avers. - -However, although Statira is a greater tyrant than Nero, the young -people prevail, and the picnic gets started somehow. What a jolly hour -is passed in driving through the still valley to the brow of yonder -hill, which commands a view of the whole country! Then Susan, the -thoughtful one, dreads lest the coffee-pot has been forgotten. Hurried -search! The coffee-pot is found under a back seat. Happiness restored, -the songs go on, and the murmuring pines and the hemlocks take up the -wondrous tale. - -Then the party arrive at the lake. The girls take off their hats. The -winds play with the “tangles in Nerea’s hair.” The picnic is a nice -opportunity for a pretty foot, a fine figure, and a splendid head of -hair--so it is said. Then come rambles into the forest. - -That is a pretty story of a nymph who appeared on the edge of a forest, -but who disappeared as she was followed, until, at last, as her lover -pursued her farther into the forest, he threw his arms about a white -hawthorn-tree. It is the world’s earliest romance that the first -courtship took place at a picnic. Roses and briers twine around lovers -for ever, and the lotus and the buttercup tell the same story. - -Picnics are healthy; but should be appropriately dressed. Balmoral -boots, broad hats, and flannel dresses, warm, plain, and serviceable. -A white Marseilles which will wash--percales and cambrics and ginghams -will do; but no finery should be allowed. At Newport one may try the -Watteau combination of brocade and satin, with fine old house, grounds, -and trellised arcades. But at a country picnic Watteau dresses are -out of place. Our climate is too fitful for safe picnicking, as we -dread rain. In England they do not care, but lunch at Ascot, with the -rain pouring into the champagne. But here we need to go prepared with -aquiscutums and umbrellas, and a neighboring barn is well in the near -distance. - -It is a common want, this need of the confessional of Nature. We leave -our morbid fancies, our discontents, in the bosom of our dear common -mother, and we come back as cheerful as is the dappled deer. We like to -go back to that idyllic spot where the race started. - -In the spring certain natures get frisky, like the colts. One pasture -will not hold them. We get tired of white man’s work. It was a true -reading of the human heart which made the Greeks place Apollo with -the shepherds of Admetus, and Jove stooping to the people of the -hill-sides. “The populous all-loving solitude” of Nature draws us with -a potent hand. Our houses are a false shell. Titania’s subjects will -rebel. That rural solitude, which has no conventionality; that desert -rock, against which the noisy wave of human folly breaks itself; the -dense forest, where is sung the mighty hymn of the pines; the brow of -the hill which the sun kisses last; the lone seashore; the distant -heath; that cloud-shadow on the mountain--these are all necessary to -us once a year. We must go once to “_La roche qui pleure_.” We must go -where the forest-growths expand in all their strength and splendor. We -must find the shyest wild flower, the most untamable vine. It is in the -fable of Daphne that we read the deep significance, the poetry, the -true meaning of our love of the picnic. - -Who of us--comfortable and well housed--but has in some moment of -nomadic instinct envied the tramp and the gypsy their life of chapleted -ease, as they lie on the greensward, hugging dear mother Nature -to their very bosoms? Who has not some wild, untamed blood in his -veins--some fellowship for the Indian--some desire for the flitting -caress of the passing breeze, or the somber greeting of the mountain -shadow? - -But no more poetry, if you please. We are getting hungry. Where are -those baskets? Ah! the cold roast beef, the wing of a chicken, and the -salt, not forgotten! - -Those hard-boiled eggs--how good they are! So glad that chicken-raising -has been one of our Home Amusements! Just a high picket-fence, a few -good hens, some boxes, and a little attention, and what eggs these -are! Mamma will not, however, eat them; she says they are unwholesome. -But she takes a piece of the breast of a noble pullet, and a cup of -coffee in a tin mug, made by Sam, best of cooks, amateur--college-bred -cook--who has boiled it under the trees! and laid the grounds with a -dash of cold water. Sam puts his own clearness and strength into the -coffee. - -And now for an hour’s reverie by the side of the lake; and then a -rough-and-tumble drive home! How tired, ragged, jagged, disheveled, and -happy we are as we get home! - -Statira has built a splendid wood-fire for us, and has a supper of -broiled chicken, cold ham, preserves and cream, baked potatoes, and -toast, and hot biscuits which might tempt the virtue of an anchorite. -We have no such proud resistance. We have brought an appetite from the -place where they make them; and we can eat hot biscuits and still wrap -the drapery of our couch about us and lie down to pleasant dreams. - -A picnic is, therefore, a Home Amusement. It has home at both ends; -else it would not be a picnic. - - - - -XVI. - -PLAYING WITH FIRE. CERAMICS. - - -Now let us ascend from these trivialities to the consideration of the -great subject which has been more talked of and dabbled in for the -last seven years than any accomplishment ever was, before or since. -The splendid display of Ceramic Art at our great Exposition of 1876 no -doubt had its share in creating that intense interest in the subject -which has been felt everywhere. - -How it came into the category of Home Amusements we hardly know, unless -the art schools stimulated the pursuit. But now we do know that nearly -every lady paints a plate, from grandma down to the smallest child. -Especially has it become the pastime of middle-aged ladies, who have -got through with the work of life, and have much leisure on their -hands. It is one of the many accomplishments which has taken the place -of the German wool worsted abomination, the canvas roses, and counted -out violets. - -“Home would be happier were it not for the smell of turpentine,” said -a lively girl as she found her grandmother, mother, and sister all -hard at the plaques. It is true, this pungent liquid is necessary, and -the china after being painted has to be baked--two very unpleasant -accompaniments. But let us see how it is done. - -One needs, first, a porcelain palette; a glass slab about eight inches -square; several small and medium-sized camel’s-hair brushes; several -blenders, large and small; a quart-bottle of spirits of turpentine; a -quart-bottle of alcohol; a small bottle of oil of turpentine; one of -oil of lavender; one of copaiba; a steel palette-knife, also one of -horn or ivory; a rest for the hand while painting, made of a strip of -wood about an inch and a half wide and twelve inches long, supported -at each end by a foot an inch and a half in height. A flat ruler or -thin strip of wood may be used for plates, or any flat piece having a -raised edge, and may be found more convenient than the cumbrous rests. -A fine needle, set in a handle, for removing particles of dust which -may settle in the painting, and a small glass muller, are required. - -The china used for decoration must be of the finest quality, and free -from spots. The hard porcelain of French manufacture is the best for -this purpose. The mineral paints bought in tubes (those of Lacroix, of -Paris, being the best) are the colors which stand fire. Brushes, as for -water-color painting, are used. Small camel’s-hair brushes with square -ends may be had, which will do for blending when necessary in fine work. - -In tinted surfaces and borders large blenders are necessary. The -brushes used by gilders, and called “trade-gilders’ brushes,” make good -blenders; No. 9 is a very useful size. In placing the color on these -surfaces, a broad, flat camel’s-hair brush, rather more than an inch in -width, should be used. In narrow bands and lines, brushes of suitable -size with very long hair and square ends are employed. - -The colors most in use are: dark carmine, flesh-red, capucine-red, dark -red, brown, iron-violet. In _purples_--deep purple, dark golden violet. -_Blues_--sky-blue, dark ultramarine, deep blue. _Greens_--grass-green, -brown green, apple-green. _Yellows_--mixing yellow, ivory-yellow, -jonquil-yellow, orange-yellow. _Browns_--dark brown, yellow brown. -_Black_--ivory-black. Permanent white; pearl-gray; black gray. - -Now, in commencing to paint a design on china, the first thing to be -done is to sketch the outline. The best way to do this is to prepare -the china by rubbing the surface with spirits of turpentine, and, -after having left it a few minutes to dry, draw the design upon it -very lightly with a hard lead-pencil. Alcohol may be used for the -same purpose, and has the advantage that it is not so liable to catch -the dust. The surface, however, does not receive the marks of the -lead-pencil so well as when it is prepared with turpentine. - -Lithographic crayon may be used, and without any preparation; but the -outline is not so delicate as that drawn with the lead-pencil. - -If the subject is a difficult one, as, for instance, a design -containing several figures, time may be saved, and liability to error -avoided, by tracing the design, which insures the correct relative -position of the figures, and tends to produce the object desired--a -correct copy of the original. It is better, however, to sketch simpler -subjects direct on the china. It is commonly supposed that a tracing -is of great assistance to any one unskilled in drawing; but if one -is unable to draw a correct outline, it is hardly possible that the -painting will be good. It is so very easy to lose the outline in -working that, after all, a tracing is but a slight indication, which -has for its principal use the placing of the design in exactly the -right position on the plate or other object to be decorated. - -There are various ways of tracing, the simplest and best of which is -the following: Lay a piece of transparent paper over the design to be -copied, and trace the outlines very carefully with a hard lead-pencil. -Then turn the tracing-paper over on any white surface, and go over all -the lines on the reverse side with a soft pencil. You can now lay the -tracing right side up on the china, which has been previously prepared -for the lead-pencil with turpentine, and having placed it in exactly -the right position, secure it by means of bits of modeling-wax or -gummed paper at the corners, and pass over the lines with a hard point, -or rub the entire surface with a rounded instrument; the handle of the -palette-knife may be used for this purpose. This will transfer the -pencil drawing to the surface of the china. - -The more delicate the outline the better, provided it is more plainly -visible, as a heavy, dark, or colored outline sullies the colors -used upon it, and causes much annoyance in working. Although it may -disappear in the firing, it is better to avoid it. Faulty lines in the -tracing may be rectified by the use of a sharpened stick of soft wood -moistened with turpentine. - -If tube-colors are used, and found difficult to lay, a drop of oil -of turpentine may be added to the turpentine. Care should be taken, -however, to avoid too much oil, as it renders the colors liable to -blister in the fire. The use of clove-oil as a medium is advised by -some. The color can, perhaps, be more easily laid with it than with -spirits of turpentine. It does not dry so quickly, however, and, unless -recourse is had to the process of drying the work with the aid of an -alcohol lamp, its use involves tedious waiting. It is better to use -turpentine and finish the work at one sitting. The drying of colors -is affected by the state of the atmosphere. If, during the progress -of the painting, it is found to be difficult to work over the colors -first laid--which are indeed very liable to come up--the piece of china -may be placed in a moderately warm oven to dry before proceeding. On -being taken out of the oven, the colors will be found to have lost -their gloss, if perfectly dry, and, perhaps, will have changed their -hue. No alarm need be felt at this, as they will return to their former -brilliancy when fired. But here we come to a great trouble. - -The chance of a piece “firing” well is one of the great trials of the -china painter, and is beyond her control; but this is always counted -in. It is best to send the piece to a pottery to be burned. A cup -containing turpentine should stand near the working table to wash the -brushes; and after using a color containing iron, the brush should be -carefully washed before it is charged with one which does not contain -iron, or if white is to be used. The brushes ought not to be too small, -and the colors should, as far as possible, be laid in broad washes, and -decided touches placed lightly and quickly, and not overworked. The use -of the blender may be resorted to if necessary, especially in laying -the first washes; although it is better to avoid using it afterward, if -possible. - -The same rules may be applied to china painting as to water-colors, -to which it bears a strong resemblance. The greatest art consists in -placing each touch where it should go, and leaving it; not spoiling it -by uncertainty, or degrading the tint by overwork. In fine work, lining -and stippling are necessary in finishing, but should not be carried -to excess or made too apparent. These latter processes are, perhaps, -more indispensable in preparing work for a single firing, as it is very -difficult to lay repeated washes over one another; the under-tint comes -up so readily, especially when it is not thoroughly dry. The same place -must never be passed over by the brush twice in immediate succession, -as the under-tint will certainly come up, and the blot caused in the -painting will be difficult to rectify. It is of no use to attempt it -while it is wet. Work on some other part, and then go over it, or first -dry it in the oven. - -Some of the tube-colors may require to be rubbed down after being -taken from the tubes. This will be especially necessary in the case -of the carmines and the whites. A horn or ivory palette-knife should -be used with these colors, as well as with the blues, and all colors -containing no iron. Mixtures of colors on the palette may be rubbed -down occasionally, or mixed with the brush before using, to prevent -them from separating themselves into their component parts. - -Too much turpentine should not be taken into the brush when it is to be -charged with color. Dip it into the turpentine, and remove the surplus -moisture by drawing the brush over the edge of the vessel containing -it before taking up the color from the palette. The tint may be tried -first on the edge of the plate. Surplus color or moisture may be -removed by touching the brush upon a muslin rag, which should always be -at hand for the purpose of wiping the brushes. - -After using, the brushes should be washed in alcohol. The bottle -containing it should be kept tightly corked, as it evaporates very -quickly when exposed to the air. Care must be taken that no drops of -the alcohol drop upon the painting, as it will immediately remove the -colors from the surface. When the large brushes are cleaned after -being washed in the alcohol, the hairs should be spread apart, and the -fingers passed lightly over them until they are dry; otherwise the -hairs may stick together in drying, and the brush be rendered unfit for -use. Washing in alcohol will prevent the turpentine used in painting -from injuring the brushes, as it would if allowed to remain in them. -The tube-colors should be preserved from heat as far as possible. - -We have taken these rules, partly from personal experience, partly -from the best manuals, and the china painter can _begin_ on them. But -a few lessons from a master are very valuable, and the best of all -teachers--patience--will help the young and inexperienced better than -any written directions. - -We would like to say a few words more on the all-important subject of -firing. “The Amateur’s Miniature Kiln,” now sold by the Decorative Art -Society, and by the patentee, Miss N. M. Ford, Port Richmond, New York, -enables the amateur to fire small articles of decorated china with -perfect success. If near a large city, it is better to send the plaques -to a large establishment where they are in the habit of baking them. - -The amateur has to make up her mind to a great many failures at -first, but after the accomplishment is somewhat conquered, it is an -inexpensive and delightful addition to Home Amusements. - -No one should, however, attempt to paint upon china who does not know -first how to draw. The hand should be skillful on paper before it -touches the flat brush; for the outlines, while seemingly coarse, must -be very expressive, and very certain. - - - - -XVII. - -ARCHERY. - - -Fashion has again brought round as one of the Home Amusements this -pretty and romantic pastime, which has filled the early ballads with -many a picturesque figure. Now on many a lawn may be seen the target -and the group in Lincoln green. Indeed, it looks as if Archery were to -prove a very formidable rival to Lawn Tennis. - -The requirements of Archery are these: First, a bow; secondly, arrows; -thirdly, a quiver, pouch, and belt; fourthly, a grease-pot, an -arm-guard or brace, a shooting glove, a target, and a scoring card. - -The bow is the most important article in archery, and also the most -expensive. It is usually from five to six feet in length, made of a -single piece of yew, or of lance-wood and hickory glued together back -to back. The former is best for gentlemen, the latter for ladies, as -it is better adapted for the short, sharp pull of the feminine arm. -The wood is gradually tapered, and at each end is a tip of horn, the -one from the upper end being longer than the other or lower one. The -strength of bows is marked in pounds, varying from twenty-five to -thirty pounds. Ladies’ bows are from twenty-five to forty pounds in -strength, and those of gentlemen from fifty to eighty pounds. One side -of the bow is flat, called its “back”; the other is rounded, called -the “belly.” Nearly in the middle, where the hand should take hold, it -is lapped round with velvet, and that part is called the “handle.” In -each of the tips of horns is a notch for the string, called the “nock.” - -Bow-strings are made of hemp or flax--the former being the better -material; for though at first they stretch more, yet they wear longer -and stand a harder pull, as well as being more elastic in the shooting. -In applying a fresh string to a bow, be careful in opening it not to -break the composition that is on it. Cut the tie, take hold of the eye, -which will be found ready worked at one end, let the other part hang -down, and pass the eye over the upper end of the bow. If for a lady, it -may be held from two to two and a half inches below the nock; if for a -gentleman, half an inch lower, varying it according to the length and -strength of the bow. Then run your hand along the side of the bow and -string to the bottom nock. Turn it round that, and fix it by the noose, -called the “timber noose,” taking care not to untwist the string in -making it. This noose is simply a turn-back and twist without a knot. -When strung, a lady’s bow will have the string about five inches from -the belly, and a gentleman’s about half an inch more. The part opposite -the handle is bound round with waxed silk, in order to prevent its -being frayed by the arrow. As soon as a string becomes too soft and -the fibers too straight, rub it with beeswax, and give it a few turns -in the proper direction, so as to shorten it, and twist its strands a -little tighter. A spare string should always be provided by the shooter. - -The arrows are differently shaped by various makers, some being of -uniform thickness throughout, while others are protuberant in the -middle; some, again, are larger at the point than at the feather-end. -They are generally made of white deal, with points of iron or brass -riveted on; but generally having a piece of heavy wood spliced on to -the deal between it and the point, by which their flight is improved. -At the other end a piece of horn is inserted in which is a notch for -the string. They are armed with three feathers, glued on, one of which -is of a different color from the others, and is intended to mark the -proper position of the arrow when placed on the string, this one always -pointing from the bow. These feathers properly applied give a rotary -motion to the arrow which causes its flight to be straight. They are -generally from the wing of the turkey or the goose. The length and -weight of the arrows vary, the latter (in England) being marked in -sterling silver coin, and stamped on the arrow in plain figures. It is -usual to paint a crest or a monogram or distinguishing rings on the -arrow just below the feathers, by which they may be known in shooting -at the target. - -The quiver is merely a tin case painted green, intended for the -security of the arrows when not in use. The pouch and belt are worn -round the waist, the latter containing those arrows which are actually -being shot. A pot to hold grease for touching the glove and string, -and a tassel to wipe the arrows, are hung at the belt. The grease is -composed of beef-suet and wax melted together. The arm is protected -from the blow of the string by the brace, a broad guard of strong -leather buckled on by two straps. A shooting glove, also of thin tubes -of leather, is attached to the wrist by three flat pieces ending in a -circular strap buckled round it. This glove prevents that soreness of -the fingers which soon comes on after using the bow without it. - -The target consists of a circular mat of straw, covered with canvas -painted in a series of circles. It is usually from three feet six -inches to four feet in diameter. The middle is about six or eight -inches in diameter, gilt, and called the “gold”; the next is called -the “red,” after which comes the “inner white,” then the “black,” and -finally the “outer white.” These targets are mounted on triangular -stands at distances apart of from fifty to a hundred yards--sixty being -the usual shooting distance. - -A scoring card is provided with columns for each color, which are -marked with a pin. The usual score for a gold hit or the bull’s-eye is -9; the red, 7; inner white, 6; black, 3; and outer white, 1. - -To bend the bow properly the bow should be taken by the handle in the -right hand. Place one end on the ground, resting in the hollow of the -right foot, keeping the flat side of the bow, called the back, toward -your person. The left foot should be advanced a little, and the right -placed so that the bow can not slip sideways. Place the heel of the -left hand upon the upper limb of the bow, below the eye of the string. -Now, while the fingers and thumb of the left hand slide this eye toward -the notch in the horn, and the heel pushes the limb away from the body, -the right hand pulls the handle toward the person, and thus resists -the action of the left, by which the bow is bent; and at the same time -the string is slipped into the nock, as the notch is termed. Take care -to keep the three outer fingers free from the string, for if the bow -should slip from the hand, and the string catch them, they will be -severely pinched. If shooting in frosty weather, warm the bow before -the fire, or by friction with a woolen cloth. If the bow has been lying -by for a long time, it should be well rubbed with boiled linseed-oil -before using it. - -To unstring the bow, hold it as in stringing, then press down the upper -limb exactly as before, and as if you wished to place the eye of the -string in a higher notch. This will loosen the string and liberate the -eye, when it must be lifted out of the nock by the forefinger, and -suffered to slip down the limb. - -Before using the bow, hold it in a perpendicular direction with the -string toward you, and see if the line of the string cuts the middle of -the bow. If not, shift the eye and noose of the string to either side, -so as to make the two lines coincide. This precaution prevents a very -common cause of defective shooting, which is the result of an uneven -string throwing the arrow on one side. After using it, unstring it; and -at a large shooting party, unloose your bow after every round. Some -bows get bent into very unmanageable shapes. - -The general management of the bow should be on the principle that -damp injures it, and that any loose floating ends interfere with -its shooting. It should, therefore, be kept well varnished, and in -a waterproof case, and it should be carefully dried after shooting -in damp weather. If there are any ends hanging from the string, cut -them off close, and see that the whipping in the middle of the string -is close and well fitting. The case should be hung up against a dry -internal wall, not too near the fire. In selecting your bow, be careful -that it is not too strong for your power, and that you can draw the -arrow to its head without any trembling of the hand. If this can not be -done after a little practice, the bow should be changed for a weaker -one. For no arrow will go true if it is discharged by a trembling hand. - -If an arrow has been shot into the target or the ground, be particularly -careful to withdraw it by laying hold close to its head, and by -twisting it round as it is withdrawn in the direction of its axis. -Without this precaution it may be easily bent or broken. - -In shooting at the target, the first thing is to nock the arrow; that -is, to place it properly on the string. In order to effect this; take -the bow in the left hand, with the string toward you, the upper limb -being toward the right. Hold it horizontally while you take the arrow -by the middle, pass it on the under side of the string and the upper -side of the bow, till the head reaches two or three inches past the -left hand. Hold it there with the forefinger or thumb while you remove -the right hand down to the nock. Turn the arrow till the cock-feather -comes uppermost, then pass it down the bow, and fix it on the nocking -part of the string. In doing this, all contact with the feathers should -be avoided, unless they are rubbed out of place, when they may be -smoothed down by passing them through the hand. - -The body should be at right angles with the target, but the face must -be turned over the left shoulder, so as to be opposed to it. The feet -are to be flat on the ground, with the heels a little apart, the left -foot turned toward the mark. The head and chest inclined a little -forward, so as to present a full bust, but not bent at all below the -waist. - -Draw the arrow to the full length of the arm till the hand touches the -shoulder, then take aim. The loosing should be quick, and the string -must leave the fingers smartly and steadily. The bow-hand must be as -firm as a vice--no trembling allowed. - -The rules of an Archery Club are usually these: - -That a “Lady Paramount” be annually elected. - -That there be a President, Secretary, and Treasurer. - -That all members intending to shoot shall appear in the uniform of the -club. That a fine shall be imposed for non-attendance. - -That the Secretary shall send out cards at least a month before each -day of meeting, acquainting the members with place and hour of meeting. - -That there shall be four prizes for each meeting--two for each sex; the -first for numbers, the second for hits; and that no person shall be -allowed to have both on the same day. A certain sum of money is voted -to the Lady Paramount for prizes for each meeting. - -That in case of a tie for hits, numbers shall decide; and in case of a -tie for numbers, hits shall decide. - -That the decision of the Lady Paramount shall be final. - -That there shall be a challenge prize of the value of ---- dollars, and -that a commemorative ornament be presented to winners of the challenge -prize. - -That the distance for shooting be sixty or one hundred yards, and that -five-feet targets be used. - -The dress of the club to be decided by the Lady Paramount. - -The expenses of archery are not great--about the same as lawn -tennis--although a great many arrows are lost in the course of the -season. Bows and other paraphernalia last a long time. Sides are chosen -as at lawn tennis, and the game grows on one. The lady archers are apt -to feel a little lame after the first two or three essays, but they -should practice a short time every morning, and always in a loose waist -or jacket. It will be found a very healthy and strengthening pastime. - -We must not judge of the merits of ancient bowmen from the practice of -archery in the present day. There are no such distances now assigned -for the marks as we find mentioned in old histories or poetic legends, -nor such precision, even at short lengths, in the direction of the -arrow. - - “The stranger he made no mickle ado, - But he bent a right good bow, - And the fattest of all the herd he slew, - Forty good yards him fro; - _‘Well shot, well shot,’ quoth Robin Hood_.” - -Few, if any, modern archers in long shooting reach four hundred yards, -or in shooting at a mark exceed eighty or a hundred. But archery has -been since the invention of gunpowder only followed for pastime. It -is decidedly the most graceful game which can be practiced, and the -legends of Sherwood Forest, of Robin Hood, Maid Marian, Little John, -Friar Tuck, and the Abbot carry us into the fragrant heart of the -forest, and bring back memories which are agreeable to all people who -have in them a drop of Saxon blood. - - - - -XVIII. - -AMUSEMENTS FOR THE MIDDLE-AGED AND THE AGED. - - -We can not but notice, as people go on in life--when, as Lord Mansfield -said, “The absence of pain is pleasure, just as in youth the absence of -pleasure is pain”--that the quiet corner by the fire, or the seat at -the library-table with the shaded lamp, and a quiet game or two when -reading has fatigued the eyes, becomes almost necessary. - -Of all the means of cheating a succession of dull evenings of their -tedium, perhaps that little invention called a “Solitaire” board--which -is simply a board pierced with thirty-seven holes, which are nearly -filled with thirty-six pegs--has proved itself the most eminently -successful. It was invented, it is said, by a French Jesuit, in Canada, -to help him through the long Canadian winter evenings, and it has -proved to be a boon to mankind. - -One peg takes another when it can leap over into an empty hole. To get -all off but one peg is nearly impossible, but it can be done. - -Then comes “Merelles,” or “Nine Men’s Morris,” which can be played on -a board, or on the ground, but which finds itself reduced even to a -parlor game. This, however, takes two players. - -“American Bagatelle,” which can be played alone, or with an antagonist; -Chinese puzzles, which are infinitely amusing; and all the great -family of the sphinx known as puzzles--are of infinite service to the -retired, quiet, lonely people for whom the active business of life -is at an end. The guessing of arithmetical puzzles, the solution of -enigmas, and the solution of a paradox--these amuse many an evening. - -We may give one of these old things as an example. It is called “The -Blind Abbot and his Monks,” and is played with counters. Arrange eight -external cells of a square so that there may always be nine in each -row, though the whole number may vary from eighteen to thirty-six. - -A convent in which there were nine cells was occupied by a blind abbot -and twenty-four monks, the abbot lodging in the center cell, and the -monks in the side cells, three in each, giving a row of nine persons on -each side of the building. The abbot, suspecting the fidelity of his -brethren, often went out at night and counted them, and when he found -nine in each row the old man counted his beads, said an Ave! and went -to bed contented. The monks, taking advantage of his failing sight, -contrived to deceive him, so that four could go out nightly, yet leave -nine in a row. How did they do it? - -The next night, emboldened by success, the monks returned with four -visitors and then arranged them nine in a row. The next night they -brought in four more belated brethren, and again arranged them nine -in a row; and again four more. Finally, when the twelve clandestine -brothers had departed, and six monks with them, the remainder deceived -the abbot again by presenting a row of nine. Try it with the counters, -and see how they so abused the privileges of a conventual seclusion. - -Then try quibbles--“How can I get wine out of a bottle if I have no -corkscrew, and must not break the glass or make any hole in it or the -cork?” - -The telling of a good story well should be encouraged. The _raconteur_ -can be the most delightful of all household blessings. A mother who -can tell a story well by the nursery fire is a potent force; and -the one who will light up the winter evening by telling stories of -adventures--the simplest every-day ones in the street--the little -journey, even the round of shopping, becomes very much of a treasure. -Some ladies commit to memory the stories of Hans Christian Andersen; -Grimm, the fairy-story maker; Charles Kingsley’s short stories, -Ouida’s “A Dog of Flanders,” or the poems of Dr. Holmes, or some -other benefactor of mankind, and tell these stories and poems in a -sort of unpremeditated way by the library-table. This is a charming -accomplishment. Some people have the gift of improvising, and will -tell a very good bit of ghost story in a very gruesome manner for the -entertainment of those who enjoy the night side of nature. - -But this talent should never be abused. The man who in cold blood -fires off a long poetical quotation at a dinner, or makes a speech -in defiance of the goose-flesh which is creeping down his neighbors’ -backs, is a traitor to honor and religion, and he deserves the death of -a Nihilist. It is only when these extempore talents can be used without -alarming people that they are useful or endurable. - -We might make our Christmas holidays a little more gay in this country. -We might read and study up all the old English and the German customs, -beyond the mistletoe, the tree, and the rather faded legend of Santa -Claus. There are worlds of legendary lore which would help us to make -this time-honored festival even more lively and gay and amusing than it -is. We have not yet reached the English jollity at Christmas. - -The supper-table has, as an American home festival, rather fallen into -desuetude. We sup out, but rarely have that informal and delightful -meal which once wound up every evening devoted to Home Amusement. -Mrs. Elizabeth Montague, in her delightful letters, talks about the -“whisk and the quadrille parties with a light supper” which amused the -ladies of her day. We still have the “whisk,” but what has become of -lansquenet, quadrille, basset, and piquet, those pretty and courtly -games? - -Playing-cards made their way through Arabia from India to Europe, where -they first arrived about the year 1370. They carried with them the -two arts, engraving and painting. They were the _avants coureurs_ of -engraving on wood and metal, and of printing. - -Cards early began to be the luxuries of kings and queens, the necessity -of the gambler, and the consolation of those who innocently like games. -Piquet, a courtly game, was invented by Étienne Vignoles, called _La -Hire_, one of the most active soldiers of the reign of Charles VII. -This brave soldier was an accomplished chevalier, deeply imbued with a -reverence for the manners and customs of chivalry. Cards continued from -this time to follow the whim of the court and to assume the character -of the period through the regency of Marie de Medicis, in the time of -Anne of Austria and of Louis XIV. The Germans are the first people -who essayed to make a pack of cards assume the form of a scholastic -treatise. The king, queen, knight, and _knave_ tell of English manners, -customs, and nomenclature. - - - - -XIX. - -THE PARLOR. - - -That is a poorly-furnished parlor, think some people, which has not a -chess-table in one corner, a whist-table in the middle, and a little -solitaire-table at the other end near the fire, for grandma. People who -are fond of games stock their table drawers with cribbage boards and -backgammon, cards of every variety, bézique counters and packs, and the -red and white champions of the hard-fought battlefield of chess. - -Mrs. Frances Anne Kemble, one of the most gifted of women--whose -recollections would, one would think, be the most attractive book -which one could read--is devoted to card solitaire. Every evening she -describes herself as spending an hour or two over these combinations. -This is not to be confused with the game of peg solitaire. - -Whist! Who shall pretend to describe its attractions? What a relief it -is to the tired man of business who has been fighting the world all -day, to the woman who has no longer any part in the gay and glittering -pageant of society! What pleasure in its regulated, shifting fortunes! -We all have seen that holding the cards--even the highest ones--does -not always win the game. We have noticed that with a poor hand somebody -wins fame, success, happiness. We feel the injustice of that long suit -which has baffled our best endeavors. Whist is a parody on life; we -play our own experience over again in its faithless kings and queens. -The knave is apt to trip us up on the green cloth as on the street. We -are simply playing the real over in shadow. - -The great passion for gambling is no doubt behind even the game of -Boston, played for beans. We all like to accumulate, to believe that we -are Fortune’s favorite. What matter if it be only a few more beans than -one’s neighbor? The principle remains the same. - -So long as cards do not lead to gambling, they are innocent enough. -Indeed, they are a priceless boon to eyes which can no longer see to -read; to those who must get rid of time; to those who are ill, weary, -or unfortunate. We always wonder at seeing the young take to them; it -seems as if they could do so much better; but the sight of a parlor, -warm, well lighted, with its games going on in every corner, is not -a disagreeable one. Especially should the young ladies of the family -look to this arrangement, and see that everything is comfortable for -papa’s game of whist, bézique, or cribbage. They do not know how great -a necessity it may be to him--what a relief, what a consolation! - -As for Chess, the devotee of this heavy, remorseless game has no -further need of our help or sympathy. To any one who likes to puzzle -his brain over the fantastic skips of the Knight or the prodigious -descent of the Castle, we can offer no suggestions except that he may -be left undisturbed. - -As for Music, one can hardly say anything which has not been said about -its transcendent powers in assisting at every Home Amusement. The -family circle which has learned three or four instruments, the brothers -who can sing part songs, are to be envied. They can never suffer from a -dull evening. Even the musical absurdities of Kindergarten choruses are -to be commended, and the German mimicry of all the instruments. What a -blessing to a family is the man who can sing comic songs, and who also -does not sing them too often! - -It is well, where it can be done easily, to allow young boys to sing -in church choirs; to train their voices, and be with musical people; -to learn choruses, chants, etc. In that way Arthur Sullivan began, -that benefactor of his species, the author of “Pinafore.” What has -_not_ “Pinafore” done to help along the musical education of our young -people? How it has been sung in country towns! How church choirs have -taken it up! How popular, innocent, sweet it is! - -Now, in our musical home training we may not make an Arthur Sullivan, -but we shall certainly add to the sum of innocent enjoyment; and it is -a delightful fact that if there are six or seven children in a family, -one of them is apt to have a good voice, one a talent for the piano, -and generally all can be taught to play and sing a little. Sometimes -there are rarely gifted, great musical organizations in all the sons -and daughters, which is a supreme blessing. For there is not only Home -Amusement in it, but a certainty of making a good living, if fortune -frowns and makes work necessary. - -The only deep shadow to the musical picture is the necessity of -practicing, which is _not_ a Home Amusement; it is a home torture. -If only a person could learn to play or sing without those dreadful -first noises and those hideous shrieks! But, since these are not to -be avoided, some one in the family must have the tact to arrange them -well, and to have the hours of the various students so placed that -there need not be a perpetual tinkle-tinkle, or something worse. - -The season of early spring and summer! Oh! what sounds come through the -first open casement! How dreadful is that _appoggiatura_! how fearful -that badly-played waltz! Is it possible that yon violinist will ever be -Maurice Dengrémont? And yet it is by these hard chromatic steps that -all have mounted the heavenly stairs of melody. - -No young lady should sing in public--that is, before a party of -friends--until she can sing _well_. In these days, when amateur -cultivation has reached a high point, let everybody say to herself, -“Am I sufficiently advanced to give pleasure by my singing?” and let -her modestly abstain from singing if she finds that, after hearing her -once, her friends do not press her to sing again. There is, perhaps, -nothing so foolish as for a woman to persist in singing in her own -parlor when she is not a thoroughly good vocalist. No one can get away -from her there. They must suffer. Still, if birds _can_ sing, they -should sing. Nothing is more disagreeable than to have to urge a person -to sing. The possessor of a voice is always a very rare and much to -be envied person, and a certain amiability in singing becomes such a -person very much. - -All young ladies who have been taught the piano should have some pieces -learned, and be able to play for the amusement of the home circle. -Especially should they be able to play for dancing. A few waltzes are -very convenient. They often help off a dull evening wonderfully. The -person who plays should be willing occasionally to be made use of. Are -we not all made use of at times? Is not the good talker in perpetual -request? The _raconteuse_--is she not begged to tell that story over -and over again? Does not the wit find himself invited out to dinner to -amuse the company? And are they not all, if amiable, glad to perform -their part? Surely the pianist should be as amiable! - -Reading aloud is one of the most common of Home Amusements, and one -of the best. It is a pity, however, that our women, especially, -do not cultivate elocution a little, so that they may read aloud -intelligently. There is no prettier accomplishment. A lady at -a watering-place, who can read a poem or story well, is always -surrounded. The sweet voice, the correct accent, the air of -intelligence--all give the author a great help, and Longfellow never -wrote a prettier stanza than this: - - “Then read from the favored volume - The poem of thy choice, - And lend to the rhyme of the poet - The music of thy voice.” - -But, when the favored volume and the poem have to be filtered through -a nasal accent and an uneducated drawl, we feel that the poet has -been vilified, and his gold and silver turns to dross. Every woman -especially should remember the fable of the girl whose lips dropped -pearls and diamonds, who was so much more agreeable as a friend and -acquaintance than that other damsel whose lips dropped toads and -vipers. The latter, evidently, had never taken lessons in elocution. - -We have a certain national vice in pronunciation and in accent which we -ought to correct. A moment’s listening to the English accent will soon -teach us to pronounce with a more melodious finish. We need not hug -ourselves with any vainglorious national conceit. We do _not_ speak as -well as our English cousins. - - - - -XX. - -THE KITCHEN. - - -We began at the garret, and we are now at the kitchen. So our readers -may learn that we are on the home-stretch, and shall be through very -soon. If we have wearied them, let them bear with us but a little -longer, and then, on our faithful steed, whom they shall find at the -kitchen door, they shall ride off and never be troubled with us any -more. - -A model kitchen is every housekeeper’s delight. In these days of tiles -and modern improvement, what pretty things kitchens are! - -The modern dairy, with its upright milk-pans, in which the cream -is marked off by a neat little thermometer; the fire-brick floor; -the exquisite range, with its polished _batterie de cuisine_; every -brilliant brass saucepan, seeming to say, “Come and cook in me”; every -porcelain-lined pan urging upon one the necessity of stewing nectarines -in white sugar; every bright can suggesting the word “conserve,” which -always makes the mouth water; every clatter of the skewers, saying, -“Dainty dishes, dainty dishes, come and make me! Come and make me!” All -this is quite fascinating to an amateur. - -No pretty woman--did she but know it--is ever half so pretty as when -she is playing cook. The clean, white apron, the neat, short cambric -dress, the little cap, the fair bare arms--does the reader remember -Ruth Pinch and the beefsteak-pie? A lady should make the desserts in -summer sometimes. Such ice-cream, such glorified Charlotte Russe, such -cakes, such delicate apple-pies, such creams and jellies as fall from a -lady’s fingers--these are ambrosial food! - -There is among certain women a great passion for the cleanly part of -household work. The love of a dairy has grown to be a favorite task -with many a duchess. In our country, where ladies are compelled to put -a hand, perhaps once too often, to the household work, owing to the -inefficiency of the servants, this is _not_ ordinarily considered the -most thoroughly amusing of Home Amusements. To cook a heavy dinner in -warm weather, to wash dishes afterward--this is sober prose, and by a -very dull author. But the poetry of house-work, the rose hue o’er our -russet cares--this can be classed as a Home Amusement. - -In the early morning we can imagine a lady going into her neat kitchen -to prepare the desserts for the day, and finding it very agreeable. She -will set her well-flavored custard away in the ice-chest with a serene -knowledge of how good it will be at dinner, and place her compote of -pears securely on a high shelf, away from that ubiquitous visitor -the cat, who has in most families so remarkable and irrepressible -an appetite. She can take a turn at the milk-pan, and skim off the -cream herself if she pleases. It will be much thicker if she does. -It is a not unpleasant duty to steal into the kitchen ten minutes -before dinner, to see to it that the roast birds are garnished with -watercresses, that the vegetables are properly prepared, that the -silver dishes are without a smear. All this sort of attention makes -good servants, and very good dinners. - -It is often one of the Home Amusements for a party of girls to try -their hand at clear-starching. Statira, indeed, does not like this; but -they should learn to flute their own ruffles. Who knows but they may -marry an army officer, and go to Nebraska? - -All sorts of fine washing and ironing, all sorts of doing up of lace, -of renovating old silks, etc., may be made into Home Amusements, -if done cheerfully, and in the right spirit. The modern embroidery -requiring pressing, the many modern accomplishments of lace-making, -_appliqué_, etc., lead a young lady into the kitchen, and she can -derive a vast deal of amusement from this room, if she chooses. - -One of the holiest of duties is to learn how to cook for the sick. This -requires a great deal of patient talent, and it is a sufficient reward -if we can see the beloved convalescent tasting our arrowroot and sago, -and good beef-tea and jelly, with approbation. - -Among Home Amusements, how many reckon the jolly party assembled -to make the wedding-cake? Susan and Sarah shall stone the raisins, -Charlotte and Clara shall beat the eggs, Louisa shall slice the citron, -Matilda, who has a judicial mind, shall weigh! Then all shall stir, and -who shall be the one to get the ring? - -The baking is momentous. Mamma had better be consulted here. And then -the great question of the icing! Oh! how anxious! The mince-pies -require another season of deep thought and much very stringent -stirring. The excellent brandy, the dash of orange curaçoa, must be -poured out by the lady, else why is it that ever after the mince-pie -seems to lack that inspiriting and hidden fire? We read that there is -many a slip between the cup and the lip! - -The modern elegant devices by which strawberries, violets, and -orange-blossoms are candied in sugar, effect a Home Amusement for -dainty-fingered girls; and since the establishment in Boston of a -cooking club, at which each young lady is to contribute some article of -her own cooking, we see signs of a revival in all branches of the great -art of cookery which is most encouraging. It was a notable old maxim -among Puritan mothers that every wife should know how to make bread, -and, perhaps, it has not died out yet. - -Looking at the subject broadly, every thoroughly accomplished woman -should know how to do everything, from making a soup up to a cup of -tea--the Alpha and the Omega of cookery. - -In the matter of flavoring, the colored race have us at a great -disadvantage. Any old colored cook can distance her white “Missus” -here. This highly-gifted race seem to have a sixth sense on the subject -of flavors. The rich tropical nature breaks out in reminiscences of -orange-blossoms, pineapple, guava, cocoanut, and Mandarin orange. -Never can the descendants of the poor, half-starved, frozen exiles -of Plymouth Rock hope to achieve such custards and puddings as these -Ethiops turn out. And as to the juicyness of their fried oysters and -their inimitable terrapin, who has ever approached them? It is as if -a luxurious and tasteful, beneficent power had left us, when we were -given what we proudly call a “higher intelligence.” Who would not -exchange all the cold mathematical supremacy in which we glory for that -luscious gift of making pies and puddings _à ravir_? - - - - -XXI. - -THE FAMILY HORSE, AND OTHER PETS. - - -Standing at the kitchen door, all ready for the most timorous to drive, -is the most important minister to the Home Amusements--the family -horse. He is a beast of burden, no doubt. There is but little Arab -steed left in him, if, indeed, there ever was much. He is a plodder, -a patient, much put-upon beast. The boys can harness him, the girls -can drive him. He is allowed to take out grandma--when she consents to -be driven, and isn’t afraid of the railroad train, and does not think -that it is going to rain. The baby, when he takes his first adventurous -journey down the village street, is put in state and in blankets behind -the family horse. No one is afraid of Blossom. No one likes to whip -him, because if he were whipped, what antics he might give way to! - -Blossom is an exceedingly inappropriate name. Dried Leaf would be far -more descriptive. Still Blossom is adhered to, because the suggestion -that he was once young, and that really he is frisky, in his silent -way, is still a delightful legend in the family. - -Blossom, who is an intelligent old beast, knows perfectly well how -utterly weak and imbecile the whole family are about him. So he will -never do anything but walk and trot very gently, because he knows -that no one dares to whip him. Once a young cousin, who had none of -the family reverence for Blossom, did give him a few cuts on his -exceedingly smooth, fat sides. Blossom had the presence of mind to -stand up on his hind legs, frightening mamma nearly to death; and she -mentioned, in Blossom’s hearing, that “he never was to be whipped -again, because he really had a great deal of fire in him, and would not -brook whip or spur!” - -“I remember, dear,” she says, “your father says that he heard, when he -bought him, that he came of very proud stock.” - -It has been noticed that when papa wishes to catch the train Blossom -can go as fast as anybody. - -Blossom is a great pet, and he has that instinct of a good family -horse--he stops when anything is wrong. Once, when the harness broke, -Blossom, instead of running, stopped short, and saved the lives of -the whole family. He has a quick ear for a coming railway train, and -never has balked going up hill. The girls feed him with sugar, and take -their first ride on his dear, safe, hard old back. The boys have had -imaginary jousts with neighboring knights, urging him in the lists. He -has been put through all the sports of the middle ages, has Blossom, -and probably he distrusts the institution of chivalry. Still, he likes -the boys, and does all that a phlegmatic temperament and an indomitable -laziness will allow in the way of a spirited and impulsive charge. - -There _are_ persons whom Blossom dislikes; one is the spinster sister, -Miss Caroline, who drives him with many a whirrup, and “get up,” and -“g’lang,” and has a nervous twitch to her hand, and a distrustful and -uncertain temper with the whip. Miss Caroline nags Blossom, as she has -nagged everything and everybody all her life, and Blossom resents her -absence of repose and confidence by starting wildly to right and left -as he goes down the village street, appearing to make for a distant -fence when she is endeavoring to guide his nose toward the gate of the -parsonage. Indeed, the village wit says that if he sees only the back -of the family carriage he can tell that Miss Caroline is driving, as he -watches that respected vehicle describing parabolas and angles as it -wobbles down the street. - -When mamma drives, Blossom goes in a slow, stately, but dignified -manner, and, although he imposes upon her good-nature, and does not -put forth any mile-in-three-minutes style, yet he shows a due respect -for himself and her. When the girls drive him, he, feeling through -the reins a little of the ichor of their young blood, becomes almost -vivacious, and goes almost half as fast as he can go. When papa drives, -he feels a strong hand behind him, and actually gets there. - -Every family should have as many animals as possible. Dogs of every -breed and variety--especially big ones, and good ones, like mastiffs -and Newfoundlands, and a few little ones to play with. Cats and -kittens, if they like them, rabbits, goats, pigeons, lambs, peacocks, -etc., and as much live-stock as can be accommodated about the place -should be there. These four-footed friends, especially dogs, are -indispensable in the country. What attachments one forms for them! How -dreary the hour when they die! Perhaps, then, we wish that they had -not been so intimate, so dear, so loving, so trustful. The walk, the -ramble, the quiet seat on the piazza--all, all must be endeared by the -silent friendship of the dogs. - -There is sometimes a want of harmony among the pets. Carlo must be shut -up while Flirt is at large, and the parrot must be kept away from the -pigeons. The parrot can take care of herself as to the cats; but how -about the canaries and the blackcap? Eternal vigilance is the price of -liberty, and the only safety of slavery. - -And yet these enforced duties: do they not fit the boys for the cares -of government? Do they not tell the future politician what he is to do? -Are they not, after all, a part of that great education which Home, -and only Home, can give us? - -We shall have few friends so faithful as Blossom, few who will impose -upon us so gently, and who will really impose upon us to our advantage. -We shall have few such friends as Carlo and Flirt, who love us, faults -and all; who never ask what wrong we have committed, or how unworthy -we are, but who are, without doubt, the most flattering of worshipers, -loving us simply because we are _ourselves_. How few love us for that, -and that alone! - - - - -XXII. - -IN CONCLUSION. - - -In looking over our list of Home Amusements--the private theatricals, -the tableaux vivants, the brain games, the fortune-telling, the making -of screens, the painting of fans, etc.; the games at cards, the -etching, the lawn tennis, the dancing, the garden party, the window -gardens, the birds, the picnics, the plaque-painting, the archery, the -parlor and the kitchen--we can only feel how much we have left out. -Why have we not spoken more fully of the library, with its quiet and -respectable arm-chairs, its green table, its shelves filled with those -silent friends who never desert us, its paper-cutter, its wood-fire, -its latest magazine, its quiet, and the heavy curtain dropped at -evening? How did we happen to so slight this delightful room, wherein -so many of the best amusements of home are always arranging themselves? -Perhaps because the story told itself, and we did not need to tell it. - -How could we have forgotten the quest for green apples and -choke-cherries in the spring, or the subsequent repentance? the -bird-snaring and nesting? and in summer the search for wild flowers? -the attempts at making an herbarium? the berry-picking? the nutting -in the fall? that cracking of butternuts by the winter fire? that -arrangement of the autumn-leaves? - -Simply because the record of Home Amusements is endless. It is almost -all of life which is worth remembering. - -But we can not leave the reader here, particularly if that kindly -personage be a young lady, without congratulating her upon the age in -which she exists. She finds vastly more to amuse her in her home-life -than her mother or her grandmother did before her. They were content -to receive once a month “The Lady’s Book,” with a few hints as to -lace-work, worsted-work, patterns for the embroidering of slippers -or sofa-cushions. A new suggestion for embroidery on white cambric, -or, through a friend in some great mart of fashion, the cut pattern -of an article of dress--think of that, ye who get the fashions by -telegraph. Dress itself was a crude thing compared to what it is now. -There was not even at Newport the slightest approximation to the luxury -of to-day. A “London-made” habit, for instance, was almost unknown. -There was no “riding to hounds,” no skating rink, no casino; there -were quiet dinners, and very many “Germans,” but they were conducted -inexpensively, at the hotels almost universally. - -Of course, New York and Philadelphia, Boston and Washington, offered -an exciting life to the prominent and fashionable women of the day for -a few weeks of the season. But the long life at home of the rank and -file, the severe winters, during whose rigors the ardent and ambitious -and pleasure-loving were shut up for months behind four dreary walls, -were not illumined by patterns of artistic fancy-work from South -Kensington, or by the delightful knowledge of china painting. No -ingenious boy or girl thought of cutting or carving in wood beyond the -vulgar whittling, which all good housekeepers condemned. The elderly -lady sat about with her knitting--very plain knitting at that. The -crochet-needle had not then begun that endless chain which has since -united our vast continent in a network of elaborate tidies, and covered -our babies with delicate flannel Josies, or given us, for the head -and neck, the softest of wraps. The sewing-machine had not begun its -prodigious march down our long seams. People did much “plain sewing,” -but knew not of artistic curtains made of cheesecloth, or of unbleached -muslin elaborated into Roman scarfs--a singular marriage, by the way, -of Lowell and its looms with the Eternal City, all of which they know -now. - -Young ladies had not then been taught to draw and paint artistically, -sincerely, as they are taught to-day. The education in music was -infinitely less thorough. It was an age when the person who aspired -to the accomplishments had much to contend against. There were but -few railroads which penetrated to the remote villages; and it must be -confessed that life had its dull evenings. - -But around the one astral lamp which then shed its uncertain rays upon -the family circle there were the same elements of which human society -is now composed, and there was one amusement present whose absence we -now sometimes have to regret. We refer to that lost art of conversation -which has, it would seem, departed from our busy last half of the -nineteenth century. Indeed, it has left the whole world, if we can -believe Cornelius O’Dowd, Mrs. Stowe, and Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, and -even some French writers. Mrs. Stowe, in one of her books of early New -England life, referring to the art of conversation, speaks feelingly -of the change. Young ladies were driven by the very dullness of their -lives to be readers of good books. There were many admirable historical -scholars and Shakespeareans among the New England girls of a past -generation. They read Milton and John Bunyan, and the early essayists -and poets. Their novels had been written for them by Walter Scott and -Miss Austen, and they were an education in themselves. - -And conversation, such as we do not hear often, lighted up those -long winter evenings. Perhaps, too, this very quiet and dullness was -helping to forge the armor of some heroine who was to take her part -in civilizing the West. Certainly it made some great women. However, -as we take account of what little we may have lost, we are very -grateful for all we have gained. Our present civilization rubs out -individuality, no doubt. Life is smothered in appliances. - -What is called the higher education of women, and the very superior -culture now possible, may not have yet made a race of good talkers, but -it has undoubtedly made an army of thinkers. - -It certainly has helped to fill the country with refined and happy -girls, who have no reason to complain of repression. It would seem -almost impossible to find now the repressed, morbid, undeveloped, and -crushed natures which a gloomy religion and a lingering of Puritan -prejudice made almost too common in early New England. Many of those -women still live, and have found expression in literature to tell us -how devoid their homes were of amusement. - -The world is not filled with geniuses, or with those fortunate people -who can evolve an amusing life from out of the depths of their inner -consciousness. We may, therefore, be very grateful for every innocent -amusement. Indeed, we may be very grateful that amateur concerts, -little operettas, cantatas, musical clubs, are now common, and that -the performers, young ladies of all ranks and classes, are admirably -trained in music; that in decorative art industries they are no longer -novices, but deserving of the higher name of artist. - -All these better developments of the mind and power of each inmate can -not but render home interesting, gay, cheerful, happy, blessed. - -And all the Home Amusements should be made, or studied to be made, the -amusements of the whole. - -No pursuit or pleasure can be carried on in the best spirit without -being in some measure unselfish if it conduces to the amusement of -home. Thus the indulgence of a favorite taste may have the beauty of -philanthropy in it, if it is made to help along the cheerfulness of -home. - -There are some trades which are solitary and exclusive. Authorship -is one of these; and perhaps the author is not always a very amusing -inmate. But the actor in the private play, the clever and ready wit -who makes the charade lively, the musician, the embroideress, the -fortune-teller, the good partner at whist, the clever amateur cook, and -the artistic member--these can all add to Home Amusements. - - THE END. - - -FOOTNOTE: - -[A] This was the invention of a poor poet named Dulot, who found rhymes -for other poets. - - - - -_ADVERTISEMENTS._ - - - Artistic Wall Papers, - - ON HAND AND MADE TO ORDER BY - - [Illustration] - - FR. BECK & CO., - - At their Factory, corner Twenty-ninth St. and Seventh Ave., - - NEW YORK. - - COLORS of CARPETS and DRAPERIES MATCHED. - - THE ENTIRE WORK OF INTERIOR DECORATION - DONE UNDER OUR SUPERVISION. - - Ceiling Decorations a Specialty. - - -APPLETONS’ HOME BOOKS. - - Appletons’ Home Books are a Series of New Hand-Volumes - at low price, devoted to all Subjects pertaining - to Home and the Household. - -_NOW READY_: - - BUILDING A HOME. Illustrated. - HOW TO FURNISH A HOME. 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E. W. Sherwood. - </title> - <style type="text/css"> - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - - h1,h2,h3 { - text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ - clear: both; -} - -p { - margin-top: .75em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .75em; -} - -.p2 {margin-top: 2em;} - -.hanging p { - margin-left: 2em; - text-indent: -2em; -} - -hr { - width: 33%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: auto; - margin-right: auto; - clear: both; -} - -hr.chap {width: 65%} - -hr.r5 {width: 5%; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;} - -ul { - list-style-type: none; - text-align: left; -} - -table { - margin-left: auto; - margin-right: auto; -} - -.spaced { padding-left: 2em; } -.pl { padding-left: 1em; } - - .tdr {text-align: right;} - .tdc {text-align: center;} -.tdpn { - text-align: right; - vertical-align: bottom; - padding-left: 2em; -} -.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ - /* visibility: hidden; */ - position: absolute; - left: 92%; - font-size: smaller; - text-align: right; -} /* page numbers */ - -.center {text-align: center;} - -.left {text-align: left;} -.right {text-align: right;} - -.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} - -.figright { - float: right; - clear: right; - margin-left: 1em; - margin-bottom: - 1em; - margin-top: 1em; - margin-right: 0; - padding: 0; - text-align: center; -} - -/* Footnotes */ -.footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} - -.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} - -.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} - -.fnanchor { - vertical-align: super; - font-size: small; - text-decoration: - none; -} - -/* Poetry */ -.poem { - display: inline-block; - text-align: left; -} - -.poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} - -/* Transcriber's notes */ -.transnote {background-color: #E6E6FA; - color: black; - font-size:smaller; - padding:0.5em; - margin-bottom:5em; - font-family:sans-serif, serif; } - .poem div.i0 {margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} - .poem div.i2 {margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} - .poem div.i22 {margin-left: 11em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} - .poem div.i4 {margin-left: 2em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} - -.ilb { display: inline-block; } -.longspace { - display: inline-block; - width: 2em; -} - -.large { font-size: large; } -.xlarge { font-size: x-large; } -.xxlarge { font-size: xx-large; } -.small { font-size: small; } - -.i26 { margin-left: 13em; } -.halfwidth { width: 50% } -.wd25 { width: 25em; } - </style> - </head> -<body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Home Amusements, by M. E. W. Sherwood - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: Home Amusements - -Author: M. E. W. Sherwood - -Release Date: October 28, 2016 [EBook #53391] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOME AMUSEMENTS *** - - - - -Produced by Chris Curnow, Paul Clark and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive) Last Edit of Project Info - - - - - - -</pre> - -<h1>Home Amusements</h1> - -<h2><i>ADVERTISEMENTS.</i></h2> - -<div class="center"><div class="ilb"> -<div class="xxlarge smcap">Mitchell, Vance & Co.</div> -<div class="xlarge">836 & 838 BROADWAY,</div> -<div><div class="ilb halfwidth left">And 13th Street,</div><div class="ilb halfwidth right">NEW YORK,</div></div></div></div> - -<p class="center"><i>Offer an Unequaled Assortment of</i></p> - -<p class="center xxlarge">GAS FIXTURES,</p> - -<p class="center">IN CRYSTAL, GILT, BRONZE, AND DECORATIVE<br /> -PORCELAIN.</p> - -<hr class="r5" /> - -<p class="center xlarge"><span class="smcap">Fine Bronze and Marble Clocks.</span></p> - -<hr class="r5" /> - -<p class="center"><span class="large">MODERATOR AND OTHER LAMPS,</span><br /> -<span class="smcap">In Bronze, Gilt, Porcelain, Cloisonné, etc.</span></p> - -<hr class="r5" /> - -<p class="center large">Elegant in Styles and in Greatest Variety.</p> - -<hr class="r5" /> - -<p class="center"><i>A Cordial Invitation to all to examine our Stock.</i> -</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="center"><span class="xlarge">CHAS. E. BENTLEY,</span><br /> -(SUCCESSOR TO BENTLEY BROS.)<br /> -Manufacturer of<br /> -<span class="xlarge">DECORATIVE ART-NEEDLEWORK</span><br /> -In Crewel, Silk, and Floss.<br /> -<span class="large">NOVELTIES IN EMBROIDERIES,</span><br /> -With Work Commenced and Materials to Finish.<br /> -Perforating Machines, Stamping Patterns, etc., etc.</p> - -<p class="center large"><i>Wholesale, 39 & 41 EAST 13th ST.,</i><br /> -<i>Retail, 854 BROADWAY.</i> -</p> - -<div class="hanging"> - -<p>FULL LINE OF MATERIALS USED IN FANCY-WORK.</p> - -<p>ALL THE NEWEST STITCHES TAUGHT IN PRIVATE LESSONS BY THOROUGH -EXPERTS.</p> - -<p>STAMPING AND DESIGNING TO ORDER.</p></div> - -<p class="center"><i>Send 3 cents for Catalogue.</i> -</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="center xlarge">Gatherings from an Artist’s Portfolio.</p> - -<p class="center large">By JAMES E. FREEMAN.</p> - -<hr class="r5" /> - -<div class="center"><div class="ilb wd25"> -<div class="ilb halfwidth left"><i>One volume, 16mo.</i></div><div class="ilb halfwidth right"><i>Cloth $1.25.</i></div></div></div> - -<hr class="r5" /> - -<p>“The gifted American artist, Mr. James E. Freeman, who has for many -years been a resident of Rome, has brought together in this tasteful little -volume a number of sketches of the noted men of letters, painters, sculptors, -models, and other interesting personages whom he has had an opportunity to -study during the practice of his profession abroad. Anecdotes and reminiscences -of Thackeray, Hans Christian Andersen, John Gibson, Vernet, -Delaroche, Ivanoff, Gordon, the Princess Borghese, Crawford, Thorwaldsen, -and a crowd of equally famous characters, are mingled with romantic and -amusing passages from the history of representatives of the upper classes of -Italian society, or of the humble ranks from which artists secure the models -for their statues and pictures.”—<i>New York Tribune.</i></p> - -<p>“‘An Artist’s Portfolio’ is a charming book. The writer has gathered -incidents and reminiscences of some of the master writers, painters, and -sculptors, and woven them into a golden thread of story upon which to string -beautiful descriptions and delightful conversations. He talks about Leslie, -John Gibson, Thackeray, and that inimitable writer, Father Prout (Mahony), -in an irresistible manner.”—<i>New York Independent.</i></p> - -<hr class="r5" /> - -<p class="center">New York: D. APPLETON & CO., 1, 3, & 5 Bond Street. -</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="center"> -<img id="coverpage" src="images/i_title.jpg" width="500" height="750" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="center xlarge">Appletons’ Home Books.</p> - -<p class="center xlarge p2">HOME AMUSEMENTS.</p> - -<p class="center p2"><span class="large">By M. E. W. S.,</span><br /> -AUTHOR OF “AMENITIES OF HOME,” ETC. -</p> - -<div class="center p2"><div class="ilb"> -<p>“There be some sports are painful; and their labour<br /> -Delight in them sets off.”</p> - -<p>“Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes, and groves;<br /> -And ye that on the sands with printless foot<br /> -Do chase the ebbing Neptune, and do fly him,<br /> -When he comes back!” -</p> - -<p class="i26">I do invoke ye all. -</p></div></div> - -<p class="center p2"><span class="large">NEW YORK:<br /> -D. APPLETON AND COMPANY,</span><br /> -1, 3, and 5 BOND STREET.<br /> -1881. -</p> -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span></p> - -<p class="center">COPYRIGHT BY<br /> -D. APPLETON AND COMPANY,<br /> -1881. -</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS">CONTENTS.</a></h2> - -<table summary="Contents"> -<tr><td colspan="3" class="small tdr">PAGE</td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">I.—</td> -<td><a href="#I"><span class="smcap">Prefatory</span></a></td> -<td class="tdpn">5</td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">II.—</td> -<td><a href="#II"><span class="smcap">The Garret</span></a></td> -<td class="tdpn">7</td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">III.—</td> -<td><a href="#III"><span class="smcap">Private Theatricals, etc.</span></a></td> -<td class="tdpn">9</td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">IV.—</td> -<td><a href="#IV"><span class="smcap">Tableaux Vivants</span></a></td> -<td class="tdpn">20</td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">V.—</td> -<td><a href="#V"><span class="smcap">Brain Games</span></a></td> -<td class="tdpn">25</td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">VI.—</td> -<td><a href="#VI"><span class="smcap">Fortune-Telling</span></a></td> -<td class="tdpn">37</td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">VII.—</td> -<td><a href="#VII"><span class="smcap">Amusements for a Rainy Day</span></a></td> -<td class="tdpn">45</td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">VIII.—</td> -<td><a href="#VIII"><span class="smcap">Embroidery and other Decorative Arts</span></a></td> -<td class="tdpn">50</td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">IX.—</td> -<td><a href="#IX"><span class="smcap">Etching</span></a></td> -<td class="tdpn">64</td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">X.—</td> -<td><a href="#X"><span class="smcap">Lawn Tennis</span></a></td> -<td class="tdpn">67</td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XI.—</td> -<td><a href="#XI"><span class="smcap">Garden Parties</span></a></td> -<td class="tdpn">77</td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XII.—</td> -<td><a href="#XII"><span class="smcap">Dancing</span></a></td> -<td class="tdpn">86</td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XIII.—</td> -<td><a href="#XIII"><span class="smcap">Gardens and Flower-Stands</span></a></td> -<td class="tdpn">93</td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XIV.—</td> -<td><a href="#XIV"><span class="smcap">Caged Birds and Aviaries</span></a></td> -<td class="tdpn">104</td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XV.—</td> -<td><a href="#XV"><span class="smcap">Picnics</span></a></td> -<td class="tdpn">112</td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XVI.—</td> -<td><a href="#XVI"><span class="smcap">Playing with Fire. Ceramics</span></a></td> -<td class="tdpn">117</td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XVII.—</td> -<td><a href="#XVII"><span class="smcap">Archery</span></a></td> -<td class="tdpn">124</td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XVIII.—</td> -<td><a href="#XVIII"><span class="smcap">Amusements for the Middle-Aged and the Aged</span></a></td> -<td class="tdpn">131</td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XIX.—</td> -<td><a href="#XIX"><span class="smcap">The Parlor</span></a></td> -<td class="tdpn">135</td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XX.—</td> -<td><a href="#XX"><span class="smcap">The Kitchen</span></a></td> -<td class="tdpn">140</td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XXI.—</td> -<td><a href="#XXI"><span class="smcap">The Family Horse and other Pets</span></a></td> -<td class="tdpn">144</td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XXII.—</td> -<td><a href="#XXII"><span class="smcap">In Conclusion</span></a></td> -<td class="tdpn">148</td></tr> -</table> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a><br /><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<h2><a name="HOME_AMUSEMENTS" id="HOME_AMUSEMENTS">HOME AMUSEMENTS.</a></h2> - -<h2><a name="I" id="I">I.</a><br /> -PREFATORY.</h2> - -<p>Goethe, in “Wilhelm Meister,” struck the key-note of -the universal underlying dramatic instinct. The boy begins -to play the drama of life with his puppets, and afterward -exploits the wild dreams of youth in the company of -the strolling players. We are, indeed, all actors. We all -know how early the strutting soldier-instinct crops out, -and how soon the little girl assumes the cares of the amateur -nursery.</p> - -<div class="center"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="i0">“I have learned from neighbor Nelly</div> -<div class="i4">What the girl’s doll-instinct means.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>We begin early to play at living, until Life becomes too -strong for us, and, seizing us in merciless and severe grip, -returns our condescension by making of us the puppets -with which the passing tragedy or comedy is presented. -With this idea in mind we have begun our little book with -the play in the garret—the humblest attempt at histrionics—and -so going on, still endeavoring to help those more -ambitious artists who, in remote and secluded spots, may -essay to amuse themselves and others by attempting the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> -<i>rôle</i> of a Cushman, a Wallack, a Sothern, a Booth, or a -Gilbert.</p> - -<p>Our subsequent task has been a more difficult one. To -tell people how to give all sorts of entertainments—in fact, -to tell our intelligent people how to do anything—is nearly -as foolish a practice as to carry coals to Newcastle, and implies -that sort of conceit which Thackeray so wittily suggests -when, in his “Rebecca and Rowena,” he presents -the picture of a little imp painting the lily. It is hard to -know where to draw the line. It would be delightful to -amuse—to help along with the great business of making -home happy—to tell a mother what to do with her active -young brood, and yet to avoid that dreadful bore of mentioning -to her something which she already knows a great -deal better than we do.</p> - -<p>The Scylla of barrenness and the Charybdis of garrulity -are before any author who tries to speak upon a familiar -theme. Let us hope that, through the kindness of our -readers, we may not have wrecked our little bark on either.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="II" id="II">II.</a><br /> -THE GARRET.</h2> - -<p>Happy the children who have inherited a garret! We -mean the good old country garret, wherein have been -stowed away the accumulations of many generations of -careful housewives. The more worthless these accumulations, -the better for the children. An old aunt who saved -all the old bonnets, an old uncle who had a wardrobe of -cast-off garments to which he had appended the legend,</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>“Too poor to wear, too good to give away—”</p></blockquote> - -<p>these are the purveyors to the histrionic talents of nations -yet unborn. Old garrets are really the factories of History, -Poetry, and the Drama.</p> - -<p>Into such a garret crept the lame little Walter Scott, -and what did he not bring out of it! Talk of the lumber -of a garret and the accumulations of a house, and you mention -to the thoughtful the gold and diamond mines of a -future literature. A bright boy or girl will unearth many -a pearl of price from those old trunks, those dilapidated -bureau-drawers, those piles of old love-letters, those garments -of the past, that broken-down guitar, that stringless -violin, that too-reedy flute. The taste for old furniture -has rather emptied the garret of its time-honored chairs -and old clocks, but there is still in its ghost-haunted corners -quite enough goblin tapestry for the fancy of the -growing child.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span></p> - -<p>A country home is, of course, the most precious possession -a child can have—a country home in which his ancestors -have lived for years, and which has a large garret, a -capacious cellar, and several barns. One might wish that -every child might be born in Salem or Plymouth, or near -one of those old settlements. But as that would be quite -impossible, considering the acres which we are compelled -to cover as a nation, we may as well see what can be done, -in the way of Home Amusements, with the garret as well -as the parlor. The garret, in both town and country, has -been the earliest home of the legitimate drama since the -first youthful aspirant for histrionic honors strapped on the -sock and buskin. A good country barn has also been -sometimes the scene not only of the strolling but of the -resident player.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="III" id="III">III.</a><br /> -PRIVATE THEATRICALS; ACTING PROVERBS -AND CHARADES.</h2> - -<p>Wherever the amateur actor pitches his tent or erects -his stage, he must consider wisely the extraneous space behind -the acting arena necessary for his exits and entrances, -and his theatrical properties. In an ordinary house the -back parlor, with two doors opening into the dining-room, -makes an ideal theatre; for the exits can be masked, and -the space is specially useful. One door opening into a -large hall is absolutely necessary, if no better arrangement -can be made. The best stage is, of course, like that of a -theatre, with areas all around and behind it, so that the -actors have a space to retire into. This is difficult in a -parlor, unless it be a very large one. The difficulty, however, -has been and will be solved by the ingenious. Drawing -up the big sofa in front of the footlights, and arranging -a pair of screens and a curtain, has often served well for a -parlor play.</p> - -<p>It is hardly necessary to say that all these arrangements -for a play depend, in the first place, on the requirements -of the play itself and its legitimate business, which may -demand a table, a bureau, a piano, a fireplace, etc. And -here we would say to the youthful actor, Select your play -at first with a view to its requiring little change of scene, -and not much furniture. A young actor needs space; he -is embarrassed by too many chairs and tables. Then, again,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> -choose a play which has so much varied incident in it that -it will, as it is said, “play itself.” Of this branch of our -subject we will treat later.</p> - -<p>The first thing to be built is the stage. Any carpenter -will lay a few stout boards on end-pieces, which are simply -squared joists, and for very little money will take away the -boards and joists afterward; or a permanent stage can be -built for a few dollars. Sometimes ingenious boys build -their own stage with old boxes; but this is apt to be dangerous. -Very few families are without an old carpet, which -will serve for a stage-covering; and, if this is lacking, green -baize is very cheap. A whole stage-fitting—curtains and -all—can be made of green cambric; but it is better to have -all the stuffs of woolen, for the danger from fire is otherwise -great. Footlights may be made of tin, with pieces of -candle put in; or a row of old bottles of equal height, with -candles stuck in the mouth, make a most admirable and -very cheap set of footlights. The mother, an elder brother, -or some one with judgment, should see to all these things, -or the play may be spoiled by an accident.</p> - -<p>The curtain is always a trouble. A light wooden frame -should be made by the carpenter; firm at the joints, -and as high as the stage, to the front part of which it -should be attached. This frame forms three sides of a -square, and the curtain must be firmly nailed to the top-piece. -A stiff wire should be run along the lower edge of -the curtain, and a number of rings be attached to the back -of it in squares—three rows of four rings each, extending -from top to bottom. Three cords are now fastened to the -wire, and, passing through the rings, are run over three -pulleys on the upper piece of the frame. It is well for all -young managers of garret theatres to get up one of these -curtains, even if they have to hire an upholsterer to help -them. The draw-curtain never works surely, and often -hurts the <i>dénoûment</i> of the play. In the case of the drop<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>-curtain -which we have described, one person holds all the -ends of the cords, tied together; and, on pulling this, the -curtain goes up and down as if by magic, and rarely gets -out of order, which is a great gain.</p> - -<p>Now as for stage properties. Almost any household, -or any self-respecting garret, will hold enough of “things.” -If it does not, let the young actors exercise their ingenuity -in making up, with tinsel-paper and other cheap material, -all that they will want. Turnips, properly treated with a -jackknife, have heretofore served for Yorick’s skull in the -great play of “Hamlet.” A boy who knows how to paint -can, on a white cotton background, with a pot of common -black paint, indicate a scene. If he be so fortunate as to -know a kindly theatrical manager who will let him for -once go behind the scenes, he will find that the most splendid -effects are gained by a very small outlay.</p> - -<p>As for the theatrical wardrobe, that is a very easy matter, -if the children have an indulgent and tasteful mother, -who will help a little and lend her old finery.</p> - -<p>A brigand’s costume (and brigands are very convenient -theatrical friends) is easily arranged. Procure a black felt -hat, fastened up with a shoe-buckle; a bow and a long -feather; a jacket, on which Fanny will sew some brass -buttons; one of mamma’s or sister’s gay scarfs, tied round -the waist several times; an old pair of pantaloons, cut off -at the knee, and long stockings, tied up with scarlet ribbons; -a pair of pumps, with another pair of buckles, and -any old pair of pistols, dirks, or even carving-knives, stuck -in the belt, and you have, at very small expense, a fierce -brigand of the Abruzzi.</p> - -<p>Girls’ dresses are still easier of attainment. But the -great trouble in the dressing of girls for their characters is -the frequent inattention to the time and style of the character. -A young lady who plays the part of Marie Antoinette -must remember the enormous hoops which were a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> -part of the costume of the unlucky queen. She must not -be content to merely powder her hair. She must remember -time, place, circumstance, and dress herself accurately, -if she wishes to produce a proper dress. A lady once wore -in the part of Helen of Troy, for private theatricals in New -York, a pair of high-heeled French slippers, with the classic -<i>peplum</i>. A gentleman of archæological tastes declared -that he could not stay in a house where such crimes were -committed against historical accuracy! She should have -worn the classic sandal, of course—not modern black slippers.</p> - -<p>The “make-up” of a character requires study and observation. -In the painting and shading of faces, adaptation -of wigs, application of mustaches and whiskers, there -is much to be done. A box of water-colors, a little chalk, -camel’s-hair pencils, a saucer of rouge, a burnt cork, and -some India ink, all are useful. If these can not be got, one -burnt cork, aided by a little flour, will do it all. Mustaches -can be made by borrowing mamma’s old discarded -artificial curls, cutting them off to a proper length, and -gumming them on the upper lip. The hair of a good old -Newfoundland dog has served this purpose. A very pretty -little mustache can be painted with India ink. However, -if near a barber or a hair-dresser—or, still better, a costumer—it -is well to get ready-made mustaches, which come -of all colors, already gummed. If the make-up of an old -man is required, study a picture of an old face, and trace -on your own face with a camel’s-hair pencil and India ink -the wrinkles, the lines of an aged countenance. Make -a wig of white cotton if you can not hire one of gray -hair.</p> - -<p>If a comic face is needed, stand before a glass and grin, -<i>watch the lines</i> which the grin leaves, and trace them up -with a reddish-brown water-color. Put on rouge particularly -about the nose and eyes. A frown, a smile, a sneer,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> -a simper, or a sad expression, can always be painted by -this process. The gayest face can be made sad by dropping -a line or two from the corners of the mouth and of -the eyes.</p> - -<p>For a ferocious brigand, cork the eyebrows heavily, and -bring them together over the eyes. If you wish to produce -emaciation or leanness, cork under the eyes, and in the hollow -of the cheek (or make a hollow), and under the lower -lip. To make up a pretty girl, even out of a young man’s -face, requires only some rouge and chalk and a blonde wig. -There should be also a powdering about the eyebrows, ears, -and roots of the hair. There should be a heavy coat of -powder on the nose, and after the rouge is put on, a shower -of powder over that. All will wash off without hurting -the complexion. For a drunkard or a villain, purple spots -are painted on chin, cheek, forehead, and nose.</p> - -<p>The theatrical wardrobe, to be complete, should have -several different wigs, and as these can not be made well -except by an artist in hair, we recommend the actors to lay -out all their spare cash on these adjuncts. Having dressed -for the part, the acting comes much more easily. No one -knows the effect of dress better than the real actor, who -calls it “the skin of the part.”</p> - -<p>The lines to be spoken should be committed most -thoroughly to memory. Without this no play can be a -success. Each performer should write out his own part, -with the “cues,” or the words which come directly before -his own speeches, and commit the whole to memory. -When the performer hears the words of the cue, the words -of his own part come to his lips immediately.</p> - -<p>The exits and entrances, and what is known as “stage -business,” are always difficult to beginners. The necessity -of closets, etc., in a small stage, places to retire to, and the -like, can be managed, however, by screens, and these are -so useful in all private theatricals that one should be made,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> -six feet high by three feet wide, hinged, and covered with -wall-paper, before any plays are attempted.</p> - -<p>We are describing the very cheapest and most unsophisticated -private theatricals—such as those which school-boys -and girls could get up in the country, or in a city basement -or garret, with very little money or help from their parents. -And these are the ones which give the most pleasure. Expensive -and adroitly-conducted theatricals, in a city where -experts can be hired to do these things, have no lasting -charm. It is, as in all other things, <i>the amount of ourselves</i> -which we put into anything which makes us enjoy -private theatricals. And in a city, grown people have the -privilege of the best theatricals, beside which all amateur -efforts are lamentably tame. But a party of fresh young -people, full of the ichor of youth, can with the slightest -help produce the most delightful effects with very simple -means.</p> - -<p>Young girls are too apt, in playing private theatricals, -to sacrifice character to prettiness. Now this is a fatal -mistake. To dress a part with finikin fineness, which is -to be a representation of quite different sorts of qualities, is -poor art. Let them rather imitate Miss Cushman’s rags in -Meg Merrilies, or Bastian Le Page’s homely peasant simplicity -in Joan of Arc. Remember, the drama is the mirror -of nature, and should produce its strong outlines and -its deep shadows. It is in this realism that men surpass -women. The college theatricals, in which all parts are -played by men, are by far the best.</p> - -<p>In selecting a play, amateurs should try and find one, -as we have said, which “plays itself.” They should not -attempt those delicate and very difficult plays which only -great artists can make amusing. They should select the -play which is full of action and situation, like “The Follies -of a Night,” or “Everybody’s Friend.” The most -commonplace actors fail to spoil such plays as these; and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> -there are for younger performers hundreds of good plays, -farces, and musical burlesques to be found at every book-store. -“Naval Engagements,” “A Cure for the Fidgets,” -“The Two Buzzards,” “Betsey Baker,” “Box and Cox,” -“A Regular Fix,” “Incompatibility of Temper,” “Ici l’on -parle Français,” “To oblige Benson,” are among the many -which really help the amateur, instead of crushing him.</p> - -<p>But no one who is not a first-rate actor should attempt -“Two can play at that Game,” “A Morning Call,” “A -Happy Pair,” or any of those beautiful French trifles which -look so easy, and in the hands of good actors are so charming, -for they depend upon the most delicate shades of acting -to make them even passable.</p> - -<p>For those players of a larger growth, who attempt the -very interesting business of amateur theatricals on a more -ambitious plane, we can illustrate our meaning as to plays -which “play themselves” by two instances:</p> - -<p>“Ici l’on parle Français” gives the two amusing situations -of a man who is trying to speak French with the aid -of a phrase-book, and the counterpoise of a Frenchman who -is trying to speak English in the same fragmentary manner. -Their mutual mistakes keep the house in a roar; and almost -any clever pair of young men can assume these two -characters to great advantage. They each have an eccentric -character mapped out for them, and very little shading -is necessary.</p> - -<p>Again, for a very much more poetical and entirely different -range of part, but yet one which “plays itself,” we -would suggest “Pygmalion and Galatea,” Gilbert’s beautiful -and poetical play. Here we have the great novelty of a -young lady disguised as a marble statue. She can be -“made up” with white powder and white merino drapery -to look very like a marble statue, and a powerful white -lime-light should be thrown on her from above. There is -a tableau within a play to begin with, and something novel<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> -and interesting. The marble statue, however, at the very -start becomes endowed with life, steps down from her pedestal, -walks forward to the footlights, talks, and receives -the homage of a lover. Now, almost any pretty and intelligent -maiden can make this part very interesting. She -needs nothing but grace and a good memory to do this -Galatea well. The part plays itself.</p> - -<p>The same young actress could not do Lady Teazle—that -delightful and intricate bit of acting, so dependent upon -stage tradition and stage training that old theatre-goers say -that in fifty years only five actresses have done it well. -Still less could she approach the heroine in the “Morning -Call” or the young wife in “Caste.” These parts demand -the long, severe stage training of an accomplished artist. -The Galatea is assisted by the novelty of the position, by -the fact that every young maid is a marble statue, in one -sense, until Love makes her a woman, so that each person -may give a strikingly individual portrait; and, above all, it -is a play which is a new creation, and therefore capable of -a new interpretation.</p> - -<p>We do not advise amateurs to undertake Shakespeare, -unless it be “Katherine and Petruchio,” which is so gay -and scolding that it <i>almost</i> plays itself.</p> - -<p>The very beautiful comedies of Robertson seem very -easy when one sees Mr. Wallack’s company play them; but -they are very difficult for amateurs. They depend upon -the most delicate shading, the highest art, and the neatest -finish.</p> - -<p>The sterling old comedies—all excepting “The Rivals”—are -almost impossible, even those which are full of incident -and full of costume. Their quick movement seems -to evade the player; and what is so terrible to the listener -as to endure even a second’s suspension in the “give and -take” of a comedy? “The Rivals,” strange to say, is a -very good play for amateurs.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></p> - -<p>Boucicault’s farces and society plays run very well on -the amateur stage. Lady Gay Spanker is not a difficult -part. Bulwer’s “Lady of Lyons” should never be attempted -by amateurs. It becomes mawkishly sentimental in -their hands. But Charles Reade’s “Still Waters run -Deep” is excellent for amateurs; and “Money” runs off -rather more easily than one would suppose.</p> - -<p>Amateurs are very fond of “A Wonderful Woman,” -but we can not see much in it. “The Wonder” is very -picturesque. It is one of the plays which plays itself; and -the Spanish costumes are beautiful. The famous comedies, -“My Awful Dad,” “Woodcock’s Little Game,” and “The -Liar,” should be studied very thoroughly by observation -and by book before being attempted by amateurs. The -“Little Game” has two very hard parts to fill, Mrs. Colonel -Carver and Woodcock; still it has been done moderately -well. For a parlor comedy, “The Happy Pair” is a great -favorite; and “Box and Cox” can be done by anybody, -and is always funny. Music helps along wonderfully, as -witness the immortal “Pinafore,” which has been played -by amateurs to admiration for hundreds of admiring audiences.</p> - -<p>A stage manager is indispensable. In getting up ambitious -plays in a city, which the courageous amateur sometimes -attempts, an actor from the theatre is generally hired -to “coach” the neophytes. In the country, some intelligent -friend should do this, and he can properly be arbitrary. -It is a case for an absolute monarchy. The stage -manager must hear his company read the play over first, -and tell John faithfully if he is better fitted for the part of -the lackey rather than that of the lover. He must disabuse -Seraphina of the belief that she either looks or can play the -<i>ingenu</i>, and relegate her to the part of the housekeeper. -We all have our natural and acquired capabilities for various -parts, and can do no other.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span></p> - -<p>Then, after reading the part, comes the rehearsal; and -this is the crucial test. The players must study, rehearse, -rehearse, study, and not be discouraged if they grow worse -rather than better. There is always a part lagging, and -the dress rehearsal is invariably a discouraging thing. But -that is a most excellent and advantageous discouragement -if it inspire the actors to new efforts. Nothing can spoil -a private theatrical attempt like conceit and self-satisfaction. -The art is as difficult a one as playing on the violin; -and, although an amateur may learn to play pretty well, the -distance between him and a professional is as great as that -between an amateur violinist and Vieuxtemps. The amateur -must remember this fact.</p> - -<p>“Acting proverbs” is an ingenious way of suggesting -an idea by its component parts rather than stating it outright. -The parts are not written, but merely talked over, -and are often done by clever young people on the spur of -the moment. It is well, however, to consult beforehand -as to the argument of the play. The books are full of little -plays written upon such proverbs as “All is not Gold that -Glitters,” “Honor among Thieves,” “All is Fair in Love -and War,” etc. But we advise young people to take up -less well-known proverbs, and to write their own plays. -They might learn one or two as a sort of exercise, but the -fresh outcrop of their own originality will be much better. -The same may be said with the acting of charades.</p> - -<p>A dramatic charade is a very ingenious thing, and a -very neat little play in four acts can be made from the -word <span class="smcap">Ab-di-cate</span>. A B, of course, presents a school scene. -And at a watering place, if some witty man or woman will -represent the schoolmaster or schoolmistress, all the pupils -can be the grown men and women who are well known. -The entrance of a fashionable mamma, her instantaneous -effect on the severity of the teacher, the taking off the fool’s-cap -from the head of Master Tommy, who has been in dis<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>grace—all -will cause laughter and an opportunity for local -jokes. This is Act I. Di can be represented by the <i>dyeing</i> -process of a barber who has to please many customers; -or “The <i>die</i> is cast”; or an apposite allusion to Walter -Scott’s “<i>Die</i> Vernon”; or some comico-tragico scene of “I -can but <i>die</i>.” This is Act II. Cate, to “<i>cater</i>,” “<i>Kate</i>”—for -bad spelling is permitted—all these are in order. -This is Act III. The last act can be the splendid pageant -of a Turkish <i>Abdication</i>, in which a sultan abdicates in -favor of his son. All the camel’s-hair shawls, brilliant turbans, -and jewelry of the house and neighborhood can here -be introduced with effect.</p> - -<p>Charades in which negroes, Irish or German people, or -anybody with a dialect, enter in and form a part, are very -amusing if the boys of the family have a genius for mimicry. -Amateur minstrels are very funny. The getting up -of a party of white men as black men is, however, attended -with expense. The gift of singing a comic song is -highly appreciated in the family circle of amateur dramatists, -and a little piece with songs is very sure to be acceptable.</p> - -<p>If every member of the party will do what he can, -without any false shame, or any egotistical desire to outdo -the others, if the ready-witted will do what they can to -help the slow-going, and if the older members of the family -will help along, these amusements will cheer many a -winter’s evening, many a long rainy week, and will improve -all who are connected with them; for memory and elocution, -good manners and a graceful bearing, are all included -in the playing of charades, proverbs, and the little dramas.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="IV" id="IV">IV.</a><br /> -TABLEAUX VIVANTS.</h2> - -<p>We now come to one of the most artistic of all Home -Amusements—the <i>Tableau vivant</i>.</p> - -<p>Lady Hamilton amused the people of her age, all over -Europe, by playing in a parlor very striking living pictures. -All she asked was a corner of the room, a heavy -curtain behind her, and a few shawls and turbans. Being -a beautiful and graceful woman, with the dramatic instinct, -she gave imitations of celebrated statues and pictures, -and was no doubt aided by some very ingenious -painting, which she knew how to apply to her own fair -face. The art she discovered is certainly worth trying in -the present age as an amusement.</p> - -<p>The preparations for good tableaux should be somewhat -elaborate. A vista should be built and lined with -dark-colored cloth; lights should fall from the top, sides, -and front, so as to avoid shadows. The groups should be -striking, the colors clear, and the attitudes simple. Sometimes -there are such wonderful and unpremeditated effects -from these living pictures that artists hold up their hands -in despair; more often they are ruined by shadows; the -lights are not well arranged, and the whole effect lacks elevation -and meaning. It is difficult to arrange a crowded -tableau, but it can be done.</p> - -<p>The principle of a picture—a pyramidal form—should -be observed closely in tableau. To secure this desirable<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> -object the persons in the background must stand on elevations. -Boxes covered with dark cloth, so as to be unnoticeable, -are the best of all devices, and the effect of any object -held up in the hand, as a scepter, a bird, a distaff, or a -wreath, must be carefully noted, as it may throw a shadow -on the picture in the background. There never was, or -could be, a tableau which did not have some weak spot, -and these shadows are the faults which most easily beguile; -but they can be avoided.</p> - -<p>A group of Puritans make into many very striking pictures. -The costume is beautiful and becoming; red cloth -can be laid on the table or floor to set off the grays; and -the many picturesque incidents in our early history form -very pleasing subjects. It is a beautiful dress for women -and a dignified one for men—that gray dress and high ruff, -that broad hat, and plain, long gown. A group of young -people might take a winter’s amusement out of reading up -the Puritan annals, and giving at the Academy or in their -own homes a series of Puritan tableaux.</p> - -<p>A tableau can be given in parlors separated by folding-doors; -but they are not by any means as good as those for -which a stage, vista and footlights, flies and side-lights, are -arranged. If there is a large unused room, where these -properties can stand, the result is very much better. There -should be a gauze curtain or one of black tarlatan, which -should have no seams in it, and this curtain should hang -in front of the stage all the time. The drop-curtain must -be outside of this. The gauze curtain serves as a sort of -varnish to the picture, and adds to the illusion.</p> - -<p>Although the pure white light of candles, gas, kerosene, -or lime-light is the best for tableaux, very pretty effects are -produced by the introduction of colored lights, such as can -be produced by the use of nitrate of strontia, chlorate of -potash, sulphuret of antimony, sulphur, oxymuriate of potassa, -metallic arsenic, and pulverized charcoal. Muriate<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> -of copper makes a bluish-green fire, and many other colors -can be obtained by a little study of chemistry. Here are -some simple recipes:</p> - -<p>To make a <i>red fire</i>.—Five ounces nitrate of strontia, -dry, one and a half ounces finely-powdered sulphur. Take -five drachms chlorate of potash and four drachms sulphuret -of antimony and powder them separately in a mortar; then -mix them on paper, and, having mixed the other ingredients, -previously powdered, add these last, and rub the -whole together on paper. In use, mix a little spirits of -wine with the powder, and burn in a flat iron plate or pan.</p> - -<p>A <i>green fire</i> may be made by powdering finely and mixing -well thirteen parts flour of sulphur, five parts oxymuriate -of potassa, two parts metallic arsenic, three parts -pulverized charcoal, seventy-seven parts nitrate of baryta; -dry it carefully, powder, and mix the whole thoroughly. -A polished reflector fitted on one side of the pan in which -this is burned will concentrate the light and cast a brilliant -green luster on the figures. A bluish-green fire may be -produced by burning muriate of copper finely powdered -and mixed with spirits of wine. These fires smell unpleasantly -in the drawing-room; and equally good effects may -almost always be produced by colored globes, if the light -is not needed too quickly.</p> - -<p>Sulphate of copper, when dissolved in water, will give a -beautiful <i>blue</i> color. The common red cabbage gives three -colors. Slice the cabbage and pour boiling water on it; -when cold, add a small quantity of alum, and you have -<i>purple</i>. Potash dissolved in the water will give a brilliant -<i>green</i>. A few drops of muriatic acid will turn the cabbage-water -into a <i>crimson</i>.</p> - -<p>Then, again, if a ghostly look be required, mix common -salt with spirits of wine in a metal cup and set it upon a -wire frame over a spirit-lamp. When the cup becomes -heated, and the spirits of wine ignite, the other lights in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> -the room should be extinguished, and that of the spirit-lamp -shaded in some way. The result will be that the -whole group will become like the witches in Macbeth,</p> - -<div class="center"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="i0">“That look not like the inhabitants of the earth,</div> -<div class="i0">But yet are of it.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>This burning of common salt produces a very weird effect. -It seems that salt has some other properties than the -conservative, preserving, hospitable kind of quality which -legend and the daily needs of mankind have ascribed to it.</p> - -<p>A very fine and artistic set of tableaux can be gotten -up by reference to such a great work as “Boydell’s Shakespeare,” -if it happens to be at hand. Also a study of fine -engravings, such as one finds in the “National Academy.” -If these books are not attainable, almost any pictorial magazine -will furnish subjects. Or, if imagination is consulted, -construct a series out of Waverley, or from the but too well -known scenes of the French Revolution, or from George -Eliot’s delightful “Romola”—a book full of remarkable -pictures, with the additional charm of the old Florentine -dress. Sometimes a very impressive poem is given in tableaux, -like Tennyson’s “Princess,” or, the “Dream of Fair -Women.” Then there are many artistic but rather horrible -surprises, as “The Head of John the Baptist,” which -can be “cut off” admirably by an intervening table, and -so on; but nothing is so good as a study of the fine groups -of the best painters.</p> - -<p>Venetian scenes, from Titian’s and Tintoretto’s pictures, -can be admirably represented in tableaux. The Italian -wealth of color is always impressive; and as engravings of -these pictures are attainable, it is well to represent them. -Roman scenes are very effective, and especially as Alma Tadema -arranges them for us, with his fine feeling for the antique.</p> - -<p>The humor of Hogarth, aided as it is by the picturesque -dress of his day, can be represented in a tableau. But<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> -without some such aids humor is generally lost in a tableau. -There is not time for it. Some of Darley’s groups, -as, for instance, the illustrations of “Rip Van Winkle,” are -admirable, and would seem to contradict this statement, for -they are full of fun; but then—they are wonderfully well -dressed. That early Revolutionary dress, borrowed in part -from the days of Queen Anne, is very picturesque.</p> - -<p>If there is some one in the group whose fine sense of the -proprieties of art can be trusted, the allegorical can be -attempted. But the danger is that the allegorical in art -is generally ridiculous. Faith, Hope, and Charity, Mercy -and Peace, are better anywhere than in pictures.</p> - -<p>The grotesque is always lost in a tableau, where there -seems to be a sort of æsthetic demand for the heroic, the -refined, and the delicate. A double action may be presented -with very good effect; as in some of those fancies of -Retzsch and Ary Scheffer, where an angel bends over a -sleeping child, or a group, unknown to the actors in front, -is representing another picture behind. But the best -effects are the simplest. One should not attempt too much. -The old example, called “The Dull Lecture,” painted by -Gilbert Stuart Newton, where a prosy old philosopher is -reading aloud to a pretty girl who is fast asleep, is a case in -point. That has been a favorite tableau for forty years, -nor are its charms yet done away with. Tableaux from -Dickens have only a moderate success, excepting, perhaps, -the rather overdone “Christmas Carol.” The dress is -wanting in color and character.</p> - -<p>Tableaux in which animals are introduced are sometimes -very effective, if stuffed bears and lions and tigers can be -hired from a museum. A fine tableau was once composed, -from a French print, of the Queen of Sheba’s visit to Solomon; -but the camel on which that lofty lady arrived was a -piece of scene-painting done by a very clever artist, and it -would be difficult to improvise one.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="V" id="V">V.</a><br /> -BRAIN GAMES.</h2> - -<p>We now come to the winter evening, and the pencil and -paper.</p> - -<p>It is a delightful feature of our modern civilization that -books are very cheap, and that the poets are read by everybody. -That would be a very barren house where one did -not find Scott, Byron, Goldsmith, Longfellow, Tennyson, -Browning, Bret Harte, and Jean Ingelow. Very few boys -and girls can reach the age of sixteen without having committed -to memory some immortal poem of one of these -most popular poets.</p> - -<p>Therefore there would be no embarrassment if we asked -the members of any evening circle to write down three or -four lines in the measure of “Evangeline,” “Lady Clara -Vere de Vere,” “The Corsair,” “The Traveler,” “Marmion,” -or “Hervé Riel,” “The Heathen Chinee,” or the -pretty “Bird Song” of Jean Ingelow. Not a parody only, -however, but a parody involving a certain idea or word.</p> - -<p>In the great year of Coggia’s comet this game was thus -played, and a young man was requested to speak of the -comet in the style of “Mother Goose.” The result was as -follows:</p> - -<div class="center"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="i0">“Sing a song of Coggia—</div> -<div class="i2">Comet in the sky!</div> -<div class="i0">Wonder if he’ll trouble us,</div> -<div class="i2">Whip up you or I!</div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> -<div class="i0">When his tail is over,</div> -<div class="i2">Then begin to crow;</div> -<div class="i0">Four-and-twenty doctors,</div> -<div class="i2">Tell us all you know!”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>Another of the circle was directed to treat of the Wood -Fire in the measure of Tennyson’s “May Queen.” The -result was the following:</p> - -<div class="center"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="i0">“If you’re snapping, snap out wisely, snap out wisely, burning wood!</div> -<div class="i0">You would not snap so wildly if your drying had been good.</div> -<div class="i0">Nor had I, sitting near you with the hearth-brush in my hand,</div> -<div class="i0">Have found no peace in sitting, for fear of burning brand.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>This was declared to be too easy a game for such a wild -and superfluous supply of brains, and, therefore, the word -<i>Poker</i> was pronounced to be an essential element of every -future poem. Poor Browning and Longfellow, Bret Harte -and Walter Scott, were mercilessly spitted on that poker. -Much foolscap was spoiled, but much fun gained. Here is -one of the poker successes:</p> - -<h3>“AFTER BYRON, WITH A POKER; ALSO AFTER DRINKING FLIP.</h3> - -<div class="center"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="i2">“Here, too, the Poker stands in brass! and fills</div> -<div class="i4">The air around with safety! We inhale</div> -<div class="i2">The ambrosial aspect which its heat instills</div> -<div class="i4">(Part of its immortality) to Flip</div> -<div class="i2">(That beer which is half drawn), within the cup</div> -<div class="i4">We breathe, and its deep secrets dip.</div> -<div class="i0">Who Flip can make—who cares where he may fail!</div> -<div class="i0">Before its wide success let Heliogabalus turn pale.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<div class="i2">“We drink, and turn away—we care not where!</div> -<div class="i4">Fuzzled, and drunk with porter, till the head</div> -<div class="i2">Reels with its fullness. There, for ever there,</div> -<div class="i4">Stand thou in triumph, Poker, strong and red!</div> -<div class="i2">We are thy captives, and thine ardor share.</div> -<div class="i0">Away! there need no words, no terms precise,</div> -<div class="i0">To say in loving accents, Flip-cup, thou art nice!”</div> -</div></div></div> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span></p> -<p>To this class of Home Amusements belongs also the famous -game of “Twenty Questions,” which was played so -much at one time by the Cambridge professors that they -declared that any subject should be reached in ten questions. -The proper formula for this very intellectual game -is this: Two parties are formed, the questioners and the -answerers, the first having the privilege, after the word -has been chosen, to inquire—</p> - -<p>“Is your subject animal, vegetable, or mineral?”</p> - -<p>“What is its size?”</p> - -<p>“To what age does it belong?”</p> - -<p>“Is it historical or natural?”</p> - -<p>“Is it ancient or modern?”</p> - -<p>“Is it a manufactured article?” etc.</p> - -<p>The number of subjects which are <i>none</i> of these, or -which <i>are all three</i>, or which can not be defined in some -way, is of course small. Thus, a Blush, a Smile, a Tear, -an Echo, an Avalanche, a Drought, are all indescribable -by the exact definitions of the above questions. But the -questioner soon arrives at this negative, and begins a new -series.</p> - -<p>Perhaps one of the most puzzling of subjects is a -“mummy.” It fulfills certain conditions, but not others; -and the final question, “What is its use?” and the answer, -“It is used for fuel,” though true—for the Arabs cook -their dinners by them—does not at all cover the ground of -the supposed use of a mummy. The shield of Achilles, -the Hole in the Wall through which Pyramus and Thisbe -kissed, have been asked and guessed! A Bat baffled even -the most ingenious twenty questioners, while the Parlor -into which the Spider invited the Fly was guessed.</p> - -<p>It is a very intellectual and very amusing game, and -those who play it should be as honest as possible in their -answers. If puns and wordy equivoque are allowed, the -game ceases to be legitimate.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span></p> - -<p>Among games requiring memory and attention we may -mention “Cross Purposes,” “The Horned Ambassador,” -“I love my Love with an A,” “The Game of the Ring” -(arithmetical), “The Deaf Man,” “The Goose’s History.” -“Story Play” consists in putting a chosen word into a -narrative so cleverly that it will not be readily guessed, -although several people tell different stories with the chosen -word several times repeated. The best way to play this is -to have some odd word which is <i>not</i> the word—like <i>Banana</i>—and -use it several times; yet one’s own consciousness -of the right word will often betray the story-teller. -“The Dutch Conceit,” “My Lady’s Toilet,” “What is my -Thought like?” “Scheherazade’s Ransom” are very pretty, -and may be found in many Manuals of Games. This last -deserves a description.</p> - -<p>Three of the company sustain the parts of the Sultan, -the Vizier, and the Princess Scheherazade. The Sultan -takes his seat at the end of the room, and the Vizier then -leads the Princess before him, with her hands bound behind -her. The Vizier then makes a burlesque proclamation -that the Princess, having exhausted all her stories, is -about to be punished unless a sufficient ransom be offered. -All the rest of the company then advance in turn and propose -enigmas, which must be solved by the Sultan or Vizier; -sing the first verse of a song, to which the Vizier must answer -with the second verse; or recite any well-known piece -of poetry in alternate lines with the Vizier. Forfeits must -be paid either by the company when successfully encountered -by the Sultan or Vizier, or by the Vizier when unable -to respond to his opponents; and the game goes on till the -forfeits amount to any specified number on either side. -Should the company be victorious and obtain the greatest -number of forfeits, the Princess is released, and the Vizier -has to execute all the penalties that may be imposed upon -him. If otherwise, the Princess is led to execution. For<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> -this purpose she is blindfolded, and seated on a low stool. -The penalties for the forfeits, which should be previously -prepared, are written on slips of paper and put in a basket, -which she holds in her hands tied behind her. The owners -of the forfeits advance and draw each a slip of paper. As -each person comes forward, the Princess guesses who it is, -and, if right, the person must pay an additional forfeit, the -penalty for which is to be exacted by the Princess herself. -When all the penalties have been distributed, the hands -and eyes of the Princess are released, and she then superintends -the execution of the various punishments that have -been allotted to the company.</p> - -<p>Another very good game is to send one of the company -out, and as he comes in again to address him as the supposed -character of Napoleon, a Russian emperor, Gustavus -Adolphus, or some well-known character in history or fiction. -For instance, a young lady leaves the room, and as -she enters some one says:</p> - -<p>“Charming and noble heroine, most generous and most -faithful! we are glad to see you. How well you look, after -all that has happened to you! Burned alive? Yes, I -should say so; and all that you suffered before! How did -you like wearing armor? and what do you think of ungrateful -kings? How was it at home before you left——? -Did you really see those visions? and how did St. —— look? -And, now that you are come back, will you ever be so generous -and noble as to fight for <i>any</i> cause except yourself?”</p> - -<p>Of course, the young lady knows that she is Joan of -Arc. But it is not necessary that character should be so -plainly indicated, however, as in this example.</p> - -<p>“The Echo” is another very pretty game. It is played -by reciting some little story, which Echo is supposed to -interrupt whenever the narrator pronounces certain words -which recur frequently in his narrative. These words relate -to the profession or trade of him who is the subject of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> -the story. If, for example, the story is about a soldier, the -words which would recur the most frequently would naturally -be “Uniform,” “Gaiters,” “Chapeau bras,” “Musket,” -“Plume,” “Pouch,” “Sword,” “Saber,” “Gun,” -“Knapsack,” “Belt,” “Sash,” “Cap,” “Powder-flask,” -“Accouterments,” and so on. Each one of the company, -with the exception of the person who tells the story, takes -the name of Soldier, Powder-flask, etc., except the name -“Accouterments.” When the speaker pronounces one of -these words, he who has taken it for his name ought, if the -word has been said only once, to pronounce it twice; if it -has been said twice, to pronounce it once. When the word -“Accouterments” is uttered, the players—all except the -soldier—ought to repeat again the word “Accouterments” -either once or twice.</p> - -<p>These games are amusing, as showing how defective a -thing is memory, and how apt, when under fire, to desert -us. It is also very queer to mark the difference of character -exhibited by the players. The most unexpected revelations -are made.</p> - -<p>Another very funny game is “Confession by a Die,” -played with cards and dice. It would look at first like a -parody on “Mother Church,” but it is not so guilty. A -person takes some blank cards, and, counting the company, -writes down a sin for each. The unlucky sinner when -called upon must not only confess, but, by throwing the -dice also, confess as many sins as they indicate, and do penance -for them all. These can, with a witty leader, be made -very funny.</p> - -<p>“The Secretary” is another good game. The persons -sit at a table with square pieces of paper, and pencils, and -each one writes his own name, handing the paper, carefully -folded down, to the Secretary, who distributes them, saying -“Character!” Then each one writes out an imaginary -character, hands it again to the Secretary, who says<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> -“Future!” The papers are again distributed, and the -writers forecast the future. Of course, the Secretary -throws in all sorts of other questions, and, when the game -is through, the papers are read. They form a curious and -heterogeneous piece of reading. Sometimes such curious -bits of character-reading crop out that one suspects and -dreads complicity. But, if it is honestly played, the game -is amusing.</p> - -<p>Of Ruses and Catch-games, Practical Jokes, and all -plays involving mystification and mortification, we have a -great abhorrence. They do not belong to the class of -Home Amusements. Let them be relegated to that bad -limbo of “college hazing,” and other ignoble tricks which -some people call fun. Far better the games which call for -wit, originality, and inspiration; which show knowledge, -reading, and a full <i>repertoire</i>; and a familiarity with all the -three homely studies—geography, arithmetic, and history, -including natural history. One of these games is called -“The Traveler’s Tour,” and may be made very interesting, -if the leader is ingenious. It is played in this way: One of -the party announces himself the “Traveler.” He is given -an empty bag, and counters with numbers on are distributed -among the players. Thus, if twelve persons are playing, -the numbers must count up to twelve—a set of <i>ones</i> to be -given to one, <i>twos</i> to two, and so on. Then the Traveler -asks for information about the places to which he is going. -The first person gives it, if he can; if not, the second, and -so on. If the Traveler considers it correct information, or -worthy of notice, he takes from the person one of his counters, -as a pledge of the obligation he is under to him. The -next person in order takes up the next question, and so on. -After the Traveler reaches his destination, he empties his -bag, and sees to whom he has been indebted for the greatest -amount of information. He then makes him the next -Traveler. Of course, this opens the door for all sorts of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> -witty rejoinders, as the players choose to exaggerate the -claims of certain hotels, the geographical position of places, -and the hits at such a place as Long Branch, for instance, -by describing it as an “inland spot, very retired, where -nobody goes,” etc., etc. Or it can be played seriously, -with the map of Europe or America in one’s memory. The -absurd way is, however, the favorite style with most, as in -this wise:</p> - -<p><i>Traveler.</i> “I am going to Newport this summer. -Which is the best route?”</p> - -<p><i>Answer.</i> “Well, start by the Erie Railroad and try to -form a junction with the Pittsburg and Ohio.”</p> - -<p><i>Trav.</i> “When shall I get there?”</p> - -<p><i>An.</i> “If you take the Southern Pacific you may reach -Newport before the Fall River boat gets in” (sarcasm on -the slowness of the boat).</p> - -<p><i>Trav.</i> “How if I go by the Northern Pacific?”</p> - -<p><i>An.</i> “Well, that is better than the <i>Wickford</i> route.”</p> - -<p>Or <i>Trav.</i> says: “I want to go to San Francisco; how -shall I start?”</p> - -<p><i>An.</i> “Well, at the rate the Cunarders are going to -Europe now, your quickest way is to take the Gallia, and -on reaching Liverpool to go to India by the Overland Route, -and so round the world.”</p> - -<p>The rhyming game is also very amusing. It is done in -this way:</p> - -<p><i>Speaker.</i> “I have a word that rhymes with <i>Game</i>.”</p> - -<p><i>Interlocutor.</i> “Is it something statesmen crave?”</p> - -<p><i>Sp.</i> “No, it is not <i>Fame</i>.”</p> - -<p><i>In.</i> “Is it something that goes halt?”</p> - -<p><i>Sp.</i> “No, it is not <i>Lame</i>.”</p> - -<p><i>In.</i> “Is it something tigers need?”</p> - -<p><i>Sp.</i> “No, it is not to <i>Tame</i>.”</p> - -<p><i>In.</i> “Is it what we all would like?”</p> - -<p><i>Sp.</i> “No, it is not <i>Good Name</i>.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span></p> - -<p><i>In.</i> “Is it to shoot at Duck?”</p> - -<p><i>Sp.</i> “Yes, and that Duck to <i>maim</i>.”</p> - -<p>Such words as Nun, Thing, Fall, etc., which admit of -many rhymes, are very good ones to choose. The two who -play it must be quick-witted and read each other’s -thoughts.</p> - -<p>The end rhymes, which the French like, are very ingenious.<a name="FNanchor_1" id="FNanchor_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a> -Try making a poem to fit these words, for instance, -and you catch the idea:</p> - -<table summary="Rhymes"> -<tr><td>Town.</td><td class="spaced">Lay.</td><td class="spaced">Place.</td><td class="spaced">Long.</td><td class="spaced">Run.</td><td class="spaced">Fame.</td><td class="spaced">Rain.</td></tr> -<tr><td>Renown.</td><td class="spaced">May.</td><td class="spaced">Space.</td><td class="spaced">Wrong.</td><td class="spaced">Sun.</td><td class="spaced">Name.</td><td class="spaced">Train.</td></tr> -</table> - -<p>The game of “Crambo,” in which each player has to -write a noun on one piece of paper and a question on another, -is curious. As, for instance, the drawer may get -the noun “Mountain,” and the question, “Do you love -me?” he must write a sonnet or poem in which he answers -the one and brings in the other.</p> - -<p>The game of “Preferences” has had a long and a successful -career. It is a very good addition to Home -Amusements to possess a blank-book lying on the parlor-table, -in which each guest should be asked to write out -answers to the following questions:</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>Who is your favorite hero in history?</p> - -<p>Who is your favorite heroine in history?</p> - -<p>Who is your favorite king in history?</p> - -<p>Who is your favorite queen in history?</p> - -<p>What is your favorite male Christian name?</p> - -<p>What is your favorite female Christian name?</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span></p> - -<p>What is your favorite flower?</p> - -<p>What is your favorite color?</p> - -<p>What is your favorite style of music?</p> - -<p>What is your favorite style of climate?</p> - -<p>What is your favorite amusement?</p> - -<p>What is your favorite study?</p> - -<p>What is your favorite exercise?</p> - -<p>What is your favorite book?</p> - -<p>What is your favorite game? etc., etc.</p></blockquote> - -<p>These questions may be amplified according to the taste -of the owner of the book.</p> - -<p>These books are very common in English country -houses, and the statistics of favoritism have been taken. -Napoleon Bonaparte, even in the land of the Duke of Wellington, -had the greatest number of admirers as a hero; -Mary, Queen of Scots, was the favorite queen in a majority -of instances; Lord Byron led off as a poet, and the names -Edward and Alice had the greatest number of votes as -admired Christian names. Joan of Arc is always ahead as -a heroine. In America, after a five years’ experience, a -number of books were compared, and resulted in a close -tie between Washington and Napoleon as hero; between -Charles X, of Sweden, and Francis I as king; with Mary, -Queen of Scots, far ahead as queen; with Theodore and -Mary as Christian names in advance. Yet an occasional -originality crops out in these “preferences,” and the examination -of the different opinions is always interesting.</p> - -<p>The game of Authors, especially when created by the -persons who wish to play it, is very interesting. The game -can be bought, and is a very common one, as, perhaps, -everybody knows; but it can be rendered uncommon by -the preparation of the cards among the members of the -family. There are sixty-four cards to be prepared, with -each the name of a popular author, and any three of his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> -works. The entire set is numbered from one to sixty-four. -Any four cards containing the name and works of -the same author form a book. Thus, “Henry W. Longfellow, -‘Hyperion,’ ‘Evangeline,’ ‘New England Tragedies,’” -would form one set. As the shuffling and distribution -of these cards, and the plan of also drawing from -a pile in the middle of the table, creates the greatest uncertainty -as to the whereabouts of a certain card, much amusement -can be derived in the effort to make a book. The -cards must be equally distributed one at a time, beginning -at the left of the dealer. The players then arrange -their cards in the hand. If one finds four of a kind, -he immediately declares a book, and lays it face downward -on the table; and then, if holding one of the -“Longfellow’s,” he will say “Evangeline.” He can ask -any other player for “Hyperion.” After receiving either -the card or a negative answer, the next player to the left -goes on with his play. Players can only call for such cards -as belong to books of which they hold a portion. Should -a player call for a card which he already holds, that card is -forfeited to the person of whom it was called. The caller -always finds the name of the card he wants among those -printed in small type; the person of whom it is called finds -it in large type at the top.</p> - -<p>This game may be made very useful by using the names -of kings and queens, and the learned men of their reigns, -instead of authors. It is a very good way to study history. -The popes can be utilized, with their attendant great men, -and by playing the game for a season the dates and the -events of some obscure period of history will be effectually -fixed in the memory.</p> - -<p>As the numbers affixed to the cards may be purely arbitrary, -the count at the end will fluctuate with remarkable -impartiality; thus, the Dickens cards may count but one, -while Tupper will be named sixteen; Carlyle can be two,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> -while Artemus Ward shall be sixty. This is made very -amusing sometimes. King Henry VIII, who set no small -store by himself, can be made to count very little in the -kingly game, while the poor Edward IV may have a higher -numeral than he was allowed in life.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="VI" id="VI">VI.</a><br /> -FORTUNE-TELLING.</h2> - -<p>We now come to that game which interests old and -young. None are so apathetic but that they relish a look -behind the dark curtain. The apple-paring in the fire, -the roasted chestnut and the raisin, the fire-back and the -stars, have been interrogated since time began. The pack -of cards, the tea-cup, the dream-book, the board with the -mystic numbers, and the Bible and Key, have been consulted -from time immemorial. The makers of games have -given in their statistics, and they declare that there are no -cards or games so sure of selling well as those which foretell -the Future.</p> - -<p>Now a very pretty Home Amusement is to cultivate, -without believing much in them, the innocent sciences of -palmistry and of fortune-telling. Several years ago this -led to the making of a very pretty book by Mrs. Gilman, -of South Carolina—a poetical and very harmless fortune-teller—made -up of lines from the poets. The young ladies -of the period used to draw as future husbands: “A professor, -and a log cabin in the West”; “a lord, and a -castle”; “a merchant prince”; “an irresolute and an obstinate -fool”; “a well-favored gentleman,” and so on, the -good fortunes being in great advance of the bad ones. It -was a popular work, and amused many a tea-party.</p> - -<p>Many people, since the advent of Spiritualism, have -amused themselves with that wonderful toy, “Planchette,”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> -and other curious caprices of mind-reading, clairvoyance, -table-tipping, and knocks. The Key, which seems to possess -strong magnetic powers, and all the performances -which the unbeliever calls “nonsense,” or worse, and which -the believing call “manifestations,” are also interesting; -but we can not recommend this sort of tampering with -nervous and exciting pleasure, as it has undoubtedly sometimes -unhinged the most truly innocent minds. Such investigations -should be left to strong and sober men, and -should be approached in a very philosophical spirit, or not -at all.</p> - -<p>There can be no harm, however, in a playful consultation -of the leaves of the daisy, the four-leaved clover, the -fortunate black cat who brings us luck, the moon over the -right shoulder, the oracular “You shall travel over land -and sea”—believing in all the good fortune, but in none of -the bad. The salt should be carefully thrown over the left -shoulder, if spilled, and all the Fates and Fairies should be -propitiated. It gives delightful variety to life to know all -the superstitions and the lore of old nurses and grandmothers. -Did we follow them back, we should find that -they each had a poetical origin. We all like to believe that -we can enumerate on our fingers the false friends, the enemies; -but we may hope that the world could not hold the -admirers and the friends whom one four-leaved clover or -one black cat had given us—or promised us. To be sure, -“we had dreamed of snakes, and that meant enemies.” -But, after all, are not enemies next best to friends? They -give us consequences, and who that is worth anything was -ever without them? That would be a very colorless individual -who should go through life without an enemy.</p> - -<p>The riches which are hidden in a fortune-telling set of -cards (although like Peter Goldthwaite’s treasure) are very -real and comforting while they last. They are endless, -they have few really trying responsibilities attached, they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> -can not be taxed, they are absolutely where thieves can not -break through and steal. They are so satisfactory, which -real wealth never is; they buy everything we want; they -go farther than any real fortune could go; they are our -real and personal estate, and our poetical dreams; our Lamp -of Aladdin, and our Chemical Bank. They are gained -without hurting anybody; they are dug out of the ground -without painful backache or bloodshed; they are inherited -without stain, and can be spent without fear of profligacy. -Of what other fortune can we say as much?</p> - -<p>It would be an unending theme to try to make a catalogue -of the superstitions of all nations. The Irish, with -their wild belief in fairies, that <i>Leprechaun</i>—the little man -in red, who, if you can catch him, will make you happy -and prosperous for ever after; who has such a strange relationship -to humanity that at birth and death the Leprechaun -must be tended by a mortal! to read, as they do—these -imaginative people—a sermon in every stone; to see -luck beneath the four-leaved clover, and to hang a legend -on every bush; to follow the more spiritually-minded -Scotchman in his second sight, who holds that</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>“Coming events cast their shadows before.”</p></blockquote> - -<p>A very learned book has been written on the “Superstitions -of Wales” alone. Eloquent and poetic are the people -who have invented the Banshee, the Brownie (or domestic -fairy who does all the work). The more tragic and less -loving superstitions of Italy teach that the “evil eye” is -always to be dreaded. The Breton superstitions are as wild -as the sea-gust which sweeps from their coast. All these -are subjects of profound interest to those who read the -great subject of race, from ethnology, folk-lore, and ballads. -The superstitions of a people tell their innermost characteristics, -and are thus profoundly interesting.</p> - -<p>The French have, however, tabularized fortune-telling<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> -for us. Their peculiar ability in arranging ceremonials -and <i>fêtes</i>, and their undoubted genius for tactics and strategy, -show that they are able to foresee events with unusual -clearness. Their ingenuity in all technical contrivances is -an additional testimony in the same direction, and we are -not surprised that they have here, as is their wont, given -us the practical help which we need in fortune-telling. -Mlle. Lenormand, the sorceress who prophesied to Napoleon -his greatness, and to many of the princes and great -men of France their downfall and their misfortunes, has -left us thirty-six cards (to be bought at any book-store), -wherein we can read the decrees of fate. Her preface says, -“Thousands of noblemen did then acknowledge her great -talent already during her lifetime, and did often confess -that her method was full of truth and exactness.” Lenormand -was a very clever sibyl; she had great ingenuity; she -throws in enough of the inevitable bad, and finds enough -of the possible good, to at least amuse those who consult -her oracles. Whether we have confidence or faith in the -divination, we can not but look for the lucky cards. In -this game “The Cavalier” is a messenger of good fortune, -and, if not surrounded by unlucky cards, brings good news, -which the person may expect either from his own house or -from abroad. This will, however, not take place immediately, -but some time after.</p> - -<p>“The Clover Leaf” is a harbinger of good news, but -if surrounded by clouds it indicates great pain; but if No. -2 lies near No. 26 or 28, the pain will be of short duration, -and will soon change to a happy issue.</p> - -<p>“The Ship,” the symbol of commerce, signifies great -wealth, which will be acquired by trade or inheritance. If -near to the person, it means an early journey.</p> - -<p>“The House” is a certain sign of success and prosperity, -and although the present position of the person may -be disagreeable, yet the future will be bright and happy.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> -If this card lies in the center of the cards under the person, -this is a hint to beware of those who surround him.</p> - -<p>“A Tree,” if distant from the person, signifies good -health. Nine trees, of different cards together, leave no -doubt about the realization of all reasonable wishes.</p> - -<p>“Clouds”: if their clear side is turned toward the person, -it is a lucky sign; with the dark side turned toward -the person, something disagreeable will soon happen.</p> - -<p>“A Serpent” is a sign of misfortune, the extent of -which depends upon the greater or smaller distance from -the person; it is followed invariably by deceit, infidelity, and -sorrow.</p> - -<p>“A Coffin,” very near to the person, means, without -any doubt, dangerous diseases, death, or total loss of fortune; -more distant from the person, the card is less dangerous.</p> - -<p>“The Nosegay” means much happiness in every respect.</p> - -<p>“The Scythe” indicates great danger, which will only -be avoided if lucky cards surround him.</p> - -<p>“The Rod” means quarrels in the family, domestic -afflictions, want of peace among married persons, fever, and -protracted illness.</p> - -<p>“The Birds” mean hardship to be overcome, but of -short duration; distant from the person, they mean the -accomplishment of a pleasant journey.</p> - -<p>These are descriptions of a few of the picture-cards -with which Mlle. Lenormand tells fortunes still, although -she has gone to the land of certainty, and has herself -found out if her symbols and emblems, and her combinations, -really did draw aside the curtain of the future with -invisible strings. We advise all our readers to possess -themselves of her “Fortune-telling Cards” if they wish to -become amateur sibyls.</p> - -<p>The cup of tea, and the mysterious wanderings of the -grounds around the cup, so long the favorite medium of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> -sibyl, seems to be an English superstition. It fits itself to -the old crone domesticity of the Anglo-Saxon humble -home, rather than to the more out-of-door romance of the -Spaniards and the Italians; and yet the most out-of-door -people in the world—the gypsies—use it as a means of discerning -the future.</p> - -<p>The cup should be filled with a weak infusion of tea—grounds -and all—and then carefully turning the cup toward -one, the tea should be carefully turned out, waving the cup -so skillfully that the tea-leaves are dispersed over the surface -of the cup. Happy the maid who can turn out the tea -without spilling the leaves. If one drop of tea is left in -the cup it will mean—a tear.</p> - -<p>These grounds, or tea-leaves, have been used from the -earliest days as the alphabet of the Parcæ. Before Chinese -tea was brought to England the old fortune-tellers made -some sort of a brew out of powdered herbs, which left their -mark on the cup. We can understand how that sinuous -serpent who has had so much to do with our destiny, as a -synonym of evil, can be pictured or “visualized” by such a -process; but where the sibyl finds the light-haired young -man crossing a river, where she finds gold and where -trouble, we must leave to the interpreters.</p> - -<p>That most interesting of sibyls, “Norna of the Fitful -Head,” used molten lead as a means of interpreting the -unseen, and that can be done by our modern soothsayers.</p> - -<p>Cards from early antiquity have been used to tell fortunes. -The Queen of Hearts is the heroine, and as about -her group the propitious reds, or the gloomy blacks, so may -we hope for good or dread bad luck. The Ace of Spades is -a bearer of evil tidings; the King of Hearts, at the right -of the Queen, is the very Fortunatus himself. And now, -who is this goddess so often invoked? <i>Fortuna</i>, courted -by all nations, was, in Greek, <i>Tyche</i>, or the goddess of -chance. She differed from Destiny or Fate in so far that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> -she worked without law, giving or taking at her own good -pleasure, and dispensing joy or sorrow indefinitely; her -symbols were those of mutability—a ball, a wheel, a pair of -wings, a rudder. The Romans affirmed that, when she -entered their city, she threw off her wings and shoes, and -determined to live with them for ever; she seems to have -thought better of it, however. She was a sister of the Parcæ, -or Fates, those three who spin the thread of life, measure -it, and cut it off. Fortunatus, he of the inexhaustible -purse of gold and the wishing-cap, is too familiar a figure -to the readers of fairy tales to be mentioned here.</p> - -<p>And yet, although all nations have desired to propitiate -Fortuna, her high-priests and interpreters have ever been -in disrepute. In Scotland, that land of demonology and -witchcraft, of second-sight, of dreamy superstition, fortune-tellers -were denounced as vagabonds, and their punishment, -by statute, was scourging and burning of the ears. -We all know how the knowledge of the “black art” was -denounced in Germany; and the witches of Salem, while -they were approached at dead of night by a pale magistrate -who desired to have his fortune told, were, at his high -behest, tortured, pilloried, and hanged the next week, if -the fortune was a bad one, or, if being well foretold, was -slow of accomplishment. That half-belief which superstitious -persons repose in their oracles, shown in the case -of the Indian, who breaks or maims his God if he does -not respond to his prayer, and in the remarkable story of -Louis XI, of France, who used to alternately pray to and -abuse his leaden images of saints, is repeated often in the -history of fortune-telling.</p> - -<p>Mother Redcap, “a very witch,” was resorted to by -hundreds of persons in England as a fortune-teller; her -image remains on a coin dated 1667. The well-known -prophecies of her neighbor, Mother Shipton, have come -down to us. Poor Redcap had all the duckings and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> -batings of the populace. She and her black cat were the -favorite horrors of the superstitious inhabitants of Kentish -Town, and hundreds of men, women, and children saw the -devil come in state to carry her off. But Mother Shipton -(who was born at Knaresborough in the reign of Henry -VII) became the most popular of British prophets, and, -although she was supposed to have sold her soul to the Old -Gentleman, she yet died in her bed decently and in order -at an extreme old age. So Fortuna is capricious, even in -her treatment of her votaries. It is not strange that “Palmistry” -should have taken higher ground than mere fortune-telling, -and indeed the lines of the hand will seem to map -out character, and perhaps destiny, with some accuracy. -The books say that the lines running through the palm -indicate will or indecision, force or weakness, quickness or -slowness; indeed, all which makes character and fate. We -are the arbiters of at least a part of our fortune.</p> - -<p>The power to tell fortunes by the hand can be learned -from any of the French books on palmistry, and there are -one or two little English translations. It can be sufficiently -curious and varied to amuse the home circle, and so -long as it is done for that purpose, fortune-telling can do -no harm.</p> - -<p>But the moment we rise above the idea that the beans, -the tea-grounds, the black cat, the cards, or the lines in -the palm, are but blind guides, making the most palpable -mistakes, then the tampering with the curtain becomes -dangerous, and we had better leave the future alone.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="VII" id="VII">VII.</a><br /> -AMUSEMENTS FOR A RAINY DAY.</h2> - -<p>It may seem an impeachment of the taste of our readers -to have lingered so long on the lesser lights of games and -fortune-telling as “Home Amusements,” when we have -before us the great world of decorative art: æsthetic embroidery, -dinner-card designing, china painting, the making -of screens, and the thousand and one devices by which -the modern family can amuse itself.</p> - -<p>The making of screens is an amusement which occupies -the whole family most profitably for a rainy day, even if it -is to be only the cutting out of pictures from the illustrated -newspapers, and the subsequent arrangement of them in -curious conjunction on a white cotton or muslin background. -The use of screens has dawned upon the American -mind within a few years. They are delightful in a -dining-room to keep off a draught or to hide a closet-door. -They break up a too long room admirably. They are very -useful in a bedroom to shut off the washstand and bath; -and they are very comforting to the invalid, as a protection -to his easy-chair against insidious breezes.</p> - -<p>Of course, those of satin or linen, embroidered by a skillful -hand; those painted on canvas by the best painters of -to-day; those from China and Japan—are the screens of -the opulent. Very pretty paper screens may be bought at -the shops for three or four dollars. But those on which -a group of pictures are to be pasted are the cheapest and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> -most amusing of any. And do not go and buy highly-glazed -pictures for the purpose. If you do, the screen looks -like a valentine. But cut out the pictures from old copies -of the “London Illustrated News,” “Punch,” “Harper’s -Weekly,” “Harper’s Bazaar,” and the English “Graphic,” -paste them thickly one upon another, and you have a curious -and most interesting mosaic. A lady in 1876, the -Centennial year, made a very beautiful screen of fashion -plates from the ordinary magazines of the period. Already -(1881) these fashions look very antiquated, and the -screen is becoming historically valuable. The effect of -these delicately-colored pictures, put on as thickly as possible -over the white muslin, has an effect like a festal procession, -and is very pretty.</p> - -<p>The medium used for adhering the pictures is common -flour paste, the pictures being also washed over the outside -with the same, and all the edges effectually fastened -down, the cotton cloth to which they are applied being -tightly stretched over a wooden frame. When domestic -paste is made, the material is frequently injured by scorching, -or by the addition of too much water. Good paste, -when spread on paper, will not strike through it like water, -but will remain on the surface, like butter on a piece of -bread. To make paste of a superior quality, that will not -spoil when kept in a cool place for several months, it is -necessary to add dissolved alum as a preservative. When a -few quarts are required, dissolve a dessert-spoonful of alum -in two quarts of tepid water. Put the water in a tin pail -that will hold six or eight quarts, as the flour of which the -paste is made will expand greatly while it is boiling. As -soon as the tepid water has cooled, stir in good rye or wheat -flour, until the liquid has the consistency of cream. See -that every lump of flour is crushed before placing the vessel -over the fire. To prevent scorching the paste, place -over the fire a dish-kettle or wash-boiler, partly filled with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> -water, and set the tin pail containing the material for paste -in the water, permitting the bottom to rest on a few large -nails or pebbles, to prevent excessive heat. Now add a teaspoonful -of powdered resin, a few cloves to flavor the paste, -and let it cook until the paste has become as thick as -“Graham mush,” when it will be ready for use. Keep it -in a tight jar, and it will last for a long time. If too thick, -add cold water, and stir it thoroughly. Such paste will -hold almost as well as glue.</p> - -<p>The famous picture-books of Walter Crane make a very -pretty frieze for screens; the artists of the family sometimes -paint a frieze. In these days of dadoes the screens are -often made with dado, wainscot, and frieze in three different -colored papers, so that there are three tiers of background -for the pictures, if the maker desires to leave spaces -between them. The cutting out of the pictures is an amusing -occupation for all the family on a rainy day.</p> - -<p>This making of screens sometimes leads to another very -attractive work for a rainy day—the preparation for a fancy -dress ball. This, in a lonely country house, far away from -the chance of any outward amusement, has often cheated -a fortnight’s bad weather of its heart-depressing qualities.</p> - -<p>As we have not the stores of old armor, old brocade -and satin, powdered wigs, and costumes of the different -reigns, which may be supposed from modern English novels -to be the property of every English mansion, we must -call upon taste and upon our national faculty of invention -to help us in this dilemma. The country store will give us -black and white tarlatan, chintz, cotton flannel (a most excellent -medium), and, indeed, flannels of all sorts. Black -lace, jewelry, and flowers are in every lady’s trunk, and, -with some stiff linings and <i>appliqué</i> chintz flowers, an old -silk can be made into a priceless brocade.</p> - -<p>Let us take a Venetian dress first. We will have King -<i>Pantelon</i>, the Lord of Misrule, in black with scarlet shirt<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> -and three-cornered hat, and attended by his gay and dissolute -crew. We will have the <i>Illustrissimi</i>, wearing the -dress of the ancient Venetian nobility, scarlet cloaks, and -long bag wigs, mightily disdainful; the <i>Chiozotti</i> in black -velvet, wide lace collars, and high cloth caps, adorned -with artificial flowers—they shall shower <i>confetti</i> and -make jokes; we shall have dominoes and masks, Egyptians -and Neapolitans in velvet, with scarlet caps and stockings, -clapping castanets; we shall have Armenians, Levant -merchants and sailors, Turks in caftans, Greeks and Dalmatians, -regular-featured Mussulmans, Hindoos with jet-black -hair, and Malay Lascars in many-colored turbans, -fez, and scarf; grinning soot-black negroes, Polish Jews in -furred caps and long coats, Magyars in Hessians and pelisses; -Bohemian nurses in Czechen costume, a colored -handkerchief in the hair; dark-eyed young <i>bourgeoises</i> in -coquettish black veils; elegant ladies in velvet and point -lace; the gondolier, in his picturesque sailor costume and -broad sash; the Finland peasant, with short skirts, long-dangling -ear-rings, and silver pins; the Maltese with her -<i>fazzoletto</i>; an old <i>Contadino</i>, with short velveteen knee-breeches, -gaiters, and colored cotton umbrella; priests all -in black gown, shovel hat, and black silk stockings; dashing -naval officers; the <i>Guardia Nazionale</i>, and weather-beaten -fishermen with bronzed faces and red Phrygian cap. -We shall have Lord Byron, pale and melancholy, and picturesque -Masaniello; the patriarchs of the Greek Church; the -Spanish beauties, the Swiss peasant, the German Mädchen; -the madcap Harlequin dress of a Spanish princess. Then -there will be all the seasons—winter, for instance, in tulle, -swansdown, and spun glass; the Marie Antoinettes, in pink -brocade with long, square trains and trimmings of Marabout -feathers; the lovely Georgian costume, a Seville gypsy, a -Russian peasant; a flower-girl, a Nymph; Night and Day; -Spanish students and Flemish boors; Pages of Queen<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> -Blanche of Castile; the beautiful white uniform of the -<i>Dragon de Villars</i>; a gothic costume; Charlemagne and -his Paladins. In short—“the Carnival of Venice.” All -this was done, and well done, at a country house and the -adjacent village (a village of not more than fifteen hundred -inhabitants), and for very little money, only a few years -ago.</p> - -<p>The business is done if one only <i>thinks he can do it</i>; -and there are numbers enough to work at it. A boarding-school -holiday, a watering-place, a large town bent on “getting -up something” for charity, should have one such -home behind it, where a natural-born leader will set the -whole thing going, and the picturesque shores of Italy will -give up their delights to some western town, some inland -village, some quiet and decorous hamlet of New England, -where all the inhabitants are dying of <i>ennui</i>.</p> - -<p>But here, from the pictures of our screen, which have -suggested all this, we have been led off from Decorative -Art into the business of giving a ball! We have been entertaining -a motley crowd indeed!</p> - -<div class="center"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="i0">“The day was dull, and dark, and dreary,</div> -<div class="i0">It rained, and the rain was never weary.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>But see! how we have cheated the clouds! The rainy -fortnight has been the most dissipated season possible—all -owing to our happy device of getting up a fancy ball—one -of the very many pleasant thoughts which have grown out -of screens and screen-making.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="VIII" id="VIII">VIII.</a><br /> -EMBROIDERY AND OTHER DECORATIVE ARTS.</h2> - -<p>Let us return to our three legitimate decorations—our -fan-painting, our screen-painting, and our embroideries.</p> - -<p>Of Embroidery the world is full, and at its best estate. -The foolish old German wool-worsted work has gone out, -and in its place we have the very elaborate church needle-work -of the Middle Ages, and, better still, its tapestry.</p> - -<p>Some ingenious lady discovered that a plain piece of -carpet made a very good background for a rich curtain, -after a few stitches of embroidery were added; and it took -but one step farther for another lady to find in cotton -velvet a good background for tapestry. The figures are -sketched on, and then the embroidery is artistically added, -in the style of the thirteenth century, when the characters -were outlined by a single line, which also designates the -shape and folds of the garments. These outlines are filled -in with masses of stitches in two or three shades of color. -It is best, in making tapestry, to adhere to this simplicity, -as in attempting the later richness of the Gobelins the work -degenerates into a vulgar imitation.</p> - -<p>And in stitching away at the tapestry frame, the well-read -mamma might give her daughters a little sketch of -the history of tapestry. How once these artistic draperies -were the adornments of those stone castles which knew no -plastered walls. How they caught the story of the “Iliad” -and “Odyssey,” the scenes from the Bible, the whole story<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> -of mythology, the history of great wars. There hangs to-day, -at Blenheim, a perfect set of pictures of the victories -of the great Duke of Marlborough, done for him by the -pious Belgian nuns.</p> - -<p>But those works anterior to the sixteenth century have -the greatest interest for the student of tapestry. Gold -thread and silk were freely used in their embellishment, -and the effect is rather that of a mosaic than of a picture. -The greens are a study. They are produced with a dark -blue for the dark, and a yellow for the light tints. The -wonderful work of Matilda, called the Bayeux tapestry, -wrought on brown linen; the many historical pieces found -in Italy, done in wools; and the collections all over Europe, -show a mastery over the needle which we have lost.</p> - -<p>But it was left for Francis I, of France, to establish the -most renowned factory for these beautiful things, when at -Fontainebleau he founded what is now the <i>Gobelins</i>. The -Gobelins were two Dutch dyers of wool, celebrated for -their brilliant scarlets, who eventually gave their name to -the art, and a “Gobelin” got to mean a tapestry. Under -Louis XIV the Luxurious this manufactory attained to -highest importance. They became the Herters and Marcottes -of France. Colbert, the Prime Minister, united -under one head all the different bands of workmen who -were employed on furniture and decorations for the royal -palaces of France. To the weavers of carpets and tapestry -were added embroiderers, goldsmiths, wood-carvers, dyers, -etc. Charles Lebrun and his pupils were charged with -furnishing designs. Lebrun himself furnished over twenty-four -hundred designs. In 1667 Louis himself paid a visit -of state to the manufactory, accompanied by Colbert, and -examined the magnificent carpets, tapestries, silver plate, -and carvings which formed the splendid “Manufactory of -Furniture to the Crown.” This great establishment, however, -went down, as Louis lost money; and after the death<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> -of Lebrun (he was father to the wretched husband of pretty -Madame Le Brun) it returned to its original function of -producing tapestry. These Gobelin tapestries grew to be -the most wonderful reproduction of pictures ever seen.</p> - -<p>But why, one pauses to ask, try to reproduce a picture -“done in oils” by the laborious process of needle-work or -weaving? Why by process of mosaic? It is one of the -useless fancies of the human race. The old tapestry, done -by hand when there were no Gobelins, had a meaning and -a use. So has the modern tapestry done by hand. It is -cheap, it is individual, it is original; but for the Gobelins, -that favorite luxury of kings, we fail to see an excuse. -However, it is very beautiful, expensive, and rare.</p> - -<p>The process of tapestry weaving is called the “<i>haute -lisse</i>,” the warp being placed vertically, in contradistinction -to the “<i>basse lisse</i>,” a work with a horizontal warp, as -is usual. The weaver stands with the model which he is to -copy behind him. As the surface of the tapestry must -present a perfectly smooth and even surface, all cuttings -must be made on the wrong side, for the workman never -sees the beautiful work he is doing. This has been made -use of in poetry in the following simile:</p> - -<div class="center"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="i0">“We work but blindly at the loom,</div> -<div class="i2">Nor see the pattern, save in parts;</div> -<div class="i0">Not ours to mark the gleam or bloom,</div> -<div class="i2">But labor on, with patient hearts.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<div class="i0">“But when the angels overhead</div> -<div class="i2">The soul-wrought tapestry unfurls,</div> -<div class="i0">Perhaps the tears we vainly shed</div> -<div class="i2">May glow amid the threads—like pearls.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<div class="i0">“The sorrow which has crushed the heart</div> -<div class="i2">A lily blooms, on azure field;</div> -<div class="i0">The strife in which we bore our part</div> -<div class="i2">In bud and flower may stand revealed.”</div> -</div></div></div> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span></p> -<p>The Gobelins used gold, silver, pearls, and everything -decorative in their work, at times, to produce effect. The -first Revolution brought destruction to the Gobelins, as it -did to everything else, and many choice pieces were burned. -But it rose again under the first Napoleon, David furnishing -designs. In 1871 the Communists again set fire to the -manufactory, burning up the exhibition-room. Four hundred -thousand dollars was the estimated loss. But when -we remember that there perished tapestries of the fourteenth -and fifteenth centuries, including the “Acts of the -Apostles” by Raphael, and the now valuable, graceful, although -affected, charming designs of Boucher, which were -wrought for Pompadour, besides historical portraits and -scenes, this seems a low estimate. The embroidery of the -cartoons of Raphael, copies of which may be seen at Hampton -Court, were among the greatest of the Gobelin triumphs.</p> - -<p>However, to those who have walked the galleries of -Florence, who have seen there the grand and beautiful -specimens of embroidered tapestry of the sixteenth century, -there will ever be a charm about old tapestry in the -crude perspective and the sudden shading. It is this, -perhaps, which can be copied. It is this to which the -modern tapestry worker should address herself, if among -the amusements of home she counts the making of curtains, -and wall-coverings, and <i>portières</i>, which shall -almost suggest the possibility that they once hung in a -Florentine or a Venetian palace. A dark background of -some cheap woolen stuff, a knowledge of drawing, the -silk and woolen and cotton and linen threads now -brought to our hand so cheaply—will all furnish forth -the appliances for the making of tapestry hangings, such -as a castellan of the Middle Ages would not have despised.</p> - -<p>Painting on fans has become a very common Home<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> -Amusement, and it is a very elegant one. The white silk -fan is usually selected, although linen, satin, and wood fans -are all easy and pleasant mediums. For painting on silk, -some technical knowledge is necessary, some gum-water, or -sizing, to prevent the paint from spreading. For painting -on wood, one needs only the common water-color box, and -a simple knowledge of drawing and painting. Flowers, -birds, and butterflies are the favorite devices, monograms -having gone out of fashion. It is better, if possible, to -have the silk stretched on a frame before it is mounted on -sticks, as one still sees the masterpieces of Boucher, Watteau, -and Greuze, not yet mounted, but framed, in galleries—far -too precious to mount, the Marchioness who ordered -them having, perhaps, fortunately forgotten her caprice -that we may admire it.</p> - -<p>And what pretty and pleasing and altogether historical -memories come in with the fan! It was created in primeval -ages. The Egyptian ladies had them of lotus-leaves; -the Greek and Roman ladies followed. The word <i>flabellum</i> -occurs often in the Roman literature. They also had fans -of peacock-feathers, and of some expansive material painted -in brilliant colors. They were not made to open and shut -like ours; that is a modern invention. They were stiff, -with long handles, for ladies were fanned by their slaves. -The <i>flabellifer</i>, or fan-bearer, was some young attendant, -generally male, whose common business it was to carry his -mistress’s fan. Would that were the fashion now! There -is a Pompeian painting of Cupid as the fan-bearer of -Ariadne, and lamenting her desertion by Theseus. In -Queen Elizabeth’s day the fan was usually made of feathers, -like the fan still used in the East. The handle was -richly ornamented, and set with stones. A fashionable -lady was never without her fan, which was chained to -her girdle by a jeweled chain. A satirist of the day, -Stephen Gosson, approves of the fan if used to drive away<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> -flies and for cooling the skin. He, however, continues -scornfully:</p> - -<div class="center"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="i0">“But seeing they were still in hand,</div> -<div class="i2">In house, in field, in church, in street,</div> -<div class="i0">In summer, winter, water, land,</div> -<div class="i2">In cold, in heat, in dry, in wet—</div> -<div class="i0">I judge they are for wives such tools</div> -<div class="i0">As babies are in plays for fools.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>Queen Elizabeth dropped a silver-handled fan into the -moat at Amstead Hall, which occasioned many madrigals. -Sir Francis Drake presented to his royal mistress a “fan of -feathers, white and red, enameled with a half-moon of -mother-of-pearl; within that a half-moon garnished with -sparks of diamonds, and a few seed pearls on one side. -Having her Majesty’s picture within it, and on the reverse -a crow.” Why not try, young ladies, to paint a fan like -this? Use silver dust to illustrate “sparks of diamonds.” -It would be a very pretty conceit.</p> - -<p>Poor Leicester gave, as his New Year’s gift, in 1574, “a -fan of white feathers set in a handle of gold, garnished on -one side with two very fair emeralds, and fully garnished -with rubies and diamonds, and on each side a white bear -(his cognizance), and two pearls hanging, a lion romping, -with a white muzzled bear at his foot.” This fan would -be difficult to copy. It was evidently a love-token from -poor, ill-used Leicester to his haughty queen. Just before -Christmas, in 1595, Elizabeth went to Kew, dined at my -Lord Keeper’s house, and there was handed her a “fine fan, -with a handle garnished with diamonds.”</p> - -<p>Fans in Shakespeare’s time seem to have been composed -of ostrich-feathers, and so on, stuck into handles. In -“Love and Honor,” by Sir William Davenant, we find the -line,</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>“All your plate, Vasco, is the silver handle of your old prisoner’s -fan.”</p></blockquote> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span></p> - -<p>Marston says:</p> - -<div class="center"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="i22">“Another, he</div> -<div class="i0">Her silver-handled fan would gladly be.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>Forty pounds were often given for a fan in Elizabeth’s -time. Bishop Hall, in his “Satires,” in 1597, says:</p> - -<div class="center"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="i0">“While one piece pays her idle waiting man,</div> -<div class="i0">Or buys a hood, or silver-handled fan.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>The fan of the Countess of Suffolk resembles a powder-puff.</p> - -<p>But gentlemen carried fans in those days. We find in -a manuscript in the Ashmolean Museum, at Oxford, the -following allusion: “The gentlemen then had prodigious -fans, as is to be seen in old pictures, like that instrument -which is used to dry feathers, and it had a handle at least -one half as long, with which their daughters oftentimes -were corrected. Sir Edward Cole, Lord Chief Justice, -rode the circuit with such a fan, and William Dugdale told -me he was witness of it.” The Earl of Manchester also -used such a fan. “But the fathers and mothers slasht their -daughters, in the time of their besom-discipline, when they -were perfect women.” Both fashions have happily passed -away. Lords Chief Justices no longer “slash” their daughters, -nor do they carry fans.</p> - -<p>Of Catharine de Braganza (1664) we read that she and -her maids walked from Whitehall in procession to St. -James’s Palace through the park in glittering costume of -silver lace in the bright morning sunshine. Parasols being -unknown in England at that era, the courtly belles used -the gigantic green shading-fans, which had been introduced -by the Queen and her Portuguese ladies, to shield -their complexions from the sun, when they did not wish -wholly to obscure their charms by putting on their masks. -Both were in general use in this reign. The green shading-fan -is of Moorish origin, and for more than a century after<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> -the marriage of Catharine of Braganza was considered an -indispensable luxury by our fair and stately ancestral dames, -who used them in open carriages, in the promenade, and -at prayers, where they ostentatiously screened their devotions -from public view by spreading them before their faces -while they knelt.</p> - -<p>But China and Japan—the home of fans—are waiting -to be let in! and as soon as the India trade was opened by -Catharine’s marriage treaty, there entered the carved ivory -fan, the light bamboo and palm-leaf, the paper fan, the -silk folding fan, mounted on beautiful Japanese sticks; all -came to England about this time.</p> - -<p>The vellum fans of France, on which Watteau first -painted his shepherdesses in hoop-petticoats, and swains in -full-bottomed wigs, the choice impossible goddesses of -Boucher, with cupids and nymphs, all came next. The -history of fans, in France alone, would fill a volume; and -the neighboring kingdom of Spain, where the language of -fans has become a very serious study, would give us another -volume. The fans of tortoise-shell, enriched with jewels, -are a favorite luxury of to-day. Oliver Wendell Holmes -has written a delightful poem on the “Origin of the Fan.” -In all our art loan collections there is, nowadays, an exhibition -of fans. The young student of fan-painting should -strive to see some of those of Watteau and of Boucher. -Tiffany to-day turns out some very beautiful specimens; -and more than one of our artists could admirably paint a -fan or two as his contribution to Fan History.</p> - -<p>Nothing can be prettier as a Home Amusement than -fan-painting, into which much, but not too much, Japanese -suggestion should creep. Remember, young ladies, the -plea of that poor stork, of which we have seen so much, -“that he be allowed to put down his other leg!” and spare -us the gilded bird, or give him to us but seldom.</p> - -<p>The art of Illumination, which is now studied occa<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>sionally -by our young ladies, goes wonderfully well into -fan-painting. Perhaps it is too good for it. Perhaps the -same hand which can copy the old initial letter which -makes the missals rich and rare, should not condescend to -the application of the same delicate manipulation in order -to ornament a fan. But a fan of vellum, painted by an -illuminator, is still a very beautiful thing.</p> - -<p>A fan painted to illustrate a song or a ballad is a very -pretty thing. The common linen fan, on which a clever -hand draws with pencil or ink the story of “Mary, Mary, -quite contrary,” becomes a precious possession. And in -these days of Kate Greenaways and Rosina Emmets we -ought to have many charming fan decorators. We should -not object if they selected the old-fashioned <i>maniéré</i> goddesses, -hovering cupids, smiling nymphs, and <i>posé</i> infants -of Boucher, if they would give us his cool, pearly grays, -and sweet, soft rose tints. We have had enough of realism -and ugliness, disagreeable cat-tails, and harsh, dirty -Joan of Arcs. Let us have a little beauty by way of a -change, at least on our fans. Perhaps we could “live up -to it.”</p> - -<p>Nor should we fail to note the pleasant possibility of all -the dinner-cards of a winter coming fresh from the hands -of the young ladies of the family. What infinite suggestion -does one glimpse of the garden on a June morning -give to the fair artist! We can imagine that some poetical -member should thus summon and direct her sister and -brother artists in the following manner:</p> - -<p>“Do give me, Rosamond, that spray of sweet-brier -which has caught a bit of spider-web over its sweetest -pink bud. Throw in that green dragon-fly who is about -to dart through the spider’s web. Give me, Grace, that -morning-glory cup with a yellow butterfly floating over it. -It will shame the best Venetian glass of Mrs. Crœsus.</p> - -<p>“You, Jane, paint me those dandelions, strewed by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> -some millionaire who is tired of his gold. You, Constance, -take this volume of the old poets, and hunt up appropriate -mottoes to write under these fancies from Nature. They -shall illuminate our dinners of next winter, and breathe -the breath of Nature through our stiff conventionality. -They shall be our visitors from Titania.</p> - -<p>“Yes, a happy thought! You, Mary, who are so akin -to the fairies, give us your kindred. Paint me Oberon and -Queen Mab giving a banquet in yon lily. What a splendid -and baronial apartment! How the golden shower falls on -their royal heads from those laden stamens! True courtiers -they, who never stop flattering. Suggest, if you can, -with your brush, the perfume of luxury which is born and -bred in this royal pavilion. Show me their delicate guests. -Here comes the Butterfly, most <i>repandu</i> of beaus; and the -Humming-bird, rich bachelor (hard to catch), who dashes -in for a look at the beauties, and away again—you can put -him in; he is a type for a dinner-card.</p> - -<p>“And you, Paul, who are of a strong, masculine, satirical -turn, shall make all these frogs and toads into guests in -another set of dinner-cards. Give me the frog as an Ambassador. -I like his pouting throat, his puffy air—it so -simulates importance. How grand and disdainful he is! -I declare, he looks so like old Mr. ——! But do not make -a portrait; that would give offense. These toads are just -about as lively and as brilliant as the rank and file of -diners-out. Put them all in Worth dresses. Make the -dishes on the table after Hawthorne’s delicate fancy, the -shapes of summer vegetables—squashes, cucumbers, pea-pods. -What is that pretty poem I remember about Pods?</p> - -<div class="center"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="i0">“‘The Monk’s-hood and the Shepherd’s-purse,</div> -<div class="i2">And the Poppy’s pepper-caster;</div> -<div class="i0">The Rose’s scarlet reticule,</div> -<div class="i2">And the somber box of the Aster;</div> -<div class="i0">Nasturtion’s biting brandy-flask,</div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> -<div class="i2">Infused with a wholesome smart;</div> -<div class="i0">And the Milkweed’s knot of white floss silk,</div> -<div class="i2">Which will not come apart;</div> -<div class="i0">For next to the bud where the Poppy nods,</div> -<div class="i2">And the sweet Moss-rose—are the late Seed-pods.’”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>“Yes,” said Mary, “pods are very pretty.”</p> - -<p>Well, we have, perhaps, talked nonsense enough about -the dinner-cards. It is a pretty Home Amusement for -the back piazza in summer, or for the close and guarded -warm home parlor of winter. Give us the results of -both, young ladies. And since all the wealthy chromo -people are offering such splendid sums for the Christmas, -Easter, and even advertising cards, why should not -every group try their hand at the—perhaps—thousand dollar -prize?</p> - -<p>Here is a suggestion for a Christmas card: A group of -young pagans going out of the Catacombs are represented -as strewing flowers and singing gay songs. On the other -side a group of austere early Christians are coming in, singing -hymns. Between the two a ray of light comes down -through a fissure of the roof and forms a cross. The religion -that is going out, the religion that is coming in—the -cross is between them. How much a clever hand could -make of this moment of time, so replete with interest to -all the world!</p> - -<p>It would seem as if, with all the suggestions of Easter, -that no one would need anything but a paint-box and a -pack of blank cards to interest them at this season. We -should have the World being hatched out of an egg; the -Saxon goddess Eastre; the Legend of the Stork; the German -children searching for the Nest in the garden where -the Easter-hen had laid her egg; the great Sunburst; the -Sun dancing on Easter morning; the games of mediæval -England, when the women played ball at one end of the -town and the men at the other, and one fine couple taking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> -occasion to run away to get married on the sly. The -Easter Egg is full of meat for the artist.</p> - -<p>Growing out of these thoughts comes up the great and -increasing taste for symbolism, which finds its highest exponent -in church embroidery. The Catholic Church has -ever been a good customer of the decorative art schools. -It needs and consumes or uses much embroidery. But the -pious women of Protestant communion now also deem it a -duty and a pleasure to decorate the altars of their beloved -churches with much that is symbolic and beautiful, and it -is a favorite form of Home Amusement to create an altar-cloth -or some draperies which shall engross an hour or two -a day of the time of the best embroideresses in the family.</p> - -<div class="figright"> -<img src="images/i_061.png" width="55" height="54" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p>The favorite symbols are these: The Cross in its various -forms; the monogram composed of the Greek letters Χ -(<i>Ch</i>) and Ρ (<i>R</i>), the first two in the name of -<span class="smcap">Christ</span>; the Apocalyptic letters Α and Ω (<i>Alpha</i> -and <i>Omega</i>), often combined into a monogram; -and the Greek characters ΙΗΣ, the first -three letters in the name ΙΗΣΟΥΣ (<span class="smcap">Jesus</span>). -This last symbol is sometimes interpreted thus, in Latin: -<i>J[esus], H[ominum] S[alvator]</i>—<span class="smcap">Jesus, of Men the Saviour</span>.</p> - -<p>Less frequent is the Fish, which was often used by the -early Christians as a kind of secret sign of their faith, the -reason being that ΙΧΘΥΣ, the Greek word for “fish,” contains -the initials of an article of their creed, thus: Ι[ησοῦς] -Χ[ριστὸς], Θ[εοῦ] Υ[ιὸς], Σ[ωτὴρ]—<i>Jesus Christ, God’s Son, -the Saviour</i>.</p> - -<p>Besides the foregoing, we have the Ship, indicating the -Church, as typified by Noah’s Ark; the Anchor (always in -close connection with the ship) entwined with a dolphin—emblems -of Fortitude, Faith, and Hope; the Dove, occasionally -bearing the olive-branch—the symbol of Christian -Charity and Meekness; the Phœnix and the Peacock—sym<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span>bols -of Eternity; the Cock of Watchfulness; the Lyre of -the Worship of God; the Palm-branch—the heathen symbol -of Victory, but in a Christian sense that of Victory -over Death; the Sheaf; the Bunch of Grapes, with other -Biblical signs and allusions, such as the Hart at the Brook; -the Brazen Serpent; the Ark of the Covenant; the Seven-branched -Candlestick; the Serpent in the Garden of Eden; -and, lastly, the Cross, with flowers, with a Crown, with a -dove hovering about it. Many of these decorative symbols -suggest themselves to the contemplative mind, and enter -into the appropriate designs for ecclesiastical embroidery.</p> - -<p>This embroidery must be beautifully executed to be -worthy of its mission. The face of Christ has been so exquisitely -wrought by some devout embroideresses that it is -like a painting. The work should be done in a frame, and -after considerable study.</p> - -<p>And how pleasant a study for a winter evening becomes -the universal subject of symbolism! We learn that the -Eagle and the Thunderbolt were the symbols of Power -under pagan mythology, because the attributes of the highest -among the gods. The Rod, with the two serpents, indicated -Commerce, because Mercury, whose insignia they were, was -the God of Traffic. The Club, the emblem of Strength, -was the attribute of Hercules. The Griffin—most useful -animal for all decorative purposes—was sacred to Apollo. -The symbol of the Sphinx was taken from the fable of -Œdipus. We are coming back to the Oriental method of -teaching by parables in all our new internal decoration; -and for the illuminator the knowledge is priceless.</p> - -<p>We mount up from these simpler emblems to a consideration -of the myths of Niobe, of Cupid and Psyche, of -Orpheus captivating the wild beasts of the forest by the -sound of his lyre, in which was supposed to lurk an analogy -of the history of our Lord. Then we come down to the -materialism of the ancients, by which a river is symbolized<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> -by a river-god; a city, by a goddess with a mural crown; -night, by a female figure with a torch and a star-bespangled -robe; heaven, by a male figure throwing a veil in an arched -form over his head. All these reflections, born of study -and leading to it, are brought in by the practical application -now made in embroidery, painting, and wall-decorations; -and it would be well if, among the Home Amusements, -these graver studies went hand in hand with the -pleasant duties of embroidery and illuminating cards and -books.</p> - -<p>Ole Bull says that he arrived at his wonderful effects -upon the violin less by manual practice than by meditation. -It would be well to <i>think</i> much over the subject of -art. He <i>practiced</i> less and <i>thought</i> more, it is said, than -other violinists. No occupation conduces more to quiet -and pleasant thought than that of embroidery. We want -realism; but we also want idealism. There is no sort of -doubt that Art, once admitted as a friend of the family, -becomes the greatest instigator of all sorts of Home Amusements, -whether peeping out through the paint-box, the -needle, the embroidering-frame, the etching tool, or the -turpentine-bottle and the mineral paints which are to -decorate the plaque. Art is a sprite whose acquaintance -should be cultivated.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="IX" id="IX">IX.</a><br /> -ETCHING.</h2> - -<p>“Good etching is the poetry of drawing, written down -rapidly in short-hand.” No doubt many a very orderly -mamma, who has had a son or daughter afflicted with a -mania for etching, as so many young people are now, -has a vision of bath-tubs misappropriated to mixtures -of what looked very unlike clear water for cleansing purposes, -and which turned out to have plates of copper inside -waiting for a bite of acid. Such mammas will blame us -for calling this a Home Amusement; they call it—it is to -be feared—“a Nuisance.” And yet what form of Art is -so near the highest forms of poetry? The etcher is next -door to his subject and his public. He has but the ink -and himself between that cloud-shadow and them.</p> - -<p>Etching is defined by some writers as the stenography -of artistic thought; a system of short-hand writing. Given -a copper plate, an etching-needle, and the proper knowledge—easily -learned—of the action of the acid, and etching -can be done at home as well as crochet or embroidery; and -as only the simplest lines and the simplest curves are admissible, -the question of merit narrows itself to one of -intelligent combination. The best etching is that which -combines the maximum of speed with the maximum of -expressional clearness; so that the landscape may be written -on a “monument less perishable than brass,” while the -thought is fresh and vivid. An artist can see in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> -short-hand of an etching the glory of a sunset amid its -clouds.</p> - -<p>Highly-elaborated drawings can also be reproduced by -etchings as in no other way, as we have learned by consulting -the Magazines and Art Periodicals of the day; and -although a great etcher must have a genius for it, many -without genius can learn the art. An etching is not a -skeleton of a picture, but a <i>résumé</i>. Samuel Palmer, Frederic -Taylor, and Hook, in England; Jules Jacquemart, -Flameny, Rajou, Boilvin, Le Rat, Hédouin, Greux, Courtey, -Laguillermie, and others, in France, have taught us -what a beautiful <i>résumé</i> it is, not to speak of our own -gifted interpreters. The original etchers can produce strong -sentiment concerning life and nature; and although there -is at first discouraging uncertainty about results, yet there -is a great chance of success.</p> - -<p>And the capriciousness of the thing is one of its charms, -as it is, like poetic expression, dependable upon personal -thought and feeling. It is like the success which attends -upon a happy hit in poetry when one makes a good etching, -yet a certain amount of mechanical exactitude can always -be acquired. Let the boys and girls of a large family be -taught etching, and some one will turn out a clever and, -perhaps, a first-rate etcher.</p> - -<p>It is quite too unfortunate that our young girls in the -country do not take more to sketching from Nature, and -to water-color. To sit at one’s window, and, with a “few -telling touches,” to give the trees in the near foreground or -the distant reach of the river, is the every-day amusement -of many an English lady. Our first efforts must be labored, -of course; we must patiently observe and copy what -we see; but then comes the attainment of ease, and our -Home Amusements are infinitely enriched. It is best to -study at first in single tint until one gets accustomed to -form, and then to try varied colors.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span></p> - -<p>The mastery of the three primary colors—yellow, red, -and blue—is the Alpha and Omega of painting. As force -of color is only to be obtained by opposing one of these -singly to all the others combined, they are consequently all -present whenever opposition occurs; and no picture is perfectly -pleasing without the presence of all three, even -though they may be subdued to the most solemn and sober -undertones. Try the effect of mixing the various colors, -and preserve the mixtures you find most useful. But this -is an art which must be learned, and for the elucidation of -which we have no space here.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="X" id="X">X.</a><br /> -LAWN TENNIS.</h2> - -<p>And now we come to what, perhaps, our readers may -imagine we might have come to before—the out-of-door -Games and Amusements which radiate from Home.</p> - -<p>Lawn Tennis is so preëminently the game of the present -moment that we must give it a central place in our volume.</p> - -<p>It has great antiquity, of course. What fashionable -game has not? Did not Agrippina play at croquet, and -Cleopatra institute “Les Graces”? We know that Diana -started archery, for isn’t she always drawn with a bow? -And yet she died an old maid.</p> - -<p>The Greeks styled court tennis as “<i>Sphairistike</i>,” and -the Romans called it <i>Pila</i>. It was the fashionable pastime -of French and English kings. Charles V, of France, and -Henry V, VII, and VIII, of England, were all good tennis -players. Who does not remember the insult which the -French king put upon royal Harry?</p> - -<p>“Tennis balls! My lord?”</p> - -<p>It has been justly described as one of the most ancient -games in Christendom. It became in England the exclusive -sport of the wealthy, owing to the expense of erecting -and maintaining covered courts; for in early days we learn -that it was always played within doors. Indeed, the history -of France is full of it. The unhappy Charles IX gave the -order for the massacre of St. Bartholomew from a tennis -court. The French Revolution was born in one.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span></p> - -<p>But to Major Walter Wingfield do we owe Lawn Tennis. -This officer, of the First Dragoon Guards, attempted, unsuccessfully, -in 1874, to procure a patent for a new game. He -had taken the net out of doors, and no longer did four -walls encompass the players. A little pamphlet is in existence -now which fully establishes the claim of this officer -to the rightful title of inventor of lawn tennis. It is called -“The Major’s Game of Lawn Tennis; dedicated to the -party assembled at Nautelywdjin, December, 1873, by W. -C. W.,” and is illustrated with an elaborate pictorial diagram, -containing a sketch of a lawn tennis court, erected -in a pretty garden. The only difference appreciable to a -modern player in the appearance of the court is that on -one side it is divided into two squares, and that on the -other the server stands in a diamond-shaped space. With -slight exceptions, the game remains as it did when Major -Wingfield invented it.</p> - -<p>Now, in 1881, as in the days of Henry III, of England -(about 1222), it is a favorite with people of superior rank, -well befitting the tastes of the nobility, in the performance -of which they could exercise a commendable zeal, as -also their whole physique; that is to say, it is the fashion. -The name undoubtedly comes from Tennois, in the -French district of Champagne, where balls are manufactured, -and where, it is claimed, the game was first introduced.</p> - -<p>A lawn, well clipped and evenly rolled, is the first -requirement. The courts should be laid rectangularly. -The game should be gotten up with reference to the wind, -the net being set at right angles with it. Thus will be -avoided the tendency of air currents to carry the balls off -or beyond the bounds; and the play will be then against -or with the wind. In either case its influence can be more -accurately calculated.</p> - -<p>The lines of boundary and division should be indicated<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> -upon the greensward by means of whitewash, carefully laid -on with brush and string. The larger or double court -should be seventy-eight feet long by a width of thirty-six -feet, inside measure; and the smaller or single-handed -court seventy-eight by twenty-seven feet, inside measurement. -As in the old game of tennis, so in this, the court -is divided across the middle and at right angles to its greatest -length by a net, so stretched and fastened to and by -two posts, standing three feet outside of the side lines, that -the height of the net at each post for the double-handed or -larger court is four feet, and in the middle over the half-court -line three feet six inches; and for the single-handed -or smaller court four feet nine inches at the posts, and three -feet in the middle over the half-court line. These divisions -are termed courts, and are subdivided into half-courts by a -line midway between the side lines, and running parallel -with the greatest length, which is known as the half-court -line. The four resulting half-courts are respectively divided -by a line on each side of the net, parallel to and twenty-two -feet from it. These two lines, called service lines, it -may be observed, will then be seventeen feet inside of the -lines of boundary for the short sides, known as base lines.</p> - -<p>The implements comprise net, posts, cordage, balls, and -rackets. The net should be taut, the posts straight, the -ball hollow, of India-rubber, covered with white cloth; in -size, two inches and a half; weight, two ounces. The racket -is made with a frame of elastic wood, with a webbing nicely -wrought of catgut. The large-sized rackets made at Philadelphia -and in London are the best.</p> - -<p>The players don a costume of flannel for the purpose, -wearing shoes of canvas with corrugated rubber soles, without -heels. Indeed, a chapter might be written on lawn-tennis -dresses, aprons, and other fancies. But these—so -they are loose and easy, and not long or cumbrous—may be -left to the fancy of the individual.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span></p> - -<p>The choice of sides and the right of serving are left to -the chance of toss, with the proviso that if the winner of -the toss choose the right to serve, the other player shall -have the choice of sides, or <i>vice versa</i>.</p> - -<p>There are double-handed, three-handed, and four-handed -games, each having some variations. In the double-handed -game the players stand on opposite sides of the net. The -player who first delivers the ball is called the server, and -the other the striker-out. The first game having been -played, these interchange; the server becomes the striker-out, -and the striker-out the server; and so alternately in -subsequent games of the set. The server usually announces -the intention to serve by the interrogation “Ready?” If -answered affirmatively, the service is made, the server -standing with one foot outside the base line, and from any -part of the base line of the right and left counts alternately, -beginning with the right.</p> - -<p>The ball so served is required to drop within the service -line, half-court line, and side line of the court which is -diagonally opposite to that from which it was served, where -the service from the base line must fall to be a service. If -the ball served drops on or beyond the service line, if it -drops in the net, if it drops out of the court, or on any of -the lines which bound it, or if it drops in the wrong court, -or, if in attempting to serve, the server fails to strike the -ball, it is a “fault.” A fault can not be taken, but the -ball must be served the second time from the same court -from which the fault was served.</p> - -<p>Though the service is made if the striker-out is not -ready, the service shall be repeated, unless an attempt is -made to return the service on the part of the striker-out; -which action shall be construed to be equivalent to having -been ready. No service is allowed to be “volleyed”; that -is, the striker-out is not allowed to return a service while -the ball is “on the fly,” or before a “bounce.” If such<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> -a return of service is made, it counts a stroke for the -server.</p> - -<p>To properly return a service, and have the ball in play, -the ball is to be played back over the net or between the -posts before it has touched the ground a second time, or -while on the “first bounce,” and is subject to no bounds -other than the side and base lines of the court. After the -ball is in play, it may be struck while “on the fly,” but -policy would dictate a bounce to determine whether or not -it has been played beyond the boundaries of the court. A -ball served, or in play, may touch the net, and be a good -service or return. If it touches the top cord it is termed a -“let,” a “life,” or a “net” ball, and need not be played -if it drops just inside the net, on the striker-out side, but -must be served again. Should it fall on the service side, -or in the wrong court on the striker-out side, or out of -bounds, it counts a “fault.” If, however, it falls so as to -be a good return, in any stage of the game other than -service, it must be played as a good ball. In play, if the -striker-out volleys the service, or the ball in play, or fails -to return the service or the ball in play, or returns the -service or the ball in play so that it drops untouched by -the server, on or outside of any of the lines which bound -the court, or if the striker-out otherwise loses a stroke, as -we will find presently, when we consider the conditions -common to both server and striker-out, the server wins a -stroke.</p> - -<p>In the handling of the racket the greatest dexterity -may be attained by careful study and practice. The twist -ball is a feature of the game which good players utilize to -the greatest advantage. The uncertainty of its bounces is -calculated to outwit the most adroit.</p> - -<p>Since, under certain conditions of failure on the part -of the striker-out, the advantage in count of a stroke comes -to the server, so, too, the striker-out reaps a harvest if<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> -the server serves two consecutive faults, or if the server -fails to return the ball in play, or if the server returns the -ball in play so that it drops untouched by the striker-out -on or outside any of the lines which bound the court, -or if the server loses a stroke under conditions common to -both server and striker-out, in any of which cases the -striker-out wins a stroke. There are conditions under -which each player loses a stroke: If the service-ball, or -ball in play, touches the player, or anything worn or -carried by him, except the racket in the act of striking; -or if the player strikes or touches the service-ball, -or ball in play, with the racket more than once; or if in -returning the service-ball, or ball in play, the player -touches the net with any part of the body, or with the -racket, or with anything that is worn or carried; or if the -ball touches either of the posts; so if the player strikes -the ball before it has passed the net, or if the service-ball, -or ball in play, drops or falls upon a ball lying in either -of the players’ courts. So much for the conditions under -which the players, either server or striker-out, win or lose -a stroke.</p> - -<p>As for scoring, there are two systems, each of which has -its adherents. Both should be understood, and the more -thoroughly the player understands both, the more at ease -will he be in any company with whom he may be playing.</p> - -<p>The first plan is this: The first stroke won counts for -the player, winning a score of fifteen; the second stroke -won by the same player counts for that player an additional -score of fifteen, making a total of thirty; the third stroke -won counts for him an additional ten, making the score -forty. Unless there is a tie of forty, the fourth stroke -won by that player entitles him to score game. If, however, -both players have won three strokes, the score is called -<i>deuce</i>, and so on until at the score of deuce either player<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> -wins two consecutive strokes, when the game is scored for -that player. Six games constitute a “set,” and the player -who first wins them wins the set, unless in case both players -win five games, when the score is called “games-all,” and -the next game won by either player is scored advantage -game for that player. If the same player wins the next -game he wins the set. If he loses the next game, the score -is again called “games-all”; and so on until at the score -of games-all either player wins two consecutive games, when -he wins the set. An exception to this is where an agreement -is entered into not to play advantage sets, but to -decide the set by one game after arriving at the score of -games-all. In this mode of scoring both the server and the -striker-out are entitled to count, while in the “alternative -method” it is different.</p> - -<p>An alternative method of scoring is as follows, in which -the term “hand-in” is substituted for “server,” and -“hand-out” for “striker-out.” In this system the hand-in -alone is able to score. If he loses a stroke he becomes -hand-out, and his opponent becomes hand-in, and serves his -turn. Fifteen points won constitutes the game. If both -players have won fourteen points, the game is set to three, -and the score called “love-all.” The hand-in continues to -serve, and the player who first scores three points wins the -game. If he or his partner loses a stroke, the other side -shall be hand-in. During the remainder of the game, when -the first hand-in has been put out, his partner shall serve, -beginning from the court from which the last service was -not delivered, and when both partners have been put out, -then the other side shall be hand-in.</p> - -<p>The <i>hand-in</i> shall deliver the service in accordance with -the restrictions mentioned for the server, and the opponents -shall receive the service alternately, each keeping the court -which he originally occupied. In all subsequent strokes -the ball may be returned by either partner on each side.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> -The privilege of being hand-in two or more successive -times may be given.</p> - -<p>What has been said of double-handed games applies -equally well to the three-handed and four-handed games, -except that in the three-handed game the single player -shall serve in every alternate game; in the four-handed -game the pair who have the right to serve in the first game -may decide which partner shall do so, and the opposing -pair may decide similarly for the second game. The partner -of the player who served in the first game shall serve -in the third, and the partner of the player who served in -the second game shall serve in the fourth, and so on. In -the same order, in all the subsequent games of a set or series -of sets, the players shall take the service alternately throughout -each game.</p> - -<p>No player shall receive or return a service delivered to -his partner; and the order of service and of striking-out -once arranged, shall not be altered; nor shall the strikers-out -change courts to receive the service before the end of -the set. The players change sides at the end of every set. -When a series of sets is played, the player who was server -in the last game of one set shall be striker-out in the first -game of the next.</p> - -<p>A <i>Bisque</i> is one stroke which may be claimed by the -receiver of the odds at any time during a set, except that -a bisque may not be taken after the service has been delivered. -The server may not take a bisque after a fault, but -the striker-out may do so. One or more bisques may be -given in augmentation or diminution of other odds.</p> - -<p><i>Half-fifteen</i> is one stroke given at the beginning of the -second and every subsequent alternate game of a set.</p> - -<p><i>Fifteen</i> is one stroke given at the beginning of every -game of a set.</p> - -<p><i>Half-thirty</i> is one stroke given at the beginning of the -first game, two strokes given at the beginning of the second<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> -game, and so on alternately in all the subsequent games of -a set.</p> - -<p><i>Thirty</i> is two strokes given at the beginning of every -game of a set.</p> - -<p><i>Half-forty</i> is two strokes given at the beginning of the -first game, three strokes at the beginning of the second, -and so on alternately in all the subsequent games of the -set.</p> - -<p><i>Forty</i> is three strokes given at the beginning of every -game of a set.</p> - -<p><i>Half-court</i> is when the players having agreed into which -court the giver of the odds of half-court shall play, the -latter loses a stroke if the ball returned by him drops outside -any of the lines which bound that court.</p> - -<p>If the game is to be umpired, there should be one for -each side of the net, who shall call play at the beginning of -a game, enforce the rules, and be sole judge of fair and unfair -play, each on his respective side of the net.</p> - -<p>We have followed the best manual and the best opinions -of the most successful players in the above lengthy abstract -for the use of many who may be confused by the -very absurd and contradictory rules published in the newspapers. -These rules of ours are those which were used at -Newport, at the Casino, during the famous Lawn Tournament -of 1880, which was so very interesting, and in which -the victors were rewarded by prizes, from Mr. Bennett, of -silver pitchers, bracelets, and rings of great value; and -which shows that the game of lawn tennis deserved the -high encomiums pronounced by Henry III on court tennis. -It is a game of science; it does exercise every part of the -body; and it requires skill, good temper, staying power, -judgment, and activity.</p> - -<p>Of course, few groups at home will play with the science -and skill displayed in these tournaments; yet the rules -of the game should be thoroughly learned, and those who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> -play scientifically will avoid those contentions and disputes -which spoil any game.</p> - -<p>It is better in giving a lawn-tennis party not to invite -any but those who really are devotees of the game. As to -others, the absorption of the players makes the party -stupid.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="XI" id="XI">XI.</a><br /> -GARDEN PARTIES.</h2> - -<p>A Garden Party is a scene of enchantment, to which -the lawn-tennis net lends an additional grace and variety.</p> - -<p>A lady, living near a city, who chooses to inaugurate -the season with a garden party, sends her invitations a -week in advance, and carefully incloses a card telling her -guests by what roads, railway trains, and boats she may be -reached. There must be no confusion or lack of carriages -at the end of the route. This hospitality must cover everything. -If the weather is fine and the distance short, ladies -generally drive to these entertainments in gay dresses -and bonnets or hats; for a garden party should look as -much like a Watteau as possible. Those who have had the -advantage of seeing a garden party in England—at Holland -House, or at Buckingham Palace—will remember how -beautiful, finished, and gay a scene it is. A dressy parasol -and a fan hung at the side are indispensable. Ladies go -either in the short Amazonian dresses which the practice -of games has made so fashionable, or else in Worth’s last -and most elegant trailing costumes, trusting to the grass -being dry, and knowing that they can sit on the piazza.</p> - -<p>Most garden-party givers provide band music, which -plays either in the grand hall, or at some spot on the lawn -where dancing can go on. But our turf is not like the -English turf, and modern dancing is not that springing -measure of “young Bertine,” as she bounds under the wal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>nut-trees -of Southern France. So we can not count in -dancing as one of the usual pleasures of a garden party, -unless a broad platform is laid; and this has in its way -a very pretty effect under the trees or in a large tent.</p> - -<p>A garden party is for all ages; so there should be in our -uncertain climate full provision for the elderly, who can -not always spend an afternoon on the lawn. Broad piazzas -are very useful, and much enjoyed by those who fear our -treacherous malarious soil; and if one can not exercise, it -is better to sit on a piazza than on the grass.</p> - -<p>As it is always prone to rain at picnics and garden parties, -it is better to have the refreshments in the house. -Gentlemen can run into the banquet-hall and get a plate -of lobster-salad for a lady, or the waiters can carry the -refreshments about; but for a sudden shower of rain to -descend on a table is miserable, and defeats the object of -the table.</p> - -<p>The lady of the house, however, often improvises a hasty -roof or covering for her table, put up by the carpenter at -a small outlay, if she is determined to have everything -<i>al fresco</i>. Frozen coffee, iced tea, punch, ice-cream croquets, -salads, jellies, pressed turkey, potted meats, <i>pâté de -foie gras</i>, and sandwiches, are spread about. Do not attempt -any hot dishes at a garden party; they are out of -place, and impossible.</p> - -<p>The garden party is said to be “the first hybrid which -unites society and nature.” It is a growing taste with us -Americans, and will grow to be a greater favorite as time -goes on. The popularity of the game of archery, that -relic of Robin Hood and Maid Marion, “that vision of Lincoln -green,” is now added to lawn tennis, croquet, and -“<i>les Graces</i>,” as one of the most popular features of a garden -party. One would think that there was nothing needed -but the long sweep of the trees upon the lawn, the vision -of the distant city, the flower-beds where geraniums and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> -calceolaria vie in color, the “pleached alley,” the buttercup -in the grass, the Watteau-like picture, or groups of -gay ladies and gallant cavaliers causing “unpremeditated -effects” to make the garden party agreeable. But there is -always a need of preparation for such a party. No lady -should trust alone to the power of her guests to amuse themselves. -She must do all that she can.</p> - -<p>In the country a lady can wait for a day of fine weather, -and invite her guests only the day before. The grounds -and garden walks, the lawn tennis, the archery, should all -be in order, and a few chairs out under the trees. It is not -long before all her guests begin to enjoy themselves in their -own way, and to appreciate how much better a room is -made by the Gothic arch of the trees than by any sort of -cramped-up house arrangement.</p> - -<p>One can be more general in the invitations to a garden -party than to any other; for if people like each other they -can group together, and if they do not, they can easily walk -apart, and get rid of each other. In a small room, particularly -at a dinner party, how two people can glow and -glare at each other, to the dreadful dismay of the hostess! -But at a garden party Nature is too wide for them. They -are almost obliged to seem amused whether they are or not. -If not at all amused, they can, however, go and sulk under -the lilacs. Those fragrant vegetables will not care whether -the guests sulk or smile.</p> - -<p>Every country house has its charms. How lovely a garden -party can be given at the Locusts, when all those trees -are in flower, sending down the perfume of Araby the Blest! -How the perfume reminds one of St. John’s Gardens, Oxford, -when the lime-trees are in bloom, and every bough is -laden with wild bees who make a music as they sip! A -flowering tree is the most perfect thing which Adam and -Eve saved from Paradise. One seems, in inhaling its fragrance, -to have just recovered from a long illness.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span></p> - -<p>The best part of a spring or early summer garden party -is this first whiff of fragrance which is brought to the disused -or insulted nostril of the city. We little know until -then how the most aristocratic of the senses has been -wronged. We are always, and all of us, most patient over our -city bad smells until we go into the country and realize -what a bath of delicious odors a forest is—a bit of woodland, -a field of growing grass, one sweet cherry-tree, an -apple-blossom, a violet! The perfume of lilacs is the perfume -of luxury; and the first scythe of the mower, as it -sweeps through the young blood of the grass, reveals a -thousand scent-bottles all uncorked for our use. A lady -in giving a garden party should always have a bundle of -new-mown hay somewhere about the grounds.</p> - -<p>And at the garden party what may not those who sit -on the benches remember? All the sprightly, frivolous, -charming figures who seem to have posed for us at garden -parties in France! Philippe d’Orléans and La Phalaris; -the Duc de Richelieu and the Abbess de Chelles; Watteau, -Voltaire, Carmargo; Louis XV, with Pompadour and Du -Barry; Boucher and Vanloo; Greuze, Voisenon, and Bernis; -Guimaud and Sophie Arnould; Crébillon, the tragic, -and Dancourt, the gay! What a faithful study of naiads -and hamadryads did the beautiful women of these days -suggest to the artists at those garden parties when, toward -the end of spring, the trees were in blossom, and -the enameled grass carpeted the parks! Madame de Pompadour -asked Louis XV to come and see her hermitage! -Venus, Hebe, Diana the huntress, the three Graces—all -were in order! The garden itself a masterpiece of attraction—a -wood, rather than a garden—a wood peopled with -statues, formed of verdant and odorous arcades, of charming -groves, of dark, shaded retreats. Such was the <i>Parc -aux Cerfs</i>.</p> - -<p>We think again of the rose-tree of Jean Jacques at the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> -hermitage. We remember Dufresny, who “studied love -in his heart, grandeur at the court, war upon the field of -battle, architecture in the erection of buildings, <i>nature in -his garden</i>, music in song.” Dufresny was in love with -gardens. A poet, a friend of Louis XIV, he loved roses -better than any other luxury. It was he who broke up -the stiff, old-fashioned plan of gardening at Vincennes, and -introduced Nature with her charming caprices and fairy -fantasies. It was he who said, “Cultivating roses, marking -out paths, planting hedges, is the same as writing -sonnets, songs, and poems.” In his day a picturesque garden -was often called “<i>à la Dufresny</i>.” Under his rule -Versailles became what it is. “I shall never be poor while -I have a garden!” said he to the King. “I find there the -green vine-tendrils, or the roses, for a crown.” To him -verdant prospects were real terrestrial paradises.</p> - -<p>We can remember how the boy Florian gathered cherries, -and forgot his Greek and Latin! We remember him, -in Voltaire’s garden, naming the poppies after the faithless -Trojans. The most beautiful he called “Hector,” and -then demolished him with a blow from his wooden sword. -Later, when he had grown up, still wandering in gardens, -he wrote his eclogues, poems, dramas, fables, and “Numa -Pompilius.” His style has all the tender freshness, the -brilliancy, the perfume, the clear color, of a “garden -party.” It is an idyl of primroses and dandelions.</p> - -<p>We hardly think of Buffon at a garden party. (When -Voltaire heard of his “Natural History”—“Not so <i>natural</i>,” -said the great wit.) The laborious and tranquil life -of the great author of the “Garden of Plants” seems out -of place at a garden party, and yet he lived and wrote in a -garden. He submitted Nature to a crucible, and tore a -lily to pieces to see of what it was made; and yet he -brought together the flowers and trees of all nations. We -admire, but do not love Buffon.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span></p> - -<p>We cross the Channel and see, in imagination, the -Princess Anne with Lady Castlemaine and Miss Stuart, -Lady Churchill, and all their friends, loftily walking in the -groves and alleys of Spring Gardens, emerging into St. -James’s Park. The glories of Bird-Cage Walk come back -to us. From these models did Colley Cibber get his “Lady -Betty Modish,” and what a pretty, stylish, affected model -it was! Lovely Lady Fitzhardinge was of the Princess’s -party, and later, when Lady Churchill became Duchess of -Marlborough, what garden parties at Blenheim!</p> - -<p>A garden party always brings back Lady Mary Wortley -Montague, who left many an account of those stately old-time -gardens at Rome, Florence, Naples, Genoa, Avignon—not -to speak of the early adventures at Twickenham, and -later at Strawberry Hill. All England is a garden. The -garden party is possible anywhere.</p> - -<p>And the beautiful Duchess of Devonshire and Mrs. -Crewe! How they adorn a garden party! We almost -see the splendid cream-colored horses of George III drive -up past Carleton Gardens, to proceed in solemn state to St. -James’s, as we hear the low, rippling laughter of the two -beauties in brocade.</p> - -<p>The Prince of Wales forgot his two hundred thousand -pounds of debts as he received the Buffs and Blues at a -garden party, which began at noon and continued all night, -at Carleton House. The Duchess of Devonshire was then -lady paramount of the aristocratic whig circles, in which -rank and literature were blended with political aspirations. -It was she who canvassed for Fox, and allowed the butcher -to kiss her for his vote; and to her was paid the compliment, -highly prized, by the link-boy who asked if he -“might light his pipe at her eyes.” These women seem -to have lived in garden parties.</p> - -<p>Sweet Madame de Sévigné, with her children, at <i>Les -Rochers</i>, and later at Paris, talking gayly under the trees<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> -of her garden, with Corneille, Racine, Molière, La Fontaine, -and Boileau, again wins us back across the Channel, and -back a hundred years or so.</p> - -<p>Garden parties have this advantage: they are like Madame -de Staël’s age—“not dated.” They are of all time. -Madame de Sévigné’s garden party comprised Pascal, -Bourdaloue, Mascaron, Bossuet, the restless De Retz, the -Scotchman Montrose, La Rochefoucauld, Marshal Turenne, -Le Grand Colbert, and Condé. The ladies were the -Duchess de Longueville, the political <i>intrigante</i> of the -Fronde; the penitent La Vallière; the heartless Maintenon; -Madame de Montespan; the Comtesse d’Olonne, daughter -of Madame de Rambouillet, and one of the <i>Précieuses</i>; -Madame de La Fayette, the authoress of “Zaide.” Alas, -and alas! we could not get together such a garden party -of to-day! No! not if we had a fortnight’s time before -us, and all the wealth of the Indies.</p> - -<p>Madame de Sévigné was that delightful combination—a -beauty, a wit, and a <i>femme d’esprit</i>. As an instance of -the flattery to which even genius stooped in speaking to a -monarch who loved flattery and adulation more than anything, -she relates an answer made by Racine to Louis XIV -when that sovereign expressed his regret that the poet had -not accompanied the army in its last campaign. “Sire,” -said Racine, “we had none but town-clothes, and had -ordered others to be made; but the places you attacked -were all taken before they could be finished.” “This,” -adds Madame de Sévigné, “was well received.”</p> - -<p>It is in her famous correspondence with her daughter -that we find many an account of a garden party, or a <i>fête</i>, -which we should gladly have seen, and which at our own -garden parties we are glad to remember. Her letters contain -much talk on books, religion, philosophy, and politics; -on the frowns and smiles of the great monarch; the favor -accorded to this courtier, the disgrace of that; the mar<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>riage -contracted, the <i>bons mots</i> circulated. But it is upon -society that she is strongest. She loved nature, too, in a -Frenchwoman’s way. When she walked the garden of her -uncle, the Abbé, at Livry, or far away in the solitudes of -Brittany, she rejoiced in the song of the nightingale, in the -change of the leaf, in the glad freshness of the air. She is -a poet, without meaning it. Her garden-party letters are -her best letters.</p> - -<p>Very stately must have been those garden parties at -Wilton, when Ben Jonson and Philip Massinger afforded -amusement to the intellectual great. The Masque, an entertainment -of the rich and noble in the time of Elizabeth -and James I, called out the powers of these men. The -actors were people of the highest class, sometimes royal -personages, the masques always in the open air. Dancing -and music were introduced. These various actors learned -their parts under the tutorship of the Master of the Revels. -Lawes composed music, to which the poetry of Jonson was -sung; and the scenes, decorations, and dresses were contrived -and executed by Inigo Jones. Certain great families -copied the example of the court, and ordered masques to be -written, and played at their own country-seats; calling -in for the choruses the children of the Chapel Royal, -who were regularly trained to take their part in masques. -At Wilton, at Belvoir Castle, at Whitehall, at Windsor, -these charming but costly diversions were carried on. Ben -Jonson might have been heard scolding and working over -these garden parties at the house of the beautiful Mary -Sidney, sister to the author of the “Arcadia,” who was -afterward Countess of Pembroke. She often gave these -entertainments at Wilton. She there received Queen Elizabeth, -Walter Raleigh, the Earl of Essex, Will Shakespeare, -Spenser, and Cecil. Philip Massinger was in her servants’ -hall, a humble retainer. The pious Countess, for her solemn -hours, had Dr. Donne, most devoted of servitors. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> -death of her noble brother, Philip Sidney, broke her heart, -and there were no more garden parties at Wilton. We all -know how Walter Scott has described these garden parties -in “Kenilworth.” Indeed, they make us rather out of love -with our later attempts.</p> - -<p>Once in our own land a masque was attempted, the -famous <i>Mischianza</i> of Major André, on the Delaware, at -Philadelphia. Had not he and Arnold gone out together -in that rather sad way, we might like to tell of that garden -party, but we will skip it.</p> - -<p>After all, man was born, the race was started, in a garden. -Adam and Eve held the first garden party. What a -pity that the serpent crawled in!</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="XII" id="XII">XII.</a><br /> -DANCING.</h2> - -<p>Dancing is so well known to all young people as a Home -Amusement that it seems perhaps <i>banale</i> to describe it. A -glance at the dances now fashionable may, however, not -be out of place.</p> - -<p>From the Virginia Reel to the German Cotillon is indeed -a bound. Our grandfathers were taught to dance the -Pirouette, the delicate Pigeon-wing—indeed, all the paces of -the dance such as it was when Vestris bounded before -Louis XVI. When commanded to dance before him, the -dancer loftily replied: “The House of Vestris has always -danced for that of Bourbon.”</p> - -<p>Dancing then was an accomplishment. Who does not -recollect seeing some grandfather still “taking his steps”? -Now at the most is permitted the Galop, which has the -needed element of jollity without coarseness. It is <i>l’allegro</i> -of the ballroom. The Gambrinus Polka also lights up the -ballroom occasionally. With these vivacious exceptions, -dancing is reduced to the Waltz—<i>la valse à trois temps</i>—the -various steps of which consist of the Hop-Waltz, the -Glide-Waltz, the Redowa, and the Waltz proper. The Boston -“Dip,” the “Racket,” and the “Society,” are spurious. -They are not taught by the best dancing masters. -They are “rowdy,” but some people, desirous of notoriety, -do dance them at the Charity Ball. As a famous dancing -authority observes, “Did such a style of dancing prevail,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> -dancing must go down; its enemies would have unanswerable -arguments against it.” The dance of society is now -quiet, easy, natural, modest, and graceful. Those who -would make it otherwise must remember that they are copying -the excesses of the <i>Bal Mabille</i>.</p> - -<p>The spurious dances mentioned above are ridiculed in -“Punch” as the “pivotal” dances. The Redowa is a -pretty form of the Waltz. It is composed of a step known -as the <i>pas de basque</i>. Its movements are indicated as a -<i>fête à glissé</i> and a <i>coupé dessous</i>; the feet, however, are -never raised from the floor.</p> - -<p>The Galop is a great favorite with the Swedes, Danes, -and Russians; it has a Viking force in it; while the Redowa -reminds one of the graceful Viennese, who dance it -so well. The Mazourka, danced to the wild Polish Mazourka -measure, is a more poetical dance, and has many a -poem written to its honor; but it rarely appears seen at a -fancy-dress ball.</p> - -<p>The German Cotillon, born many years ago in a Viennese -palace to meet the requirements of court etiquette, is -now the favorite dance at home and at balls, as a way of -finishing the evening. Its favors, beginning with flowers, -ribbons, and bits of tinsel, have ripened into fans, bracelets, -gold scarf-pins, and pencil-cases, and many other things -even more expensive. Favors now often cost $5,000 for one -fashionable ball. So the German, thus conducted, can -scarcely be called a Home Amusement.</p> - -<p>To dance by the firelight to the music of the piano is -a <i>Home</i> Amusement. And if there be a good old kitchen, -with a hard floor, into which a negro fiddler can be introduced, -and where the <i>contra-danse</i> can be also added, and -the evening can end with Virginia Reel—this is a Home -Amusement. The old-fashioned quadrilles, the Lancers—dances -in which old and young can join—these are home -dances!</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span></p> - -<p>“There is something so <i>conscientious</i> about papa’s -dancing,” said a profane youth who was watching his estimable -parent through the decidedly complicated mazes of -Money Musk. Youth will always laugh at age when it -attempts the accomplishments. That is a real dance, however, -when papa, mamma, and the children all join in, and -when Jane, aged seven, leads out grandpa. How Dickens -luxuriates in Mr. Fizziwig’s dancing at the Christmas -supper in the “Christmas Carol”! Dickens could never -have made the “<i>German</i>” so pathetic or so funny!</p> - -<p>All fashion polishes off the edges, and causes an aristocratic -icing to form over the outside of any expression of -jollity; so no wonder that fashionable dancing has become -a <i>glissé</i>. It would not be well to attempt any gay dancing -at a fashionable ball—that would look like romping; but -surely in the old kitchen, in the private parlor, at Christmas, -on birthdays, one is allowed to romp a little.</p> - -<p>The German is a dance of infinite variety, and a leader -of original fancy constructs new figures constantly. The -Waltz, Galop, Redowa, and Polka steps occur in its many -changes. There is a slow walk in the quadrille figures; a -stately march; the bows and courtesies of the old minuet; -and, above all, the <i>tour de valse</i>, which is the means of -locomotion from place to place. The changeful exigencies -of the various figures lead the forty or fifty or the two -hundred people to meet, exchange greetings, dance with -each other, change their geographical position many times; -and the Grand Army of the Republic did not have a more -varied scope.</p> - -<p>The Kaleidoscope is one of the prettiest figures. The -four couples perform a <i>tour de valse</i>, then form as for a -quadrille; the next four couples in order take positions -behind the first four couples, each of the latter couples -facing the same as the couples in front. At a signal from -the leader, the ladies of the inner couples cross right hands,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> -move entirely round, and turn into places by giving left -hands to their partners; at the same time the outer couples -waltz half round to opposite places. At another signal, -the inner couples waltz entirely round, and finish facing -outward; at the same time the outer couples <i>chassé croisé</i>, -and turn at corners with right hands, then <i>dechassé</i>, and -turn partners with left hands. <i>Valse générale</i> with <i>vis-à-vis</i>.</p> - -<p>Another pretty figure is <i>La Corbeille, l’Anneau, et la -Fleur</i>. The first couple performs a <i>tour de valse</i>, after -which the gentleman presents the lady with a little basket -containing a ring and a flower, then resumes his seat. The -lady presents the ring to one gentleman, the flower to another, -and the basket to a third. The gentleman to whom -she presents the ring selects a partner for himself; the -gentleman who receives the flower dances with the lady -who presents it, while the other gentleman holds the -basket in his hand and dances alone. Counterpart for the -others in their order.</p> - -<p><i>Le Miroir</i> is another very pretty figure. The first couple -performs a <i>tour de valse</i>. The gentleman seats his lady upon -a chair in the middle of the room, and presents her with a -small mirror. The leader then selects a gentleman from -the circle, and conducts him behind her chair. The lady -looks in the mirror, and if she decline the partner offered, -by turning the mirror over or shaking her head, the leader -continues to offer partners until the lady accepts. The -gentlemen refused return to their seats, or select partners -and join in the <i>valse</i>.</p> - -<p><i>Le Cavalier Trompé</i> is another favorite figure. Five or -six couples perform a <i>tour de valse</i>. They afterward place -themselves in ranks of two, one couple behind the other. -The lady of the first gentleman leaves him, and seeks a -gentleman of another column. While this is going on, the -first gentleman must not look behind him. The first lady<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> -and the gentleman whom she has selected separate and advance -on tiptoe on each side of the column, in order to deceive -the gentleman at the head, and endeavor to join each -other for a waltz. If the first gentleman is fortunate enough -to seize his lady, he leads off in a waltz. If not, he must -remain at his post until he is able to take a lady. The last -gentleman remaining dances with the last lady.</p> - -<p><i>Les Chaînes Continues</i> is another good figure. The -first four couples perform a <i>tour de valse</i>. Each gentleman -chooses a lady, and each lady a gentleman. The gentlemen -place themselves in line, and the ladies form a line opposite. -The first gentleman on the left gives his right hand -to the right hand of his lady, and turns entirely around -with her. He gives his left hand to the left hand of the -next lady, while his lady does the same with the next gentleman. -The gentleman and lady again meet, and turn -with right hands, and then turn with left hands the third -lady and gentleman, and so on to the last couple. As soon -as the leader and his lady reach the fourth couple, the second -couple should start, so that there may be a continuous -chain between the ladies and gentlemen. When all have -regained their original places in line, they terminate the -figure by a <i>tour de valse</i>.</p> - -<p>A very pretty figure, and easily furnished, is called <i>Les -Drapeaux</i>. Five or six duplicate sets of small flags of national -or fancy devices must be in readiness. The leader -takes a flag of each pattern, and his lady the duplicates; -they perform a <i>tour de valse</i>. The conductor then presents -his flags to five or six ladies, and his lady presents the corresponding -flags to as many gentlemen. The gentlemen -then seek the ladies having the duplicates, and with them -perform a <i>tour de valse</i>, waving the flags as they dance. -Repeated by all the couples.</p> - -<p>Another of the favorite combinations is <i>Les Rubans</i>. -Six ribbons, each about a yard in length, and of various<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> -colors, are attached to one end of a stick about twenty-four -inches in length; also a duplicate set of ribbons, attached -to another stick, must be in readiness. The first couple -perform a <i>tour de valse</i>, and then separate. The gentleman -takes one set of ribbons, and stops successively in front of -the ladies whom he desires to select to take part in the -figure. Each of these ladies rises, and takes hold of the -loose end of a ribbon. The first lady takes the other set of -ribbons, bringing forward six gentlemen in the same manner. -The first couple conduct the ladies and gentlemen -toward each other, and each gentleman dances with the -lady holding the ribbon duplicate of his own. The first -gentleman dances with his partner. The figure is repeated -by the other couples in their order.</p> - -<p>To give a German, a lady should have all the furniture -removed from her parlors, a crash spread over the carpet, -and a set of folding-chairs introduced for the couples -to sit in. The great trouble of this proceeding is what has -led to the giving of Germans, in large cities, at private -balls or in public places. It is considered that all taking -part in a German are formally introduced, and upon no -condition whatever must a lady, so long as she remains in -the German, refuse to dance with any gentleman whom she -may chance to receive as a partner. Every American must -learn that he should speak to every one whom he meets -in a friend’s house, if necessary, without an introduction, -as the friend’s house <i>is</i> an introduction. So in the German, -the very fact that <i>guests are there</i> is an introduction.</p> - -<p>In taking a review of the German we may as well say -that, in a country house, the making of the favors is a very -pretty amusement. The ribbons are easily bought at the -village store. The same gold-paper and tinsel which furnishes -forth the private theatricals will do for the orders -and insignia, and the prettiest bouquets come from the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> -garden. These hastily-improvised home Germans are very -amusing and very pretty.</p> - -<p>The laws of the German are, however, so strict, and so -tiresome occasionally, that a good many parties have abjured -it, and now dance some of its figures without a -leader, and as sporadic attempts. A leader for the German -needs many of the same qualities as the leader of an army. -He must have a comprehensive glance, a quick ear and eye, -and a very great belief in himself. He must have the talent -of command, and make himself seen and felt. He must be -full of resource and quick-witted. With all these qualities -he must have tact. It is no easy matter to get two hundred -dancers into all sorts of combinations, to get them out -of it, to offend nobody, but to produce that elegant kaleidoscope -which we call “the German.”</p> - -<p>The term <i>tour de valse</i> is used technically, meaning that -the couple or couples performing it will execute the round -dance designated by the leader once around the room. -Should the room be small, they make a second tour. After -the introductory <i>tour de valse</i>, care must be taken by those -who perform it not to select ladies and gentlemen from each -other, but from among those who are seated. When the -leader claps his hands to warn those who are prolonging -the <i>valse</i>, they must immediately cease dancing.</p> - -<p>The religious objection to dancing having almost died -out, we recommend all parents to have their children -taught to dance. It is a necessary thing toward physical -culture. It is the most embarrassing thing for a man later -in life to find himself without the grace which dancing -brings. Nothing contributes so much to Home Amusement -as the informal dance. Nothing can be more innocent. -If, in after-life, this accomplishment leads to late -hours and to reckless love of pleasure, we must remember -that all good things can be abused.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="XIII" id="XIII">XIII.</a><br /> -GARDENS AND FLOWER-STANDS.</h2> - -<p>The making of gardens is decidedly and judiciously -conceded to be a Home Amusement, and it is a pity that -the new fashion of bedding-out plants, which is so beautiful -in our public parks and in the pleasure grounds of the -rich, should have seemed to so utterly do away with a taste -for the old-fashioned gardens of early English poetry—of -Miss Mitford, of every sweet New England dame of -the early days, who had her garden, with its “pretty -posies,” and its bed of sweet marjoram, lavender, and sage. -It is, however, a hopeful sign to see in remote country -towns some effort to keep up the old-fashioned idea of a -pretty flower-plot, and there are always women who have -the gift of making flowers “blow” and grow in a quiet -way.</p> - -<p>Yet science can help to bring the old-fashioned garden -to perfection, as well as to make those artificial beds of -many-leaved coleus, and steadier groups. Every garden design, -every project of garden furnishing, and every item of -garden work, should be governed by this consideration, that -it is hard work to fight against Nature, and there is seldom -thus a conquest worth obtaining. Aim modestly to gain a -victory over the easily-cultivated native flowers at first, and -you will secure enjoyment.</p> - -<p>Fortunately, if gardening is pursued with earnestness, -every soil and every climate will be found to produce some<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> -flowers in rare beauty and in unexpected luxuriance. Geometric -plans, if well carried out, are very pretty, and the -amateur gardener should learn to mass her geraniums, petunias, -and pansies, her gladioli, roses, marigolds, and poppies, -so as to give a good and really splendid result of color. -Nature takes care to send us delicate, pale yellows and -lilacs in Spring in her sweet daffy-down-dilly, and the elegant -<i>fleurs-de-lis</i>; and the peonies come on mildly with -pink and white before they dash into red. Then come the -Turkish carpets of the portulaca, and so on until midsummer -blazes with poppies, gladioli, and all the gorgeous zinnias. -These may all be found in the commonest garden, -without mentioning the larkspur, the mignonette, the petunia -and the sweet-pea, and a thousand other charming -common flowers. The delightful flowers which sow themselves, -and those hardy bulbs, the crocus, tulip, lily of the -valley, snowdrop, and hyacinth, should not be neglected. -A quantity of white-lily bulbs stowed away in the garden -reward one year after year with their elegant flowers and -fragrance at no cost whatever. Pansies, daisies, and polyanthus -keep from season to season, and carnation pinks -need to be two years old before they will blossom, while the -chrysanthemums make the garden gay in October.</p> - -<p>Now for borders to the garden beds. Common grass is -the best and easiest, as the gardener’s boy can cut it with a -sickle each week and keep it from spreading. Or the little, -cheap mosses make a pretty border, as does the periwinkle, -which looks so like myrtle. To attempt a border of the -gorgeous coleus requires a hothouse and an accomplished -gardener. In the common large country garden rows of -hollyhocks, as against a stone wall, or marking out the long -walks, are most ornamental. Dahlias also are very good in -groups. Phlox, that much-abused plant, is also pretty in -masses. Asters too, of many varieties, delight the eye, and -are easy of culture. In trying to raise shrubs, why not take<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> -the American wild pink, or azalea, the laurel and the rhododendron, -and, by studying up their habits, capture -them?</p> - -<p>The best soil for the rhododendron is a peat containing -much sand and much vegetable fiber. Any clean, pulverized -product of vegetable decay will like them. It is their native -food. The laurel is capricious, and resents the act of transplantation; -but they will flourish if planted thick enough. -They love company, and thrive in it. The best way to treat -them is to study their quality, and to give them the same -conditions which made them grow so luxuriantly on the -hill-side.</p> - -<p>But if even these plants resist you, every lady loves a -rosarium, and it will go hard with her but she has a rose -garden somewhere. The gardeners now sell one hundred -rose roots for a dollar, at Rochester, and if planted out and -attended to they give a million of dollars in pleasure back -again.</p> - -<p>Some ladies understand budding, and this is a very interesting -process. In this way an army of sweetbriers can -be covered with yellow Marshal Neills and royal Jacqueminots. -To propagate by layers is, however, the easiest way, -if, indeed, one does not prefer to buy them all started. For -garden roses we need vigorous growers that are sure to -flower freely, and will contribute to the gayety of the garden. -One of the best—the old-fashioned damask—if set out -well, will blossom for thirty years. A very effective garden -of roses is produced by roses pegged down. A deep, rather -rich, loamy soil is to be prepared, the position selected being -rather open. When the plants are about a foot high peg -down the strongest growths. The rose prefers a firm soil. -Those who desire to have firm blooms the second season -must cut off a few inches of the flowering wood as soon as -the first bloom is over, and give the beds a thorough soaking -of manure or sewage-water every third or fourth day.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> -But in this, as in every sort of cultivation of an especial -flower, one should buy an especial treatise on the subject.</p> - -<p>Every lady gardener is troubled by insect pests—the horrid -green canker-worm, the little green louse, the potato-bug; -these are everywhere. One fights them with all sorts -of powders and all sorts of syringes. One very simple cure -is not generally known. It is to plant a lettuce beside your -rose; the vermin prefers the lettuce. It is the same principle -which induced the rich owner of a wine-cellar to put -a barrel of whisky beside his best Madeira; the whisky -went, but the Madeira stayed. Dirty flower-pots, filled -with dry moss, put in the neighborhood, will catch large -numbers of these gentry, for vermin are fond of dirt. Dusting -with powdered lime, or sulphurized tobacco-dust, will -kill the insects which destroy the asters. Lettuces also save -the asters, and a bed of green lettuce is not an ugly “bedding-out” -plant.</p> - -<p>No manure is so good as that common rotted vegetation -of the forest. Bring a pailful home from every drive, and -it will make your flowers grow. Nothing, also, so good as -this for that lovely flower, the pansy, which thus recalls its -early start in the forest, The pansy does not require much -water, but in very hot, dry weather the beds should be -sprinkled at night with a watering-pot.</p> - -<p>But these few directions may seem impertinent, as every -lady has now the most ample means of reading up about -her garden. The cultivation of a few flowers in the house—window -gardening—is by far the more essentially a Home -Amusement. And, as almost everybody has once bought a -lot of greenhouse plants but to see them fade before her -eyes, we recommend to all to either raise a slip from the -root or to start very young plants in a dark room. Thus -accustomed to the atmosphere of the house they are to live -in, they do sometimes live.</p> - -<p>The hardier roses, the calla-lily, all the geraniums (use<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>ful -dear creatures), the violets and the pinks, grow well in -the house. Hanging pots of calceolarias and healthy -primroses are also possible. Some ladies can raise azaleas -at home, but they are difficult. Then there is the kangaroo-vine, -and the Jerusalem, and all the other very hardy -vines. If a large ivy-vine can he induced to grow over a -picture-frame, it is a beautiful friend in midwinter.</p> - -<p>Then come the delightful hanging baskets, the Wardian -fern-cases, the ornamental stands of pot-plants, and the indoor -box of earth for planting rice and grass seed, the wild -flowers, which now have become exotics, and all the pretty -fancies of throwing seed over a wet sponge. Anything -green in winter looks lovely. Nothing more charming than -the branches of nasturtion growing in water can be imagined. -They grow and flower all winter, and the blue convolvulus -flourishes well in a hanging basket; so do the -common morning-glory and the scarlet bean, both delightful, -airy visitors at Christmas.</p> - -<p>A wire-work ox-muzzle, filled with moss, makes an admirable -basket. It should be painted dark green, and hang -over a box of growing flowers, so that it can drip when -watered and hurt nothing. Put in the ivy-leaved geranium -to drop over its edges; fuchsia, variegated geranium, bright -blue lobelia, and the healthful dracænas, begonias, and sedums -also make a very pretty combination. The gardeners -give you wooden baskets filled with flowers, and ivy, and -ferns, but it is Home Amusement to make these baskets -yourself.</p> - -<p>Fern-cases are delightful as winter friends. Wardian -cases can be made very cheaply, and their perpetual condensation -and shower is a very pretty study in physics. A -large case, in which large-sized ferns can be accommodated, -is best. As regards cultivation, the first thing that demands -attention is the drainage of the case; for, if that is -defective, neither ferns nor any other plants can be culti<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span>vated -successfully. In order to secure good drainage the -case should be fitted with a false bottom, into which the -water may drain through perforated zinc or iron, on which -the rock-work and little bank for the ferns should be placed. -The false bottom, being a little kind of tank or drainer, -should be perfectly water-tight, so as to protect the carpet, -and should have a tap fixed in one corner of it, by means of -which the surplus water should be drained off.</p> - -<p>To be able to give free ventilation to the plants every -morning is another essential point, as a stagnant atmosphere -is as injurious to plants as it is to young children. Over -the perforated tray of the case a good layer of broken pottery -should be laid, and this should be covered with cocoanut -fiber, on which the rock-work should be laid. The -space in which it is intended that the ferns are to grow -should then be filled in; and nothing is better than peat, -rotten turf, and sharp grit sand as a soil for ferns. In -the parts of the case intended for the planting of rather -strong-growing ferns a larger proportion of rotten turf -should be mixed with the peat than in those intended for -less robust varieties. The <i>adiantum pedatum</i> (maidenhair), -<i>capillus veneris</i>, <i>pteris tessulata</i>, <i>eretica</i>, <i>albo lineata</i>, -<i>polypodium vulgare</i>, <i>acrophorus chairophyllus</i>, <i>hispidus -anemia adiantifolia</i>, <i>asplenium striatum</i>, <i>bulbiferum</i>, with -<i>trichomanes</i> and <i>lelazinellas</i>, are all useful, pretty ferns for -these cases. If the fern-case be large, it might be advisable -to have an arch reaching from end to end.</p> - -<p>But any intelligent gardener will tell more in an hour -than we could do in a week on the subject of ferns. Many -ladies delight in selecting these lovely aristocrats of the -forest themselves. They find no difficulty in arranging a -little family of native ferns in an improvised Ward’s case; -and this pursuit, as a reason for a woodland ramble and a -subsequent fit of industry on the back piazza, is one which -has no end as a Home Amusement.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span></p> - -<p>Plant-stands for halls are very favorite decorations nowadays; -but, of course, the plants must be hardy, as they -will be subject to sudden changes of temperature. One -lady made a fine effect by cultivating young pine-trees, -spruces, and firs in the large stone jars of her hall. Cocoanut -palms or India-rubber plants are the favorite exotics. -Hardy ferns group in well for these hall plant-stands. In -the bottom of each jar should be placed some broken pottery, -for drainage, placed so that the moisture will drain -down through the fragments without the soil choking the -jar. Over the potsherds a little cocoanut moss should be -placed, and then a mixture of leaf-mold, rotten turf and -peat, and glass-maker’s sand, to keep the whole porous. On -the surface of the pots and between them should be put -wood moss, as in the case of stands for sitting-rooms. A -common seed-pan, filled with <i>selaginalla denticulata</i> dropped -into a small vase, has a fine effect; long sprays grow -out over the sides of the vase and drop down eight to ten -inches.</p> - -<p>In an ordinary apartment, where the window-sills are -not wide enough to hold flower-pots, the plan of wire -stands is an admirable one for the window gardener. A -piece of oil-cloth under the stand catches all the drippings, -and a servant-girl with a wiping-towel can clean up all the -<i>débris</i>. Soft-wooded plants and those with soft leaves -should be arranged as near the window as possible; and if -rearranged and turned against the light often, so much the -better. Hard-leaved plants, like ivy and the India-rubber -plant, may be put anywhere away from the light. But -most plants need light before anything. The <i>yucca quadricolor</i>, -so much used in the decorative house-jars or vases, -becomes beautifully tinted with crimson if it has enough -light. Now, if a lady has not room for many rustic <i>jardinières</i> -and ornamental flower-stands in her room, she can -have zinc-pans and pots, neatly enameled and painted, set<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> -on the floor, in which her larger plants may be put out, -This is a very good idea for grouping; for she thus produces -in her <i>tout ensemble</i> some of the wild confusion and -grace of Nature.</p> - -<p>A climbing rose should go scattering itself over an imperceptible -wire trellis. A geranium should steadily blossom -beneath. A group of yucca, agave, dracæna, Jerusalem -cherry, should form a distinct and effective grouping -below. And then beautiful trailing plants should drop -from hanging baskets, and from every “coigne of vantage.” -Ivy grows well in the shade, and may be employed for -trailing around sofas, couches, <i>tête-à-tête</i> chairs, and picture-frames. -Ladies sometimes tie a bottle of water behind -a picture-frame, and allow the long shoots of nasturtion -to grow out as if from the wall. The effect is startling. -Mirrors are often cunningly placed behind a flowering plant -which is growing in a hanging basket against the wall, thus -doubling the effect.</p> - -<p>As the days grow shorter, and the winter threatens to -come upon us apace, we are always tempted to bring in -from the garden the flowers that we think will last. Just -before the fatal frosts, roots of mignonette should be planted -in pots and put in a dark closet for a few days, where the -plant takes root and accommodates itself to its change of -base. It will make a room sweet all winter.</p> - -<p>A lady can make all sorts of ornamental flower-pot -coverings, and herself arrange pretty leather and paper -standard covers for the ugly but useful flower-pot of commerce; -or she can buy at most country potteries some very -artistic flower-pots—also useful. And to put red, green, -and blue glass tubes for hyacinths among these gives her -window a very pretty effect. The very study of color in -these minor matters adds much to her window garden. It -is lucky for all lovers of beauty that beauty is now cheap. -Art is putting her slender foot down everywhere; and it is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> -almost possible, in a remote country village, to get the -delicate classic shapes in cheap pottery which the cultivated -Greeks imagined three thousand years ago.</p> - -<p>For internal decoration by means of cut flowers, it -seems almost absurd to attempt to delineate the proper -thing to do; for, if a lady has taste, she will know without -being told. But some few hints may not appear impertinent.</p> - -<p>For the breakfast-table and dinner-table fresh flowers -are almost indispensable. The pretty, cheap, and useful -combinations of glass and silver, of china and pottery, -which are made to hold flowers, are innumerable. Select -a high vase, and fill it every day with fresh grasses, a few -daisies, or some graceful ferns combined with white lilies, -and you have always a superb center-piece.</p> - -<p>For the summer, a large lump of ice covered with flowers, -in a silver or glass dish, is delightfully refreshing. It -also keeps away the flies. In grand party decorations ice -is now freely used, and if some way can be devised to get -the refuse water out of the way, it will be always a good -thing for a country party or at a grand <i>fête</i> at Newport. -For great blocks of ice covered with vines and flowers, lighted -from behind, have a splendid effect. They cool the air and -keep all the flowers fresh. Flowers, when cut, demand -coolness; and the effect of the white crystal column is -always beautiful.</p> - -<p>Some ladies have a large tub put in the corner of the -room, and the pyramid of ice placed in that. Then the -tub can be masked by moss, branches of trees, evergreen, or -any floral device, and the ice is draped with garlands. At -a <i>fête</i> at Newport, in 1879, this ice decoration was much -admired. At a ball given by the Prince of Wales to the -Czarina of Russia in the large conservatory of the Royal -Horticultural Society of South Kensington, ten tons of ice -were used to build an ornamental rockery. This was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> -draped with drooping ferns and graceful vines, and was surrounded -with crimson baize and lighted from behind.</p> - -<p>Nothing is so pretty for the breakfast- or dinner-table -as a tall, slender vase which carries the floral decoration -high up above the articles of food. Nor is a garden necessary -for this species of decoration. Wild flowers, ferns, -grasses, and all the beautiful furniture of forest and field, -make these vases doubly elegant.</p> - -<p>In the rose season—in the sweet days of June—most -country gardens overflow with the always regal flower; and -this is a table ornament of the highest. The great, broad, -low baskets are best for these full, rich queens of color and -fragrance. Mass your roses for the middle of the table, -and have specimen glasses for some of the more rare varieties. -The rose is a cleanly flower, and can be put anywhere -near food. But if an unlucky visitor has the rose-cold, -then it must be put far away; for the subtile, pungent -odor of a rose makes the sufferer sneeze fearfully. -There are some families in which roses are thus tabooed.</p> - -<p>A basket of roses is the prettiest thing in the world; -and the lady going into the country for the summer had -better supply herself with a number of these, with handles, -from the florist or the basket-maker. If she gets a tin pan -also fitted in cunningly, she has the loveliest table ornamentation -all ready. Her buffets, her parlor-table, her -piano, her brackets can all hold these pleasant things, for -which no money need be paid, but which have a value far -above money. Never give these baskets a heavy, packed -look, but allow plenty of the rich green leaves of the rose -to set them off. It seems to us that ladies might create an -endless succession of Home Amusements by studying how -to vary the effect of their vases and baskets of flowers.</p> - -<p>A simple bunch of yellow buttercups in the early spring -will make a purple room perfectly beautiful; and dandelions -can be massed with great effect. Yellow flowers are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> -rare, but necessary to produce fine contrasts of color. We -all tend too much to the red and white easily-obtained -effects. They are poor compared with what we can do.</p> - -<p>If Fashion has rather run its worship of the daisy into -the ground, Fashion might have done a worse thing. We -can scarcely blame Fashion for going back to this impressive -flower, which in its simplicity has moved all philosophers, -poets, and fortune-tellers to admire and study it.</p> - -<p>It seems to us that something more cheerful than our -usual Christmas decorations could be invented. We make -them too somber. Try mixing in the beautiful bitter-sweet -berries, which are so very easily obtained, and which -keep all winter. The holly is not so common with us as -in England; still, many a New England swamp produces a -host of hips and haws and red berries.</p> - -<p>The business of preserving autumn-leaves shows ten failures -to one success. Yet, when autumn leaves are well preserved, -they are very charming means of winter decoration. -They are luminous at evening, and, mixed with ferns and -grasses, are perpetual bouquets. But do not varnish them: -that gives them a waxy effect, which is detestable. Press -them carefully, and iron them under a piece of brown -paper. That seems to preserve the color.</p> - -<p>Grasses, on the contrary, and a thousand pods and seed-vessels, -grains and cat-tails, and certain weeds, dry into -beautiful colors and make most wonderful groups for the -parlor mantel. The young ladies of our vast continent -can not do a better thing than to each year add to these -beautiful and most graceful bouquets, which retain, like -the fabled Dryads, all the fascination of Nature, even when -they have passed into sticks and dry leaves.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="XIV" id="XIV">XIV.</a><br /> -CAGED BIRDS AND AVIARIES.</h2> - -<p>From flowers to birds is a natural transition, and we -enter upon that part of Home Amusement which centers -around a cage of singing-birds. It is a dreadful thing to -snare and to imprison an innocent bird; therefore we begin -with that bird which seems to take most kindly to captivity—the -canary.</p> - -<p>Travelers tell us that this yellow darling has gray plumage -at home; but as we know them they are generally yellow, -white, green, or brown. Climate, food, and intermixture -of breeds has, no doubt, to do with this. The -canary, which in France is nearly white, at Teneriffe is as -brown as a berry. We can not tell why they are always -yellow in cages.</p> - -<p>The exact date of the introduction of the canary is not -known to us. In 1610 the bird was considered a great -rarity. According to some authors, the island of Elba was -the first European ground on which the canary found a -resting-place for its tiny foot. A ship bound for Leghorn, -they say, having on board a number of sweet songsters, -foundered near this island, on which the birds, set at liberty -by the accident, found a refuge; and the climate was -so congenial to their nature that they remained and bred, -and would probably have remained there had not their unlucky, -fatal gifts of beauty and song betrayed them to the -bird-catchers, who hunted them so assiduously that not a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> -single specimen was left on the island. From Italy these -birds soon found their way into France and Germany, from -the latter of which countries and the Tyrol we now receive -our best supplies. Canary breeding and teaching is conducted -in the Tyrol on a large scale, and these trainers -have the power always to obtain large prices for their birds. -Canary societies exist in England, and small traders, like -Poll Sneedlepipes, compete for prizes.</p> - -<p>Canary critics recognize two varieties—two grand divisions—in -fancy canaries: “gay birds,” or “gay spangles,” -and fancy, or “mealy,” birds—the first being plain, like -the original stock, and the last variegated. This also includes -the <i>Jonques</i>, or <i>Jonquils</i>, as the yellow birds are -technically called. The varieties of these two grand divisions -are almost innumerable, nearly every year producing -a new one, which, like a prize flower, is in high favor until -superseded by a greater beauty. Every year has its fashionable -bird, its professional beauty, its Mrs. Langtry, until -some Mrs. Cornwallis West or Lady Lonsdale carries off -the palm. Like all hobbies, this is a hobby desperately -ridden. It is a “Dutch taste for tulips,” and immense -prices are given for prize canaries, even by men who can -not afford to speculate in such very uncertain stock.</p> - -<p>There are certain standard properties which are always -considered essential toward gaining a prize. The first -property considered in the show bird is the “cap,” which -must be of a good gold color. The next is purity of color -through the whole bird. Then the wings and tail, which -must be black quite home to the quill. The fourth relates -to the spangle, which must be distinct. Fifth, size and -shape. Besides these properties there are what are called -“additional beauties,” not essential to the winning of a -prize, but adding to a bird’s chances. These are five in -number: pinions, for size and regularity; swallow and -throat, for size; fair breast, for regularity; legs and flight,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> -for blackness. In explanation of this it may be noted that -from the beak to the back of the neck is called the “cap,” -and this should be of a clear orange-color, full and rich in -the ground, and with black edges to the feathers. The -feathers on the loins, or the <i>saddle</i> as it is sometimes -called, as well as those of the breast, must be free from -black, while the wings must have no admixture of any -other color. No bird can fairly compete for a prize which -has not black on the stock or neb of the back, flight, or -tail feathers, or that has less than eighteen flying feathers -in each wing or less than twelve in the tail. Such, lady -bird-fanciers, is a prize canary in England!</p> - -<p>Holborn is the great canary mart. In St. Andrew’s -Street every third or fourth house is occupied by a dealer, -and those who desire to possess a first-rate singer should -visit that street. It is best to go by gaslight, when all the -birds are on the twitter.</p> - -<p>Now, in America we have the plain yellow bird, with no -admixture of black; and yet the same conditions seem to -be observed as to his treatment. Sacrifice the beauty of -your bird to his song, which is his chief accomplishment. -He should have a comfortable mahogany cage, and be allowed -to step into it of his own accord. It should be well -furnished with seed and water. Place a light in front of -the cage, and he will begin to sing. A single hemp-seed or -a morsel of chickweed will induce the little prisoner to sing -almost immediately. They are very amiable and happy in -captivity.</p> - -<p>The blackcap, called the “mock-nightingale,” is a very -charming household pet, if he will live. His power of -song is almost equal to that of the nightingale. He is -sometimes called “the English mocking-bird,” and he imitates -any songster whom he may hear—blackbird, thrush, -or meadow-lark. They are by no means plentiful birds, -and they bring a good price in the market. They are<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> -about the same size as the linnet, and the prevailing colors -of the plumage are ashen-gray and olive-green. The old -birds feed their young on caterpillars, moths, and other -insects. They can be reared, however, on bread and milk. -If brought up with a canary or a nightingale, they will acquire -a beautiful song composed of their own natural notes -and those of these brilliant performers. This bird has been -known to live twelve or sixteen years in confinement. It -demands some sort of fruit, like cherries, currants, or raspberries -in summer; a bit of apple, pine, or orange in winter. -To keep it in perfect health, it must have an iron -nail in its cup of water.</p> - -<p>But <i>chacun à son goût</i>. Every lady has her preferences -as to her feathered favorites. Suffice it to say a few words -as to the care of these poor little creatures.</p> - -<p>Birds are naturally tender things. They are not born -to live in cages; therefore they should be especially cared -for. Domestic pets are apt to come to untimely ends, particularly -if left to the care of servants, who regard them as -a burden and a nuisance, and too often cruelly neglect -them. Birds in captivity are very liable to diseases which -do not attack them in their wild state; and in the various -casualties which endanger their prison life, their owners -should seek to protect them and to cure them. Let it be -one of the Home Amusements for the lady to feed her pet -canary—to clean its cage, or see that it is done. We have -seen a little boy of seven take such care of his pet canary -that he shamed all the older people in the house; and a -happier bird never lived.</p> - -<p>If you keep but one bird in a cage in very hot weather, -his cage should be cleansed once a day. If you minister -personally to the comfort of your bird, he will grow very -much attached to you. If the perches are not kept clean, -the birds become afflicted with the gout and other maladies, -resulting in the loss of toes.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span></p> - -<p>Wooden cages, especially of mahogany, are the best, as -they are less likely to harbor insects. If of fir or soft wood, -the cage should be painted green. The wires of a cage -should never be painted, as the wire being non-absorbent, -the bird pecks off and eats the paint, which poisons it. -Japanned zinc cages are very well. A cage should not be -too open. There should always be a snug corner or -sheltered place, where the bird can retire and shun observation. -It is great cruelty to hang a cage in the sun -unprotected. Remember that in their free state birds seek -the shady tree. In a shower always bring your birds indoors, -for they are apt to take cold if wet in an imprisoned -state.</p> - -<p>It is a pity that more of our country residents have not -the idea of an aviary. It is so very pretty—an abiding-place -of beauty, love, song, and happiness. Surely it does -not cost so much as a greenhouse.</p> - -<p>The model aviary is built of brick or stone, iron and -glass, with a stove and pipes fitted to keep it of an even -temperature all winter. The floor should be an earthen -one, beaten hard, like the floors of some barns. Bricks are -too cold. Planks harbor insects, retain bad smells, and -form coverts for rats and mice. The roof of the aviary -should be semicircular or shelving, with vines and flowing -creepers trailing over it, so that there shall be a rustle of -green leaves steeped in sunshine, and air laden with sweet -perfume to delight the birds within. There should be -also creepers and shrubs growing inside for the birds to -nest in. Perches and wicker baskets with horse-hair -and wool should be left around, and there should be a -small marble basin and fountain in the middle, of -which the water should be always fresh and changing for -the birds to drink. This is, of course, a very magnificent -aviary, costing money. But what an addition to -Home Amusements to care for the happy family within!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> -The birds can be of all sorts. At the period of migration—about -the last of August—all birds kept in confinement -show a great desire to get out, and often beat -themselves to death against the walls of their cages. In -this time of ardent enterprise the top of the aviary or the -cages should be covered with dark cloth, and the poor -things shut out from the light.</p> - -<p>A much cheaper aviary is built in the form of a large -cage on the top of a tree, with open exit and entrances, -fitted up with every convenience of bird-furnishing, and -visited twice a day by the boys of the family. Here many -birds come to lodge and get tamed, as the Indian does by -having a house and garden, and often one pair of birds -comes back several times. This is a charming sort of aviary, -and very much to be commended. What romantic -tales of a wayside inn do the robin redbreasts and orioles -tell the peeping boy as he goes up the ladder to feed his -familiar friends! It is the prettiest sort of correspondence -with <i>l’inconnu</i>!</p> - -<p>It is a curious thing that the lungs of birds in captivity -always suffer from impurity of air, especially when the -temperature is at all varied; this must be one of the points -very carefully attended to.</p> - -<p>For food—we now are getting to a very creepy stage of -our narrative—meal-worms, ugh! are the <i>pièce de résistance</i>; -but canaries, goldfinches, bullfinches, linnets—all, -God bless them!—prefer seed; while chaffinches, buntings, -and the whole tit family and larks must have seeds, insects, -and fat meat—namely, worms. The nightingales, -thrushes, redbreasts, blackcaps, must have worms, crickets, -cockroaches, and ant-eggs. The maggots of the blow-fly -and all such tidbits, meal-worms, and flesh-maggots must -be kept in reserve; and this kind of housekeeping is apt to -shock the delicate sense. Let the boys of the family attend -to this part of the birds’ diet. Boiled cabbage, green peas,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> -all sorts of pudding, dry bread, and a little finely minced -cooked meat, bread-crumbs mashed up and scalded in milk, -milk itself, hemp-seed, a little chickweed, lettuce, and -cresses, can be given to birds with advantage.</p> - -<p>The bathing of birds must be done with great skill and -wisdom. After the operation of a warm bath, with soap, -which should be given to nestlings who are troubled with -vermin, great care must be taken that they are not chilled, -as death will be the result. Wrap them up, like little babies, -in flannel.</p> - -<p>In teaching them to sing, the voice, the piano, and flute -are all good teachers. The patient and music-loving Germans -teach all birds to sing. It should be begun in the -morning early, when the bird is hungry; and his lesson -should not last more than an hour.</p> - -<p>Early and regular attendance, gentleness and kindness, -are the <i>rationale</i> of bird-tending, as of nearly everything -else!</p> - -<p>Those half-captives, the pigeons, should be around every -country house. How beautiful they are in Venice! the -pigeons of St. Mark, which have swooped about that storied -piazza for so many years, because regularly fed there. All -boys should learn to cultivate them; to have the lovely -shifting luster of their necks lighting up the ground and -making gay the twilight. How proud and pompous are the -pouters! how gentle the ringdoves! and how pretty the -whole family! Peacocks are very stately visitors, and, except -for their horrid shrieks, are especially to be commended. -The old ruffled turkey-gobbler has his charms; and the -pages of Hawthorne teach us how very amusing a group of -hens and chickens may become. We advise every family -to have as many birds as they can possibly feed; for every -bird is a study, from the blink-eyed owl which hides in the -fir-tree, to the poor old goose that quacks and hobbles toward -the pond. Indeed, the æsthetics are all pretending that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> -the goose is the most beautiful of them all!—a perfect love, -a type, is a goose, since Walter Crane and Kate Greenaway -came in. But we still prefer the stately swan, of which -splendid specimens are now beginning to add their attractions -to our inland lakes. The goose is all very well in -her way, but the swan is better.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="XV" id="XV">XV.</a><br /> -PICNICS.</h2> - -<p>Perhaps it is not well to class among Home Amusements -a series of entertainments which imply, at first sight, -the getting away from home. But, as the basket of luncheon -has to be packed at home, and the best part of a picnic -is the getting home again, we must be permitted a divergence.</p> - -<p>It is curious to see how emphatically fond of picnics the -Americans are. A universal national hunger seems to seize -the tired cit as the first warm day of May beams upon us. -They “babble of green fields.” Best of all charities those -which send the poor children off, on boats and trains, for a -whiff of pure air! It is the blessed privilege of the rich to -thin out the crowded tenement, and to send the overplus of -an irrepressible civilization back to Nature for a moment.</p> - -<p>But, for a Home Amusement in the country, what can -compare with the joy of getting ready for a picnic? The -baskets for the provisions (and be sure, Mary, not to forget -the salt or the sugar), the coffee-pot that will stand being -poked down into the wood-coals, the fine old swinging iron -kettle, the bread, the knives, and the pail of ice. Ah!</p> - -<p>Then, as to carriages. Not the luxurious cushioned -barouche, but the shabbiest old rattletraps about the place -are the proper ones. A good old hay-wagon is the very -best—if it have hay in it. It may do very well at Newport -for the luxurious to drive out to one of Mr. Bennett’s pic<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span>nics -in a four-in-hand or a drag, or a Victoria or a barouche; -but in the country take the buckboard, the old Rockaway -wagon, which holds nine—the more the merrier—the farm-wagon, -and the market-cart. Filled with youth, beauty, -and jollity, these become the chariots of Apollo.</p> - -<p>It is not always easy to get mamma to a picnic; but it -is good for her, and for all the others, if she will go. She -is apt to be anxious about rain, and is afraid of farmer Bell’s -bull; and she should be allowed to go in an easy carriage. -She also fears to take cold, and is mightily frightened at -those crazy boats on the lake. But it is better for all parties -if these fears are assuaged and she really goes. The change -does her good, and she acts as a temporary restraint on the -too volatile spirits of the party.</p> - -<p>Another power hard to coerce is Statira, who is the head -of the commissary department. Statira, cook and factotum, -was brought up on the wrong side of a mullein-patch herself, -and she is not in love with the country. She remembers -the woods as a place where she went to look, in her -youth, for recalcitrant cows; and in winter, how cold and -bleak the woods were! Her present warm and cultivated -kitchen, with stationary wash-tubs, is to her a far more -agreeable spot. She hesitates, as the young people ask for -her delicate apple-pies and her delicious cakes, “to cram -into baskets,” to “eat out in the pasture,” as she sniffingly -avers.</p> - -<p>However, although Statira is a greater tyrant than Nero, -the young people prevail, and the picnic gets started somehow. -What a jolly hour is passed in driving through the still -valley to the brow of yonder hill, which commands a view -of the whole country! Then Susan, the thoughtful one, -dreads lest the coffee-pot has been forgotten. Hurried -search! The coffee-pot is found under a back seat. Happiness -restored, the songs go on, and the murmuring pines -and the hemlocks take up the wondrous tale.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span></p> - -<p>Then the party arrive at the lake. The girls take off -their hats. The winds play with the “tangles in Nerea’s -hair.” The picnic is a nice opportunity for a pretty foot, -a fine figure, and a splendid head of hair—so it is said. -Then come rambles into the forest.</p> - -<p>That is a pretty story of a nymph who appeared on the -edge of a forest, but who disappeared as she was followed, -until, at last, as her lover pursued her farther into the -forest, he threw his arms about a white hawthorn-tree. It -is the world’s earliest romance that the first courtship took -place at a picnic. Roses and briers twine around lovers -for ever, and the lotus and the buttercup tell the same -story.</p> - -<p>Picnics are healthy; but should be appropriately dressed. -Balmoral boots, broad hats, and flannel dresses, warm, -plain, and serviceable. A white Marseilles which will wash—percales -and cambrics and ginghams will do; but no -finery should be allowed. At Newport one may try the -Watteau combination of brocade and satin, with fine old -house, grounds, and trellised arcades. But at a country -picnic Watteau dresses are out of place. Our climate is -too fitful for safe picnicking, as we dread rain. In England -they do not care, but lunch at Ascot, with the rain -pouring into the champagne. But here we need to go -prepared with aquiscutums and umbrellas, and a neighboring -barn is well in the near distance.</p> - -<p>It is a common want, this need of the confessional of -Nature. We leave our morbid fancies, our discontents, in -the bosom of our dear common mother, and we come back -as cheerful as is the dappled deer. We like to go back to -that idyllic spot where the race started.</p> - -<p>In the spring certain natures get frisky, like the colts. -One pasture will not hold them. We get tired of white -man’s work. It was a true reading of the human heart -which made the Greeks place Apollo with the shepherds of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> -Admetus, and Jove stooping to the people of the hill-sides. -“The populous all-loving solitude” of Nature draws us -with a potent hand. Our houses are a false shell. Titania’s -subjects will rebel. That rural solitude, which has no -conventionality; that desert rock, against which the noisy -wave of human folly breaks itself; the dense forest, where -is sung the mighty hymn of the pines; the brow of the hill -which the sun kisses last; the lone seashore; the distant -heath; that cloud-shadow on the mountain—these are all -necessary to us once a year. We must go once to “<i>La -roche qui pleure</i>.” We must go where the forest-growths -expand in all their strength and splendor. We must find -the shyest wild flower, the most untamable vine. It is in -the fable of Daphne that we read the deep significance, the -poetry, the true meaning of our love of the picnic.</p> - -<p>Who of us—comfortable and well housed—but has in -some moment of nomadic instinct envied the tramp and -the gypsy their life of chapleted ease, as they lie on the -greensward, hugging dear mother Nature to their very -bosoms? Who has not some wild, untamed blood in his -veins—some fellowship for the Indian—some desire for -the flitting caress of the passing breeze, or the somber greeting -of the mountain shadow?</p> - -<p>But no more poetry, if you please. We are getting -hungry. Where are those baskets? Ah! the cold roast -beef, the wing of a chicken, and the salt, not forgotten!</p> - -<p>Those hard-boiled eggs—how good they are! So glad -that chicken-raising has been one of our Home Amusements! -Just a high picket-fence, a few good hens, some -boxes, and a little attention, and what eggs these are! -Mamma will not, however, eat them; she says they are unwholesome. -But she takes a piece of the breast of a noble -pullet, and a cup of coffee in a tin mug, made by Sam, best -of cooks, amateur—college-bred cook—who has boiled it -under the trees! and laid the grounds with a dash of cold<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> -water. Sam puts his own clearness and strength into the -coffee.</p> - -<p>And now for an hour’s reverie by the side of the lake; -and then a rough-and-tumble drive home! How tired, -ragged, jagged, disheveled, and happy we are as we get -home!</p> - -<p>Statira has built a splendid wood-fire for us, and has a -supper of broiled chicken, cold ham, preserves and cream, -baked potatoes, and toast, and hot biscuits which might -tempt the virtue of an anchorite. We have no such proud -resistance. We have brought an appetite from the place -where they make them; and we can eat hot biscuits and -still wrap the drapery of our couch about us and lie down -to pleasant dreams.</p> - -<p>A picnic is, therefore, a Home Amusement. It has home -at both ends; else it would not be a picnic.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="XVI" id="XVI">XVI.</a><br /> -PLAYING WITH FIRE. CERAMICS.</h2> - -<p>Now let us ascend from these trivialities to the consideration -of the great subject which has been more talked of -and dabbled in for the last seven years than any accomplishment -ever was, before or since. The splendid display of -Ceramic Art at our great Exposition of 1876 no doubt had -its share in creating that intense interest in the subject -which has been felt everywhere.</p> - -<p>How it came into the category of Home Amusements we -hardly know, unless the art schools stimulated the pursuit. -But now we do know that nearly every lady paints a plate, -from grandma down to the smallest child. Especially has -it become the pastime of middle-aged ladies, who have got -through with the work of life, and have much leisure on -their hands. It is one of the many accomplishments which -has taken the place of the German wool worsted abomination, -the canvas roses, and counted out violets.</p> - -<p>“Home would be happier were it not for the smell of -turpentine,” said a lively girl as she found her grandmother, -mother, and sister all hard at the plaques. It is -true, this pungent liquid is necessary, and the china after -being painted has to be baked—two very unpleasant accompaniments. -But let us see how it is done.</p> - -<p>One needs, first, a porcelain palette; a glass slab about -eight inches square; several small and medium-sized camel’s-hair -brushes; several blenders, large and small; a quart-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span>bottle -of spirits of turpentine; a quart-bottle of alcohol; a -small bottle of oil of turpentine; one of oil of lavender; -one of copaiba; a steel palette-knife, also one of horn or -ivory; a rest for the hand while painting, made of a strip -of wood about an inch and a half wide and twelve inches -long, supported at each end by a foot an inch and a half -in height. A flat ruler or thin strip of wood may be used -for plates, or any flat piece having a raised edge, and may -be found more convenient than the cumbrous rests. A -fine needle, set in a handle, for removing particles of dust -which may settle in the painting, and a small glass muller, -are required.</p> - -<p>The china used for decoration must be of the finest -quality, and free from spots. The hard porcelain of French -manufacture is the best for this purpose. The mineral -paints bought in tubes (those of Lacroix, of Paris, being -the best) are the colors which stand fire. Brushes, as for -water-color painting, are used. Small camel’s-hair brushes -with square ends may be had, which will do for blending -when necessary in fine work.</p> - -<p>In tinted surfaces and borders large blenders are necessary. -The brushes used by gilders, and called “trade-gilders’ -brushes,” make good blenders; No. 9 is a very useful -size. In placing the color on these surfaces, a broad, -flat camel’s-hair brush, rather more than an inch in width, -should be used. In narrow bands and lines, brushes of suitable -size with very long hair and square ends are employed.</p> - -<p>The colors most in use are: dark carmine, flesh-red, -capucine-red, dark red, brown, iron-violet. In <i>purples</i>—deep -purple, dark golden violet. <i>Blues</i>—sky-blue, dark -ultramarine, deep blue. <i>Greens</i>—grass-green, brown green, -apple-green. <i>Yellows</i>—mixing yellow, ivory-yellow, jonquil-yellow, -orange-yellow. <i>Browns</i>—dark brown, yellow -brown. <i>Black</i>—ivory-black. Permanent white; pearl-gray; -black gray.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span></p> - -<p>Now, in commencing to paint a design on china, the -first thing to be done is to sketch the outline. The best -way to do this is to prepare the china by rubbing the surface -with spirits of turpentine, and, after having left it a -few minutes to dry, draw the design upon it very lightly -with a hard lead-pencil. Alcohol may be used for the same -purpose, and has the advantage that it is not so liable to -catch the dust. The surface, however, does not receive the -marks of the lead-pencil so well as when it is prepared with -turpentine.</p> - -<p>Lithographic crayon may be used, and without any -preparation; but the outline is not so delicate as that drawn -with the lead-pencil.</p> - -<p>If the subject is a difficult one, as, for instance, a design -containing several figures, time may be saved, and liability -to error avoided, by tracing the design, which insures the -correct relative position of the figures, and tends to produce -the object desired—a correct copy of the original. It -is better, however, to sketch simpler subjects direct on the -china. It is commonly supposed that a tracing is of great -assistance to any one unskilled in drawing; but if one is unable -to draw a correct outline, it is hardly possible that the -painting will be good. It is so very easy to lose the outline -in working that, after all, a tracing is but a slight indication, -which has for its principal use the placing of the -design in exactly the right position on the plate or other -object to be decorated.</p> - -<p>There are various ways of tracing, the simplest and best -of which is the following: Lay a piece of transparent paper -over the design to be copied, and trace the outlines very -carefully with a hard lead-pencil. Then turn the tracing-paper -over on any white surface, and go over all the lines -on the reverse side with a soft pencil. You can now lay -the tracing right side up on the china, which has been -previously prepared for the lead-pencil with turpentine,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> -and having placed it in exactly the right position, secure it -by means of bits of modeling-wax or gummed paper at the -corners, and pass over the lines with a hard point, or rub -the entire surface with a rounded instrument; the handle -of the palette-knife may be used for this purpose. This -will transfer the pencil drawing to the surface of the china.</p> - -<p>The more delicate the outline the better, provided it is -more plainly visible, as a heavy, dark, or colored outline -sullies the colors used upon it, and causes much annoyance -in working. Although it may disappear in the firing, it is -better to avoid it. Faulty lines in the tracing may be rectified -by the use of a sharpened stick of soft wood moistened -with turpentine.</p> - -<p>If tube-colors are used, and found difficult to lay, a drop -of oil of turpentine may be added to the turpentine. Care -should be taken, however, to avoid too much oil, as it renders -the colors liable to blister in the fire. The use of clove-oil -as a medium is advised by some. The color can, perhaps, -be more easily laid with it than with spirits of turpentine. -It does not dry so quickly, however, and, unless recourse is -had to the process of drying the work with the aid of an -alcohol lamp, its use involves tedious waiting. It is better -to use turpentine and finish the work at one sitting. The -drying of colors is affected by the state of the atmosphere. -If, during the progress of the painting, it is found to be -difficult to work over the colors first laid—which are indeed -very liable to come up—the piece of china may be placed -in a moderately warm oven to dry before proceeding. On -being taken out of the oven, the colors will be found to -have lost their gloss, if perfectly dry, and, perhaps, will have -changed their hue. No alarm need be felt at this, as they -will return to their former brilliancy when fired. But here -we come to a great trouble.</p> - -<p>The chance of a piece “firing” well is one of the great -trials of the china painter, and is beyond her control; but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> -this is always counted in. It is best to send the piece to a -pottery to be burned. A cup containing turpentine should -stand near the working table to wash the brushes; and -after using a color containing iron, the brush should be -carefully washed before it is charged with one which does -not contain iron, or if white is to be used. The brushes -ought not to be too small, and the colors should, as far as -possible, be laid in broad washes, and decided touches placed -lightly and quickly, and not overworked. The use of the -blender may be resorted to if necessary, especially in laying -the first washes; although it is better to avoid using it -afterward, if possible.</p> - -<p>The same rules may be applied to china painting as to -water-colors, to which it bears a strong resemblance. The -greatest art consists in placing each touch where it should -go, and leaving it; not spoiling it by uncertainty, or degrading -the tint by overwork. In fine work, lining and -stippling are necessary in finishing, but should not be carried -to excess or made too apparent. These latter processes -are, perhaps, more indispensable in preparing work for a -single firing, as it is very difficult to lay repeated washes -over one another; the under-tint comes up so readily, -especially when it is not thoroughly dry. The same place -must never be passed over by the brush twice in immediate -succession, as the under-tint will certainly come up, and -the blot caused in the painting will be difficult to rectify. -It is of no use to attempt it while it is wet. Work on some -other part, and then go over it, or first dry it in the oven.</p> - -<p>Some of the tube-colors may require to be rubbed down -after being taken from the tubes. This will be especially -necessary in the case of the carmines and the whites. A -horn or ivory palette-knife should be used with these colors, -as well as with the blues, and all colors containing no iron. -Mixtures of colors on the palette may be rubbed down occasionally, -or mixed with the brush before using, to prevent<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> -them from separating themselves into their component -parts.</p> - -<p>Too much turpentine should not be taken into the brush -when it is to be charged with color. Dip it into the turpentine, -and remove the surplus moisture by drawing the -brush over the edge of the vessel containing it before taking -up the color from the palette. The tint may be tried first -on the edge of the plate. Surplus color or moisture may -be removed by touching the brush upon a muslin rag, which -should always be at hand for the purpose of wiping the -brushes.</p> - -<p>After using, the brushes should be washed in alcohol. -The bottle containing it should be kept tightly corked, as -it evaporates very quickly when exposed to the air. Care -must be taken that no drops of the alcohol drop upon the -painting, as it will immediately remove the colors from the -surface. When the large brushes are cleaned after being -washed in the alcohol, the hairs should be spread apart, and -the fingers passed lightly over them until they are dry; -otherwise the hairs may stick together in drying, and the -brush be rendered unfit for use. Washing in alcohol will -prevent the turpentine used in painting from injuring the -brushes, as it would if allowed to remain in them. The -tube-colors should be preserved from heat as far as possible.</p> - -<p>We have taken these rules, partly from personal experience, -partly from the best manuals, and the china painter -can <i>begin</i> on them. But a few lessons from a master are -very valuable, and the best of all teachers—patience—will -help the young and inexperienced better than any written -directions.</p> - -<p>We would like to say a few words more on the all-important -subject of firing. “The Amateur’s Miniature -Kiln,” now sold by the Decorative Art Society, and by the -patentee, Miss N. M. Ford, Port Richmond, New York, -enables the amateur to fire small articles of decorated china<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> -with perfect success. If near a large city, it is better to -send the plaques to a large establishment where they are in -the habit of baking them.</p> - -<p>The amateur has to make up her mind to a great many -failures at first, but after the accomplishment is somewhat -conquered, it is an inexpensive and delightful addition to -Home Amusements.</p> - -<p>No one should, however, attempt to paint upon china -who does not know first how to draw. The hand should -be skillful on paper before it touches the flat brush; for -the outlines, while seemingly coarse, must be very expressive, -and very certain.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="XVII" id="XVII">XVII.</a><br /> -ARCHERY.</h2> - -<p>Fashion has again brought round as one of the Home -Amusements this pretty and romantic pastime, which has -filled the early ballads with many a picturesque figure. -Now on many a lawn may be seen the target and the group -in Lincoln green. Indeed, it looks as if Archery were to -prove a very formidable rival to Lawn Tennis.</p> - -<p>The requirements of Archery are these: First, a bow; -secondly, arrows; thirdly, a quiver, pouch, and belt; fourthly, -a grease-pot, an arm-guard or brace, a shooting glove, a -target, and a scoring card.</p> - -<p>The bow is the most important article in archery, and -also the most expensive. It is usually from five to six feet -in length, made of a single piece of yew, or of lance-wood -and hickory glued together back to back. The former is -best for gentlemen, the latter for ladies, as it is better -adapted for the short, sharp pull of the feminine arm. The -wood is gradually tapered, and at each end is a tip of horn, -the one from the upper end being longer than the other or -lower one. The strength of bows is marked in pounds, -varying from twenty-five to thirty pounds. Ladies’ bows -are from twenty-five to forty pounds in strength, and those -of gentlemen from fifty to eighty pounds. One side of the -bow is flat, called its “back”; the other is rounded, called -the “belly.” Nearly in the middle, where the hand should -take hold, it is lapped round with velvet, and that part is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> -called the “handle.” In each of the tips of horns is a -notch for the string, called the “nock.”</p> - -<p>Bow-strings are made of hemp or flax—the former being -the better material; for though at first they stretch more, -yet they wear longer and stand a harder pull, as well as -being more elastic in the shooting. In applying a fresh -string to a bow, be careful in opening it not to break the -composition that is on it. Cut the tie, take hold of the -eye, which will be found ready worked at one end, let the -other part hang down, and pass the eye over the upper end -of the bow. If for a lady, it may be held from two to two -and a half inches below the nock; if for a gentleman, half -an inch lower, varying it according to the length and -strength of the bow. Then run your hand along the side -of the bow and string to the bottom nock. Turn it round -that, and fix it by the noose, called the “timber noose,” -taking care not to untwist the string in making it. This -noose is simply a turn-back and twist without a knot. -When strung, a lady’s bow will have the string about five -inches from the belly, and a gentleman’s about half an inch -more. The part opposite the handle is bound round with -waxed silk, in order to prevent its being frayed by the -arrow. As soon as a string becomes too soft and the fibers -too straight, rub it with beeswax, and give it a few turns -in the proper direction, so as to shorten it, and twist its -strands a little tighter. A spare string should always be -provided by the shooter.</p> - -<p>The arrows are differently shaped by various makers, -some being of uniform thickness throughout, while others -are protuberant in the middle; some, again, are larger at the -point than at the feather-end. They are generally made of -white deal, with points of iron or brass riveted on; but -generally having a piece of heavy wood spliced on to the -deal between it and the point, by which their flight is improved. -At the other end a piece of horn is inserted in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> -which is a notch for the string. They are armed with three -feathers, glued on, one of which is of a different color from -the others, and is intended to mark the proper position -of the arrow when placed on the string, this one always -pointing from the bow. These feathers properly applied -give a rotary motion to the arrow which causes its flight to -be straight. They are generally from the wing of the turkey -or the goose. The length and weight of the arrows -vary, the latter (in England) being marked in sterling silver -coin, and stamped on the arrow in plain figures. It is -usual to paint a crest or a monogram or distinguishing -rings on the arrow just below the feathers, by which they -may be known in shooting at the target.</p> - -<p>The quiver is merely a tin case painted green, intended -for the security of the arrows when not in use. The pouch -and belt are worn round the waist, the latter containing -those arrows which are actually being shot. A pot to hold -grease for touching the glove and string, and a tassel to -wipe the arrows, are hung at the belt. The grease is composed -of beef-suet and wax melted together. The arm is -protected from the blow of the string by the brace, a broad -guard of strong leather buckled on by two straps. A shooting -glove, also of thin tubes of leather, is attached to the -wrist by three flat pieces ending in a circular strap buckled -round it. This glove prevents that soreness of the fingers -which soon comes on after using the bow without it.</p> - -<p>The target consists of a circular mat of straw, covered -with canvas painted in a series of circles. It is usually from -three feet six inches to four feet in diameter. The middle -is about six or eight inches in diameter, gilt, and called the -“gold”; the next is called the “red,” after which comes -the “inner white,” then the “black,” and finally the -“outer white.” These targets are mounted on triangular -stands at distances apart of from fifty to a hundred yards—sixty -being the usual shooting distance.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span></p> - -<p>A scoring card is provided with columns for each color, -which are marked with a pin. The usual score for a gold -hit or the bull’s-eye is 9; the red, 7; inner white, 6; -black, 3; and outer white, 1.</p> - -<p>To bend the bow properly the bow should be taken by -the handle in the right hand. Place one end on the ground, -resting in the hollow of the right foot, keeping the flat side -of the bow, called the back, toward your person. The left -foot should be advanced a little, and the right placed so -that the bow can not slip sideways. Place the heel of the -left hand upon the upper limb of the bow, below the eye of -the string. Now, while the fingers and thumb of the left -hand slide this eye toward the notch in the horn, and the -heel pushes the limb away from the body, the right hand -pulls the handle toward the person, and thus resists the -action of the left, by which the bow is bent; and at the -same time the string is slipped into the nock, as the notch -is termed. Take care to keep the three outer fingers free -from the string, for if the bow should slip from the hand, -and the string catch them, they will be severely pinched. -If shooting in frosty weather, warm the bow before the fire, -or by friction with a woolen cloth. If the bow has been -lying by for a long time, it should be well rubbed with -boiled linseed-oil before using it.</p> - -<p>To unstring the bow, hold it as in stringing, then -press down the upper limb exactly as before, and as if you -wished to place the eye of the string in a higher notch. -This will loosen the string and liberate the eye, when it -must be lifted out of the nock by the forefinger, and suffered -to slip down the limb.</p> - -<p>Before using the bow, hold it in a perpendicular direction -with the string toward you, and see if the line of the -string cuts the middle of the bow. If not, shift the eye -and noose of the string to either side, so as to make the two -lines coincide. This precaution prevents a very common<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> -cause of defective shooting, which is the result of an uneven -string throwing the arrow on one side. After using it, -unstring it; and at a large shooting party, unloose your -bow after every round. Some bows get bent into very -unmanageable shapes.</p> - -<p>The general management of the bow should be on the -principle that damp injures it, and that any loose floating -ends interfere with its shooting. It should, therefore, be -kept well varnished, and in a waterproof case, and it should -be carefully dried after shooting in damp weather. If there -are any ends hanging from the string, cut them off close, -and see that the whipping in the middle of the string -is close and well fitting. The case should be hung up -against a dry internal wall, not too near the fire. In selecting -your bow, be careful that it is not too strong for your -power, and that you can draw the arrow to its head without -any trembling of the hand. If this can not be done after -a little practice, the bow should be changed for a weaker -one. For no arrow will go true if it is discharged by a -trembling hand.</p> - -<p>If an arrow has been shot into the target or the ground, -be particularly careful to withdraw it by laying hold close -to its head, and by twisting it round as it is withdrawn in -the direction of its axis. Without this precaution it may -be easily bent or broken.</p> - -<p>In shooting at the target, the first thing is to nock the -arrow; that is, to place it properly on the string. In order -to effect this; take the bow in the left hand, with the string -toward you, the upper limb being toward the right. Hold -it horizontally while you take the arrow by the middle, pass -it on the under side of the string and the upper side of the -bow, till the head reaches two or three inches past the left -hand. Hold it there with the forefinger or thumb while -you remove the right hand down to the nock. Turn the -arrow till the cock-feather comes uppermost, then pass it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> -down the bow, and fix it on the nocking part of the string. -In doing this, all contact with the feathers should be -avoided, unless they are rubbed out of place, when they -may be smoothed down by passing them through the hand.</p> - -<p>The body should be at right angles with the target, but -the face must be turned over the left shoulder, so as to be -opposed to it. The feet are to be flat on the ground, with -the heels a little apart, the left foot turned toward the -mark. The head and chest inclined a little forward, so as -to present a full bust, but not bent at all below the waist.</p> - -<p>Draw the arrow to the full length of the arm till the -hand touches the shoulder, then take aim. The loosing -should be quick, and the string must leave the fingers -smartly and steadily. The bow-hand must be as firm as a -vice—no trembling allowed.</p> - -<p>The rules of an Archery Club are usually these:</p> - -<p>That a “Lady Paramount” be annually elected.</p> - -<p>That there be a President, Secretary, and Treasurer.</p> - -<p>That all members intending to shoot shall appear in -the uniform of the club. That a fine shall be imposed for -non-attendance.</p> - -<p>That the Secretary shall send out cards at least a month -before each day of meeting, acquainting the members with -place and hour of meeting.</p> - -<p>That there shall be four prizes for each meeting—two -for each sex; the first for numbers, the second for hits; -and that no person shall be allowed to have both on the -same day. A certain sum of money is voted to the Lady -Paramount for prizes for each meeting.</p> - -<p>That in case of a tie for hits, numbers shall decide; -and in case of a tie for numbers, hits shall decide.</p> - -<p>That the decision of the Lady Paramount shall be final.</p> - -<p>That there shall be a challenge prize of the value of —— -dollars, and that a commemorative ornament be presented -to winners of the challenge prize.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span></p> - -<p>That the distance for shooting be sixty or one hundred -yards, and that five-feet targets be used.</p> - -<p>The dress of the club to be decided by the Lady Paramount.</p> - -<p>The expenses of archery are not great—about the same -as lawn tennis—although a great many arrows are lost in -the course of the season. Bows and other paraphernalia -last a long time. Sides are chosen as at lawn tennis, and -the game grows on one. The lady archers are apt to feel -a little lame after the first two or three essays, but they -should practice a short time every morning, and always in -a loose waist or jacket. It will be found a very healthy -and strengthening pastime.</p> - -<p>We must not judge of the merits of ancient bowmen -from the practice of archery in the present day. There are -no such distances now assigned for the marks as we find -mentioned in old histories or poetic legends, nor such precision, -even at short lengths, in the direction of the arrow.</p> - -<div class="center"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="i0">“The stranger he made no mickle ado,</div> -<div class="i2">But he bent a right good bow,</div> -<div class="i0">And the fattest of all the herd he slew,</div> -<div class="i2">Forty good yards him fro;</div> -<div class="i0"><i>‘Well shot, well shot,’ quoth Robin Hood</i>.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>Few, if any, modern archers in long shooting reach four -hundred yards, or in shooting at a mark exceed eighty or a -hundred. But archery has been since the invention of gunpowder -only followed for pastime. It is decidedly the -most graceful game which can be practiced, and the legends -of Sherwood Forest, of Robin Hood, Maid Marian, Little -John, Friar Tuck, and the Abbot carry us into the fragrant -heart of the forest, and bring back memories which are -agreeable to all people who have in them a drop of Saxon -blood.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="XVIII" id="XVIII">XVIII.</a><br /> -AMUSEMENTS FOR THE MIDDLE-AGED AND -THE AGED.</h2> - -<p>We can not but notice, as people go on in life—when, -as Lord Mansfield said, “The absence of pain is pleasure, -just as in youth the absence of pleasure is pain”—that the -quiet corner by the fire, or the seat at the library-table with -the shaded lamp, and a quiet game or two when reading -has fatigued the eyes, becomes almost necessary.</p> - -<p>Of all the means of cheating a succession of dull evenings -of their tedium, perhaps that little invention called -a “Solitaire” board—which is simply a board pierced with -thirty-seven holes, which are nearly filled with thirty-six -pegs—has proved itself the most eminently successful. It -was invented, it is said, by a French Jesuit, in Canada, -to help him through the long Canadian winter evenings, -and it has proved to be a boon to mankind.</p> - -<p>One peg takes another when it can leap over into an -empty hole. To get all off but one peg is nearly impossible, -but it can be done.</p> - -<p>Then comes “Merelles,” or “Nine Men’s Morris,” which -can be played on a board, or on the ground, but which -finds itself reduced even to a parlor game. This, however, -takes two players.</p> - -<p>“American Bagatelle,” which can be played alone, or -with an antagonist; Chinese puzzles, which are infinitely -amusing; and all the great family of the sphinx known as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> -puzzles—are of infinite service to the retired, quiet, lonely -people for whom the active business of life is at an end. -The guessing of arithmetical puzzles, the solution of enigmas, -and the solution of a paradox—these amuse many an -evening.</p> - -<p>We may give one of these old things as an example. It -is called “The Blind Abbot and his Monks,” and is played -with counters. Arrange eight external cells of a square so -that there may always be nine in each row, though the -whole number may vary from eighteen to thirty-six.</p> - -<p>A convent in which there were nine cells was occupied -by a blind abbot and twenty-four monks, the abbot lodging -in the center cell, and the monks in the side cells, three -in each, giving a row of nine persons on each side of the -building. The abbot, suspecting the fidelity of his brethren, -often went out at night and counted them, and when -he found nine in each row the old man counted his beads, -said an Ave! and went to bed contented. The monks, -taking advantage of his failing sight, contrived to deceive -him, so that four could go out nightly, yet leave nine in a -row. How did they do it?</p> - -<p>The next night, emboldened by success, the monks returned -with four visitors and then arranged them nine in -a row. The next night they brought in four more belated -brethren, and again arranged them nine in a row; and -again four more. Finally, when the twelve clandestine -brothers had departed, and six monks with them, the remainder -deceived the abbot again by presenting a row of -nine. Try it with the counters, and see how they so abused -the privileges of a conventual seclusion.</p> - -<p>Then try quibbles—“How can I get wine out of a bottle -if I have no corkscrew, and must not break the glass -or make any hole in it or the cork?”</p> - -<p>The telling of a good story well should be encouraged. -The <i>raconteur</i> can be the most delightful of all house<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>hold -blessings. A mother who can tell a story well by the -nursery fire is a potent force; and the one who will light -up the winter evening by telling stories of adventures—the -simplest every-day ones in the street—the little journey, -even the round of shopping, becomes very much of a treasure. -Some ladies commit to memory the stories of Hans -Christian Andersen; Grimm, the fairy-story maker; Charles -Kingsley’s short stories, Ouida’s “A Dog of Flanders,” or -the poems of Dr. Holmes, or some other benefactor of -mankind, and tell these stories and poems in a sort of unpremeditated -way by the library-table. This is a charming -accomplishment. Some people have the gift of improvising, -and will tell a very good bit of ghost story in a very -gruesome manner for the entertainment of those who enjoy -the night side of nature.</p> - -<p>But this talent should never be abused. The man who -in cold blood fires off a long poetical quotation at a dinner, -or makes a speech in defiance of the goose-flesh which is -creeping down his neighbors’ backs, is a traitor to honor -and religion, and he deserves the death of a Nihilist. It -is only when these extempore talents can be used without -alarming people that they are useful or endurable.</p> - -<p>We might make our Christmas holidays a little more -gay in this country. We might read and study up all the -old English and the German customs, beyond the mistletoe, -the tree, and the rather faded legend of Santa Claus. -There are worlds of legendary lore which would help us to -make this time-honored festival even more lively and gay -and amusing than it is. We have not yet reached the English -jollity at Christmas.</p> - -<p>The supper-table has, as an American home festival, -rather fallen into desuetude. We sup out, but rarely have -that informal and delightful meal which once wound up -every evening devoted to Home Amusement. Mrs. Elizabeth -Montague, in her delightful letters, talks about the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> -“whisk and the quadrille parties with a light supper” -which amused the ladies of her day. We still have the -“whisk,” but what has become of lansquenet, quadrille, -basset, and piquet, those pretty and courtly games?</p> - -<p>Playing-cards made their way through Arabia from -India to Europe, where they first arrived about the year -1370. They carried with them the two arts, engraving and -painting. They were the <i>avants coureurs</i> of engraving on -wood and metal, and of printing.</p> - -<p>Cards early began to be the luxuries of kings and queens, -the necessity of the gambler, and the consolation of those -who innocently like games. Piquet, a courtly game, was -invented by Étienne Vignoles, called <i>La Hire</i>, one of the -most active soldiers of the reign of Charles VII. This -brave soldier was an accomplished chevalier, deeply imbued -with a reverence for the manners and customs of chivalry. -Cards continued from this time to follow the whim of the -court and to assume the character of the period through -the regency of Marie de Medicis, in the time of Anne of -Austria and of Louis XIV. The Germans are the first people -who essayed to make a pack of cards assume the form -of a scholastic treatise. The king, queen, knight, and -<i>knave</i> tell of English manners, customs, and nomenclature.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="XIX" id="XIX">XIX.</a><br /> -THE PARLOR.</h2> - -<p>That is a poorly-furnished parlor, think some people, -which has not a chess-table in one corner, a whist-table in -the middle, and a little solitaire-table at the other end near -the fire, for grandma. People who are fond of games stock -their table drawers with cribbage boards and backgammon, -cards of every variety, bézique counters and packs, and the -red and white champions of the hard-fought battlefield of -chess.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Frances Anne Kemble, one of the most gifted of -women—whose recollections would, one would think, be -the most attractive book which one could read—is devoted -to card solitaire. Every evening she describes herself as -spending an hour or two over these combinations. This is -not to be confused with the game of peg solitaire.</p> - -<p>Whist! Who shall pretend to describe its attractions? -What a relief it is to the tired man of business who has -been fighting the world all day, to the woman who has no -longer any part in the gay and glittering pageant of society! -What pleasure in its regulated, shifting fortunes! -We all have seen that holding the cards—even the highest -ones—does not always win the game. We have noticed -that with a poor hand somebody wins fame, success, happiness. -We feel the injustice of that long suit which has -baffled our best endeavors. Whist is a parody on life; we -play our own experience over again in its faithless kings<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> -and queens. The knave is apt to trip us up on the green -cloth as on the street. We are simply playing the real over -in shadow.</p> - -<p>The great passion for gambling is no doubt behind even -the game of Boston, played for beans. We all like to accumulate, -to believe that we are Fortune’s favorite. What -matter if it be only a few more beans than one’s neighbor? -The principle remains the same.</p> - -<p>So long as cards do not lead to gambling, they are innocent -enough. Indeed, they are a priceless boon to eyes -which can no longer see to read; to those who must get rid -of time; to those who are ill, weary, or unfortunate. We -always wonder at seeing the young take to them; it seems -as if they could do so much better; but the sight of a parlor, -warm, well lighted, with its games going on in every -corner, is not a disagreeable one. Especially should the -young ladies of the family look to this arrangement, and -see that everything is comfortable for papa’s game of whist, -bézique, or cribbage. They do not know how great a necessity -it may be to him—what a relief, what a consolation!</p> - -<p>As for Chess, the devotee of this heavy, remorseless -game has no further need of our help or sympathy. To -any one who likes to puzzle his brain over the fantastic -skips of the Knight or the prodigious descent of the Castle, -we can offer no suggestions except that he may be left undisturbed.</p> - -<p>As for Music, one can hardly say anything which has -not been said about its transcendent powers in assisting at -every Home Amusement. The family circle which has -learned three or four instruments, the brothers who can -sing part songs, are to be envied. They can never suffer -from a dull evening. Even the musical absurdities of -Kindergarten choruses are to be commended, and the German -mimicry of all the instruments. What a blessing to a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> -family is the man who can sing comic songs, and who also -does not sing them too often!</p> - -<p>It is well, where it can be done easily, to allow young -boys to sing in church choirs; to train their voices, and -be with musical people; to learn choruses, chants, etc. -In that way Arthur Sullivan began, that benefactor of his -species, the author of “Pinafore.” What has <i>not</i> “Pinafore” -done to help along the musical education of our -young people? How it has been sung in country towns! -How church choirs have taken it up! How popular, innocent, -sweet it is!</p> - -<p>Now, in our musical home training we may not make an -Arthur Sullivan, but we shall certainly add to the sum of -innocent enjoyment; and it is a delightful fact that if there -are six or seven children in a family, one of them is apt to -have a good voice, one a talent for the piano, and generally -all can be taught to play and sing a little. Sometimes -there are rarely gifted, great musical organizations in all -the sons and daughters, which is a supreme blessing. For -there is not only Home Amusement in it, but a certainty -of making a good living, if fortune frowns and makes work -necessary.</p> - -<p>The only deep shadow to the musical picture is the -necessity of practicing, which is <i>not</i> a Home Amusement; -it is a home torture. If only a person could learn to play -or sing without those dreadful first noises and those hideous -shrieks! But, since these are not to be avoided, some -one in the family must have the tact to arrange them well, -and to have the hours of the various students so placed that -there need not be a perpetual tinkle-tinkle, or something -worse.</p> - -<p>The season of early spring and summer! Oh! what -sounds come through the first open casement! How dreadful -is that <i>appoggiatura</i>! how fearful that badly-played -waltz! Is it possible that yon violinist will ever be Mau<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span>rice -Dengrémont? And yet it is by these hard chromatic -steps that all have mounted the heavenly stairs of melody.</p> - -<p>No young lady should sing in public—that is, before a -party of friends—until she can sing <i>well</i>. In these days, -when amateur cultivation has reached a high point, let -everybody say to herself, “Am I sufficiently advanced to -give pleasure by my singing?” and let her modestly abstain -from singing if she finds that, after hearing her once, her -friends do not press her to sing again. There is, perhaps, -nothing so foolish as for a woman to persist in singing in -her own parlor when she is not a thoroughly good vocalist. -No one can get away from her there. They must suffer. -Still, if birds <i>can</i> sing, they should sing. Nothing is more -disagreeable than to have to urge a person to sing. The -possessor of a voice is always a very rare and much to be -envied person, and a certain amiability in singing becomes -such a person very much.</p> - -<p>All young ladies who have been taught the piano should -have some pieces learned, and be able to play for the amusement -of the home circle. Especially should they be able -to play for dancing. A few waltzes are very convenient. -They often help off a dull evening wonderfully. The person -who plays should be willing occasionally to be made -use of. Are we not all made use of at times? Is not the -good talker in perpetual request? The <i>raconteuse</i>—is she -not begged to tell that story over and over again? Does -not the wit find himself invited out to dinner to amuse the -company? And are they not all, if amiable, glad to perform -their part? Surely the pianist should be as amiable!</p> - -<p>Reading aloud is one of the most common of Home -Amusements, and one of the best. It is a pity, however, -that our women, especially, do not cultivate elocution a -little, so that they may read aloud intelligently. There -is no prettier accomplishment. A lady at a watering-place, -who can read a poem or story well, is always sur<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span>rounded. -The sweet voice, the correct accent, the air of -intelligence—all give the author a great help, and Longfellow -never wrote a prettier stanza than this:</p> - -<div class="center"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div class="i0">“Then read from the favored volume</div> -<div class="i2">The poem of thy choice,</div> -<div class="i0">And lend to the rhyme of the poet</div> -<div class="i2">The music of thy voice.”</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>But, when the favored volume and the poem have to be -filtered through a nasal accent and an uneducated drawl, -we feel that the poet has been vilified, and his gold and -silver turns to dross. Every woman especially should remember -the fable of the girl whose lips dropped pearls and -diamonds, who was so much more agreeable as a friend and -acquaintance than that other damsel whose lips dropped -toads and vipers. The latter, evidently, had never taken -lessons in elocution.</p> - -<p>We have a certain national vice in pronunciation and -in accent which we ought to correct. A moment’s listening -to the English accent will soon teach us to pronounce with -a more melodious finish. We need not hug ourselves with -any vainglorious national conceit. We do <i>not</i> speak as well -as our English cousins.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="XX" id="XX">XX.</a><br /> -THE KITCHEN.</h2> - -<p>We began at the garret, and we are now at the kitchen. -So our readers may learn that we are on the home-stretch, -and shall be through very soon. If we have wearied them, -let them bear with us but a little longer, and then, on our -faithful steed, whom they shall find at the kitchen door, -they shall ride off and never be troubled with us any more.</p> - -<p>A model kitchen is every housekeeper’s delight. In -these days of tiles and modern improvement, what pretty -things kitchens are!</p> - -<p>The modern dairy, with its upright milk-pans, in which -the cream is marked off by a neat little thermometer; the -fire-brick floor; the exquisite range, with its polished <i>batterie -de cuisine</i>; every brilliant brass saucepan, seeming to -say, “Come and cook in me”; every porcelain-lined pan -urging upon one the necessity of stewing nectarines in -white sugar; every bright can suggesting the word “conserve,” -which always makes the mouth water; every clatter -of the skewers, saying, “Dainty dishes, dainty dishes, come -and make me! Come and make me!” All this is quite -fascinating to an amateur.</p> - -<p>No pretty woman—did she but know it—is ever half so -pretty as when she is playing cook. The clean, white apron, -the neat, short cambric dress, the little cap, the fair bare -arms—does the reader remember Ruth Pinch and the beefsteak-pie? -A lady should make the desserts in summer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> -sometimes. Such ice-cream, such glorified Charlotte Russe, -such cakes, such delicate apple-pies, such creams and jellies -as fall from a lady’s fingers—these are ambrosial food!</p> - -<p>There is among certain women a great passion for the -cleanly part of household work. The love of a dairy has -grown to be a favorite task with many a duchess. In our -country, where ladies are compelled to put a hand, perhaps -once too often, to the household work, owing to the -inefficiency of the servants, this is <i>not</i> ordinarily considered -the most thoroughly amusing of Home Amusements. To -cook a heavy dinner in warm weather, to wash dishes afterward—this -is sober prose, and by a very dull author. But -the poetry of house-work, the rose hue o’er our russet cares—this -can be classed as a Home Amusement.</p> - -<p>In the early morning we can imagine a lady going into -her neat kitchen to prepare the desserts for the day, and -finding it very agreeable. She will set her well-flavored -custard away in the ice-chest with a serene knowledge of -how good it will be at dinner, and place her compote of -pears securely on a high shelf, away from that ubiquitous -visitor the cat, who has in most families so remarkable and -irrepressible an appetite. She can take a turn at the milk-pan, -and skim off the cream herself if she pleases. It -will be much thicker if she does. It is a not unpleasant -duty to steal into the kitchen ten minutes before dinner, to -see to it that the roast birds are garnished with watercresses, -that the vegetables are properly prepared, that the -silver dishes are without a smear. All this sort of attention -makes good servants, and very good dinners.</p> - -<p>It is often one of the Home Amusements for a party of -girls to try their hand at clear-starching. Statira, indeed, -does not like this; but they should learn to flute their own -ruffles. Who knows but they may marry an army officer, -and go to Nebraska?</p> - -<p>All sorts of fine washing and ironing, all sorts of doing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> -up of lace, of renovating old silks, etc., may be made into -Home Amusements, if done cheerfully, and in the right -spirit. The modern embroidery requiring pressing, the -many modern accomplishments of lace-making, <i>appliqué</i>, -etc., lead a young lady into the kitchen, and she can derive -a vast deal of amusement from this room, if she -chooses.</p> - -<p>One of the holiest of duties is to learn how to cook for -the sick. This requires a great deal of patient talent, and -it is a sufficient reward if we can see the beloved convalescent -tasting our arrowroot and sago, and good beef-tea and -jelly, with approbation.</p> - -<p>Among Home Amusements, how many reckon the jolly -party assembled to make the wedding-cake? Susan and -Sarah shall stone the raisins, Charlotte and Clara shall -beat the eggs, Louisa shall slice the citron, Matilda, who -has a judicial mind, shall weigh! Then all shall stir, and -who shall be the one to get the ring?</p> - -<p>The baking is momentous. Mamma had better be -consulted here. And then the great question of the icing! -Oh! how anxious! The mince-pies require another season -of deep thought and much very stringent stirring. The -excellent brandy, the dash of orange curaçoa, must be -poured out by the lady, else why is it that ever after the -mince-pie seems to lack that inspiriting and hidden fire? -We read that there is many a slip between the cup and the -lip!</p> - -<p>The modern elegant devices by which strawberries, violets, -and orange-blossoms are candied in sugar, effect a Home -Amusement for dainty-fingered girls; and since the establishment -in Boston of a cooking club, at which each young -lady is to contribute some article of her own cooking, we -see signs of a revival in all branches of the great art of -cookery which is most encouraging. It was a notable old -maxim among Puritan mothers that every wife should<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> -know how to make bread, and, perhaps, it has not died out -yet.</p> - -<p>Looking at the subject broadly, every thoroughly accomplished -woman should know how to do everything, from -making a soup up to a cup of tea—the Alpha and the Omega -of cookery.</p> - -<p>In the matter of flavoring, the colored race have us at -a great disadvantage. Any old colored cook can distance -her white “Missus” here. This highly-gifted race seem to -have a sixth sense on the subject of flavors. The rich -tropical nature breaks out in reminiscences of orange-blossoms, -pineapple, guava, cocoanut, and Mandarin orange. -Never can the descendants of the poor, half-starved, frozen -exiles of Plymouth Rock hope to achieve such custards -and puddings as these Ethiops turn out. And as to the -juicyness of their fried oysters and their inimitable terrapin, -who has ever approached them? It is as if a luxurious -and tasteful, beneficent power had left us, when we were -given what we proudly call a “higher intelligence.” Who -would not exchange all the cold mathematical supremacy -in which we glory for that luscious gift of making pies and -puddings <i>à ravir</i>?</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="XXI" id="XXI">XXI.</a><br /> -THE FAMILY HORSE, AND OTHER PETS.</h2> - -<p>Standing at the kitchen door, all ready for the most -timorous to drive, is the most important minister to the -Home Amusements—the family horse. He is a beast of -burden, no doubt. There is but little Arab steed left in -him, if, indeed, there ever was much. He is a plodder, a -patient, much put-upon beast. The boys can harness him, -the girls can drive him. He is allowed to take out grandma—when -she consents to be driven, and isn’t afraid of the -railroad train, and does not think that it is going to rain. -The baby, when he takes his first adventurous journey down -the village street, is put in state and in blankets behind the -family horse. No one is afraid of Blossom. No one likes -to whip him, because if he were whipped, what antics he -might give way to!</p> - -<p>Blossom is an exceedingly inappropriate name. Dried -Leaf would be far more descriptive. Still Blossom is adhered -to, because the suggestion that he was once young, -and that really he is frisky, in his silent way, is still a -delightful legend in the family.</p> - -<p>Blossom, who is an intelligent old beast, knows perfectly -well how utterly weak and imbecile the whole family are -about him. So he will never do anything but walk and -trot very gently, because he knows that no one dares to -whip him. Once a young cousin, who had none of the -family reverence for Blossom, did give him a few cuts on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> -his exceedingly smooth, fat sides. Blossom had the presence -of mind to stand up on his hind legs, frightening -mamma nearly to death; and she mentioned, in Blossom’s -hearing, that “he never was to be whipped again, because -he really had a great deal of fire in him, and would not -brook whip or spur!”</p> - -<p>“I remember, dear,” she says, “your father says that -he heard, when he bought him, that he came of very proud -stock.”</p> - -<p>It has been noticed that when papa wishes to catch the -train Blossom can go as fast as anybody.</p> - -<p>Blossom is a great pet, and he has that instinct of a good -family horse—he stops when anything is wrong. Once, -when the harness broke, Blossom, instead of running, -stopped short, and saved the lives of the whole family. He -has a quick ear for a coming railway train, and never has -balked going up hill. The girls feed him with sugar, and -take their first ride on his dear, safe, hard old back. The -boys have had imaginary jousts with neighboring knights, -urging him in the lists. He has been put through all the -sports of the middle ages, has Blossom, and probably he distrusts -the institution of chivalry. Still, he likes the boys, -and does all that a phlegmatic temperament and an indomitable -laziness will allow in the way of a spirited and impulsive -charge.</p> - -<p>There <i>are</i> persons whom Blossom dislikes; one is the -spinster sister, Miss Caroline, who drives him with many a -whirrup, and “get up,” and “g’lang,” and has a nervous -twitch to her hand, and a distrustful and uncertain temper -with the whip. Miss Caroline nags Blossom, as she has -nagged everything and everybody all her life, and Blossom -resents her absence of repose and confidence by starting -wildly to right and left as he goes down the village street, -appearing to make for a distant fence when she is endeavoring -to guide his nose toward the gate of the parsonage.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> -Indeed, the village wit says that if he sees only the back of -the family carriage he can tell that Miss Caroline is driving, -as he watches that respected vehicle describing parabolas -and angles as it wobbles down the street.</p> - -<p>When mamma drives, Blossom goes in a slow, stately, -but dignified manner, and, although he imposes upon her -good-nature, and does not put forth any mile-in-three-minutes -style, yet he shows a due respect for himself and -her. When the girls drive him, he, feeling through the -reins a little of the ichor of their young blood, becomes -almost vivacious, and goes almost half as fast as he can go. -When papa drives, he feels a strong hand behind him, and -actually gets there.</p> - -<p>Every family should have as many animals as possible. -Dogs of every breed and variety—especially big ones, and -good ones, like mastiffs and Newfoundlands, and a few little -ones to play with. Cats and kittens, if they like them, -rabbits, goats, pigeons, lambs, peacocks, etc., and as much -live-stock as can be accommodated about the place should -be there. These four-footed friends, especially dogs, are -indispensable in the country. What attachments one forms -for them! How dreary the hour when they die! Perhaps, -then, we wish that they had not been so intimate, so dear, -so loving, so trustful. The walk, the ramble, the quiet -seat on the piazza—all, all must be endeared by the silent -friendship of the dogs.</p> - -<p>There is sometimes a want of harmony among the pets. -Carlo must be shut up while Flirt is at large, and the parrot -must be kept away from the pigeons. The parrot can -take care of herself as to the cats; but how about the canaries -and the blackcap? Eternal vigilance is the price -of liberty, and the only safety of slavery.</p> - -<p>And yet these enforced duties: do they not fit the boys -for the cares of government? Do they not tell the future -politician what he is to do? Are they not, after all, a part<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> -of that great education which Home, and only Home, can -give us?</p> - -<p>We shall have few friends so faithful as Blossom, few -who will impose upon us so gently, and who will really impose -upon us to our advantage. We shall have few such -friends as Carlo and Flirt, who love us, faults and all; who -never ask what wrong we have committed, or how unworthy -we are, but who are, without doubt, the most flattering -of worshipers, loving us simply because we are <i>ourselves</i>. -How few love us for that, and that alone!</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="XXII" id="XXII">XXII.</a><br /> -IN CONCLUSION.</h2> - -<p>In looking over our list of Home Amusements—the -private theatricals, the tableaux vivants, the brain games, -the fortune-telling, the making of screens, the painting of -fans, etc.; the games at cards, the etching, the lawn tennis, -the dancing, the garden party, the window gardens, -the birds, the picnics, the plaque-painting, the archery, -the parlor and the kitchen—we can only feel how much we -have left out. Why have we not spoken more fully of the -library, with its quiet and respectable arm-chairs, its green -table, its shelves filled with those silent friends who never -desert us, its paper-cutter, its wood-fire, its latest magazine, -its quiet, and the heavy curtain dropped at evening? How -did we happen to so slight this delightful room, wherein so -many of the best amusements of home are always arranging -themselves? Perhaps because the story told itself, and we -did not need to tell it.</p> - -<p>How could we have forgotten the quest for green apples -and choke-cherries in the spring, or the subsequent repentance? -the bird-snaring and nesting? and in summer the -search for wild flowers? the attempts at making an herbarium? -the berry-picking? the nutting in the fall? that -cracking of butternuts by the winter fire? that arrangement -of the autumn-leaves?</p> - -<p>Simply because the record of Home Amusements is endless. -It is almost all of life which is worth remembering.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span></p> - -<p>But we can not leave the reader here, particularly if -that kindly personage be a young lady, without congratulating -her upon the age in which she exists. She finds vastly -more to amuse her in her home-life than her mother or -her grandmother did before her. They were content to -receive once a month “The Lady’s Book,” with a few hints -as to lace-work, worsted-work, patterns for the embroidering -of slippers or sofa-cushions. A new suggestion for embroidery -on white cambric, or, through a friend in some -great mart of fashion, the cut pattern of an article of -dress—think of that, ye who get the fashions by telegraph. -Dress itself was a crude thing compared to what it is now. -There was not even at Newport the slightest approximation -to the luxury of to-day. A “London-made” habit, for -instance, was almost unknown. There was no “riding to -hounds,” no skating rink, no casino; there were quiet dinners, -and very many “Germans,” but they were conducted -inexpensively, at the hotels almost universally.</p> - -<p>Of course, New York and Philadelphia, Boston and -Washington, offered an exciting life to the prominent and -fashionable women of the day for a few weeks of the season. -But the long life at home of the rank and file, the severe -winters, during whose rigors the ardent and ambitious and -pleasure-loving were shut up for months behind four dreary -walls, were not illumined by patterns of artistic fancy-work -from South Kensington, or by the delightful knowledge -of china painting. No ingenious boy or girl thought of -cutting or carving in wood beyond the vulgar whittling, -which all good housekeepers condemned. The elderly lady -sat about with her knitting—very plain knitting at that. -The crochet-needle had not then begun that endless chain -which has since united our vast continent in a network of -elaborate tidies, and covered our babies with delicate flannel -Josies, or given us, for the head and neck, the softest of -wraps. The sewing-machine had not begun its prodigious<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> -march down our long seams. People did much “plain -sewing,” but knew not of artistic curtains made of cheesecloth, -or of unbleached muslin elaborated into Roman -scarfs—a singular marriage, by the way, of Lowell and its -looms with the Eternal City, all of which they know now.</p> - -<p>Young ladies had not then been taught to draw and -paint artistically, sincerely, as they are taught to-day. The -education in music was infinitely less thorough. It was an -age when the person who aspired to the accomplishments -had much to contend against. There were but few railroads -which penetrated to the remote villages; and it must -be confessed that life had its dull evenings.</p> - -<p>But around the one astral lamp which then shed its -uncertain rays upon the family circle there were the same -elements of which human society is now composed, and -there was one amusement present whose absence we now -sometimes have to regret. We refer to that lost art of conversation -which has, it would seem, departed from our busy -last half of the nineteenth century. Indeed, it has left the -whole world, if we can believe Cornelius O’Dowd, Mrs. -Stowe, and Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, and even some French -writers. Mrs. Stowe, in one of her books of early New -England life, referring to the art of conversation, speaks -feelingly of the change. Young ladies were driven by the -very dullness of their lives to be readers of good books. -There were many admirable historical scholars and Shakespeareans -among the New England girls of a past generation. -They read Milton and John Bunyan, and the early -essayists and poets. Their novels had been written for -them by Walter Scott and Miss Austen, and they were an -education in themselves.</p> - -<p>And conversation, such as we do not hear often, lighted -up those long winter evenings. Perhaps, too, this very -quiet and dullness was helping to forge the armor of some -heroine who was to take her part in civilizing the West.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> -Certainly it made some great women. However, as we take -account of what little we may have lost, we are very grateful -for all we have gained. Our present civilization rubs -out individuality, no doubt. Life is smothered in appliances.</p> - -<p>What is called the higher education of women, and the -very superior culture now possible, may not have yet made -a race of good talkers, but it has undoubtedly made an -army of thinkers.</p> - -<p>It certainly has helped to fill the country with refined -and happy girls, who have no reason to complain of repression. -It would seem almost impossible to find now the repressed, -morbid, undeveloped, and crushed natures which -a gloomy religion and a lingering of Puritan prejudice made -almost too common in early New England. Many of those -women still live, and have found expression in literature -to tell us how devoid their homes were of amusement.</p> - -<p>The world is not filled with geniuses, or with those fortunate -people who can evolve an amusing life from out of -the depths of their inner consciousness. We may, therefore, -be very grateful for every innocent amusement. Indeed, -we may be very grateful that amateur concerts, little -operettas, cantatas, musical clubs, are now common, and -that the performers, young ladies of all ranks and classes, -are admirably trained in music; that in decorative art industries -they are no longer novices, but deserving of the -higher name of artist.</p> - -<p>All these better developments of the mind and power of -each inmate can not but render home interesting, gay, -cheerful, happy, blessed.</p> - -<p>And all the Home Amusements should be made, or -studied to be made, the amusements of the whole.</p> - -<p>No pursuit or pleasure can be carried on in the best -spirit without being in some measure unselfish if it conduces -to the amusement of home. Thus the indulgence of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> -a favorite taste may have the beauty of philanthropy in it, -if it is made to help along the cheerfulness of home.</p> - -<p>There are some trades which are solitary and exclusive. -Authorship is one of these; and perhaps the author is not -always a very amusing inmate. But the actor in the private -play, the clever and ready wit who makes the charade -lively, the musician, the embroideress, the fortune-teller, -the good partner at whist, the clever amateur cook, and -the artistic member—these can all add to Home Amusements.</p> - -<p class="center p2">THE END. -</p> - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a name="Footnote_1" id="Footnote_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> This was the invention of a poor poet named Dulot, who found -rhymes for other poets.</p></div></div> - -<h2><a name="ADVERTISEMENTS" id="ADVERTISEMENTS"><i>ADVERTISEMENTS.</i></a></h2> - -<p class="center"><span class="xlarge">Artistic Wall Papers,</span><br /> -ON HAND AND MADE TO ORDER BY</p> - -<div class="center"> -<img src="images/i_153.png" width="600" height="523" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="center"><span class="large">FR. BECK & CO.,</span><br /> -At their Factory, corner Twenty-ninth St. and Seventh Ave.,<br /> -NEW YORK.</p> - -<hr class="r5" /> - -<p class="center large">COLORS of CARPETS and DRAPERIES MATCHED.</p> - -<p class="center">THE ENTIRE WORK OF INTERIOR DECORATION<br /> -DONE UNDER OUR SUPERVISION.</p> - -<p class="center large">Ceiling Decorations a Specialty. -</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="center xlarge">APPLETONS’<br /> -HOME BOOKS.</p> - -<hr class="r5" /> - -<p class="center">Appletons’ Home Books are a Series of New Hand-Volumes<br /> -at low price, devoted to all Subjects pertaining<br /> -to Home and the Household. -</p> - -<hr class="r5" /> - -<p class="center large"><i>NOW READY</i>:</p> - -<div class="center"><div class="ilb"> -<ul class="large"><li>BUILDING A HOME. Illustrated.</li> -<li>HOW TO FURNISH A HOME. Illustrated.</li> -<li>THE HOME GARDEN. Illustrated.</li> -<li>HOME GROUNDS. 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Perhaps the best part of it is in what it does not say, the indefinable -suggestion of good breeding and refinement which its well-written pages make.”—<i>New -York Evening Express.</i></p> - -<p>“A sensible and brief treatise, which young persons may profitably read.”—<i>New -York Evening Post.</i></p> - -<p>“Everything which refines the habits of a people ennobles it, and hence the importance -of furnishing to the public all possible aids to superior manners. This book will -undoubtedly meet the needs of a large class.”—<i>Boston Evening Transcript.</i></p> - -<p>“A frank and sensible epitome of the customs of good society in the first city of -America. It admits the existence and need of certain rules of social behavior, and -then in a kindly and decorous manner points out how to conform to the best usage.”—<i>Boston -Commonwealth.</i></p> - -<p>“A very sensible and—if we may say it of a book—well-bred volume. It gives the -rules that are observed in the metropolis. 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APPLETON & CO., Publishers,<br /> -1, 3, & 5 Bond Street, New York. -</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="center xlarge">BOOKS ON ART.</p> - -<hr class="r5" /> - -<p class="center">I.</p> - -<p class="large"><i>Introduction to the Study of Art.</i></p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>By <span class="smcap">M. A. Dwight</span>, author of “Grecian and Roman Mythology.” -12mo. Cloth, $1.25.</p></blockquote> - -<p class="center">II.</p> - -<p class="large"><i>Great Lights in Sculpture and Painting.</i></p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>A Manual for Young Students. By <span class="smcap">S. D. Doremus</span>. 12mo. Cloth, -$1.00.</p></blockquote> - -<p>“This little volume has grown out of a want long felt by a writer who desired to -take a class through the history of the great sculptors and painters, as a preliminary -step to an intelligent journey through Europe.”—<i>From Preface.</i></p> - -<p class="center">III.</p> - -<p class="large"><i>Schools and Masters of Painting.</i></p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>With an Appendix on the Principal Galleries of Europe. With -numerous Illustrations. By <span class="smcap">A. G. Radcliffe</span>. 12mo. Cloth, -$3.00.</p></blockquote> - -<p>“The volume is one of great practical utility, and may be used to advantage as an -artistic guide-book by persons visiting the collections of Italy, France, and Germany, -for the first time. The twelve great pictures of the world, which are familiar by copies -and engravings to all who have the slightest tincture of taste for art, are described in -a special chapter, which affords a convenient stepping-stone to a just appreciation of -the most celebrated masterpieces of painting. An important feature of the work, and -one which may save the traveler much time and expense, is the sketch presented in -the Appendix, of the galleries of Florence, Rome, Venice, Paris, Dresden, and other -European collections.”—<i>N. Y. Tribune.</i></p> - -<p class="center">IV.</p> - -<p class="large"><i>Studio, Field, and Gallery.</i></p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>A Manual of Painting, for the Student and Amateur; with Information -for the General Reader. By <span class="smcap">Horace J. Rollin</span>. 12mo. -Cloth, $1.50.</p></blockquote> - -<p>“The work is a small one, but it is comprehensive in its scope; it is written as -tersely as possible, with no waste sentences, and scarcely any waste words, and to -amateur artists and art-students it will be invaluable as a hand-book of varied information -for ready reference.”—<i>N. Y. Evening Post.</i></p> - -<p class="center">V.</p> - -<p class="large"><i>Ruskin on Painting.</i></p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>With a Biographical Sketch. (Forming No. 29 of Appletons’ -“New Handy-Volume Series.”) 18mo. Paper, 30 cents; cloth, -60 cents.</p></blockquote> - -<p class="center">VI.</p> - -<p class="large"><i>Majolica and Fayence</i>:</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>Italian, Sicilian, Majorcan, Hispano-Moresque, and Persian. By -<span class="smcap">Arthur Beckwith</span>. With Photo-Engraved Illustrations. Second -edition. 12mo. Cloth, $1.00.</p></blockquote> - -<p class="center"><span class="smcap">D. APPLETON & CO., Publishers, 1, 3, & 5 Bond Street, N. Y.</span> -</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p class="center xlarge">ESTERBROOK’S<br /> -STANDARD AND SUPERIOR</p> - -<div class="center"> -<img src="images/i_158.png" width="600" height="256" alt="STEEL PENS" /> -</div> - -<p class="center large">LEADING NUMBERS:</p> - -<table summary="Leading numbers" class="large"> -<tr><td colspan="2">Fine Points,</td> -<td class="pl">Nos.</td> -<td class="tdr pl">333,</td> -<td class="tdr pl">232,</td> -<td class="tdr pl">128.</td></tr> -<tr><td>Medium </td> -<td>Points,</td> -<td class="tdc pl">„</td> -<td class="tdr pl">048,</td> -<td class="tdr pl">14,</td> -<td class="tdr pl">130.</td></tr> -<tr><td>Blunt</td> -<td class="tdc">„</td> -<td class="tdc pl">„</td> -<td class="tdr pl">122,</td> -<td class="tdr pl">183,</td> -<td class="tdr pl">1743.</td></tr> -<tr><td>Broad</td> -<td class="tdc">„</td> -<td class="tdc pl">„</td> -<td class="tdr pl">161,</td> -<td class="tdr pl">239,</td> -<td class="tdr pl">284.</td></tr> -</table> - -<hr class="r5" /> - -<p class="center"><i>FOR SALE BY ALL STATIONERS.</i></p> - -<hr class="r5" /> - -<p class="center large">THE ESTERBROOK STEEL PEN CO.,</p> - -<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Works: Camden, N. J.</span><span class="longspace"> </span><span class="smcap">26 John Street, New York.</span> -</p> - -<div class="transnote"> -<h3>Transcriber's Note:</h3> - -<p>Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as -possible. Some minor corrections of spelling have been made.</p> -</div> - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Home Amusements, by M. E. W. 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