ell, with the ribs of the shell nicely
painted, eyeholes to peep through, and the hinge of the shell arranged
to conceal the feet, would be no very great effort of skill. _Sandwich
costumes for the little ones_ might be of many effective shapes. Thick
paste-board would probably be strong enough for very little people,
and in many cases a covered framework would be better still, and if
you have a kite-maker in your troupe, you had better commit these
costumes to his skill and ingenuity. A very simple device would be
that of flower-pots painted red. They need come no higher than the
chin, if a good thick bush is firmly held by the little hands behind,
so as to conceal the face. But no doubt, my dear Rouge Pot, you will
say, "if we have no plays with such characters in, we cannot have
them, however desirable it may be to bring in the little ones." But I
think you will find some of the elders ingenious enough to "tack them
on" to your pieces if required, especially to those founded on fairy
tales.

_Glazed calico_ is the amateur costume-maker's best friend. It is
cheap, it is shiny, and it can be had in all the most effective
colours. I have never seen a very good green; but the turquoise blue,
the pink, and the yellow, are of those pretty Dresden china shades
which Mr. Marcus Ward and other Christmas-card makers use to such good
purpose against gold backgrounds. Many of these Christmas cards, by
the bye, with children dressed in ancient costumes painted by good
artists, will give you and your sisters help in a tasteful combination
of colours; and besides the gold and silver powder paints, which
answer admirably, gold and silver paper can be had to cut stars and
trimmings of various sorts from, to stitch or gum on to fairies'
dresses, &c.

Tarlatan can now be had in hues that almost rival the colours of
flowers, but I fear that only the white can be had "fire-proof."
Gauze wings, flowing hair, and tarlatan skirts, combined with the
"flurry" of the performances, the confined space behind the scenes,
and lights everywhere, form a dangerous combination which it makes one
shudder to think of. The truth is, my dear Rouge Pot, it cannot be too
often or too emphatically repeated that _naked lights on the stage or
behind the scenes in amateur theatricals are as wrong as in a
coal-mine_. Glass shades for the bedroom candles--with which
boy-brothers, seeing imperfectly through masks, will rush past little
sisters whose newly-crimp