or name in the middle. The wood
should be oiled or shellacked.

[Illustration: A WALL LETTER-HOLDER FOR PAPA.]

SHOE-CASES.

These cases are meant to take the place of paper when shoes are to be
wrapped up to go in a trunk. They are made of brown crash, bound with
red worsted braid. One end is pointed so as to turn over and button
down, or the top has strings over the braid to tie the mouth up. There
should be three or four made at a time, as each holds but one pair of
shoes; and you will find that mamma or your unmarried aunts will like
them very much.

[Illustration: A SHOE-CASE FOR TRAVELING.]

SKATE-BAGS.

A nice present for a skating boy--and what boy does not skate?--is a
bag made much after the pattern of the shoe-case just described,
only larger and wider, and of stouter material. Water-proof cloth or
cassimere is best. Sew it very strongly, and attach a string of wide
braid, or a strong elastic strap, that the bag may be swung over
the shoulders. A big initial letter cut out in red flannel and
button-holed on will make a pretty effect.

A SCALLOP-SHELL ALBUM.

Young folks who are fortunate enough to have a pair of good-sized
scallop-shells (picked up, perhaps, at the sea-side during the last
summer vacation), can make a very pretty little autograph album in
this way:

[Illustration: A SCALLOP-SHELL ALBUM.]

Take a pair of well-mated scallop-shells. Clean them with brush and
soap. When dry, paint them with the white of egg to bring out the
colors, and let them dry again. Now insert between the shells a dozen
or more pages of writing-paper, cut of the same shape and size as the
shells, and very neatly scalloped around the edges. Then secure the
whole loosely, as shown in the picture, by means of a narrow ribbon
passed through two holes previously bored in the shells. Of course,
holes also must be pierced in the sheets of paper to correspond with
those in the shells.

A LITTLE NUN.

This droll figure is cut out in black and white paper. Fastened at the
end of a wide ribbon, it would make an odd and pretty book-mark. The
black paper should be dull black, though the glossy will answer if
no other can be procured. Fig. 1 of the diagrams is cut in white, a
rosary and cross being put in with pen and ink, and is folded in the
middle by the dotted lines, the head and arms being afterward folded
over, as indicated. Figs. 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 are cut in black and pasted
into place, leaving a narrow wh