t the Japanese stores
nowadays suggest numberless excellent designs for china decorating. So
do the "Walter Crane Fairy-tales." A plain olive or cream-colored tile
with a pattern in bamboo-boughs and little birds, a milk-jug in gray
with leaves and a motto in black, a set of tiny butter-plates with
initials and a flower-spray on each, are easy things to attempt and
very effective when done. Pie-dishes can be ornamented with a long,
sketchy branch of blossoms or a flight of swallows across the bottom,
and we have seen those small dishes of Nancy ware, in which eggs are
first poached and then served on table, made very pretty by a painting
on each of a chicken, done in soft browns and reds, with a little line
to frame it in and run down along the handle. What we have mentioned
here are only suggestions; a little patience and practice will soon
help you to other patterns of your own, and we can't help hoping that
some of you will be tempted to try your hands at this delightful art.

DRAWING AND PAINTING ON WOOD.

Articles in plain white wood can be bought almost anywhere nowadays.
Pen-trays, letter-racks, easels, paper-knives, photograph-frames,
watch-cases, needle-books, portfolios, glove-boxes, fans,
silk-winders--there is no end to the variety which can be had, and
had at a very moderate price. Now, any girl or boy among you with a
paint-box and a little taste for drawing, can make a really pretty
gift by decorating some one of these wooden things, either in color or
with pen drawings in brown or black. The pattern need by no means be
elaborate. A wreath of ivy simply out-lined in sepia or india-ink, or
a group of figures sketched with the same, produces a very pleasing
and harmonious effect. "Prout's Brown," a sort of fluent ink of a
burnt-umber tint, will be found excellent for drawing purposes.
For designs, our own ST. NICHOLAS will furnish excellent examples.
Scarcely a number but holds something which a clever artist can
adapt to his purpose. The "Miss Muffett" series, for example, or the
silhouettes, or the sea-side sketches, or the ornamental borders and
leaf-and-flower headings. Look over your back numbers, and you will
see how rich they are in subjects for copies.

Here is a suggestion for such of you as live by the sea, and who know
something about drawing. Search for clam-shells on the beach, and
select the whitest and most perfectly formed. Separate the two shells,
cleanse them thoroughly, and make on t