A pretty finish over that is a bind- ing of silver paper extending over the edges upon the glass on each side. This is not necessary if the picture is put in a light frame in order to suspend it. If the frame is not used, then holes must be drilled in the glasses for a cord before the picture is made. When selecting a place to hang a thermometer, remember, in the HOUSEHOLD ORNAMENTATION. 243 first place, the temperature of the wall of any building at any hour of the night or day is not the true temperature of the circulating air, and is of no use to science. A wooden wall will radiate its heat more rapidly than a brick or stone, and the amateur scientist who hangs his thermometer on a wooden wall can force his mercury down below the amateur who selects a brick wall. The proper way to expose your thermometer is to surround it with a light wooden frame, covered with slats, like shutter-work, and roofed over. This will protect it from the direct rays of the sun and reflected heat. Run a light wooden bar across the centre of }'our shelter, to which you can attach the thermometer, which should be, when properly ex- posed, on the north side of the building, and at least one foot from all surrounding objects. If these directions are followed, erroneous reports of extreme cold weather will not find their way into print so often. To make a case for overshoes, take one-half yard square of leather cloth, line with thin flannel and bind around with worsted braid. Place two pockets inside diagonally, twelve inches long, twelve and a half broad, line with leather cloth, flannel outside. Around the edge of the case and pockets put narrow serpentine worsted braid and fasten with yellow floss. To fasten the case, tie each corner in the centre, or roll and fasten with a button and loop, first turning the two points and tying to keep the shoes in place. If tablecloths, napkins, and handkerchiefs are folded an inch or two beyond the middle they will last much longer; it is on the edges of folds where they first wear, and not folding them on a middle line, each ironing, they get a new crease. A charcoal sketch may be preserved by brushing the back of the drawing with a spirit varnish, made of one-third of an ounce of white lac dissolved in one half-pint of alcohol. Brown paper of the darkest shade and thickest texture, and gray paper of a cool granite tint, are just now much in demand as mate- rials for painting upon for dadoes, panels, cornices, book-covers, and other things. They give a background on which the light and 244 THE HEARTHSTONE ; OR, LIFE AT HOME. shade are at once relieved; and while gray paper is the softest, brown paper, partly by the contrast of its rough surface, gives the most relief. The best brown paper for the purpose is the stout, con- tinuous kind used by paper-hangers and upholsterers for backing. Salad oil bottles make very good vases. Remove the straw work and cover with two coats of black paint; paste on them scrap pictures of flowers, butterflies, ferns, etc.; varnish well and tie bows of bright ribbon round the neck or a band of gold paper. If small, common flower-pots are covered with the black silhouettes frequently seen in illustrated papers and German books, and afterward var- nished and suspended by cords, they will form unique hanging-bas- kets for ferns and vines.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

A pretty finish over that is a binding of silver paper extending over the edges upon the glass on each side. This is not necessary if the picture is put in a light frame in order to suspend it. If the frame is not used, then holes must be drilled in the glasses for a cord before the picture is made. When selecting a place to hang a thermometer, remember, in the first place, the temperature of the wall of any building at any hour of the night or day is not the true temperature of the circulating air, and is of no use to science. A wooden wall will radiate its heat more rapidly than a brick or stone, and the amateur scientist who hangs his thermometer on a wooden wall can force his mercury down below the amateur who selects a brick wall. The proper way to expose your thermometer is to surround it with a light wooden frame, covered with slats, like shutter-work, and roofed over. This will protect it from the direct rays of the sun and reflected heat. Run a light wooden bar across the centre of your shelter, to which you can attach the thermometer, which should be, when properly exposed, on the north side of the building, and at least one foot from all surrounding objects. If these directions are followed, erroneous reports of extreme cold weather will not find their way into print so often. To make a case for overshoes, take one-half yard square of leather cloth, line with thin flannel and bind around with worsted braid. Place two pockets inside diagonally, twelve inches long, twelve and a half broad, line with leather cloth, flannel outside. Around the edge of the case and pockets put narrow serpentine worsted braid and fasten with yellow floss. To fasten the case, tie each corner in the centre, or roll and fasten with a button and loop, first turning the two points and tying to keep the shoes in place. If tablecloths, napkins, and handkerchiefs are folded an inch or two beyond the middle they will last much longer; it is on the edges of folds where they first wear, and not folding them on a middle line, each ironing, they get a new crease. A charcoal sketch may be preserved by brushing the back of the drawing with a spirit varnish, made of one-third of an ounce of white lac dissolved in one half-pint of alcohol. Brown paper of the darkest shade and thickest texture, and gray paper of a cool granite tint, are just now much in demand as materials for painting upon for dadoes, panels, cornices, book-covers, and other things. They give a background on which the light and shade are at once relieved; and while gray paper is the softest, brown paper, partly by the contrast of its rough surface, gives the most relief. The best brown paper for the purpose is the stout, continuous kind used by paper-hangers and upholsterers for backing. Salad oil bottles make very good vases. Remove the straw work and cover with two coats of black paint; paste on them scrap pictures of flowers, butterflies, ferns, etc.; varnish well and tie bows of bright ribbon round the neck or a band of gold paper. If small, common flower-pots are covered with the black silhouettes frequently seen in illustrated papers and German books, and afterward varnished and suspended by cords, they will form unique hanging-baskets for ferns and vines.

The hearthstone; or, Life at home