Make them the same height, but not quite so tall as your central plant.
Use blocks, bricks, or anything to make the plants the right height.
Place each plant so as to hide the pot behind it, each row of plants
growing lower and a little broader ; place on the floor of the 'chancel,
the steps, then on the floor. Do not let it grow too broad — keep the
proportions true. The poorest plants can go in behind to fill up any
spaces there may be. If you are successful you will have a solid, beau-
tiful pyramid of living plants, without destroying your plants by cut-
ting. Calla lilies are very effective — in fact, nothing will come amiss.
Little toy baskets are very beautiful hung about filled with flowers.
Fill the basket with wet cotton or moss ; if flowers are scarce, take any
tiny flower, even one of a cluster of geraniums, bind it to a small wire
or broom-corn with a piece of wet cotton and lay in the basket. With
a leaf here and there, a very few flowers will go a great ways.
Golden rod is very beautiful for church decorations. To make a star,
take five pieces of wood twenty inches long and about half an inch
thick ; make a hole half an inch from the ends, through which to
draw a cord to tie them together with, wind the flowers on, lay the
pieces across each other in the shape of a five-pointed star, tie them
together, hang in an arch or against the wall.
Little banners, three or four inches long, of colored paper, with vari-
ous church emblems upon them, and pasted on splints put around the
lamps and various places, are pretty, only don't put them in your pyra-
mid ; that will need no other decoration. Vines are beautiful twined
around the arch or on the walls. Hanging-baskets everywhere you can
put them, add to the beauty.
When you have no flowers, banners of various sizes are beautiful, the
larger ones bearing inscriptions appropriate to the season. Make the
church beautiful, and remember, "The Lord is in His Holy Temple."
EASTER ALTAR CROSSES.
Make a cross of wood, say two feet high ; have three steps. Cover
with white newspaper before printed ; fold over the edges neatly and
paste on the back ; put no paste on the front or sides. It will look like
EASTER ALTAR CROSSES. 139
white marble. A fine green vine of running ferns will look beautifully
on it, but make it very simple and do not trim with artificials.
If you have a chancel window which throws too much light on your
work, make a reredos of pasteboard a foot higher than your cross and
a little wider, cover with bishop lawn ; spatter maiden hair and coarse
ferns in a wreath around the edge, and place behind the cross.
To make imitation of rough marble take white paper cut in long
strips two and a half inches deep, slash about quarter of an inch wide and
two inches deep the whole length. With the point of a penknife curl
each narrow strip in a round curl and keep rolled up ; paste a strip
around the cross, straight-edge down, continue till the cross is covered.
Take pieces of white marble broken small and fasten .on the cross
with plaster of paris.
A cross covered with wood moss and bitter-sweet berries is very hand-
some. Or cover a cross with white glue, then put on rice that has
been washed and dried. A cross to be beautiful should be simple.
Page 121
Presented as published in 1886. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
Make them the same height, but not quite so tall as your central plant. Use blocks, bricks, or anything to make the plants the right height. Place each plant so as to hide the pot behind it, each row of plants growing lower and a little broader ; place on the floor of the 'chancel, the steps, then on the floor. Do not let it grow too broad — keep the proportions true. The poorest plants can go in behind to fill up any spaces there may be. If you are successful you will have a solid, beautiful pyramid of living plants, without destroying your plants by cutting. Calla lilies are very effective — in fact, nothing will come amiss.
Little toy baskets are very beautiful hung about filled with flowers. Fill the basket with wet cotton or moss ; if flowers are scarce, take any tiny flower, even one of a cluster of geraniums, bind it to a small wire or broom-corn with a piece of wet cotton and lay in the basket. With a leaf here and there, a very few flowers will go a great ways.
Golden rod is very beautiful for church decorations. To make a star, take five pieces of wood twenty inches long and about half an inch thick ; make a hole half an inch from the ends, through which to draw a cord to tie them together with, wind the flowers on, lay the pieces across each other in the shape of a five-pointed star, tie them together, hang in an arch or against the wall.
Little banners, three or four inches long, of colored paper, with various church emblems upon them, and pasted on splints put around the lamps and various places, are pretty, only don't put them in your pyramid ; that will need no other decoration. Vines are beautiful twined around the arch or on the walls. Hanging-baskets everywhere you can put them, add to the beauty.
When you have no flowers, banners of various sizes are beautiful, the larger ones bearing inscriptions appropriate to the season. Make the church beautiful, and remember, "The Lord is in His Holy Temple."
EASTER ALTAR CROSSES.
Make a cross of wood, say two feet high ; have three steps. Cover with white newspaper before printed ; fold over the edges neatly and paste on the back ; put no paste on the front or sides. It will look like
EASTER ALTAR CROSSES. 139
white marble. A fine green vine of running ferns will look beautifully on it, but make it very simple and do not trim with artificials.
If you have a chancel window which throws too much light on your work, make a reredos of pasteboard a foot higher than your cross and a little wider, cover with bishop lawn ; spatter maiden hair and coarse ferns in a wreath around the edge, and place behind the cross.
To make imitation of rough marble take white paper cut in long strips two and a half inches deep, slash about quarter of an inch wide and two inches deep the whole length. With the point of a penknife curl each narrow strip in a round curl and keep rolled up ; paste a strip around the cross, straight-edge down, continue till the cross is covered. Take pieces of white marble broken small and fasten .on the cross with plaster of paris.
A cross covered with wood moss and bitter-sweet berries is very handsome. Or cover a cross with white glue, then put on rice that has been washed and dried. A cross to be beautiful should be simple.