"Fire ahead," commanded James.
"You make a paper pattern to fit your corner—so fashion," and Roger tore a sheet of paper off a pad and cut a slip ten inches long and four inches wide. A point in the middle of the long side he placed on the corner of the big blotter that lay before him and then he folded the rest of the paper around the corner. The result was a smooth triangle on the face of the blotter and a triangle at the back just like it except that it was split up the middle.
"Here's your pattern," said Roger slipping it off. "When you make this of brass or copper it's a good plan to round these back corners so there won't be any sharp points to stick into you or to scratch the desk."
"Or Grandfather Emerson's. I'm going to inflict a set on him at Christmas."
"I should think it would be hard to work on such dinky little things," remarked James who had large hands.
"You don't cut them out of your big sheet of copper or your big piece of leather yet. You draw the size of this small pattern on to a larger piece of paper and you draw your ornamental design right where you want it on the face of the triangle—so."
"More work for Ethel Blue, making original designs."
"She might get up some U. S. C. designs and have them copyrighted," suggested Helen.
"Until she does we'll have to use these simple figures that I traced out of a book the other day."