Fig. 2.—COVER OF PINCUSHION, FIG. 1.
Some little girl may like to make a pincushion, perhaps for mamma, or to leave slyly on sister's toilette table, where she will see it the first thing Christmas morning. Look attentively at our picture, and then go to the scrap-bag, and search for two pretty pieces. They need not be alike; in our cushion the bottom is garnet velvet, and the top cream-colored satin. Velvet, silk, and satin are nice materials to use, but any strong, serviceable woollen fabric will do just as well. Cut them square, and take two pieces of strong muslin of the same size for inside lining. Lay them over one another, first a piece of lining, then the two outside pieces, and lastly the second piece of lining. Then sew them firmly together on three sides. Clip away the corners outside the seam. Then turn the whole right side out, and stuff it. Sawdust is very good for this purpose. Pack in very tightly just as much of it as you can make it hold. Then turn in the edges of the fourth side, and overseam them neatly and firmly. Put some pretty tassel fringe, in colors to match, around the edge, and your cushion is finished. A handy little girl will know how to make the fringe of remnants of bright-colored wool. For those of our girls that know something of embroidery we give in Fig. 2 a pretty pattern in which to work the top. The cream-colored top of our cushion is decorated in this manner with olive and dark red silk; the olive is used for the little sprays, the stems, and the outside of the rose-buds, and the red for the heart of the bud. It looks very pretty, and the work is really of the simplest kind. If you will turn back to your last year's volume of Young People, and look at some of the articles on embroidery for girls, by Miss Susan Hayes Ward, you will find directions for embroidering which will help you very much in decorating the top of your cushion.
THE OWL AND THE BAT.
BY PALMER COX.
Oh, lively was the group of birds that met on Beaver Flat
The night on which the hooting owl was wedded to the bat!
It was a sight that summer night to see them gather there;
Some came by water, some by land, and others through the air.
The eagle quit the mountain-peak to mix with meaner fowl,
And like a comrade act the part of groomsman to the owl;
The friendly stork had hastened there with long and stately stride;
It was its happy privilege to give away the bride.
