Fig. 63.
For a green hue, dip the flower, but not the stalk, or the former will fall off, in a brass or copper vessel full of vinegar and salt, for half a day, or not so long in oil of tartar; wash in water, and dry them, keeping the stem up. For a straw-yellow tint, keep them two days in oil of tartar. For yellow, or another shade of green, in quick lime, slightly liquefied with water. For grey, in vinegar, milk with a little black dye. For jet, put the stems through holes in a plate of metal fitting a vessel by which the flowers can be exposed to the fumes of sulphur. They will be blanched at first, but will then redden, and finally become black. To varnish: Melt down some Flanders glue, strain it, and brush it on thoroughly. Put them away to dry where no dust will fall on them. Perfume at pleasure.
Fig. 64.
THE POLITICAL TEETOTUM.
(No personal allusion intended to H. Panky, Esq., M.P.) Cut the edge of a teetotum into six faces, and put on them the letters D, R, C M, &c., standing for Despotism, Republic, Constitutional Monarchy, and any other form of government which may visit a country. The game is to pretend to tell the future rule by the first face which comes up three times.
ORTHOGRAPHICAL DICE.
Paste or paint upon four cubes of wood, metal, stone, or bone, the vowels and consonants. Attach a value to them, and play with them in the same manner as if they were dice. The whimsical words which the upturned letters will often produce occasion laughter, and the compulsion to name them will help slow juveniles on with their alphabet.