he uprights and
cross-bar, as decoration;--these are not expensive matters, and the
little carpentry needed could be done in a very short time by a
village carpenter.

And here, my dear Rouge Pot, I feel inclined to say a word to "Parents
and Guardians." _I wish that a small annual outlay on little pleasures
were oftener reckoned among legitimate expenses in middle-class
British families._ But little pleasures and alms are apt to be left
till they are asked for, and then grudged. Though, if the annual
expenses under these two heads were summed up at the end of the year,
we should perhaps be more inclined to blush than to bewail our
extravagances. As to little pleasures, I am not speaking of toys and
books and presents, of which children have commonly six times as many
now-a-days as they can learn to love; nor do I mean such pleasures as
the month at the seaside, which I should be sorry to describe as a
light matter for papa's purse. But I mean little pleasures of the
children's own devising, for which some trifling help from the elders
will make all the difference between failure and success. In short, my
dear Rouge Pot, at the present moment I mean the children's
theatricals; and papa himself will confess that, whereas two or three
pounds, "up or down," in the seaside move, would hardly be considered,
and fifteen shillings "more or less" in the price of a new dining-room
fender would upset nobody's nerves in the household--if "the children"
asked for a day's work of the village carpenter, and seven and
sixpence worth of wood, to carry out a project of their own, it would
be considered a great waste of money. However, it is only fair to add
that the young people themselves will do wisely to establish a
"theatrical fund" box, which will not open, and to put in a fixed
percentage of everybody's pocket-money to accumulate for some genuine
properties when the theatrical season begins.

The question of _scenery_ of course must depend on the resources of
the company. But _acting may be very successful without any at all_.
It must never be forgotten that _those who look and listen can also
imagine_, and unless tolerably good scenes can be had, it is almost
better to content oneself with what served in the days of
Shakespeare--a written placard of what the scene is supposed to be.
_Shakespeare scenery_, as we may call it, will amuse people of itself,
and a good piece and good actors will not suffer from its use. Thus,
if _Th