ake a
collection of the flags of all nations. And when those are all done,
you will find colored pages of them in any large dictionary, and
elsewhere too,--you might get possession of an old shipping guide,
and copy Lloyd's signal code from it.

Maps

Coloring maps is interesting, but is more difficult than you might
perhaps think, owing to the skill required in laying an even surface
of paint on an irregular space. The middle of the country does not
cause much trouble, but when it comes to the jagged frontier line the
brush has to be very carefully handled. To wet the whole map with a
wet brush at the outset is a help. Perhaps before starting in earnest
on a map it would be best to practice a little with irregular-shaped
spaces on another piece of paper.

Magic-Lantern Slides

If you have a magic lantern in the house you can paint some home-made
slides. The colors should be as gay as possible. The best home-made
slides are those which illustrate a home-made story; and the fact that
you cannot draw or paint really well should not discourage you at all.
A simpler way of making slides is to hold the glass over a candle
until one side is covered with lamp black and then with a sharp stick
to draw outline pictures on it.

Another way is to cut out silhouettes in black paper, or colored
tracing-paper, and stick them to the glass. In copying a picture on a
slide put the glass over the picture and draw the outline with a fine
brush dipped in Indian ink. Then paint. All painting on slides should
be covered with fixing varnish, or it will rub off.

Illuminating

As a change from painting there is illuminating, for which smaller
brushes and gold and silver paint are needed. Illuminating texts is a
favorite Sunday afternoon employment.

Pen and Ink Work

There is also pen and ink drawing, mistakenly called "etching," for
which you require a tiny pen, known as a mapping pen, and a cake of
Indian ink. If the library contains a volume of old wood-cuts,
particularly _Bewick's Birds_ or _Bewick's Quadrupeds_, you will have
no lack of pictures to copy.

Chalks

In place of paints a box of chalks will serve very well.

Tracing

Smaller children, who have not yet learned to paint properly, often
like to trace pictures either on tracing paper held over the picture,
or on ordinary thin paper held over the picture against the window
pane.

Pricking Pictures

Pictures can also be pricked with a pin, but in