Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-12-26

the capitals of columns, and a display Of
banners and texts upon the bare walls will
decorate a church very handsomely. If there
is a gallery, it can be made ornate with a
garland or Gordon of evergreen, fastened in
regular festoons along the front of the gal
lery, with a banner suspended in the hollow
Of each festoon.
A set of banners, with the Christian viz.
tues inscribed upon them (pasted Or painted
in gilt %letters), can be made very ornament
al by using various colored silks or satins
cut in two or three deep points at the bot
tom, and edged with gold-colored silk
fringe. At the top a hem is made and =
piece of rattan run through it. From tina
ends of this, pieces of ribbon or cord, with
bows or ~tassels, can be attached, by which
to suspend. Small banners, ten inches bv
six, are very pretty for room decorations.
and can be made of more common materials
plain cottons or twilled s~ilesias, in Tur-
key-red, blue and gold, trimmed with letters
in evergreens or with kernels of rice strewn
thickly upon pasteboard letters covered with
glue. Plain-colored wall paper, stretched
over a framework of laths, and Ornamented
with texts, will also produce a very good
effect in a church, placed at some height.
The framework can also be made out Of
steels taken from crinoline skirts, and the
edges can be decorated with evergreen rib
bons, made of laurel or ivy leaves sewed
upon pieces of red or green WOODEN braid,
letting the leaves fall first on one side and
then on the other, so as to cover the stems.
These green ribbons are also pretty for dec
Grating picture-frames and mirrors, and for
various trimmings in parlors and halls,
A Sunday-school room can be beautifully
decorated at a slight expense, if the chill
dren will give their services, and the elder
boys will gather the evergreens. Make a
great many yards of evergreen garlands by
tying sprigs of hemlock, ground pine and
laurel leaves together upon a strong rope,
such as is used for clothes lines. Fix nails
or hooks, at regular intervals, close to the
ceilings, and suspend the garlands in fes-
toons. Take f1our-barrel hoops, or make
hoops of crinoline steels, and cover them
with evergreens for wreaths. Hang these
OH hoops put into the walls at regular dis
tances, or over the top of each window
place a hoop. Cut a dozen or more pieces
of scarlet, blue and gold-colored silks, or
silk-finished s~ilesias, twelve or fifteen
inches in width, and eight or eleven
in breadth, to make small banners. Hem
them Oh three sides, and make a casing
directed. Take sheets of gilt paper and
draw on the back, from a good pattern, the
letters you desire to make into sentences,
such as Christmas Greetings to All,''
'Peace and Good Will" Cut a deep fringe
from the gilt paper, and edge the banners
either in prints or straight across. Hang
the banners with red wooden braid, OF hand
some ribbons, or cords and taSsels-with
~tassels, either cut from the gilt paper, or of
silk or bows of ribbon, at each corner. A
small banner can be suspended in the center
OF each hoop Of evergreens with excellent
effect.
AS Christmas decorations are not ex-
pected to remain long in use, they need not
be made of expensive materials, or elaborate
workmanship, but wreaths, garlands, stars
and own of the spicy evergreens in which
our forests abound, are pleasing to the eye
and delicious in odor, and in the early
centuries of Christianity they were univer-
sally employed, while the earliest settlers
in England also adorned their homes with
evergreens at this season Of the year, be-
cause they believed that the sylvan deities
dwelt in them, and brought pea:e and pros
perity to their families.