Beautiful vases appeal to the observer from three standpoints: their line and form, their color, and the character of their glaze. A graceful curve

and well-adjusted proportions are difficult to describe, and no recipe can be given by which they may be identified. They are the result of the

spiritual efficiency of the artist and are products of a mind tuned to beauty. Unless there is a response in the beholder, the beauty is passed by. But appreciation, which is one important office of art education in our schools, may be developed. In general, good curves must spring from the base with rhythmic vigor. No two parts of the curve may be the same, for variety rather than monotony is desired. Good proportions involve the same principles, and a sense of heaviness or of leanness should be replaced by a feeling of well-related parts. Lines should suggest buoyancy, while proportion suggests stability.

Good color may range from brilliant hues to quiet grays. If strong in color, the beauty depends largely on the surroundings; quite naturally, such a vase demands isolation. Grayer colors may associate more freely and be equally pleasing. Quality of glaze and color are so closely related that it is undesirable to separate them. Glazes may be dull or glossy, but should never give an unpleasant sensation to the beholder. Rough glazes like the surface of sandpaper are not good. Mottled glazes and colors may be very beautiful, but more often in the cheaper vase forms they are not.

It is generally true that beautiful vases are not found in the average store and seldom make their way into the rural school. As a means of decoration they may be of great value, but because of the difficulty in obtaining them their use is therefore limited. Once in a great while, a quiet, refined vase may be discovered even in a five- and ten-cent store, but usually these cheaper forms have no art value.

The flag. The American flag is perhaps the most difficult object to use in a school-decoration scheme. It is intended to be triumphantly flying in the breeze from the top of a flagstaff and was never meant to be used in combination with indoor decoration. The colors are brilliant and the design non-bisymmetrical. If it must be displayed, the flag need not be larger than eight by ten or twelve inches, and, if framed flat, may be treated in a composition with other objects. Another device of some merit is to have a small flagstaff inserted in some weighted receptacle and allow the flag to hang naturally in folds. A large flag, certainly, should not be permanently displayed in any schoolroom. If the flag must be there, the smaller it is, the better.

The shrine of beauty.-Every schoolroom should have its shrine of beauty or a place where beautiful objects may be tastefully displayed. It may be in a corner or on a cabinet or a table, and should be changed at weekly or monthly periods. Pupils may easily be led to watch eagerly for the new beauty and will themselves soon demand a part in producing it. Fine taste, appreciation, culture, all the better elements of a child's nature, may be quietly brought to the roughened surface. Here the

beautiful vase form may play its part and serve as a means of developing refinement in the pupil. The beauty shrine may have a background of a beautiful piece of cloth, silk, brocade, or velvet, and in front of this should be placed such objects as may be gathered from time to time. The school museum will serve to aid in this work, and no source whereby material may be gained should be neglected.

The shrine may display the beauties of nature or the works of man, and may range from a beautiful flower, feather, shell, or insect to a vase, a cast, a book, a carving, or a textile. Interesting groups may be composed, one central idea predominating; and again one single object may be adequate. A fine bunch of fall berries may be supported in a good vase form, which is in front of a quiet background of brown burlap; or a beautiful bird's nest may serve on another occasion. The particular type of beauty may take the form of color, as in spring blossoms; or of fine arrangement, as flowers in a vase; or of works of fine art, as pictures; or objects of beautiful technique, as a beautiful old Paisley shawl. The field is as unlimited as the joy and inspiration to be gained from week to week. The periodical surprise planned by a different pupil each time, under the teacher's guidance, may serve to awaken the unresponsive pupil and renew interest in all.

The following are suggestive objects for use in the shrine of beauty: Constructed forms

Nature forms

Beauty in arrangement must always be based on principles of good design. The following points must receive due consideration:

1. Only one story should be told at a time.

2. If more than one object is used, only one object must predominate.

3. The group must be well balanced.

4. Objects must be in harmony.

5. Colors must harmonize.

ARRANGEMENT OF THE SCHOOL DECORATION

The pupils' desks are necessarily fixed in the middle of the floor space, with an aisle running around the outside as well as between rows. The location of the teacher's desk may be directly in the front of the room, at one side and in front, or in the rear. The teacher decides this for herself. The stove, if of the most improved pattern, is in the rear of the room; if not, it is in the center of the room or in front and at one side of the desks. All other objects may be moved about at will, and the arrangement may mar, or make good, the decoration.

Interest may be centered in groups about the room as follows:

Group I. Windows, shades, and flowers.-If a long window box is used for flowers, it should be placed inside in winter and outside in summer. If the window is low, the box may rest on the sill. If it is high, the box should rest on a shelf or on brackets in front and below the sil!. The reason for such arrangement is plain: if it were on the high sill, the box would cut off the light, and the flowers seen against the bright sky would appear as dark silhouettes and their full beauty would be lost. In this group the flowers are the center of interest and should be placed to good advantage.

Group II. Windows, small pictures, clock, calendar, and thermometer.— In this group the windows should be subordinated to the two centers of attraction. The recording mediums, the clock, the thermometer, and the calendar form one center, the pictures the other. In this group in which the pictures are so small, the wall space may be designed particularly for them. Artificial-board battens or strips of wood may be used to form interesting panels in which the elements are carefully grouped. This gives opportunity also for separating the centers of interest and at the same time confining them within proper bounds. The final result is highly satisfactory. When there is a big field of blank wall space, strips of wood or stripes of color should be used to relieve the surface in this way.

Group III. A bookcase or museum cabinet, pictures, blackboard, and chairs. In this group the museum cabinet or the bookcase is of chief interest. A symmetrical arrangement may be possible, with the cabinet in the center and the subordinate interest, chairs, pictures, and blackboard, arranged on either side. The chairs acting as guards, with the central picture slightly lowered, give emphasis to the central interest. An arrangement at one end of the wall may retain the interest if objects outside of those in the group are separated by a considerable space.

Pictures and the bulletin board should be hung with two vertical wires or with the support hidden. When hung with a single wire, a triangular