A pretty little vase can be made of the shells of three sea-urchins, of graduating sizes, placed one upon another, the smallest on top. The small hole in the bottom of the largest one should be filled up with damp plaster-of-Paris—which will harden very quickly. The other two shells must have the small holes enlarged to the size of the one at the top; they can then be joined together with the plaster, and the vase be used for flowers or vines. A sea-urchin and good-sized starfish make the prettiest kind of a candlestick, and the addition of a brass-headed tack on every point but one of the starfish gives it a nice finish and furnishes feet for it to stand on; the point left without a foot forms the handle by which it may be carried. The tacks should be stuck into the fish first, and then the sea-urchin fastened on with plaster-of-Paris. Not more than ten minutes are consumed in making a candlestick of this kind, and it will be found to be quite as useful as it is pretty and unique. The walls of the cottage can be decorated in many ways with the beautiful ornaments the sea furnishes. Over one of the doors in the cottage alluded to at the beginning of this chapter there was an ornamentation that looked exactly like wood-carving, but was only a group of starfish arranged and tacked on the wall in a decorative form. The fish being nearly the exact color of the background, the deception was almost perfect. If the walls of a room are divided off into panels, and each panel decorated in the manner described for the screen, the effect will be most exquisite. On entering such a room one might almost imagine oneself to be a mermaid, and this a lovely chamber beneath the sea. So much can be done by one’s own hands it depends greatly, if not entirely, upon the taste or time one is willing to devote to it what this sea-side habitation shall be; whether the little cottage shall be in harmony with its surroundings, seemingly a part of the place, or whether it shall be only a cheap frame-structure, looking as though it belonged in a country town and had been carried to the coast in a capricious gale of wind, with decorations, if it has any, inappropriate and unsuited to the sea-shore. =How to Dry Starfish.= Collect the most perfect specimens of all sizes, wash them in fresh water, and then spread on a board in a dry place (not in the sun) and leave them undisturbed for a few days, or until thoroughly dried. =How to Polish Shells.= Wash your shells in clean, fresh water; procure a small quantity of muriatic acid and have in readiness two-thirds as much water as acid. Place the shells in a basin, pour the water upon them, then the acid; let them remain a few minutes, then take them out and wash again in clear water. Rub each shell with a soft woollen cloth. A fine enamelled surface can be given by rubbing them with a little oil and finely powdered pumice-stone, and then with a chamois-skin.