Cameo Carving A New Whim

Tha latest whira is nothing more nor less than cameo carring. according to the New York Recorder. Many a dainty boudoir has a little table in one corner where "gravers." "scoopers," and various other mysterious instruments of the craft are kept. "How do they manage it and do they make real cárneos?" some one asks. O, yes, they are real and they are pretty. The shells used for the purpose are "black helmets" brought from the West Indies. There are also red and yellow helmets found on the coast of China. The shell is cut with little gravers and scoopers, and half a dozen of these, of various sizes and degrees of fineness, are all that are needed. When the cameo is cut the process of polishing begins, and this requires patience and still more patience. First, the groundwork is polished by rubbing it with pumice stone and water: this takes out the scratches made. The shell is then washed with warm water. The second polishing is done with pumice dust and oil and with a small boxwood stick. It is again washed. The third and last polishing is given with fine rotten stone and sulphurit: acid. A very high degree of polish is tnus obtained. and. after being once mort; washed. the work is done. The hells cost from two to five dollars eaoh. From a good shell as many as three or four pieces can be taken.