Wash the mantel With a mixture of lime water and common washing soda, to remove any trace of grease or smoke. Swill off with clean water. For white marble, apply one or two coats of quick-drying white paint. The dark veins may be put in with sticks of willow charcoal, or with thin black paint and a camel-hair brush, the hai'shness of such veins being tempered by brushing over while still wet with a badger softener or clean soft dusting brush. An alternative plan is to apply over the veinings a very thin coat of white paint, having just sufficient body to make the veins appear underneath. A very pale varnish must be used. For black marble, quick-.Irving black must be applied for the groundwork: the veins are of a green and whitish-green tone; and the colours are blended together by passing the badger softener across. Ordinary oak varnish will do for the latter class of work. For better-class work, thecolours should be worked up thin and scumbled on with a piece of sponge; spotting being done by taking up plenty of colour in a brush and tapping it against a stick; the colours should be nicely blended and all harshness avoided.