MEASiURE FOR MEASURE. 117 



worm ' to refer to the locust or at least to the larva of 

 the locust ; but the words rendered ' palmer-worm' and 

 ' caterpillar ' seem to have had reference to some species 

 of canker-worm.''' 



"I should like it amazingl}' if you could tell me liow 

 to get rid of the varmin," remarked Hugh. 



"Practical entomology is not much in my line," I 

 answered, "and I fear that such a theme would not 

 greatly interest the majority of our little circle. But I 

 can tell you of an ancient remedy that was supposed to 

 be very effective. In the early part of the seventeenth 

 century the peasants in many places in Germany took 

 this mode : they pulled a stake froni a hedge, looped 

 around it a rope which they rapidly drew back and 

 forth until the friction kindled it into a flame. This 

 they carefully fed with stubble and dry wood. "When 

 the bonfire had quite burned out the peasants collected 

 the ashes and spread them over their garden vegetables, 

 confident that by this means they could drive away the 

 canker-worm. This fire they called the 'Xodfeur,' 

 or, as we might sa}^, the ' jSfeed-fire.' " 



"You don't mean to say, sir," asked Hugh, "that 

 you think the Nodfeur ashes really did any good in 

 keeping off the canker-worms?" 



"Why not?" I inquired. 



"Tut, tut!" exclaimed the Mistress. "I am sure 

 you don't indorse any such nonsense. It was pure 

 superstition that prompted the custom, and you haven't 

 much of that element in your mental make-up, I know 

 well. ■' 



