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so when its branches bear their coral-like berries, beautiful 

 in form, beautiful in colour, and contrasting charmingly 

 with the dark green foliage. 



Like holly, ivy, laurustinus, and other evergreen plants, 

 the yew is in demand at the glad Christmas season, both 

 for the decoration of the church and of the home,' and in 

 pre-Reformation days it was in these northern latitudes 

 used on Palm Sunday as a substitute for the real palm in 

 processions. The willow was also used, and so both that 

 and the yew became called palms, a name that the former 

 still retains in many parts of the country when the 

 particular species most employed, the sallow, is bearing its 

 catkins. The yew, unfortunately, loses one great attraction, 

 seeing that its berries part company from the stem at but 

 slight provocation. In some parts of England they hold 

 that yew must have no place in dressing the home, or there 

 will be a death in the family before the end of the year. 

 Such a gruesome belief, happily, could not have been very 

 generally held, or we should not find Herrick singing — 



When yew is out then birch comes in, 



And many flowers beside, 

 Both of a fresh and fragrant kin 



To honour Whitsuntide. 



Our ancestors had a pleasant custom of decking their 

 houses all through the Winter and Spring, and had a regular 

 sequence, the holly being succeeded by the box, the box 



' This verdant adornment was in its origin long pre-Christian, the Romans 

 decorating their houses with green boughs during the Saturnalia. If, however, 

 we object to the idea of this Pagan precedent, we can find another in the 

 Jewish use of such signs of rejoicing in their Feast of Tabernacles. It must 

 in all ages have been a most natural form of rejoicing. 



