Vil STOCKS 129 
saw explained to him. Ifa novice, it will be well 
also to ascertain that he knows a Dog-Rose when 
he sees it. When I was ill one winter, I was 
pleased to hear that a parishioner had brought me a 
nice lot of stocks at a reasonable price. One of the 
first acts of my convalescence was to inspect their 
quality. And alas! not only were the majority 
practically useless from chops and other injuries, 
but a third of the whole were not Rose stocks but 
blackberries ! 
This reminds me of another amusing incident, 
which I will relate exactly as it occurred. It refers 
to the spelling of the word briar, but throws no 
light upon the debated point whether an ‘e’ should 
take the place of the ‘a.’ ‘The occasion was the 
examination of a night school for the Government 
grant, and at that time the teachers were allowed to 
conduct it subject to the rules sent to them. A 
young Kast Anglian labourer was going through the 
reading ordeal, and his teachers, of whom I was one, 
were anxiously watching his struggles. He had sunk 
twice—I mean he had made two mistakes in his 
allotted piece—and three would mean failure. He 
came to the word in question, stopped dead, and 
spelt it slowly. We encouraged him, and patted 
him on the back, for he had all the appearance of 
having a word in him but of being afraid to part 
with it. At last, after much exhortation to play 
the man and ‘‘out with it,’ he spelt it again very 
carefully, ‘‘ b-r-i-a-r,’’ and then the word burst forth 
quite suddenly like an explosion, ‘“‘ brumble-bush!” 
““Well! well! yes, oh yes!” said my dear old 
colleague (long since deceased): ‘“‘eh? pass that— 
oh yes! he knows what it means.” I said nothing, 
and I am afraid the Education Department was 
K 
