THE FAERY YEAR 



occurs that the male birds thus find quarters for the 

 nesting season, and, beginning to sing at once, 

 attract thither the hens, when these arrive in our 

 woods and spinneys. It is a pretty idea, but I am 

 afraid there is no proof that it is true. 



A Village Herb Doctor 



Until quite lately, there was a little herb shop at 

 the country end of the main street of the market 

 town. The owner could not make a living by his 

 cures and simples alone, so he combined the business 

 with one or two other small ones. But the shop has 

 gone ; to find another of its kind, one need travel 

 twenty miles to the county town. There are still 

 a few herbalists in the small towns, but each census 

 must show a lessening number. The owner of the 

 little herb shop in the market town was no impostor. 

 He believed firmly in his cures, which he gathered 

 himself, chiefly on a Saturday afternoon, in the fields 

 and lanes. There was no doubting his sincerity 

 after one had talked with him a little. He held that 

 the cure by the virtues of wild plants, far from being 

 in its dotage, was but in its infancy. He was enthu- 

 siastic about the wonderful remedies for suffering 

 which the herb would presently offer, and trembled 

 modestly on the brink of some benign discovery. 

 I think the village dame, famed more than half a 

 century for her herb lore, has gone too. Now by 

 faith, now by virtue of the herb, or a little of both, 

 2 54 



