WILD FRUITS 227 



tribe to which they seem to be allied. The leaves 

 drop off rather easily, and when the berries are at 

 their best there are just enough of them to make 

 an accompaniment to their gaudy scheme of colour, 

 and not so many as would hide them from the 

 most casual eye. Like the Furies, the spindle-wood 

 genus is called by a pleasant name Euonymus. 

 Its vermilion seeds are poisonous to us who never 

 think of eating them, but only medicinal to the 

 thrushes which do eat them. 



' Happy, happy time, when the white star hovers 



Low over dim fields fresh with bloomy dew, 

 Near the face of dawn that draws athwart the 



darkness 

 Threading it with colour like yewberries the yew.' 



There is no gloomier tree than the yew, no more 

 brilliant berry than those which are set like fiery 

 stars on its branches. There is only one berry 

 with such sticky flesh, the mistletoe ; but the 

 yewberry is sweet as well as viscid, like a piece 

 of confectionery set on this strange shop-counter. 

 The seed that peeps out in the midst of this ring 

 of jelly is poisonous, and so most children leave the 

 yewberries for the thrushes that simply revel in 

 them. Such gobblers never think of spitting out 

 the stones at the time of feasting, but eject them 

 later when the emetic principle asserts itself, 

 thus scattering them abroad where there are 

 openings for young yews. 



The strawberry has long since gone, and only the 



