306 Old Time Gardens 



Great bushes of Elder, another flower of witch- 

 craft, grow and blossom near my Thyme bank. Old 

 Thomas Browne, as long ago as 1685 called the Elder 

 bloom " white umbrellas " — which has puzzled me 

 much, since we are told to assign the use and knowl- 

 edge of umbrellas in England to a much later date ; 

 perhaps he really wrote umbellas. Now it is a well- 

 known fact — sworn to in scores of old herbals, 

 that any one who stands on Wild Thyme, by the 

 side of an Elder bush, on Midsummer Eve, will 

 " see great experiences " ; his eyes will be opened, 

 his wits quickened, his vision clarified ; and some 

 have even seen fairies, pixies — Shakespeare's elves 

 — sporting over the Thyme at their feet. 



I shall not tell whom I saw walking on my Wild 

 Thyme bank last Midsummer Eve. I did not need 

 the Elder bush to open my eyes. I watched the 

 twain strolling back and forth in the half-light, and 

 I heard snatches of talk as they walked toward me, 

 and I lost the responses as they turned from me. 

 At last, in a louder voice : — 



He. " What is this jolly smell all around here? Just 

 like a mint-julep! Some kind of a flower?' 1 



She. "It's Thyme, Wild Thyme; it has run into the 

 edge of the lawn from the field, and is just ruining the 

 grass." 



He {stooping to pick it). " Why, so it is. I thought 

 it came from that big white flower over there by the hedge." 



She. " No, that is Elder." 



He {after a pause). "I had to learn a lot of old 

 Arnold's poetry at school once, or in college, and there was 

 some just like to-night : — 



