16 FAMILIAR TREES 



in request among watchmakers for pegs used in their 

 work. 



Its charcoal is used for the liner kinds of gun- 

 powder, and in France, where this and many other 

 small woods are put to a great variety of uses 

 unknown in this country, it is esteemed for artists' 

 crayons. 



In spite of its comparative rarity, it is singular that 

 the beautifully modelled and coloured fruits of this 

 tree should not have attracted more attention from 

 our poets ; but showing brightly, as they do, late 

 into the year, they suggested to Tennyson the serene 

 wisdom and experience of age. In a short poem 

 called " A Dedication," he expressly refers to the 

 fruit of the Spindle-tree in the following lines : 



"Take "this, and pray that he 

 Who wrote it, honouring your sweet faith in him, 

 May trust himself ; and, spite of praise and scorn, 

 As one who feels the immeasurable world, 

 Attain the wise indifference of the wise ; 

 And after Autumn past if left to pass 

 His Autumn into seeming-leafless days 

 Draw towards the long frost and longest night, 

 Wearing his wisdom lightly, like the fruit 

 Which in our winter woodland looks a flower." 



