182 FOOTING IT IN FRANCONIA 



body does, said : " Yes, the yellow variety is 

 gro^\Tiig in the Arnold Arboretum, and is 

 mentioned in the latest edition of Gray's 

 Manual." Bushes have been found at Ded- 

 ham, Massachusetts, it appears. The maker 

 of the Manual seems not to have been aware 

 of their having been noticed anywhere else ; 

 but since my return home I have been in- 

 formed that they are not uncommon in the 

 neighborhood of Montreal, where yellow 

 chokecherries are " found with the ordinary 

 form in the markets " ! 



That last statement is bewildering. Is 

 there anything that somebody, somewhere, 

 does not find edible ? I have heard of eat- 

 ers of arsenic and of slate pencils ; but 

 chokecherries for sale in a market ! If the 

 reader's mouth does not pucker at the words 

 he must be wanting in imagination. 



In Franconia even the birds seemed to 

 refuse such a tongue-tying diet. The shrubs 

 loaded with fruit, some of it red (wine 

 color), some of it black, — the latter color 

 predominating, I think, — stood along the 

 roadside mile upon mile. Sooner or later, 

 I dare say, the birds must have recourse to 



