114 FIRST STEPS IN GENERAL KNOWLEDGE. 



of our sweet violet have similar qualities, and the 

 petals and seeds are likewise medicinal. 



Henry remembered reading that violet flowers 

 were made into wine by the Romans, and also 

 that they are still used in the East to make sherbet. 

 His father told him, that this tribe does not con- 

 sist wholly of small herbs, such as our own violet, 

 but that some of the foreign families are berry- 

 bearing shrubs, and one has a twining stem.* 



"Do you remember, Mary," said her father* 

 "the beautiful shrubs which fenced some of the 

 gardens at Shanklin, when we last visited the Isle 

 of Wight?" 



" Oh yes, papa ; they were the prettiest I ever 

 saw, with very slender branches like beautiful 

 smooth rods, and covered with tiny leaves of a 

 bright green. I was surprised to see them grow- 

 ing so close to the sea." 



"I remember them," said Henry; "they were 

 something like young withy bushes, only the 

 leaves were smaller and brighter, and the stems 

 were red. They grew along the edge of the sea- 

 wall, and in winter I should think they were often 

 washed by the tide." 



* Corynostylis, 



