2 6 WITH TtiE IVOODLANDERS. 



going to the wise woman. Love - charms and 

 philtres were in request centuries ago, but so they 

 are now in some places I could mention. I knew 

 the ways of that wise woman, and also knew her 

 personally, and I could have placed hands on her 

 at any time. Those love-potions are not harmless 

 ones if fairly administered in a man's drink. There 

 are those who know the real nature of one very 

 beautiful but horribly dangerous vegetable pro- 

 duction that in its season is so very common in 

 forest districts the scarlet fungus that grows at the 

 foot of some trees. One of the properties only one 

 out of many is this : it will make a chattering, 

 silly fool of a wise man. This is a very unpleasant 

 subject, and one about which I do not care to say 

 too much. Those who have written about the 

 innocent unsophisticated dwellers of the woodlands 

 have written utter nonsense. I have known some 

 of these so-called innocent dwellers of the woods 

 go just as far as they possibly could with safety, 

 in order to gain their own ends. One of the 

 companions of my younger days, a fine good-looking 

 fellow, only escaped by the skin of his teeth from 

 having a potion of this kind given him by a lass 



