THE USE OF THE COCONUT 151 



Passing a confectioner's shop, I saw a tempting 

 packet labelled " Cokernut Toffee." I bought a 

 pennyworth and gave it to my little girl, and 



" I laye a-thynkynge, a-thynkynge, a-thynkynge." 



How many boys and girls are there in this king- 

 dom to whom the word coconut connotes an 

 ingredient which goes to the making of a very tooth- 

 some sweetie ? And how many confectioners and 

 shop girls are there whose idea is no broader ? Again : 



" I laye a-thynkynge, a-thynkynge, a-thynkynge, 

 And merrie sang the Birde as she sat upon the spraye." 



And I said, " Little Bird, what do you know of 

 the coconut ? " And it made answer, " It is a cup 

 full of food, rich and sweet, which kind hands hang 

 out for me in winter." How narrow may be the 

 keyhole through which we take our outlook on 

 things human and divine, never doubting that we 

 see the whole ! In our own British Empire, only a 

 few thousand miles away, sits a mild Hindu, almost 

 unclad and wholly unlettered, to whom the tree 

 that bore the fruit that flavoured the toffee that my 

 little girl is enjoying seems to be one of the pre- 

 dominating tints of the whole landscape of life. 

 It puts a roof over his head, it lightens his dark- 

 ness, it helps to feed his body, it furnishes the wine 

 that maketh glad his heart and the oil that causeth 

 bis face to shine, and time would fail me to tell of 

 all the other things that it does for him. As a type 

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