THE YEW TREE. 



67 



grief, is chosen to be the harbinger of mer- 

 riment and joy. Scarcely has the sun's full 

 stop at the Tropic of Capricorn announced to 

 us the dawn of the shortest day, ere the house- 

 maid begins to set her rooms in order ; and the 

 gardener is desired to prepare his sprigs of 

 holly, box, and yew, as ornaments for every 

 window, on the eve of the annual comme- 

 moration of that long promised day, when the 

 eternal Son of God was born of the Blessed 

 Virgin in a stable at Bethlehem for sinful 

 man's redemption. 



If the leaves of the yew tree were armed 

 with sharp spikes like those of the holly, we 

 should have a treasure of a tree for the pro- 

 tection of the feathered tribe during the stormy 

 nights of winter. But the want of these re- 

 pellent appendages renders the yew tree highly 

 perilous to the birds which resort to its inviting 

 foliage for sleep or shelter, as the cat, the 

 stoat, the weasel, and the foumart can pervade 

 its branches with the utmost impunity : whilst 

 the Hanoverian rat, so notorious for self and 

 pelf, is ever prying amongst them, and fleecing 

 their inmates with a perseverance scarcely to be 

 imagined. 



F 2 



