125 



THE ELDER. 



And here/' said Mrs. Longhurst^ is the 

 old ladies' doctor's shop !" 



Our young friends looked wonderingly^ ex- 

 pecting to see some woodland cottage^ or^ at 

 leasts a hut ; but nothing besides an Elder 

 bush could they see in the direction in which 

 Mrs. L. continued to point. 



Most aptly/' I observed^ is the Elder- 

 tree so named. I scarcely know any com- 

 plaint^ but that of an empty pockety which 

 this iEsculapian^ vegetable is not employed 

 to cure. 



Of the wood^ which is exceedingly hard^ 



^sculapius was an ancient physician of Greece, of 

 whom many fables are told. 



