THE HAWTHORN. 



215 



feelings which thronged upon our life in child- 

 hood — 



" The time when meadow, grove, and stream, 

 The earth, and every common sight, 



To us did seem 

 Apparelled in celestial light, — 

 The glory and the freshness of a dream." 



I may here observe that the larger spines of the 

 Hawthorn may be applied^ as in some places they 

 are, to a use which ought to be generally known. 

 Poor children in the neighbourhood of towns 

 might be taught to prepare them for the purpose, 

 and almost to gain themselves a livelihood. I 

 shall probably raise a smile when I add that a 

 small amount of labour will convert them into ex- 

 cellent skewers for purposes to which pins are 

 more frequently applied. 



Thorns should be selected about two or three 

 inches in length, as free from knots as possible, 

 and boiled in water for a few minutes. The 

 rind may then be easily removed from, every part 

 of them but the point, and they require no 

 further preparation before they are fit for use. 

 Poor children, having first received permission 

 (which scarcely any one would refuse) from the 

 owners of Thorn hedges, might thus be put in 

 the way of benefiting themselves without doing 

 injury to any one. Threepence or fourpence 

 a hundred would be a remunerating price to 

 them ; and one which any one would prefer 

 to pay rather than run the risk of inadvertently 

 swallowing a pin. The thorns may readily 

 be slipped from the branch without the aid of a 

 knife ; but whoever tries the experiment should 

 provide the child with a common knife to assist in 



