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THE YOUNG NATUEALIST. 



" That every man might keep his own possessions, 

 Our fathers used, in reverent processions, . 

 With zealous prayers, and with praiseful cheere, 

 To walk their parish limits once a year ; 

 And well-known marks (which sacrilegious hands 

 Now cut or breake) so bordered out their lands, 

 That every one distinctly knew his owne, 

 And brawles now rife were then unknowne." 



Pelias the mighty spear of Achilles, which only the god-like hero could wield, 

 was cut from an ash tree which grew on Mount Pelion. Of all the mythical 

 virtues attributed to the ash none, perhaps, were more singularly curious than 

 those which pertained to the " shrew ash/' Our forefathers had a strange 

 aversion to the harmless shrew. When any of their domestic animals were 

 afflicted with cramps, pains, or stiffness of the limbs it was immediately sup- 

 posed that the affected part had been run over by a shrew when the victim 

 was asleep. A sovereign remedy for this affliction was for the sufferer to be 

 well whipped with a switch of " shrew ash." To impart this prophylactic 

 virtue, the following cruel and inhuman method was employed. A hole was 

 bored in an ash tree, and a live shrew inserted in the cavity, when the aper- 

 ture was plugged up and the poor prisoner would die a lingering and miser- 

 able death immured in its living cell. In mediaeval times these " shrew 

 ashes " were common, and our ancestors were never without a branch on 

 their premises ready for emergencies. Doubtless a survival of this custom is 

 seen in the fact that the herd boys in Scotland make their clubs of ash, as it 

 is believed a blow from that wood will not harm the cattle under their care. 

 Drovers prefer an ash rod from the same cause. In England the ash seems 

 to occupy the position of the mountain ash in Scotland as an antidote to 

 witchcraft, whilst love-born damsels use it in divination as to the progress of 

 their love affairs. And to find an " even-ash/' i.e. a leaf of equal pairs with- 

 out the terminal leaflet, is considered a presage of good luck : — 



" Find even-leafed ash and even-leafed clover, 

 And you'll see your true love before the day's over." 



This rhyme, with variations, is a very widely diffused piece of folk-lore. To 



the old herbalists the ash tree was an inexhaustible mine, besides the disease 



of the stone, it would cure the thrush, that affliction which it is said every 



one must endure, either when they come into the world or before they leave 



it ; it would charm warts and remove corns ; it was an effectual remedy for 



the bite of a viper. Indeed so strong was the antipathy of vipers to the ash, 



that if surrounded with a circle of ash leaves, they would sooner rush into a 



blazing fire than surmount them ! A curious custom is recorded from the 



Highlands of Scotland. When a child is born the attendant nurse puts a 



branch of ash in the fire, and collecting the juice which exudes from the un- 



