The Chrissenmas to Mayday- 
well,” said he, <{ to protect the birds ; he was not one to 
have them exterminated, but he did not see there was any 
harm in a gardener just taking one or two eggs in any nest 
he came across, and in those days he had some satisfaction 
in his borders. It was poor work now S ” As I looked 
at my border with every bloom neatly nipped off and laid 
beside the bereft parent .as if in mockery, I felt inclined to 
agree when he proceeded to enunciate his idea that gar- 
deners should make laws about gardens and birds rather than 
folk that have “ naething ado wi’ them.” The pale purple 
Dog-violets are out now on the woodbanks, and the tiny 
white Potentilla, St. Hilary’s Strawberry, with lots of blue 
and white Pervinks. A conserve of young Periwinkle tops 
is said to be good for curing nightmare. The gorse has 
been out all winter ; “ when the gorse is out o’ bloom 
hissing’s out of fashion.” Certainly hereabouts one can 
always find a sprig of gorse or whin. It is said that whoso 
brings Whin into the house brings Death. In old days, at 
Easter, country children used to dye hard-boiled eggs 
yellow with furze— furres ” as it was sometimes delightfully 
spelt (A. S. Fyrs) — and assemble on Easter Monday to 
roll them down the steep banks of the River Whitadder. 
Easter is not kept in the Scotch Church, so these children 
probably came from the English town of Berwick, but I 
won’t say that many a sturdy little Scot did not join in the 
revel. Easter Egg rolling is, I believe, still common in 
America, but seems to have died out in England. The 
only place where it is practised on a large scale still on 
Easter Monday is, I have been told, Avenham Park, near 
Preston, in Lancashire. Onionskin is a capital thing to 
boil with hard-boiled eggs to make them gold colour. Alum 
makes a rich purple and cochineal red, and pink if added 
sparingly to the water. These dyes have the advantage of 
being quite harmless in case the eggshell should happen to 
crack. Boy loves the ceremony of Easter Egg boiling, and 
delights in preparing a basketful of different-coloured eggs 
for distribution. 
Russians are great givers of Easter eggs, I believe, from 
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