Stray Leaves from a Border Garden 
considered sovereign as an eyewash, or as a gargle for sore- 
throat. If one] can have enough flowers, they are a very 
pleasant addition to a bran-bath, so often recommended by 
French doctors as most soothing for nervousness or irrita- 
bility of the skin. 
I believe there is an Elderberry-water made in England, 
according to The Garden , by crushing the berries and 
pouring boiling water on them, leaving them covered closely 
for two or three hours. This water will not come out as clear 
as that bought in a shop, but that is only because it is not 
distilled, and otherwise it is quite as good, though perhaps 
it may not keep as long. The fresh flowers, with fresh lard 
poured on them boiling hot and strained, make a delicious 
healing ointment. 
Bour-tree is a Scotch name for the Elder. There was an 
old belief that any baptized person anointing their eyes 
with the juice of the bark of the Elder could then see 
witches-— a reason, perhaps, for witches disliking Elder. 
They were said to be a very powerful antidote to witches’ 
spells, a belief which also prevailed in Germany. There is 
a village called Auchencrow, not far from here, which was 
noted in olden days for witches, and the Kailyards used to 
be full of old Elders. 
True Thomas, the Rhymer of Ercildoune, or Earlston 
as it is now called, prophesied under an Elder-tree called 
the Eildon-tree, though some say it was a Thorn. The 
remains of his tower may be seen from the railway, a bit 
of wall covered with ivy, recently saved by an antiquarian 
society from destruction by some of the local Goths, who 
have no respect for old-time relics. There is a Border 
tradition of a shepherd who met on the hills an old man, 
presumably the Rhymer, who led him into the heart of the 
Triple Hills, where he found the Knights of the Round 
Table sleeping each side by side with his steed, awaiting 
King Arthur’s return from Fairyland. Eildon is from the 
Icelandic eldr, fire. An old Scotch word for fuel is “ elden.” 
Watch-fires used to be lit on the peaks of the Eildons in 
old days. There are many Elder-trees along the banks of 
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