THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
OCTOBEII 7. 
1 I 
lie seen in the paiish. One of her hoys gave her Ironlilo, 
lint, after leaving ouo or two fanners in disgrace, lie at last 
got a place wliero his elder lirother worked, and grew more 
steady and well behaved. 
Mary was a kind eroatnro among her noighhonrs. She 
would often get up in the night to help her poor bed ridden 
neighbour, Hetty Lamb. She would nurso tho sick, and 
assist in the houses of her richer friends, when she could 
be spared from her own duties. She was able, also, to talk 
well on religious subjects. She knew tho truth, and she 
seemed also to know the promise; but what wo know wo do 
not always feel; and it is one thing to “speak with tongues,” 
and another to experience tho power of the Spirit in our 
hearts. 
A rumour at last spread by degrees through tho village 
tluit Mary Anderson was going to marry again. No one at 
first believed it, but a man, who was himself a widower witli 
a family, was seen very often digging in her garden, while 
Mary stood with her work beside liim ; and it did certainly 
look rather like a chango, people began to think. Mary 
Ibitly denied tho fact. She declared to her neighbours she 
had no thoughts whatever of marrying again ; and when 
spoken to by a lady on tho subject., she said quietly, but 
with her eyes cast down, “ I do’nt know anything about it 
myself, ma’am.” 
That Mary was uttering falsehoods at last became evident 
to all. Slio liocame the wife of Sam Spicer, quitted her own 
little cottage, and entered upon her new home and duties, 
which lay at tho other extremity of tho parish. Mary had a 
right to marry again if slie chose—there was no human j 
reason why she should not; but it was plain that she con¬ 
demned herself for doing so, by tlatly denying the fact. 
()b ! nothing can prosper that is entered upon with a lie ! 
(lod will not, lie cainwl bless it; and-without llis blessing— 
nay, with tho curse upon “ all liars ” resting upon us—how 
can we reasonably o.xpect even common good to arise from 
our undertaking ? 
Mary Spicer ibrgot the jirornisc, or, at any rate, she gave 
it up with all its rich abundance, when she cast oil' her 
“first faith," and became the wife of a violent, savage- 
hearted man. No doubt she thought him what he professed 
to bo, as we generally do upon these occasions, lint her 
ground for so thinking was sand. Ho talked well, and 
deceived her. Let woman itmlch the life, and not listen to 
the words of the man who seeks her hand; let her bo as 
“ the deaf adder ” to his voice, and open wide tho eyes of 
her understanding to his actions. Mary Andei-son closed 
her eyes and listened; and upon Mary Spicer’s brow was 
stamped in deep chai'actei’s, “ lehabod.” 
IVben the promise was cast aside, Mary soon felt the 
difference. She was shut up at a distance with her new 
l)arl,ner f(jr life; Imt the sad truth was soon made known 
and blazed abroad. Her poor little girls came among their 
old friends in tho village with melancholy tales of all their 
misery; their backs and arms were black with blows; and 
they were glad to get out of the house and wander about 
any whore, and any how. Tho sons were as miserable as 
the daughters ; they idled about, rather than go to such a 
homo; and instead of being clean, and well cared-for in 
their dress, they could not get their clothes properly washed 
or mended, llary is seen now and then stealing through 
the village, downcast and dispirited. Her neat, cheerful 
look is gone, and she turns away as fast as she can from tho 
gaze of her former acquaintance. IIow she must mourn in 
heart as she passes the grave of her first husband, and tho 
cottage where tho promise rested, and gave her so many 
blessings ! How she must weep as she reads the title-deed 
that God has given to the widow, and that she threw madly 
away ! She had tried the deed, and found it “ faithful and 
true,” so that her sorrow and self-reproach must, indeed, be 
almost too great to bear. Her violent husband treats her 
as cruelly as ho treats her children; they share the same 
fate ; but the bitterest pang to tho mother's heart must be 
the stroke that tails upon her helpless and unoffending 
orphans. 
Let tho fate of Maiy Spicer ring in the ears of all in her 
circumstances. Let it be a powerful warning to them not 
to oast off their “first faith,” but to hold fast to tho Ijroniise, 
and fear not that it will ever Liil. MTiilc Mary sat quietly 
in her cottage, with her children round her, all went well 
with her; tho hand that rules the world, and that guiiles 
the bolt of heaven, can cover the heads of those that trust 
in Him, aiid shield them from every danger. Has He not 
said Himself, “Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve 
them alive, and let thy widows trust in mo ? ” 
In my next p.apcr, I shall sketch the life of one who 
dwells in the same village with Miuy Spicer, and who is 
“ a widow indeed.” 
BRITISH EATABI.E FUNGI, 
In treating on these, I shall first speak of them col¬ 
lectively, and, secondly, confine myself exclusively to those 
indigenous to our British isles. Fungi are the most nutri¬ 
tious of .all vegetables, and the nearest approach to animal 
food ; some, if moderately used, are most nounsbiug in 
their I'aw state, as they lose their good qualities by culimiiy 
preparation ; and those who have lived entirely' upon them 
in their raw statu for some time, with bread and water, state 
that they have experienced rather an increase of strength 
than otherwise. "When eaten in this state, however, those 
should be chosen which have a solid tlesh, and an agreeable 
smell and taste, as Aijorivus campestris (Common IMush- 
room), A</aric>is ijrocerns (Tall Agoi'ic), and Tiihcr ciheriiim 
(Trutlle), Ac. 
I have little doubt that the very dread of the term Toad¬ 
stools, and tho unsightly appearance that some assume 
when growing in damp, gloomy, and unhealthy places, to 
those who do not appreciate their veiled beauties, together 
with the idea that the venom of sciqients and toads renders 
fungi poisonous, and that, with the exception of tho common 
mushroom, they are all injurious, has caused, through pre¬ 
judice, which is too prevalent in this land, that valuable and 
most extensive order of plants to be despised and rejected 
as an article of food. A gentleman, who has travelled 
nearly .all over the continent, informs me, that fungi appear 
in must of the markets, and are abundantly eaten, and that 
he never saw in tho public journals, or otherwise hoard of a 
case of poisoning from them. In Russia, Boland, anil 
throughout tho greater yiart of Europe, they form delicacies 
amongst the rich, ajid a regular article of diet to the poor 
people, whole tril.ies being frequently nearly wholly suj) 
ported by collecting them; for, in addition to the immense 
amount of food they supply in their fresh state, they are 
abundantly preserved by drying, or soaking in oil, vinegar, 
or brine, and form a v.aluable article of commerce, from tho 
products of which the poor man is enabled to purchase 
other necessaries, which he otherwise would be deprived of. 
To such an extent was the sale of fungi carried on in Italy, 
that in lb37 it was deemed necessary to fix a delinite Lime 
and place in the public markets for tho sale of fungi ex¬ 
clusively, .and to .appoint an inspioctor, who should examine 
the baskets brought into the city by tho peasants pu’eviously 
to their sale, in most imci\'ilized countries they have been 
used as an article of diet by the natives, and in Austi-alia, 
AfiUUa Australis is a fungus known as “ native bread.” tii... 
With respect to the cultivation of esculent fungi, little 
has been done in Britain, \vith the exception of tho Ai/uricus 
campestris (Mushroom), which it is well known is cultivated 
by good gardeners with as much success as other vegetables, 
and it is extensively cultivated in the ancient quarries which 
run luider part of tho city of Baris. The Aijaricus cam¬ 
pestris is native to the whole of Europe, part of Asia, Africa, 
and America—reaching as far north as Lapland, ami as far 
south as Barbary. 
On the continent many others have been tried, with more 
or less success ; and I see but little reason why many should 
not be cultivated largely in this country, and enable us to 
enjoy a good supply of delicious food, which is now entirely 
neglected. Boletus ediilis is cultivated largely in Baris, 
simply by watering tho ground under oak trees with water 
in which a quantity of the Boleti have been allowed to 
ferment, the only precaution necessary being to protect, by 
fencing, the ground destined for their production, as deer, 
pigs, and rabbits are very fond of Riem ; this plan is siiid to 
be infallible, and much practised in Franco. In Germany, 
the Morels were so much esteemed, tluat tho peasa)its who 
collected them, observing that they grew most abundantly 
where wood had been burnt, set fire to large forests to 
