250 
LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS. 
its foliage affords them an hospitable shelter 
during the cold season. Thus Nature by a 
kind forethought has taken care to preserve the 
verdure of this handsome tree all the year round 
and to arm it with thorns, that it may furnish 
both food and protection to the innocent creatures 
which resort to it for refuge. It is a friend 
which her all-powerful hand raises up for them 
against the time when all other reliance fails. 
As, however, this is not a world of unmixed 
good, it may be added that, from the bark of the 
common Holly, when fermented and washed 
from the woody fibres, is made the bird-lime that 
is used for catching small birds. 
The Holly, with its scarlet berries, is the most 
beautiful of the evergreens that have been used 
for ages to adorn churches and houses at the 
joyful season of Christmas : 
Christmas, the joyous period of the year ! 
Now with bright Holly all the temples strow, 
With laurel green and sacred misletoe.' 
Gay. 
With holly and ivy, 
So green and so gay, 
We deck up our houses 
As fresh as the day. 
