






244 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 reli- 
ance 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 searlet 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 mistletoe. 
GAY. 
With Holly and ivy, 
So green and so gay, 
We deck up our houses 
As fresh as the day ; 
