MASTERMAN, OLIVE D. The yellow mistletoe.

Holds the fatal mistletoe.

It was Christmas Eve, and the great hall of the Abbey was decked with the Druids' sacred mistletoe with its pearly fruitage, the bright green of the ivy, and branches of holly, with scarlet, shining berries.

30 She stole along, she nothing spoke, The sighs she heaved were soft and low, And naught was green upon the oak But moss and rarest mistletoe: She kneels beneath the huge oak tree, 35

The following extract from the ancient laws of Wales will show the value that was there set upon these trees, and also how the consecrated yew of the priests had risen in value over the reputed sacred mistletoe of the Druids: "A consecrated yew, its value is a pound.

The mistletoe, contemptible from its size and weakness, was alone neglected, and of it no oath of immunity was demanded.

The tamarisk and scarlet mistletoe, With green acacias' golden summits glow, And citron, olives, myrtle, climbing vine, Arbutus, cypress, plane-tree rise divine; The emerald verdure, clad with brilliant hues, With rose-tree forests quaffs the morning dews.

But nothing pleased the eye of the traveller so much as the holly-trees, with their glossy evergreen foliage, red berries, and tufts of verdant mistletoe.

The western mistletoe is most common on the branches, where it produces "witches' broom."

One set has been the root of a goodly tree: the other set is being lopped off, like the parasitic mistletoe.