elder-stems

Updated: May 18, 2025

Sandy and I took off our shoes and stockings and were bathing-women, and we bathed Perronet; and Richard sat on the bank and was a "tripper," looking at us through a telescope; for when the elder-stems cracked and wouldn't do for flutes, he made them into telescopes.

Juliana Horatia Gatty Ewing - A Great Emergency and Other Tales