The toddy ladle — a long-handled silver or horn ladle for serving hot toddy from the punch bowl — appears in poems about Scottish and northern English hospitality and the culture of the communal bowl; A poem about a Scottish winter evening might describe the toddy ladle in use: "the ladle dipped and lifted, each man served in turn — the whisky and the hot water distributed with the equality of good company"; The toddy ladle's long handle — necessary to reach the bottom of the punch bowl without burning the hand — gives it a practical elegance that suits poems about objects designed for exactly one purpose; In a poem about Burns Night, the toddy ladle appears as part of the ceremony: "after the Address, after the haggis, the ladle worked the bowl — the toddy passed around as the poems had been, for everyone's warming"; A poem about a Regency tavern might describe the toddy ladle as the evening's mediating instrument: "the ladle moved from bowl to glass as conversation moves from person to person — carrying the same warmth to each"; In a poem about inherited objects, the toddy ladle passed from grandfather to grandson carries the memory of winters around a single fire: "the horn handle worn where his hand had held it, the bowl still silver-bright — the ladle outlasting the cold evenings that gave it purpose."