that one of the great puzzles of her small existence had
been solved.

"Oil is the most important product of the olive tree," said Miss Harson,
"and it has well been called its richness and fatness. The great demand
for it in Europe and Asia prevents the best quality from being sent
abroad, and it is said that even the most wealthy foreigners seldom get
it pure. It is a most important article of food, taking the place held
by butter and lard with us. Innumerable lamps, too, are kept burning by
means of this oil, and so varied are its uses in the East that it was a
greater thing than we can understand for the prophet Habakkuk to say,
'Although the labor of the olive shall fail, ... yet will I rejoice in
the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.' Job says, 'The rock
poured me out rivers of oil[9];' this means the oil of the olive, which
will thrive on the sides and tops of rocky hills where there is scarcely
any earth. It is a very long-lived tree, as well as an evergreen; the
Psalmist says, 'I am like a green olive tree in the house of God.'"

[9] Job xxiii. 6.

"What does a _wild_ olive tree mean, Miss Harson?" asked Clara.

"It means, dear, one that has grown without being cultivated, like our
wild cherry and plum trees. The wild olive is smaller than the other,
and inferior to it in every way. There are a great many olive trees in
Palestine, and a place where they must have been very plentiful is
called by a name which we often see in the Bible.--What is it, Malcolm?"

"Is it 'the Mount of Olives'?" said Malcolm.

"Yes, and it is sometimes called 'Olivet.' It is mentioned in the Old
Testament as well as in the New. In Second Samuel it is written: 'And
David went up by the ascent of Mount Olivet, and wept as he went up, and
had his head covered, and he went barefoot: and all the people that was
with him covered every man his head, and they went up, weeping as they
went up[10].'"

[10] 2 Sam. xv. 30.

"What was the matter?" asked Edith.

"King David's wicked son Absalom had risen up against his father because
he wished to be king in his stead. You remember how he was caught by the
head in the boughs of an oak during the very battle that he was fighting
for this purpose; so we know that he did not succeed in his wicked plan,
but lost his life instead.--The Mount of Olives is described as 'a
ridge running north and south on the east side of Jerusalem, its summit
about half a mile from the city wall and s