eep the moths from our
winter clothes?" asked Clara.

"Yes," replied Miss Harson, "but the name 'cedar' is; not correct,
though it is one commonly given to this tree. The wood of the European
cypress is also used for many purposes where strength and durability are
required, for it really seems never to wear out. This tree is described
as tapering and cone-like, with upright branches growing close to the
trunk, and in its general appearance a little resembling a poplar. Its
frond-like branches are closely covered with very small sharp-pointed
leaves of a yellow-green color, smooth and shining, and they remain on
the tree five or six years. The cypress is often seen in burying-grounds
in Europe, and in Turkey it often stands at each end of a grave. The
oldest tree in Europe is thought to be an Italian cypress said to have
been planted in the year of our Saviour's birth; it is an object of
great reverence in the neighborhood. This ancient tree is a hundred and
twenty feet high and twenty-three feet around the trunk.

"The juniper--or red cedar, as it is improperly called--is not a
handsome tree, but it is a very useful one. It has a scraggy, stunted
look, and the foliage is apt to be rusty; but it will grow in rocky,
sandy places where no other tree would even try to hold up its head, and
the wood, when made into timber, lasts for a great many years. Posts for
fences are made of the juniper or red cedar, and the shipbuilder,
boatbuilder, carpenter, cabinet-maker and turner are all steady
customers for it. The 'cedar-apples' found on this tree are one phase
of the life of a very curious fungus. They are covered with a
reddish-brown bark; and when fresh, they are tough and fleshy, somewhat
like an unripe apple. When dry they become of a woody nature."

"They pucker up your mouth awfully," said Malcolm, who had made several
attempts to eat them; but, do what he would, he could not even "make
believe" they were nice.

"I have no doubt of it," was the reply, "remembering the dreadful faces
I have seen on some of our rambles. But the birds like them, as they do
everything of the kind that is not poisonous."

* * * * *

"Isn't it beautiful?" exclaimed the children, in delight. They were
admiring a magnificent cedar of Lebanon in one of the pictures which
Miss Harson had collected for their benefit, and it seemed no wonder
that the grand spreading tree should be called "the glory of Lebanon."