ually narrowing as you ascend. The
beautiful cones seem to stand upon or rise out of this green flooring.'
The same writer says that by examining the different growths of wood
inside the trunk of one of the trees these ancient cedars of Lebanon
have been proved to be three thousand five hundred years old."

"Oh, Miss Harson!" exclaimed her audience; "could any tree be as old as
that?"

"It is possible. The circle of growing wood which is made each year is a
pretty good method of telling the age of a tree, and these cedars of
Lebanon are considered the oldest trees in the world. Travelers have
always spoken of the beauty and symmetry of these trees, with their
widespreading branches and cone-like tops. All through the Middle Ages a
visit to the cedars of Lebanon was regarded by many persons in the light
of a pilgrimage. Some of the trees were thought to have been planted by
King Solomon himself, and were looked upon as sacred relics. Indeed, the
visitors took away so many pieces from the bark that it was feared the
trees would be destroyed. The cedars stand in a valley a considerable
way up the mountain, where the snow renders it inaccessible for part of
the year."

"Are the trees just in one particular place, then?" asked Malcolm. "I
thought they grew all over that country?"

"The principal and best-known grove of very large and ancient cedars of
Lebanon is found in one place," replied his governess, "but there are
other groves now known to exist. The famous grove was fast disappearing,
until there were but few of them left. The pilgrims who went to visit
them in such numbers in olden times were accompanied by monks from a
monastery about four miles below, who would beseech them not to injure a
single leaf. But the greatest care could not preserve the trees. Some of
them have been struck down by lightning, some broken by enormous loads
of snow, and others torn to fragments by tempests. Some have even been
cut down with axes like any common tree. But better care is now taken of
them; so that we may hope that the grove will live and increase."

"But why weren't they saved," asked Clara, "when people thought so much
of them?"

"It seems to be a part of the general desolation of the land of God's
chosen but rebellious people. In the third chapter of the prophet
Isaiah, verses eleven and twelve, it is said, 'For the day of the Lord
of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every
one that is li