“’The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree; he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.’”

“In the thirty-first chapter of Ezekiel,” continued Miss Harson, “it is written, ’Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of an high stature; and his top was among the thick boughs.  The waters made him great, the deep set him up on high with her rivers running round about his plants, and sent out her little rivers unto all the trees of the field.  Therefore his height was exalted above all the trees of the field and his boughs were multiplied, and his branches became long because of the multitude of waters, when he shot forth.  All the fowls of heaven made their nests in his boughs, and under his branches did all the beasts of the field bring forth their young, and under his shadow dwelt all great nations.’”

[Illustration:  CEDAR OF LEBANON.]

“Are the leaves like those of our cedar trees?” asked Malcolm, who was studying the picture quite intently.  “The tree doesn’t look like ’em.”

“They are somewhat like them,” replied his governess, “being slender and straight and about an inch long.  They grow in tufts, and in the centre of some of the tufts there is a small cone which is very pretty and often brought to this country by travelers for their friends at home.  In The Land and the Book there is a picture of small branches with cones, and the author says of the cedar:  ’There is a striking peculiarity in the shape of this tree which I have not seen any notice of in books of travel.  The branches are thrown out horizontally from the parent trunk.  These again part into limbs, which preserve the same horizontal direction, and so on down to the minutest twigs; and even the arrangement of the clustered leaves has the same general tendency.  Climb into one, and you are delighted with a succession of verdant floors spread around the trunk and gradually 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.”