“Isn’t there something about that in the Bible, Miss Harson?” asked Clara.

“Yes; it is in the book of the prophet Isaiah, ’Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof, saith the Lord God of Israel[8].’  This is a prophecy about God’s people, but the Jews were told by God to leave something, when they were harvesting, for the poor to glean.  Does it not seem wonderful that the mighty Ruler of the universe should condescend to such small things?  But nothing is small with him, and we see that his loving care extends to the poorest and the meanest.”

[8] Isa. xvii. 6.

“Miss Harson,” asked Edith, with great earnestness, “has each of our hairs got a number on it?  I couldn’t find any.”

The young lady could scarcely keep from smiling, but she was obliged to call Malcolm to order, and even Clara seemed amused at her little sister’s queer interpretation of the loving words, “The very hairs of your head are all numbered.”

Miss Harson took her youngest pupil on her knee and explained to her the meaning of our Saviour’s words in Luke xii. 7, where it is added, “Fear not,”, because the heavenly Father’s loving care is always around us.

“It was a natural mistake,” she continued, “for a very little girl to make; but we must not try to find amusement in mistakes about God’s word.  Many grown people are irreverent in this way without knowing it:  perhaps they were not properly taught when they were children.  But my children must not have this excuse, and I want them all to promise me that they will never utter nor listen to words from the Bible in any other but a reverent manner.”

All promised, Malcolm with a flushed face and subdued tone; and Edith felt 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.