scendants of the very flowers that Solomon
planted. He heard that in foreign groves there were birds of richest
voice and most luxuriant wing. He sent out people to catch them and
bring them there, and he put them into his cages.

Stand back now and see this long train of camels coming up to the
king's gate, and the ox-trains from Egypt, gold and silver and
precious stones, and beasts of every hoof, and birds of every wing,
and fish of every scale! See the peacocks strut under the cedars, and
the horsemen run, and the chariots wheel! Hark to the orchestra! Gaze
upon the dance! Not stopping to look into the wonders of the temple,
step right on to the causeway, and pass up to Solomon's palace!

Here we find ourselves amid a collection of buildings on which the
king had lavished the wealth of many empires. The genius of Hiram, the
architect, and of the other artists is here seen in the long line of
corridors and the suspended gallery and the approach to the throne.
Traceried window opposite traceried window. Bronzed ornaments bursting
into lotus and lily and pomegranate. Chapiters surrounded by network
of leaves in which imitation fruit seemed suspended as in hanging
baskets. Three branches--so Josephus tells us--three branches
sculptured on the marble, so thin and subtle that even the leaves
seemed to quiver. A laver capable of holding five hundred barrels of
water on six hundred brazen ox-heads, which gushed with water and
filled the whole place with coolness and crystalline brightness and
musical plash. Ten tables chased with chariot wheel and lion and
cherubim. Solomon sat on a throne of ivory. At the seating place of
the throne, on each end of the steps, a brazen lion. Why, my friends,
in that place they trimmed their candles with snuffers of gold, and
they cut their fruits with knives of gold, and they washed their faces
in basins of gold, and they scooped out the ashes with shovels of
gold, and they stirred the altar fires with tongs of gold. Gold
reflected in the water! Gold flashing from the apparel! Gold blazing
in the crown! Gold, gold, gold!

Of course the news of the affluence of that place went out everywhere
by every caravan and by wing of every ship, until soon the streets of
Jerusalem are crowded with curiosity seekers. What is that long
procession approaching Jerusalem? I think from the pomp of it there
must be royalty in the train. I smell the breath of the spices which
are brought as presents, and I