and examined both sides of it.
Then he spoke slowly.

"I think you know," he said; "in fact, I've told you myself, that the
Major and I aren't on very good terms. I was obliged to speak to him
rather strongly about the way he used to fish in a part of the river--"

"I know all about that; you needn't go into it again. It's entirely
over and done with. An era of peace is beginning to dawn. After
listening to my sermon this morning--it's a great pity for your own
sake that you weren't in church, Simpkins--the Major finds himself in a
position to forget the past and to start fresh. His attitude now--very
largely owing to my sermon--is that of the dove which came to the ark
with an olive leaf plucked off in its mouth."

Simpkins was not apparently prepared to accept the olive leaf. He
asked Meldon whether that dove was the text of his sermon.

"No, it wasn't. I might have alluded to it, but I didn't. I might
have explained, if I'd thought of it at the time--in fact, I will
explain to you now. The dove is of all birds the most peaceful and the
least inclined to quarrel with other birds. You'd know that by the
soothing way it coos, and also by the colour of its breast. Tennyson,
the poet, notes the fact that the peculiar bluey shade of its feathers
arouses feelings of affection in people who weren't thinking of
anything of the sort before they saw it. I'm not prepared to assert
that positively myself, but I shouldn't wonder if there was something
in the idea. Then the olive branch is the regular, recognised symbol
of peace. The reason of that is that oil is got out of olives, and oil
is one of the most soothing things there is. Of course, you get oil
from other sources too--from whales, for instance; but the olive branch
is chosen as a symbol because it's such a much more convenient thing to
carry about than a whale is. No explorer, when meeting a savage tribe
with which he doesn't want to fight, could possibly wave a whale, even
if he had one with him--and he wouldn't be likely to, unless he was
exploring the polar regions--whereas he can wave an olive branch, and
always does. That's the reason the olive branch and not the whale is
chosen as the symbol of peace. You'll be able to realise now how
extraordinarily peaceable the Major is when I compare him to a dove
with an olive leaf in his mouth."

"If," said Simpkins, who had only partially followed the reasoning
about the dove and the olive--"if the Ma