m any religious ceremony. One of these ceremonies was to go
in search of the mistletoe, which sometimes grows on the oak and was
considered as sacred as the tree itself, being much used in their
worship. One priest would climb to the branch on which the misletoe was
growing and cut it with a golden knife, while another priest stood below
and held out his white robe to receive it.

"These sacred groves were all cut down by the Romans, who waged fierce
war against the Druids, and nothing is left of them now but the circles
of stones that formed their temples. At a place called Stonehenge,
'cromlechs,' or altar-tables, are still standing, and very ancient oaks
stood in a circle round these stones for many centuries after the Druids
were swept away."

"Miss Harson," said Clara when all had expressed their horror of the
Druids and rejoiced that they _were_ swept away, "are there any oak
trees in the Bible?"

"Look and see," was the reply; "and first you may find Genesis xxxv. 4."

Clara read:

"'And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their
hands, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid
them under the _oak_ which was by Shechem.'"

"In the eighth verse of the same chapter," said Miss Harson, "we read
that Rebekah's nurse was buried under an oak at Bethel. We are told in
the book of Joshua[2] that 'Joshua took a great stone and set it up
there under an _oak_, that was by the sanctuary of the Lord;' and in
Judges[3], 'There came an angel of the Lord and sat under an _oak_ which
was in Ophrah.'--Malcolm, you may read Second Samuel, eighteenth
chapter, ninth verse."

[2] Josh. xxiv. 26.

[3] Judg. vi. II.

Malcolm read:

"'And Absalom met the servants of David. And Absalom rode upon a mule,
and the mule went under the thick boughs of a great _oak_, and his head
caught hold of the oak, and he was taken up between the heaven and the
earth; and the mule that was under him went away.'"

"Poor Absalom!" said Edith, softly. "Wasn't that dreadful?"

"Yes, dear," replied her governess, "it _was_ dreadful; but it is still
more dreadful that Absalom was such a wicked man. In Isaiah[4] we read
of the oaks of Bashan, that, like the cedars of Lebanon, were 'high and
lifted up,' and the oaks of Bashan are mentioned again in Zechariah[5].
Several varieties of the oak are found in Palestine.

[4] Isa. ii. 13.

[5] Zech. xi. 2.

[Illustration: ABRAHAM'S OAK, NEAR HEBRON.]

"In his