increased.
But, according to the story, the manna trees, as if they disapproved of
this ungenerous arrangement, refused to yield any manna, and suddenly
became bare and barren. Upon this the king, finding his scheme a
failure, revoked the tax and took away the fence. Then the trees poured
out their manna, as usual, in the greatest abundance; so that it was
said, 'When the king found he could not make a gain of what Providence
had freely bestowed, he gave up the attempt and left the manna as free
as God had given it.'

[Illustration: THE SWING.]

"There, now!" said Miss Harson; "after this long talk, you had better
run off and see if there is not a tree somewhere on the grounds, with
two ropes attached to it, that will bear better fruit than any tree we
have studied yet."

The trio laughed and raced for the swing, which was first reached by
Clara, who seated herself all ready for the push which Malcolm would not
grudge, for he pronounced his sister sweeter than apple or peach; and
so she was.

CHAPTER VI.

_THE OLIVE TREE_.

"The ash," said Miss Harson, "has some relations of which, I think, you
will be rather surprised to hear. These relations are both trees and
shrubs, and the lilac, for instance, is one of them."

"Why, they don't look a bit alike," exclaimed Clara.

"No, they certainly do not; for, although this fragrant shrub often
grows as large as a tree, it is quite different from the ash tree. Yet
both belong to the olive family."

"The kind of olives that papa likes to eat at dinner, and that you and I
_don't_ like, Miss Harson?" asked Malcolm.

"The very same," replied his governess; "only that we are speaking now
of the tree on which the olives grow. It is well said that the very name
of 'olive' suggests the idea of Palestine and the sunny lands of the
East. The olive tree is one of the most prominent trees of the Bible. It
is mentioned in the very earliest part of the Scriptures, in the book of
Genesis. I wonder if some one can tell me about it?"

"I remember: a dove found a leaf when it was raining and brought it to
Noah in the ark," said little Edith, quickly.

"The rain had stopped falling, dear, after the deluge, and the waters
were receding, or falling, when Noah sent forth the dove a second time
to see what it would find. Here is the verse: 'And the dove came in to
him in the evening; and lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off;
so Noah knew that the waters were abated from o