The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1874-12-02
The Palm-Tree.

A party of travellers were crossing burn
ing plain in the deserts of Arabia. There
were no houses or villages; no trees to whis-
per in the breeze and make the hot air seem
cooler; no flowers by the roadside to gather,
not even any roads, only sort of track be-
tween the sand.heaps. Whichever way you
looked, except up into the sky, you could
see nothing but sand, and even the sky was
not blue like ours, but with such hot glare
in it : there was no comfort above any more
than below.
All at once the scene changed. On turn
ing round one of the sand-hills what cry of
Joy burst from the whole company! just
before them in the valley stood grove Of
palm trees If they could have heard it
perhaps they would have held their tall,
feathery heads higher than before, but, as it
was, they only bent them down lower, and
in loving whisper babe the weary travellers
welcome to their grateful shade. And as
one after another threw themselves down
beneath it and drank of the sweet, cool
stream which commonly springs up under
the palm. trees, they said it were worth all
the heat and the dust aud the sand-hills to
taste at last the refreshment of such green
spot as this.
They might well praise it, for God has set
the palm. tree over against the desert. 1t
AOurishes where every tree of ours would
wither and die. Tall and straight like a
pillar, rising seventy or eighty feet, it is
crowned at the top with a graceful branch
ing tuft, and as it mostly grows in large
clusters close together it makes en- efectual
shelter from the burning sun. LIS fruit, the
dates which you have sometimes seen, are
sweet, and are made into cakes, and this is
the chief provision of the Arab through all
his wanderings. Camels are fed with the
stones, from the juice and the sap is obtained
spirit which serves for drink, the wood is
used for building purposes and the leaves
for thatching, and the fbres of the tree for
sacks and cords The young leaves are also
eaten boiled. So although the Arab in his
sandy desert soil has neither our oaks nor
our waving grain, what matters it when he
possesses hemp and timber, vineyard, mead
ow, and corn-6eld, wheat and barley, fruit
and vegetable, all in one beautiful tree? 1t
is the Great Creator making up on one side
for what He withholds on the other.
Once an English gentleman in Syria took
home with him to England an Arab woman
as nurse to his children. She stayed with
him four years, and then went back to her
own country. Her people crowded around
her and she told them wonderful tales of the
land across the sea. She described the
beauty of the green English fields, of the
white cottages scattered among them, and OF
the poor mans happy comfort within them.
The Arabs listened and they sighed. "What
a favored land, they said; 1--WE are full of
envy. We would fain be as blessed as these
far off islanders.
"But there's one thing ought to say, r"
continued the nurse, 81 never saw a single
palm tree all through the country"
The Arabs stood in establishment. els
it possible? Are you sure?' they inquired
eagerly.
Perfectly sure" replied the nurse
"High and low, up and down, looked for
one for four years, but looked in vain. -
And now her countrymen's envy was
turned into pity for the unfortunate people
who knew not the best thing in all the world
worth knowing. Poor English wanderers, :"
they said, as they went their way; "they
are indeed unhappy? But God is great,
and He has given US the palm-tree.
1t is the same old story; it is what Solo,
mon had found out so many years ago, when
he said, Sod hath also set the one over
against the other.