Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-07-19

Men olives plant and hymns to Palas sing
Virgil.
In dietetics, cookery, medicine athletics
cosmetics, hygiene, mechanics, manufac-
lures illumination-yes. and in lofty SYM
bolism, poetry and. religion-olives and the
olive tree have held an honorable place, so
far as anybody knows, from the beginning
of the world. b4
There is no proof that the olive any more
than the apple, was the forbidden fruit of
the Garden of Eden, but the olive three is
the first species of trees sparticuarized in
the Bible. Noahs dove brought back to the
ark an olive leaf in token that the flood was
subsiding and that the wrath of God was
appeased, thereby making the olive branch
for all time to come the symbol of peace.
Staff of Life.
Among the ancient Jews not only did the
cruise of oil go with the barrel Of meal as the
staff of life, but olive Oil was the soul Of
every impressive ceremony and almost every
act of religion No one was prophet, priest
or king until he had been anonted with it.
There was a grove of olives in the outer
court of the Lords house" The lamps of
the tabernacle and afterwards of the temple
were fed with it and it was used at every
term in the temple ritual.
Among the first fruits Offered to the
Lord by the plOuS jews olive Oil was prom
inent. At all joyous festivals the hair of the
guests glistened with it, The Ieper was
touched with it for cure for his leprosy
and in later days the Christians prayed for
the sick, amounting them with oil in the
name of the Lord" Gethsemane, the name
of the garden which was the scene of
Christ's passion, derives it's name from two
words which mean "oil press" indicating
the presence of both olive trees and an oil
factory.
Olives of Palestine.
Perhaps it Is for no better reason than
that olive oil Is mentioned in the Oldest
books in the Bible that it is supposed to
have originated in Palestine, or at least in
SYRIA the next oldest reference to it being
In the Homeric poems. In the "Iliad' olive
oil Is referred to exclusively as a luxury
for the rich and chiefly a toilet article
for the heroes of the poem, who anoint
themselves with it after the bath. In the
"Odyssey'' the presence of the olive tree in
the garden of AlcinOus shows that when
this poem was written the cultivation of
the olive also was understood. The Greeks
of a later period learned the use of the
olive and of olive oil as articles of food.
Greek mythology has not overlooked the
origin Of the olive tree and has not failed to
claim the honor for Greece. When the city
of Athens had been founded and a name for
IT was to be selected Poseidon and Athene
contested for the honor of naming it. 1t
was agreed that whoever of them produced
on the spot the greatest blessing to human
ity was to name the city Posedon pro-
duced war horse. but Athene, stamping
her feet on the Acropolis produced the first
olive tree She was adjudged the victor
and named the city Athens. The tree which
she produced lived for centuries, and from
it, by cuttings, the olive tree spread to all
the countries bordering on the Mediterra-
mean. 'aa
Pliny, who has much to say on this sub
ject, says there were no olive trees in Italy
In the reign of Tarquinius Priscus and that
the olive was not plentiful enough for ex-
portation until the time of Pompey. In his
the two Gallo provinces and in Spain. He
gives a particular description of the manu-
facture of the oil. ID
Romans Used Olive Oil Freely.
The Romans made great use of the olive,
both internally and externally. AS the Bible
speaks Of wine that maketh glad the
heart of man ana oil that causeth his face
to shine" so the Romans had a proverb
that long and pleasant life depended on
"wine within and oil without" They used
the oil freely in food and cookery and were
fond Of the raw Fruit Nicely picked olives
that had not lost their flavor have been
found in the ruins of Pompedi Pliny men
lions fifteen varieties of olives that were
cultivated in his day, and says the ..Licn-
| lam was the favorite brand.
The Romans used olive oil in a hveienIc
way, amounting the body with it freely after
a bath and before the exercises of the gym
nasium. They also attributed medicinal
virtue to it, and especially to the OIL that
was scraped from the bodies Of the great
athletes in the gymnasium. Pliny complains
that these "scrapings" were sold for the
exorbitant sum of, 10000 sesterces With
| this high estimate placed on olive oil 1t was
natural that the olive branch should piay
prominent part in symbolism The con-
queror returning from his wars, the Olym-
view and the statues of Minerva and the
Graces were all crowned with wreaths of
| olive leaves, as symbolical of victory. peace
| and prosperity.
| An attempt was made to introduce the
olive In the state Of Virginia in 1884 and
| other attempts have been made in the same
state from that day to this without success,
In 1760 DR.. Turnbull an Englishman Who