THE PALMS

“There is a wonderful evergreen,” said Miss Harson, “which grows in tropical countries, and also in some sub-tropical countries, such as the Holy Land, and is said to have nearly as many uses as there are days in a year. You must tell me what it is when you have seen the picture.”

Malcolm and Clara both pronounced it a palm tree, and Clara asked if there were any such trees growing in this country.

“Some of its relations are found on our Southern seacoast,” replied their governess; “South Carolina, you know, is called ’the Palmetto State.’ There is a member of the family called the cabbage-palmetto, the unexpanded leaves of which are used as a table vegetable, which you may see in Florida. Its young leaves are all in a mass at the top, and when boiled make a dish something like cabbage. The leaves of the palmetto are also used, when perfect, in the manufacture of hats, baskets and mats, and for many other purposes. But its stately and majestic cousin, the date-palm of the East, with its tall, slender stalk and magnificent crown of feathery leaves, has had its praises sung in every age and clime. ’Besides its great importance as a fruit-producer, it has a special beauty of its own when the clusters of dates are hanging in golden ripeness under its coronal of dark-green leaves. Its well-known fruit affords sustenance to the dwellers on the borders of the great African desert; it is as necessary to them as is the camel, and in many cases they may be said to owe their existence to it alone. The tree rears its column-like stem to the height of ninety feet, and its crown consists of fifty leaves about twelve feet in length and fringed at the edges like a feather. Between the leaf and the stem there issue several horny spathes, or sheaths, out of which spring clusters of panicles that bear small white flowers,’ These flowers are followed by the dates, which grow in a dense bunch that hangs down several feet.”

“But how do people manage to climb such a tree as that,” asked Malcolm, “to get the dates? It goes straight up in the air without any branches, and looks as if it would snap in two if any one tried it.”

“It does not snap, though, for it is very strong; and the climbing is easier than you imagine, even when the tree is a hundred feet high, as it sometimes is. The trunk, you see, is full of rugged knots. These projections are the remains of decayed leaves which have dropped off when their work was done. As the older leaves decay the stalk advances in height. It has not true wood, like most trees, but the stem has bundles of fibres that are closely pressed together on the outer part. Toward the root these are so entwined that they become as hard as iron and are very difficult to cut. The tree grows very slowly, but it lives for centuries. I have a Persian fable in rhyme for you, called

“’THE GOURD AND THE PALM.

“’"How old art thou?” said the garrulous gourd As o’er the palm tree’s crest it poured Its spreading leaves and tendrils fine, And hung a-bloom in the morning shine. “A hundred years,” the palm tree sighed. “And I,” the saucy gourd replied, “Am at the most a hundred hours, And overtop thee in the bowers.”

“’Through all the palm tree’s leaves there went
A tremor as of self-content.
“I live my life,” it whispering said,
“See what I see, and count the dead;
And every year of all I’ve known
A gourd above my head has grown
And made a boast like thine to-day,
Yet here I stand; but where are they?"’”

The children were very much pleased with the fable, and they began to feel quite an affection for the venerable and useful palm tree.

“The date tree,” continued their governess, “as this species of palm is often called, blossoms in April, and the fruit ripens in October. Each tree produces from ten to twelve bunches, and the usual weight of a bunch is about fifteen pounds. It is esteemed a crime to fell a date tree or to supply an axe intended for that purpose, even though the tree may belong to an enemy. The date-harvest is expected with as much anxiety by the Arab in the oasis as the gathering in of the wheat and corn in temperate regions. If it were to fail, the Arabs would be in danger of famine. The blessings of the date-palm are without limit to the Arab. Its leaves give a refreshing shade in a region where the beams of the sun are almost insupportable; men, and also camels, feed upon the fruit; the wood of the tree is used for fuel and for building the native huts; and ropes, mats, baskets, beds, and all kinds of articles, are manufactured from the fibres of the leaves. The Arab cannot imagine how a nation can exist without date-palms, and he may well regard it as the greatest injury that he can inflict upon his enemy to cut down his trees.”

“Miss Harson,” asked Edith, very earnestly, “isn’t the palm tree in the Bible?”

“It certainly is, dear,” replied her governess, “and it is one of the trees most frequently mentioned. In Deuteronomy, thirty-fourth chapter, third verse, Jericho is called the ‘city of palm trees.’ Travelers still speak of these trees as yet growing in Palestine, but they are not nearly so abundant as they once were; near Jericho only one or two can be found. There are many allusions to the palm in the Scriptures. King David, in the ninety-second psalm, says that the righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: ’Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall bring forth fruit in old age.’ The palm is always upright, in spite of rain or wind. ’There it stands, looking calmly down upon the world below, and patiently yielding its large clusters of golden fruit from generation to generation. It brings forth fruit in old age.’ The allusion to being planted in the house of the Lord is probably drawn from the custom of planting beautiful and long-lived trees in the courts of temples and palaces. Solomon covered all the walls of the holy of holies round about with golden palm trees. You will find this, Clara, in First Kings.”

Clara read:

“’And he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, within and without.’”

“In the thirty-second verse,” continued Miss Harson, “it is written that he overlaid them with gold, ’and spread gold upon the cherubim, and upon the palm trees.’ ’They were thus planted, as it were, within the very house of the Lord; and their presence there was not only ornamental, but appropriate and highly suggestive the very best emblem not only of patience in well-doing, but of the rewards of the righteous, a fat and flourishing old age, a peaceful end, a glorious immortality.’”

“What does a ‘palmer’ mean, Miss Harson?” asked Malcolm. “Is it a man who has palm trees or who sells dates? I saw the word in a book I was reading, but I couldn’t understand what it meant.”

“In olden times,” replied his governess, “when people made so many pilgrimages, some of the pilgrims went to the Holy Land and some to Rome and other places; but those who went to Palestine were thought to be the most devout, both because it was so much farther off and because there were so many sacred spots to visit there. These pilgrims always brought home with them branches of palm, to show that they had really been to the land where the tree grew; and so they were called palmers. To say that such-a-one was a palmer was far more than to say that he was a pilgrim.”

“Miss Harson,” said Clara, holding up one of the books, “here is a picture called ‘the cocoanut-palm,’ but I didn’t know that cocoanuts grew on palm trees. Will you tell us something about it?”

“Certainly I will, dear,” was the reply. “I fully intended to do so, for the cocoanut-palm is too valuable a member of the family to be passed over. This species does not grow in Palestine, and it is not one of the trees of the Bible; its home is in the warmest countries, and it grows most luxuriantly in the islands of the tropics or near the seacoast on the main-lands. Although its general form is similar to that of the date-palm, the foliage and fruit are quite different. The leaves are very much broader, and they have not the light, airy look of the foliage of the date-palm. But ’the cocoanut-palm is the most valuable of Nature’s gifts to the inhabitants of those parts of the tropics where it grows, and its hundred uses, as they are not inaptly called, extend beyond the tropics over the civilized world. The beautiful islands of the southern seas are fringed with cocoanut-palms that encircle them as with a green and feathery belt. The ripe nuts drop into the sea, but, protected by their husks, they float away until the tide washes them on to the shore of some neighboring island, where they can take root and grow.’”

“Wouldn’t it be nice,” said Edith, “if some would float here?”

“A great many cocoanuts float here in ships,” replied Miss Harson, “but they would not take root and grow, because the climate is not suited to them; it is too cold for them. We cannot have tropical fruit without tropical heat, and I am sure that none of us would want such a change as that. You may sometimes see small cocoanut trees in hothouses or horticultural gardens, where they are shielded from our cold air. The island of Ceylon, in the East Indies, is full of cocoanut-palm trees, for they are carefully cultivated by the inhabitants, and the feathery groves stretch mile after mile. The tree shoots up a column-like stem to the height of a hundred feet, and is crowned with a tuft of broad leaves about twelve feet long. The flowers are yellowish white and grow in clusters, and the seed ripens into a hard nut which in its fibrous husk is about the size of an infant’s head.”

“I’ve seen the nut in its husk,” said Malcolm, “when papa took me down to the wharf where the ships come in. There were lots of cocoanuts, and some of ’em had their coats on.”

“This brown husk,” continued his governess, “is a valuable part of the nut, for the toughest ropes and cables are made of its fibres, as well as the useful brown matting so generally used to cover offices and passages. Brushes, nets and other domestic articles are also manufactured from the husk. Scarcely any other tree in the world is so useful to man or contributes so much to his comfort as the cocoanut-palm. Food and drink are alike obtained from it. The kernel of the nut is an article of diet, and can be prepared in many ways. The native is almost sustained by it, and in Ceylon it forms a part of nearly every dish. The spathe that encloses the yet-unopened flowers is made to yield a favorite beverage called palm-wine, or, more familiarly, ‘toddy.’ When the fresh juice is used, it is an innocent and refreshing drink; but when left to ferment, it intoxicates, and is the one evil result from the bountiful gifts of the tree. Oil is prepared in great quantities from the nuts and used for various purposes.”

“Are there any more kinds of palm trees?” asked the children.

“Yes,” was the reply; “there are a great many members of this most useful family, but the one that will interest you most, after the date-and cocoanut-palm, is, I think, the sago-palm.”

“Why, Miss Harson!” exclaimed Clara, in surprise; “does sago really grow on a tree?”

“It really grows in a tree for it is a kind of starch secreted by the tree for the use of its flowers and fruit and in order to obtain it the tree has to be cut down. The pith is then taken out and cut in slices, soaked in water and roasted; and when it assumes the shape of the small globules in which we see it, it is ready for exportation.”

“Well!” said Malcolm; “I never knew that before. We’ve learned ever so many things, Miss Harson.”

“There is one thing about the palm,” said Miss Harson, “which I have purposely left for the last especially as it is the last also of our trees for the present and that is the sacred associations which its branches have for both Jews and Christians. The Jews were commanded on the first day of the feast of tabernacles to ’take the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook, to rejoice before the Lord their God.’ The palm was a symbol of victory, and branches of it were strewn in the path of conquerors, more especially of those who had fought for religious truth. It is the emblem of the martyr, as a conqueror through Christ. The Sunday before Easter is called Palm Sunday because in the ancient churches leaves of palm were carried that day by worshipers in memory of those strewn in the way on the triumphal entry of the King of Zion into Jerusalem. You will find it, Malcolm, in John.”

Malcolm read very reverently:

“’On the next day, much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna; Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.’”

“Here,” said Miss Harson, “is a little hymn written on these very verses:

“’See a small procession slowly
Toward the temple wind its way;
In the midst rides, meek and lowly,
One whom angel-hosts obey.

“’How the shouting crowd adore him,
Now, for once, they know their King;
Some their garments cast before him,
Green palm-branches others bring.

“’Calmly, yet with holy sorrow,
Christ permits the sacrifice.
Knowing well that on the morrow
Changed will be those fickle cries.

“’Children, when in prayers and praises
Loudly we with lips adore,
While the heart no anthem raises,
Are not we like those of yore?

“’O Lord Jesus, let us never
Lift the voice in heartless songs;
Help us to remember ever
All that to thy name belongs.’”