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" Many years ago a Frenchman, who was travelHng in the 

 Holy Land, found a little seedling among the Cedars of Leb- 

 anon, which he longed to bring away as a memorial of his 

 travels. He took it up tenderly, with all the earth about its 

 little roots, and, for want of a better flower-pot, planted it care- 

 fully in his hat, and there he kept it and tended it. 



"The voyage home was rough and tempestuous, and so much 

 longer than usual, that the supply of fresh water in the ship fell 

 short, and they were obliged to measure it out most carefully to 

 each person. The captain was allowed two glasses a day, the 

 sailors who had the work of the ship on their hands, one glass 

 each, and the poor passengers but half a glass. In such a 

 scarcity you may suppose the poor Cedar had no allowance at 

 all. But our friend the traveler felt for it as his child, and each 

 day shared with it his small half glass of precious water ; and so 

 it was, that when the vessel arrived at the port, the traveller had 

 drunk so little water that he was almost dying, and the young 

 Cedar so much that, behold, it was a noble and fresh little tree, 

 six inches high ! 



" At the custom-house the officers, who are always suspicious 

 of smuggling, wished to empty the hat, for they would not be- 

 lieve but that something more valuable in their eyes lay hid be- 

 neath the moist mould. They thought of lace or of diamonds, 

 and began to thrust their fingers into the soil. But our poor 

 traveler implored them so earnestly to spare his tree, and talked 

 to them so eloquently of all that we read in the Bible of the Cedar 

 of Lebanon, telling them of David's house and Solomon's temple, 

 that the men's hearts were softened, and they suffered the young 

 cedar to remain undisturbed in its strange dwelling. From 

 thence it was carried to Paris, and planted in the Jardin des 

 Plantes." 



The two trees brought by Jussieu from London lived and 

 flourished. One was planted in the Jardin des Plantes, and the 

 accompanying illustration shows it as it appears to-day, stately, 

 symmetrical, and graceful, dominating that portion of the garden 

 where it grows. The other tree is said to be even larger and 

 more beautiful ; it was planted at the Chateau de Montigny, near 

 Montereau. 



