Olive Leaves

The Indian Chief.—P. 229.

PREFACE.

An Olive Leaf was the first gift of the Earth after the Flood, to the sole survivors of a buried race. It was borne by the Dove, spreading a timid wing over the surging waters, so lately without a shore.

The plant thus honoured, as the love-token of a World, rising in freshness from the wrecks of the Deluge, has long been a consecrated emblem of peace. It then brought the joyful tidings to the voyagers in the lonely Ark, of a home once more upon the green earth; and has since cheered many a Christian heart, with the assurance that the bitter waters of strife had abated.

These, my simple "Olive Leaves," would fain be love-tokens to you, sweet young friends, who may chance to take them in your hand. Buds of the olive and of the rose, are ye: pour forth the spirit of peace and love, as ye unfold and ripen on the pilgrimage of life, that you may be gathered at its close, where their bloom is eternal.

L. H. S.

Hartford, Connecticut.

CONTENTS.