"
"But that isn't _preserves_, is it?" asked Malcolm, drawing up his mouth
at the recollection of an olive he had once tried to eat. "I thought
preserves were always sweet."
"That is the shape in which you are accustomed to them, Malcolm; but to
preserve a thing means to keep it from decay, and salt and vinegar will
do this as well as sugar. Preserves of this kind are what _you_ call
'puckery.'--As to the color, Clara, 'olive-green' is a color by itself,
because of its peculiar tint. It is a gray green instead of a blue or
yellow green, and it has a very dull effect. The fruit is produced only
once in two years, and in bearing-season the tree is loaded with white
blossoms that drop to the ground like flakes of snow. It is said that
not one in a hundred of these numerous flowers becomes an olive. Here,"
continued Miss Harson, pointing to a page of a book in her hand, "is a
representation of an olive-branch with some of the plum-shaped fruit.
The branch, you see, is hard and stiff-looking."
[Illustration: OLIVE-BRANCH WITH FRUIT.]
"I should think the tree would be prettier when all those white flowers
are on it," said little Edith.
"It is--much prettier," replied her governess--"but not so useful. The
fruit of the olive is so valuable that numbers of people depend upon it
for their support. The wood, too, is very hard and durable, and, as it
takes a fine polish, it is used for making many ornamental articles."
"And where does the olive-oil come from?" asked Clara.
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