"The very same," was the reply, "except, as I just read to you, many of
the olive trees that gave it its name are no longer there. The Garden of
Gethsemane, too, the most sacred spot near the mountain, is much
changed, and a traveler who saw it lately says:
"'At the foot of the Mount of Olives is a garden enclosed by a wall.
There are paths and there are plots of flowers, the work of loving hands
in recent years. The flowers speak of to-day, but there are olive trees
in the garden that testify of the history of far-away years. Their
venerable trunks, gnarled and rugged, are like the rough, marred binding
of old books, shutting in a history going back to a far-off date.
"'On one side of this garden slope upward the terraces of the Mount of
Olives--terraces that are cultivated to-day even as the slopes of Olivet
have been cultivated for generations and centuries. The other side of
the garden looks toward the eastern wall of Jerusalem. Deep down in its
shadowy bed, between the wall and the garden, lies the ravine of
the Kedron.
[Illustration: GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE.]
"'If you visit that garden and look upon its old olive trees, the
keeper of the place will tell you that you are in Gethsemane, the spot
of our Saviour's betrayal. He will point out the "Grotto of the Agony,"
the place where the disciples slumbered, and that where Judas, before
his brethren, ceased publicly to be a follower and became the betrayer
of Jesus. Some things you very naturally may question as the guardian of
the enclosure tells his story.
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