This page needs to be proofread.
100
OLIVE BUDS.
were constructed, where we sometimes sat, watching the chequered rays of the moon, and singing our simple provincial melodies. Stretching at the foot of this hill, was the small domain whence we drew our subsistence. Diligence and economy made it fully equal to our wants, and to the claims of charity. Over the roots of the filbert, fig and mulberry, crept the prolific melon; the gourd, supporting itself by their trunks, lifted its yellow globes into the air like orbs of gold, while still higher rose the aspiring vine, filling its glowing clusters for the wine-press. Our fields of wheat, gave us bread, and the bearded oat rewarded the faithful animal that gathered in our harvest. Bees, hastening with