276. What was the height of Goliath?
According to Samuel, he was “six cubits and a span.” Mr. Greaves gives the length of the cubit as twenty-one inches, and the span nine inches. This would make Goliath’s height about eleven feet three inches.
277. What is the balm of Gilead?
The balm of Gilead, also called balsam of Mecca and Opobalsam, is obtained from a low tree or shrub, the balsamodendron Gileadense, which grows in several parts of Arabia and Abyssinia. To obtain the juice, the bark of the tree is cut at the time when the sap is in its strongest period of circulation. As the juices ooze through the wound they are received into small earthen bottles, every day’s produce being poured into large bottles and corked. When fresh, the smell of the balsam is exquisitely fragrant, but if left exposed to the atmosphere it loses this quality. The quantity of balsam yielded by one tree is said never to exceed sixty drops in a day. It is, therefore, very scarce, and can with difficulty be procured in a pure and unadulterated state, even at Constantinople.
278. What was the origin of the barber’s pole?
In former times barbers served the public in the capacity of surgeons, and performed the act of bleeding, that being a favorite remedy with our ancestors. The pole represented the staff held by the person being bled, and the spiral stripes painted around it were typical of the two bandages used for twisting around the arm previous to the bleeding and after the operation had been performed. The blue stripes and stars sometimes seen were probably introduced by some barber endowed with more patriotism than love of ancient customs.
279. Which is the “youngest Territory”?
Wyoming. It was organized by the act of Congress approved July 25, 1868, from portions of Dakota, Idaho, and Utah. The first settlements within its limits were made in 1867, during the progress of the Union Pacific Railroad, although there had been a garrison at Port Laramie since 1834.
280. Why was the shamrock adopted as the emblem of Ireland?
The shamrock is said to have been first assumed as the badge of Ireland from the circumstance that St. Patrick made use of it to illustrate the doctrine of the Trinity. The story as told by Lover is as follows: “When St. Patrick first preached the Christian faith in Ireland, before a powerful chief and his people, when he spoke of one God and of the Trinity, the chief asked how one could be in three. St. Patrick, instead of attempting a theological definition of the faith, thought a simple image would best serve to enlighten a simple people, and, stooping to the earth, he plucked from the green sod a shamrock, and holding up the trefoil before them, he bid them there behold one in three. The chief, struck by the illustration, asked at once to be baptized, and all his sept followed his example.”