filled the whole place with coolness and crystalline brightness and
musical plash. Ten tables chased with chariot wheel and lion and
cherubim. Solomon sat on a throne of ivory. At the seating place of
the throne, on each end of the steps, a brazen lion. Why, my friends,
in that place they trimmed their candles with snuffers of gold, and
they cut their fruits with knives of gold, and they washed their faces
in basins of gold, and they scooped out the ashes with shovels of
gold, and they stirred the altar fires with tongs of gold. Gold
reflected in the water! Gold flashing from the apparel! Gold blazing
in the crown! Gold, gold, gold!

Of course the news of the affluence of that place went out everywhere
by every caravan and by wing of every ship, until soon the streets of
Jerusalem are crowded with curiosity seekers. What is that long
procession approaching Jerusalem? I think from the pomp of it there
must be royalty in the train. I smell the breath of the spices which
are brought as presents, and I hear the shout of the drivers, and I
see the dust-covered caravan showing that they come from far away. Cry
the news up to the palace. The Queen of Sheba advances. Let all the
people come out to see. Let the mighty men of the land come out on the
palace corridors. Let Solomon come down the stairs of the palace
before the queen has alighted. Shake out the cinnamon, and the
saffron, and the calamus, and the frankincense, and pass it into the
treasure house. Take up the diamonds until they glitter in the sun.

The Queen of Sheba alights. She enters the palace. She washes at the
bath. She sits down at the banquet. The cup-bearers bow. The meat
smokes. The music trembles in the dash of the waters from the molten
sea. Then she rises from the banquet, and walks through the
conservatories, and gazes on the architecture, and she asks Solomon