The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1855-03-16
For the Post.

cPS""6 VI ac IcsOuIces VI IAaSt Il Ohneoscc,
| said il was "a land whose stones were iron
and out Of whose hills we might dig brass. "
When sehooLboy read that sentence in
the 9Th chapter of Deuteronomy. In after
hfe | read 1t again and again-l sought for,
and suppose Compensated its meaning.
1t was just at the close Of Israel's long pro-
tracted journey in the wilderness. The aged
leader and hts people were about to be sepa-
rated-Moses to die, Israel to enter and take
possession of the Promised Land. Faithful
to the last, and SOLICITORS for the good Of his
people, Moses called the hosts of Israel
around him, and delivered to them all the
commands of their God, spread out before
them his promises, and warned them Of the
dangers to which they would be exposed
Tie points out to them, especially, the peris
of prosperity. He tells them that the coun-
try to which they are travelling is land OF
wheat and barley, of figs, pomgranates, olive
oil and honey--a land whence springs gush
out OF the valleys and the hills; and he adds,
"a land whose stones are iron aud out OF
whose hills thou mayst dig BRASS" He tells
them that when they get possession Of that
land that their flocks and herds and gold and
silver shall increase-that they shall build
goodly houses and dwell in them; and he
concludes by cautionng them not to say that
their might or the power of their hand had
acquired this wealth, but to acknowledge that
God gave them power to get wealth.
Permit me to remark here that the brass
mentioned in Genesis, Deuteronomy and Job,
differed materially from our brass of com.
merce. Tubal Cain, the fifth from Adam,
was an artifcer in brass and iron; but job,
more than thousand years after Tubal Gains
days, tells us that "brass is molten out of the
sions;" the process in fact by which copper is
obtained; and this process, doubtless, was
understood while Adam lived. The art of
subimaiing was impeSfctly understood in
the 18th century of our era; and the art of
condensing vapor and manufacturing the
metal called zine, which compounded with
copper forms our brass Of commerce, is about
rs modern as The art of condensing vapor in
another case, by which alcohol is Obtained
That the brass Of the ancients was copper
is clearly proved by the monuments that are
being dug from the ruins of Nineveh, Baby
Ion, and other cities of antiquity. .
have said thus much simply because
would be wise, desIica biologists have writ
ten and published volumes of nonsense about
what they call "the Mosaic account of the
Creation" assuming that the varied phenome-
M of the geological world, proved that The
earth Was perhaps million of years older
than the Mosaic account of it, The Mosaic
liistnry sets out with this emphatic language
I'm the beginning Godcrealed the heavens and
the earth" So after all the foolish and i'm
pious cavils of science, falsely so called, the
beginning and the end are alike unknown.
am pleased when meet acknowledge
ments, rs do occasionally in the journals
of the day, that n new system of geology
must be published-thas absolute facts are
daily contradietng old theories, and that
something new must be published. ] am for
dissarding falsehood in every department;
am opposed to teaching il to Our youth III
. any science or sense. Bit, sir, there is one
book that is Teliable-only one-itis of God,
all others of men.
Moses said that the children Of ISRAEL
should get wealth in "a land whose stones
were iron and out of whose hills they could
dig BRASS" and the result predicted was real
lied. The southern border of East Tennes.
see is, at least in its minerals, fac smile of
the Promised Land; and the same resultsmay
be realized here, and men may obtain wealth
on such principles, that they may be able to
say that God gave them power to get it,
The unheard Of and amentable exhibitions
of auarice, cupidity and fraud in all its va
ricd forms, which are, for the time being,
cursing the community since the opening of
the mines, might with some propriety sug.
gest the question, whether more Of good or
evil is to result from the mining enterprise.
But hold! Mr.. Editor.-The revenue accru.
ing from the increased value of all the min
eral lands in the State, by m net passed by
the session Of 1890, goes into the School
Fund; and few properties in Ducktown are
are now giving about $4,000 per annum.-
And in the progress Of the Developments in
East Tennessee alone, doubt not, the next
ten years will swell the sum to Sl00,0Oo.-
The coal-felds, the lead, iron, zinc, copper
and silver that will annually be brought TO
light, will, by the operation of this statute, 60
to augment the school fund, and furnish the
means to cultivate and form the mind of the
masses. Hitherto our school fund in this
State has deserved no higher appelation than
false reliance. But + think the day is mp
proaching when it will be more reliable and
efficient. 4,
BY commerce communities thrive: one
branch benefits another; and thus all the de-
partments will come in for share Of that To-
Ultimate wealth which skill and capital shall
draw from the store.h house of God. Public
opinion-the supreme arbter in this land
will frown down the knavery that hannts, for
the present. this new and promising enter
prise, and society will realize new and pow.
erf,l imnnlsa I'm all lis industrial interests.