The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1873-02-13
USES OF THE OCEAN.

The traveller who would speak
of his experience in foreign lands
must begin with the sea. God has
placed this vast paw ement of his
temple between the hemispheres, so
that he who sails to foreign shores
must pay double tribute to the
Most High; for through this temple
he has to carry his anticipations as
he goes, and his memories when he
returns. The sea speaks for God !;
and however eager the tourist may
be to reach the strand that lies be-
fore him, and enter upon the career
ofbusines, or pleasure that awaits
him, he must check his Impotence
during this long interval Of approach,
and listen to the voice with which
Jehovah speaks to him, as, horizon
after horizon, he moves to his pur-
pose along the aisles of Gods
mighty tabernacle of the deep.
It is common thing in speaking
of the sea, to call it "a waste of
waters" But this is a mistake.
Instead of being an incumbrance
or a superiority, the sea is as essen
tial to the life of the world, as the
blood is to the life of the human
body. Instead of being waste
and desert, it keeps the earth from
becoming waste and a desert. 1t
is the worlds fountain of life and
health and beauty; and if it were
taken away, the grass would perish
from the mountains, the forests
would crumble on the hills, the
harvests would become powder on
the plains, the continent would be
one vast SALARY of frosts and fire,
and the solid globe itself, scared and
blasted on every side, would swing
in the heavens, silent and dead as
on the first morning Of creation.
Water is as Indispensable to all
life, vegetable or animal, as the all
itself. From the cedar on the
mountains to the lichen that clings
to the wall from the elephant that
pastures on the forests, to the ami
malculae that float in the sunbeam
from the leviathan that heaves the
sea into pillows, to the microscopic
creatures that swarm, million in 6
single foam-drop-all alike depend
for their existence on this single ele-
ment and must perish if it be with
drawn.
This element of water is supplied
entirely by the sea. The sea is the
great inexhaustible fountain which
is continually pouring up into the
sky precisely as many streams, and
as large, as all the rivers of the
world are pouring into it.
The sea is the real birthplace o.
the clouds and the rivers, and out o.
it come all the rains and dews o.
heaven. Instead of being waste
and an incumbraDce, therefore, it /
q vast fountain of fruitfulness, anc
the nurse and mother of all living
Out of it's mighty breast comes the
resources that feed and support the
population of the world. Omnipres
ent and everywhere alike is this
need and blessing Of the sea. Ii il
felt as truly in the center Of the con
tinent,-where, it may be, the rude
inhabitant never heard of the ocean
as it is on the circumference Of thC
wave-beaten shore.
We are surrounded, every moment
by the presence and bounty Of thu
sea. It looks out upon us from ev
cry violet in. our garden-bed; from
every spire of grass that drops upor
our passing feet the beaded dew O
the morning; from the bending
grain that fills the arm ofsthe reaper
from bursting presses, and from
barns filled with plenty; from th'
broad foreheads Of the cattle ant
the rosy faces Of the children from
the cool dropping well at our bacl
door; from the brook that murmuri
from It's side. and from the elm ant
spreading maple that weave thei
protecting branches bsneath the sun
and swing their breezy shadow
over our habitation. --Rer. Le0nart
( SUuaa.