American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1875-05-15
Stories Told by Rocks.

: CAN rocks. tell stofiesf Well, not
faIsehoods, at least; OF, in fact, any, other
kind of stories that have to be tefdsin
words. But they have 3 way of telling
stories. and very interesting ones too.
These stories must be Interpreted,
though, before they can be understoodi
and their interpreter is geology Sd.
Suppose, for instance, that a man who
knew nothing at all about geology
in solid rock Such a person would prob,
ably think the. single drop of water had
forced it's way into hard stone, But ge-
ology makes us understand that the
rock was bank of soft clay when the
rdin-drop fell on it, making q little dent,
which remained in it after it had turned
to some. = f4sz -sssst ~ = -
In this way rocks relate their own his
tories; and they not only. do that but
they tell us many wonderful stories OF
other things-stories of foods and fires,
volcanoes and earthquakes, gigantic
wild beasts and men hardly less fierce
and savage, strange and terrible mon
sters and even dragons, or at least Great
ures that looked very much Ike them.
These things that looked like dragons
were called pscrodactyis, from TIVE Greek
words meaning ewing" and "fnger."
They had wings very much like those OF
bats, Joined to a long claw or finger on
the outsides of their four feet, and with
these wings they could hy fast enough
10 catch swift insects. Their heads were
something Ike those of crocodiles, and
their great strong jaws and sharp teeth
must have had a very dangerous and
altogether unpleasant look. They were
of different sizes, but some were. very
large indeed, with wings more than twice
as wide, from tip to tip, as those OF the
biggest bird in the world These fright
full things lived very long time ago, and
their skeletons have been found among
the rocks where they have been for
thousands of years. The rocks have
kept them safe for-u SO that we could
tell what sort of creatures used to live
in the world in very ancient times.
Skeletons of many other strange and
terrible animals have also been found
among the rocks. One of them was
tremendous elephant, a great deal bigger
than any you ever saw in menagerie,
with long tusks which eurled Ground
like one Of those twisted horns We some
times zee in a musical instrument store,
and which looks as if somebody had
been trying to tie them 5iss 1 IN q
animals now in the world, but very
much larger. Some of the bones that
have been found belonged to birds which
must have been almost as big as the
"rocs" you have probably read about IN
the Arabian Nights" 1t would be very
announcement, / think, to have one OF
those tall fowls around now, particularly
if he should take notion to PICK up
little boy or two in his big beak ana
stalk away with him. And the people
that should go out cunning after such
game would have to take a small cannon
along if they expected to do much harm
at one shot.
The men that lived in the days when
some of these monstrous beasts and birds
still remained on the earth were very
rough and savage fellows. and were not
a bit afraid of them, even If they were so
much 6 over their size" Although they
didn't have any guns or pistols, or any
other weapons that we would think much
of, vet they not only defended themselves
against the great animals, but even
hunted them, ate their flesh and clothed
themselves with their skins. The rocks
prove this, and, although there is not
room here to tell you how, yet when you