Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1885-06-12
The Climax of Creation.
BY L. 7. YEMEN.

Nlnd the Slgn,hrancc of Life; and Inn
mortality the significance Of Mind"
MATTER.
" In the beginning God created" So
The ancient record stands though fast
assallcd
By all the marshallcd hosts of cavilers
That ever human ignorance and pride
Arraycd.
Omnipotence but willed, and 10,
The solid framework of the universe
Stood fast the bond Of gravity affirmed
lts laws; black darkness sought its Sty
gian caves;
God smiled, and light flashed into being !.
Thus,
From blank, chaotic gloom to cosmic
grace
And comeliness the stately work went on,
Involving in its course such mighty
strides
OF sheer duration as doth battle and
Confound the highest excellence OF mans
Chronology, while yet they signify
But as week of feeting days with God.
In he beginning" Who shall full de-
clare
The import of those wondrous words (?
what gift
OF analytic skill can retrograde
The past and mete the lapse Of earth
wears, since,
Within His council chamber, God first
His great creative plans,
Tenderly
The Holy Spirit brooded Der the Earth
And, love-responslve, straightway she
conceived
In passive fealty.
Awhile she slept;
Then, in the fullness OF appointed time,
Through silent parturition and so strange
Organic shapes appeared. The cheerful
grass
Came creeping through the valleys, DER
the hills
And plains. All plants, all herbs, all
shrubs, all trees
Whose seed within them is, in lavish
store
Prevailed, and clothed in beauteous robes
the land.
As il prophetic of the Paradise.
That was to be, the how'rs sprang UP
bctimcs
In gorgeous display, while vet almost
Seli-conscious OF their passing loveliness
They bloomcd.
And next, in strict accordance with
Divine behest, the waters teemed with
life
From lowly protozoic types of vague
And doubtful pedigree throughout the
chain
OF upward progress, link by link, to
those
Strange beasts, lcviathan and behemoth,
Whose sincws were as thongs of steel
and bones
Like iron bars.
Thus were the rivulets,
The rills that gushed from seam of crag-
gy rock,
The laughing meadow brooks, the placid
lakes,
Great rivers and the mighty sea, all
stocked
With plenitude of breathing, moving
forms
OF life.
But listen, now, while vocal hosts,
The product of new creative act,
Come trooping into line fresh from the
hand
OF God. Lo, from a thousand verdant
hills
Burst forth the choruses Of lowing herds
And bleating fiocks with glad, uproarous
din
OF feathered tribes.
In softer, lulling tones,
But none the less attuned to JOY and
praise
The drone of insect floats upon the air
Like fairy music from the realm of
dreams.
Bird anthems swell on ev'ry side in
great,
O'ertopping waves Of melody, till grove
And heather, copse and forest seem in
tent
On vying with the orchestras of heaven
In concord of sweet sounds.
Yet this was but
Instructive life; the mere, crude en-
phasis
OF all that once was cold and dark and
still
And dead! An automatic routine trod
By great and small of living creatures
then
That roamed the earth.
The early butterfly
Was just as light Of wing, as gaudily
Arrayed, and dainty of her nellie food
As butterflies that charm us now, or
tempt
The truant schoolboy to neglect his task.
The droning honey bee mistook no false
Perimeter, but planned her hexagon
As taught of God, the great Geometer.
The sparrow built her nest. observed
her days
No more nor less of incubation, reared
Her young and loved them too, most ten
derby,
II bird e'er loves, as all the sparrows do
To-day. The toiling beaver lacked no
skill,
But fnllnd his fraas across the roarinu