The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-06-16

study this exquisite manifestation OF
nature in buds, and odOrs, and bright
nues." The very skies invite our observa
ton with force not known in many
countries, for here the sky is inlaid with
diamond clusters at night, and without the
fog, smoke, or haze of other places, we can
Behold the wandering moon
Riding near her highest noon,
Like. that had been led astray
Through the heavens wide, painless way.
Such a country as ours. in former ages,
developed divine philosophy and worthy
religion. Why should not ours!
When mature years and ripe learning
enable the truths of science to crystalline
into one harmonious whole; when observa-
ton traces the course Of the river back to
the melting snow, thence to the vapor arts
ing from the ocean, thence to the SUMS
heat as the cause of this evaporation,
thence to the contraction of this great
luminary for the source of this energy,
thence to other parts of the universe for
the materials Of this gigantic machinery,
thence to the power that upholds and di-
reefs all-and the visible things of earth
are felt to be only a part of something
larger which includes them. Heaven itself
opens its depths to US. The sky is no lon
ger an immense robe worked with gold en-
broideries. nor are the heavenly bodies
] y
round in daily revolution, making music
heard only by beings of celestial mould.
We find instead that the reality
is superior to the fiction, and
that we are surrounded by life
in nature cand universal brightness.
And at the hour of midnight-strange,
mystic time of superstitious dread, when
nature was supposed to spread veil over
| her WOrks-we step out beneath the clear
sky to find, amid the profound peace of
night, an unspeakable beauty of suns on
| suns in the heavens, from which nature
has removed the covering and stands re
Vealed to us. 80 night, how sublime is
/ thy language to meI' The phenomena
connected with spectrum analysis have
shown to US the constitution of our sun
and of all the other suns that crowd the
skies, and il is interesting to learn that the
sun and stars are composed of the same ele-
ments as our own little earth. 1t is a
pleasing discovery to find ourselves thus
related to other parts of the material uni
verse. We have found that nebulae have
different constituents, comets peculiar
ones; that some stars are advancing toward
US, some receding from US; and that the
sun is moving in a definite course. All
! this information has been contained in the
rays of light which have fallen on the earth
and its creation, but only within the last
twenty years have we been able to under
stand it. God has waited long time for
| an observer
Passing to the contemplation of the stars
as suns, round each of which its planets
move, with moons or rings, and some or all
of them inhabited, and we rise to theistic
conception of the universe uttered long
ago by an inspired poet, who said The
heavens declare the glory of God, and the
armament showeth His handiwork."
| For on the proposition of planetary life.
we may give free rein to our imagination
with the moral certainty that science will
never furnish anything tending either tC
prove or disprove any of its fancies. Yet,
those who most earnestly and devoutly
study the works of the Creator must in
the end be brought into a surer presence
of His love than those who, while proclaim
ing their faith, vet hold themselves aloot
from any communion with His handiwork
A BURST OF APPLAUSE
followed. Then Mr.. Stephens and Miss
Dean sang beautiful duet of Mr. Steph-
ems own composition entitled, parting
Friends" commencing with the touching
words:
''Oh, do not tell me that time can ever"
The sweet melody, exquisite rendition
and, above all, the appropriate sentiment
of this affecting appeal to the pleasant days
of old, brought tears to more than one pair
Of eyes among the alumni. The pleasing
sadness was dispelled by the singing of Mr.
Easton and Miss Dean.
The guests and members were again
taken charge of by the young ladies of the
committee. Some stepped into an adioin-
ing room where electrical experiments and
displays with Geissler tubes were going
on; others went below to inspect the work