Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1889-10-05
pn. afta. rou haua 49,

more OF interest to see, you suddenly
come upon the peroration of all majesty
and grandeur, the Grand canyon. 1t Il
here that 1t seems to me-and I speak
1t with reverence-Jehovah seems u
have surpassed himself. 1t seems 8
great gulch let down into the eternities
Here, hung up and let down and spread
abroad, are all the colors of land and
sea and sky. Upholstering of the Lord
God Almighty. Best work of the archi.
tect Of worlds. S~culpturing Of the In
finite. Masonry by an omnipotent
trowel. Yellowi You never saw vel.
low unless you saw it there, Red!
You never saw red unless you saw IL
there. Violet! You never saw violet
unless you saw it there. Triumphant
banners OF color. In a cathedral of
basalt, sunrise and sunset married by
the setting of rainbow ring.
Gothic arches, Corinthian capitals and
Egyptian basilicas built before human
architecture was born. Huge ~fortifca-
tions OF granite constructed before war
forged its first cannon. Gibraltars and
Sebastopols that never can be taken.
~Alhambras, where kings Of strength
and queens OF beauty reigned long be-
fore the first earthly crown vas M
pearled. Thrones ON which no oce but
the King OF heaven and earth ever sat.
Fount of waters at which the lesser
hills are baptized while the giant hills
stand around as sponsors. For thou
sands OF years before that scene "a IN
yelled TO human sight, the elements
were busy, and the geyse-s were hew-
ing away with their hot chisel, and
glaciers were pounding with their cold
hammers, and hurricanes were cleaving
with their lightning strokes, and hail
stones giving the finishing touches, and
after all these forces of nature had done
their best, in our century the curtain
dropped and the world had a new and
divinely inspired revelation, the Old
Testament written on papyrus, the New
Testament written on parchment, and
now this last Testament written on the
rocks.
Hanging over one Of the cliffs / looked
off ultil | could not get my breath, then
retreating to q less exposed placed /
looked down again. Down there is a
pillar of rock that in certain conditions
of the atmosphere looks like a pillow Of
blood. Yonder are fifty feet Of emerald
on a base of five hundred feet of opal.
Wall OF chalk resting on pedestals of
beryl. Turrets OF light tumbling on
floors OF darkness The brown bright
ening into golden. Snow OF crystal
melting into FIRE Of carbuncLe. Flaming
red cooling into russell Cold blue warm
ing into saffron. Dull gray kindling
into solferino. Morning twilight flush
ing midnight shadows. Auroras crouch
ing among rocks.
Yonder is ar eagles nest on a shaft Of
basalt. Through an eyeglass We sec
among 1t the young eagles, but the
~stoutest arm Of u group cannot hurl a
stone ear enough 70 disturb the feath,
cred domesticity. Yonder are heights
that would be filed with horror but for
the warm robe of forest foliage with
which they are enwrapped. Affairs OF
worship at which nations might kneel.
Domes Of ~chalcedony on temples OF
porphyry. See all this carnage Of color
up and down the cliffs; il must have
been the ~battlefields of the war Of the
elements. Here are all the colors of The
wall Of heaven, neither the sapphire MOI
the crysolite nor the topaz nor the
jacinthnor the amethyst nor the jasper
nor the twelve gates of twelve pearls
Il nanbAlk. A. cHlIAlS DOunA IrOul t1fII
TO heaven could pass up by way OF thi.
canyon, the dash of heavenly beaut,
would not be so overpowering. 1t would
only be from glory I o glory. Ascenr
through such earthly SCENERY in which
the crystal is so bright and the red SC
flaming would be fit preparation for the
''sea of glass mingled with fire."
Standing there in the Grand canyon
of the Yellowstone park on the morning
of August o, for the most part we held
our peace, but after awhile Ii flashed
upon me with such power | could no
help but say to my comrades: what q
Hall this would be for the last Judg
ment.' See hat mighty cascade with
the rainbows at the foot of it. Thos,
waters CONCEALED and transfixed with
the agitations of that day, what a plac,
they would make for the shining feet o
q Judge of quick and dead. and thos,
rainbows look now like the crowns to b.
cast at his feet. At the bottom of thi,
great canyon is a floor on which the ma
tions of the earth might stand and al
up and down these galleries OF rocl
the nations of heaven might sit. AND
what reyerberation of archangels' trum
pet there would be through all thes,
heights. Why should not the creates
Of all the days the world shall aver SCI
close amid the grandest scenery Omnipo
tence W built?
Oh, the sweep of the American con
tinentl Sailing up Puget sound, it,
shores so bold that for $500 miles
ships pro- s~ori touch the shore be
fore its hra7 ~sar~s& the bottom, I said
'This 81 SAN xo~serranean of Amer
ica." s,ss;+is vcrtland and Tacom;
and 6sSsis and Victoria and For
Townsend and Vancouvers and othei
cities Of that northwest region / though
to myself: These are the Bostons, New
Yorks, Charlestons and Savannahs o
the Pacific coast. But after all thil
summers journeying and my other jour
neys westward In other summers, ]
found that I had seen only a part of thu
American continent, for Alaska Is rs IA
west Of San Francisco as the coast o
Maine Is east Of 1t, so that the centra
city of the American continent Is Sal
Francisco.
1 have said these things about tn,
magnitude Of the continent and givel
you a few specimens of some Of its won
ders to let you know tho comprehensive
ness Of the text when 1t says that Chris
is going to have dominion from
sea to sea; that is, from the At
lantic to the Pacific. Besid,
/ that thu salvation NJ this cnutiuau