Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1889-10-10
TdImage's Tord Painting.

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continental journey.
"That Valley of the Yosemite is eight
miles long and half mile wide and three
thousand feet deep. 1t seems as if it had
been the meaning of Omnipotence to
crowd into as small place as possible
some of the most stupendous scenery OF
the world. Some of the cliffs you do not
stop to measure by feet, for they are lit
erally mile high. If Jehovah has a
throne on earth these are its white pill
lars.
"No pause for the eye, no stopping
place for the mind. Mountains hurled
on mountains. Mountains in the wake
of mountains. Mountains flanked by
mountains. Mountains split. Mountains
ground. Mountains fallen. Mountains
triumphant As though Mont Blanc and
the Adirondacks and Mount Wash
ington we're here uttering themselves in
one magnificent chorus of rock and preci-
pice and waterfall.
"Yonder is Yosemite Falls, dropping
1854 feet, sixteen times greater descent
than that of Niagara. These waters dash
ed to death on the rocks, so that the white
spirit of the slain waters ascending IN a
robe of mist seeks the heaven. Yonder
is Nevada Falls, plunging 700 feet, the
water in arrows, the water in rockets, the
water in pearls, the water in amethysts,
The water in diamonds That cascade
filings down the rocks enough jewels to
array all the earth in beauty, and rushes
on until it drops into very hell of wa
tiers, the smoke of their torments ascend
ing forever and ever.
but the most wonderful part of this
American continent is the Yellowstone
Park. After all poetry has exhausted
itself and all the Morans and Bierstadts
and the other enchanting artists have
completed their canvas, there will be other
revelations TO make and other stories OF
its beauty and wrath, splendor and agony
to be recited. Yellowstone Park is ge-
ologists paradise.
"In some portions of it there seems to
be the anarchy of the elements. Fire
and water, and the vapor born of that
marriage, terrific. Geyser cones or hills
of crystal that have been over five thou
sand years growing. In places the earth
throbbing, sobbing, groaning quaklng
with aqueous paroxysm.
cat the expiration of every sixty-fye
minutes one of the geysers tosses its boil
ing water lS5 feet in the air and then
descending into swinging rainbows. Cav
erns of pictured walls large enough for
the sepuchre of the human race. For
nations of stone in shape and color OF
Gala lilly, of hetiotrope, Of rose, Of cow
slip, of sunfower and Of gladiola. Sui
phur and arsenic and oxide Of iron, with
their delicate pencils, turning the hills
into Luxemourg or a Vatican picture
gallery. The so-called Thanatopsis Gey-
ser, exquisite as the Bryant poem it was
named after, and the so-called Evange-
line Geyser, lovely as the LOngfellOw he
roine it commentaries. The sO-called
Pulpit Terrace, from its white elevation,
preaching mightier sermons Of God than
human lips ever uttered. The so-called
Bethesda Geyser, by the warmth Of which
invalids have already been cured, the An
gel of Health continually stirring the
waters. Enraged craters, with heat at
500 degrees, only little below the sur
face.
"In some places waters as innocent and
smiling as a child making first attempt
to walk from its mothers zap, and not far
off as foaming and frenzied and ungov-
ernable as a maniac in murderous strug-
gle with his keepers.
but after you have wandered along
the geyserite enchantment for days and
begin to feel that there can be nothing
more Of interest to see, you suddenly
c me upon the peroration Of all majesty
and grandeur, the Grand Canyon. 1t Is
here that it seems to me-and | speak 1t
with reverence-Jehovah seems 10 have
surpassed Himself 1t seems a 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
Architect of Worlds. Sculpturing by
the Infinite. Masonry by an omnipotent
irowel. Yellow You never saw yellow
unless you saw it there. Red You new
er saw red unless you saw it there. Vio-
let You never saw violet unless lou saw
it there Triumphant banners Of color