The intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1887-1891, 1889-09-28

for the sepulcher of the human race.
Formations of stone in shape and color of
Gala lily, of heliotrope, of rose, of cow
slip, of sunflower and of gladiola. Sui
phur and arsenic and oxide of iron, with
their delicate pencils, turning the hills
into a Luxembourg or a Vatican picture
gallery. The so-called ~Thanatopsis gey-
sey, exquisite as the Bryant poem it was
named after, and the so.called~ Evangeline
geyser, lovely as the Longfellow heroine
it commentaries. The so-called Pulpit
terrace from its white elevation preaching
mightier ermo of God than human lips
ever uttered. The so-called Bethesda
geyser, by the warmth of which invalids
have already been cured, the angel of
health continually stirring the waters.
Enraged craters with heat at five hundred
degrees only a little below the surface.
Wide reaches of stone of intermingled
colors, blue as the sky. green as the foli-
age, crimson as the dahlia, white as the
snow, spotted as the leopard, tawny as
the lion, grizzly as the bear, in circles, in
angles, in stars, in coronets, in stalactites,
in stalagmiteI. Here and there are petri-
fled growths, or the dead trees and vege-
tation of other ages, kept through a pro-
cess of natural embalmment. In some
places waters as innocent and smiling as
II child making a first attempt to walk
from its mothers lap, and not far of as
foaming and frenzied and ungovernable
as a maniac In murderous struggle with
his keepers.
But after you haS Q wandered along the
geyserite e"nchantment for DAYS and begin
to feel that there can be nothing more of
interest to see, you suddenly come upon
the p~eroration Of all majesty and grand
,nr-tha ~ ro,,I ,.auunp IL 10 bara that IL
seems to "a | speak it with rever-
ence--that Jehovah seems to have sur
passed Himself. 1t seems a great gulch let
down into the eternities. Here, hung up
mud let down and spread abroad. are all
the colors of land and sea and sky. Up
holstering of the Lord God Almighty.
Best work of the Architect of worlds.
Sculpturing by the Infinite. Masonry by
an omnipotent trowel. Yellow You
never saw yellow unless you saw il there.
Redl You never saw red unless you saw
it there. Violet! You never saw violet
unless you saw it there. Triumphant BAN
ners 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 fortifica-
tions of granite constructed before war
forged its first cannon. Gibraltars and
Sci lstopols that never can be taken. AL
hambras, where kings of strength and
quee ms of beauty reigned long before the
first earthly crown was empearled.
Thrones on which no one but the King of
Heaven and earth ever sat. Fount of
waters of which the lesser hills are hap
tized while the giant cliffs stand round as
-,t,an, Lar Nh1,aon1, IS l4c---
that scene was unvailed to human sight,
the elements were busy, and the geysers
were hewing away with their hot chisel,
and glaciers were pounding with their
cold hammers, and hurricanes were clear
ing with their lightning strokes, and
hailstones giving the finishing touches,
and after all these forces of nature had
Ion their best, in our century the cur
tain dropped and the world had a new
and divinely inspired revelation, the Old
Testament written on papyrus, the New
Testament written in parchment, and now
this last Testament written on the rocks.
Hanging over one of the cliffs l looked
off until l could not get my breath, then
retrenting to a less exposed place l looked
down again. Down there is a pillar OF
rock that in certain conditions of the at
mospbere looks like a pillar of blood.
Yonder are fifty feet Of emerald on a base
OF 500 feet of opal. Wall of chalk resting
on pedestals of beryl. Turrets of light
tumbling on floors of darkness. The
brown Frightening into golden. Snow of
crystal melting into fire of carbuncle.
Flaming red cooling into russell. Cold
blue warming into saffron. Dull gray
kindling into solferino. Morning twilight
flushing midnight shadows. Auroras
crouching among rocks.
Yonder is an eagles nest on a shaft of
basalt. Through an eyeglass we see
among it the young eagles, but the s~toutest
arm of our group can not hurl q stone
near enough to disturb the feathered do
mesticity. Yonder are heights that would
be chilled with horror but for the warm
robe of forest foliage with which they are
~enwrapped. Affairs of worship at which
nations mightkneel. Domes of chalcedony
on temples of porphyry. See all this
carnage of color up and down the cliffs;
it must W been the battle field Of the
war of the elements. Here are all the
colors of the wall of Heaven, neither the
sapphire nor the chrysolite nor the topaz
nor the jaclnth nor the amethyst nor the
jasper nor the twelve gates of twelve
pearls. wanting. II spirits bound from
earth to Heaven could pass up by way of
this canyon. the dash of heavenly beauty
would not be so o~verpowering. 1t would
only be from glory to glory. Ascent
through u earthly scenery in which
the crystal is SO bright and the red SO
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 Q, for the most part we held our
peace, but after awhile it flashed upon me
with such power l could not help but say
to my comrades: what a hall this
would be Tor the last judgmentP'
o, the sweep of the Amer lean continentl
Sailing up Puget sound, its shores so bold
that for 1900 m les a ships PROV would
touch the shore before its keel touched the
bottom, l said: "This Is the M d terrain
can of America" Visiting Portland, and
Tacoma, and Seattle, and Victoria, and
Fort Townsend, and Va%ncouvers and Other
cities of that Northwest region l thought
to myself: These are the Bostons, New
Yorks, Charlestons and S~avannahs of the
Pacific coast. But after all this summers
journeyiig and my other journeys west.
ward In other summer l found that had
seen only a part of the American CONT
nent, for Ala-ka is as far west of SaI
Francisco as the coast of Maine is east o
il, 80 that the central city of the Ameri
can continent is San Francisco.
have said these things about the mag
nitude of the continent and given you
few specimens of some of its wonders t,
let you know the comprehensiveness o
the text when it says that Christ is goinl
to have dominion from sea to sea; that Is
from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Besid,
that, the salvation of this continent mean
the salvation of Asia, for we are ONLY
thirty six miles from Asia at the North
west. Only Bebring straits separate u
from Asia and these will be spanned by
great bridge before another century close
and probably long before that. Tn
thirty " six miles of wafer between thes
two continents are not all deep sea, bu
have three islands, and there are ais
shoals which will allow piers for bridges
and for the most of the way the water
only about twenty fathoms deep.
The America Asiatic bridge which will
yet span those straits will make America
Asia, Europe and Africa one continen,
SO you see America evangelical, Ash
will be evangelical. Europe taking Ash
from one side and America taking it froI
the other side. Dur great grandchildre
will cross that bridge. America and Ash
and Europe all one, what subtraction froI
the pangs of s~easickness! and the prophe
cies In Revelation will be fulfilled, "Ther
shall DO no more sea-" But do L mea
literally that this American continent
going to be all gospelized? l do. Chris
topher Columbus, when he went ashor
from the Santa Maria, and his secon
brother Alonzp, when he went ashore froI
the Pinta. and his third brother Vincen
when he went ashore fro III he Nina, toe
possession of this country in the name