The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-10-09

Mont Blanc and the Adirondacks and
| Mount Washington were here uttering
themselves in one magnificent chorus
Of rock and precipice and waterfall,
Sitting and dashing through the rocks, the
water comes down. The Bridal Veil
| Falls, so thin you can see the face
| Of tho mountain behind. Yonder is Yose-
mite Falls, dropping 1884 feet, sixteen
times greater descent than that Of Niagara.
These waters dashed to death on the rocks,
SO that the white spirit Of the slain waters
ascending in robe of mist seeks the heaven.
Yonder is Nevada falls, plunging seven hun
dred 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 a very hell Of waters,
| the smoke Of their torment ascending forever
and ever. .'-
But the most wonderful part Of this Amer
/ ican continent is the Yellowstone Park. My
visit there last month made upon me an Inn.
preston that will last forever. After all
poetry has exhausted itself, and all the
Morans and Bierstadts and the other enchant-
ing artists have completed their canvas.
there will be other revelations to make and
splendor and agony, to, be recited.
The Yellowstone Park is the geol.
ogists paradise By cheapening OF
travel may it become the nations play
ground! 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 thousand years growing.
In places the earth, throbbing, sobbing,
At the expiration Of every sixty-fve min
utes one Of tho geysers tossing, its boiling
water 1856 feet in the air and then descending:
into swinging rainbows. CaverIls Of pictured
walls large enough for the seprlcher OF the
human race. Formations of stone in shape
and color Of Gala lily, of heliotrope, OF rose,
Of cowslp, Of sunhower and OF gladiola.
their delicate pencils turning the hills into
a Luxemburg or a Vatican picture
gallery. The so-called Thanatopsis
geyser, exquisite as the Bryant poem it was
named after, and the so called Evangeline
geyser, lovely as the Longfellow heroine 1t
commemorates The 10 called Pulpit Ter
race from its white elevation preaching
mightier sermons Of God than human lips
ever uttered. The so called Bethesda .gey.
ser, by the warmth of which invalids have
already been cured, the Angel OF Health con-
tinually stirring the waters. Enraged era
ters, with heat at five hundred degrees only
little below the surface.
Wide reaches Of stone Of intermingled
colors, blue as the sky, green as the foliage,
crimson as the dahlia, white as the snow,
spotted us the leopard, tawny as the Lion,
grizzly as the bear, in circles, in angles. In
stars, in coronets, in stalacites, In staias-
mites. Here and there are petrifed growths,
or the dead trees, and vegetation OF other
ages, kept through process Of natural EN-
balmment. In some places waters as inno-
cent and smiling as child making first at
tempt to walk from its mothers lap and not
far OFF as foaming and frenzied and ungov-
ernable as q maniac in murderous struggle
with his keepers.
But after YOU have wandered along the
geyserite enchantmen5 for days and begin to
feel that there can be nothing more OF IN
terest to see, you suddenly come upon the
peroration of all majesty and grandeur, the
Grand canyon. It is here that it seems to me
and speak it with reverence
seems to 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. Upholster-
ing Of the Lord God Almighty. Best work
Of the Architect of worlds. Sculpturing by
the Infinite. Masonry by an omnipotent
unless you saw it there. Red! You never
saw red unless you saw it there. Violet!
You never saw violet unless you saw it there.
Triumphant banners Of color. In cathe,
dral of basalt. sunrise and sunset married
by the setting Of rainbow ring.
Gothic arches, Corinthian capitals anc
Egyptian basilicas build before human archi.
lecture was born. Huge Notifications 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 before the first earthly crown
was empearled. Thrones on which no one
but the Kirg Of heaven and earth ever sat.
Fount Of waters at which the lesser hills are
baotized while the giant cliffs stand round as
sponsors. For thousands Of years be
fore that scene was unveiled to human
sight, tho elements were busy, and the gey-
sers were hewing away with their hot chlsel.
and glaciers were pounding with their cold
hammers, and hurricanes were cleaving with
their lightning strokes, and hailstones 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 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 of
until could not get my breath, then retreat
ing to less exposed place I looked down
again. Down there is a pillar Of rock that
like pillar Of blood. Yonder are fifty feet
of emerald on base of five hundred feet Of
opal. Wall OF chalk resting on pedestals of
beryl. Turrets of light tuInbling 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
Endling into solferino. Morning twilight
flushing midnight shadows. Auroras crouch
ing among rocks
Yonder is an eagles nest on shaft OF
basalt. Through an eyeglass we see it among
the young eagles, but the stoutest arm Of our
group cannot hurl stone near enough to
disturb the feathered domesticity. Yonder
are heights that would be chilled with hor-
ror 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 por..
phyry. See all this carnage of color up and
down the cliffs; it must have been the bat
tie 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
iascinth, nor the amethyst nor the jasper
nor the twelve gates of twelve pearls, want
ing. If spirits bound from earth to heaven
could pass up byway Of this canyon, the dashot
heavenly beauty would not be so overpower-
ing. Itwould only be from glory to glory.
Ascent through such earthly scenery in
which the crystal is so bright and tho 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 8, for the most part we held our
peace. but after while it flashed npon me
with such power could not help but say to