Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1890-06-27
NO. 26.
WHEN THE EARTH WAS NEW
A SHADY Of Things as They We're NJ the
Very Henfuniuu.

In the burning mass that composed our
earth at first, there existed copper. SULPHUR
and all the other substances that are on and
IN our earth now only all were in gaseous
state. The cold had not yet hardened
| them into solids. They tell us that this col
lection of burning material belonged origi
nally to the sun, and was thrown off from
II IN consequence of a natural law, and
sent 'whirling in space" Do YOU under
stand what that word space" means
This globe Of ours is wrapped up in a huge
cloak, some 40 miles thick, called the az.
mosphere. Beyond this thick envelone
stretches far away that unknown region
called space" What are its boundaries
no one can tell us. Whether il holds other
worlds than ours we can only guess. But
one thing about it is known for certain.
winch Is, that it is very cold. Its tempera.
ture is POO below zero so we have need NJ
our thick, warm atmosphere.
What effect did this intense cold hive
upon the mass of fiery gas, set spinning ont
through its depths Just the same effect
the cold mountain peaks have upon the
vapor OF water. 1t cooled the gases upon
the outside, hardened them and in the
course of time formed thin crust This
was Gods first day of creation, and some
men think it was equal to thousands and
thousands of our years-maybe millions
because this forming Of the crust must
have been slow work First. little patches
OF gas became solid. Then these hoated to-
gether and perhaps succeeded in making
one crust joined all overland a hot. rum
pied crust it was Then the boiling, seeth
ing mass inside broke through and the
work had to be done all over again.
When the vapOr Of water was condensed
hngran 70 Fo1l
struggle. AS quickly as the rain fell on
the hot crust it was changed into vanor
again, and sent up into the air to repeat
its work. What a boiling, steaming. hot
ball this world must have been
During all this time there were terrific
peals of thunder and flashes of lightning.
whenever any liquid is changing into a
vapor, electricity is produced and when so
vast quantity of water is changing into
steam, the intensity aud frequency Of the
lightning must have been immeasurablv
beyond anything we can imagine. If only
we could have been at a safe distance above
this steaming world and looked down upon
It, what sight we should have seen, and
what deatening peals of thunder we should
have heard
Even though the rain was almost imme-
dlateiy changed into vapor, it must have
N"OieN UhS cal vi ) crust little, coming dI-
rectly from the icy realms Of space. And
at last came day when the cold conquered
the heat, and the crust became cool enough
Tor the water to stay down. 1t filed up
all the cracks and crannies, and there was
so much of it that only little bit of the
earth's crust could peep above its surface.
VI our own continent, only narrow strip
OF land, extending from what is Nova SEQ
TIA TO where the Great Lakes were TO be.
and thence westward to the region now
called Alaska, remained above the waters.
In the place now occupied by Europe there
were many little patches, but no land so
extensive as the strip in the Western hem
isphere.
Thick, dark vapors brooded over the
earth and shut out the light of the sun.
And these gloomy vapors, the little pieces
OF dry, hot crust, and the surging. boiling
waters, were the beginnings out of which
God was to make our beautiful world. with
its pure air, its blue sky and snowy clouds.
It's dense woods and fertile fields, its hills
and valleys, its lakes and rivers.
There could have been no life in those
days-neither plant life nor animal life. In
the first place the crust was too hot neither
animal nor plant could live on it, nor in the
waters that touched it, In the second
place, animals and plants cannot live with
out sunlight and no sunlight could pierce
those masses of heavy vapor. r.-"Throuqh
TIE Back ages" in 81. Nicholas