Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1890-04-21
The Very Beginning

In the burning mass that composed
our earth at first, there existed cop
per, sulphur, and all the other sub
stances that are on and IN our earth
now, only all were in a gaseous state.
The cold had not yet hardened them
into solids. They tell US that this
collection of burning material belong
ed originally to the sun, and was
thrown off from it in consequence of
a natural law, and sent "whirling in
space Do YOU understand what
that word "space' means? This globe
of ours is wrapped up in huge cloak,
some forty miles thick, called the at
mosphere. Beyond this envelope
stretches far away that unknown re-
gion called "space'. What are it's
boundaries, no one can tell us.
Whether it holds other worlds than
ours we can only guess. But one
thing about it is known for certain,
which is, that it is very cold. Its
temperature is two hundred degrees
below zero; so we have need of our
thick, warm atmosphere.
What effect did this intense cold
have upon the mass of fiery gas, sent
spinning out through its depths? Just
the same effect that the cold noun
tain peaks have 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 yedrs-maybe
millions-because this forming crust
must have been slow work. FIRST,
little patches of gas became solid.
Then these foated together and per-
haps succeeded in making one crust
joined all Overland hot, rumpled
crust it was Then the boiling, seeth-
ing mass inside broke through, and
the work had to be done all over a.
gain.
When the vapor of water was con-
densed, rain began to fall.
Then came another struggle. AS
quickly as the rain fell on the hot
crust, it changed into vapor again,
and sent up into the air to repeat its
work. What boiling, steaming, hot
ball this world must have been
During all this time there were ter
rifle peals of thunder and flashes of
lightning. Whenever any liquid is
changing into vapor, electricity is
produced and when so vast a guam
tity of water was changing into steam,
the intensity and frequency of the
lightning must have been immeasur-
ably beyond anything we can imagine.
If only we could have been at
safe distance above this steaming
world and looked down upon it, what
a sight we should have seen, and
what deafening peals of thunder we
should have heard
Even though the rain was almost
Immediately changed into vapor, it |
must have cooled the earth's crust a
little, coming directly from the icy
realms of space. And at last came a
day when the cold conquered the heat
and the crust became cool enough for |
the water to stay down. 1t filled 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. OF our own continent,
only a narrow strip of land, extend |
ing from what is now Nova Scotia .
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 occu-
pied by Europe, there were many lit
tie patches, but no land so extensive
as the strip in the Western Hemis-
phere.
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, its dense woods and fertile
fields, its hills and valleys, it's lakes
and rivers.
There could have been no life in
those days-neither plant life nor an
lmal 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 can not live with
out sunlight; and, no sunlight could
pierce those masses of heavey vapor.
The PULPIT AND THE STAGE.-Rev. F. NJ Shrout,
Pastor United Brethren Church. Blue Mound, Kan,
says: 81 feel it my duty to tell what wonders DIR.
Kings New Discovery hiss done for me. My lungs
were badly diseased, and my Pensioners thought
I could live only few weeks. L took five bottles
of DR.. Kings New Discovery and am sound and
well, gaining &c lbs in weight"
Moon Myths.
In southern seas sailors warn in