Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1891-10-28

SET IN spread out in another layer. An
the indirect influences Of our lives are
spread out in another layer. Then the
time soon comes when NO put down
the implement Of toll and pass away.
but the pyramid standa The twcn-
ticth century will not rock IL down.
nor the thirtieth century nor the one
hundredth century. Tho earthquake
that rocks this world to pieces will noe
stop our influence for good ar evil You
mod, silly say THAT il true In regard -
the great workers for good or evil. and
= gigantic genirscs, Miltonian or Tai
leyrandian. but not OF me. for liv~ and
work ON n small scale"
My hearers. remember that those
who built the pyramids were common
worlsmen. Not one OF them could life
those great stones II took dozen Of
them To lift one stone, and others just
welded a trowel, clicking il on the hard
edge. or smoothing the mortar between
the layers. One hundred thousand men
toiled on those sublime elevations. II
one of those granite blocks that jnst
touch with my feet on this December
morning in 1889. rs tho two Arabs pull
me and the two other Arabs push me.
could speak out and tell it's history it
would say: THE place OF my nativity
was down in the great stone quarry of
Mokattam or Assawan. Then they be-
gan TO bore at my sides, and
then to drive down great iron
wedges, crushing against me till the
whole quarry quaked and Numbered.
then l was pricd out with crow-bars
and.levcrs scores of men putting their
weight on the leverage. Then chains
were put around me and was hoistea
with wheels that groaned under the
weight. and many worl<mcn had their
hands on the cranks and turned until
their muscles on their arms stood out
in ridges and the sweat rolled from
their duslSy forehcads. Then 1 was
drawn by long teams of oxen. yoke af-
ter yoke, yoke after yoke. Then was
put on an inclined plane and hauled
upward, and how many iron tools and
how many beasts of burden were en-
ploycd to get me TO this place no ono
can tell. Then ! had 10 be measured,
and squared and comprised. and fitted
in before / was left here to do my ST.
lent work OF thousands of years God
only knows how many hands were
busted in getting me from my geologi-
cnl cradle in tho quarry TO this en-
thronement OF innumcrnblc ages" NV
hearers, that is the autobiography OF one
block of the pyramid. Cheops didn't
build the pyramid Some boss mason
in the worlds twilight didn't build the
pyramid. One hundred thousand men
built 1t and perhaps from first TO last
two hundred thousand men. SO with
the pyramids now rising, pyramids Of
evil or pyramids OF good The pyramid
of drunkenness rising ever since the
time when Noah got drunk on wine,
although there was Mt his time such n
superabundance of water. All the sa-
loonists of the ages adding their layers
OF ale casks and wine pitchers and rum
jugs until the pyramid overshadows the
great Sahara desert of desolated homes,
and broken hearts, and destroyed etcrn-
tiles And as the pyramid still
rises, layers of human skulls piled
on top of human skulls and
other mountains OF human bones
to whiten the peaks reaching into
the heavens, hundreds of thousands
of people are building TINT pyramid
So with the pyramid OF righteousness.
Multitudes of hands arc toiling on the
steps-hands infantile, hands octoge-
marian, masculine hands, female hands,
strong hands, weak hands Some clang-
ing trowel. some pulling q rope, some
measuring the sides. Layers of psalm
books on top of layers of sermons.
Layers of prayers on top of layers of
holy sacrifice. And hundreds OF thou
sands coming down 20 sleep their last
sleep, but other hundreds of thousands
going up To take their places, and the
~ rnido xx,.ll
the millennial morning gilds the com
pleted works. and the toilers on these
heights shall take of their aprons and
throw down their trowels, crying, at
is finished"
Further, carrying ont the idea of my
text the pyramid is n sign aud wit
ness that big tombstones are not thu
best way OF keeping ones self affection.
ately remembered This pyramid and
the sixty-nine. other pyramids still
standing were built for sepulchers, all
this great pile of granite and limestone
by which we stand to-day, to cover the
memory of n dead king. 1t was the
great Westminster Abbey Of the an
clients. Some say that Chcops was the
king who built this pyramid, but 10 is
uncertain. Who was Chcops, anyhow?
All that the world knows about him
could be told in few sentences. The
only thing certain is that he was bad
and that he shut up the temples of
worship and that he was hated so tina,
the Egyptians were glad when he was
dead. This pyramid of rock seven hun
dred and forty feet each side of the
square base and four hundred and fifty
feet high wins for him no respect If n
bone of his arm or foot had been found
in the sarcophagus beneath the pyramid
II would have excited no more venera.
ton than the skeleton Of n camel
bleaching on the Libyan desert; yea.
less generation. for when saw the car
cass of a camel by the roadside on the
way To Memphis, said TO myself:
Poor thing, / wonder Of what Il
died"
We say nothing against the marble
or the bronze of the metropolis Let
all that sculpture and forescence and
nrborescence can do for Abe places of
the dead be done. IL means will allow
Il. But II after one is dead there is
nothing left 20 remind the world of him
but some pieces OF stone, there is but