Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1894-09-29
IN FAIR AUSTRALIA.
DR.. TALMAGE IMPRESSED BY ITS
BEAUTY AND GRANDEUR.

DR.. TALMAGE IMPRESSED BY ITS
BEAUTY AND GRANDEUR.
Sydney Harbor. the Magnificent Gate to q
| Wonderful Country-A Beautiful Picture
of the I:re:slsing Day-Swcet Voices of tho
PestofIicc Chimes.
Copyright. Louis Klopsch, is94l
SYDNEY, Aug. Pitched, shaken,
! twisted, flung, sickencd. bruised, dis
J mayed. alarmed. are some of the words
which describe our feelings while cross
ing from New Zealand to Australia. We
heard that the passage was like crossing
the channel at Calais from France to
| England, but that, instead of the hour
and a half, it would be four days and
half. 1t was worse than VIC expected and
worse than usual We had nearly six
days of it. The only alienation of the
! voyage was the captain, who was jolly az
tho time to be jolly, serious at the time
to be serious and deeply religious at all
times. Converted i'll a Presbyterian
church in New Zealand, he has become
q flaming evangel, preaching OH board
his steamer once or twice every Sabbath.
! Our rough sea experience prepared us
| for full appreciation OF one of the
| brightest panoramas of the land and
| sky that ever unrolled lefore mortal vi
sion. Captain Neville said to us, "We
viii soon be in sight OF the Australian
\ coast, and when we ap roach the harbor
of Sydney como up on my bridge, and
/ will point out to You the objects of in
\ terest. "Thanl, you, was our reply
/ to the unusual invitation, for sea cap
tains do not ordinarily like to have
company Oh the steamers bridge. In a
! few moments we climbed to the side of
4 the captain Great walls of rock built
4 by the eternal God reached along the
coast and stopped only wide enough
apart to allow ships to enter aid to keep
4 the boisterous ocean out.
"Yonder. said the captain, ''is the
retreat in the rocks which in tho twi-
\ light deceived the captain of the Dun
can Dunbar to mistake it for 10 harbor
and to aim for it, crash az into destruc-
ton All on board pe-ished save one
man, who was picked up after no had
4 floated down onto the shelving.
] Safely we rode in between the two
\ great brown pillars of Hawk Sbl ry
sandstone, and then began the revela-
4 ton of harbor such as nowhere else in
the wide world is to be found. The
whole scene is an Odyssey, ''Di-
\ vina Commedia,' an Old Testa uient
\ and New Testament of grandeur and
4 loneliness You cannot for a moi aent
d relax your energy of watching without
\ missing something which you cannot
see again. The white palaces of tho
merchant princes of Sydney shine
4 through the foliage of the trees. Dip
ping to the bay are gardens abloom in
\ winter and lawns with an emerald like
unto the fourth layer of the wall of
\ heaven. Tropical plants and tropical
n flowers stand side by side with the
\ growths of more rigorous climates.
; Vineyards and orange groves, ponle-
granates ard guavas and pineapples
H growing in a revelry of luxuriance.
Norfolk p.Aes, palm, Moreton bay fig
and Eucalyptus trees, stretch their scep-
i tiers over the scene Complete bewitch-
\ ment of landscapes STEADY" cried
the captain 10 the man at the wheel.
"Steadyp But no observer can keep
very steady while watching this ever
changing, ever inspiri ig, ever enchaalt-
l ing scene. 'Yonder Is the monastery.
4 Yonder, just coming III sight, is the adj
4 miral's house. Yonder is the universe
\ ty. Yonder arc the houses of parlia-
/ 10 Al
There is tho governors residence. !"
4 Here, sweeping up close to our steamer,
N are launches with excursio lists. Yonder
are sailing boats SO small they suggest
| fiuttering sea gulls While the area OF
the harbor lis said to be nine square
I miles, the water lilc of it. if followed
1 up and down all its inl cts. would be
1000 miles. The ripping waters kiss
the beach, and the beach embraces the
4 bay. At the next turn of our steamers
\ wheel more galI ituro of island and iiar-
\ Dor and inlet and pronontory. Oh,
how the marine loneliness played hide
and seek" amid tho islands! Five
grim batteries pointing their Arm. Etrong
guns at us. but only i'll play ''Yon-
4 der, says the captain, lis y French
steamer, yonder an American and yon-
der an Engishman.
4 Sydney harbor is SO broad and honest
A that no pilot was needed to come on
board Room here for all the navie5 of
the earth to ride i'll and searete them
selves so that they could not be found
\ without much search Room for the
Great Easterns of the past and the
Companies of the present to wheel
without peril. Room to welcome all the
centuries and gen rations and ages
I which are yeS to drop anchor i'll its
clear depths. He only belittles and be-
dwarfs and bemeans Sydney harbor who
4 compares it to the bay of Naples or the
entrance to Rio Janeiro.
God works by no model, and this har-
Dor was of divine origination. He
works with rocks and waters and skies
as easily as architects work with pencil
and rule and compass, and he intended
this harbor not to be a repetition of
anything that had ever been done and
to make it impossible for any human
engineering OF landscape gardening or
hydraulics to initiate. Ii Is winding
splendor, an unfolding glory. a tran
scendent illustration of what omnipo-
tence can do in tho architecture of an
ocean gate.
4 The day we entered it clouds of all
hues were looking down into its mirror;
beauties of all styles were walking its
opaline pavement; grandeurs of all
chariots were rolling across its crystal