Waterbury evening Democrat., 1895-03-06
MELTING LIKE WAX.
ALL MOUNTAINS WILL VANISH IN THE
 COURSE OF TIME.

Notable Elevations That Are Slowly Crum-
 bling and Becoming smaller-Awful Ca-
 tAstrophe That BefeII the Village of Elm.
 Process of Change.
 A French professor told the recent scientific congress in Rome that "all mountains will vanish off the face of tho earth in course of time" We do not doubt it, for it is divinely foretold that the earth itself will disappear at the end of time. However, the Frenchman's prophecy is already in course of realiza- tion, The Ardennes, tho Pyrenees and tho mountains of Provence nro going to peioes by degrees in our own age. Tho mighty Himalayas, as if weary of ''rear ing their forms sublime" through so many generations, nodded their heads in one place two years ago and hurled into the valleys below a mass of debris which was estimated at 500, 900, 900 tons. The largest locomotive on the fast trains of the Hudson River railway weighs only 62 tons. That Asiatio mountain slide, therefore, caused an ava lanche equivalent to the tumble of about 13, 900, 900 such locomotives off bridge 10000 feet high. Little wonder that ''the> noise was terrific" and that "the natives were frightened. Masses of rock were hurled O mile away, and ''many blocks of dolomitic limestone, weighing from 80 to 50 tons, were sent like cannon balls through the air. "
 In 1881, in the Alps, there was an immense hill fall, caused by its human undermining in order to obtain slate for school use. The mining began in 1868. In 1876 the Plattenberkoph split across its crown, and after progressive enlarge ments for years, which caused comment and forebodings, it fell in the year named. This catastrophe preoipitated about I2, 900, o00 cubic yards of rock 1,475 feet downward into the valley. Tho debris ricochettod across the valley and rolled S25 feet Cp the opposite slope, where it was cantcd over sideways, and then poured like liquid over horizon tai plane of about 9, 700, 900 square feet and to depth of from 35 to 70 feet,
 One-half of the village of Elm was overwhelmed, and it was so swiftly cleft by the resistlesS mass that the lino was sharply defined, and one house was cut in two. One hundred and fifteen people were buried. One homo was left on the very verge, of which the doors were open, the fire burned, the table was set, tho coffee was hot, but no iv- ing soul was left The head of the household was saved, but his entire fam fly, who were out looking at the moun- tain fall, wero lost. The debris damned up n river, for which a channel was blasted afresh. New soil was carried in- to the valley, and spread over the ruins whero harvests now smile again, and the people go about their work as if there were no such thing as an ava lanche in this humbling and crumbling | world.
 The process of change in earth levels in all lands is illustrated in your un- paved back yard or village street after heavy rains Each tiny rivulet no larger than your little finger has its floods, its narrower limits where it runs in its square foot of harder soil. and is there- by pinched sideways, its sudden shallow ing and widening where the soil is soft CT, and the panic stricken ants or be- draggled beetles arc caught in their miniature world and routed as men are on a larger scale. Ten feet square of back yard may illustrate the succession | of events which mako seas shallower and mountains lower. Tho surcharged warm cloud gets chill as it caresses the \ head of some dignified peak, the sudden condensation upsets the shower out of | the atmosphere's myriad cell buckets, and the torrent rushes down the breasts l and limbs of the mountains so swiftly | that the surprised soil catches the spirit | of panic and forgets to obey gravitation until it finds itself at sea and almost out | of sight of shore. That transfer of earth leaves the hills thinner and deposits that which makes the river or bay or sea somewhat less deep. People live in the lowlands near their grain and fruits
 and these thrive on the alluvium wash ed down by torrents and flood. That theft of matter makes the mountains bareheaded and puts tho valley under obligation to the storms which feed the crops with plant nutriment stolen from above. Like man, the harvests lift their eyes to the hills, whence their help comes. The mountains arc being carried into tho sea, and man demands tribute as they pass.
 Tho forces of nature and tho elements in battle, like tho gospel, arc Jewellers. They bring down the mighty and lift up the lowly. One of these days the earth must be reSurveyed. Tho aspirations of the hills will have been reduced; the depths of the rivers, bays and ocaans will be less. Men who journey by water may return to the plans and proportions that best suited those who built the ark,
 and they may sec that Noah knew some
 thing about shipbailding, notwitbstand-
 ing our Americans, Auranias and Cam
 panias. David may have had thought of all this when he said, ''The hills
 melted like wax at the presence of the
 Lord" Isaiah wrote, "The mountains
 flowed down at thy presence. Ezekiel
 said. "The mountain shall be thrown
 down, and the steep places shall fall. ''
 If those Alpine dwellers at Elm read
 their Bibles, they must have thought oi
 these passages after they recovered from
 their surprise. se.-Northwestern Christian | Advocate.