St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1895-09-21
ARP AND NATURE,
Watches the Wonderful Growth
of tho Different Vines.
TOUCHES UPON THE SOLAR SYSTEM
Afraid the Moon Will Pay Us A. UnweL
come vIsit-AIuch Pleased With
Visit to Cycloneta.
big heas have smaller ones to bite 'em,
And so proceed ad infiniium.'

> thing etiu smaller, and the only Gmi
is one of vision, rot of fact. The mos
powerful microscope yet made ha
found no limit 10 the infinite smallnes
of animal life. 1t goes on and on an,
, on, past comprehension. These invisi
BILE creatures fill the air, the water. tn
food, the flesh, and make up all snima
, and vegetable life. We eat then
, and breathe them. and it makes no .lif
ference, unless they are Of poisonous
, malignant kind; and then they eat us
!. and we call it yellow fever or choler;
or some kind Of pestilence.
What a wonderful study is nature.
sit in the teranda and watch the vine.
. as they climb the lattice-with wha,
wonderful instinct they put out theil
delicate arms and tendrils to find some
thing to cling to. The morning glories
and madeira vines and cinnamon vine.
twine around the canes, but the gourd
vine will not twine At all. It grow,
straight up, and every few inches send,
out strong little arm or tenGril that
fastens around q cane or = wire and
holds the vine steady. never saw any.
thing to grow as rapidly as this gourl
vine. 1t was late in coming up, but
has already climbed higher than the
other vines. 1t makes foot q day by
measurement.
l wonder how the Creator wrapped
up SO much sense in a tiny seed. What
q condensation of life and beauty there
is in the germ. the embryo of flower
seed-the seed of a carnation pink, for
instance. 1t is a never-ccasing mystery
the mystery of the flowers, the corn.
the cotton, the leaves of the trees. l
was talking to friend about it last
night, and he said he believed that all
plants were conscious of their existence
and enjoyed life. Look at the pines
how they bleed when cut with an axe.
Looh how the scar heals over, just the
same rs on a man when he cuts his fin
ger. Prune it too much, and it dies.
Look at the sensitive plant and see how
it shrinks from the touch. See with
what desire the leaves and flowers of
these vines reach out to the morning
sun. Myriads of flowers are born to
blush unseen; and if they were not con-
scious of their beauty, why should they
be born ut all?
used to think that everything we
| see was created for the use or the pleas
are of man. and that even the stars
were placed in the heavens to please us.
But i don't think SO now. The birds
do not sing for us alone. Even the
sparrow that falls to the ground has
the sympathy of its Creator.
But if man wishes to ponder upon
laH 49,, &4
the extent of the universe. Sir Robert
Ball, of Cambridge. says, in a recent
lecture on the stars. that there is no
;imit to the universe. no outside bound
ary-no space beyond the s,ars-no
space where there are no stars. and he
tries to bring this idea within our reach
by telling us that electricity travels on
the wires 10000 miles in a second and
a message could be sent seven times
around the earth in the tick Of clock.
and to the moon in a second and half
and 10 the sun in eight minutes. but it
would take four years to send a tele-
gram to Alpha Centauri, the star that
is nearest the earth. Over our heads
and visible to the naked eye are stars
SO remote that if when Columbus dis
covered America he had telegrsphed
the news to them the message would
not yet have reached them. But the
telescope at the Lick observatory
has brought stars into view
% utterly distant that If the wise
men who visited the Savior at his birht
had telegraphed the glad tidings to
these stars the message would still be
Ia 80
1000 miles every second and not have
gotten there.
Well. that settles it, don't want to
try to think any farther than that. I'm
sfraid il would strain my mind-like
Gabe said when he refused to shoot at q
squirrel in the top Of a very high pine
said he didn't like to strain his gun.
And now the astronomers declare
that this solar system of ours is a very
limited affair when compared with the
other solar system that the big tel
escope has discovered. That instru-
ment magnities 1000 times and has ac-
tually brought the moon within 24O |
miles of the earth. wish they would |
quit fooling with that moon. First |
thing we know it will get loose from |
Its orbit and come tearing down upon |
the earth and knock hole to the hol-
low and set US all on fire. l don't see |
much use in The moon nohow except to |
tell us when to make soap. kill hogs |
and plant potatoes. They are making
SO much light by electricity now that be
fore long we won't need any moonlight.
But what are we've poor morta&s
who are jumping up and down upon th6
little earth, fighting fussing and guar
relinQ about our rights, property. and
money. Are the angels all up among the
stars and we the only sinners, the pris-
.ners Of hope, confined here as a1sFt
Of Botany Bay-a place OF prohatton
where we may have q chance to repont
and prepare ourselves for another hab-
Itation. even . heavenly. Verify. y Is
.u a mystery-one little planet fail of
,eonle who don't know whence they |,
c.me nor whittier thef are going SID
who can't add day to Aeir ex,stence
They don't know by wIat power they
raise an arm or step ioue forward or
breathe the breath Of Me. but don't
they brao-was there cverso much con-
crited. se.f-satisfied SET % Geatures!
They are carried along IL speee . the
rate Of 60, 900 miles an boor. asd tnrn |
t. sumersauls every day so.eoo mile
high, and sleep half the sime and never
stop 70 think who is it lhst hoids tie
earth in balance and k(eps tssn safe
IN their periicus joarue 'os dcnt
we brag, brag abontl ohseese NeN Il
York and Atlanta and ~ sn.n& ws !
do, just like we made ie snc
were driving it around tie - Win a
pair Of lines and poppia1 ~ = "e T
go. !;
Was there ever such re- 80 As'
surance?
But there il another q = s1ls Pic. /,
ture. The people are Ddg .na
bragRarts. There are soa 80 1oer Il!
On the.e th;no. and humbls te0aelvea 4
under the mighty hasd q - cEslsot.
And Revelation tells a Ars
u vssy Rssst eQasaeeq
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