The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1896-04-03

tremity, for man was impotent and
science vain. Science! Was it not the
very life-blood of that red devil yonder,
crawling on with unquenchable torch to
make molten ruin of the world? And
that believed not in God, also prayed
to God, and wept and prayed again.
In the midst of my crying / felt
body, OF my almost dying friend. Dy-
ing he surely was; yet, even then his
iron Will-hardcned by scientific train.
ing and ordcals such as ordinary men
never dream Of--so triumphed that, de-
spite the intolerablc suffering that dazed
and blinded him, he had dragged himself
down the rough gorge to see the end.
And the end was near. Already that
distant tongue of vibrant flame was
hlckerlng at the margin of the sea. 1t
was more than human nerves could
bear. We shriekcd out like men in
nightmare terror. We shreked, and
shricked again, and could not cease for
the end of the world was now.
The cnvenomcd spume darted out
against the surf Then long white
crested wave rolled in and buried it
from view. A tall column Of steam
shot up, 50 ruddy that ut first it seemed
the air, as when a white-hot steel IL
qucnched in the ice-bath.
The professor sprang to his feet. He
stood lifted upon his toes, every muscle
tense; his breath came and went in
shrill signs. Dishgurcd, naked, in that
weird light, he was like n deyil-hunted
soul fleeing from it's place of torment;
OH his face wild agony Of hope, as ii
one might indeed escape from hell. He
like an INSTRUCTED brook. Then with
supreme cndeavor he trumpcted cry:
THE SALT if heard Alright, for in
deed it was hardly urticulatc, and he
fell like figure of stone.
Meanwhile, as the wave receded on
the beach Il change was visible. The
red had vanished; wash of luminous
green flowed down the sand; the surf
was shot with sparkies and flashes of
waters of the stream again prevailed,
and pressed far out i'll the brine. Gushes
of colored light dubbed up from the
depths. and all over the tossing surface
tluttered flames Of blue and green. 1t
seemed as if the briny waters and the
fresh were struggling for the mastery.
Was it possible that the salt Of the sea
had powcr-l dared not think it,
The waters were now boiling with
thick with rolling clouds of rainbow
tinted vapor: the many-hued CLEANS and
flashes playing under the waves lit up
the bottom of the ocean far and near.
So intense was the illunina ton that
could see the scaly glitter of the fright
ened fishes as they sped away on every
side, and the black Shiny shapes of
namelcss monsters struggling in the
scalding liquid.
0 God of mercy! what would be the
end? The strain was madness; the
suspense was moro than death. Was
there indeed God of power to save
or only this hideous demon of science,
which, man had evoked but might not
qucll?
lifted my eyes to the black. unun-
swcring heavens, and cried to the void
above.
30 God-if Thou art God-oh. cast
me down for my sin. with this raging
fire. into the abyss Of hell: but save the
fair world created by Thy bandits
teeming cities and the millions that are
slceoing-Thy children.'
And at that moment I seemed to see
all the people of the earth buried in
slumber, the bride in the arms of her
loved one, the mother beside her babe,