The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1897-07-28

material, and make me extend my
hand or my foot or close my eyes and
open my mouth, L might boast Of a
little knowledge but as it is, the rails
ing of my arm or the writing with this
| pen is a greater miracle than Jonah
| living three days in the whales belly.
Every seed that terminates and makes
a flower is a miracle to me-. Some
| times I wonder if I had a glass that
would magnify a million times could /
see the embryo oak in a little acorn ;
could I see the orange tree in the seed
] of the fruit. All nature is full of
miracles. Winding up the canes in
front of my veranda are madeira vines
that climb one way and hop vines that
climb the other way and jasmine vines
that climb both ways. Every plant
| has its own laws, and they are I'M
| changeable. Just 80 with the beasts
and birds and insects, and I almost,
envy them in their happy ignorance
| of death and a future state. Hun
| dreds of katydids are singing in the
grove while I write. The males are
making music for their unmusical
mates. They will sing on and be
happy for three months and die. The
form and structure Of their little bod
les. is a miracle, for the utmost in
genuity of ,man could not make.one.
The two little drums that every cicada
carries for sounding boards and the
tiny frets on their wings that scrape
each other with ~inconceivable rapiditY
makes a musical note that can be
heard half a mile on a still and quiet
night. And then their sense Of hear
ing is so wonderfully acute For
what child has not tiptoed to the tree
and touched it ever so gently and
closed the orchestra. DR.. Holmes
calls the katydids "this testy little
dogmatist," for they never tire Of
saying "katy did" and "katy didn't
But about this improved man and
woman that these skeptics would make
if they could. Sometimes a man does
fall owe a w%heelbarrow in the night
and bruise his shins, and I remember
we'll how many hard licks we boys got
when we played shiny at the old
schoolhouse on top Of the hill, but
the sores got we'll and no bones were
broken. If the calf war in front the
bruise would be as bad and it would
make a mans pants bag at the calf
instead of the knee, and a woman's
calf when riding a bike would look
awful. About that third eye in the
back Of the head, it would very much
interfere with our sleeping position
and give no room for a woman's back
hair and utterly paralyze her devo-
,tions in church. If we are to have a
third eye the optical nerves and mus
Giles should be SO arranged that when
the two. in front are open the one in
the rear should be shut, and vice
versa. But this third eye would Of
course necessitate a larger cerebellum
to hold the machinery, and that would
give a man the big head. AS to o
double-jointed elbow for scratching
purposes, I've no particular objec-
tions, though on a pinch a man can
do like Sidney Smiths pips: he a
rub up against a post or the edge Of a
door and get relief. AS to that Man
chausen business Of summing and
swimming and flying, it is folly to
discuss. Man has no need of such
powers, and if he had four legs like q
horse and fms like a fish and wings
like a bird he wouldn't be q man, but
a sort of q%uadruplex amphibious aero
lie, too smart for this world and not
good enough for the next.
Good gracious !! what world OF new
theories about man and the creation
these modern thinkers have got up.
They can't fool the old folks, but [
fear they do demoralize some of the
young. Young man, stop and think
before you desert the faith of the
fathers. It is safe to say that such
great and good men as Calvin and
Luther and Knox and Westley and
Whitfield and Sir Isaac Newton and
Addison and Pope and hundreds Of
others who lived and died in the faith
we're not mistaken. Wait until these
agnostics and skeptics all agree on a
religion that will give comfort in adj
versity and peace in the hour and arti-
Gle Of death. No, don't wait, for they
have had time, enough and offered
nothing. BILL ARP.