Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1898-11-02
SERMONS OF THE DAY

OlIllWUNO VI I'LL Uni
Subject. "Across the Continent''-Spiritua'
Thoughts Suggested While Viewing
Scenes of Majesty and Grandeur
Wrought by the Hand of God.
TEXTS: STREAMS in the esert.'-Isaiaf
xxxv., 6. "He toucheth the hills and they
smoke."-Psalms CIV, 80.
NV first text means irrigation. 1t meant
the waters OF the HimaIaya, or ths Pyre'
nees, or the Sierra Nevadas poured through
canals and aqueducts for the fertilization
of the valleys. 1t means the process BY
which the last mile of American barrenness
will be made an apple orchard, or an orange
grove, or a wheat field. or a cotton planta.
tion, or a ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In the desert ,
My second text means q volcano like Vesu-
wins or Cotopaxi. or it means the geysers
OF iri,ovSslone Park or of California. You
sec "a hal cain and still, and for ages i'm.
mc yap.c, Lut the Lord out of the heavens
puts His finger on the top oft, and from il
rise thick and impressive vapors: HE
toucheth the hills and they smoke!'
Although my journey across the conti-
nent this summer was for the eighth time,
more and more am l impressed with the
divine hand in its construction, and with
its greatness and grandeur, and more and
more am l thrilled with the fact that 1t Is
all to be irrigated, glorified and Edenized.
What a change from the time when Daniel
Webster on yonder Captoline Hill said to
the American Senate in regard to the centre
OF this co0tinent, and to the regions on the
Pacific Coast: "What do you want with
this vast, worthless area, this region OF
savages and wild beasts, of deserts and
cactus, OF shifting sands and prairie dogs?
To what use could we ever put these great
deserts or these great mountains, fmpene-
trable and covered with eternal snow?
What can we ever hope to do with the
Western coast, rock-bound, cheerless and
urinviting, and not a harbor on 1t? 1 will
never vote one cent from the pu bile treasury
to place the Pacific coast one inch nearer
Boston than 1t now is" What a mistake
the great statesman made when he said
thatl All who have crossed the continent
realize that the States on the Pacific Ocean
will have quite as grand opportunities as
the States on the Atlantic, aud all this
realm from sea to sea to be the Lords cul-
tivated possession.
Do you know what. in some respects, is
the most remarkable thing between the
Atlantic and Pacific? 1t is the figure OF
a cross on u mountain in Colorado. 1t l.
called the "Mount of the Holy Cross
A horizontal crevce filled with perpetual
snow, and a perpen 1icular crevice. filled
with snow but both the horizontal line
bold, 50 significant, so unmistakable, that
all who pass in the daytime within many
miles are compelled to see 1t. There are
some figures, some contours, some noun
tain appearances that you gradually make
out after your attention is called to them.
SO mans face on the rocks in the White
Mountains. So n maiden's form cut In
the granite of the Adirondacks. SO city
in the moving clouds. Yet you have to
look under the pointing of your friend or
guide for some time before you can see
the similarity. But the first Instant you
glance at this side of the mountain in
Colorado, you cry out: "a cross! A
cross!' Do you say that this geological In.
scription just happens so? MOI That cross
on the Colorado mountain is not n human
| device, accident of nature, or the
freak of an earthquake. The hand Of God
cut it there and set it up for the nation
to look at. Whether set up in rock be.
| fore the cross of wood was set up on the
| bluff back of Jerusalem, or set up Mt some
| time since that assassination, 1 believe
| the Creator meant 1t to suggest the mos
notable event in all the history of thi:
planet, and He hung it there over tn.
heart of this continent to indicate that
the only hope for this nation is in til,
Cross on which our ImmaHuel died. The
clouds were vocal at our Saviour's birth
the rocks rent ut His martyrdom, why not
the walls of Colorado bear the record o
the Cruciflxion?
supposed in my boyhood, from its size
on the map, that California WAS Il few
yards across, a ridge of land on which
one must walk cautiously lest he hit his
head against the Sierra Nevada on one side
or slip off into the Pacific waters on tn.
other-California, the thin slice of land, as
supposed it to be in my boyhood, have
found to be larger than all the States oi
New England and all New York State and
all Pennsylvania added together: and Il
you add them together their square miles
fall far short of California. And then al
those newborn States of the Union, North
and South Dakota, Washington, Montana
Idaho and Wyoming. Each State an en-
pire in size.
But" says one, sin calculating the i'm.
mensity of our continental acreage you
must rene nber that vast reaches of ouI
public domain are uncultivated heaps oi
dry sand, and the Bad Lands of Montana
and the Great American Desert" 1 am
glad you mentioned that. Within twenty
five years there will not be between the
Atlantic and Pacific coasts IA hundred miles
of land not reclaimed either by farmers
plough or miners crowbar. By irrigation
the waters OF the rivers and the showers OF
heaven, in what are called the rainy sea-
son. will be gathered into great reservoirs,
and through aqueducts let down where and
when the people want them. Utah is an
object lesson. Some parts OF that Terri
tory which were so barren that a spear oi
grass could not have been raised there in a
hundred years, are now rich as Lancaster
County farms of Pennsylvania, or West
chester farms of New York, or Somerset
County farms of New Jersey. Experiments
have proved that ten acres of ground irri
gated from waters gathered in great hydro
logical basins will produce as much rs fifty
acres from the downpour of rain as seen il
our regions. We have our freshets and oui
droughts but in those lands which ARE t.
be scientifically irrigated there will b,
neither freshets nor droughts. As you tax,
| pitcher and get it full of water, and then
set it on table and take IA drink ont OF il
when you are thirsty and never think o
+ drinking pitcherfui all at once, so Mon
| tana, and Wyoming and Idaho will catch
| the rains of their rainy season aud tako NJ
all the waters of their rivers in grea
| pitchers of reservoirs, and refresh theil
| land whenever they will.
But the most wonderful part OF this Amer
| lean continent is the Yellowstone Park. Ny
| two visit there made upon me an impress
! sion that will last forever. Go in by tn,
| Moneida route as we did this summer anG
| save $50 miles of railroadin your stage
coach taking you through day of scener,
| as captivating and sublime rs the Yellow
| stone Park itself. After all poetry has ex
| hausted itself concerning Yellowstone Parl,
| and all the Morans and Bierstalts aud th'
other enchanting artists have completed
| their canvas, there will be other relation:
TO make, ana other stories OF itS peauty aht
wrath. splendor and agony, to be recited
| The Yellowstone Park is the geologist'.
paradise. By cheapening of travel may Il
become the nations Playground In some
| portions of 1t there seems to be the anarch!
| of the elements. Fire and water, and th
| vapor born of that marriage, terrific. Gey
ser cones or hills OF crystal that have beel
| over five thousand years growingl II
| places the earth throbbinS, sobbing ,groau
ing, quaking with aqueous paroxysn. A
! the expiration of every sixty-iive minute
/ one of the geysers tossing its boiling wate
| 1S5 feet in the air and then descending int
| swinging rainbows. He toucheth tb
hills and they smoke" Caverns of picture
walls large enough for the sapulchre O