The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1899-04-05
StQfl0 n Nocks.

~OAa"~~sSN Will TIC past VI tie future.
Yet, as we all know at the end OF
moments thought, history. ages and even
tradition are as yesterday beside the won
derful stories. OF gone ages, told us, al
most in words. by those simple, dumb,
and silent rocks.
1t needs but the key-a very simple
key, but one which must be kept ever
bright and rustless, to open to us this best
library, OF which each tiny fragment
which we crush or kick aside, as we walk,
is mighty volume. eloquent with won
drous tales of the long past, the more
enticing that they are till now untold.
Let us pick up at random some little
fragment of rock and see what it has 10
tell It's.
will interpret for the stone. for
amongst, the uninitiated, it is a book
which may not be read as one runs al
though almost any one may think out a
part of the story in time, by the use of
eyes and logic.
We are in the hills of Massachusetts,,
perhaps; then very likely we shall first
pick up fragment of granite Look at it
closely, and you will see that it is not a
solid, independent. rock after all but only
a number of tiny stones of various kinds,
sometimes of measurable size, but more
often very, very small.
Presently. after looking yet a little
more closely. you will see that these tiny
stones are of just three kinds, first one
may notice long, smooth faced, sharply
defined crystals OF pale flesh color, or
dull white. which one can scratch with
the point of knife, Git must be good
knife to do it thought that is felspar,
which forms great part OF the bulk of
most granite. Then there is mica; every
one knows mica in its more familiar form
glowing dull red, at the stove front in
winter. and now here it is in the granite.
lying in bright glistening layers which
may easily be split up into thin transpar
ent plates. And in this mica one may
sometimes find little garnets, red, glisten-
ing. and beautiful, when cut, Tut now
dull. uninteresting crystals OF uniform
shape, and almost black to the eye Then
there is the third constituent. quartz.
very hard, clear, glossy substance which
will turn the point of the very best OF
knives. without so much as scratch to
show for it.
Now listen to what the granite tells us
OF itself Long, long ago. it says,
when the earth was but glowing ball
of matter, and the heavens but scalding
mass of vapors, the material which now
forms my hard mass, foated amid the
chaos, in a seeming gaseous state-this
was very. very long ago, thousands OF
thousands of years. before the very first
man trod the earth. By and by, when
this great molten mass began to cool
somewhat and become solid these gases
deposited in the form of little crystals.
after the manner of things chemical,
formable, and each had its own peculiar
form. and its own especial angles and
faces. Three classes Of these crystals had
an affinity for one another, and deposited
in groups. they were feldspar, mica and
quartz and they formed granite Then as
the great world grew older, other rocks
of lesser age formed above, as. some
come in the form of lava. or other melted
stone.
Look at dusty piece OF coal all aglow
in the fire Think how it waved mil
lions of years ago, portion of some
great feathery tree Tern, portion OF one
in forest of many thousand.
Close your eyes and let us fancy for a
moment that we have been set down un-
willingly in the midst of one OF these
vast woods.
We are standing in water,-warm ratf-
er than cold, which reaches perhaps to
our boot tops, the ground is springy and
unsteady. it seems to tremble at every
step, as one finds it doing now and then
in some wooded swamps
Verdure is everywhere. below our feet
we crush it, in the shape OF moss The
great fern trees are set SO closely that we
can scarcely proceed. their softly feather
ed branches wave to and fro in the gen.
tie summer breezes, and the air is heavy
with sweet perfumes. The atmosphere is
not clear. but misty, and although it is
warm. there is no sunshine, save perhaps
here and there a faint ray. gentle twi
light pervades everything, and makes the
beautiful scene doubly so.
From every side our ear is sa1uted by
the low sweet murnuring of the multi
tudinous insect world. which hutters
around rs in all directions, glittering
array Of silver. and green, and gold. AS
we are lost in the contemplation of all
these beautiful and wonderful things, we
hear the flutter OF wings and looking
quickly up see a great winged snake,
speeding on its hasty way among the tree
tops: and as we cast our eyes to earth
again. huge scaly back. and head rises
from neighboring pool and eyes us
hungrily Come. it is time to be going
And such were the vast coal forests OF
ancient times. and such are the stories
which the rocks have to tell US if we will
but help them do it. Geology surely is