Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-03-22
MOUNTAINS AND MEN
Lecture by A. r. Spoford, Assistant
Librarian of Congress.
DISCUSSION OF THE EARFH'S CRUST
The Moving Cloud Shadows Cast
Upon the Earth.
SECRET OF ETE r n T Y

Il L
Mr.. Ainsworth r. Spoford chief assist
ant librarian of Congress, delivered lee
ture on the subject of Mountains and
Men at the Columbian University yester-
day afternoon. The lecture was the third
of a public course of six, the first of which
was given by Prof. Gore March 7, on
within the Arctic Circle and the last
of which will be by Prof. Wilbur April IL.
on THE Wandering Spirit in the Books OF
Robert Louis Stevenson" The next lee
ture of the series will be AN Ancient Hall
of Records Unearthed," by Prof. Pollard,
March %.
an audience which comfortably filled Uni
versity Hall. In introducing his theme
he said that to speak OF mountains as
distinct from men was no part of his de-
sign The discussion of the organic struc-
ture of mountains, of the more or less
solid elements that compose them and of
the many conflicting theories as to their
origin he would leave, he said, to the pro-
ficients in the study of geographic science
The Earth's Crust.
THAT which we call the earth's crust
said Mr. Spofford, "a homely term borrow
ed from the outer surface of the loaf OF
bread that nourishes human life has he
come the immemorial habitation of man.
Its hollows and it's hills, it's rolling seas
and it's lofty mountains, it's vast prairies
and it's flowing rivers present an ever
changing scenery of literally endless va
riety. OF these physical characteristics OF
our globe mountains unquestionably con-
stitute the most prominent and command
ing feature. In whatever land they rear
their imposing forms they fix the atten-
ton and dominate the landscape. Their
impression on the mind, as well as on the
visual organs, begins with the earliest
childhood and does not cease until death
wells the scenes of this world from the
closing eye. The reflex influence of moUE-
tains is exhibited in countless forms OF
stateliness and of beauty which rank
among the most impressive of the monu-
ments of man. To build structure That
would reach the heavens was the dream
of the men who Joined in the colstruc-
ton of the biblical Tower of Babel. The
sovereigns of that land of wonders, Egypt
erected at incalculable cost OF time ana
money and human toll those immense an
cient monuments of mans pride and
strength-the pyramids Medieval men,
inspired by the soaring and sky-plerclns
outlines of mountain peaks, invented that
pointed architecture known as Gothic, with
It's lofty spires soaring heavenward, whose
purposed tendency is to elevate mans
thoughts above himself and his surround
ings and to suggest things superhuInan
Review of Mythology.
Mr. Spofford reviewed several chapters Of
mythology, pointing out that in ancient
times mountains were considered the only
worthy dwelling places of the gods. 1.-The
Hebrew race" he said, rejecting with dis
dain the polytheism of other nations, en-
throned their one God In an invisible
heaven, but emphasized his revelations by
bringing them down to men upon the tops
OF mountains. Elijah gathered all Israel
together on the top of Mount Carmel; Aa-
ron died the summit of Mount Hor;
Moses sInote the rock on Mount HOrab and
the waters gushed out; the ark of Noahr
when the flood abated rested upon the
mountains of Ararat, and Jehovah gave the
tables of the law to Moses amidst the thun-
ders of Mount Sinai. The capital city of
the Holy Land is celebrated by the noun
tains that are round about Jerusalem
The speaker told of the part played by
mountains in the political and military his
tory of the world and of the vast wealth
contributed by them to agriculture. Mr..
Spoford, continuing, said
THE profoundest results of our science
hitherto achieved and stored away In
books, are trifiing when compared with the
boundless depths OF our ignorance. We
know only very imperfectly what we are;
we are utterly unaware of what we have
been, and of what We may be; our igno-
rance is equally profound. Man has never
learned, is only just beginning to learn,
the pregnant lesson that is taught by
ture in constructive art We build all our
houses and public edifices in squares or
parallelograms; we lay out all our streets
at right angles, while in all nature We can
find no hint nor suggestion of a square.
Every hill or mountain summit is round;
every cloud and drop of dew rain, and
stone and tree, and leaf and flower, and
fruit and nut, and grain and blade of
grass and beast and bird and fish and
part and particle of man, and grain of dust
Is curvilinear In form.
Institutes a Companion.
Look at any arch and compare 1t with
square doorway; look at any noble white
marble editice erected for public uses and
reflect how much more beautiful it would
be If all its windows were arched instead
of degraded into squares. Look at the
mountains and then consider what a fear
ful abortion would have come of it had
man been the designer and the melancholy
result had been a rectangular universe
The mountains open to man a school of
art in which all contrasts of light and
shade and varying tints of color and va
riety of form are exhibited to the obsery-
ant eye. Nowhere else are those moving
cloud-shadows that are cast upon the
earth as the sun sweeps over his daily
course half so impressive as in the noun
tains. The colors that adorn the earth and
sky most peculiarly before dawn and after
sunset appear finest and linger longest in
the mountains"
In discussing mountaineers Mr. Spofford
said. Mountain men are by no means of
on type. You find among them quick in
telhgence and Boeotian Ignorance; over
flowing kindliness and downright brutality:
charming hospitality and stolid indiffer.
ence; the most humane and the most in
human of men. The mass of them are in
dustrious and Conscientious singularly hon.
est, brave and simple, but with no end of
superstition. The effect of mountain uf,,
and scenery upon men has been much de-