Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1902-06-01

a Lump a! The T..,:rrni Teila yts In
te-es::,as Million lrnr History II,
= Ecv, ards--l WontIecGul Proc
esa o. E,,a'ssti"a.
Yarr u. - .!iap - - Il .,es....3 10 :
t!o- a1t yJlrS- NJ 1t you lau-e
t3@t n ~ go !.,..,-.-:: >.si..i s. ~. =
:.@ y ui,; l,a: Yea -se.a IN #atsulsA-
mesa. Ono, il ,..ltold ac,.s past lam:
..zfoge ma: D..d APPEARED olt'.is cid
r-r.=.. WIS "iir". :. the dig;y old
.1.@ce ii ,5.l ~, :. !tyiA- 'hin4 IN ths,se
~, t.st"!.' .,ss,'. y thiHE oI beauty.
Leo \ tliiil.s 10 b 3@:.ired. ! VS. a
Ierr Not such a pal. titirz Us yoa
,,aeor3te y3ue' l~..Acs VITA dM" 2ro,T il
ii.tln- t,.i.g.l,i4}:ale aG..tirs. Ny tGA!l
alot.e measured ..Se feet across.
I.tI Was ching out cf tho ordinary.
IN those e-ays tlore Were Many littla
DlaHt5 forty f>et Il so III Ec;-1lt. ~
CRY 1t Of co&l you toss about IL stich
hee&igss fasAisa once Htj.s Il living
plant-a p. ut which grew and tiaur.
ished. even as Your plants OF today
generate GaSs plants t1re poor, feeble
littlc ;A.,lsss. rlants were plants in
those days Vsc had 70 pettod and
pampe.e> fefHs. We had 10 houses Of
glass, agtiIic:aflE kept warm Sc that
the poor little tears shouldn't get cold.
Those Wcfe de Gays of real ferns, Of
healthy ferns free from all neWfan@led
nonsense aHOUt fertilizers and soils and
aspects az sgp4 childish Weaknesses.
IN those e.tFjT days he earth WAS not
as it is tQG&E 1t Was hotter, for it
had cooled t.'on = globe OF molten rock.
It's atmosphere Was heavy with warm
Tapors: clos ara oppressive, YOU woGld
call it, But il Just suited us. as we grey
and luXuriateu u t. The earth's crust
WAS thin ana heaNed about, gradually
raising vast continents from the bed OF
She sea and slowly dragging others
deep into the ocean. 1t was a time of
vast changes.
| grew on the muddy banks Of a great
pool CT water, which was fed by slug
gish streams and bordered by mon
strous reeds. On the other side stretch
ed a vast swamp and dark forest of
tangled vegetation. For hundreds of
miles there was no break to this forest
beyond q few bogs and pools of brackish
water The sun sh0ne hot upon me, so
no wonder grew we'll in this humid
atmosphere. Then there We're frightful
storms. when mighty trees We're flung
down and swept by floods to the bottom
of the pool THIS had gone Oh ages be-
fore | appeared above ground; it Went
on ages after. The result was that the
bottom Of the pool was a mass Of fallen
trees The newly feiled trees pressed
sands of years the water. the mud, the
heat and the pressure turned the
mighty beds Of vegetable matter into
what yoa call coal.
In the dense forest it was somewhat
the same. Trees We're thrown down
by hurricanes; fresh ones grew and fell
victims TO storms. So it went Oh for
long centuries until the last forest grew
on the top of a great thickness of bur
led trees, ferns and MOSES. Amid this
eXuberant vegetation We're inaHy fam
tastic and uncouth animals. Round
about me they made tie forest resound
with their hGeous hel!owiD@s. They
We're 50 strangely shaped chat l could
rot we'll describe thP.l to yen. Even
some CT the iies had wings half a foot
long frCm tip to tip
Cue day ! saw 4 c0ClmCtion in tho
midst CT the lake faE away frem me.
The bed rose Up and beicAed forth
steam aal ashes and molten rock. IN
tie years that followed the fluid rock
rolled Gown the si,,ts of the volcano
into the water below Mighty clouds
Of steam arose. and as the vapor con-
densed it fell upon US as warm rain,
This is Why grew SO we'll and why
the vegetation around NE was SO rank
ly luXuria,lt.
Many years after the land began to
sink Slowly it went down; slowly
the water closed OYER our heads until
all the mighty forests We're deep under
the sea. Thus we stopped for count
less years. and a heavy bed Of sand ac-
cumu!ated above Us. Then. just as
slowly. we arose until we formed Il
vast elevated land. Then came other
forests-trees whose limbs were tam
gled With en0rulous fasto0ns and gar
lands OF strange climbing, plants. Ter
rible thunder>t 0rlns alone broke the ST
lence Of these wooded solitules save
when some mighty fern crashed to the
ground or when the wind tore down
yoI,Do IraychaA; onl hurled them into
the sWar4ps.
SO all went on anew, as OF old. and
the continent sank once more below
the waters of the ocean. taking with it
tie beds of buried verduro. Yet again
it rose, and again it sank. So layer