Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1902-06-28
BOTTLED SUNSHINE.
NATURES GREAT FACTORY IN WHICH
is PRODUCED COAL.

~ -
thousand years. | will let you know
that in my time have seen such sights
as would make you gasp in aStonish
ment. Once, in untold ages past, long
before man had appeared on this old
world, was alive Yes. the dirty old
piece of coal wasa living thing in those
dim, distant ages. A thing Of beauty
too-a thing to be admired. | was q
fern. Not such a paltry thing as you
decorate your homes with and grow In
little earthenware affairs My trunl.
alone measured five feet across.
Yet was nothing out Of the ordinary.
In those days there were many little
plants forty feet or so in height. Ey-
cry bit of coal you toss about in such
needless fashion once was n living
plant-a plant which grew and -four
ished, even as your plants of today
grow and flourish. But in these de-
generate days plants are poor, feeble
little things. Plants were plants In
those days. We had no petted and
pampered ferns. We had no houses Of
glass, artiGclally kept warm so that
the poor little dears shouldn't get cold.
Those were the days of real ferns. Of
healthy ferns free from all newfangled
nonsense about fertilizers and soils and
aspects and such childish weaknesses.
In those early days the earth was not
as it is today. 1t was hotter, for it
had cooled from globe Of molten rock.
Its atmosphere was heavy with warm
vapors; close and oppressive, you would
call it, but it just suited u.s. as we grew
and luxuriated in it, The earth's crust
was thin and heaved about, gradually
raising vast continents from the bed Of
the sea and slowly dragging others
deep into the ocean. 1t was time Of
vast changes.
grew on the muddy banks of great
pool of water, which was fed by slug
Cish 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 few boys and pools of brackish
water. The sun shone hot upon me, so
no wonder / grew well in this humid
atmosphere. Then there were frightful
storms, when mighty trees were flung
down and swept by floods to the bottom
OF the pool. This had gone on ages be-
fore | appeared above ground; it went
on ages after The result was that the
bottom OF the pool was Il mass Of fallen
trees. The newly felled trees pressed
on the bottom ones, and after thou
sands Of years the water. the mud, the
heat and the pressure turned the
mighty beds of vegetable matter into
what you call coal.
In the dense forest it was somewhat
the same. Trees were thrown down
by hurricanes; fresh ones grew and fell
victims TO storms. SO it went on for
long centuries until the last forest grew
on the top of a great thickness of bur-
led trees ferns and mosses. Amid this
exuberant vegetation were many fan
tastic and uncouth animals. Round
about me they made the forest resound
with their hideous bellowings. They
were so strangely shaped that | could
not well describe them to you. Even
some Of the flies had wings half foot
long from tip to tip.
One day | saw q cOmmotion in the
midst Of the lake far away from me.
The bed rose up and belched forth
steam and ashes and molten rock. In
he years that followed the fluid rock
oiled down the sides of the volcano
nto the water below. Mighty clouds
If steam arose, and as the vapor con-
lensed it fell upon us as warm rain.
This is why grew so well and why
he vegetation around me was so rank
Y luxuriant.
Many years after the land began to
sink. Slowly it went down; slowly
he water closed over our heads until
III the mighty forests were deep under
he sea. Thus we stopped for count
ess years. and q heavy bed Of sand ac-
simulated above us. Then, just az
lowly. we arose until we formed a
asst elevated land. Then came other
orests-trees whose limbs were tan
lied with enormous festoons and gar
ands Of strange climbing plants. Ter
ible thunderStorms alone broke the 81 |
ence of these wooded soltudes save |
when some mighty fern crashed to the |
round or when the wind tore down |
Oung branches and hurled them into |
he swamps.
SO all went on anew, as Of old, and |
he continent sank once more below |
he waters Of the ocean. taking with it |
he beds of buried verdure. Yet again |
{ rose and again it sank. So layer |
pom layer of plants and Of sand were
layers. which took ages
nthinkable to form-until there was
epth Of 10000 feet of hard baked wood
nd sand, of coal and dirt. Look at
ne and you will find that you can
race my markings. In every pit you
an find hundreds of delicate fern
,aves and MOSES as perfect as when
live. You can see even the veins Of
he fragile fronds. so beautifully press
i are they. Dirty, old coal, indeed!
1t was ths sun which made me. I
bsOrbed his rays then. When you
urn me, give them back again. 1
m Il mass Of bottled sunshine. Do you
,aliZe that the fire you watch is the
lnshne which blaZed in those solemn
)rests innumerable ages ago? 1t is no
ight of fancy to say that am bottled
it is a fact.
A Good Word For the Mormon.
Bishop Leonard EpiscopaD Of Salt
AXE City says: THE Mormons are not
early as bad as they are represented
D be. y great many people think that
olygamy is still going on and flourish
lg under the protection Of the Nor
ION church, but that is not so. The