Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1905-07-01

that l could see upon the other side
of the world could see the thrones of
the Caesars lift themselves and then
totter and fall. l heard the angels
chant the song of the Nativity above
Bethlehem of Judaea. l have seen
Athens rise in her power and the Gre
clan sculptors and the poets wax and
wane and die. The old mound builders
used to pitch their wigwams at my
time l go. Long before the coyotes
call was heard among the hills or the
grizzly bear growled at the Indians
who afterward took their name lived.
Though | have lived at least 5000
years in the past. ! am living still.
Furthermore, l will continue to live
centuries upon centuries after your
voice has died away. l shall speak
to your great-great-greatgr great great
great grandchildren as l am now speak
ing to you oh, yes. the old trees of
Mariposa grove teach nothing IL they
do not preach to us the eternal pur-
poses of God or of God working
through the centuries.
Thousand Years Nothing.
A thousand years I'm Gods sight are
but as yesterday. or as watch in the
night. If the trees of MaripOsa grove
teach us this. how much more must
the libraries of rock among the shelves
of Yosemite hills teach the same les
sons. We look with wonderment upon
some of the vases or the household
pottery used by the American or Mex
lean aborigines. You say, They were
heated in fires thousands of years ago"
Yes. but have you ever stopped to think
when the fires We're lighted by the
hands of God which hardened yOnder
rocks: Have You ever stopped to
reckon how old must have been those
pencils of ice which wrote yonder
chapters upon those hillsides and
which. millenniums ago. as glaciers,
polished those walls until today they
reflect the light of the rising sun as
FURNISHED mirrors: Can you see with
naked eye the star as IA signal fire
burning on the picket line ut the far
thermost outer edge of all stars? Can
you. ut IL mere haphaZard guess, state
the direct distance between this earth
and that star! Can you go up and up
in Imagination until you see the zenith
for Il footstool and the nadir for
bright jewel in your coronet Then. il
you can, you may estimate how long it
took God. i'm his eternal purpose. to pro-
duce yonder rocks and how long that
eternal purpose shall live after the YO-
semitic valley itself shall he cremated
in the furnace of the eartl's last con-
fiagration. III these rocks teach us that
thousands and millions of years i'm
Gods sight are as but second of time,
do you not believe we can trust To his
care the few years we are upon this
planet: Ii God can use the ages for
playthings. may we not be satisfied to
let him do with us as he will for the
short space of threescore years and
ten. which is mans allotted span upon
earth: God Is spirit. infinite. eter-
nal" Yes. the everlasting rocks Of Yo-
semitic prove 1t. These rocks shall echo
the Judgment call in that day, when
upon the land and the other foot upon
the sea. and swear that time shall be
no longer. But while time endures,
everywhere in Yosemite. you may find,
as l did. God speaking. God pleading,
God drawing us to his love.
And so Yosemite beautiful Yosemite,
with snow capped hills and with sweet
scented valleys at thy feet, l wave
to thee a farewell. Thou ditlst make of
me better man. Amid thy columns
1t was as if mad walked with the Di-
vine Maker of the universe at the dawn
of creation. BY the lullabies of thy
falling waters l slept to dream of the
God OF my childhood From thy mir
rored pools | have seen there reflected
the mis,ieeds of my past life From
thy trails have learned that 1t is easy
to follow the strait path" If you do not
look down. but straight ahead in the
place where the pedestrian ought to go.
Happier have turned back to my own
home and my own work. a better man,
because the Christ of the Nazarene
hills who welcomed me among thy
peaks Is to continue to be my guide i'm
the lowlands. Farewell Yosemite,
grand. overpowering. crushing. yet
gentle and tender Farewell. friend;
FAREWELL
copyright. 1905. by Louis Klopschl