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

were W ne lbTlTieS Oh tHe past cell
turtles and of the millenniums You
ami I have read about the famous
libraries of ancient Alexandria and
Nineveh and Babylon We have heard
that these ancient books We're SO many
that in Alexandria alone it took six
months to destroy part of them when
those parchmentS and manuscripts
were used for common fuel to light the
fires of the 1900 bathrooms of that
great city. But l want to tell you that
when a man rides through Yosemite
valley and climbs It's dizzy heights he
is looking upon the historic pages of
books older than the oldest tablets Of
stone eNhumed from amid the ruins Of
an ancient Troy. He is looking at a
greater library than all the books of MIN
eveh. Babylon or Alexandria combined.
There he is looking upon the millions
of open leaves of rock written upon
by the pen of but one Author, and
that pen is ''the finger of God"
If the recorded pages of the books
of rock found among the shelves of
rock and upon the floors of rock and
lying open upon the tables of rock of
Yosemite valley do not teach us that
God as an author has been living CEN
turtles upon centuries and millenniums
apon millenniums ago and that he will
also live and work through the CEN
turtles and the millenniums to come,
then l say the Yosemite rocks teach
us nothing" Then we have eyes to see
and we will not see. and we have ears
to hear and we will not hear Every
step You take. every move you make.
presses home the one truth-that the
Creator of this region is eternal in his
own life and eternal in his purposes.
Mariposa grove. which grows just
outside of this valley and practically
under the shadow of FL Captain, as
living orators teach the eternal pur-
poses and workings of the Divine Fa-
Their. My. what big preachers they are!
About 600 OF them grow near together.
as though they were ashamed of their
big girths and ashamed because, like
Saul. they raise their huge bodies not
only head and shoulders above all 9TH
er trees. but because they make other
trees look like pygmies beside them.
Grizzly Bear Columbia" "Haver-
ford" "Mariposa." "Wawona." Cali
fornia." Telescope The Three
Graces," are some of the modern names
given to these famous trees. Some of
them are over 800 feet tall. One is 104
feet in circumference and 33 feet from
side to side. One is cut in the middle
at the base and has a square cut out of
it so large that Il great. three seated
stagecoach with top covering. drawn
by four horses, can be driven through
it. This tree was on the right of us, it
was to the left of us, it was above us,
it was underneath U.S. One Of this same
kind of trees in neighboring grove
was cut down a few years ago that its
stump might be used as a dancing
floor by visiting tourists. So huge, so
gigantic Is odd Grizzly that it has
one branch. one right arm alone, TWEEN
ty feet In circumference. When
stood under this huge monster II lifted
itself SO high and 50 wide that | felt
its size almost passed human concep-
ton. Why. wart OH one Of ''Old
Grizzly's' cheeks would be large
enough to be used for an Indian wig
wan. A goiter on his neck would be
big enough to house whole family Of
white folks and give to them a cellar,
parlOr and bedroom floors, attic and a
cupola besides. And its myriads Of
roots are almost enough to fence in the
fields of an ordinary farm.
Mariposa Grove.
The trees of Mariposa grove. grand
old veterans are they! No other liv-
ing warriors have fought so many bat
ties. What mighty tornadoes have
they defied. What strength of thou
sand Herculeses is in those iron back
bones! What unconquerable heights
have they. What forest fires have
they endured! But. after all. the most
impressive fact to me about these trees
is not their great girth nor their great
height, but that they are living trees.
They are not mummitied trees found
among the cemeteries of dead trees
What is the greatest fact that i'm
presses you about the big treesY
asked gentleman. That they are
alive" he answered Yes, that Is the
overwhelming fact about Mariposa
grove. Those big trees are alive. just
as we are alive. You can go and stand
by some of them and see their sides
wrinkled and scared like the indenta-
lions upon the cheek Of the sphinx Of
the Egyptian desert, but you can feel
that they are alive. You can see where
some of their sides have been burned
by forest fires. In the Haverford tree
the wood burned out of one side has
left a cavity large enough to shelter
twenty horses or head of cattle from
the winter storms. yet the Haverford
tree is alive. The great Telescope tree
had forest fires eat into its sides and
tunnel their way into its center and
then from the center burn up until you
can stand at the bottom Of the tree
and look up through it and see the blue
sky of the heavens above you. Yet the
Telescope tree Is alive and still grow
H., OF nF Nfor