The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1905-06-27

Slfettleu my ueiu ABOVE tIe CLOUDS SO
that l could see upon the other side
Of the world l could see the thrones Of
the CaeSurs 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
feet. Backward, still backward, into
time | 60 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 l 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 grcatgrrat- great great great
great grandchildren as l am now speak
ing to you" Oh, yes, the Old trees Of
Mnriposa grove teach nothing If they
do not preach to us the eternal pur
poses of God or of God working
through the centuries.
A Thousand Years Nothing.
A thousand years in 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 tee 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.
when the fires were lighted by the
hands of God which hardened yoniler
rocks! Have you ever stopped to
reckon how old must have been those
pencils Of ice which wrote yonder
chapters upon those hiIlsides and
which, millcnniums 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 a signal fire
burning Oh the picket line at the far
thcrmOSt outer edge of all stars? Can
you, at 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 a footstool and the nadir for a
you can, you may estimate how long 1t
took God, in his eternal purpose, to pro
duce yondcr rocks and how long that
eternal purpose shall live after the 70
semitic valley itself shall be crematel
in the furnace of the earth's last con
fiagration. If these rocks teach us that
thousands and millions Of years In
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? If God can use the ages for
pluythingS, 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 70
the judgment call In that. day, when
the angel shall stand with one foot
! 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 did, God speaking, God pleading
GOD drawing us to his love.
And so Yosemite, beautiful Yosemite,
with snow capped hills and with swee,
scented valleys at thy feet, wave
| to thee a farewell Thou di,lst make Of
! me better man. Amid thy column
it was as if had walked with the hi
| vine Maker of the universe. at the dawn
Of creation BY the lu.:abirs of thy
| falling waters l slept to dream OF the
God Of my childhood. From thy NIL
rored pools l have seen there rtilrte,:
| the misdeeds Of my past life. From
! thy trails have learned that it is cls>
! to follow the ''stra:t pat" ii yui Il ~
| look down, but straight ahead in ths
| place where the pc lc.;tran Oug1t to & ),
| Happier have turnel Lack to my owl.
home and my own work. a bette: mil.
| because the Christ Of the Nax.rcn
hills who welcomed me am ~; ill.,.
| peaks Is to continue to lie my guide in
| the lowlands. Fa eWcil. Yosemite.
grand, overpoWerinS. crushing. yr:
gentle and tender Farewell. frirn j.
farewell!
copyright. 1905. by Louis k!opsch