Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1905-07-01

IuIltS anu Vi lilc ihiiiChhAuiho' ANN
and | have read about the famous
libraries Of ancient Alexandria and
Nineveh and Babylon. We have heard
that these ancient books were so many
that in Alexandria alone 1t took six
months to destroy part Of them when
those parchments and manuscripts
were used for common fuel to light the
fires of the 1000 bathrooms of that
great city. But I want to tell you that
when 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 exhumed from amid the ruins Of
an ancient Troy He is looking at a
greater library than all the books Of Mn
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"
II 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 Gen.
turtles upon centuries and millenniums
upon millenniums ago and that he will
also live and work through the cen
turies and the millenniums to come,
then I say the Yosemite rocks teach
US nothing" Then we have eyes to see
and we VIII 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 bis
own life and eternal ia his purposes.
Mariposa grove, which grows just
outside Of this valley and practically
under the shadow Of I'll Captain, as
living orators teach the eternal pur-
poses and workings Of the Divine Fa-
ther 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
fornla," Telescope" "The Three
Graces," are some of the modern names
given to these famous trees. Some OF
them are over 300 feet tall. One is 1O4
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 or
1t 80 large that a great, three seated
stagecoach with top covering, drawn
by four horses, can be driven through
it. This tree was on the right Of us, 1t
was to the left of us, 1t was above US,
IL was underneath US. One Of this same
kind Of trees in a neighboring grove
was cut down a few years ago that its
stump might be used as dancing
floor by visiting tourists. So huge, so
gigantic Is "Old Grizzly" that 1t has
one branch, one right arm alone, twen-
ty feet in circumference. When l
stood under this huge monster 1t lifted
itself so high and so wide that l felt
its size almost passed human concep-
tion Why, a wart on one OF "Old
GrIzzIy'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 cellar,
parlor and bedroom floors, attic and
cupola besides. And its myriads or
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 defed! What strength Of thou
sand Herculeses is In those Iron back
bonesl What unconquerable heights
have they! What forest fires have
they endured! But, after all, the most
impressive fact to me about these trees
ia not their great girth nor their great
height, but that they are living trees.
They are not mummihed trees found
among the cemeteries Of dead trees
what is the greatest fact that I'M
presses you about the big treesT l
asked a 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
wrlnkled and scared like the indenta-
tions 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 Hayerford
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
ing. The six hundred trees OF MARI
posa grove are emphatically alive.
AS stood with uncovered head amid
the huge trees Of Mariposa grove "Old
Grizzly the greatest of the group, II
he could have spoken might have said:
"Whlte man Of the east, you think you
belong to a race of kings, but l would
tell you that you are not king. You
are so short lived that you are no more
to me than the insect which is born
In a day, grows old in day and dies
Of old age at the setting of the sun Is
to you. Kou think you know the past,
but l have seen more sights and heard
more sounds than your people will ever
see or hear though they may live to