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

turI&S ana Oh lllt nllleNlllulllS. lou
and l have rca'l about the famous
libraries Of ancirnt Alexandria and
Nincveh and Babylon. We have heard
that these ancient books were 50 many
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 l want to tell you that
when Il 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 ut Il
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 cen
turtles upon centuries and mIllcnniunls
upon millenniums ago and that he will
also live and work through the cen
turtles and the nillenniums to come,
then l say the Yosemite rocks ''telch
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 Ell 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" 1.-The Three
Graces," are some Of the modern names
given to these famous trees. Some of
them are over 800 feet tall. One Is 1O-l
feet in circumference and 33 feet from
side to side. One is cut in the middle
at the base and has square cut out Of
it SO large that great, three seated
stageeoach with top covering, drawn
by four horses, can he 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 a neighbOring grove
was cut down few years ago that its
stump might be used as dancing
floor by visiting tourists. So huge, SO
gigantic is "Old Grizzly" that it has
one branch, one right arm alone, t" en-
ty feet in circumference. When l
stood under this huge monster 1t lifted
itself so high and so wide that l felt
ton. Why, wart on one Of "Old
Grizzly's" cheeks would be large
enough to be used for an Indian wig
wam 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 Il
cupola besides. And it's myriads Of
/, ITS are almost enough to fence in the
fel Is of an ordinary farm.
Mariposa Grove.
The trees Of Mariposa grove, grand
old 1eterans are they! No other liv-
ing warriors have fought 50 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 trees" l
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 1t 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.
Il EH Il n n