Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-07-27

back into the foothills of the White
mountains, mostly timber and for several
years has been engaged in making a lane
through the woods, which now extends
about mile, and he loves to walk there
and mediate upon the affairs Of the Senate
committee the District of Columbia. of
which he is chairman.
He occupies his spare time and keeps
down his superfuous flesh by picking up
stones in his pastures and building fences
with them. All of his fences are now about
four feet thick, and he has plenty of
stones left. There Is a strong conviction
among the farm hands in this part OF the
state that stones grow out of the soil.
Ihey will declare upon their hope of future
happiness that If you pick up all the stones
an even bigger crop there in the spring.
and the more frequently you pick them off
the more promptly a new crop appears,
like weeds in the cornfield.
Mysteries of Nature.
The world is full Of marvels. not only in
New Hampshire, but elsewhere The farm
ers Of the prairie states have never been
able to decide where the weeds come from.
If they pillow up a tract of virgin soil
covered with bunch grass and without the
sign Of a weed and plant 1t to wheat or
corn or any other crop the commonest
kind OF weeds appear as promptly as the
spears of corn or grain, regardless of the
care and precautions they may take to
plant pure seed. And nobody has ever
been able to tell them where the weeds
came from. Such vegetation had never ap-
peared in the country before. There is
nothing like 1t on the surface Of the earth
nearer than the next p!owed land, and 1t is
impossible for the seeds to have been
brought upon the breezes or by flying birds.
It's one of the myst cries of nature.
Some years ago, when the Missouri, Kan
sas and Texas railroad was being built
hrn oh V,1i ha, Of
wild verbenas sprang suddenly up along
the right-of-way where the earth had been
disturbed in making grades and cuts and
entertainments. That flower had never been
seen there before, and no seed had ever
been brought into the country: neverthe-
less, wherever the turf was removed and
the soil was exposed to the sun and rain.
beds of wild verbenas would appear. and
no botaniSt has ever been found who is
wise enough to solve that mystery. They
say that the seeds We're already in the soil,
held down by the thick turf and dry clay,
but they must have been there for ages
without terminating if such theory is
true.
Down the coast of Peru it has never
rained but once or twice since the begin
ming Of the world, or at least since that
part of the earth's surface has been inhap-
tied by human beings. The prevailing
winds are from the west ward, and when
they come Off the ocean the Parched air of
the desert instantly ahsorbs all the moist
ure they carry and the clouds dissolve
without precipitation But in 1897 a Won
derful phenomenon appeared The first
rainfall that had ever been known there
was followed by the appearance on the
desert of myriads of strange flowers. which
sprang up In almost a single night from
seeds that had been lying in those lifeless
sands at least as long as the grains Of
wheat you have read about that were dis
covered some years ago in the sarcophagus
of an Egyptian king. Being planted and
nourished, that wheat terminated and
grew and ripened and produced abundanty,
it was more than thirty centuries
old. No one has been able to explain the
floral phenomenon of the Peruvian desert,
and some of the blossoms which were for
tunately preserved are unlike any flowers
that have ever been seen elsewhere. They
were evidently prehistoric.
The Stone That Grew.
But, returning to stones, which are also
prehistoric, as well as present. in New
and represent the paleozo!c.
the laurentian. the silurian, the glacial
and all the other periods OF creation. l am
reminded of a story of stone that grew
In size.
Down at Gr.ndstone Point, in the state
OF Maine. lived an honest MINER a Forty
Miner" when he was boy, and, viii e
playing on the seashore he found in his
childhood beautiful stone shaped like an
egg, that sparkled in the sunlight as If its
crystals were mixed with grains of gold. |
He took it home and it remained among |
his playthings until he grew too old for |
such amusements, when his mother used 1. |
to darn stockings on. During the gold ex- |
element Of 1S49 having grown to be |
man. he went to California and made his !
fortune After ar absence of twenty years |
he returned to Gr!ndstone Point to visit the |
old folks, and while poking around the |
house he found the shining stone he had
played with when he was child. 1t had |
grown so large that he was astonished. |
There could be no mistake about its iden-
t1ty. for his name was written upon it and
the date. some thirty years before.
He took the stone to the store at the cor |
ners. had 1t weighed and measured, and. in
the presence Of witnesses, inscribed the !
date and the dimensions upon it's surface. !
Then he went back to California to look |
after his mines. His next visit was ten
years later and he was again amazed by |
finding that the stone had grown seven or |
eight ounces in weight and two or three |
inches in size during his absence. He called |
together the witnesses, obtained from them |
a written statement of their reco.lectionS !
and for second time the stone was weigh |
ed and measured and the results accurately |
written down. Two or three years ago |
while l was visiting Grindstone I saw the !
stone. 1t shown me by the Forty |
miner" Having made his pile he settled up |
his affairs in California and came back to |
his old home to spend the remainder of his !
days. One Of the first things he did after |
arrival was to have the stone inspected by |
the neighbors who had weighed 1t before, |
and they found that it is still growing |
larger every year.
AS Hans Christian Andersen says at the !
conclusion of one of his fairy tales. any |
one who refuses to believe this story owes |
me thalcr
HAPPENINGS AT BOYDS.