Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1907-11-30


,on from New Orleans and Mobile bay?
The railroads? No; it is the steam
boat. Why are the harbors or the
Golden Gate and San Pedro crowded
with lumber boats? Because oregon
and Washington states and California
are one by the pathways Of the seas.
And, though the United States govern
ment is to spend over $3OO,OOOOOO TO
bring New York and San Francisco
nearer by cutting the isthmus of Pana' F.
ma in two, yet it is worth all the cost,
for where we transport by water the
business men and farmers have their
expenses reduced to a minimum linen
cities and towns will not only increase
In the west, but there will be more
goods to be made, more oranges to be
grown, more prosperity everywhere.
Thank God for the rivers and the lakes
and the ocean highways, which have
so helped by their transportation op-
portunities to make our national pros
perity what 1t is.
Again, let us thank God for the At
lantic ocean, which is on the east of us,
and the Pacific ocean, which is on the
west Of us, which separate us from all
the entanglements of European politics
and from the Asiatic embroilments OF
international jealousies and contests.
It was the custom Of the ancient earls
to surround their castles with moats
filed with water At night the draw
bridge would be lifted, the castle gates
closed, and the inmates were prac-
tically safe from any attacking foe.
Well, God has done for us as nation
what the earl did for his castle. He
has placed a moat three thousand miles
wide on the east of US, which we call
the Atlantic. He has placed a moat
more than ten thousand miles wide on
the west of us, which we call the Pa
cific. And in military or naval par
lance these moats are practically I'M
passable. Our nation is not so much
protected by the guns of It's warships
and the Notifications of Its harbors as
bv the immense masses of water that
separate us from an invading foe. IT'S
true we must have navy. 1t Is also
true we must have the skeleton OF an
army. But the greatest guarantee or
the future of the United States govern
ment is not our war guns or our coast
fortifications, but these immense bodies
Of water surrounding us on the east
and west Now that we are soon TO
have the Panama canal marry the two
seas no foreign nation on earth could
successfully invade us. We may de-
stroy ourselves, but we can never be
DESTROYED by a foreign foe. Thank
God for the waters that create our ma
tioaai properties. Thank God also
for the waters which defend US from
foreign foes.
Water In the Deserts.
I Lastly, Il thank God not only for
what he has done, for this country by
/ the power Of water. but also for what
he is goin@to do BY the same power
If you. have ever travelled across oul
! continent, YOU nave gone days ant
days through what are called our des
erts. Those are not deserts OF sane
like the Sahara. They are deserts that
will prove to be the finest and riches
of soil if we only irrigate them anc
bring water to them. Let rain raj
upon Arizona soil and within a few
days that land is covered with grass
and wild flowers as far as the eye cal
see. No conservatory Is as wondrou
as that which God plants in the Ari
zona deserts when the rain falls. Al
these deserts are soon to be redeemed
They are to form some Of the riches
gardens and farms Of the world.
I was never more impressed witt
this fact than when reading lately al
article BY William George showing
how Australia Is being redeemed by
system of artesian wells. Some o
those wells have TO be sunk more thai
two thousand feet. But If they ar
sunk deep enough they always strik
water. The vast inland Australian
deserts have a deep sea Of fresh waite
under them. The possibilities of thos
J artcsian wells may yet make the des
erts as rich as our Dakota wheat
} fiells. Talk about the romance o
encineering." wrote William George
here are hundreds Of thousands O
square miles, formerly the despair an
terror of government and farmer alike
magically struck as Moses rod struc
le rock. and forthwith turned int
, smiling fields Of grain and far stretcl
ing stock farms. Truly the dead hear
,, Of Australia Is being slowly quickene
into life by the water wizards de
rick and his long sections OF borin
pipe-a wonderful victory OF min
over matter such as enables the con
monwealth of Australia to produc
wool worth nearly $S0,000000 year
So 1t Is to be with our western arl
lands.
The Birds Thanksgiving.
By the conserving and the buildin
, I'D of our forests. by irrigation and
, .esian wells, by pipes and reservoir
by the storing up of the rainfall, OF
= deserts are yet to blossom as the ros
. Theodore Roosevelt we'll said In one
his public addresses, THE forest an
;, water problems are perhaps the mo
vital internal questions of the Unlt'
:, States" These questions are daily Q
Ing solved. More and more the Amel
can people are being enabled to co
ouer the soil which has heretofore be-
supposed to be useless and forey
:, dead to the magic touch of the cul
6 vator.
. While | was writing this sermon
81 had the strangest Of companions
u help me. Perhaps that is one OF {
IL reasons why l was so thankful VIII
a. writing it. My study is on an op
d porch which overlooks my Californ
sr garden. Directly across this gard
's stretches telephone wire. There, d
l.. nm