Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1914-01-06

field glass. Such is the first view Oh
the group of ancient trees which are
still known as the "Cedars of the
Lord"
Grow in Solitude.
When we reached the cedar grove
the next noon, we found that our
first impression had been wrong
concerning everything except the su-
preme beauty of the mountain set
ting. Far from being situated upon
a narrow shelf on a perilously steep
slope, the trees are securely enthron-
ed amid surroundings Of massive
grandeur. The watershed Of Lebanon
here curves around so that it enclos-
es a tremendous natural amphithe-
ater about twelve miles long and
over six thousand feet in depth, with
it's inner, concave side facing the
Mediterranean.
Here, amid surroundings of rare
beauty and yet Of solemn loneliness,
is set the royal throne of the king OF
trees. Just back of the cedars the
mountains rise to an elevation OF
over eleven thousand feet Around
them is vast emptiness and silence.
No other trees grow on this chill,
wind swept height. No underbrush
springs up among their rugged
trunks. The last cultivated fields
stop just below, and the nearest viii
lage is out of sight and sound, far
down the mountain side. A few goat
herders lead their flocks to nearby
spring that is fed by water from
snow peaks Of the Cedar Mountains;
but at night the wolves can be heard
bowling hungrily, and by the end of
the year the snow drifts are deep
around the old trees and the passes
are closed for the winter.
Yet downward from the cedars is
prospect of warm, fertile beauty.
You look deep into the dark green
valley of the Kadisha, and then across
the lower mountains, to where, thirty
miles away the great sea in front
Of Lebanon" rises high up into the
sky; and during one memorable week
in the summer you can see, hum
dred and fifty miles across the Med
iterranean, the jagged mountain
peaks of the island of Cyprus out
lined sharp against the red disk of
the setting sun.
Beloved of the Prophets.
When the Old Testament was writ
ers wished to describe that which was
consummately beautiful, rich, strong,
proud and enduring, they drew their
smiles from Hermon and Lebanon,
and the climax of the GLORY Of Leb-
anon" they found the 'cedars of
God" Would they express the full
perfection of that which was choice,
excellent, goodly, high and lifted up,
they pictured "a cedar in Lebanon
with fair branches, and with forest
like shade. Its stature
was exalted above all Of the trees of
long. All the birds Of the
heavens made their nests in its
boughs; and under it's branches did
all the beasts of the field bring forth
their young. Thus was 1t
fair in it's greatness, in the length
of it's branches nor was
any tree in the garden of God like
unto it for beauty"
The cedar of Lebanon must not be
confounded with the various smaller
trees which in America are know as
cedars. 1t is own brother to the
great cedar or God tree of the Him
alayas and the forest giant on the
high slopes of the Atlas, Taurus and
Amanus ranges. In the days when
Hiram of Tyre provided timber for
Solomon's temple, large cedar woods
spread over Lebanon, and apparently
grew also on the sides of Anti-Leb-
anon; but generation after genera
ton these trees became fewer in
number. Even in the sixth century,
Justinian found it difficult to secure