Saturday news. (Watertown, S.D.) 19??-19??, 1917-08-30
Rev: Gay Q. White Discourseson
ObserYationsin the Great West


Rev. Gay d. White, at the FRS
Methodist church Sunday morning
gave his congregation the benefit q
observations based upon q western
trip. He took for his text Psalm 24s1
which reads: THE earth is the LORD.
and the fulness thereof; the world
and they that dwell therein
The First Cavalry band furnished
special music for the morning sery
ice-a feature which was greatly as
preciated by the large number pres
ent.
The following is d condensation oi
Mr.. Whites sermon:
Travel is Educational.
Travel affords the Il seeker
after truth what is In many regards
a liberal education. We#Yisit beauti.
full and strangeseenes we meet all
manner OF interesting people, we ap-
preciate the ~Iargeness and diversity
and completely Of life, we become
more sympathetic toward people
whom we had been brought up to
consider as strangers and foreigners.
Beautiful and vast is America. From
d original thirteen colonies to the
city OF Seattle we have great and
growing commonwealth, prosperous
cities, asst prairies, towering noun
talns I'M great lakes. From New York
city to San Francisco we have today
the most diversified populationSon the
face OF the globe and yet the most
united.
Lowell sang a great truth when he
wrote Freedom is recreated veal by
year in hearts wide open on the Cod
ward side" The east is always in
~teresting. Historical and literary as
so~ciations, great wealth, established.
families, wonderful industries make
the east what it is, finished, polished,
cultured, somewhat conservative and.
somewhat given to condescension.
The west, and especially the north
west, is vet in the great constructive
stages ofathe pioneer movement. Vast
irrigation projects, the t~ranscontinen-
tai railroads, the mountains not yet.
subdued, and the fight against heavy
odds give the west a. zest and charm
not found in the states east Of the
Missouri.
Speak Silently.
The mountains,-one can never
grow weary OF them. They speak,
though silently, Of the majesty of Je-
hoyah. They pierce the sky and in
the lonely grandeur OF their snowy
crests they prophecy of Gods eternal
calm. They present an. ever-changing
panorama of titanic landscapes and
it seems so natural to think Of God
and Of eternity while viewing the
noble mountains. should like to
worship at an outdoor Christian
shrine, far UP amid the high places,
provided by the Creator himself. For
ests, lakes, c~ataracts, granite ehasms,
lofty pine trees, the mysterious dome
of the sky, all enter into the construc-
tion of a cathedral of vast proper
tions.
But there is another story ofthe
mountains. The Godward side has
been inspiring. The MAYNARD side,
has been crowded with a mad strife
for wealth. The Industrial strife is
keenest in the mountains, in thescop-
per mines. Men grow savage so cas-
lily. Contact with the big rude prob
lens Of the hills for centuries uncon-
quered, the prospect of sudden wealth
to be gathered from the heart of the
earth, the return to primeval condi-a
tions has been more than many men
could stand. They went down under
the struggle. They could not win b
fight within their souls and the
mountains crushed them. But the
story is not wholly sordid. Courage
and adventure and the peace of God
were@nott b oily % stt.asS aBr men
snlote the hills as did Moses the rock
in ancient times and water gushhedl
forth,
Striking Contrasts.
The mountains. especially the
Rockies, are assland OF striking IN
trasts, barren, burned over hill slopes
adjacent to the almost tropical lux
urance Of the irrigated valleys noble.
city churches and vile resorts remind
ing the traveller Of the wild west of
the early days; great shadowy cam
yons and tiny fragile dowerlets; the
old and the new, the good and the
bad. the beautiful and the ugly thrown,
together in seemingly careless aban7
don. But the strangest contrast OF
all is the city Of Butte. Seen at night,
from an approaching train it, appears
like a celestial city, let down outaof
the sky, with myriad lights like stars
III the milky way.gpure and undefiled.
By daylight know that Butte is the
uglfest citysI have ever Visited The
earth has been saWn asunder and the
vftals are streWn about over the
hills. The terrible struggie5for exist
ence lis appalling o recorrectly,
the struggle f0rY$wealthg Labor and
capifal are ST. war. No like section
of tbs country mas been#se stifnulated1S
bvS Mama war