Capital city courier. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1885-1893, September 28, 1889, Page 3, Image 3

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    CAPITAL CITY COURIER, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1889.
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ACROSS THE CONTINENT.
DR. TALMAQE TELLS OF HIS JOUR
NEYS FROM SEA TO SEA.
"Atnnrlcn for God," III Tlicmo Thla Con
tlnrnt Mint lln TliorntiRhljr Dnnilimtnl
by Hie Chrlitlnn Itellclmi How to
8prenil tlio (lo.prl.
Brooklyn, Sept. 22. It was n
great anthem of prniso that went up
from tho crowded throngs at tho
Brooklyn Tabomoclo this morning,
where tho Kov. T. Do Witt Tnlmngo,
D. D., preached ns usual. Tho open
ing hymn was:
No moro let human blood bo split.
Vain nncrldco for human guilt i
Rut to ench consciences bo Applied
Tho blood that flows from Jesus' tide.
Tho subject of tlio sermon was, "From
Ocean to Ocean, or My Transconti
nental Journey." Toxt: Psalms lxxii,
8: "Ho shaft havo dominion from
sea to sea." Tho preacher said:
What two scan aro referred to? Somo
might say that tho toxt meant that
Christ was to reign ovor all tho land
between tho Arabian sea and Caspian
sea, or between tho Red sea and tho
Mediterranean hea, or between tlio
Black sou and tho North sea. No; in
such caso my text would havo named
them. It meant from any largo
body of watoron tho earth clearacross
to any other largo body of water. And
so I havo u right to read it: IIo shall
havo dominion from tho Atlantic sea
to tho Pacific sea. My thomo is,
America for Godl
THIS IMMKN81TY OF AMKRICA.
First, consider tho immensity of
this procession. If it wero only a
small tract of land capablo of nothing
hotter than sago brush and with abili
ty only to support prairio dogs, I
should not havo much enthusiasm in
wanting Christ to havo it added to his
dominion. But its immensity and af
fluent no ono can imagine unless, in
immigrant wagon or stage coach or in
rail train of tho Union Pacific or tho
Northern Pacific or tho Canadian Pa
cific or tho Southern Pacific, ho has
traversed it. Having been privileged
six times to cross this continent, and
twico this summer, I havo como to
somo appreciation of its magnitude
California, which I supposed in boy
hood from its sizo on tho man, was a
fow yards across, a ridgo of land on
which ono must walk cautiously lest
ho hit his head against tho Sierra Ne
vada on olio sido or slip oil" into tlio
Pacific waters on tho other, Califor
nia, tho thin slico of laud as I sup
posed it to bo in boyhood, I havo
round it to bo largor than all tho states
of New England and all Now York
stato and all Pennsylvania added
together: and if yoa add them to
gether their square miles fall far
short of California. North and South
Dakota, Montana and Washington
territory, to bo launched next winter
into statehood, will bo giants at their
birth. Let tho congress of tho United
States strain a point and soon admit
also Idaho and Wyoming and Now
Mexico. What is tho uso keeping
them out in tho cold any longer? Let
us havo tho whole continent divided
into states with senatorial and con
gressional representative and wo will
all bo happy together. If somo of
them havo not quito tho rcquisito
number of neoplo, fix up tho constitu
tion to suit theso cases. Even Utah
will by dropping polygamy boon bo
ready to enter. Monogamy has
triumphed in parts of Utah and
will probably triumph at this
fall election in Salt Lake City.
Turn all tho territories into states and
if somo of tho sisters are smaller than
tho elder sisters, give them timo and
thoy will soon bo as largo as any of
them. Bccauso somo of tho daughters
of a family may bo flvo feet in stature
and tho others only four feet, do not
let tho daughters feet flvo high shut the
door in the faces of thoso who aro only
our feet high. Among tho dying
utterances of our good friend, tho
wisostatesnian and great author, tho
brilliant orator and magnificent
soul, S. S. Cox, was tho expressed do
termination to movo next winter in
congress for tho transference of other
terntorh i into states.
"But," says somo ono, "in calculat
ine tho immensity of our continental
acreago you must remember that vast
reaches of our public domain are un
cultivated, heaps of dry sand, and tho
'bod lands' of Montana and tho great
American desert." I am glad you
mentioned that Within twenty-tlvo
years there will not bo between tho
Atlantic anu Pacific coasts a hundred
miles of land not reclaimed cither by
fanners' plow or minors' crowbar. By
irrigation tho waters of tho rivers and
tho showers of hcavon in what are
called tho rainy season will bo gather
ed into great reservoirs and through'
aqueducts lot down where and when
tlio people want them. Utah is an ob
ject lesson. Somo parts of that territory
which wore so barren that a spear of
grass could not havo been raised there
1 a hundred years aro now rich as
iLancostor county farms of Pennsyl
rmnia or Westchester farms of Now
York or Somorsot county farms of
Now Jersey.
Experiments havo proved that ten
acres of ground irrigated from waters
gathered in great hydrological basins
will produce as much as fifty acres
from tho downpour of rain as seen in
our regions. Wo havo our freshets
and our droughts, but in tliobo lauds
which are to bo scientifically irrigated
there will bo ncithor freshets nor
droughts. As you tako a pitcher and
got it full of water and then bet it on
a tablo and tako a drink out of it when
you aro thirsty and novcr think of
drinking a pitchorful all ut onco, so
Montana and Wyoming and Idaho
will catch tho rains of their rainv sea
son and tako up all tho waters of their
rivers in great pitchers of rcsorvoira
uud drink out of them whenever thoy
will and refresh their land whenever
thoy will.
Tlio work has already been grand
ly begun by tho United States
govorumoiit. Ovor four hundred
lakes havo already been olllui
ally takou possession of by tho
nation for tho great enterprise of
irrigation. Hi vera that havo been
rolling idly through theso regions, do
ing nothing on thoir way to tho boo,
will bo lassoed and corralled and pon
ncd up until such timo as tho farmers
need them. Under tho Bamo processes
tho Ohio, tho Mississippi and all
tho othor rivers will bo taught to bo
havo themselves bettor, and great
basins will bo mado to catch tho sur
plus of waters in times of freshet and
keep them for times of drought, Tho
irrigating process by which all tho arid
lands botweon tho Atlantic and Pacific
oceans are to bo fertilized is no now
experiment. It has been going on suc
cessfully hundreds of years, mi Spain,
in China, in India, in Russia, in Egypt,
About eight hundred million ornco
nlo of thoeaith today are kept alivo
by food raised on irrigated lanu. And
here wo havo allowed to lio waste,
given up to rattlesnake and bat ami
prairie dog, lauds enough to support
whole nations of industrious popula
tion, Tho work begun will bo consum
mated. Hero ana tiioro oxccptional
lands may bo stubborn and rafuso to
yield any wheat or corn from their
hard fists, but if tho wholo fail to
mako an impression tho miner's pick
ax will discover tho reason for it and
bring up from beneath thoso unpro
ductive surfaces coal and iron and
lead and copper and silver and gold.
God speed the geologists and tho sur
veyors, tho engineers and tho senato
rial commissions and tho capitalists
and tho now bottlers and tho husband
men who put their brain and hand
and blurt to this transfiguration of
tho American continent!
A VONIi:iU'Uti COUNTRY.
But whilo 1 speak of tho immensity
of tho continent, I must remark it is
not an immensity of monotone or
tainousss. Tho larger somo countries
aro, tho worso for tho world. This
continent is not more rcmiirkablo for
its iniiguitudo than for its wonders of
construction. Whnt n pity tho United
States government did not tako pos
session of Yosomito, California, as it
has of Yellowstone, Wyoming, and of
Niagara Falls, Now York! Yosomito
anil tho adjoining California regions I
Who that has seen them can think of
them without having his blood tin
glo? Trees now standing there that
were old when Cliriit lived. Theso
monnrchs of foliage reigned boforo
Ciesar or Alexander, and tho next
thousand years will not shatter their
scepter. They are tho masts of tho
continent, their canvas spread on tho
winds while tho old shin bears on its
way through tho ages. Their size, of
which travelers often speak, does not
afl'ect mo so much as their longevity.
Though so old now, tho branches of
somo of them will cracklo in tho last
conflagration of tho planet.
That valloy of tho Yoscmito is eight
miles long and a half milo wido and
three thousand feet deep. It bccnis as
if it had been tho meaning of Omuipo
tonco to crowd into as small a place
as possible somo of tho most stupen
dous scenery of tho world. Somo of
tho cliTs you do not stop to measure
by feet, for thoy are literally a inilo
high. Steci) so that neither foot of
man nor beast over ecalcd them, thoy
stand in everlasting defiance If Jo
liovuh hauu throne of earth theso aro
its white pillars. Standing down in
this great chasm of tho valloy you
look up and yonder is Cathedral Rock,
vast, gloomy minster built for tho si
lent worship of tho mountains. Yon
der is Sentinel Rock, 3,270 feet high,
bold, solitary, standing guard among
tho nges, its top seldom touched until
a brido ono Fourth of July mounted
it and planted tho national standards
and tho people down in tho valloy
looked up and saw tho head of tho
mountain turbaucd with stars and
stripes. Yonder are tho "Tlirco Bro
thers," four thousand feet high;
"Cloud's Rest." North and South
Domo and heights never captured savo
by tho fiery bayouoltt of tlio thunder
storm.
No pause for tho eye, no stopping
place lor tlio mind. Mountains hurled
on mountains. Mountains in tho wuko
of mountains. Mountains Hanked by
mountains. Mountains split. Moun
tains ground. Mountains fallen.
Mountains triumphant. As though
Mont Blanc ami the Adirondacks
and Mount Washington were here
uttering themselves in ono magnifi
cent chorus of rock and prccipico nnd
waterfall. Sifting and dashing
through tho rocks, tho water comes
down. Tho Bridul Veil falls, so thin
you can seo tho faco of tho mountain
behind it Yonder is Yosomito falls,
dropping 2,031 feet, sixteen times
greater descent than that of Niagara.
Theso waters dashed to death on tho
rocks, so that tho white snirit of tho
slain waters ascending in robo of mist
seeks tho heaven. Yonder is Nevada
falls plunging seven hundred feet, tho
water in arrows, tho water in rockets,
tho water in pearls, tho wutcr in amo
tljystJi, tho water in diamonds. That
cascade flings down tho rocks enough
jowcls to array all tho earth in beauty,
and rushes on until it drops into a
very hell of waters, tho smokoof their
torment ascending forever and over.
AN IMPRESSION THAT WILL LAST FOR
EVER. But tho most wonderful part of this
American continent is tho Yellow
stono park. My visit there last month
mado upon mo an impression that will
last forever. After nil poetry has ex
hausted itself and all tho Morans and
Biorbtadts and tho othor enchanting
artists havo completed their canvas,
thoro will bo othor revolations to mako
uud other stories of its; beauty and
wrath, splendor and agonv, to bo ro
oked. Tho Yel lowstono park is a geol
ogist's paradise. By cheapening of
travel may it become tho nation's play
ground I In bomo portions of it there
seems to bo tho anarchy of tho ele
ments. Firo and wutcr, and tho vapor
born of that marriage, terrific. Geyser
cones or hills of crystal that havo beon
over flvo thousaiuf years growing. In
places tho earth, throbbing, bobbing,
groaning, quaking with aqueous par
oxysm.
At tho expiration of ovory sixty-flvo
minutes ono of tho goysors tossing its
boiling watcrlSfl foot in tho air and
then descending into swinging rain
bows, Caverns of pictured walls
largo enough for tho sopulcher of tlio
human iiico. Formations! of Mono in
Bhapo and color of calla lily, of helio-
trope, of roso, of cowslip, of sun
flower, and of gladlola. Sulphur and
arsonlo and oxido of iron, with thoir
dollcato pencils, turning tho hills into
n Luxemburg or a Vatican picture
gallery. Tho 'so called Tluinatopsis
geyser, exquisite as tho Bryant poem
it was named after, mid tho so called
Evangelino geyser, lovoly as tho
Ixjngfellow heroine it commemorates.
Tho mi called Pulpit Torraco from its
white elevation preaching mightior
sermons of God than human lips ovor
uttered. Tho so called Bothesda gov
Ror, by tho warmth of which invalids
havo already been cured, the Angel
of Health continually stirring tlio
waters. Enraged craters, with heal
at five hundred degrees, only a littlo
below tho surface
Wido reaches of Btono of intcrmin-
S
led colors, bluo ns tho sky, greon us
lo foliago. crimson ns tho dahlia.
wiuto as the snow, spotted as tlio leop
ard, tawny as tho lion, grizzly as tho
bear, In circles, in angles, in stars, In
coronets, in stalactites, in stalagmites.
Hero and there nre petrified growths
or tho dead trees, and vegetation of
other ages kent through a process of
natural embalmment. In somo places
waters as innocent and smiling as a
child making a first attempt to walk
from its mother's lap, and not far oil"
as foaming and frenzied and uiigov
cruablc as a maniac in murderous
strugglo with his keepers.
But after you havo wandered along
tho geyscrilo enchantment for days
and he;. in to feel that there can bo
nothing more of interest to seo, you
suddenly comu upon tho peroration of
all majesty and grnudour, tho Grand
canyon. It is here that it seems to mo
und I speak it with reverence Jeho
vah scorns to havo surpassed himself.
It (.ccins a great gulch let down into
the eternities. Here, hung up and let
down and spread abroad, aro nil the
colors of land and sea and sky. Up
holstering of the Lord God Almighty,
Best work of tho Architect of worlds.
Sculpturing by tho Infinite Masonry
by an omnipotent trowel. Yellow I
ou nover saw yellow unless you saw
it there Red I You never saw red
unless you saw it there. Violet I You
novcr saw violet unless you saw it
there Triumphant banners of color.
In a cathedra) of basalt, Sunrise am)
Sunset married by tho setting of rain
bow ring.
Gothic arches. Corinthian capitals
and Egyptian basilicas built before
human architecture was born. Hugo
fortifications of granite constructed
boforo war forged its first milium.
Gibraltar and Sobastopols that novor
can betaken. Alhambras, where kings
of strength nnd queens of beauty
reigned long before tho first earthly
crown was cinpcnrled. Thrones on
which no ono but tho King of heaven
and earth over saL Fount of waters
at which tho lessor hills are baptized
whilo tho giant clifi's stand round as
sponsors. For thousands of years bo
foro that sccno was unveiled to human
sight, tho elements were busy, ami tho
geysers were bowing nwey with their
hot chisel, and glaciers wero pound
ing with their cold hammers mid hur
ricanes wero cleaving with their light
ning strokes and hailstones giving the
finishing touches, and after all these
forces of nature had done their best,
in our century tho curtain dropped
nnd tho world Inula now and divine
ly inspired revolution, tho Old Testa
ment written on papyrus, tho Now
Testament written on parchment, nnd
now this lest Testament written on the
rocks.
nanging over ono of tho dill's I
looked oil until I could not get my
breath, then retreating to a less ox
nosed place I looked down again.
Down there is u pillar of rock that in
certain conditions of tho atmosphere
looks like a pillar of blood. Yonder
are fifty feet of emerald on a baso of
flvo hundred feet of opal. Wall of
chalk resting on pedestals of beryl.
Turrets of light tumbling on floors of
darkness. Tho brown brightening into
golden. Snow of crystal molting into
lire of carbuncle Flaming red cool
jng into russet. Cold bluo warming
into saffron. Dull irmv kindlincr into
. ii - ... . .
solfcrino. Morning twilight flushing
midnight shadows. Auroras crouch
ing among rocks.
Yonder is mi caglo's nest on n shaft
of basalt. Through an eyeglass wo
seo among it tho young eagles, but thu
stoutest arm of our group cannot hurl
a stono near enough to disturb tho
feathered domesticity. Yonder aro
heights that would bo chilled with
horror but for tho warm robo of for
est foliago with which thoy are en
wrapped. Altars of worship af which
nations might kneel. Domes of dial
cedony on temples of porphyry. 8co
all this camago of color up aim down
tho cliffs; it must havo been tho bat
tlo field of tho war of tho elements.
Hero are all tho colors of tho wall of
heaven, neither tho sapphire nor tho
chrysolite nor tho topaz nor tho ja
cinth, nor tho amethyst nor tho jas
per nor tho twelve gates of twclvo
pearls wanting. If spirits bound
from earth to heaven could pass up
by way of this canyon, tho dash of
heavenly beauty would not bo so over
powering. It would only bo from
glory to glory. Ascent through such
earthly scenery in which tho crystal
i so bright and tho red so flamim?
would bo fit preparation for tho "sea
of glass mingled with fire."
Standing there in tho Grand canyon
of tho Yellowstone park on tho morn
ing of Aug. 0, for tho most part wo
hold our peace, but uftcr a whilo it
flashed upon mo with such power I
could not help but say to mv comrades:
What a Hall this would bo for the
lust Judgment I" Seo that mighty cos
cado with tho rainbows at the foot of it.
Thoso waters congealed und transfixed
with tho agitations of that day, what
a placo thoy would mako for tho shin
'ng feet of a Judge or quick and dead.
uid thoso rainbows look now liko the
crowns to bo cast at his feet. At the
bottom of this great canyon is a floor
on which tlio nations of tho earth
mightstand and all up and down those
galleries of rock tho nations of heaven
might sit. And what reverberation of
archangels' trumpet there would be
tllXn.W.i. ..II ,l..w.. 1 II
.... w. iii mi uii-.Mj ifuruvn mm uuiil mi i
tlieso caverns and over all these
heights. Why should not the greatest
)f ull tho days the world i-hall over
seo close amid tho grandest scenery
Omnipotence ovor built?
Oh, tho sweep of tho Amortcnn con
tluontl Sailing up Puget sound. Its
shores so lold that for llftoon hun
dred miles a ship's prow would touch
tho shore boforo its keol touched tho
bottom, I said i "This is tho Mediter
ranean of America." Visiting Port
laud and Tacoma and Seattlo and
Victoria and Fort Townseud and
Vnncouvors and othor cities of
thnt north west region I thought
to myself. Theso are tho Bos
tons, Nuw Yorks, Charlestons and Sa
ruiiunhs of the Pacific coast. Hut
after all this summer's journeying
and my other journeys westward in
othor summers, 1 found that I had
scon only a part of the American con
tinent, for Alaska is as far west of San
Francisco as tho coast of Maine in east
of it, so that tho central oity of tho
American continent is San Francisco,
ASIA AND AMERICA.
1 havo said these things about tho
magnitude of tho continent and given
you n fow specimens of somo of its
wonders and let you know tho com
prehensiveness of tho toxt when it
bays that Christ is going to have do
minion from sea to sea; that is, from
tho Atlantic to tho Pacific. Ilcsldo
that, the salvation of this continent
means tho salvation of Asia, for wo
aro only thirty-six miles from Asia at
tho northwest. Only Hehriug straits
separate us from Asia, and theso will
bo Mmnned by a great bridge before
another century closes, and probably
long before that Tho thirty-six miles
of watet between theso two continents
aro not nil deep sea, but havo three
islands mid there are also shoals which
will allow piers for bridges, and for
tho most of tho way tho water is only
about twenty fathoms deep.
Tho Amoricd-Asiatic bridpjo which
will yet span thoso straits will make
America, Asia, Europe and Africa ono
continent. Soyou seo America evangel
ied, Asia wilfboovnngelicd. Europo
taking Asia from ono side ami America
taking it from tho other sido. Our
great-grandchildren will cross that
bridge America ami Asia and Europe
nil one, what subtraction from tho
pangs of seasickness I and the prophe
cies in Revolution will he fulfilled.
There shall he no more sea. Hut do I
mem literal! that lhis.xinericnu conti
nent is going to bo ull gospolizcd? I do.
Christopher Columbus, when ho wont
ashore from tho Santa Maria, mid his
second brother Alou.o, when ho went
ashore from tho Piuta, and his third
brother Vincent, when he wont ashore
from the Nina, took possession of this
country in the name of tho Father and
the Son and tho Holy Ghost.
Satan has no more right to this
country than I have to your pocket
book. To hear him (all: on the roof
of tho Temple, where ho proposed to
give Christ tho kingdoms of this
world and tho glory of them, you
might suppose that Satan was a great
capitalist or that he was loaded up
with real estate, when the old mis
creant never owned an acre or an inch
of ground on this planet. For that
reason 1 protest against something 1
heard ana saw this summer and other
summers in Montana mid Oregon and
Wyoming and Idaho and Colorado
and California. Tlioy havo given
dovilistiu uiu-ies to many places m tho
west mid northwest
As soon ils you get in Yellowstone
park or California you havo pointed
out to you places cursed with such
names as "Tho Dovil's Slide," "The
Devil's Kitchen," "Tho Dovil's
Thumb," "Tho Dovil's Pulpit," "Tho
Dovil'H Mush Pot," "Tho Dovil's Tea
Kcttlo," "The Dovil's Saw Mill," "Tho
Dovil's Maehino Shop " "Tho Dovil's
Gate" and so on. Now it i-t very much
needed that geological surveyor or
congressional committee or group of
distinguished tourists go through Mon
tana and Wyoming and California
and Colorado and give other names to
theso places. All theso regions bo
long to tho Lord and to a Christian
nation, and away with such Plutonic
nomenclature.
now to do the oooi work.
But how is this continent to bo gos
polizcd? The pulpit and a Christian
printing press harnessed together will
bo the mightiest team for tho first
plow. Not by tho power of cold, for
malistic theology, not by ecclesiastical
technicalities. I am sick of them and
tho world is bick of them. But it will
bo done by tho warm hearted, sympa
thetic presentation of tho fact that
Christ is ready to pardon all our sins
and heal all our wounds and save us
both for this world and tho noxt. Let
your religion of glaciers crack off and
fall into tho Gulf Stream and gel
melted. Tako all your creeds of all
denominations and drop out of them
all human phraseology and put in
only scriptural phraseology and you
will bco now quick tho people will
jump after them.
On tho Columbia river a fow days
ago wo saw tho salmon jump clear out
of tho wutcr in dilforent pluccs, I sup
poso for tho purposo of getting tho in
sects. And if when wo want to fish
for men wo could only havo tho right
kind of bait thov will spring out nbovo
tho Hood of their sins and borrows to
reach it. Tlio Young Men's Christian
associations of America will also do
pact of tho work. All over the conti
nent I saw this summer their now
buildings rising. In Vancouver's 1
asked: "What aro you going to put
on thnt sightly place?" Tho answer
was: "A oung Men's Christian as
sociation building." At Lincoln, Neb.,
I said: "What aro they making thoso
excavations for?" Answer: "For our
Young Men's Christian association
building." At Dcs Moines, la., I saw
o noblo structure rising and I asked for
what mii'Dosc it was beincr built, nnd
thoy told mo for tho Young Men's
nrisuan association.
Theso institutions nro going to tako
tho young men of this nation for God.
Theso institutions seem in better favor
with God and man than ever before.
Business men and capitalists aro awak
ing to tho fact that they can do nothing
better in tho way of living beneficence
or in last will and testament than to
do what Mr. Marquaud did for Brook;
lyn when ho mado our Young Men's
Christian iwiiien nnwiiiblo
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