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diff --git a/old/66818-0.txt b/old/66818-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index bbc5be6..0000000 --- a/old/66818-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,9481 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Strange Adventures of a Pebble, by -Hallam Hawksworth - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: The Strange Adventures of a Pebble - -Author: Hallam Hawksworth - -Release Date: November 24, 2021 [eBook #66818] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Tim Lindell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at - https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images - generously made available by The Internet Archive/American - Libraries.) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF A -PEBBLE *** - - - - - - THE STRANGE ADVENTURES - OF A PEBBLE - - - - - STRANGE ADVENTURES IN NATURE'S WONDERLANDS - - THE - STRANGE ADVENTURES - OF A PEBBLE - - BY - - HALLAM HAWKSWORTH - - AUTHOR OF "THE ADVENTURES OF A GRAIN OF DUST" - - CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS - - NEW YORK CHICAGO BOSTON - - - - - Copyright, 1921, by - CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS - A - - - THE SCRIBNER PRESS - - - - -PREFACE - - -The purpose of this little book is to present the chief features in the -strange story of the pebbles; and so of the larger pebble we call the -earth. It is hoped that readers of various ages will be entertained, -without suspecting that they are being taught. - -Several things led the author to believe that such a book might be -wanted. - -(_a_) The circumstances under which it was written. - -(_b_) The fact that there seemed to be an opportunity for improvement -not only in the popular presentation of scientific topics but in the -character and method of review questions and suggestions following such -topics in school texts. - -(_c_) Experience has shown that pictures may be made to perform a much -more vital function in teaching than is usually assigned to them in the -text-books.[1] - -[Footnote 1: On this subject I cannot do better, perhaps, than quote -from an article on "The Picture Book in Education," contributed to the -New York _Evening Post_: - -"We learn more easily by looking at things than by memorizing words -about them. The principle, of course, holds whether the image which the -eye receives comes from the object itself or only from the picture of -the object. Therefore we should learn to read pictures as well as books. - -"New York has long recognized the added efficiency in the teaching -process to be obtained from the use of pictures. The Division of -Visual Instruction, established thirty years ago, has an international -reputation for the extent of its equipment, the simplicity of its -methods, and the excellence of its results."] - -(_d_) In the particular field to which this story relates comparatively -little has been written either for reading in the family circle or for -use in the school; although the relation of physiography, not only to -human history and political and commercial geography but to the whole -immense realm of natural science, is so basic and its great principles -and processes so striking in their appeal to curiosity and our sense of -the grand and the dramatic.[2] - -[Footnote 2: Commenting on the need of popular literature dealing with -earth science, Doctor Shaler says: - -"In no other fields are large and important truths so distinctly -related to human interests so readily traced; yet the treatises dealing -with these truths are few in number and generally recondite."] - -What here appear as chapters were originally little talks for the -evening entertainment of the juvenile members of a certain family and -the neighboring children, who were attracted by what came to be known -as the "pebble parties," during the season at Mount Desert Island. They -are here given in substantially the form in which they first saw the -light. While they proved entirely intelligible to boys and girls of -eight and ten they seemed equally interesting to the older members of -the audience, including a youth of eighteen in his last year of high -school, whose comments, in the language of his caste, deserve to share -the credit for whatever of whimsical humor and colloquial style the -author may have succeeded in incorporating into the narrative. - -The familiar tone, the number and variety of the chapters, the -sub-heads and marginal captions and the character and treatment of -the illustrations have a similar origin. They represent the variety -of aspects under which it was found necessary to present the facts in -order to hold a capricious audience whose attendance and attention -were wholly voluntary. - -The use of unfamiliar words and scientific terms has been avoided as -much as possible, consistent with the educational purpose of the book. -It is to be remembered that educators do not consider it good practice -to omit all words which children cannot understand at sight; the theory -being that it is by the judicious introduction of words not current -on the playground that the intellectual interests and capacities of -children are enlarged. With regard to scientific topics (it is further -argued) a large proportion of the classics of science written for the -general reader and which boys and girls of fourteen and upward should -be able to read easily and with pleasure--Shaler, Darwin, and Wallace, -for example--contain quite a few scientific terms; and these it would -be well that young people learn from context or definition in their -previous reading in works of a more elementary nature. - -Moreover, while younger children will read a book the general character -of which interests them, even though they do not understand every word -or get all the thoughts in it, sophisticated youths of the high-school -age will have none of it, if they suspect that they are being talked -down to. In the story of the pebble the aim, accordingly, has been not -only to make a book that young people will not outgrow but one that -will be of some interest to adults, particularly to travellers. - -Not only in the text is special emphasis laid on the interpretation -of landscape, but the character, treatment, and arrangement of the -illustrations is intended to train the eye to read the story of the -earth drama as recorded in the forms of valley, mountain, field, -and shore. And--since the earth is not, after all, a mere geological -specimen--these illustrations include reproductions of paintings, -scenery as interpreted by the poet and the artist. - -To create an appropriate atmosphere and so add to the vividness of -conception, the twelve chapters each deal with a seasonable subject. - - -Relation to the Text-Book - -The relation of this book to the formal study of physiography or -geology in the schools will be apparent. The classified and exhaustive -treatment of the text-book, while so admirably adapted to organize -knowledge already acquired, or reward an appetite already aroused, is -not at all adapted for creating this appetite in the first place; a -thing so essential to true progress in education. For example, in a -text-book, the many aspects of glaciers and their work, which are here -distributed in a number of sections (as the discovery of these aspects -was distributed in time), are usually dealt with in a single chapter or -series of chapters, whose nature the reader at once gathers from the -title, "The Work of the Glaciers." - -The young reader or school pupil is thus deprived of the element of -surprise, of the pleasure of following an unfolding mystery, which was -at once the inspiration and reward of men of science to whom we owe -these discoveries. - -If left to the text-book alone, the student acquires his facts too -rapidly and too easily. The result is a loss of both pleasure and -profit. The movements of the glaciers and the nature of the movement, -which gave Agassiz seven years of keen delight to ascertain, the pupil -acquires through his text-book in something like seven minutes, and -without either the pleasure or the profit of Agassiz' gradual and -inductive acquirement of this knowledge. - -In other words, to begin the study of a given science by means of a -text-book, without previously arousing interest in the subject, is to -assume a greater zeal on the part of school pupils and college students -than, it is reasonable to assume, was possessed by the scientists -themselves. It was the attraction of the unknown rather than the rapid -acquirement of the known that drew them on to their grand discoveries, -their illuminating generalizations. - -In recording the pebble's story the endeavor has been to cause the -reader to come upon the data on which these generalizations were based, -piece by piece, here a little and there a little--as did the scientists -themselves. - -Interesting as the mere facts of physiographic science finally become -to the trained scientist they make little appeal either to the average -boy or the average adult, if he must first come in contact with them as -they are presented in the text-book; classified, catalogued, labelled -in scientific terms and laid away (as it seems to him) in chapter, -section, and paragraph, like specimens in a museum. - -Since this book is concerned mainly with landscapes and the story of -the forces that helped to shape them it does not undertake to deal -with mineralogy. Within the fields thus defined it is believed that -the larger facts, the great moving causes of things, have been covered -as thoroughly as they are in the average elementary text-book. In -addition, subjects in great variety are touched upon which do not come -within the province of the text-book, but are such as naturally suggest -themselves in the broader and richer discussion of such topics in the -conversation of cultivated people. - - -Hide and Seek in the Library - -Since the whole purpose of the school is to prepare for the larger -world of life and books outside the school, special attention is -invited to the department of questions and suggestions following each -chapter. As indicated in the introduction to the first of the series, -an effort has been made to capitalize the fact that young people enjoy -conundrums and curious quests in the field of books quite as well as -mere passive reading. - -The treatment is somewhat discursive, and in this and other respects -is intended to be more like the conversation of cultivated parents -with their children than like the review questions of a text-book; the -review element being incidental, in recalling the topics out of which -these questions and suggestions grow. The correlations in the most -modern texts lead into equally wide and varied fields. - -If he has succeeded in the aim thus indicated, the author believes this -department may easily prove one of the most interesting as well as -educatively useful features of the work. - - H. H. - - - - -CONTENTS - - - CHAPTER PAGE - - I. _In the Beginning_ 1 - - II. _The Winter that Lasted All Summer_ 20 - - III. _The Soul of the Spring and the Lands of Eternal Snow_ 41 - - IV. _The April Rains and the Work of the Rivers_ 66 - - V. _The Fairyland of Change_ 93 - - VI. _The Secrets of the Hills_ 113 - - VII. _The Stones of the Field_ 145 - - VIII. _The Desert_ 161 - - IX. _In the Lands of the Lakes_ 191 - - X. _The Autumn Winds and the Rock Mills of the Sea_ 212 - - XI. _The Handwriting on the Walls_ 234 - - XII. _The End of the World_ 260 - - _Index_ 279 - - - - -THE ILLUSTRATIONS - - -In furtherance of the idea referred to in the preface, that a far more -effective use may be made of pictures in teaching than is usual, a -very extended use has been made of them in "The Strange Adventures of -a Pebble," and, moreover, these pictures have been made to talk, as it -were, by means of extended analysis and comment upon their significant -features; this for the double purpose of teaching important facts, as -only pictures can teach, and of stimulating the invaluable habit of -observation and of logical reasoning about things observed. - -One of the main purposes of the book, as stated in the preface, is to -stimulate interest in further reading and study on the many subjects to -which it relates. - -The author wishes to make special acknowledgment of the co-operation of -the editor of _St. Nicholas_ and the following publishers in supplying -the illustrations on the pages indicated: - -The Macmillan Co.: 11, 29, 36, 41, 52, 83, 108, 121, 132, 145, 152, -168, 173, 195, 221, 225, 226, 235, 240, 249, 254, 257. The Century Co.: -For the following from the _St. Nicholas_ magazine: 38, 47, 70, 184, -199. - -D. Appleton and Co.: 12, 22, 60, 97, 102, 136, 141, 224, 236, 241, 243, -245, 247, 252, 257. G. P. Putnam's Sons: 59, 105, 147. E. P. Dutton & -Co.: 157. Henry Holt & Co.: 37, 84, 149, 193, 207, 250. Silver Burdett -Co.: 28. _World's Work_: 79. _Geological Survey_: 13, 23, 114, 130, -194, 238. _Wisconsin Survey_: 33. _Encyclopædia Britannica_: 256. - - - - - THE STRANGE ADVENTURES - OF A PEBBLE - - - - - CHAPTER I - - (JANUARY) - - In the beginning the earth was without form and void. - - --_Genesis_ 1:1-2. - - -IN THE BEGINNING - - -I. How the Worlds and Myself Were Born - -I've been through fire and water, _I_ tell you! From my earliest -pebblehood the wildest things you could imagine have been happening to -this world of ours, and I have been right in the midst of them. - - -HOW MR. APOLLO TURNED ON THE LIGHT - -The first scenes of all in my strange, eventful history remind me of -the old Greek story about Apollo and that boy of his--Phaeton. Apollo's -business, you remember, was to take the sun through the skies every day -in his golden chariot, so that people could see to get about. It was a -ticklish job, as the horses were fiery. As a rule, however, things went -fairly well. To be sure, there were overdone days occasionally, just -as there are now. Then the crops would wither and the birds and brooks -stop singing. This, as the little Greek boys and girls believed, was -because Apollo's horses ran too near the earth. - -[Illustration: HOW MR. APOLLO TURNED ON THE LIGHT - - Behold the sun-god starting on his daily round! Aurora, Goddess of - the Dawn, precedes him scattering flowers, the lovely colors of the - morning sky. The other figures are the early hours. - - The Greek poets used to play with these myth stories a good deal, - changing them to suit their poetic fancy. Theocritus, for example, - in a beautiful fragment that has come down to us, paints this - picture of the breaking day: - - "Dawn, up from the sea to the sky, - By her fleet-footed steeds was drawn." - - You see, according to this poet's conception, Miss Dawn had a - chariot of her own. -] - -But nothing serious happened until one time Phaeton persuaded father to -let him drive the sun chariot for a day. The horses, feeling at once a -new and weak hand on the reins, tore out of the regular road and went -dashing right and left. They even got so near the North Pole that the -ice began to melt. They fairly flew down toward the earth, set the -mountains smoking, and dried up all the springs and most of the rivers. - - -THEN THINGS BEGAN TO HAPPEN - -They dried up a certain great lake, so that there is to this day the -Libyan Desert in Africa, where this lake used to be. They made the very -sea shrink so that there were "wide naked plains where once its billows -rose." - -Finally Mother Earth called on Jupiter Pluvius, as god of thunder, -rain, and storms, to stop Phaeton and the runaways and put out the fire. - -Struck by a bolt of lightning poor Phaeton fell headlong from the -skies, and a world-wide rain put out the world-wide fire. - -[Illustration: _From a cameo by Da Vinci_ - - THE FALL OF PHAETON - - (Museum, Florence) -] - -Now, would you believe it, this queer old Old World story may really be -true in its way. Of course there never was a sun god and no spoiled boy -who did just that thing; although many spoiled boys have _tried_ to set -the world on fire and failed because they thought it would be so easy. - -But the earth really has been on fire in a sense; that is, has melted -from the heat. And in parts where you would least suspect--the rocks. -There's where I got into it. And some of these rocks, not more than -ten miles[3] from where you live, are either still molten, or continue -to melt from time to time; as you can see when lava comes pouring from -volcanoes, such as those of Hawaii. - -[Footnote 3: Straight down, of course.] - -In the days of the Apollo story most men still thought the earth was -the centre of the universe; that the sun, moon, and stars moved around -it. But Pythagoras, one of the Greek philosophers, had formed a general -notion of the truth that the earth is only one planet in a great -system. Then, along in the Sixteenth Century, came Copernicus, and by -mathematical calculation--he was a fine hand at figures--began to find -out things that showed the wise old Greek had made a happy guess. Then -Galileo, Kepler, Newton, and others, each working on different parts of -the problem, finally settled the question. They found that there are -just worlds of worlds, and that ours is only one of them. - - * * * * * - -About the time of the American Revolution a great French mathematician, -Laplace, worked out a story of the origin of the earth which is, -briefly, this: - -What we know now as the solar system--the sun with its attendant -worlds--was once a single big ball of fiery gas, a nebula. As this -nebula cooled it shrank, and as it shrank it whirled faster because -it had a smaller track in which to turn, and with an equal amount of -force would, of course, get around oftener. The faster it whirled -the more the outside of it tended to fly off, as water flies off a -whirling grindstone or as a stone flies from a sling. This centrifugal -or "fly-away" force was greatest at the sun's equator, and it threw -off big rings. Afterward, around some centre of greater density in -these rings, the gaseous particles in the rest of the ring gathered, so -forming spheres. Then some of the spheres themselves threw off rings in -the same way which became what are called satellites. The moon, which -is our satellite, Laplace supposed to have originated in this way. -The ring which Saturn still wears he thought would some day become a -satellite. - -[Illustration: - - _By permission of the Mount Wilson Observatory_ - - WATCHING THE MAKING OF WORLDS - - At first you won't see anything very striking about this picture, - perhaps; but doesn't it give you something of a thrill to be told - that you are here looking not only at the making of a _world_, - but of worlds of worlds? A whole solar system! In the course of - unthinkable time that big, round ball in the center will be the - sun, and what appear to be little knots wrapped close around - it--they are really far from each other and from the sun--will - become rounded worlds like ours. They will be forced into roundness - by their own gravity, pulling toward their centers. They don't look - any farther apart than the strands in a little sister's braided - hair, do they? But remember how small this picture is compared with - what it represents. What here show as little dark lines, separating - the embryo worlds, are in reality vast spaces, like those you see - between the stars at night--millions and millions and millions of - miles! -] - -So, you see, the myth story of Phaeton foreshadowed, in a way, the -science story of Laplace. For, according to the Laplace theory, the -world _was_ on fire; and a big rain storm, lasting for ages, with -plenty of thunder and lightning, did help put it out. - -This theory of Laplace was long accepted as the true one. Indeed, it -was only yesterday, comparatively, that other explanations were offered -as to how we came to have a world to stand on. The broadest of these -new theories--the one that undertakes to explain the most--is that of -Professor Chamberlin, of the University of Chicago. - -[Illustration: THE SUN AND HIS PEBBLE WORLDS - - However the worlds of our solar system may have been made, when - they were done there was the sun in the centre and his worlds - travelling around him in their ordered orbits. Nearest the sun is - Mercury. Then Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus; then, - finally, Neptune nearly 3,000,000,000 miles away and with an orbit - so big that Christmas comes only once in 60,000 years! -] - - -YOU CAN SEE THESE WORLDS IN THE MAKING - -Owing to the more powerful telescopes of to-day, and the amount of -exploring among the worlds that has been going on since the time of -Laplace, several things have been discovered that have brought his -theory into question. For one thing, many more nebulæ have been found -in space than were known when Laplace worked out his great conception, -and among them all not one has been found with a central mass -surrounded by a ring. Moreover, our sharp-eyed telescopes show that -Saturn's ring, which Laplace thought was a solid mass, is really made -up of a great number of small satellites: baby worlds. The greater -number of these nebulæ are like the ones you see in the illustration -on page 5. They consist of very bright centres with spirals streaming -out from opposite sides. Just take a look at the picture. Doesn't the -shape of those spirals suggest that the central mass is whirling? And -notice the little white lumps here and there. The thinner, veil-like -portions of the mass, as well as the "lumps," are supposed to be made -of particles of matter, but the lumps to be more condensed. All the -particles, big and little, are known to be revolving about the central -mass, much as the earth revolves about the sun. The little white lumps, -or knots, in the filmy skein are supposed to be worlds in the making. -Being larger than the other particles, they draw the smaller to them, -according to the same law of gravitation which makes every unsupported -thing on earth fall to the ground, because the earth is so much bigger -than anything there is on it. Since these bright little lumps behave -so much like the worlds we know as planets, and yet are relatively -so small, they are called planetessimals, or "little planets." So -Professor Chamberlin's idea of the origin of worlds is known as the -"planetessimal theory." - -[Illustration: HOW YOU CAN WATCH THE WORLD TURN ROUND - - Timepieces, you know, are really machines for keeping track of the - apparent movement of the sun. Here is a device, as simple as a - sun-dial and much simpler than a clock, by which you can record the - actual motion of the earth. Sprinkle the surface of the water in a - bowl with chalk dust. On this, sift from a piece of paper powdered - charcoal or pencil dust, so as to make a clean-cut band extending - across the centre and over the edge of the bowl. In the course of - several hours you will find that the black band has swept round - from east to west, because the water has stood still while the bowl - has been carried from west to east by the whirling world. -] - -According to this theory the earth was once a mere baby world like -those white lumps, and grew by gathering in its smaller neighbors from -time to time by the power of gravitation. The larger it grew the more -particles of solid matter it could draw to itself. Then it drew larger -masses, for with increased mass came an increased pull of gravity. In -the same way the earth is still growing, for it is thought that the -shooting stars or meteors we see at night are little planets being -gathered in. - - -II. How the Continents Came Up Out of the Sea - -And before I got to be myself at all, while I was still only a part of -the big pebble called the Earth, your geography and I lay at the bottom -of the sea. - -For ages and ages! - -This is one of the stories you will find in the literature of science, -of how, along with North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, -and Australia--have I left out any?--I came to land and brought your -geography with me. - -I remember hearing a pretty young lady say, once upon a time: - -"There," said she, "I'm through with geography forever!" - -You see, although she had passed with marks around 90, she still had -the idea that geography is a book. You and I know, of course, that the -real geography isn't a book at all. It's the world itself. - - -PUTTING THE CONTINENTS ON THE GLOBE - -But there was a time when there was no land. It was all water, and -the continents were lifted into their places, much as you model a -continent in making a relief map; they were sketched out and then -filled in. North America, for example. First of all up came that mass -in the northeast in what is now Canada; the Laurentian Highlands, as -they are called in your geography. They rose very, very slowly, you -understand, only a few feet in a thousand years; for Nature has all -the time there is and never hurries. These highlands (they are really -granite mountains worn down), along with the other rock formations of -our continent, are supposed to be the oldest land on the earth. The -continents of Europe and the rest were born later. So you see Columbus -didn't discover the New World at all; he really came from the New World -and discovered the Old! - -Next after the highlands north of the St. Lawrence up came the tops of -the mountains you see running along the eastern coast, what we now -call the Appalachians. Then the Rocky Mountains began to raise their -heads and looked eastward toward their brother mountains across a great -mediterranean sea, the bottom of which is now the Mississippi Valley. -Mediterranean means "middle of the land." - -[Illustration: HOW YOUR GEOGRAPHY ROSE OUT OF THE SEA] - - -ADMITTING NEW STATES TO THE MAP - -Wisconsin, into which I moved from the Laurentian Highlands in later -years, was on the lower end of a long, thin tongue of rock reaching out -from these highlands to the southwest. While Wisconsin went on growing, -the Alleghanies came up and brought some Middle Atlantic geography with -them. Up with all these early settler mountains came, in the course of -time, the beginnings of neighbor States. All these big, barren rocks -(as they were then), rising and ever rising, age after age, spread -more surface to the sun. And the sun, and the wind, and the frost, -followed by the lowest forms of plant life--the Adams of the vegetable -world--gradually worked the surface of the rock into soil; and so, as -we may say, got ready for the spring plowing. - -[Illustration: LANDS THE SEA HAS SWALLOWED - - Parts of the continents as they used to be but which are now - beneath the waters are here shown. Compare this with the globe map - in your geography. It is estimated that there are 10,000,000 square - miles of this land. You'll hear more about this swallowing habit of - the sea in Chapter X; but, as you will learn, there's nothing to be - frightened about. -] - -By this constant rising and building on of the soil the foundations -of our States grew out toward one another in order, according to the -constitution of things, "to form a more perfect union." The United -States, at a time which, we may say, corresponds to "The Expansion -Period" in your school history, grew southward from Wisconsin and -westward from the Appalachians until they made continuous land; and -there was your Ohio and Indiana and the rest of the North Central -group. Below, toward the south, were more big stone islands here -and there, the first sketches or blockings out of the Southern -States. Florida seems to have been added later, as a final touch; an -afterthought, as one of my Wisconsin neighbors puts it. And it was -much enlarged by those remarkable little world builders, the corals. -Mexico and Central America, of course, are a part of the Rocky Mountain -system. - -[Illustration: - - _From Gilbert and Brigham's "An Introduction to Physical - Geography." By permission of D. Appleton and Company_ - - -BUT WON'T WE GO UNDER AGAIN? - - These little people of the sea-floor furnish one of the most - assuring evidences we have that although the continents rose out of - the sea, they will never go under the sea again. These are shell - creatures found in the slime dredged from the bottom of the deepest - parts of the sea. The shells of creatures that live near shore are - found in abundance in our rocks, but these types are found only - in the deepest seas. So, since the deep down-wrinklings of the - earth that make the sea-basins have never risen, it is probable - they never will; and consequently that the up-wrinkles--the - continents--will continue to stay above the waters. -] - -It's a wonderful old story, isn't it? But more wonderful still, it -always seemed to me, is the story of how they found all this out. - -Who do you suppose first told about it? The last people you would ever -think of, I'm sure--the oysters! - - -WHAT THE OYSTERS TOLD XENOPHANES - -It sounds like a passage from "Alice in Wonderland," or "Through the -Looking-Glass," doesn't it? But it's a fact. Away back, more than -2,000 years ago, a wise Greek called Xenophanes, who lived in a place -called Colophon, and so was called Xenophanes of Colophon, said that he -thought the rocks of the mountain sides must once have been under the -sea because of the oyster shells that were found embedded in many of -them. - -[Illustration: HOW THE OYSTERS TOLD THE GREAT SECRET - - Here is a good example of the thing that led wise old Xenophanes of - Colophon to make the startling assertion that the mountains were - once at the bottom of the sea. These are the shells of oysters - embedded in limestone--which, by the way, the shells of the oysters - themselves helped make--and this piece of stone is from the top of - a high mountain. -] - -"For," said Xenophanes of Colophon, "how else could the oyster shells -have got there? Who ever heard of oysters climbing a mountain?" - -Another evidence that lands come up out of the sea is this: Even before -the days of Scott and Maryatt and Fenimore Cooper, men--and, of course, -boys--were interested in caves that face upon the sea. They are such -jolly places for pirates, and for boys playing pirate, and for mermaids -drying their hair. It was plain that down where the waves in storms -could reach them the sea itself bored out these caves. But how about -those caves in the cliffs high above the waves? The sea must have made -them, too, once upon a time when the land was lower in the water. Then -the land was raised. - -Still more striking was the fact that not only caves but old sea -beaches were found on hill and mountain slopes far from the sea, -sometimes hundreds of miles inland. You can tell the old beaches by -their shape and the way in which the pebbles are sorted by size, just -as you find them on beaches to-day. - - -THE BAKED APPLE AND THE BULGING WORLD - -The causes of the rise and fall of the sea coasts are many, and -there are things about these movements not yet understood. By what -wonderful machinery, then (we might naturally ask), were the continents -themselves lifted out of the sea? To this, which would seem much the -harder question of the two, the answer is simple; as simple as a baked -apple. You know an apple that goes into the oven with a smooth, neat -skin comes out covered with wrinkles. Now suppose, instead of a little, -hot apple, covered with a thin skin, you have a big, hot earth covered -with a thick crust of stone, and the inside of the earth shrinking all -the time as the inside of the apple shrank away from its skin. The rock -skin would wrinkle, and the wrinkles, rising out of the seas that then -covered it everywhere, would make continents. - -[Illustration: THE RISE AND FALL OF JUPITER SERAPIS - - In this account of the ups and downs of land and sea I must tell - you the story of Jupiter Serapis. In the days of the Romans this - temple, for his honor, stood on the seashore near Naples. Of that - temple only three pillars remain, but they answer a very important - question. On these pillars, over twenty feet above sea-level, is a - belt of holes bored in the stone by a certain shelled sea-creature, - one of the barnacle family; so evidently these pillars must, at - some time, have sunk, as shown in the second picture, and then - risen again, as shown in the third, which represents them as they - stand to-day. - - Another interesting thing is that the third picture--observe--shows - a volcano that isn't in the other two. Following a series of - earthquake shocks in 1538 the earth opened and out popped hot - stones and ashes and built themselves into a small volcano right - before everybody; for it was all done in a short time, and you may - be sure the frightened people kept their eyes on it, and they named - it Monte Nuovo, which is Italian for "New Mountain." -] - -"And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together -into one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so." - -According to the planetessimal theory the way in which the seas were -made was this: - -Owing to the collision--the "bang"--of the planetessimals against the -earth, and against each other as they met at the "terminal station," -heat was generated. The compression, the squeezing together, of the -earth from its own weight--the gravity pull of the whole mass toward -the centre--generated still more heat, and the heat and pressure drove -the gases out of the rock. These gases included hydrogen and oxygen. -These two gases cooling and combining themselves, in a way they have, -became water, and there were other gases, such as nitrogen and carbon -gas, that helped to make the air. - - -WHEN THE SEAS WERE ALL IN THE SKY - -At first the water was in the form of dense clouds of overhanging vapor -which, growing bigger and bigger, finally fell in rain. The heat, made -by the pressure of the outside of the earth toward the centre as the -earth kept growing, caused volcanic explosions. But there were far -more volcanoes in those early days when the earth was settling down, -and being "settled up," as it were, by these energetic pioneers in the -fields of space--the planetessimals--and the surface became pitted -with craters. In these great catch basins the rain was stored, and, -as for ages the rain kept falling faster than the vapor rose from the -earth, many of these bodies of water united, and so formed the lakes, -the river systems, the oceans, and the seas. - - -THE FOUR GREAT FEATURES OF THE BIBLE STORY - -All of which, while it differs so much from the theory of Laplace, does -not affect the Bible outline of the origin of the earth. For these four -great things must still have been: (1) an earth without form, and void; -(2) a great deep; (3) upon its face darkness from the continuing masses -of black rain-laden clouds which overhung it and shut out the sun; (4) -the final dividing up of supply between the vapor of the clouds ("the -waters above the earth") and "the waters upon the earth," so that at -last the dark cloud curtain disappeared, and the sun began to rule the -day. "Let there be light." - - * * * * * - -But good-by to Phaeton and the story of an original glowing ball which -cooled off on the outside. If the earth grew bit by bit instead of -being whirled off in one fiery mass by the sun it was never any hotter -than it is now, if as hot. It grew hot by being pressed together by its -own weight, and by the blows of additional little worlds as they fell -upon it. - -But on one thing everybody agrees, that the rocks, as you go toward the -earth's centre, have been and still are in a molten state; that this -rock, when it cools, becomes granite, all full of little crystals like -a lump of sugar, and that the Granites are one of the F. F. E.'s.[4] - -[Footnote 4: First Families on Earth.] - -I, as you see, am a Granite. So, besides going through fire and -water--yes, and ice, as you will learn--and having many strange and -wearing adventures both by land and sea--I'm "awfully" old. Older than -you think. I looked it up in the family record called the "Geological -Column"--just the other day. That column gives my age as "80+." This -means I'm 80,000,000 years old, going on 81! (The _plus_ sign, in -geology language, means "going on"; or, "and then some," as a certain -slangful high school freshman puts it.) - -But I don't think I _show_ my age. Do you? - - -HIDE AND SEEK IN THE LIBRARY - - Who wants to sit and be talked to all the time? When boys and girls - are playing games, the greatest pleasure is in taking part, and - it's the same way in the Wonderland of Books. Books mean most to - those who "get into the game"; who help chase after the answers to - things. This hunting for answers up and down among the books is one - of the interesting games we're going to play; and those of you who - don't come in will miss a lot of fun. That's all _I've_ got to say! - Let's begin like this: - - * * * * * - - In the Greek myth stories what else was Mr. Apollo supposed to do - for the world and its people besides turning on the light?[5] - -[Footnote 5: Answers to all these questions at the ends of chapters -will be found in books you can easily get hold of--encyclopædias, -dictionaries, and school-books; or books usually found in home, school, -or public libraries. Words in parenthesis or italics indicate the -headings where the information referred to will be found.] - - Why doesn't the force of the earth, whirling along as it does at 19 - miles a second, cause the wind to blow us all away? (_Earth._) - - What is the difference between a planet and a sun? - - How does the earth compare in size with its brother planets of the - sun family? - - How often would Christmas come around if we lived on the moon? - - What causes different phases of the moon? - - Why may we be said to have eclipses of the moon every month? - - "Moon" and "month" sound a good deal alike when you come to think - of it. Don't you wonder why? "Moon" comes from a word meaning "to - measure." You'll find the rest of the word-story of the moon in any - dictionary that is big enough to tell about the origin of words. - - By the way--speaking of the timekeepers in the sky--don't forget - to look up the lives of the great astronomers mentioned in this - chapter. You will find, among other things, how Galileo, when only - eighteen years of age, helped to give us our clocks and watches by - counting his pulse-beats while watching a hanging lamp swing back - and forth in the Cathedral of Pisa; how he found out who "The Man - in the Moon" really is and what the "Milky Way" is made of; how he - invented the wonderful glass for playing hide and seek among the - worlds, and with it found four moons in one night! - - Yes, and how do you suppose he found that the sun is going round - and round like a top, just as the earth does? It was the _simplest_ - thing! You'll see! - - Old Father Science may be said to be a Santa Claus who keeps a - curiosity-shop. His pack is not only full of curious things but he - is always "springing surprises on us," as our High School Boy puts - it. For example, one of the most curious as well as picturesque - evidences that great stretches of land sink under the sea from - time to time is furnished by the English swallows. Like many other - wealthy people, they spend their winters in Algiers, and they find - their way over the Mediterranean, not by any lands they can see - between coast and coast--for there _are_ none--but by lands that - _used_ to be there, thousands upon thousands of years ago. - - But how do the swallows know? They don't. Is it instinct? No. - (Whatever instinct is!) Then why do they do it? Look it up and - you'll see.[6] Yes, and you'll see that we have habits that _we_ - get in the same way; our habits of bowing, for example, because - it's the custom, although few people know how it originated. - -[Footnote 6: "Colin Clout's Calendar," by Grant Allen.] - - - - - CHAPTER II - - (FEBRUARY) - - Up rose the wild old Winter King - And shook his beard of snow; - "I hear the first young harebell ring, - 'Tis time for me to go! - Northward o'er the icy rocks, - Northward o'er the Sea." - - --_Leland._ - - -THE WINTER THAT LASTED ALL SUMMER - -It's been just one thing after another with the world and me ever since -we were born. First it was the fire, then it was the flood, and then it -was the winter that lasted all summer. - -Just what started it nobody knows to this day. Some of the theories -have been that this particular winter stayed so long because the earth -wavered on its axis, or that it flew the track for a while and got too -far away from the sun. From our present knowledge of the machinery of -the heavens it is certain that the earth's motions could not vary to -this extent. One theory that appeals to many scientists to-day is that -when so much of the carbon in the air went into the making of our coal -beds the earth became unusually cold, and so snows of each successive -winter kept piling up instead of melting away during the spring and -summer. When there is plenty of this gas in the air the earth's heat -does not escape so fast. But with the great amount of carbon taken up -in the growth of the vast forests that were made into coal, Mother -Earth's air blanket grew thinner, so to speak, hence the long, cold -spell. - -[Illustration: - - _From Norton's "Elements of Geology." By permission of Ginn and - Company_ - -WHEN THE ICE SHEETS COVERED THE LAND] - -But whatever caused it one thing is certain; it was a winter that beat -anything the oldest inhabitant ever saw; for the cave men are known to -have been on earth during this great winter, which is known as the Ice -Age or the Glacial Period. A great big ice cap reached from the North -Pole far down into the Temperate Zone in North America, Europe, and -Asia. - -[Illustration: FROM THE CAVEMAN'S DIARY - - This is a little note on the Ice Age from the caveman's diary--the - picture of a mammoth scratched with a flint on a mammoth's tusk. - You can see how the artist kept trying for the true form with - different lines, as all real artists do. Artists don't just have a - kind of sign that stands for the thing--like a little boy's picture - of a man that he always makes in just one way. Notice the action, - the natural motion of the animal. The artist means to say: "This is - the way he came at me." -] - - -I. The Mild Spell and the Menageries - -Just before this dreadful winter set in we had a long, open spell; -about a million years or so. It was just like summer most of the year -in the temperate zone, and much warmer than it is to-day in what is now -the land of the little frosty Eskimo. - -There weren't any little Eskimos in those days. In fact, there wasn't -much of anything that was little. Everything was on a big scale. Think -of a mud-turtle twelve feet long! He was all of that. His skull alone -was a yard long and he must have weighed a couple of tons. He had for -neighbors in the bordering swamps a number of huge creatures that one -wouldn't care to meet. - -[Illustration: THE KING OF THE DINOSAURS AT LUNCHEON - - Contrast the little, almost dainty, fore limbs with the enormous - legs. You can't help thinking of the arms of a human being, can - you? In fact, this mixed-up creature looks as if nature were even - then dreaming of man, the quadruped who, as some Frenchman said, - "took to walking on his hind legs that he might conquer the world." -] - - -DREADFULNESS OF MR. DINOSAUR - -The Dinosaur, for instance. His name means "terrible reptile." Some -members of the family were, indeed, terrible creatures. Just see -this one at lunch, Mr. Ceratosaurus. He has the head of a queer -horse--"probably a night mare," says the High School Boy--teeth -and tail and belly scales like a crocodile, a comb that suggests a -rooster's, legs like an ostrich, the talons of an eagle, and the dainty -little arms of a child. What a combination! Those small fore limbs were -used only for grasping. On his hind legs he stalked about, seeking -whom he might eat for dinner. He was about fifty feet long when he was -all there. At this late day scientists usually find only parts of him -scattered around. - -These Dinosaurs came in sizes and differed considerably as to looks and -eating and getting about. Some were as small as cats, some walked on -four legs, some--like the gentleman at lunch--walked on two. Some were -strict vegetarians, while others would have nothing but meat. The Big -Boys of the whole tribe were called the Sauropoda or reptile-footed -Dinosaurs. One of these, whose bones were found in Colorado, was -sixty-five feet long when complete, and he must have weighed around -twenty tons. His family nickname was Diplodocus or "Double Beam," -because of his long, beam-like neck and his long, beam-like tail. - - -GENTLE MR. DIPLODOCUS AND HIS WAYS - -Considering the reputation some of the other Dinosaurs had as bad -citizens, it is only fair to the Diplodocus to say that he was really a -gentle creature, and never disturbed anybody--unless somebody disturbed -him first. Then he would give them a switch with that tail of his, -and it was a switching they were not likely to forget. But his great -delight--indeed, his main occupation in life--was to sit deep in the -water, prop himself up with his great long tail, like a kangaroo, with -just his head out, like a turtle in a pond. Then he would strain little -water bugs and similar things through his teeth. He got his meals in -this way, very much as the whales do now. - -And elephants! You ought to have seen some of the members of the -elephant family that arrived after the reptile age, the mammoths, for -instance. These huge creatures and many other strange animals were all -over the place. It was just like a circus day everywhere all the time. -Such elephants don't travel with circuses now, of course, because they -were all killed during that dreadful winter, but you can see them in -museums, all dressed in their skeletons and neatly held together with -wires. - -[Illustration: - - _From the mural painting by Charles R. Knight in the American - Museum of Natural History_ - -WHEN ELEPHANTS WORE UNDERCLOTHES - - This painting on the walls of the American Museum of Natural - History in New York City shows herds of reindeer and mammoths in - the Ice Age. They didn't mind the cold as elephants do to-day, - because of their woolly underclothes. They fed on the shoots and - cones of those firs and pines. The reindeer, then as now, ate the - lichens we call "reindeer moss," first scraping away the snow with - their feet. -] - - -HOW THE MAMMOTHS PASSED AWAY - -Picture herds of these mammoths huddled together like sheep in dark -ravines, and the blinding snow, swept down by the winds, burying them -deeper and deeper. That was how they died. You'll notice that they -wore their hair long, while the elephants we see in the circuses or at -the zoo have hardly any hair at all. This long hair was part of their -winter clothing. Under it they wore a close fleece. But this winter was -so severe and it lasted so long that even their heavy woollen underwear -couldn't save them. Sometimes there would be a thaw, but this was only -on the surface and helped turn the snow into ice. And winter piled on -winter and on the bodies of the mammoths until they were buried under -tons and tons of snow and ice. - - -HOW THE SNOW CHANGED ITSELF INTO ICE - -You know snow will get solid, like ice, where it is under pressure, and -it will make hard cakes and ice balls under your shoes. Well, this snow -of the long winter just "packed its own self" (as a small boy might -say) into ice. It did this by piling on and piling on. The weight of -the snow above and behind, in the spaces between the mountains and in -the mountain valleys, pressed with enormous force on the snow below and -in front. - -Then what do you think this ice did? It began to move. And of all the -things it did from then on! - - -II. Marvellous Changes in the Old Home Place - -Did you notice those scratches on my face? The ice did that. But, -of course, that's nothing in itself. And, besides, I'm not one to -complain, as you know. I only speak of it to show what big things may -be back of little ones, how much you can learn from the study of so -common a thing as a little pebble. For the very same ice fields that -scratched the faces of little pebbles like me deepened the gorges and -canyons among the mountains and shaved the crowns of the old ones--Bald -Mountain, in the Adirondacks, for example. They carried off good -farming soil by the thousands of acres from one place and piled it in -another; they shoved the Mississippi River back and forth; in fact, -turned many streams out of their courses--some of them the other end -to, so that they now flow south where they used to flow north. They -took old river systems apart, and with the pieces made new ones--the -big Missouri for one. They set Niagara Falls up in business; got all -the waterfalls ready that are now turning the wheels of New England -factories, and even put in great water storage systems that remind one -of the Salt River irrigation works, with their big Roosevelt dam in -Arizona, or of the reservoirs which England built in the Nile. Lakes -in river systems act as reservoirs, you know, and make them flow more -evenly, thus keeping the power of falls more uniform, as in the case -of Niagara, and making a uniform depth of water for vessels, as in the -case of the St. Lawrence River. The Great Lakes do both of these useful -things. - -[Illustration: _From Norton's "Elements of Geology." By permission of -Ginn and Company_ - -THE LITTLE MOUNTAIN IN THE BIG CITY - -In one of the parks in New York City you can see this illustration of -how the glaciers rounded off the mountain-tops.] - -[Illustration: THE BEEHIVE MOUNTAIN - -This huge mass in the Canadian Rockies is known as the Beehive -Mountain. Originally a cliff, it was reshaped by the glaciers. Can't -you tell from the picture which was the face of the cliff, and from the -information in the text which side the glacier climbed up and on which -side it tobogganed down?] - -There were three great centres--union stations, we might call -them--from which the ice trains moved out. These were the points at -which the ice gathered to the greatest depth, the tops of the great -snow banks. One, as you see by our Ice Age map, was away over on the -Pacific Coast of Canada. It is called the Cordilleran Centre, from -the vast mountain system of which it is a part. Over what is now the -province of Keewatin, Canada, was the Keewatin Centre, while the -Labrador Centre stood guard over the highlands of Labrador. The ice -from the Keewatin and Labrador fields, you notice, flowed farthest to -the south. The Keewatin ice giant travelled away down the Mississippi -Valley as far as the mouth of what is now the Missouri, while the -giant from Labrador got nearly to the mouth of the Ohio. - -[Illustration: THE OLD MEN OF THE MOUNTAIN AT THEIR WORK - -Don't you always think of a glacier as a big white thing? So it is -when it starts to work, but after it has ploughed down the mountain -valleys and gathered up a lot of soil--such as the heaps you see in the -foreground of the picture--it begins to look as black as a coal-heaver! -It gets cracked up into all sorts of odd shapes, too. Doesn't that -figure near the centre look like some queer kind of old elephant, with -a fierce white eye (it's a big stone) and a snarl on his face?] - -The reason Old Mr. Labrador didn't reach the mouth of the Ohio--as -you can easily guess--was that he didn't go far enough, but could you -answer a conundrum like this: - -"Why was Mr. Keewatin bound to reach the mouth of the Missouri and stay -there for awhile no matter how far he went?" - -The answer is easy, when you know it. Because he made the Missouri -himself. What we now know as the Missouri River was made of other -rivers that the big ice sheet turned around as it advanced and of the -water from the ice as the glacier melted its way back home. It was -something like Mary and the little lamb, all the time, so long as Mr. -Keewatin travelled south; for everywhere he went the Missouri was -_sure_ to go, because he kept pushing it ahead of him. - - -HOW THE OLD MEN PUSHED THE MISSISSIPPI ABOUT - -As the ice sheets pushed into its valleys, now from the northeast and -now from the northwest, the Mississippi River was pushed back and forth -as if it were a--well, as if it weren't anything! It is known that the -Mississippi was pushed out of bed by this burly guest from the north -because its former channels have been traced along the old ice fronts. - -In one part of its course the Mississippi actually got misplaced, and -hasn't found its way back to its old bed to this day. This you can -see at Fort Snelling, Minnesota. At that point the Minnesota River -flows in the Mississippi's old valley--which is plainly too big for -it--while above Fort Snelling the Mississippi is forced to squeeze its -way through a stingy little gorge that used to belong to the Minnesota, -and I'm sure would be plenty big enough for it now. It's like the story -of a changeling baby in a fairy tale, isn't it? Only in the fairy tale -the changeling always gets back to his old home, while the misplaced -Mississippi in Minnesota doesn't. - -But the glaciers made it up to the Mississippi, in a way, for this rude -jostling. They not only left it an enormous extra supply of water as -they melted back home--what would a river be without water?--but they -actually took some smaller rivers away from the St. Lawrence and made -them do their pouring into the Mississippi system. Although they didn't -owe the Ohio any apology for anything, so far as I know, they did the -same thing for it, just to be good fellows, I suppose. All the rivers -that now empty into the Ohio above Cincinnati used to flow into Lake -Erie, but the glaciers turned them south and they've gone on obediently -flowing that way ever since. - - -A PLOWMAN WHO PLOWED THE FARMS AWAY - -That these giants of the north, although they must have looked as cold -as ice, really had good hearts is shown by the way Old Mr. Labrador -treated New England when he went Down East. New England was at that -time covered with good, deep, rich soil, the decay of the granite rocks -that had been basking in the sun for ages and growing early grass and -vegetables for the live stock of those days. Then along came Old Mr. -Labrador with his plow, and set to work. But he plowed so deep that he -plowed all the farms away! Of the gigantic furrows that he turned a -lot of the slices fell over into New York State; but some, I'm sorry -to say, dropped off into the sea. This left New England in a bad way, -so far as prizes for farm produce at the country fairs a few thousand -years later were concerned. - -But then what do you suppose Mr. Labrador did, the good old soul? He -took a lot of streams that had been flowing north, blocked them up -with pebbles and dirt, making them turn right around and flow south, -so that in climbing down from the rocks in these new unworn beds they -made waterfalls. And it was from the power made by its waterfalls, you -know, as your geography tells you, that New England grew to be a great -"manu-factur-ing" section. - -[Illustration: _Courtesy of "The Scientific American."_ - -HOW THE OLD MEN OF THE MOUNTAIN COME TO SCHOOL - -You can have glaciers like this right in the schoolroom, and icebergs, -too, by means of which the Old Men of the Mountain went to sea. Both -the iceberg and its parent, the glacier, are made by the crumpling of -white paper around books or any other support. Cliffs of dark-brown -grocery-paper bound the deep gully through which the glacier has -crept down to the sea. The sea-waves are made with crumpled paper of -appropriate colors. (Think what lovely green waves you could make -with a piece of old window-shade!) Pieces of white string make good -breakers, and powdered chalk can easily be made to turn to snow.] - -Of course I'm only joking when I speak of these glaciers as if they -had minds like the rest of us, but really it almost seems true, when -you come to think of all the things they did. Take these New England -waterfalls, for instance. The glacier not only made them by turning -the rivers around, but, as the ice melted away toward the north the -land rose again, being relieved of the enormous weight. And in rising -the sloping land not only gave more force to the new southward flowing -streams but made it more sure that they should _go on_ flowing south. -As if the glaciers said: - -[Illustration: THE GRAY TEMPLE OF THE WINDS - - This gray mass of sandstone on the Wisconsin prairies is a piece of - architecture with which man has had nothing whatever to do. It is - all the work of the winds and the rains; of the sea and of rivers; - of water and rivers of ice; and the vertical division of the rock - into joints by the shrinking of the earth. The detail, the rounding - of the pillars, and so on, is largely the work of the winds and - their helpers, the frosts, the rains, and the wind-blown sand. - - The original mass was carved out of a big rock-bed by flowing - rivers that had their course around it on either side. Then one - of these rivers was dammed by ice in the days of the glaciers and - a lake was formed in which this rock mass stood as an island. - The level prairie you now see around it was made by the sand and - gravel deposited in the bottom of this lake. The vertical divisions - are cracks in the earth crust called "joints." The horizontal - divisions are due in part to this cracking process and in part to - "stratification," the layer-like arrangement of the rocks when laid - in the bottom of the sea, as explained in Chapter X. The "cornice" - is a layer of harder rock which has yielded less to nature's tools. -] - -"I've turned you around and I want you to stay turned around. And I -want you to go on running south and dropping over the falls until the -people of New England come down to Lowell and Manchester and those -places and get ready to put you to work." - -Anyhow, that's just what happened. You can look at it any way you want -to. - -It was in much the same way that Mr. Labrador and his friend Keewatin -did that great piece of engineering at the Great Lakes. Where the -Great Lakes are now there used to be rivers that were a part of the -St. Lawrence system. Then along came the ice sheets, dammed up these -rivers, just as small boys dam up roadside rivulets after a rain, and -so made big lakes, as the boys make little lakes in these streamlets. -But this wasn't all. The glaciers evidently wanted these to be nice -big lakes that would stay there for people to ride on in the beautiful -summer weather, and to help haul coal and iron ore and other kinds of -freight--Michigan peaches and everything. For look what else they did. -With pebbles and big stones and dirt they built the lake walls higher, -and dug deep basins for them out of the solid rock. Then they poured in -a lot of extra water--beautiful blue water, tons and tons of it--and -went back home. - -The digging into the rock was done with big chisels--what a carpenter -would call "round-nosed" chisels. These chisels, of course, were made -of ice. They were what are called the "tongues" or "lobes" of glaciers. -As a glacier flows along--always on some down grade--there are portions -of it--those long lobes or tongues--that move on ahead of the main -mass. This is because those parts of the ice sheet strike a steeper -bit of land than the rest of it, so how could they help moving faster? - -[Illustration: THE THOUSAND-YEAR CLOCK AT NIAGARA - - You've heard of eight-day clocks and clocks that have to be wound - only once a year, but here is a clock that was wound up several - thousand years ago and is still going beautifully! In placing the - wondrous waterfall in Niagara River the glaciers also started a - kind of water-clock by which to record--for those who would take - the trouble to study it out--how long ago it was the glaciers - visited us. Owing to the constant wearing away of the base of the - falls, by the water grinding the pebbles against it, great blocks - like the one here shown (known as "The Rock of Ages") come tumbling - down. So the falls are constantly retreating up-stream, and the - distance from where they once stood to where they are now gives a - rough idea of the time that has passed since the Old Men of the - Mountain set them up in business--about 25,000 years. -] - -The fronts of these lobes are rounded like the waves flowing up a -beach, or syrup travelling over pancakes on a cold winter morning. The -reason of this roundness is that the centres of these lobes of ice or -water travel fastest because the mass on either side furnishes a kind -of ball-bearing for the central part. - -But this wasn't all. At the very same time, by the very same act, -Labrador, Keewatin & Co. set Niagara Falls up in business. In those -days there was a Niagara river but no Niagara Falls; at least not the -one we know to-day. The ice filled the Ontario Valley so that the -streams flowing into it had to turn around and flow south. The Niagara -River was one of these streams. Then, as the ice melted, it poured -loads of extra water into Lake Erie, so that it was some 30 feet higher -than it is at present and began draining out through the new Niagara -River, over the rocks that make the falls. - -[Illustration: A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF NIAGARA - - This is a bird's-eye view of the Niagara region. Where the river - crosses a bed of limestone below Buffalo, and again where it - crosses another just above the crest of the falls, some of the rock - has been dissolved away, thus making it rougher, so that slight - rapids have formed. Then comes the mighty plunge, after which - the water flows through a gorge for about seven miles. Where the - gorge bends abruptly at right angles is the great eddy called "The - Whirlpool." -] - - -NATURE IS THE ART OF GOD - -"Nature," as Sir Thomas Browne so finely said, "is the art of God." -And nowhere is this art more striking in its beauty than in the work -done by the glaciers. Those wonderful falls and the blue inland seas -we call the Great Lakes, and thousands of smaller lakes scattered all -over where the glaciers came, are only a part of this art work. The -main ice sheets, you notice, didn't reach down among the mountains -of California, but these mountains had small glaciers of their own -in those days, just as they have now. Only they were much larger -then because, as we have seen, it was such a snowy time all over the -northern world. Listen to what these home-made glaciers of California -did, and listen to how John Muir tells it: - -[Illustration: AND TO THINK WE DID IT ALL!] - -"It is hard," he says, "without long and loving study, to realize how -great was the work done. Before the glaciers came, the range"--he is -speaking of the Sierras--"was comparatively simple; one vast wave of -stone in which a thousand mountains, domes, canyons, ridges, and so -forth lay concealed." To carve them out of the stone "nature chose -for a tool, not the earthquake or the lightning, but the tender -snow flowers, noiselessly falling through unnumbered centuries. -The snowflakes said, 'Come, we are feeble; let us help one another. -Marching in close, deep ranks let us roll away the stones from these -mountain sepulchres, and set the landscape free.'" - -It is evident that this was all in the Great Plan of things. For the -rocks had to be of a certain kind and laid in a certain way for the -little members of this art society of the sky to work these landscapes -out. And the rocks were so made and laid when they were at least a mile -below the surface on which the glaciers set to work. - -"It was while these features were taking form in the depths of the -range, the particles of the rocks marching to their appointed places -in the dark, that the particles of icy vapor in the sky, marching to -the same music, assembled to bring them to the light. Then, after their -grand task was done, these bands of snow flowers, the mighty glaciers, -were melted and removed, as if of no more importance than dew destined -to last but an hour."[7] - -[Footnote 7: "The Mountains of California." John Muir.] - -[Illustration] - - -HIDE AND SEEK IN THE LIBRARY - - How do you suppose warm water--of all things!--could have caused - the Ice Age? This theory is one that was offered by a very eminent - geologist, Doctor Shaler, of Harvard.[8] - -[Footnote 8: "Nature and Man in America."] - - In the same book he also explains how the old men of the mountain - may have helped to make New York City, although they were never - there in their lives, of course. - - When you take up geology as a special study--I hope you will--you - will find that there were five particularly heavy snowfalls during - the long winter. But why not look it up now? If you can't do it - just get somebody else in the family to do it for you. Where is - father's college geology? In the last two of these storms Mr. - Labrador rode all over New England and clear to the sea, where he - amused himself for a long time by setting icebergs drifting out - over the Atlantic. - - How do they know about the icebergs? That's one of the interesting - things the books tell. - - These books also show how Niagara Falls acts as a great time-clock - that tells how long ago it was since the glaciers visited us. - According to the record on the "dial" it was somewhere between - 20,000 and 30,000 years ago. (Of course this isn't what _we_ would - call very close timekeeping; but remember, in the long story of the - earth even a hundred thousand years is a mere tick of the clock.) - - And the way this clock is running down shows we're going to lose - Niagara Falls in the course of time. All falls finally run down in - the same way. This is the rather flippant way my high school friend - put it: - - "First, the water falls over the waterfall; then the waterfall - falls, piece by piece, and the water falls no more. It's a sad - case." - - (You'll see what he meant, quickly enough, when you read up on - waterfalls. Your geography tells, doesn't it? Well, then, of course - _you_ know.) - - But here's a question you can answer right out of this chapter. - Which one of the illustrations shows that the mammoths and the cave - men lived on earth at the same time? - - That the mammoth was seen in the flesh by those remarkable artists - of the caves is plain, but what do you say to seeing a mammoth in - the flesh in these days? Remember the mammoths have all been dead - for thousands of years. (_Elephant_, _Mammoth_, _Siberia_.) - - What is there about the climate of Siberia that made this strange - thing possible? - - How did the mammoth get his name? Was it because he was so - big--such a "mammoth" creature?[9] - -[Footnote 9: Mammoth, you will find, comes from a word meaning "earth." -It didn't mean "big" at all at first. One of the most lovable traits -of a good dictionary, I think, is that it tells so many interesting -little stories like that about the early life of words; of their days -of adventure, so to speak, when there was no telling _how_ they would -come out.] - - How did the mammoths compare in size with the elephants of to-day? - - Which was the bigger, the mastodon or the mammoth? - - Did we ever have mastodons in North America? And were there - mammoths, too? - - If you want to see more about what the travelling menageries - of the days before the Ice Age looked like hunt up these - words: _Archelon_, _dinosaur_, _ceratosaurus_, _diplodocus_, - _stegosaurus_, _triceratops_. - - See what the geography says about the manufacturing towns of New - England and how many of them have water power. - - In that remarkable little book by Grant Allen[10] already referred - to in the H. & S. at the end of Chapter I, on page 139, you will - find what the Ice Age had to do with the fact that the rabbits of - Canada and our northern border States wear white clothes in winter, - while Br'er Rabbit of our Middle and Southern States keeps his - yellow-brown suit on all the year. - -[Footnote 10: "Colin Clout's Calendar."] - - And on page 204 how a little plant, whose old home was in the - Arctics, got stranded on an English hilltop among the mossy clefts - of weathered granite, and how the beautiful lady who has a little - flower named after her slipper (we all know that slipper) is - leaving England because the climate is too mild! - -[Illustration: THE SUMMER PASTURES ON THE JUNGFRAU - - Here are some of those Swiss cattle in their summer pastures. - Doesn't look much like summer, does it? But there's one thing - besides the cattle that tells. See that stretch of snow all by - itself? That's a snow-bank which has escaped the summer sun because - it is protected by the ravine in which it lies. All around it the - ground is bare of snow. -] - - - - - CHAPTER III - - (MARCH) - - With rushing winds and gloomy skies - The dark and stubborn Winter dies; - Far off, unseen, Spring faintly cries, - Bidding her earliest child arise. - - --_Bayard Taylor._ - - -THE SOUL OF THE SPRING AND THE LANDS OF ETERNAL SNOW - -And that's how the Old Men of the Mountain visited us in the Ice Age -and what they did and how they did it. But now that they have all -been back home so long don't you think it would be nice and polite -to return the call--especially when you remember all they did for us, -making beautiful lakes and rivers and waterfalls and mountain scenery? - - -I. Springtime in the Alps - -The best time to do this would be in the spring, because then the -kingdom of the glaciers is most beautiful, and the spirit of a -glorious new world, just waking up, is abroad everywhere. The glaciers -themselves seem to feel so good about it that they start to sing. And -like the birds, their joyous springtime mood responds to the quick -changes of sun and shade. In our own land when the sky grows cloudy, -even for a short time as you may have noticed, birds stop singing. -Then when the sky clears they start up again. But, up here in the Alps -in the spring when the birds are singing among the mountain meadows, -the glaciers, at whose feet these meadows lie, do the very same thing. -The songs of the birds are various, and the song of the same bird will -differ at different times of day, but the song of the glacier is always -the same--a pleasant dreamy tune between the murmur of little voices -and the tinkle of distant bells. - -The very rocks that the glacier carries on its back seem to catch the -spirit of the springtime; for, when the weather is bright, they go -strolling. And when they do they remind us a little of that painting -by Franz Hals, "The Laughing Cavalier," for they apparently wear a big -broad-brimmed hat cocked jauntily on one side. - -[Illustration: UP WHERE THE GLACIERS GROW - - Here we are, looking down on the roof of the Alps--from a - flying-machine, let us say. The sky-line used to be more like the - ridge of a house, straight across. In the course of the ages the - glaciers and the weather have cut down the softer rock, leaving - those peaks. At the top are the snow-fields. Farther down the - glaciers begin to form. Still farther down, where the glaciers have - begun to melt, you can see a stream--its waters have taken white in - the picture because of the foam and the ground-up rock in it called - "rock flour"--falling into the woods below, the "timber line" - of your geography. Ruskin has a wonderful word-picture of these - mountain streams in his "Modern Painters." The index of any edition - will tell you where. -] - - -THE MAN WHO DISCOVERED THE ICE AGE - -The Alps are the most famous of all the homes of the glaciers, not -only because of the great number of the glaciers and the beauty of -the scenery, but because it was in the Alps that Agassiz, living in a -little stone hut among the mountains, studied the glaciers and their -ways and proved that it was these strange creatures of snow and ice -that had come down during the Ice Age and worked such marvellous -changes on the face of the earth. In the Alps, just as Muir found them -doing among the glaciers of Alaska, the flowers bloom at the very edge -of the snow line. And they come on much more rapidly than they do in -temperate climates. As fast as the snow melts back blossoms just cover -the meadows thick with the deepest, richest colors--blue, red, white, -yellow, purple, and every shade of these. Some of these flowers are -as pure white as the snows. The queen of beauty among them all, many -think, is the Alpine rose. In that pure, clear air its color seems -actually to glow like the famous peak, the Jungfrau, at sunrise. - -[Illustration: LOUIS AGASSIZ - -The great teacher who discovered the Ice Age.] - -One little flower is in such a hurry, so afraid it will miss the first -May party, that it blooms under the ice and melts its own way right up -through. Then it calls to the bees and the butterflies, in the way that -flowers have: - -"Good morning! It's spring, and here I am again and how do you do? Come -and kiss me!" - -The soldanella grows among the thick pebble beds and the big boulders -right on the edges of the glaciers. It is a member of the primrose -family. It may be pink, white, or blue. The blue flowers are most -common. But blue, pink, or white, these baby bells are always born -twins; two sisters side by side on the same stalk, showing their dear -fairy faces just above those layers of ice. They are such delicate -little things you wonder how they can ever stand it. But ice, pshaw, -they don't mind it at all. - - -BLUSHING A WAY THROUGH THE ICE - -If you are a bashful boy or girl you can understand how the Misses -Soldanella have been able, in spite of their icy covering, to get here -to greet us on this lovely May morning. You know how warm your face -feels when you blush. It seems to be somewhat the same way with all -flowers when they blush into bloom. The blossom becomes quite a little -warmer than any other part of the plant. It is the heat of the growing -buds and, still more, the heat of the blossoms that melts a passage for -the Soldanellas through the ice, for they often blossom before they get -above the ice at all. - -The higher we climb the brighter the flowers, and they grow in thicker -masses, and each kind spreads out into larger fields than they did -where we came from down below--great belts of blue gentians, whole -fields of golden yellow globe flowers. You'd hardly expect this, would -you? And you'll be still more surprised at the reason. Did you notice, -as shown in their pictures, that the Soldanellas have only the bees for -their callers? Just look if you can see any bees where we are now. Not -a bee. But butterflies everywhere. And that's the answer. The flowers -of the upper meadows are brighter, grow thicker and spread wider--all -on account of the butterflies; to get the butterfly "trade." - - -WHY THE BEES GET OUT OF BREATH - -Bees can't climb to such heights because the air is very thin, and, -therefore, harder to fly in. Remember their little bodies are heavy -and their wings are small. They get out of breath, like a fat man with -short legs working his way up Pike's Peak. The butterflies, on the -other hand, have small bodies and large wings, and so have the meadows -of the higher Alps all to themselves. That the flowers here look so -brilliant is partly due to the thinness and clearness of the air and -partly to the disposition of the butterflies. A bee is all business, -because she has so many mouths to feed at home, and is laying up honey -for the days of the long winter. Mr. and Mrs. Butterfly, on the other -hand, are gay and carefree society people. - -"We have no family waiting to be fed, so why worry?" This is the -butterfly philosophy. Only a sip of nectar now and then for their -personal wants; for the rest of the day the merry air dance, here, -there, everywhere! They flit long distances without lighting. To -attract the bee's attention a blossom need be neither large nor bright, -as the bee goes straight from flower to flower, wasting no time in -aimless flights. But to catch the eye of the butterfly the flowers -must be brilliantly colored and grow in large masses. So up in the -butterfly zone only brilliant flowers, and those having the habit of -growing in groups produce seed and have descendants. Those that dress -plainly and are not fond of company die out. - -[Illustration: HOW THE SOLDANELLA SISTERS GOT TO THE MAY-PARTY THROUGH -THE SNOW] - -Now didn't it turn out just as I said; that the butterflies themselves -help brighten the flowers that grow among these ice fields? I have -something else quite as curious to tell you: _Both the Alpine -butterflies and the flowers were left over from the Ice Age._ Not in -the same sense that we pebbles were, for we are the identical little -passengers who rode in on the ice trains, and the life of a butterfly, -as every one knows, is very short. So is that of a flower. Yet suppose -you found that the only other butterflies and flowers like these are -found, not among the flowers and butterflies in the lands lower down -in the Alps but up toward the Arctic Zone, in Finland and Lapland; in -the snow regions of mountains in the temperate zone all over the world? -It would look very much as if these flowers and butterflies, or their -ancestors, had been left behind there some time or other, wouldn't it? -This is what the men of science think, and they reason about it in this -way: - - -HOW THE BUTTERFLIES MISSED THE TRAIN - -As the glaciers spread downward from the Far North in the Ice Age they -brought all their home things with them--climate, plants, insects, -animals. Plant and animal life was driven step by step before the -advancing ice. Then, as the ice melted, flowers, butterflies, and all -followed their natural climate back. But those that lingered too long -in the meadows around the mountain tops could not cross the hot summer -plains that now lay between them and the retiring ice sheet; for plants -and animals that are used to cold can't stand the heat any more than -those from the tropics can stand the cold. So only the flowers and -butterflies remained in the temperate zone that found their natural -climate among the mountain peaks and stayed there. - -Near the top of Mount Washington, the highest peak in New Hampshire, is -a colony of the descendants of these butterfly pilgrims from the north -who never leave their high and wind swept meadows. There are no such -butterflies in the hills and plains below, but go into Labrador and you -will see plenty of them. - - -LEFT-OVER PIECES OF THE ICE AGE - -Of course you understood all along that these aren't the very same -butterflies that came with the glaciers, yet in shady glens in high -mountains, where the snow never melts, people do sometimes find masses -of ice, which, there is every reason to believe, have been there since -the Ice Age. And sometimes thick veins of ice, buried hundreds of feet -under pebbles, boulders and soil, are struck in sinking wells. These -are known as ice wells; huge ice water tanks that never need filling! - - -II. A Little Visit with the Glaciers - -But if the ice masses in the shady glens and under the old moraines -may be said to be pieces of the Ice Age left over, the glaciers of -to-day are, in a sense, the Ice Age itself. For these glaciers do, on a -smaller scale, what Mr. Labrador and his partners in northern America, -Europe, and Asia did on a large scale so many centuries ago. Suppose -now, like Agassiz, we trace a glacier to its source. It will be a long -journey, all steep, some of it almost straight up, and along chasms of -slippery ice with sudden storms that hide the chasms and blind your -eyes and take away your breath. The first part of our journey is over -a field of ice, gray with the dirt of weathered rock from the mountain -sides. Along its borders are those sharp-edged stones neatly packed in -rows, that our geography tells us are called "lateral moraines." It -has another row of these stones sticking up right in the middle of its -back, like the sharp-pointed vertebræ of the ceratosaurus. - -By noon, as often happens in the Alps as elsewhere at this time of -year, a rain comes up and we lunch under the shelter of a tumbled heap -of rocks. Watching the downpour drift across the desolate wastes we -think what jolly times like this Agassiz and his companions had in -their little hall of science under the big stone. After lunch we start -again, and although it's stiff going, and it takes a lot of this thin -air to make one good breath, we spare a little, now and then, for -shouting, to hear the wonderful play of the echoes among the mountains. -We go through all kinds of weather--rain, mist, snow. Then suddenly we -burst into blinding light. The sun is so dazzling on the snow, now no -longer covered with dirt and mountain débris, that we must all put on -our colored glasses. In some places, among bare rocks that absorb the -sun's heat, it is positively sultry. - -The fields around us look like an ocean turned to stone. Waves are -formed in the surface ice of the glacier because surface ice moves -faster than the main mass beneath. On the bordering mountain walls the -ice rises into still greater waves "foaming about the feet of the dark -central crests like the surf of enormous breakers." And this great, -still image of the parent sea, from which the air currents carried the -moisture that made it, has eddies and whirlpools, and like the troubled -sea, "whose waters cast up mire and dirt," the glacier, where it swirls -along its shores, works pebbles and dirt to the surface. Often this -material is carried into the centre of a whirl, as sea weeds and the -rubbish of the seashore are driven into eddies among the rocks. - -Somebody must have been here just ahead of us. Isn't that a dark glove -over there? We come closer. What at a distance seems to be a glove -proves to be a hole in the ice so deep it looks dark. Lying flat and -carefully peering over the edge we look into something strangely -beautiful--an ice palace, with icicles in fantastic groups hanging -from the roof. Through this roof the sun comes in delicate floods of -pale green light, the combination of the yellow rays with the blue of -the ice. We drop pebbles into the hole. They rattle down and down with -long, dull echoes, dying away. We can hear the murmur of running water. -Gusts of cold air come up that bite like the wind on a sharp winter day. - -These underground palaces of art start as great cracks in the ice, -called "crevasses," from a French word meaning a crevice. They can -usually be seen plainly as yawning chasms, but sometimes are so bridged -over by the snows that a small, dark hole is all you see. And we might -not see that in time. This would be very bad, for these snow bridges -are often quite thin. One might like to go down in a crevasse and -explore about in this beautiful dream world--but not when one wasn't -looking! - -Even when one _is_ looking and is as careful as can be it's dangerous. -But still you may be sure that the famous men who have studied glaciers -have done it, for every true man of science likes to get at the bottom -of things. It was Agassiz who first went down in this way into the -heart of a glacier. It was while he was making his studies in the Alps, -and he came very near being drowned in one of the streams that always -flow at the bottom of a crevasse, for these crevasses, breaking up the -ice, increase the rate of melting. (You know broken ice will not keep -so well as a big block.) - -[Illustration: WHAT TWO BOYS SAW IN THE FAIRYLAND OF ICE - - When you have read John Muir's story of how he climbed down into - a crevasse in California in his shirt-sleeves (see H. & S.) you - will know that he was the other of the "two boys" I refer to, one - of them being Louis Agassiz, whose adventure in this fairy iceland - down in the glaciers is told in this chapter. Don't look dangerous - at a distance, do they, those crevasses? Remind one of the crimps - in a Christmas pie. But notice the difference when you get up close - to one of them in the next picture. -] - - -BUT THESE SCIENTISTS WILL BE BOYS - -Agassiz had been lowered by a rope. When his feet suddenly plunged into -the icy stream his shout for help was misunderstood by his friends and -he was lowered still further. His second cry, which you may be sure -promptly followed the first, showed that something had gone wrong -and he was drawn out. The worst of it was that coming up he had to -steer his course among those huge icicles, any one of which, being -worn away or broken loose by the friction of the rope and striking his -head, would probably have killed him. But they are always doing things -like that--these men of science. They keep on being as curious and -enthusiastic about the things they are interested in as any boy. - -[Illustration: THOSE LITTLE CURVED LINES WHEN YOU GET UP CLOSE - - This is what those little curved lines are--really; great yawning - chasms in the ice. The sun is shining from the left; a morning - sun, probably, as those tourists are out for a walk. This scene - must be pretty well down the glacier's course, far from the upper - fields, for you see these people are just in ordinary dress--not in - the dress of mountain-climbers, with ropes and Alpine stocks and - everything. -] - -It is perfectly safe to climb glaciers as we are doing--in a book--but -they are really ticklish things to go about on, as well as down into. -To find out all the interesting things you can so easily get through -pictures and the printed page took years of skillful study, ingenuity, -and endless patience and much courage. What a little further on in -this chapter you will learn about the movements of glaciers in seven -minutes, it took Agassiz seven long years to find out and make sure of. -To Agassiz more than to any other one man the world owes the tremendous -idea of the Ice Age and its story. His home among the glaciers of these -Alps--named playfully by the devoted scholars who worked with him the -"Hôtel des Neuchatelois"--was a rude shelter under a projecting rock. -The results of this long study he published in a work in two volumes, -and so made known the great facts he had found and the theory about an -Ice Age which he based upon them and which is now everywhere accepted. -He became professor of geology at Harvard University and as famous a -teacher as he was a student of nature. After his great and useful life -was ended he was buried in his adopted land with a boulder from the -site of the little stone hut on the glacier for his monument. - - -III. The Soul of the Glacier - -Many of the fellow-countrymen of Agassiz, the peasants of the Swiss -Alps, believe the glacier is a living thing and has a soul. In the -spring the peasants take their sheep and cattle into the high meadows -called "alps," from which the mountains get their name, and remain -there until fall with the glaciers all around them. There are nearly -2,000 glaciers in the Alps, varying from less than a mile to over ten -miles in length, and from a few hundred feet to a mile in breadth. So -the peasants have every opportunity to get acquainted with their big -white neighbors. - -"The glacier has a soul," they say, "and a voice, many voices. -Sometimes he groans. This is when he is in pain. Listen!" - - -SOUNDS THAT GIVE ONE THE "CREEPS" - -We do hear a sound very like a groan. Even experienced mountain -climbers can hardly keep down a "creepy" feeling when they hear it. -This sound is made when the ice is cracking into a crevasse and while -it is enlarging. These crevasses are formed by various strains in -the ice as it moves along. So long as the strain which caused them -continues the crevasses keep widening. The "groans" may be said to be -"growing pains." - -In some places you hear a constant roaring sound. The peasants are not -superstitious about this sound however. They know it is made by what -they call the "moulins" or mills of the glacier. Water, melting on the -surface, makes streams. These, running together, make a larger stream. -This stream, coming to a crack in the ice where a crevasse is just -beginning, pours down, hollows out a little shaft and joins streams in -the interior of the glacier, like that in which Agassiz took a bath -when he didn't want to. The noise of the water, striking far below, -comes up through the shaft, as a voice comes up through a speaking -tube. But the crack into which the water falls must be very narrow, so -that the water can melt both walls and thus form a shaft; otherwise it -merely glides down the nearer wall and makes no sound. - - -NOISES WE PEBBLES HELP MAKE - -Where two ice rivers emptying into a main stream come together you -hear a constant dull rattle and rumble. This is made by the blocks of -stone and trains of pebbles that have ridden in on the backs of the two -glaciers thus going into partnership, falling between the glaciers at -the point where they come together. The stones that do not fall over -are brought together in the centre of the glacier and so make that -spiny backbone of his, the "medial moraine." The rows of stones on the -two sides of the glacier, called the "lateral moraines," have fallen -piece by piece from the mountain walls as the glacier moved along -between them. - -But the strangest thing about the voices of the glaciers I have yet to -tell. Whenever the sun is shining brightly, as I have said, and the -gentians and the globe flowers open their petals and the birds start -the chorus of the day, the glacier begins singing, too, humming to -itself a pleasant tune. When the sky grows cloudy, even for a short -time, the birds stop singing, the flowers cover their faces, the bees -and butterflies hurry to shelter, and the glacier's song gradually dies -away. Any cloud may bring rain, as far as the flowers and the bees and -the butterflies know, and, for the same reason, the winged people hurry -to cover because they don't want to get their wings wet. The flowers -hide their faces to keep the rain from washing their pollen away, and -the birds stop singing because, like the rest of us, they don't feel so -cheerful under gloomy skies. But the glacier, why does he stop singing -too? Because that murmuring tinkle you heard was made by the water -melting on the glacier and running into rivulets a little way under its -surface. When the sun stops shining the surface ice stops melting, the -water gradually quits running and the murmur of the song dies away. - -[Illustration: ON THE ROOF OF THE ANDES, WHERE IT'S TOO COLD TO GROW -GLACIERS] - -It is because of these queer human habits of the glacier and, above -all, his sensitive response to the moods of days and seasons, that -many of the mountain people insist he is not only a living creature, -but that he has a soul. We think of all this now as the western sun -drops behind the snowy summits, the glacier's song grows silent, and -we hear, mingling with the vespers of the birds, voices echoing from -crag to crag the words of the psalm, "Praise ye the Lord." These are -the voices, of the herdsmen speaking to each other from alp to alp--the -evening call to prayer. - - -IV. How the Snow Men, the Glaciers, and the Rocks Go Walking - -Now that we have learned how glaciers, wild flowers, and butterflies -get up into this high world, by climbing up here ourselves in the -beautiful springtime, the next thing, I suppose, is to climb down -again. But first just look over the edge here and you can get some -notion of how high we are, not merely in feet and figures, as we have -it in the table of mountain heights in our geography, but in _actual -feeling_. - -"What are those little blocks, all ruled off like a chessboard, away -down there?" - -"Those are the little Swiss farms with the gray roads between." - -"And those small white things among the farms that look like pieces of -grit?" - -"Those are the Swiss villages." - -"And the black specks on the slopes of the mountain?" - -"Those are tourists with their guides, coming up. People, no doubt, -whom we should like to know, but we shall have an interesting new -acquaintance travelling down with us. You've met some of his family, no -doubt, for he's an ice man. There are several of these ice men always -travelling down on the glaciers." - -[Illustration: THE OLD MAN OF BALISTAN - - Where would you say, judging from the head-dress of the man in the - middle, this scene is located? Somewhere in Asia, wouldn't you? For - in Asia the natives, particularly the Mahometans, wear turbans, as - you would learn by simply looking up "turban" in a dictionary. And - wouldn't those summer helmets lead you to suppose that this is a - hot climate, in spite of the great ice-pillar and the snow-field? - And don't those helmets suggest Englishmen? Now, where in Asia - would you find vast mountains, a hot climate, Mahometans, and - Englishmen together? Yes, to be sure, in the Himalayas of India. - And that's just where an expedition of English scientists came - across this grotesque creature of stone and ice one summer day, - on a glacier in Balistan. So I just called him "The Old Man of - Balistan." -] - -You'll know one of them the moment you see him, for they are -queer-looking fellows with only one leg--or rather one leg at a -time--and they wear big stone hats. They never go walking without them. -They can't. - -[Illustration: LOOKS LIKE A BROTHER, BUT HE'S NO RELATION - - This "old man" is a creature, not of the snows but of the winds. - The capstone--apparently conglomerate, it looks so rough and - pebbly--tumbled down from the mountains once upon a time and found - a resting place on a bed of softer rock, a section of which became - separated from the mass on either side by those earth cracks called - "joints." Then the winds and other instruments of weathering got - their fingers in these cracks, wore the neighboring sections away, - and left this pillar standing. It is broader at the bottom because - the winds, checked by the obstacles on the ground, didn't strike - with such force as they did higher up. -] - -To the group of boys and girls to whom I first told these stories of -my life and adventures nothing was more interesting than this account -of the ice men who walk. On that occasion I called them snow men -because the boys had just been making a snow man, and these ice men up -here, like the glaciers on which they always travel, are made of snow -turned to ice. You have heard the expression "clothes make the man," -but in the case of these men of the snows it is literally true, so far -as their hats are concerned, for it is their hats that make them grow. - -"I bite," said the High School Boy, "what's the answer?" - -[Illustration: CAN YOU SOLVE THIS PICTURE PUZZLE?] - -For reply I roughly sketched the picture at the top of the page. From -this hint my audience thought out the answer for themselves. See if you -can do so before you learn, in the next few paragraphs, what the answer -is. - -It comes about like this. One day we see a big stone lying on the -glacier, and when we come that way again several days later this same -stone is standing on a tall pillar of ice. We notice the stone hat is -tilted forward a little, apparently to shade this queer man's face, -which is always turned directly toward the sun. It sits jauntily on one -side--this hat of his--as if he were feeling particularly contented -with himself and the world on this sunny day and had started for a -stroll. - -And it really is because the sun is so bright that the hat is tipped. -Moreover it is because of the sunshine that the man takes a stroll. If, -after more days of sunshine, we return we see the same stone further -down the slope of the glacier and apparently standing on the same leg. - -"But does he or it actually walk on that leg?" - -(The audience, who at first thought I was joking, had begun to believe -I was in earnest.) - -Yes, that leg and others. Before this Alpine tourist ends his travels -down to the valleys below he may have, all told, as many legs as a -centipede, but only one at a time. Like the legs of the amœba and the -claws of the crab they are renewed as wanted. A big stone falling from -the mountain side upon a glacier protects the ice beneath from the -sun's rays, so, as the ice melts down around it, the stone is left -standing on a pillar. These "glacier tables" (to use the scientific -term) are formed on the south sides of glaciers where there is the most -sun. Owing to the slant of the rays the rock is heated most on the -south end and so tips in that direction more and more. Finally it falls -off and, in so doing, pitches farther down the slope. Then a new pillar -is formed and the whole process is gone through again. - -(If we should get lost up here any one of these snow men will tell us -the way out. The snow man's hat, for the reason stated, always tips -toward the south.) - -The stones of the winter lands are not only like human beings in the -fact that they walk, but like _little_ human beings in the fact that -when they are small they can't. In one of the pictures I drew for the -boys and girls--that representing the ice pillar from which the stone -has slipped--you may be able to make out a little pebble. It got a -ride because it was hiding under the big stone. Left to itself "it -wouldn't have a leg to stand on," as the saying goes, for small stones -are heated through by the sun and so sink down into the ice and form no -"legs." - -[Illustration: - - _From a photograph copyrighted by Merl La Voy_ - - THE RUSH OF THE AVALANCHE - - It's seldom you can get a snap-shot at an avalanche--it's so - sudden! Then, when you do get one you must be an expert or your - picture will be a blur. This picture was taken by Merl La Voy. An - interesting thing about it is that the scene is on Mount McKinley, - which, as your geography will tell you, is the highest mountain - in North America. The avalanche started near the top, where the - greatest fields of loose snow lie. We see it in the act of plunging - into a vast crevasse several miles below, and sending up clouds of - snow. They look like steam. -] - - -MR. GLACIER'S CATERPILLAR TRACTOR - -"The glaciers," says Reclus, "seem as motionless as the peaks that -tower above them." Nevertheless, as we know, they do move. While the -motion is in so many respects like that of a river that glaciers are -often called "ice rivers," they have motions and, so to say, "methods" -that curiously suggest the inventions of men. Take, for example, the -way they climb down a steep hill; for all the world like the "tanks" in -the Great War. The tanks, you remember, made nothing of shell holes, -rough country, ravines, or trenches, but lumbered and crushed their -way along, resistless as the Fates. And, you may also recall, the -tanks moved by laying sections of themselves--the great cleats on the -outside belt--which they picked up again, as they advanced. This was -called the "caterpillar tractor" system of travelling. - -Now watch the glacier when it comes to an incline much steeper than its -ordinary slope. It breaks across in sections at right angles to its -bed, and section after section drops down. Then the forward sections -crowded upon by those in the rear are pushed up close, freeze together -again, and on goes the glacier as good as new. - -As a traveller, however, it is a little slow. It made faster time in -the old days--in the Ice Age--when glaciers were so much larger, but -to-day, at the rate at which ordinary glaciers travel, it may take a -boulder as big as Plymouth Rock something like a hundred years to be -carried from the upper fields to the heap of stones and soil which your -geography calls a "terminal moraine," and where Mr. Glacier says: - -"All out! Far as we go." - - -HIDE AND SEEK IN THE LIBRARY - - How would you like to go to school to the pretty Misses Soldanella? - They can teach you a lot about botany. If you learn what an unusual - thing they do with their leaves, for instance, that will lead - you to follow up leaves in general. Leaves are wonderful things. - Indeed, it isn't often you find the leaf of a book that will tell - you half as much as the leaf of a plant, if you only know how to - read it. - - In Grant Allen's "Flash Lights on Nature," you will find that the - Soldanella sisters store food in their leaves all winter just as we - put things away in the cellar, and how this helps them get up so - early in the spring; why the fact that the little sisters are not - very tall makes them hurry so; and why if they _didn't_ hurry they - wouldn't get to the party at all! - - What other members of the primrose family do you know? - - See what you can find about our earliest flowers--hepatica, - bloodroot, dog-toothed violet, jack-in-the-pulpit, Dutchman's - breeches, anemones. - - If you will examine closely many early spring buds and - flowers--especially those like the willow and hazel catkins--you - will find that they too keep warm and grow in the early spring, not - from the warmth of the sun alone but from the fuel they have laid - up in their buds. - - Did you know that to see the very first flowers of all in the - spring you must look up--away above your head? (_Maple._) - - Any good book on Alaska will tell a number of striking things about - how rapidly spring comes on in the lands where glaciers grow. - - Get Muir's "Mountains of California" and hear him tell about how he - went down into a crevasse in his shirt-sleeves, and of the fairy - underworld he found there, and how he hated to come away. - - Reclus[11] tells how the glaciers not only come down to call on the - farmers, sometimes, but even help them pick cherries! - -[Footnote 11: "The Earth."] - - I suppose the children who go to the excellent Swiss schools take - delight in telling grandmother that Mr. Glacier isn't really a - person--as he is in the tales of the winter fireside--but wouldn't - both grandmother and the children open their eyes if they knew that - in Greenland there is a glacier so big it feeds itself and makes - its own snow and its own storms and everything? Hobb's "The Face of - the Earth" tells all about it. - - And the Encyclopædia Britannica and Hobbs together will tell you - how to make a good glacier. There are a half-dozen things you must - remember or your glacier won't turn out right. (1) You must take - plenty of snow; (2) and keep it in a cool place; (3) but you must - warm it a little too, once in a while; (4) your mountain gorges - must not be too steep; (5) you must have your mountains set just - so; (6) and distribute your storms with care. By doing all these - things you get fine, durable glaciers, 100 to 200 feet thick, - sometimes 500 and even 1,000 feet thick. But you must be careful, - and, of course, it takes time. - - - - - CHAPTER IV - - (APRIL) - - Now the noisy winds are still; - April's coming up the hill! - All the spring is in her train, - Led by shining ranks of rain. - - --_Mary Mapes Dodge._ - - -THE APRIL RAINS AND THE WORK OF THE RIVERS - -I always liked the little boy's definition of a river system. "Rivers -that empty into other rivers that empty into other rivers that empty -into the sea." - -What is still more interesting, the sea at the same time is emptying -into the rivers; for the waters of all the lands and the waters of all -the seas, are one, and what the rivers give to the sea the sea returns -in the rain clouds that are blown landward by the winds. The Earth's -waters are thus always in circulation like the blood in our bodies. In -making this endless circuit they do an immense amount of useful and -beautiful work, and have many strange and curious ways of doing it. -It's a great family affair of the Waters people. Everybody has a hand -in it, from the baby rill that toddles across the country road, the -brook it meets in the meadow, the creek that runs through the wood, -and the river into which it flows, to the greater river which carries -forward these mingled waters to the sea. - -[Illustration: THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER SYSTEM] - - -I. What I Brought Back from the Creek - -I met a rain-drop once that had followed the thing through, starting -where a little creek began, and got such a load of information I could -hardly carry it, about the wonderful part the rivers take and have -taken in the making and remaking of the world. - -We see the April rains carve fairy canyons in the soft clay of the -roadside or the creek, but it is hard to realize, as we stand on some -pinnacle of the Alps and look out over the deep and wide valleys, the -gorges, the cliffs, and mountains cut in two, that all are but the -handiwork of the rain-drops banded together as flowing waters. For -a long time this was questioned by scientific men, because the idea -so upset the old theory that great changes in this world of ours came -about all of a sudden and from causes not at work in these days. Now, -however, nobody doubts that the big things are done by the little -people, working together over long periods of time; little snowflakes, -little rain-drops, little cells in plants. As a result, the Alps, so -far as the expression of their faces is concerned, are as little like -the Alps of the past as the face of the old farm of to-day is like the -farm of those ancient yesterdays, when the brontosaurus browsed where -old Dobbin is nipping the meadow grass and the mammoth ate the leaves -of trees that stood where White Face is thoughtfully chewing her cud in -the shade. - -[Illustration: HOW THEY STUDY GEOGRAPHY IN BOSTON - - This is what, in the Boston schools, they call an "umbrella party." - "Umbrella party" sounds much more attractive than "geography - lesson," but as a matter of fact it is a geography lesson and a - fine one. As soon as they get off that brick pavement the boys and - girls will see those rain-drops cutting out little Mississippi - River systems, filling little Great Lakes, plunging over Niagaras - two inches high! -] - -Right where you sit reading, perhaps, the land used to be buried two -miles deep beneath rocks which have been worn away by wind and rain and -by rivers which vanished long ago. Everything has been so changed that -if the old scenery should be put back you would be lost right on the -home farm. - - -WHERE YOU CAN JUMP ACROSS THE MISSISSIPPI - -Wrinkles in the earth and in the mountainsides make the first troughs -for the streamlets and the rivers, and then the running water itself -digs these natural channels deeper. Many rivers begin as streamlets -flowing out of springs. The great Mississippi began as a baby, just -like the rest of us. You can jump across it still if you go up to -its source. Springs not only start rivers in life but go on feeding -them. Most large river systems get secret gifts in this way, as they -flow along, from thousands of springs that empty into them or their -tributaries. - -So springs start and feed the rivers. Now what do you suppose starts -the springs? Rain-drops stored away in big stone "safes," much as a -small boy stores away pennies in his tin bank! The water of rains and -melting snows, passing down through the soil, soaks into the little -chambers or pores in such rocks as sandstone and limestone, and keeps -going on down until it comes to a bed of hard stone, such as slate or -granite, into which it cannot soak. - -[Illustration: THE SPRING WHEN EMPTY] - -[Illustration: THE SPRING WHEN FULL] - - THIS SPRING PLAYS IT'S A TOWN PUMP - - These two pictures show an intermittent spring about five miles - from Singer Glenn, Virginia, and there called the "Tide Spring." - You can see where the idea of the tide comes in, but can you think - why the spring seems to have a tide system all its own? You know - what a siphon is. Well, think how a kind of siphon might be formed - in rock, dissolved out by water flowing underground. Then look at - the picture on the next page. - -Now rock-beds, as you know, have a slope--some more, some less--owing -to the wrinkling of the earth's crust. So the water, slowly trickling -through the porous rock, forms a steady stream which runs down along -the hard rock, as rain runs down a roof, and finally gushes out at some -lower level. - -[Illustration: HOW THE LITTLE SPRING WORKS ITS PUMP - - This is how the pump of an intermittent spring is worked. Some - portions of rock are dissolved by underground waters more readily - than others and so cavities are sometimes formed, as shown. As - long as the water in the reservoir is below the arch of the - siphon-shaped outlet no water escapes, but as soon as it rises to - the level of the arch the whole of the water is drawn off. Then - the spring ceases to flow until the reservoir fills up again. You - can empty water in the same way by using a bent tube of any kind. - Can you tell why the water flows up-hill in this way? Remember - what you know about air-pressure and then look up "siphon" in your - encyclopædia. -] - -You can be sure these companies of rain-drops, hurrying back to the -light, don't fail to notice any cracks in the rocks along the way, and -at such places they come gushing up with sparkle and dance; and the -greater the dip of the rock beds the higher they dance, of course. - -But it takes any one rain-drop so long to get back into the sunshine -after it starts on its underground journey that you'd think it would -forget how to dance at all! It isn't just the same rain-drop, to be -sure, that goes into the ground and comes out again, because the -rain-drops get all mixed up with each other as they move along, but -just imagine some one rain-drop that fell, say, on a hilltop on the day -a baby was born in a valley five miles away, where there was a spring -in a shady hollow near the baby's home. By the time that rain-drop got -down to the spring the baby would be old enough to vote! - -Yet this is a very good thing for the rivers and the rest of us--this -slow travel of the underground water, whether it comes out in springs -or simply seeps through the soil as most of that which supplies the -rivers does. Otherwise, if all the water of the rains went directly -into the rivers we would have floods after every wet spell and empty -river beds between times. - -Here's another river rebus. How do rivers grow longer at the top? All -rivers grow at their source because their headwaters eat back into the -rocks and the soil, just as the rain wears away the head of any gully. -Where the rock is soft they eat back faster. The Mohawk River in New -York State probably wouldn't have amounted to anything if it hadn't -done this very thing. From Albany westward past Utica runs a belt of -shale, a weak stone, but here so soft that the surface of it crumbles -back to clay in every winter's frost. Into this the Mohawk, which in -past ages was only a little stream, has eaten back its way until now it -is over a hundred miles long. - -But sometimes rivers are so big the very first day they come into the -world that you may say they are born half grown. You find them, among -other places, in the mountains of California. Nearly all the water -from the melting snows on Mount Shasta sinks at once into the porous -lava fields of the mountain slopes, and after wandering about in the -hidden veins comes out, filtered and cool, in the form of large springs -which make rivers that set out on their life journeys without ever -having been babies at all so far as you can see. The Shasta River is -one of these. The McCloud is another. It gushes forth suddenly from a -lava bluff in a roaring spring seventy-five yards across, two-thirds of -the width of the river in its widest part. The River Jordan in the Holy -Land begins in one of these great springs at the foot of Mount Hermon. - -[Illustration: - - _From Norton's "Elements of Geology." By permission of Ginn and - Company_ - - HOW MOST OF EUROPE'S RIVERS GET THEIR START - - Most of the important rivers of Europe start as streams of - ice-water, flowing out of glaciers. Notice the boulders along the - side of the stream. They also came out of the body of the glacier, - where, as we shall see when we take up "The Stones of the Field" - in Chapter VII, the boulders that rode south with the glaciers got - most of their roundness. -] - -We know already what a hand the glaciers had in the Ice Age in shaping -the course and conduct of rivers, and you may be sure they have -something to do with the making of rivers to-day. The under side of a -glacier gets warmed from three sources: (1) its own pressure; (2) the -friction as it moves; and (3) the heat from the inside of the earth -which, on account of this thick ice blanket, can't get away into the -air as it does elsewhere. This heat melts the ice and, as we know, -there is water melting also on the surface of glaciers and in the -crevasses. Beside all this the water of rains falls upon the glacier -so that there is plenty of water to make rivers, and we always find -streams of water running from a glacier's front. Most of the rivers of -Central Europe start in this way. - - -THE BEAUTY OF THE BRIDAL VEIL - -And, although they didn't make the rivers themselves, the Ice Age -Glaciers are held responsible for the fact that many little rivers -always have to jump to catch the train. That is to say, they come -tumbling over falls to join the larger streams into which they empty. -The reason of this is that when, in the Ice Age, the glaciers filled -the river valleys the larger glaciers in a main valley dug below the -tributary valleys and so left the mouths of the tributary rivers high -up on the main valley's walls. The famous "Bridal Veil" in the Yosemite -is one of these side valley falls. The fall--900 feet--is so great -that the water widens to a fleecy foam and waves back and forth in the -wind like a gauzy veil and, instead of a roar like Niagara, it makes a -rustling sound like silk. - -While some rivers come hurrying down like that--as if they really were -afraid the larger river would go off and leave them--others, like the -Amazon, roll on as stately as a Lord Mayor's procession. But the -waters of all are on their way to the sea. The rock layers, owing to -the wrinkling of the earth as it shrinks, are nowhere level, so flowing -water is always on a down grade, sloping toward the sea or toward other -land that does slope toward the sea. Then remember too as the sea -bottom keeps sinking the continents keep rising, which increases the -pitch of the land. - -[Illustration: JUMPING TO CATCH THE TRAIN - - See the famous Bridal Veil Falls in the Yosemite Valley hurrying - down to reach the river below. As the stream descends, it broadens - into a beautiful, filmy veil. -] - -All very simple, but none the less grand and impressive. Ruskin, in one -of the noblest of his passages, says: - -"[All water courses], from the inch-deep streamlet that crosses the -village land in trembling clearness to the massy and silent march of -the Amazon and the Ganges, owe their play and power to the ordained -elevations of the earth; [to] paths prepared for them by which at -some appointed rate of journey they must evermore descend, sometimes -slow and sometimes swift, but never pausing, the gateways of guarding -mountains opened for them in cleft and chasm, and from afar off the -great heart of the sea calling them to itself." - -That's a poetic way of putting it, but it's a fact nevertheless. - - -II. The Human Nature in Rivers - -There's a lot of human nature in rivers. To begin with, as we might -suppose, they do the most playing and the least work when they are -young. Brooks will be brooks, you know! - -What pretty ways they have in babyhood! Kissing the pebbles, crooning, -bubbling, chattering, playing, they are big Mississippis or great -oceans that, like Homer's ocean river, flow around the world. Their -bubbles are ships, sometimes wrecked on dreadful headlands along the -shores. - - -THE CHANT OF THE WATERFALLS - -Waterfalls are found only in young streams and more often as you near -the source. Older streams have worn down their beds more nearly to -a level and, as we all know, more rivers begin among the mountains -and highlands than in the lower lands. In the mountain regions there -are plenty of rocks and cliffs to jump from, and the rivers, you may -be sure, make the most of their opportunities. At such falls as the -Bridal Veil they jump so far they are turned into white cascades, and -as you climb the cliff beside them and feel the wind wafting spray in -your face you hear the music of their songs. The more or less regular -dash of the water as it swings back and forth in the wind gives that -chanting sound described in waterfall poetry. - -[Illustration: "BROOKS WILL BE BROOKS, YOU KNOW!" - - Our baby river of the meadow seems to be playing it has a Niagara - Falls of its own, "Rock of Ages" and all! See the "huge mass" of - rock at the foot of the falls; and the rapids? -] - -Like children these dancing, singing rivers love pictures and color. -You see that in the rainbow tints of the spray as the sunlight strikes -the air bubbles the waterfall "blows"; in the green of its waters -turned to gray in the foam; in the reflections of mountain, sky, and -cloud in the smooth stretches below the falls. - -And, like pebbles and other little people, rivers love to play in the -rain. My! What a time! In a storm, with a gray flood pouring from the -sky, you hear, mingled with the voice of wind and rain, the swash and -gurgle of the eddies as the river goes along in its dance, wild with -the joy of it all. In a mountain stream during a heavy rain, with wind, -you can also hear the waves dashing against the rocks along the shore -or in the stream, and the smothered, bumping, rumbling made by the -boulders on the bottom knocking against each other. - - -STORM CHORUS OF THE MOUNTAIN TORRENTS - -From any high place during a mountain storm you can see twenty, yes, -often a hundred torrents, and the noise of the water and the moving -stones makes a wonderful storm chorus. Reclus compares the sound made -by the stones to dull thunder. - - -WHERE TO LOOK FOR HIDING RIVERS - -Rivers, both young and old, play hide and seek. Possibly the older -rivers get to dreaming of their infancy when they were springs, and -want to play they are springs again; anyhow, they disappear in the -ground in one place and then come out laughing in another as if they -really _were_ springs! And how they must chuckle to themselves when -they fool people into thinking they are brand new rivers! This happens -sometimes, and so the river gets a different name at the place where it -comes out from the name it bears up to the point where it disappears. -Such hide-and-seek rivers are found in regions where it doesn't often -rain. The Tujunga, which you cross in going from Los Angeles to San -Francisco, is such a river. At one place in its course it comes out of -a canyon, looks around a minute, and then disappears in the pebbles, -sand and gravel of the plain. Down it goes until it reaches a bed of -hard rock. Along this underground bed it runs until it gets to a place -north of Cahuenga Peak, where it comes up in springs and flows into the -Los Angeles River. - -[Illustration: THE LOST RIVERS AND THE THOUSAND SPRINGS - - These are the waters of some hidden tributaries of the Snake - River gushing out as springs from its beautiful banks. The group - is called "The Thousand Springs," and is supposed to be the - reappearance of two "Lost Rivers" that disappeared back in the sand - wastes. -] - -Mountain lakes are where the lively little torrents stop to sleep. "The -sea," says Ruskin, "seems only to pause; the mountain lake to sleep and -to dream." - -But after this sleep how they laugh and play--those baby rivers--as -they go dancing over the pebbles and down the falls; for in these lakes -they gather themselves together into a larger volume of water, and so, -of course, flow on with increased energy. - -"As soon as a stream is fairly over the lake lip it breaks into -cascades, never for a moment halting, and scarce abating one jot of its -glad energy until it reaches the next basin. Then swirling and curving -drowsily (dropping off to sleep again!) through meadow and grove it -breaks forth anew into gray rapids and falls, leaping and gliding in -glorious exuberance of wild bound and dance down into another and yet -another lake basin."[12] - -[Footnote 12: Muir, "The Sierra Nevada Mountains."] - -Just as it is with human beings, a river seems to grow more thoughtful -and thrifty as it grows older; and, best of all, this thought and -thrift is for others--for the people of the plant world along its banks -and for its old parent, the sea. With the help of pebbles it puts money -in its savings bank and pays it out from time to time. - -In seasons of flood it carries loads and loads of pebbles along. As the -flood goes down these pebbles are dropped and covered with the sediment -that settles along its banks. Then these pebbles begin to decay and so -enrich the soil. Later along comes another flood, takes the pebbles -out of the bank, carries them farther along, and, as the waters go -down, puts them back in the bank again. In course of time this kind of -fresh food from the decaying pebbles gets carried into the sea, where -it helps to furnish food and shell material for the shell-fish and raw -material to be worked up by the sea's rock mills. - -[Illustration: WAYS OF A WANDERING RIVER] - - -III. The Machinery of the Rivers - -To do all their great part in the world's work the rivers need only -time, enthusiasm, patience, machinery, and tools. All these the rivers -have, and the machinery they use and the engineering methods they -follow are much more modern than we would suppose. Take, for example, -the way in which rivers widen their banks. The current cuts with the -greatest force on the outside of bends, and the motion and effect is -practically that of a circular saw. This sawing is done on the largest -scale where the current meanders. Swinging from side to side it cuts -away both banks. - -And what it cuts away it spreads over the valley by its back-and-forth -motion, much as men spread dirt with scrapers when they are grading a -road. - -That's how crooked rivers make broad valleys. But they have to have the -help of us pebbles, too. We're hard to get along without! Notice, the -next time the river or the creek is up, the rolling, hopping motion of -the pebbles as they are carried along by the rushing water. It is these -pebbles grinding on the bottom and sides of the river's bed that help -most in this kind of valley deepening and widening. In the same way we -pebbles helped dig those grand affairs, the gorges and the canyons in -the mountains. The Grand Canyon of the Colorado is a part of our work. - -In the widening of valleys the circular saws of crooked streams are -very useful, but there are other things at work. The rains dissolve -the soil and wash the banks away and slope them down; Jack Frost, with -his wedges, pries out both soil and rock; the little farmers with many -feet--the burrowing animals and insects--and the famous farmer with no -feet at all--the angleworm--loosen soil, and so help the river to carry -it away; and the ice, when the river breaks up in the spring, chisels -off the banks as it passes. - -[Illustration: HOW RIVERS BUILD STONE BRIDGES - - Natural bridges are made by the same agency that forms the - intermittent springs--the dissolving power of water--and, like the - springs, are characteristic of limestone regions because limestone - is readily dissolved in water. In the little model of a limestone - region "a" and "a" are "sink-holes"--saucer-shaped hollows - dissolved and washed into funnels through which the surface water - joins underground streams such as you see flowing beneath the two - "bs," which are natural bridges in the making. - - The lower picture shows just how one of the bridge-builders looks - while at work, dissolving and wearing down the rock. The next two - pictures will help tell you two other ways in which rivers make - their own bridges. -] - -If you have ever been in a machine-shop you must have noticed how a -planing-mill works away on a job it has been set to do, without anybody -watching it at all; and when it gets done with its job it stops, all -by itself. Such machinery is called "automatic," because, to a certain -extent, it runs its own affairs. A river, in planing down and reshaping -valley scenery, has an automatic stop. When it has cut its valley down -to sea level it stops, because, being then no higher than the sea, it -can no longer flow toward it. - -[Illustration: AFTER A FEW CUPS OF TEA - - When winding rivers get a few cups of tea--that is, are in - flood--they rush straight ahead and, while much of the water may - for a time still go on around the bend, some of it is forced - through openings in the rock and in time carves out a bridge. How - they do this is shown in the upper diagram on page 83. -] - -But before this automatic stop shuts off their machinery the work that -rivers do is immense. The Mississippi River carries enough solid matter -to the Gulf every year to make a mountain a mile square and 268 feet -high. - -[Illustration: YOU KNOW THIS BRIDGE, OF COURSE - - The Natural Bridge of Virginia is an example of still another style - of river bridge-building. This bridge used to be part of the roof - of a cave and remained after the rest of the roof fell in. -] - -When ordinary people want to cross a mountain they have to climb over -it. But do you know what a river does? It cuts its way right through -and makes what is called a water-gap--a great gate of stone that is -always open and through which the stream forever flows. All the river -used was tools and time. The tools were the sand and pebbles it swept -along. So in the course of ages, running like a band saw, the Potomac -made the water-gap at Harper's Ferry, the Delaware River the Delaware -Water-Gap. - - -HOW MOUNTAINS HELP MAKE THE WATER GATES - -But how could a river do this? It couldn't flow up one side of the -mountain and down the other, could it? No, certainly not. What then? -Wherever you find a river cutting through a mountain range you may -be sure the river was there before the mountains rose, and that the -mountains rose so slowly the river kept right on in its old channel and -wore down the rock under that channel as fast as the mountains rose; -while, on either side, they could rise as high as they wanted to for -all the river cared! - - -GROWING MOUNTAINS AND THE EARTHQUAKES - -But suppose, before I had explained how water-gaps are made I had told -you I could show you a mountain growing. You wouldn't have believed -it. Regions in which mountains are still rising, as on our Pacific -Coast, are liable to earthquakes. The reason is that as mountains rise -the rock layers of which they are made are strained dreadfully. Every -once in a while they crack and the rocks on either side of this crack -grind against each other. This makes the earth shake, much as the house -shakes when a heavy table is pushed across a bare floor. - -If you want to see a job of river engineering that will make you catch -your breath, look over into some of the river canyons and gorges of the -West. - -[Illustration: THE GREAT CUMBERLAND WATER-GAP - - Here is the famous Cumberland Gap that the river cut through the - mountains; so cutting a great figure in United States history, - also, you remember. The picture shows the region as it looked in - early days. -] - -A mile isn't much straight ahead, but a mile straight down and you on -your stomach, with your eyes just over the edge--it's an _awful_ long -way! Imagine yourself looking down a wall of rock like that, and the -bottom of the abyss so far off that it looks blue--that's a canyon! - - -AND YET THAT LITTLE RIVER DID IT ALL! - -And now we are going down into the vastest canyon in the world, a -canyon so vast that it has already swallowed practically all the -words in the dictionary suitable to such scenery and still remains -undescribed--so all the skilled writers say who have tried their hands -at it. This is the Grand Canyon of the Colorado. Do you remember how -in "Alice in Wonderland" the cat disappeared and left nothing but its -smile? Well, the first time you see the Grand Canyon you feel as if it -had swallowed you and left nothing but your eyes! And when they tell -you that it was all done by that little river that you can just make -out threading its way along the bottom, you can't believe it! The total -length of the river's gorge--a canyon is just a long gorge--is some 400 -miles. The part of it known as the Grand Canyon is a yawning abyss of -stone into which the river walls widen for a distance of 42 miles. The -Lower Colorado River, that dug this chasm in the rock, flows through a -vast table-land where rain seldom falls. But the river, which rises in -the Rocky Mountains, has a constant supply of water from the mountain -rains and the melting snow. The canyons you see branching from the main -gorge in our picture were cut by the Colorado's tributaries. Working -together on different sides, they carved out those rock masses that -look like oriental temples and have been named accordingly--the temples -of Brahma, Osiris, Zoroaster, and so on. - -And here in this canyon is a splendid example of how the rivers, in -addition to all their other labors, write history. They helped to lay -down on the borders of the ancient sea the material out of which the -rocks were made. It is in the leaves in such books of stone that the -geologist reads the great events of world-making history. Moreover, the -rivers may be said to cut the leaves of the book when they dig down -through them, as in this immense library of the Grand Canyon. - -[Illustration: - - _From a photograph copyrighted by Fred Harvey_ - - AND WE PEBBLES HELPED DIG THE GRAND CANYON, TOO! - - River water alone couldn't cut those canyons--the Grand Canyon and - the rest. The Colorado and its tributaries had to have grinding - tools and the tools were the pebbles they dragged over their - rock-beds; and thus, in the course of ages, wore them down and down - and down. -] - -Busy, busy all the time--these rivers. But although they are always at -work they not only never forget to look beautiful but they beautify -everything they touch. At the outset the lines of a river valley are -rather straight and angular, as if the scenery were just being blocked -out by an artist, but as the valley grows older its slopes become more -gentle, the angles disappear into rounded forms, and the river itself -winds along in graceful lines, exactly reproducing what the great -English artist Hogarth called "the line of beauty." - -[Illustration: THAT MIGHTY RIVER IN THE MEADOWS - - Yon stream, whose sources run, - Turned by a pebble's edge, - Is Athabasca, rolling towards the sun, - Through the cleft mountain ledge. - - The slender rill had strayed, - But for the slanting stone, - To evening's ocean, with the tangled braid - Of foam-flecked Oregon. - - --Holmes. -] - -Back of all the work of the rivers from year to year and age to age, -there seems always the thought of beauty as well as the thought of use. -They are evidently under an eternal law of service, of beauty, and of -change. - - "The hills are shadows, and they flow - From form to form and nothing stands. - They melt like mists the solid lands; - Like clouds they shape themselves and go." - - -HIDE AND SEEK IN THE LIBRARY - - Isn't Tennyson's "Brook" a beautiful title picture of a baby river - and its ways? - - Speaking of human nature in rivers and apparent differences in - disposition, why is it that some of the rivers of California run - right through the mountain ranges from east to west--have evidently - cut their way--while others run along, meekly enough, between the - ranges? I'm sure from what we have learned about rivers that you - can tell how this happened as well as if you had been there when - the rivers were made; but if you can't think--after trying real - hard--you will find the answer in the Hide and Seek at the end of - the next chapter. - - Beside being so prominent in the literature of the Bible and - so famous in history, the River Jordan is a most curious and - interesting stream, and every child should know about it. Here are - some of the things you will find: Why it is born partly grown, and - doesn't begin as a little stream, like the Mississippi; why it may - be said to be in both the tropical and temperate zones[13]; about - its two valleys, both of which it uses at the same time.[14] - -[Footnote 13: Britannica.] - -[Footnote 14: International.] - - Another famous river over in that part of the world--it's the - biggest river in Western Asia, in fact--was born twins. See if you - can find such a river on the map. (The name of it is at the end of - the next chapter.) In the days of Alexander the Great these twin - rivers, which now unite in one after travelling along independently - for a while, were a good day's journey apart clear to the end. In - the article on this river in the Britannica, and in books of travel - you will find how, by a quaint and ingenious device, the river is - made to pump itself up hill and irrigate the fields; how history, - clear back to the beginning of civilization, is written in the - ruins of cities along its banks; how it used to put in part of its - time bounding the Roman empire, and how nowadays it is forced to - help support Arab river pirates and wild pigs. - - Now let's go over into Africa with Doctor Livingstone and see how - a river can grind out a big, deep stone jar in solid rock.[15] - Rivers grind out these _pot-holes_ much as Indian women and the - American pioneers used to grind wheat and corn. (The river, you'll - find, uses pebbles for millstones.) - -[Footnote 15: "The Expedition to the Zambesi," page 63. One of these -natural water-jars that Doctor Livingstone found was as wide as a well -and so deep it kept the water cool even under the broiling African sun.] - - And what do you think of a waterfall big enough to swallow two - Niagaras? (It's the greatest waterfall in the world; so you must - have learned its name in your geography.) It's described on page - 268 of Doctor Livingstone's book referred to in the foot-note. The - natives call it "The Fall of the Thundering Smoke." They wonder how - water can smoke, and so that you can see the "smoke" twenty miles - away. You'll wonder, too, until you learn the reason. - - - - - CHAPTER V - - (MAY) - - When April steps aside for May, - Like diamonds all the rain-drops glisten; - Fresh violets open every day; - To some new bird each hour we listen. - - --_Lucy Larcom._ - - -THE FAIRYLAND OF CHANGE - -What a wonderful world it is, this world of green fields and perfume -and blossoms of pink and gold! Where did it come from? How did it get -here out of the white winter? That bleak and barren winter that lay all -around us everywhere only a few short weeks ago? - -Just suppose we had never seen apple trees in bloom, as we are now -seeing them everywhere, and somebody should show us a little brown -seed, and a piece of bark, and a piece of root, and a green leaf, and -a blossom, and an apple, and tell us they grew out of each other--were -all made of the very same stuff. - -Well, just as sure as anything, you wouldn't believe it. I wouldn't -believe it. We simply couldn't! But we've had this sort of thing all -around us ever since we can remember, and we've got so used to it we -don't see anything wonderful about it. It _is_ wonderful just the same. -The Colossus of Rhodes, and Jupiter of Olympia, and the lighthouse of -Alexandria, and all the other Seven Wonders of the World that people -used to go so far to see, weren't anything to it. - -And to this day, how it all comes about is as much of a mystery as -ever. Yet Nature does it right before our eyes, and over and over and -over again! Even I, old as I am, and as much as I know, _I_ don't know -how she does it, but I do know how it all started; how Nature first -began to change one thing into another. It was when she began making -marbles, granites, and other kinds of rock out of other kinds. That -was ages before she changed little brown seeds into big trees with -pink blossoms and red apples on them, or little brown cocoons into big -golden butterflies, or anything like that. - - -I. In the Fairyland of Change - -Ahem! Ahem! (Pebble coughing.) - -I caught cold some several million years ago and I haven't got over it -yet. That's why I'm a granite pebble instead of a slate pebble, or a -sandstone pebble, or anything common. It's a part of the story of the -fairyland of change, this cold of mine. - -Ahem! - -Would you mind getting me a lump of sugar? I don't want it for my -cold--it never does that any good--but because a lump of sugar goes so -well with this part of my story. - -You notice the sugar lump is made up of little crystals, little -building blocks just as I am, just as all granites are. And the -crystals in the sugar and in the stone were made in the same way--by -first heating and then cooling the material out of which they are made. - -[Illustration: THE CRYSTAL FAIRIES IN THE SUGAR-BOWL] - -When the earth's surface first cooled, the melted rock is supposed -to have changed to granite. Melted rock, under the same conditions, -does that to-day. So, for a while, granite must have been all the kind -of rock there was. There was as yet no sandstone, no shells or bones -to make limestone, no pebbles to help make conglomerate or "pudding -stone," no ground-up rock and soil to make slate. - -The rocks of the earth have been made over so many times that it is not -probable that any of the granites now "living" (so to speak) are the -same rocks that were made when the earth first cooled, but you can see -that we have a right to say what I was careful to say when I introduced -myself to you in the first chapter, that we belong to one of the _very -oldest families_--we Granites. - -Ahem! - -There is a variety of rock--a crystallized rock--with bands all through -it, called gneiss (say "nice"). Gneiss is made from all kinds of rock -including, of course, conglomerate; that is to say "pudding stone"[16] -warmed over. - -[Footnote 16: "Pudding stone" is a rock with pebbles all through it, -like the plums in a Christmas pudding. Its book name is "conglomerate."] - -"And what they did not eat that night, the queen next morning fried!" - - -DOWN IN THE GREAT MELTING-POT - -But how is old rock warmed over and made into new? You might easily -guess that as the heart of the earth is melted rock the rock layers -lying next to it would be melted, too, and so started on their way to -becoming crystallized rock. Crystallization in rock takes place from -the surface down, in the same way that maple syrup turns to sugar, as -it does if allowed to stand undisturbed. So, as the central mass of -rock is cooling from above toward the centre, we may suppose granite is -still being formed away down there, miles under our feet. - -But there are other ways in which rocks make their own heat--rocks far -above this central molten heart of the world. One of these ways might -remind you of how the mother hen gets her chickens to come out of the -eggs, for rocks hatch out new rocks by sitting on one another! - -[Illustration: THREE CHAPTERS IN THE STORY OF MARBLE - - If you're ever in New York City up around 192d Street, you can read - the three chapters in the life of a piece of marble right in the - rocks themselves, for there you'll see this mass of rock with that - granite dike pushing its way through. The rock on either side of - the dike is limestone, and this limestone, owing to the heat of - the lava which afterward hardened and became a "dike," is full of - crystals; that is, began to turn to marble because of the heat. See - how the lava crumpled the limestone as it pushed its way up into - the original crack? -] - -The pressure of the upper rocks generates heat in those beneath. - -Then when these deeply buried rocks come up into the upper world as -parts of mountain chains, and the covering of the softer rocks is, -by the rivers and by weathering, worn away, we find the granite. The -wrinkling of the rocks which makes mountains also creates immense -pressure, and this is another great source of made-over rock. Such rock -is found almost entirely in mountain regions. Some rocks, as shown -in pebbles stretched out like a piece of gum, are heated by pressure -without being crystallized. Often one of these stretched pebbles is -the only thing in a crystallized rock that shows what kind of rock it -was originally, all the finer material in it has been so changed. The -deeper down in the earth the rocks are the more apt they are to be -crystallized, because the rocks piled above them help to hold in the -heat, just as thick blankets keep you warmest on a cold winter night. - - -KINDS OF "METAMORPHIC" ROCK - -Rock of any kind may be changed to crystallized rock. Where the -conditions are not favorable for crystallization the rock is made more -solid, and material soaked out of the rocks above filters down into it. -The lower layers of sandstone may become almost as solid as glass, and -are then called "quartzite." Clay rocks are hardened into slate. Rocks -changed in any of these ways are called "metamorphic" rock, from two -Greek words meaning "to form over." But by "metamorphic" is usually -meant rock that has been crystallized. - - -NICE HATCHING TEMPERATURE FOR ROCKS - -I compared the hatching of new rocks to the hatching of new chickens, -because it is done by the rocks sitting on one another. But chicken -hatching and rock "hatching" are alike in still another way. The rocks -need heat, but not too much heat. Too much heat melts them. It is only -when they have cooled down a good deal that they begin to crystallize; -and that, you see, wastes time. - -A nice hatching temperature for rocks is between 500 and 1000 degrees -Fahrenheit. - -But we might also compare Mother Nature's way of changing rocks to the -cooking that goes on in our kitchens. She uses not only heat, but water -and other things, including salt and soda. Both the salt and some of -the water in the rocks comes from--you'd hardly guess it--the seas! Not -the seas of to-day, but the seas of yesterday, when these rocks were -made. Then the pores were filled with water and the water has been kept -shut in down there by the rocks above ever since. - -From this sea water comes the salt. The salt in the water, when heated, -helps to dissolve the rocks so that the different materials in them can -separate and come together again in new ways, and so form new rocks. -You know when you go to the lavatory to change your hands from dark to -light what a lot of difference it makes whether the water is hot or -cold and whether you use soap. The soap helps dissolve the dirt on your -hands just as the salt helps dissolve the rocks. - -The soda which Nature also uses is particularly good for dissolving -rock that will hardly dissolve without it; silica, for instance, out of -which are made the hardest of the sand grains, the sand in sandstone, -the sharp, glassy edges of grass blades, and the blades of wheat, and -the stalks of corn. Whenever there is a great deal of silica in rock -you find soda mixed right with it. This, having the rocks already -salted and mixed with soda before putting them in the oven, Mother -Nature has always found _so_ convenient! - - -ONE PEBBLE MAY PLAY MANY PARTS - -I, in my time, may have been many kinds of rock. First, heaved up out -of the sea by the earliest wrinkling of the cooling earth as granite; -then weathered away into soil and carried by rivers to the sea, where I -was remade the first time, maybe, as part of the "dough" in a pudding -stone; then up again in an earth wrinkle and again back to sea, this -time to be made into some one of the clay stones, and then back to -granite again. - -Anyhow here I am, a little freckled granite pebble talking myself red -in the face because I've got so much to say, such wonderful things to -tell, and only a few hundred pages to tell it in! - - -II. How Do They Know? - -But, after all, how do they know that one rock changes into another? No -one ever caught a rock doing this, did they? - -Not quite, but almost. To explain, I must first tell you about the -fossils that are found in stone. Haven't you often noticed in marble -curious figures that reminded you of sea-shells? They were sea-shells -but have been turned to stone, and things similarly changed while still -keeping their original form are called "fossils." - -When the plants and the shell creatures of the sea die they fall to the -bottom, and mud and sand settles over them and closes them in, much as -you shut leaves and flowers between the pages of a book. But while the -book presses the leaves of flowers out of shape these bodies of the -water-plants and shell creatures are slowly enclosed in a soft mass of -mud that doesn't change their shapes at all. Then the particles that go -to make up the soft bodies of these buried things are slowly dissolved -away, and the minerals in the water and mud above them soak in and -take their places. It's like passenger after passenger in a car getting -up and other passengers taking the vacant places. Finally this mass of -limey shells becomes buried deep under the sea, is turned to limestone, -and when in course of time this part of the seashore rises--as we know -shores have a way of doing--or is wrinkled up into a mountain, this -limestone becomes a part of the face of the land. - -[Illustration: - - _From a photograph by the American Museum of Natural History_ - -STORY OF THE LITTLE JEWEL-BOX - - A kind of jewel-box? Yes, the kind geologists call a "geode." It - began as a piece of limestone in which the underground waters had - dissolved a cavity. But these waters had already, in solution, - quartz which they had dissolved from quartz rock, and this quartz, - deposited little by little in the cavity, formed into crystals. The - quartz also made the surrounding walls more solid, so that when the - mass of limestone containing this pocket was cut away by erosion - this jewel-box remained, and, being rolled about in streams or by - the lap and plunge of waves, it was rounded. -] - - -WOULDN'T WE SAY THE SAME THING? - -Now suppose where some great granite rock stood up through layers of -other kinds of rock--looking as if it had pushed itself through like -the great granite boss on which Edinburgh Castle stands--you found -that wherever this intruder touched the other rock that rock was -crystallized. If we had just found all this out for ourselves, as the -geology people found it, we would say, just as they said: - -[Illustration: FATHER, GRANDFATHER, AND THE CHILDREN IN THE PORPHYRY -FAMILY - - In this piece of porphyry you see three generations, all living - under one roof, as it were. Notice that six-sided crystal near the - centre? Compare it with other good-sized crystals that haven't - any distinctive shape. The reason for the difference is that the - shapeless ones have had some of their substance taken away to form - the smaller crystals. The dark mass is lava. In it the big crystals - formed. Then, from most of the big crystals the lava reabsorbed - material, and this material later turned into little crystals--the - "grandchildren" of the three generations. -] - -"I wonder what the granite did to the limestone and the other rocks -around it to make them 'sugar,' or, as we say when speaking of rocks, -'crystallize'? Syrup sugars when it is heated and then cooled without -stirring. I wonder if this intruding mass that is now granite didn't -spout up, in melted form, from down in the earth, and heat the rocks -on either side as it burst its way through. Then both this hot rock and -its neighbors cooled and crystallized. That's it!" - -[Illustration: SPLITTING MARBLE ROCKS IN THE QUARRY - - This is a scene in a marble-quarry. The men are splitting up a - 120-ton block. A writer in _Scribner's Magazine_, in which this - illustration originally appeared, also describes the process. The - wedges, carefully greased, are inserted in the drill-holes which, - for a horizontal split, are neither close together nor very deep, - as that is the natural plane of cleavage between the strata. Two - men with sledges go down the line giving each wedge a blow--not - too hard. Then two more men follow, and in go the wedges a little - farther. You see it wouldn't do to rush matters, or you'd fracture - the marble. The operation is so delicate, indeed, that the foreman - himself gives the final blows. Then the marble cracks from hole to - hole. For the vertical splits the holes, you notice, are closer - together. They are also deeper. -] - -In some places you find these granite masses in great bosses, or -domelike rocks; elsewhere in long strips, like an iron bar thrust -through other rocks; in still other places in great slabs between other -rocks, like a warming pan pushed between the bed-sheets on a cold -winter night; but everywhere it touches other rocks these neighbors are -crystallized. - -Now, coming back to our friends the fossils, we sometimes find -limestone bordering one of these intrusive marble rocks with fossils in -it, shading off into limestone containing the same kind of fossils. As -you get closer to the granite mass the fossils in the marble gradually -fade away until you come to marble in which there are no fossils at all. - -So there we get the whole story of the life, not only of marble but of -granite, and what happened to them in "The Fairyland of Change" and how -it happened: - -_Chapter I._--The limestone was made in the sea and the shell creatures -helped to make it. - -_Chapter II._--Hot melted rock from the inside of the earth broke its -way up through these limestone beds. - -_Chapter III._--Then, as the melted rock cooled, it changed to granite, -and the limestone on either side, being first heated and then cooled, -crystallized and changed to marble. - -Men of science have still other ways of working out this problem as to -whether and how and why one kind of rock changes into another. - -"But," we might say, "aren't they satisfied? We are. It's all plain -enough to us now that one kind of rock does change into another. Then -why do these geologist people go on getting more evidence when they've -already got enough? It's like a boy learning two lessons when he only -has to recite in one; and whoever _heard_ of such a thing!" - - -THESE BOYS JUST LOVE TO STUDY - -The answer is that this "going on" is one of the many delights of -study, particularly in Nature's books, when once you get the habit. - -[Illustration: - - _From a photograph by Frith & Co., Ltd., Reigate_ - - THE MARBLE ROCKS AT JABALPUR - - The gorge of the "Marble Rocks," near Jabalpur, India, is a mile - long and of an unearthly beauty of which even this little picture - will give you some idea. The walls gleam white and golden in the - sun. They are not really marble but limestone, which, as you will - learn in this chapter, is the stone that becomes marble in "the - fairyland of change." It looks as if nature had begun the making - of marble columns in those cliffs, doesn't it? This is because the - cliff is cut up by joints. You can also make out in one of the - "pillars" the strata, or horizontal divisions of the rock, as it - was laid down in the sea. -] - -Among other things, the scientists search the pockets of the rocks, -so to speak, for further evidence as to whether one kind changes into -another. Chemistry is a great help in doing this, and, of course, -the microscope. They find in this way that rocks that are full of -crystals, such as granite and marble, and that look so different -from the rocks that are not crystallized--such as limestone and -sandstone--have in them the very same substances--silica, lime, potash, -iron, and so on. - -And again they put the oysters on the witness stand. (You remember -how, long ago, oysters helped tell that mountains were once a part of -the sea bottom.) They put a piece of limestone in a certain acid, and -it bubbles and gives off a certain kind of gas. Then they do the same -thing to an oyster-shell, and it gives out the same kind of gas. Then -they try it on a piece of marble and out comes that very gas again! So -all three--the limestone, the oyster-shell, and the marble--must be -pretty close relations. Marble is just oyster and other shells warmed -up and then allowed to cool. - -But they don't stop here--these students of the rocks. It isn't enough -that all these facts point to one conclusion. They want to actually -_try it out_. So what do they do but change chalk--which is a kind of -very soft limestone--into marble in the laboratory? This they do by -heating the chalk and then cooling it under immense pressure. - - -III. The Fairies of the Fairyland of Change - -If there really are fairies in this deep-down fairyland of change--and -surely there must be--I should say they were the very same fairies we -find in a lump of sugar--the crystals. For it is when these crystals -take different shapes--the very thing fairies are always doing, you -know--that things change into something else, so different you can -hardly believe it. One could easily believe that charcoal and coal are -related, they look so much alike in the face; but who would say that a -piece of charcoal and a diamond were made of the very same stuff? They -are. But diamonds are made of crystals and charcoal is not; and that -must be it. The carbon of the charcoal was never touched by the wand of -the Crystal Fairy. - -[Illustration: SIX MEMBERS OF THE CRYSTAL FAMILY - -Introducing six interesting members of the crystal family. The crystals -of common salt and of gold, among others, take the form shown at _A_. -Alum and diamonds crystallize as shown at _C_; while _B_ and _F_ belong -to a system of crystals which we find built up into ice and arsenic. -_D_ and _E_ are building-blocks for green vitriol, borax, and sulphate -of soda.] - -A strange thing is that big crystals are always made up of little -crystals. So what looks like one crystal is really a United States -of crystals, all like each other and each like all of them put -together, much as our federal government repeats the form of the State -governments, and the State governments duplicate the government at -Washington on a smaller scale. - -[Illustration: THE SAND GRAINS AND THE CRYSTAL FAIRIES - -The crystal fairies often give battered sand grains a new lease of -life and these pictures show how they do it. Fig. "_a_" is a single -sand grain which has grown into crystal form; "_b_" shows parallel -growths about a grain; "_c_" is a group of neighboring grains that have -crowded each other so in their growth that the crystal facets have been -destroyed. Sounds odd to speak of sand grains "growing," doesn't it? -But they do!] - -But why do the little crystals always come together in just such a way -as to make big crystals shaped exactly like themselves? - -Goodness knows! - -But whatever the how and the why of it may be, not only do the crystal -people stick as closely to the family pattern in dress as the Scotch -Highlanders do to the plaids of their clans, but the crystals are -clannish in another way. When a clay rock, for example, is dissolved -by the heat, moisture, and chemicals down in the land of change, -the particles of the same kind that are scattered through it hunt -each other out, and ever after cling together, like Emmy Lou and her -"nintimate friends." You've noticed how "spotty" granite is, haven't -you? This is because it is made up of different kinds of minerals; but, -although the crystals in all follow the granite pattern, the particles -of each kind of mineral "flock together." The feldspars and the micas -never mix. - - -JUST TRY IT WITH A PIECE OF PAPER - -Now take a piece of writing paper and roll it into a tube and I'll show -you something else. Stand the roll up between your two hands and press -down on the top. It takes a good deal of pressure to bend or break it, -doesn't it? Now lay it on its side and squeeze. It breaks right away. - -But how should the crystals in a piece of granite know that a column -of anything will stand so much more weight when the pressure comes on -the ends than when it comes on the sides? They seem to know; for I'll -tell you what they do, away down there in the dark of the earth. The -crystals stand at right angles to the pressure on the rock in which -they are forming. Sometimes, because of the movements of the earth -as it shrinks and cracks, the crystals already formed in granite are -crushed over on their sides. Then, in course of time, they form again, -but _this_ time they stand upright, with their "heads and shoulders" -against the burden--little Atlases supporting the world! And they -not only manage to get up and stand up straight when re-formed under -pressure, but they stand closer together than they did before; they -close up ranks, like soldiers with serious business before them. - -A crystal is made up of molecules, that is to say, little parts -of itself. You can't see a molecule; you just have to think it. -Each different thing in the world--as salt and sugar, boys and -bumble-bees, little girls and butterflies--is made up of its own kind -of molecules or little parts of itself. In order to grasp the idea of -certain scientific facts, the men of science thought of the molecules -themselves as being made of little bits of _themselves_, which the -scientists called "atoms." Now they find that it is necessary--in -order to work out still further their ideas of how things are made -and done and changed, in this wonderful mystery we call the world--to -imagine these atoms as made up of what they call "electrons." You -mustn't think, however, that this is all mere fancy. We can, of course, -think of anything as made up of small particles or parts of itself -which we can call "molecules," and that these molecules are made of -still smaller parts which we can call "atoms." But there is reason to -believe that while each different kind of thing is made of its own -kind of molecules and their atoms, all the atoms are made of the same -thing--electrons or little bits of electricity. For reasons which need -not be gone into here, it is known that electrons actually exist. These -electrons are so much smaller than an atom that there is as much room -for them to move around in an atom as there is for the planets to move -around the sun. - -And they _do_ move--travelling round and round. There are, even in so -small a thing as a grain of sand, untold numbers of these circling -worlds; systems like the sun with its planets and other vast star -systems of the sky. - -And that, it is thought, may be one of the secrets of the continual -change of things; clay rock changing to granite, granite to soil, soil -to fruit, fruit to children, and so on--everything on the move and the -electrons doing the moving--carrying the changes, so to speak--these -wonderful little myriad messenger boys of the universe! - - -HIDE AND SEEK IN THE LIBRARY - - Don't imagine, for all I've talked so long about them, that I've - told you everything there is to know about the crystal fairies. For - example, did you know that if it wasn't for the crystal people we - wouldn't have any ice? (_Ice._) - - You will also find that if it wasn't for ice--ice and the - Greeks--we wouldn't have the word "crystal" at all. (_Crystal._) - - One of the most striking things in the whole conduct of these - clever crystal folks you will find in reading about ice. If it - wasn't for a peculiar--a very peculiar--habit the ice crystals - have, all the waters of the world that ever freeze at all, would - freeze solid to the bottom and never _would_ thaw out! - - I'll tell you this much about it: - - While everything else in the world--including boys and - girls--contracts when it gets cold, ice expands, and so becomes - lighter than water, and so floats. - - And yet the ice crystals know how to contract as well as expand, - and that's why ice sometimes builds stone walls, as we will see - when we come to study "The Stones of the Field" in July. - - Shaking still water that is cold enough to freeze but hasn't frozen - makes the crystal fairies get very busy in their ice factories. - And it looks very much as if the fairies themselves warmed up with - their work; for, after this shaking, the temperature of the water - rises ten degrees at the very same time it is freezing! - - You will also find that when the weather is cold enough ice itself - freezes, gets harder and harder with the cold; that ice will melt - ice; that two blocks of ice will grow into one if you give them a - chance; that ice crystals are apt to be born twins; that these twin - crystals are fond of gardening--at least, they raise "ice flowers"; - that the ice crystals are so punctual in their coming and going in - water that they are used to help place the markings on thermometers - just right, so that we can tell exactly how cold or hot we are. - - All this just about the crystals of the ice, but the work of the - crystal people in making snowflakes is even more wonderful. In - the bound volumes of St. Nicholas for March, 1882, in your Public - Library you will find a most interesting account of a man in - Vermont who began studying snowflakes and taking their pictures - when he was a boy. He's known all over the world as the great - authority on snowflakes. In the Encyclopedia Americana you will - find a long article by him in which he tells the many interesting - things he has learned about the ways of the fairies of the snow And - how many pictures do you suppose he has in his snowflake gallery - now? Over a thousand, and no two alike! - - Just to think! Some of these wonderful little people of the - fairyland of change sit at the table with us at every meal--the - sugar crystals. And they are among the most interesting members of - the family. Under the word _Sugar_ you will find that the sugar - crystals themselves eat and grow. But what do you suppose they eat? - Not sugar. (You may easily guess, however, they have a sweet tooth.) - - Yes, and at their home table, before they come to _your_ home - table, they have their regular meals, and they are not allowed a - second helping until they have eaten the first! - - -Answers to Conundrums in H. & S. No. 4 - - The east and west rivers in California were there before the - mountains rose and so cut their way through; while the north and - south rivers between the ranges owe their origin to the mountains - themselves. - - The big twin river referred to is the Euphrates. - - The greatest falls in the world are the Victoria Falls on the - Zambesi. - - - - - CHAPTER VI - - (JUNE) - - The rivers laugh in the valley, - Hills dreaming of their past, - And all things silently opening-- - Opening into the Vast. - - * * * * * - - That pebble is older than Adam, - Secrets it hath to tell. - These rocks--they cry out history, - Could I but listen well. - - --_William C. Gannet_: "_Sunday on the Hill-Top_." - - -THE SECRETS OF THE HILLS - -I. In the Bad Land Library - -It has been said[17] that crystals are dreaming of life, they act -so like living things. We may imagine the crystals in the granite -rocks which first came into being with the cooling of the fire globe, -dreaming out the long procession of life and change that followed them. - -[Footnote 17: John Burroughs: "The Breath of Life."] - -But what nightmares they must have had when they foresaw such creatures -as the one on page 23, that grotesque, that unbelievable combination of -bird and beast, the cerotosaurus! The bones of such monsters are one of -the most astonishing secrets of the hills. - - -DIFFERENT KINDS OF MOUNTAINS - -[Illustration: HOW THE BAD LANDS GOT THEIR NAME - - "The Bad Lands are so called because they are bad for - travelling--that is, if you're in anything of a hurry!" -] - -The Bad Lands of South Dakota, in which, as in other parts of our great -West, so many bones of the ancients have been found, got their name -because they are so bad for travelling; that is to say, if you are in -anything of a hurry. But if you are just looking around--during your -vacation, in June, say--they are anything but bad lands. They are full -of interesting secrets. This secret of the ancient bones is only one -of them. Another thing they lead us into is the secret history of the -hills themselves; and as this particular book is mainly about the face -of the earth, the story back of the landscape, as it appears to the -traveller, we shall give the rest of this chapter to the origin of the -Hill family, using the word "hill" in its broadest sense. If you have -looked it up in the dictionary you have found that what people call a -"hill" depends a good deal on where they are. The Bad Lands are really -hills; but in South Dakota, where these particular bad lands are, they -also have what they call the Black Hills, which are really mountains, -because they "mounted" to get where they are.[18] They wrinkled up, -just as the continents themselves did, when they came out of the sea. -Most of the great mountain systems of the world were made in this way, -but table-lands may be so cut up by streams in course of time that they -look like mountains. - -[Footnote 18: Mr. Pebble did not mean to say, I am sure, that the -word "mountain" comes from "mount," used in the sense of rising. The -original of the word mountain comes from the language of the People of -the Seven Hills, the Romans, and means a great mass of rock or earth -that sticks up.--_Translator._] - -[Illustration: _Painted by Dewitt Parshall. In the possession of the -Metropolitan Museum of Art_ - - THE CATSKILLS IN A MIST -] - -The Catskill Mountains are of this type, while real mountains may be -so worn down that you would take them for plains. You see, with the -Hills and the Mountains, as with other royal families, it isn't the -importance of the individual that counts, but the ancestry. - -Another kind of real mountain, beside the folded-up kind, is the -mountain that is made where a rocky plain is split up into great stone -blocks by the movements of the earth crust, as it settles around the -shrinking centre. In the settling and crushing together of the rock -cover around the shrinking ball within, some of the blocks drop down, -and the blocks that are left sticking up make cliffs. Mountain ranges -so made have long, gentle slopes on the side opposite the cliffs. Then -there are volcanic mountains. Fujiyama, the sacred mountain of Japan, -is one of these. - -Mountains are also formed where the molten rock on the inside of the -earth is forced up under layers of rock nearer the surface. This lifts -these rock layers into domes. In the course of time the rivers and the -weather wear away the overlying rocks, leaving the hard central core -standing out. Harder layers of the overlying rock, wearing down less -rapidly than the other layers, often stand out as circular ridges with -valleys in between, so that the central core looks like some old ring -master at a circus. The Bear Paw Mountains and the Little Snowies of -Montana are mountains of this type. - - -WHERE MOUNTAINS GET THEIR PEAKS - -Most mountain peaks, except those of the volcanoes, are remnants of -hard rock which have been left standing while the rivers and the -weather cut away the softer rock around them. - -[Illustration: IN THE HIMALAYAS THEY MIGHT CALL THESE "HILLS" - -High as these mountains are--we are right on the roof of the -Rockies--if they were in the Himalayas they might be called "hills," -because there the scenery grows so much taller. What does the sharpness -of the peaks say as to the age of these mountains? Compared with the -Appalachians, for example?] - -In regions of gently rolling country even small hummocks are sometimes -called "mountains," while out West, where scenery grows so tall, -the Black Hills seem to the people only stepping-stones to the big -Rockies. So they call them "hills." In the region of the Himalaya -Mountains--mountains that don't think anything, you remember, of -climbing up 16,000 to 30,000 feet in the air--a peak of 10,000 feet is -often called a "hill." - - -II. Hills That Were Moved In - -Nearly every region has hills, because every region has or has had -running streams and the streams have carved out the hills. But there -are kinds of hills that aren't home-made; they were made elsewhere and -moved in. I believe this is the biggest hill secret of all, speaking of -hills proper and not of mountains. - -[Illustration: _From Norton's "Elements of Geology." By permission of -Ginn and Company_ - -KAME SCENERY IN NEW YORK STATE] - -Almost all over the northern part of North America, as well as much of -Europe and Asia, there are mounds, heaps, and hills of various shapes -and sizes made up of a mixture of pebbles, sand, and clay. In the -United States these heaps make a big line of hills, like a procession -of ancient Indian chiefs, with bowed heads and stooped shoulders, -plodding back to the land of their fathers. And, sure enough, there -they go from down East clear across country to the far West and then -up North, where, as we know, these hill-moving giants, the glaciers, -came from.[19] For, beginning with Perth Amboy, N. J., say, you will -find them marching on through Elmira, N. Y., skirting the suburbs of -Cincinnati, winding their way through Indiana and Iowa up through -Wisconsin to the Dakotas and Montana, and so back into Canada. - -[Footnote 19: Did you suspect the giants of this chapter were our old -friends the glaciers of the Ice Age, when I first began talking about -them?] - -When the geologists first began digging into these hills they not only -found them as full of pebbles as a Christmas pudding is full of plums, -but the pebbles were of all kinds--sandstone, limestone, slate, granite. - - -JACK FROST DIDN'T DO IT! - -"These different pieces of stone didn't come from the breaking up by -frost of the rock beds on which we now find them," said Some Wise Man, -"for then they would all have been of the same kind of rock." - -"And besides," said Some Wise Man No. 2, "they would not have been -shaped into pebbles with the edges rounded off, as all pebbles are by -the waves of lakes or the sea or the water of flowing streams. So these -pebbles must have come from somewhere else." - -"Yes, and a long way off," remarked Some Wise Man No. 3; "for look, -there aren't any rock beds anywhere around here from which some of -these pebbles could have been made." - -"True enough," said Wise Man No. 4, "and I know what brought these -little foreigners. It was a great flood; for water moves not only -pebbles and clay, but, in times of flood, good-sized cobblestones." - - -WHAT IS MEANT BY THE "DRIFT" THEORY - -So, for a long time, it was believed that the material in these hills -was drifted in by the waters. This was called the "drift" theory, and, -although it is now known that this theory was not the true one, such -heaps of clay and stones are still called "drift." - -But the learned men kept on digging into the question and into the -hills, and finally more things were observed. - -"Did you notice this?" said one. "The material is not separated into -layers and divided up into coarse, finer, finest as the sediment of -pebbles, sand, and mud is separated and divided when it settles along -shores. These pebbles, this sand and clay, are all mixed up." - -"Look at this, will you?" (Here imagine a Learned Somebody picking -up a pebble with a scratched face like mine.) "Water never scratched -anything like that. Here are a lot more of these pebbles, all with -their faces scratched." - -"And just see how all these scratched pebbles have flat faces," cried -another of these famous grown-up boys in these great field excursions. -"It looks to me as if they had been ground against something -hard--another rock, say; and for a long time." - - -HOW THE QUESTION WAS FINALLY SETTLED - -Well, to make a long story short, they found that the glaciers of -the Ice Age, those great bodies of flowing ice, were the only things -that could have brought all this material together from such widely -separated regions (as shown by the different kinds of pebbles), and -left them all mixed up as they were; and the faces of many pebbles -scratched and flattened where they had been ground along. - -And then, to put the question entirely beyond dispute, they find that -the glaciers are carrying down pebbles and stuff in just this way -to-day, and piling it up in hills in the valleys at the foot of the -mountains. Only the hills of to-day are much smaller, because the -glaciers themselves are so small compared with the giants of the past. - -[Illustration: HOW THE OLD MEN MOVED THE HILL FURNITURE ABOUT - -This picture of a glacier in Alaska shows you just how the Old Men -of the Mountain moved the hills about, that time. As indicated by -the white lines--which, of course, were added to the picture for the -purpose--the Alaska glacier melted back, leaving just such heaps of -pebbles, boulders, and soil as made certain types of hills. Then from -1910 to 1913 it advanced again, thus picking up the very hills it had -laid down and setting them farther along, just as the glaciers did in -the Ice Age.] - - -HOW THE HILL FURNITURE WAS MOVED ABOUT - -During the Ice Age, when glaciers were all the fashion, they flowed -down, and then, as we have seen, melted back a certain distance; then -they flowed down again. Sometimes in later visits they flowed further -than before, and in so doing, you see, picked up some of the very -hills they had previously laid down and set them along somewhere else. -Sometimes we find different rows of hills, one right alongside the -other. This shows where the glacier melted away toward the mountains, -paused, then melted again and so on, each time leaving a group of hills -and not coming back there and disturbing them any more. - -Such hills as we have been speaking of may be steep or gentle, and from -a few feet to more than 1,000 feet high, although they are seldom as -high as 1,000 feet. - -And there are other kinds of hills made by the glaciers. One of the -most curious of these remind you of the serpent mounds left by the -mound builders in Ohio. These hills are the deposits left by the -streams, the veins inside the glacier's great body. The soil in them -is also apt to be in layers like the deposits of other rivers. These -hills wind along like serpents, because they reproduce the bends in the -streams inside the glacier. Such hills are called "eskers." They are -seldom more than a few rods wide and 10 feet or so in height. They run -for 10, 20, 40, 50, and sometimes 100 miles. - -Around Boston, and all along Cape Cod and in parts of New York and -Wisconsin, you will see other hills called "drumlins"; and you will see -plenty of them, too. It is estimated that there are 6,000 in western -New York and 5,000 in southern Wisconsin, and they are all around -Boston. Bunker Hill is a drumlin. You wouldn't have to tell an Irish -boy what "drumlin" means, as they have these hills in Ireland, too, and -from Ireland came the name. The word means "little hill." - -But while Mr. Glacier made the drumlins of the stuff he brought with -him, he enjoyed himself (at least let us hope so) tobogganing on hills -he found ready made. These hills are real mountains; usually the -granite heart of the mountain, because only a very strong rock could -stand having one of these playful giants riding over him and live to -tell the tale. Such glacier "slides" are referred to as "domes" or -"round tops" or "bald mountains." - -Mr. Agassiz, the great scientist who spent so many years studying the -motion of glaciers, could tell from the height of one of these bald and -rounded hills how high the glacier was that rode over it. For instance, -the glaciers rode over what is known as Blue Mountain in Pennsylvania, -which is 1,500 feet high. "Then," Mr. Agassiz would have said, "the -glaciers that did that must have been at least 2,000 feet thick; for a -glacier can only flow over a rocky mass when it is half as tall again -as the rock." - -You see it is the mass of it, the pressure of its own weight, that -boosts the glacier up the slide. It seems almost like lifting oneself -by one's boot-straps, doesn't it? - - -III. The Ants and the Volcanoes - -Beside all the hills we have mentioned there are several others, well -worth looking into; ant-hills, for example, not only because ants are -so interesting in themselves but because the ants helped to answer what -for a long time was one of the puzzles of science, "How are volcanoes -made?" - -When your mother's mother went to school--or it may have been back in -your mother's mother's mother's time--a little girl, on being asked in -the geography class, "What is a volcano?" was expected to say something -like this: - -"Please, teacher, it's a mountain with a hole in it." - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration] - - _From a photograph. Copyright by W. P. Romans_ - - SACRED FUJIYAMA AND ITS COUNTERPART FOUR THOUSAND MILES AWAY - - On the top is the famous Fujiyama, the sacred mountain of Japan, - and on the bottom Mount Rainier in the State of Washington. Although - they are more than four thousand miles apart, the two volcanoes - look as if they had been cast in the same mould, owing to the - uniform system by which volcanoes are built up. - - -THE WISE MEN AND THE ANT CRATERS - -It does look it, doesn't it? But, what is still more striking, it -_isn't_ a mountain with a hole in it at all, if you mean, as the -little girl in the geography class meant, that it was once an ordinary -mountain and then had a hole put through it. For a long time it was -thought that volcanoes were simply mountains through which fire and -lava from the interior had forced its way. Finally, however, some -scientist thought perhaps of his Proverbs 6:6. In any event wise as he -must have been--how else could he have been a scientist?--he went to -the ant, learned her ways and became wiser. It was by noticing how the -ants build their little craters with the sand and clay they carry from -their underground homes that men got the idea that volcanoes may be -built up in much the same way. So they set to observing Mr. Volcano's -habits more closely, and sure enough, the ant had told the answer! The -stones, lava, cinders, and the stone dust called "volcanic ash" are -shot out by the explosion, and coming down in showers pile around the -opening, as the ant piles the pellets around the entrance to her nest. -As the explosions keep on the crater is piled higher and higher, and -the stones, cinders, and things, rolling down the sides, spread the -pile out at the bottom, much as the ant drops pellets over the edge -of her growing pile, and so both the cone-like ant-hill and the big -volcanic cone are built up. - - -WHY THE VOLCANO DOES NOT SMOKE - -But here is something about volcanoes that will surprise most people. -They throw mud, they throw stones, but they don't smoke. What we call -smoke is the steam that makes--or at least helps make--the explosion. -It often has the color of brown smoke because of the rock which has -been blown into dust. Neither do volcanoes make "ashes." What is called -"ash" is this rock powder, made when the rocks are blown into pieces by -the sudden expansion of the water in them into steam. - - -WHY VOLCANOES SEEM TO FLAME - -Neither do volcanoes flame, although they are supposed to. Only rarely -does flame issue from a volcano, and then only to a moderate extent, -due to the burning of the hydrogen gas. What seem to be huge flames -are the lights from the molten lava in the crater shining back on the -steam clouds above; and these apparent flames rise and fall and vary in -brightness because of the rise and fall of the lava. - -But the greatest of volcanic eruptions--that is, the welling up -of melted rock from within the earth--have not built cones. The -lava spread out into vast plains in India and Abyssinia and in our -northwestern coast States. Great cracks in the earth cross one -another. It is at the crossroads that the volcanoes are apt to form, -while out of the cracks leading up to these crossroads the lava spreads -in sheets. Mount Shasta began at one of these traffic centres. It is a -big brother of the landscape which it overlooks. - -[Illustration: "BUT VOLCANOES DO NOT SMOKE!" - - This is an eruption of Vesuvius. You would think it was throwing - out smoke like a gigantic locomotive, wouldn't you, if you hadn't - read the text? The darker masses, which look so much like mingled - smoke and steam, are shadows. It is probably eight to ten miles - high--that cloud. -] - -Lava, before it cools and for some centuries afterward, is the last -thing you would think of farming on, perhaps, but leave it to the -little chemists of the water and the air and it will decay into the -richest land you ever saw. That is why they raise the finest wheat and -the best fruit in the world right in the parts of Washington and Oregon -that were once covered by the lava flood. - -Not only do volcanoes help to supply us with food by making rich soil -of the eruptions of the past, but all life might disappear from the -earth if they didn't go on exploding. - -[Illustration: HOW VOLCANOES BLOW BUBBLES - - The surface of lava is apt to bubble like hot mush; and for a - similar reason, the expansion of the gases within it. (In the case - of the mush it is the mixture of gases we call "air.") When such - lava cools you have sponge-like masses such as this. -] - -Plants must have carbon and they get it from the air, but the amount -of it in proportion to their needs is never large. Moreover, every bit -of coal that is formed--and coal is being made to-day just as it was -in the coal ages, although not in such quantities--takes carbon from -the air and locks it up. Every bit of limestone deposited on the floor -of the sea locks up more carbon. But, fortunately, immense quantities -of carbon are given back to the air through the gases thrown out by -volcanoes, thus offsetting these losses. - -[Illustration: - - _From a photograph by the American Museum of Natural History_ - -ROCKS AND BOMBS THROWN BY MOUNT PELÉE - - Look at these giant rocks thrown out by Mount Pelée in 1902. - Compare them with the man and you will realize how big they are. - The rounded rocks in the foreground are volcanic "bombs"--masses of - lava discharged by successive outbursts of volcanic gases and given - their shape by being whirled through the air. -] - -[Illustration: WHEN IS A VOLCANO DEAD? - - This is Mount Rainier with its shroud of snow, reflected in Mirror - Lake. To all appearances it is as dead as dead can be; but until - after a volcano goes off you never can be entirely sure whether it - is dead or not; and then, of course, you know it isn't! -] - - -WHEN IS A VOLCANO REALLY DEAD? - -When is a volcano dead? You never can tell. A volcano goes off when it -wants to, quite regardless of the fact that it has had the reputation -for a thousand years of being dead. And the worst of it is volcanoes -are like guns--only more so. A gun doesn't shoot any harder because -it wasn't supposed to be loaded; but the volcano, if it breaks out -unexpectedly, is violent in proportion to the length of time it has -been apparently dead. This is the reason. The original vent becomes -plugged up with the cooled lava. This plug being harder than the rest -of the mountain, the next outbreak is forced to take a new course, -and the longer the forces of explosion are held back the greater the -accumulation of energy and the more violent the discharge. - -But why do volcanoes go off at all? Why can't they be quiet and -well-behaved like other mountains? Nobody knows for sure. On one thing -all scientific men seem to be now agreed; namely, that while the rocks -inside the earth are hot enough to melt they are hard as steel, owing -to the tremendous pressure of the rocks above them, and one theory -about volcanic eruptions is that they are caused by the release of the -pressure on this rock in one place and a pressing down in another, as -the earth's crust settles and crumples around the centre. Some of this -rock--that on which the pressure is released--melts and rises under the -folds of rising rock, and so makes the granite hearts of the greater -mountains. Some of it wells up through the cracks in the rock and -spreads in lava fields, while some of it gushes up and explodes at the -points where cracks cross and so make volcanoes. - -This is one theory, but there are others. The latest is so big that we -will have to take it into the mind in sections. - - -THE LATEST THEORY OF ERUPTIONS - -1. Imagine the interior of the earth divided into three zones. The -central zone, of course, is the hottest. Between this central zone and -the zone reaching down forty miles or so from the surface is a middle -zone. (Think of a doughnut ball inside a doughnut ring, with space -between the ball and ring. That will give you the idea.) - -2. From what is known of the laws of heat it is assumed that the flow -of heat from the central to the middle zone is greater than the loss of -heat from the central to the outer zone. Thus the heat income of the -middle zone would constantly exceed its outlay, and so it would get -hotter and hotter. - -[Illustration: THE MYSTERIOUS SHAFT OF MOUNT PELÉE - - In 1902, after the first explosion, Mount Pelée continued its - eruptions for several months, and in the late stages there slowly - rose, through the crater, this strange shaft of red-hot lava, - like a great iron beam forged by giant hammers in Vulcan's famous - blacksmith-shop. As it rose it crumbled and finally fell to pieces. - It was forced up by the gases beneath and shaped by the crater - through which it came; but can you conceive of anything more weird - and awesome? -] - -3. This middle zone is made up of different kinds of rock that require -different degrees of heat to melt them. So some parts of this zone -would melt and form pockets of liquid rock, while other parts were -still unmelted. - -4. These masses of liquid rock would also tend to melt their own way -upward, especially when given a lift by gases; for gases would be given -off, also, in this heating and melting process, and tend to work their -way toward the surface, carrying with them the liquid rock. - -5. Now the greater the pressure under which a thing is kept the more -difficult it becomes for it to flow; the less the pressure the more -easily it flows and the longer it remains in the fluid state. So as it -rose fluid rock would require less heat to keep it fluid and would have -more heat left over for melting its way up. Then, being joined by other -fluid travelers, the entire mass would finally come to a crack in the -earth. Finally, you see, it would be only a matter of five miles or so -of comparatively clear track up to the land of the fresh air and the -blue sky where the rest of us live and where the volcanologists (the -men who make a special study of volcanoes) would be waiting to give it -welcome! - - -THE VOLCANOES AND THE SEA - -If you will locate with red ink the volcanoes on the world map you will -notice that volcanoes, like mountains, seem fond of the sea. Moreover, -while a large proportion of mountain chains are near sea water, and -some even dip their feet into it, volcanoes bob up right in the seas -themselves. Not only do the land volcanoes make a great circle of -fire 22,000 miles long around the rim of the Pacific, but within this -immense amphitheater are the islands of our story books "scattered in -pleiads" over the ocean. These islands are simply the tops of sea -volcanoes. Of all the active volcanoes, the great majority are on -islands or along the borders of continents. - -[Illustration: ON THE FIRING-LINES OF THE VOLCANOES] - - -THE MOUNTAINS AND THE SEA - -Last of all in this story of the secrets of the hills, let us speak of -the big brothers of the family--the mountains. - -You remember in the story of how the continents came up out of the -sea about wise old Xenophanes of Colophon, who figured out that the -mountains must at one time have been under the sea and why he thought -so, don't you? (page 13). Now get your geography and come here a -moment; I want to show you something else. Turn to the map of North -America. Where are the great mountain chains? Nearly all along the -borders of the sea. Now look at the map of South America, and where -are the mountains? Along the borders of the sea. Then take Europe, -Asia, Africa, Australia, and you see the same thing. Usually the main -mountain chains are along the sea border or they stand near the borders -of what was once a sea; as in case of the Rocky Mountains. - -[Illustration: - - _From Norton's "Elements of Geology." - By permission of Ginn and Company_ - - A BABY MOUNTAIN THAT STOPPED TO REST - - A mountain, as you can readily imagine, isn't made in a day. Here - is a little mountain near Hancock, Virginia, that started up ages - ago and then stopped to rest; one of the ripples in which the great - Appalachian waves died away. This baby mountain has no granite mass - in its centre, as big mountains have, because the wrinkling didn't - reach down far enough into the earth to release the pressure on the - molten rock. -] - -Why should mountains show such a fancy for salt water? It seems -strange, doesn't it? I know why it is because I helped make a mountain -myself once--up on the Canada Coast it was--and I learned a good deal -of the mountains and their ways. I will tell you about the mountains -and the sea a little later; after I have told you some other things. -First of all, this is how the Granite family helped make mountains. As -the great stone sides of the mountain rise the enormous pressure on -the melted rock farther down in the earth is released, and is forced -up under the mountain as it rises. Then, cooling, it crystallizes into -granite, as explained on page 131. - -[Illustration: MOUNTAINS MADE TO ORDER - - Of course nobody ever watched a mountain crumpling up in the way - mountains are believed to crumple up, the process is so slow. Yet, - to try out the theory, geologists in the universities make layers - of different material, corresponding to the strata of different - kinds of stone, and then subject this composition to pressure at - both ends, as the earth crust is supposed to be pressed in the - crumpling process. The result is that these artificial strata take - similar forms to those we see in mountain rock. And that's the - answer! - - Notice the similarity of the rock wrinkles in the baby mountain in - Virginia and these imitation mountains of the laboratory. -] - - -WHY MOUNTAINS RUN NORTH AND SOUTH - -Look at your relief map once more. Which way do the mountains run in -North America? In South America? In Africa? They all run in a general -north and south direction, don't they? Do you see why? The fact that -they were made along the coasts of the oceans would make them run north -and south, too, wouldn't it? The same thing explains why the Alps do -not run north and south. They were made by the sinking of a sea that -runs east and west, and so they started out to run east and west, too; -then they got a wrench, the particulars of which we need not go into -here, and were much mixed up, as we find them to-day. - - -WHAT HAPPENED WHEN THE EARTH SLOWED UP - -But there is another thing that may have helped to make many great -mountains run north and south. Bedtime and sunrise used to come a -good deal oftener than they do now, for then the earth turned faster -on its axis. It turned fastest of all at the equator, just as it does -to-day. So the lands in the equatorial belt were pulled up and the belt -enlarged. Then, as the speed of the globe slackened, the enlarged belt -began to wrinkle because there was not the same amount of centrifugal -or "fly-away-from-the-centre" force to make it stand out. So wrinkles -came at right angles to the belt, just as do the waist gathers in a -dress. - -And now about the mystery of the mountains and the sea. When we visit -the rock mills of the sea along in October[20] we shall notice, among -other things, that the rock is made along the sea border, and that the -coarsest sediment settles nearest the land. As a result this part of -the deposit is built up faster than that farther off shore, and as it -gets heavier and heavier it sinks. The deposits farther away from the -shore sink, also, but more slowly because these deposits are not piled -up so fast. Now, if you come down on one end of a seesaw what happens -to the other end? It goes up, doesn't it? The effect of this sinking of -the rocks of the sea upon the rocks of the adjoining land is something -like that. The rocks that make the continents extend out under the sea, -and the weight of the newly laid stone on the sea margin end not only -tips the rock beds up, but, sinking in toward the continental mass, -wrinkles it up, as the pages of this book will wrinkle if you push them -from the front edge. So you get your mountains along the sea border. -And they are in parallel ranges, because the land is crumpled up into -several folds, like a table-cloth pushed from one side. - -[Footnote 20: Chapter X, "The Autumn Winds and the Rock Mills of the -Sea."] - -"But," you say, "how about the Rocky Mountains? And the Carpathian -Mountains in Europe, not to mention several others? _They_ are not on -the borders of the sea." - - -WHY SOME MOUNTAINS ARE FAR FROM THE SEA - -That's no sign they weren't near a sea border at some time. Let me -just ask you. Suppose you found that most of the great mountain -chains are on the borders of seas, and suppose you had figured out -the reasons I have just been giving, then what would you do if you -found a few mountains far back from the sea? You would probably try to -find how they got moved back, wouldn't you? That's just what _other_ -men of science did. A study of the rocks of the mountains themselves -and other things bearing on the question goes to show that since the -mountains were made the sea might have retired from regions where it -had previously advanced, as it did in the case of the Mississippi -Valley, or the land may have risen between these mountains and the -sea. Moreover, the down wash from the mountains themselves sometimes -builds wide lands, which, as they extend and shut back the sea, leave -the mountains farther and farther away. Much of the land extending -east from the base of the Rocky Mountains was made in this way. The -Mississippi Valley was for ages, you know (page 10) the Mediterranean -Sea of North America, lying in the downward fold of our continent -between the Rocky Mountains and the Appalachians. - -[Illustration: - - _From the painting by David James_ - -THE WAVE] - - -WHY SEA WAVES RISE TO GREET THE MOUNTAINS - -One of the strangest, most poetic phases of the relation between the -great blue mountains and the great blue sea is that waves, as they -approach the shores of continents bordered by mountain ranges, rise -higher and higher; and the higher the mountains, the higher rise the -waves. These waves are not driven by wind or tide but seem drawn -forward by some strange power. This power, however, is no stranger -than the one that makes us fall and bump our noses when we stub our -toes--the power of gravitation, according to which all masses attract -each other. It is the mass in the mountains that exerts a pull on the -waves; and the greater the mountains the greater the pull, of course. -In the Indian Ocean, for example, around the head of the Arabian Sea, -the waves rise far above sea level, largely because there is beyond -them, on the land, one of the greatest mountain masses in the world. - -Wouldn't it give you a queer feeling if you were, say, a sailor, and -for the first time saw waves act like that? Uncanny, almost, isn't it? - -But do the mountains remember their old parent of the white flowing -rocks and beard, Father Neptune? They act as if they did; particularly -in the way in which they come to imitate, in time, the shape of the -waves of the sea. - -Ruskin,[21] speaking to artists about drawing mountains, says: - -"Good and intelligent mountain drawing recognizes a great harmony among -the summits and their tendency to throw themselves into waves, closely -resembling those of the sea itself; sometimes in free tossing toward -the sky, but more frequently in the form of breakers, concave and steep -on one side, convex and less steep on the other." - -[Footnote 21: "Modern Painters," Chapter IV.] - -When you stand some day on one of the high peaks of the Rocky -Mountains, and look out over the great fields of upheaved stone, -you will notice how closely the parallel ridges resemble ranks of -waves making toward a shore. Like sea waves also, the vast backs of -these waves of stone are long and sloping, while their fronts are -comparatively short and much steeper. Another thing that makes you feel -as if you were looking out upon a sea whose waves had been changed to -stone is the fact that these stone waves are not only green but have -white caps; for in the valleys, and far up the sides of the mountains, -are the forests with the perennial green of their pines, and on the -peaks the eternal snows. - -[Illustration: "AND EVERY TOSSING OF THEIR BOUNDLESS CRESTS"] - -Not only is the mounting and forward drive of waves repeated in -mountain forms, but also the whirlpools among the rocks when sea waves -reach the shore. Says the famous French geographer, Reclus[22]: - -"The centre of the Pyrenees resembles a great whirlpool around which -the mountains rise like enormous waves." - -[Footnote 22: "The Earth."] - -Finally we might imagine that the mountains, like the mountain streams, -hear the call of the sea and are stirred by it. For, again to quote -from Ruskin's wonderful chapter on the nature of the thing we call a -mountain: - -"Behold as we look farther into it, it is all touched and troubled. -The rock trembles through its every fibre, like the chords of an -Æolian harp--like the stillest air of spring with the echoes of a -child's voice. Into the heart of all those great mountains and through -every tossing of their boundless crests and deep beneath all their -unfathomable defiles, flows that strange quivering of their substance. - -"'I beheld the mountains and lo they trembled; and all the hills moved -lightly.'" - -[Illustration: - - _From Norton's "Elements of Geology." - By permission of Ginn and Company_ - - "THAT STRANGE QUIVERING OF THEIR SUBSTANCE" - - This picture shows mountain-peaks carved in folded strata in the - Rocky Mountains in Montana. How well it illustrates Ruskin's grand - lines. -] - - -HIDE AND SEEK IN THE LIBRARY - - Of course you saw that the Greeks meant the story of Phaeton to - account, among other things, for the origin of deserts, but what is - there in it that would lead one to believe the Greeks knew there - were such things as volcanoes? Read what the encyclopedia says - about volcanoes and Vulcan and the physical geography of Greece and - the Greek islands. - - Where is Mount Stromboli and why is it called "The Lighthouse of - the Mediterranean"? - - On which of our coasts do we have young and growing mountains, and - on which old mountains that are much worn down? - - Did you ever notice, on your map of Europe, how the curve of - the Carpathian Mountains follows the curve of the shore of the - beautiful Adriatic Sea so far away?[23] What does that remind you - of in the story of the relation between the mountains and the sea? - -[Footnote 23: How far away is it? The scale of miles on your map will -tell.] - - "Yes," you say, "but if mountains are formed on the borders of the - sea why are the Carpathians so far from the Adriatic; and the Alps - so far from the Mediterranean and the Rocky Mountains of America - and the Altai mountains of Asia so far away from any sea at all?" - - Professor Heilprin[24] knew you would say that; at least I suppose - he did, for he has explained all this in his little book, written - especially for young people, "The Earth and Its Story." After you - have read this part of the story write it out in your own words and - then copy it into your notebook. You might call your own story, - "How Mountains are Moved Back from the Sea." - -[Footnote 24: Professor of Geology in the Academy of Natural Sciences, -Philadelphia.] - - What mountains do the waves of the Indian Ocean rise to salute? How - do they compare in size with other mountains that you know of? - - How does the carbon in the gases of volcanoes get into the plants? - - What does it say in Proverbs 6:6 that might remind one of the fact - that the ants helped solve the puzzle as to how volcanoes are made? - - As to the hills that were moved in, a Wisconsin writer, who has, - among other things, written delightfully of his companionship with - the rocks and hills of his State[25] tells about sinking a well 132 - feet deep on his farm, and going through this imported scenery all - the way. - -[Footnote 25: Charles D Stewart, "Essays on the Spot."] - - "Somewhere down there," he says, "if I had kept on going I should - have struck the original Wisconsin." - - And why not be an author yourself? Start a little book of science - of your own and learn to make notes on interesting things you - have been reading about. For instance, put in it now some of the - different things we have learned about the wonder-workers of the - Ice Age, up to and including this chapter. Call what you write "The - Story of the Old Men of the Mountain." At the end of the part you - write now you can put "To be continued," just as they do in a story - paper; for we are not through with the work of the old men, as you - will see. - - How did Rome get its seven hills? (You know it was called The City - of the Seven Hills.) - - The Bible quotation in Ruskin about the trembling of the mountains - is from Jeremiah 4:24. How grand it sounds, doesn't it? Like the - music of a pipe organ. The Bible has many references to "hills" and - mountains. Here are some of the most striking: Psalms 114:4; Exodus - 20:18; Deut. 5:23; Rev. 8:8; Micah 1:4; Isaiah 54:10. - - Where are the most famous of the Bad Lands of our Western States? - Those of South Dakota are perhaps the strangest. Among other - strange things is the fact that some of the hills were set on fire - by rain--goodness knows how long ago--and these hills are like - gigantic stoves for the cattle, who never fail to collect around - them on bleak days. - - In the article on South Dakota in the Britannica you'll learn all - about how the rain started the fire. Then perhaps you will want to - look up "spontaneous combustion" and "iron pyrites." - - Aren't those ancient monsters whose bones they find in the hills - comical looking creatures--now that we are several million years - safely away from them? The comic artists (of pen and pencil) are - always having fun with them. Arthur Guiterman, for instance, in - picturing what spring must have been like in those old days: - - "Go-dum, bally hoosh!" is the note of the Icthyosaurus. - "Notorum-dorando!" the blithe Hippocampus replies. - "Chin-chin-orizaba-pelote!" rings the jubilant chorus - Of sweet Pterodactyls that wing the cerulean skies.[26] - - -[Footnote 26: "The Laughing Muse."] - - - - -[Illustration: ON A NEW ENGLAND HILL - - "Great lumps of pudding the giants threw, - They tumbled about like rain." -] - - - - - CHAPTER VII - - (JULY) - - They flung them over to Roxbury Hills; - They flung them over the plain; - And all over Milton and Dorchester too - Great lumps from the pudding the giants threw. - They tumbled about like rain. - - --_The Ballad of the Boulders._ - - -THE STONES OF THE FIELD - -In our rambles during the summer vacation season we are constantly -coming across boulders; in the mountains, in the fields and by the sea. -In the mountains and near rocky headlands or at the foot of the cliffs -we take them for granted; they have evidently fallen from the rock -walls above them. But haven't you often wondered how they got out on -the prairies far from any rock masses? This chapter tells about that -and other curious things in the lives of the great Boulder family. - - -I. Big Chief Boulder - -Even the Indians who, in those early days, had never gone to school or -studied geography, used to wonder how these big stones had travelled to -the places where they found them. - -Once upon a time the Indians in the wilds of Minnesota found an -unusually big granite boulder lying among the hills. So what did they -do but paint a head with eagle feathers on one end of the stone. Then -they put stripes around its body. You see they thought of Mr. Boulder -as a big chief in feathered head-dress and painted for war. - - -WONDER THE BEGINNING OF KNOWLEDGE - -It may seem foolish to make all this fuss about finding a big stone -in a field. But these ignorant red men were much wiser than we are if -we don't wonder about it too. Wonder is the beginning of knowledge; -and the Indians thus took the first step toward one of the great -discoveries of geology. - -It was just such wondering on the part of scientific men that led to -their finding out not only how these big stones got into strange lands -but how certain kinds of hills that we have just been reading about -were made. For, as you must have already guessed, the moving of these -boulders was one of the many jobs Mr. Glacier did for us during the -Ice Age. But pretend you don't know the answer. It took the wise men a -long time to find it and that's where the fun comes in--in the hide and -seek. - -[Illustration: - - _From a photograph by Bourne & Shepherd, Calcutta_ - - THE STRANGE OLD INDIAN OF MOUNT ABU - - If those Minnesota Indians thought a boulder of the usual shape - was some big chief from another land, what would they have thought - if they had set eyes on this solemn old creature? He sits by the - hour--like Socrates in the market-place--and has sat for ages - gazing down at his image in a lake at the foot of Mount Abu in - India. He was carved into that shape by sands blown from the North - Indian desert acting on the softer parts of the rock. Most Indians, - as you know, are silent people, but this old chap, so I hear, never - speaks at all! - - Yet some day he may, all of a sudden, take a jump! Boulders do that - sometimes, as you will see before you have finished this chapter. -] - - -ON THE NORTH END OF THE WORLD - -Some of the boulders seem to have belonged to Alpine Clubs, for you -find them away up on mountain sides; some of them as high as 6,000 -feet--that's over a mile you know--above the level of the sea. And -often these boulders are not of the same material as the huge pieces -of broken rock that fall from the neighboring mountain walls. Moreover -the blocks of stone from the mountain are angular; they are not nicely -rounded off as are boulders and pebbles. It's that way all over the -north end of the world as far south as the Ohio in this country and the -Alps in Europe. - -[Illustration: WOULDN'T IT MAKE YOU NERVOUS, TOO? - - This picture is from a story about a little boy who had to cross - a field full of big, dark boulders like this at night, and how - nervous it made him. -] - -But there's one place in which you never will find boulders, and that's -in a country where there are caves of any considerable size. Neither -will you find such caves where there are boulders. - -Why shouldn't the caves and the boulders live happily together just -like other people? The answer is simple. The glaciers of the Ice Age, -with their enormous weight, crushed in the roofs of caves in every -region over which they flowed; and it was these same glaciers that left -the boulders. Since the glaciers went away the underground rivers that -hollow out the caves have not had time to make new ones. It takes ages -and ages to make a nice big cave. - - -II. The Train of Thought - -These widely scattered boulders furnished the students of the subject -with the very best evidence that there was once an Ice Age. First, the -geologists noticed, just as the Indians did, that the boulders were of -a different kind of rock from that of the regions in which they were -found. Up in Wisconsin, running southwest from Waterloo is a train (as -it is called) of boulders sixty miles long. The boulders are of a very -hard rock called quartzite, while all the rock deposits in that region -are of limestone or sandstone. - -[Illustration: MR. BOULDER ON HIS PERCH - - This is what is called a "perched boulder." Being a harder kind of - rock than that on which it was left by the glaciers, it has held - out against the winds and weather, while the stone under it has - been worn away. -] - -In eastern Wisconsin, along with these stones, have been found pieces -of copper, although there are no copper deposits near by. To the -northeast of where the fragments of copper were found are the great -copper deposits of what is now Michigan, and from this region the -glaciers brought the copper and scattered it about as they moved -south and southwest. So these mysterious stones and other things kept -pointing toward the north, in a kind of dumb show. - -In mountain rain storms you can see the torrents driving great stones -before them, so one of the first theories about the stranded boulders -was that, at some time in the earth's history, there had been great -floods covering whole continents, sweeping away rocks from the -mountains and carrying them here, there, and everywhere. That theory -also accounted for the rounded shape of the boulders, for if you have -a volume of water big enough and swift enough you can roll boulders -wherever you like. - - -WHAT A QUEER HOBBY-HORSE! - -But why should the boulder trains all lead to the north? And how could -water carry boulders right across a deep mountain valley and pile them -high up on the mountains on the other side? How could water perch one -boulder on another or on a flat ledge of rock or on the summits of the -cliffs? Boulders so perched are very common, and often they are so -nicely balanced that a man can set them rocking; and sometimes a small -boy can do it. Every young man who goes to Dartmouth College knows -about the rocking stone some half mile east of the college. In the town -of Barre is a big boulder with a small boulder on its back, and the -small boulder can be set rocking like a child's hobby-horse. - -[Illustration: HOW THE MOUNTAIN TORRENTS HELP SHAPE THE BOULDERS] - -The only thing that could handle boulders in this way, so it turned -out, were the glaciers. By following up the boulders to their homes -in the mountains they found on the backs of the glaciers of to-day -stones just like those in our fields, and they found them thickly -scattered over the ground where the glaciers melted back during the -summer months. The glaciers not only pick up boulders from the mountain -torrent beds, as they move along, but themselves pluck rocks from -mountain sides. Huge blocks of rock, dislodged when water freezes in -the cracks of the mountain walls, also fall upon the glacier. It was -the boulders held underneath the ice that left their autographs, deep -grooves on the native bed-rock in the regions into which the glaciers -of the Ice Age came. - -These great ice rivers filled the mountain valleys, and reaching far -up on the mountain sides carried boulders to those heights. Sometimes -the glacier left the stones standing on a narrow point on top of other -rocks--so making the rocking stones. - -[Illustration: HOW THEY KNOW THE OLD MEN DID IT - - Here is one of those heaps of boulders, pebbles, and soil that the - glaciers of the Ice Age brought and left behind them. They know - those ancient glaciers did this, because just such heaps are found - under the edges of glaciers to-day. -] - - -III. Leaves from the Family Records of the Boulders - -What I have said so far of the Boulders is mainly about their travels -into foreign lands and how they were received by intellectual people. -But there are many other interesting things to be found in their -family records that you will want to know about, I am sure. - - -HOW THE BOULDERS RODE ON THE WATER - -One of these is how they came to ride on the water, when I said just -a little while back that only _ice_ could carry them across mountain -valleys, and pile them up on the mountain sides. That was all true; -yet, under certain circumstances, boulders _have_ ridden on the water. -As the glaciers melted away finally in those early days the water, as -you know, helped make rivers and lakes. Then, from the front of the -glaciers icebergs broke off and floated away down the rivers or across -the lakes. In these icebergs boulders were often imbedded, and so were -dropped wherever the iceberg carried them before it dissolved. - -[Illustration: HOW THE BOULDERS RODE ON THE WATER - - This is a scene in August in Glacier National Park. It illustrates - how boulders of the Ice Age travelled by water, when icebergs - containing them broke from the glaciers and floated away on rivers - and lakes. -] - -Ice helps handle boulders in still another way; but before I tell you -what it is I want you to imagine you are an Indian, away back in the -days before Indian schools, and see if you wouldn't be as superstitious -as they were. Just suppose then that you are a red child of the forest, -and that along a certain lake you saw near the shore a lot of boulders -scattered about in a disorderly way. This, say, was in the fall. But -when you came back the following spring you found them all piled up -into a wall along the lake, and you positively knew no member of your -tribe or of any other had done the piling. Wouldn't it make you feel a -little superstitious? - - -HOW MR. WINTER BUILDS BOULDER WALLS - -It was Mr. Winter that built these walls. With the spring break-up on -lake shores big cakes of ice, blown by stiff gales, pry up the boulders -along shore, and force them further up the bank. Then another gale -and another push, and more stones are crowded up on top of the first -course, and so there is built a rude wall. Some of the stones may be -crowded together side by side. This makes what is called a "boulder -pavement." But even this isn't all of nature's engineering in the -handling of boulders. Here is another example. Ice is formed on lakes -early in the winter when the air is but little below the freezing point -of water. Under these circumstances ice expands. Then, with the first -severe cold spell it contracts and so cracks. Water, rising from below, -fills these cracks, and is itself, in turn, frozen to ice. Then comes -a warm wave, these ice wedges swell, and so the ice sheet expands, -pushes up along the shore and, if there are any boulders there moves -them about; or sometimes drives them deep into the bank so that the -following spring it looks as if somebody had been shooting at the bank, -using boulders for bullets. - -The sun shapes boulders somewhat as the blacksmith shapes iron, but -instead of striking with a hammer it strikes with its rays. Rock is -a poor conductor of heat, so the heat from the sun only goes into -the rock a little way. The result is that the surface expands and so -loosens itself from the rock beneath and in course of time falls off. -With the cooling of the atmosphere at night just the opposite thing -takes place; the surface cools off first and so, contracting, loosens -itself from the body of the stone. It seems to be a regular tug of war -between the heat of the day and the cool of the night. First of all the -corners and sharp edges break away because, being thinner, they are -heated and cooled more quickly. The boulders owe their rounded shapes -most of all, however, to the fact that they were ground together in the -body of the glaciers as those great ice sheets flowed along. - - -GOOD TALKS BY LEARNED BOULDERS - -Of course, the boulders, like other people, differ in their tastes--as -you can tell by their talk. The granite boulders have the most to -say about travel because they are so hard that they can take longer -journeys than weaker rocks, and so have more to tell. But there is -another branch of the family that is still more "bookish" as you may -say. These are the "pudding stone" boulders--conglomerates. In that -most interesting biography, "The Story of a Boulder," Professor Geikie -describes a stone that was not only made up of a variety of pebbles, -but in which there was a section of sandstone. The sandstone and the -conglomerate had been neighbors in some rock ledge just as the pebble -section and the smooth sand section are always neighbors where the -shores descend into the sea. So when the rock mass, which was finally -rounded into a boulder, broke away it included portions of both -sandstone and conglomerate. - -[Illustration: WHERE THE SEA HELPS SHAPE THE BOULDERS] - -The upper part of this boulder--the sandstone--had in it stems and -leaflets of plants of the Coal Age, changed to coal. The pebbles below -were fragments of more ancient rocks made at a time when frogs as big -as the oxen of to-day lived in the marshes. - -"They must have had a croak like a fog-horn," said the High School Boy. - -In this story of the boulder, Professor Geikie says: - -"I had here a quaint old black letter volume of the Middle Ages giving -an account of the events taking place at the time it was written and -containing in its earlier pages numerous quotations from the authors of -antiquity." - -[Illustration: WHICH DO YOU SAY?] - -The "quotations from the authors of antiquity," were the pebbles, of -course, once parts of older rocks. - -I have spoken of the boulders as authors. You will also be interested -in their relations with artists. Boulders add much to the picturesque -effect of the shores of lakes and seas and mountain ravines, as they -appear to the traveller, and as artists reproduce them in pictures. -They also add to the beauty of streams, by forming rapids. These -boulders that are piled in so thick as to make rapids are brought -in by smaller but swifter tributaries that flow into larger but more -sluggish streams. Rapids are favorite topics for landscape artists. -They are characteristic of the work of Ruysdael, for example, with whom -you have become well acquainted in your picture studies in school. - -Of the drawing of stones in general Ruskin says: - -"There are no natural objects out of which an artist, or any one who -appreciates the form of things, can learn more than out of stones. A -stone is a mountain in miniature. The fineness of Nature's work is -so great that into a single block a foot or two in diameter she can -compass as many changes of form and structure on a small scale as she -needs for her mountains on a large one, using moss for forests and -grains of crystal for crags."[27] - -[Footnote 27: "Modern Painters."] - -[Illustration: WHY BOULDERS SOMETIMES TAKE A JUMP - - Boulders sometimes jump up, all of a sudden, as if they had sat - on a pin. They do this when an earthquake wave passes straight - through the globe; from Ecuador, say, to Borneo. Such waves, called - "waves of transmission," travel "incog" as it were, not causing - any disturbance until they reach the surface again. Then if there - happens to be a big rock on the spot, up it jumps--the funniest - thing you ever saw! - - Harry Furniss, the famous English cartoonist, made this picture - just for a joke. -] - -On page 157 you will find two pictures of stones by two famous -landscape artists, Claude and Turner. Of the stones in one picture Mr. -Ruskin says, "they are massy and ponderous as stones should be"; while -the stones in the other picture are "wholly without weight." - -In which of the pictures would you say the stones are "massy and -ponderous," and in which are they "wholly without weight?" - -Now look at the "Hide and Seek" notes below and see if you and Mr. -Ruskin think alike. - - -HIDE AND SEEK IN THE LIBRARY - - A boy scout, as you know, is expected, among other things, to be an - Indian (a good Indian, of course); to keep his eyes wide open as he - goes about in the woods and fields. In that way he is always coming - across things to wonder over, such as the big stone the Indians - found. - - It's just such boys that great men are made of. All the great - scientists began in that way. - - Take the case of Hugh Miller, for example. In the encyclopedias you - will meet him as a famous geologist, along with great artists and - inventors and statesmen and other fine company; but at first he was - only a boy, like the rest of us. And he had very little chance to - go to school, but he went anyhow; went to school, like Lincoln, to - all the good books he could get hold of and also to the stones of - the field. After a while he got so he could write books himself, - and they are among the most readable books you ever saw. You just - read his story of "The Old Red Sandstone," and if you don't open - your eyes! - - The encyclopedia will tell you a great deal about the boy himself - and about "Uncle Sandy" and "Uncle James," and how they helped him. - But the start of it was this: - - One day a mason in Scotland[28] broke off a piece of stone--he was - building a wall at the time--and inside of the stone he found--what - do you think? A fish! Inside of the stone, mind you! - -[Footnote 28: Hugh was a Scotch boy.] - - Of course you won't be surprised to hear that it was a queer, - outlandish sort of fish, and that it was dead. In fact, it had been - dead so long that it also had turned to stone. In short, it was a - fossil. But no Pharaoh in his huge pyramid ever became more famous - than did that little fish in his tomb of stone. - - Yet, would you believe it?--neither the mason nor his fellow - workmen thought much about it. They frequently came upon these - fossils and, beyond being idly curious at first, paid little - attention to them. - - This day, however, among these workmen was Hugh Miller, who was - also a stone-mason by trade. Hugh got as excited over this fish as - a boy. (He was only seventeen at the time, I believe.) - - "The story of this queer fish," he said to himself, "must be as - good as Sinbad the Sailor, and the Yellow Dwarf, and Jack the Giant - Killer, that I used to like so well when I was a little lad;"[29] - and he determined to find out all he could about it. He found from - the geology books that there was much yet to be learned about such - fish, and so he proceeded to study the stones. He opened the stones - with his hammer as you open a book. He put in all his leisure time - at this work, with the result that he not only became one of the - world's famous geologists, but he wrote books in which he made it - a point to tell these curious stories of ancient life in the sea, - so that people without any previous scientific knowledge could read - and enjoy them. - -[Footnote 29: He had read all these stories and a lot more, so my old -Chambers' Encyclopedia says.] - - Besides "The Old Red Sandstone" he wrote "Footprints of the - Creator," "The Testimony of the Rocks," "My Schools and School - Masters," "Scenes and Legends of the North of Scotland," and a - book of poems. Not all the conclusions he came to are accepted - to-day--for geology, like all the sciences, is always growing--but - the history of its growth and how men reasoned things out is quite - as interesting and profitable as the facts themselves, and Hugh - Miller has a particularly attractive way of telling things. - - So you see those Indians who painted up old Big Chief Boulder were - on the right track; they were deeply interested in it and its being - there as a great and mysterious work of nature. They named it - "Waukon," an Indian word meaning "mystery." - - Oh, yes, and about boulders in art, it's the stone in the upper of - the two pictures that Ruskin considers "massy and ponderous" and - hence true to nature. Turner painted it. - - - - - CHAPTER VIII - - (AUGUST) - - In the parching August wind - Cornfields bow the head. - - --_Christina G. Rossetti._ - - Over the sea-like, pathless, - Limitless waste of the desert. - - --_Longfellow._ - - -THE DESERT - -August is usually such a hot, dry month that it ought to be a good time -for talking of deserts. We can realize better what a desert is and -what an interesting region it must be to those who spend their lives -there--the Arabs and the camels, for instance. In fact, there are so -many strange and striking things to be seen and learned in deserts that -whole books--including many stories--have been written about them, and -I'm sorry we can give the subject only one chapter. - - -I. The Face of the Desert - -I sometimes think it was no wonder the old Sphinx got to asking -conundrums. Always looking toward the desert and its mysteries, how -could he help it? The desert is just full of conundrums. For instance: - -Where is it that rains fall without reaching the earth? - -[Illustration: - - _From the painting by Elihu Vedder_ - - THE QUESTIONER OF THE SPHINX -] - -Where is it that there are lake beds without lakes, river beds without -rivers, and rivers without mouths? - -Where do you see stretches of water that aren't there, and men and -animals walking and trees growing--most of them upside down? - -Where are the roses of the land and the waves of great inland seas made -of sand and where does the wind always blow the mountains away? - -Of course you would probably give the right answer at once--"the -desert"--because you know I am talking about deserts. And the "water -that isn't there," and the trees and people and things that are upside -down--you probably know that's the mirage; and that the inland seas -with their waves of sand are the dunes; that the rivers without mouths -are those that, like the Tajunga in California, lose their waters in -the sand. - -Most people who have gone to school know all these things. Most people -also think of the desert as just a sea of sand and all tawny, like a -lion's skin; but this is wrong. The Romans used to call the African -desert "the panther's skin," because of the tawny stretches spotted -with the dark palms of the oases, but the sands are not all tawny, and -the desert isn't all covered with sand. - -If we could arrange to get on the back of any one of the great birds of -the Sahara--say an eagle or his big cousin the vulture--and sail with -him on his way to dinner, the scenery would unroll beneath us something -like this: - -On the northern border the Atlas Mountains, with precipices of wild -beauty and ranges of bare, pink rock outlined against the blue of -the morning sky; then dune waves stretching for miles and miles with -valleys between them, so wide that it takes the camels from breakfast -time until noon to lumber their way across. The crests of some of these -dune waves go spinning off in spray with every freshening breeze. -Little dunes often dissolve away in the wind as the caravan moves -toward them. - - -GAUNT OUTLINES OF THE HUNGRY HILLS - -Then we come to more mountain ranges running right across the desert's -face, their bare rocks shivered and shelving down into broken fragments -at their feet; then sharp-edged, jagged hills--not rounded, plump, -and well-fed hills, such as we have at home. They are the bones of the -hungry landscape showing through. Then we come to bare table-lands and -the empty beds of rivers and lakes that long ago went dry; valleys -scattered with boulders of all sizes and in every imaginable position; -and so on over into the Arabian desert, with its flats of white sand -closed in by high cliffs, and vast stretches of black and red gravel. -More of the sand and gravel of the desert is red than yellow; but some -of it is white and some of it is black. - -[Illustration: AN OASIS] - -[Illustration: THE DARK HILLS AND THE FIGURES IN WHITE - - "The Baths of the Damned," the superstitious Arabs call the region - of the Northern Sahara in which you come upon these strange white - figures. The fearsome name was suggested by the fact that the - figures slowly rise from some hot region inside the earth. In - reality they are mounds of carbonate of lime deposited by the water - of hot springs heavily charged with dissolved limestone. Similar - springs in our Yellowstone Park spout up in the form of geysers - and form "geyser basins"--huge stone tubs. Here in the desert the - water doesn't spout; it bubbles up slowly and so builds the mounds. - In the background you see black masses of volcanic rock, for this, - like Yellowstone Park, is a volcanic region where the underground - rocks haven't cooled off. -] - - -A CHAOS OF COLOR IN THE ROCKS - -The desert wears rocks and stones of as many colors as the jewels of -Oriental kings. It also runs much to solemn black in its heaps of -volcanic rock with cold limestones on the heights; but you can see -blue-grays, browns, ochres of every shade gleaming in the sun, the reds -of the rusting iron in them staining the precipices and the walls; and -there are purples and pinks and dark greens and violets. These colored -rocks are often fantastically mixed together, like the colors on an -Easter egg. - - -THE SKELETONS OF THE DEAD RIVERS - -And here we come upon one of those skeletons of dead rivers that I -spoke about. There they are, the river valleys and the river beds, -full of sand and gravel, and with boulders along the banks, and branch -valleys running into them; a river system all complete but for one -thing--water. It's just as if the main valley and the branches had been -made all ready but the river never came; or as if there had been rivers -there once but they couldn't stand the climate! Of course, when a -cloudburst comes along it helps itself to these ready-made river-beds; -but for the most part they stand as empty as the ruins on the desert's -edge in which - - ... the lion and the lizard keep - The courts where Jamshyd gloried and drank deep.[30] - -[Footnote 30: "The Rubaiyat" of Omar Khayyam.] - -Not only do the size of the river-beds show that there used to be more -frequent rains in these regions of desolation, but right at the edge of -the northern Sahara are the remains of immense aqueducts; great troughs -built of stone and carried on bridges from the source of a water supply -to a city. When the Romans owned the earth--including the Sahara -desert--they were famous builders of these aqueducts. - -[Illustration: WHY DYING RIVERS MULTIPLY BY TWO - - Director Hornaday, of the New York Zoo, took this picture while - in the arid regions of the great Southwest. It shows a little - stream dying away in the desert sands. Now just notice how a little - knowledge of nature's methods as a landscape artist makes the most - commonplace scenery interesting. All streams as they go dry have - a tendency to spread out arms like that; sometimes two, sometimes - four or more, but always in twos or multiples of two. The reason - is that as the water evaporates the stream becomes weaker and so - is obliged to drop a part of its load. The heaviest part of the - load--the most pebbles, sand, and soil--is carried in the middle of - the stream, owing to the current being stronger, relieved as it is - from the friction of the banks. So bars of sand, gravel, and such - stuff are built up that finally divide the water into two branches. - Then if the water keeps on flowing, each of these branches divides - by two, and so on. You see the same thing in the mouths of deltas. -] - -"But what about the roses made of sand? That's a conundrum you didn't -answer." - -Oh, yes, we must get down closer to the desert to see these. We can't -see them in the bird's-eye view we have been taking. The desert sand -has a great deal of gypsum in it, and when the sand gets a wetting from -a cloudburst this gypsum crystallizes and forms what are called "sand -roses." These "roses" are of various sizes and forms; some look like -camelias and some like a cluster of pearls. They are not common and you -have to hunt for them. - -[Illustration: ALL THE COMFORTS OF HOME - - Children in the primary grades have here told us, with their clever - little fingers, about life in Africa immediately south of the big - desert, the part of Africa where they have rain and to spare. -] - - -II. How the Desert Makes Its Sand - -Most of the sand of the desert, as you may imagine, is home-made; and -it is very curious to notice the different which it is manufactured. -The desert sun and the cloudless nights have a great deal to do with -it. - -[Illustration: HOW THE ARAB FARMER GATHERS HIS DATES] - -Think of the hottest day in August you ever saw, and then multiply -by two. That will give you an idea of how hot a desert gets in the -day-time--something like 200 degrees; and 212 degrees boils eggs, you -know! But how cold do you suppose it gets at night? Fifteen minutes -after sunset the temperature drops to freezing. The reason of this is -that there are no clouds over the desert to keep the heat of the sand -wastes and the burning rocks from passing off rapidly into space. The -days are so hot and the nights are so cold that the rocks get a kind of -fever and ague, which makes them pull themselves to pieces. - - -THE "GOOSE-FLESH" ON THE ROCKS - -It is the same process we have just read about in the story of the -stones of our fields, only it goes on much faster in the desert on -account of the more rapid changes of temperature. You know how your -skin will pucker up into goose-flesh when you are cold. The desert -rocks do something similar. Because rock is a poor conductor, the heat -of the day and the cold of the night penetrate only a little way--only -through the skin of the rock, as it were; so this skin, stretching in -the day-time and puckering up at night, becomes loosened and shells off -bit by bit. Then it is blown about and in time ground into sand by the -desert winds. - -Some rocks have an additional way of getting picked to pieces. Granite -is one of these. It has several different kinds of mineral in it, and -some of these minerals contract and expand faster than others; some -more than others. As a consequence, the particles of the rock keep -pulling and hauling at each other. This helps to break it up into -little pieces, which soon become sand. The darker the rock, other -things being equal, the greater the changes, because anything dark--a -suit of clothes, for instance--absorbs heat faster than a light object. - -[Illustration: - - _From Norton's "Elements of Geology." - By permission of Ginn and Company_ - - HOW RAIN-DROPS HELP SPLIT BOULDERS - - A big boulder in western Texas split, just as you see it here, by - rain-drops, with the help of the sun, and under the conditions - described in the text, sat for this photograph. A friend of mine - who has been all over that country says that on blistering-hot - days you can see little pieces pop out of the granite boulders, - like chips from an invisible chisel struck by an invisible hammer. - This is why: We Granites are made up of particles--little bits--of - several different minerals, and some of these minerals expanding - much faster than others pop themselves out. -] - -The great mountain rocks of the desert, bare of all protecting soil and -verdure, are always crumbling as a result of all these causes, and so -the winds are constantly blowing them away, piece by piece. - - -HOW LITTLE RAIN-DROPS SPLIT BIG BOULDERS - -As if everything in the desert were in the sand-making business the -very rain-drops help make sand. The rain-drops do this in much the same -way that the farmer breaks big boulders in his fields, so that he can -more easily haul them away, piece by piece. He builds a fire against -the boulder, gets it as hot as he can, then rakes the fire away, dashes -water on the stone, and--bang! It cracks as if old Thor had struck it -with his hammer. - -You see why this is, don't you, after what we have been saying about -why the rock's skin chips off? The water suddenly cools the highly -heated rock, and the parts shrinking pull away from each other with a -bang! bang! bang! The hot desert rocks, dashed by the torrents of a -cloudburst, break apart just like that, and you can hear them. Stones -twenty-five feet across are often broken into many pieces after a -downpour. Then the finer pieces of rock that are made in this continual -splitting, and by the chipping that goes on day and night, the fierce -winds grind against each other; so manufacturing sand. And the fiercer -winds also drive coarse sand against crumbling rock surfaces, thus -grinding them away and making more sand. So the winds, using sand to -make sand, put the sand out at interest, you may say. - -And on all its sand, made in these various ways--by wind and rain and -heat and cold, and the crystal fairies of the land of change--the -desert puts its special trade-mark, just as a manufacturer puts his -trade-mark on his goods. If you should take some desert sand and some -sand from the shores of the sea and show them to a man who knows about -such things, he would say (after he had put them under a microscope, of -course): - - -THE DESERT'S TRADE-MARK ON ITS SANDS - -"_This_ sand came from a desert, or from some place where it was much -blown about by the winds; while _this_ sand is from the shores of the -sea, or of a lake." The sand grains of the seashore, although they are -always being tumbled about by the waves, as the desert sands are by the -winds, are protected from each other by the water between them. These -little water cushions prevent the sand grains from rubbing together; -so they keep a good many of their sharp edges. They are not rounded -like the sands of the desert. The winds keep the desert sands grinding -against each other, at the same time turning them over and over, so -wearing them away pretty evenly on all sides. It also grinds them -against the desert rocks. - -[Illustration: A DESERT SIMOOM ON ITS TRAVELS - - A traveller in the Sahara took this snap-shot of a simoom from - the outside and at a safe distance. You can see that it must be - quite a distance from where we are standing, for the trees in the - foreground are still. The vast cloud of sand looks quite dark - because of the shadows cast by the sun, which it hides from view. -] - -It is as if there were cut upon the sea sands, "Father Neptune: His -Make"; while the genii of the desert, jealous for the desert's -reputation, had engraved on their own product: - -"Genuine Desert Sand. Look for the Trade-Mark and Accept No -Substitutes!" - - -III. The Plant People of the Desert - -Although it doesn't look a bit homey to us there are quite a few people -living in the desert, when you come to count them all--four-legged -people, and six-legged people, and two-legged people, and big and -little people with wings, and the people of the plant world. - - -THE WATER BOTTLE OF THE DESERT - -One of the most curious of the plant people is the cactus, particularly -the one known as the "desert water bottle." Like many two-legged people -it has a rough, unsociable exterior, but a kind heart. Let a traveller -come upon one of these bristly cactuses, after long, thirsty hours, -and he will realize what this means. Inside this cactus he will find -what will seem to him the most delightful drink he ever tasted. While -it isn't as cool as it might be, neither is it as warm as you would -expect, and it has a pleasant, sweet taste. - -[Illustration: DRAWING WATER FROM THE BARREL CACTUS - - This cactus, so far as shape is concerned, really belongs to the - barrel family, as you can see, besides performing one of the most - useful functions of a barrel in holding good drinking water for - thirsty travellers in the desert. My, how thirsty you get! You - drink, drink, drink from sunrise to sunset--about two gallons a - day. But sometimes the supply you are carrying gives out because - you miscalculated or you've lost your way, or the barrel leaks. - Then, oh, how you welcome the sight of a barrel cactus among the - rocky foot-hills! Director Hornaday, in the delightful book from - which I have already quoted says: "You get a gallon of water - surprisingly cool, and in flavor like the finest raw turnip. The - object on the ground is not a circular saw, but the inverted top - of the cactus, and the whiteness is that of the white meat that - contains the water. With a stick the meat is pounded to a pulpy - mass, and the water oozes out, forming a little pool. Then the - man with the cleanest hands washes them cleaner with some of the - pulp--throwing _this_ pulp away, of course--then squeezes the water - out of the rest of it into the barrel." - - Another interesting thing about this cactus is that it enables you - to get candy right in the desert; for here and there, through its - thick skin, it oozes out a secretion called "cactus candy," which - is very delicious. You are always sorry there is so little of it. -] - -The fact that you can get a drink in this way, just when you want it -most, all comes of foresight on the part of the cactus. After they get -down from two to four inches in the ground the roots of this cactus -spread out in every direction and for a long way. They collect every -bit of moisture in the soil, and they make the most of every drop of -rain that falls within their reach. Then they hide all this moisture -away and cling to every precious drop. Most plants, you know, evaporate -a great deal of water through their leaves. But the cactus, living in -a world where rains are few and far between, just can't afford to do -any evaporating to speak of; so it has practically no leaves, you see, -only little bits of things that you almost have to take a microscope to -find. But what it lacks in leaves it makes up in spines, which defend -it against the attacks of most thirsty animals, although it is believed -the desert mice know the secret of getting at this water, in spite of -the spines. - -One kind of desert plant you have no doubt met face to face, for it is -used to make printing paper. It grows in the deserts of Libya and other -parts of North Africa, and is called esparto grass. Like hemp, it has -stems which are full of strong fibres. These stems are gathered in huge -bundles, which are carried by camels to the sea, where they are sent by -ship to the English paper mills. - - -HOW THE "ROSE OF JERICHO" GOES TO SEA - -But there is a member of the desert plant family called the "Rose of -Jericho," that doesn't wait for anybody to come after it and carry it -to sea; it just picks up and sets sail for itself. It is a bush about -six inches high, a native of the wastes of Northern Africa, Palestine, -and Arabia. It bears a little four-petaled flower. When blossom time is -over the leaves fall off and its branches, loaded with seeds, dry up, -and, curling inward as they dry, form a ball. Its roots also let go of -the soil, so that the strong desert winds easily pull it up and it goes -bowling away toward the sea. When it gets there it tumbles in. - -[Illustration: THE CACTUS-WREN AND HER LITTLE FRONT DOOR - - Speaking of cactus spines, do you know how many of those wicked - little spines the cactus-wren had to work with and tug and twist - about in building that nest? About two thousand! These spines not - only make the nest but defend it. You can't be too careful about - your front door in Desertland. Such neighbors! -] - -Then this bold little traveller, who is very sensitive to moisture -although he has had so little of it in his bringing up, promptly -unfolds his arms and scatters his handful of seeds on the water; which -is precisely the thing he took all that journey to do! For the seeds -are carried far by the currents of the sea. Thus the family to which -this plant belongs keeps sending out colonies into new lands. This -seems to be one of the chief missions in life of plants as of other -peoples. - -The plant of which we have just been speaking is called the "Rose of -Jericho," although it looks so little like a rose that quaint old John -Gerard, an English doctor who loved and studied plants over three -hundred years ago, says: - -"The coiner of the name spoiled it in the mint; for of all plants that -have been written of not any are more unlike unto the rose." - - -THE WIND WITCHES OF THE STEPPES - -Our own tumbleweeds and the Canada thistle have the same trick of -bowling before the wind. There is a relative of these tumblers living -on the Russian steppes that the Cossacks call the "wind witch." At -the end of the season the branches dry up into a ball and then by the -hundreds these witches go skimming over the plains, driven by the loud -autumn winds. They are as light as a feather, and they go so fast that -sometimes even the Cossack horsemen cannot catch them, as they often -try to do in sport. Part of the time they move along with a short, -quick, hopping motion, and then, caught by an eddy, rise a hundred feet -in the air. - -Often dozens of them get locked together, join hands like the real -witches of our fairy tales, and the whole company goes dancing away -before the howling blast. - -Eery creatures! - - -IV. The Autographs in the Sand - -There are certain very interesting people of the desert that you -don't often find at home, not because they aren't there, but because -they don't _want_ to be found. Snakes, lizards, rabbits, and ground -squirrels slip quietly out of your way in the early morning, and by -the time the hot sun is high, beast and bird seek the shadows of the -canyons, or of big rocks, shelving banks, or caves. - -[Illustration: THE COYOTE'S NOCTURNE - - In addition to what he tells so cleverly in the picture about the - night song of the Coyote, Dan Beard--_your_ Dan Beard of the Boy - Scouts--says the animal is a ventriloquist; can throw his voice so - that it sounds as if he were a mile off, then startle you with the - noise of a full pack at your heels--and all the time be sitting - watching you from behind a stone not fifty yards away! -] - -But they all leave word. In the lava beds of the Arizona desert, where -not even the cactus will grow, you can make out the tracks of the quail -and the linnet, and of a peculiar desert bird called the road-runner. -There, also, are the tracks of the coyote and the wildcat, the gray -wolf, and sometimes the mountain lion. If about daybreak you saw what -seemed to be a long, lean, hungry dog, trotting away slantwise with a -cautious eye to the rear, it was probably a gray wolf a little late in -getting home. Like the coyote, the wildcat, the owl, and many other -desert people, that old gray wolf belongs to the world's great night -shift and is usually back in his mountain home by sunrise. Even when -you see him at all--which is seldom--he is hard to make out; for, like -the coyote, he wears a rusty, sunburned coat, which blends with the -sand and the yellow rocks. - -The coyote is a smaller member of the wolf family, to which both the -dog and the fox belong. He has much of the same cunning, and like Br'er -Fox is fond of chicken. But his home is usually so far from modern -conveniences he has few chances to visit poultry yards, and lives from -paw to mouth, as it were, catching a jack-rabbit when he can--the -desert rabbits seem to sleep with both eyes open--and lizards when he -can't get rabbits. At the worst he will make out on "prickly pears," -the pods of the mesquite bush, which are full of seeds. - - -THE WINGED PEOPLE OF THE DESERT - -Although you will not realize it at first there are a good many birds -in the desert. Some are transients, just passing through, and stopping -for a rest and a bite or two on the way. Others, such as the linnet -and the wrens, have nests tucked away among the spines of the cactus, -and there's a finch singing from the top of that bush! In flower -time in the Arizona desert (of which we are now speaking) there are -humming-birds, but their colors are not so bright as those of our -humming-birds. Feathers, like hair, have the natural color burned out -of them in the desert sun. Only the insects keep their bright clothes. -Turn over a stone and away will scamper golden beetles, silver beetles, -turquoise blue beetles, beetles in bronze; a whole boxful of jewels on -six legs. - -[Illustration: - - _From McCook's "Nature's Craftsmen." - Copyright Harper and Brothers_ - - THE LIFE STRUGGLE IN THE DESERT - - The late Harry Fenn, who did everything so well, drew this picture - of one of the incidents of the life struggle in the desert. It - represents the desert wasp, known as the "tarantula killer," - pursuing its prey. The tarantula of the Southwest is the giant - among our native spiders, but it cowers before the wasp, and - hurries off as fast as it can; but usually it _can't_, and is soon - laid away in Lady Wasp's nest as food for her solitary baby when - it comes out of the egg which the mother wasp lays in the spider's - body. -] - - -INSECTS, LIZARDS, SPIDERS, AND OTHERS - -And there are gray lizards, yellow lizards, and lizards called -"skinks," with tails as blue as indigo; and the gila monster, a lizard -in dull orange and black, with an ugly disposition and poison in his -lower jaw. Another big lizard of the Arizona desert is called the -chuckwalla. The Arizona Indians are very fond of him. They say he -tastes like chicken. - -Most of the spider family are represented in Arizona, including the -trap-door spider, who hides and waits for his dinner in a hole with -a wonderful trap-door that he made himself. This door he slams tight -when he gets you inside, if you're a fly or anything like that. He -also shuts this door in the face of his enemy, the centipede, a flat -worm a foot long, with loads of legs and feet. His name means "hundred -footed." He has poison daggers in his feet and his two-branched tail. - -[Illustration: A DESERT BEETLE AND HIS GYMNASTICS - - This desert beetle is called by the Indians - "The-Bug-that-Stands-on-His-Head." At first I thought he was taking - stomach exercises, for beetles have wonderful digestions, as you - may learn from Fabre's book on "The Sacred Beetle." But Mr. Howard, - Chief of the Bureau of Entomology at Washington--Uncle Sam's great - authority on bugs--tells me this is an attitude many beetles take - on the approach of an enemy, the object being to discharge a kind - of poison-gas which is intended to drive him away; and usually does. -] - - -WHAT A WONDERFUL FLYING MACHINE HE IS! - -But what's that away up in the sky? A flying machine? Yes, one of the -most wonderful flying-machines in the world--a vulture. There he goes, -sweeping in wide circles, as he hunts along the mountain range, mile -after mile, closely scanning the base of the cliffs for the bodies of -unfortunate creatures that have fallen over. Vultures will keep in the -air in that way whole days at a time, following the cliffs and canyons -for hundreds of miles. But for all that it is sometimes a week or two -between meals with a desert vulture. - -How does the vulture soar so wonderfully? Nobody is quite sure about -it. Often for hours there is no motion of the wings, as far as anybody -has been able to make out, and a soaring vulture seems to be able to -move as easily against the wind as with it. You'll not be surprised -to hear that it takes time to learn to fly like that--a whole year. -And even after the first year the young vultures stay for a good while -under the instruction of their parents, going out hunting with them -every day and sleeping with them in the nest on the cliffs at night. - - -V. A Day in the Sahara - -How would you like to spend a day in the famous Sahara desert with the -camels and the people and the dogs; and, I was going to say, the flies? -But the flies can't stand it. They stay in the villages on the borders. -Only a few are ever bold enough to start with a caravan and these soon -turn back. - -When a desert Arab and his family start on a journey the tents, the -sleeping-rugs, the scanty provisions, and the women and children are -piled on the camels, the dogs take their places at the end of the -procession and the men at the head, and the caravan starts. - -As the chieftain throws the end of the burnoose (his hooded cloak) -across his shoulder and, with his carbine in the hollow of his arm, -stalks in advance of all, you feel that if you were an Arab boy you -would be as proud as he is to have a father like that. What a splendid -figure; what a strong, grave, handsome face, and utterly without fear! -All his poor possessions would hardly pay a month's rent in a fine city -apartment, but he has the proud bearing of a king. He looks as if he -had just stepped out of a picture in a Bible story-book. - -[Illustration: ALL IN THE DAY'S WORK! - - This looks to me like the beginning of a simoom; if so, we'd better - wrap _our_ shawls about our faces as the Arabs are doing. Notice - how the rising wind picks up and twirls the sand about the camels' - legs and sends it stinging into the faces of the men. Maybe it - will die down as quickly as it came; maybe it will increase into a - choking sand-storm that will last a week. -] - -And how keen those dark eyes must be; and what a memory for the look -of things! At the beginning of the day's journey he is guided, as -sailors are at sea, by the stars. But soon the winds begin to rise, as -the desert farther away is warming under the sun, and the fine sand -drifts and shifts like snow, filling up our own tracks as fast as they -are made; so, you may be sure, it is leaving no guiding tracks made by -previous travellers. But this man has known every hill, every dune, and -every rocky gully along the way since he himself was a little boy, and -went over this same route sitting on the camel with his mother while -his father stalked on before. - -[Illustration: A CARAVAN ON THE MARCH - - Here is a caravan lumbering along over what appears to be a - pretty well-beaten roadway in Algeria where many improvements to - facilitate travel have been made by the French. It must be about - 8.00 A. M. or 4.00 P. M. Shouldn't you say so, from the shadows? -] - -Presently we come across another little group of travellers going in -another direction. They are on their way north to the summer pastures; -for you see they have a little flock of sheep and goats and two -donkeys. And there are two men. These people are probably two families -travelling together. But they are not so well-to-do as our Arab. They -have no camel to carry the women and children. So dogs, donkeys, men, -women, children, and the sheep and goats all tramp along together. - -[Illustration: THE FORLORN LITTLE RAT OF THE DESERT SANDS - - If you've read Roosevelt's books on Africa you've met this little - creature before. But isn't he the rattiest-looking rat you ever - saw? He has only a hair here and there on his yellow skin; and no - eyes to speak of. He can hardly see at all, spending most of his - time, as he does--like the sightless creatures of caves--in the - pitch-dark of his underground burrow. Yet, I suppose, like that - desert boy it tells about at the end of this chapter, he thinks - there's no place like home! -] - -They are not worried because they are poor; for listen, they are -singing! It's a melancholy kind of song, as we think. It reminds us -of the queer sound the sand grains make when the desert winds are -beginning to blow. But to the Arab it is music. What a lot of verses it -has--all just alike--and sung over and over again. - -But what's the matter now? All of a sudden they stop singing and -begin to shout and fire off their guns. You'll laugh when I tell you -why. They heard something talking back to them; repeating all their -words. It was only an echo made by the rocks of the mountains that -we have just reached. But these superstitious people of the desert -don't know what an echo is. They think echoes are the voices of evil -spirits mocking them, and the shouting and the firing of the guns is to -frighten these mockers away. - -[Illustration: THE PACK-RAT'S FORTRESS - - This is a diagram of the fortress of another little citizen of - mountain rocks and desert places, known out West as the "pack" rat - because he is always packing off other people's things and hiding - them in his burrow. The "fortress" consists of several burrows, - the roads leading to which are carefully protected by the prickly - bayonets of the cactus joints which the rat drags there for that - purpose. -] - -Life for everybody in the Sahara and the Arabian desert is very much -what it is for the animals in the Arizona wastes--a constant struggle -for food. In the Arizona desert every living creature puts in all its -time trying to get something to eat without being eaten. The wildcat is -fortunate if he gets a meal once in two or three days; and while the -coyote is trying to slip up on a rabbit, ten to one there's a panther -slipping up on him. A traveller in northern Africa tells how, when his -caravan halted for dinner at an inn for the French soldiers quartered -in that region, he saw a lean and hungry cat eying him from around the -corner of a nearby hut. To borrow from Victor Hugo's description of -the hungry cat at the Spanish inn,[31] this cat of the desert looked -at the traveller "as if it would have asked nothing better than to be -a tiger." When the guest of the inn had finished the piece of chicken -he was eating he tossed the bone toward the cat which pounced on it -fiercely. Instantly a dog, which had been watching proceedings, rushed -forward and took the bone from the cat. Just then an Arab, who happened -to be passing, fell upon the dog and wrenching the bone from his mouth -began eagerly gnawing it himself. - -[Footnote 31: "Hugo's Letters to His Wife."] - -It's a hard life! - -And yet if you should bring an Arab boy to London or New York to live -and give him three good meals a day--he's not always sure of _one_ at -home--and nice clothes to wear and a real bed to sleep in, and shady -parks to play in, do you suppose he would be happy? No indeed. The -thing has been tried. He says this kind of life is all right for those -who like it, but it _isn't_ the desert. - -And you have to admit it! - - -HIDE AND SEEK IN THE LIBRARY - - Not at all dry, are they--these deserts--when you get down into - them? And I haven't told you half there is to tell about them.[32] - -[Footnote 32: John C. Van Dyke, for one, has written a wonderfully -interesting little book just about the American desert. It's called -simply "The Desert."] - - To begin with, what does your geography say about deserts--about - how they are made? - - How do mountains help make deserts? - - In and near what zone does your geography locate the great deserts - of the world? - - How does the Sahara desert compare in size with the United States? - (You see, the Sahara is practically a whole United States gone dry!) - - Yet, the soil of much of the Sahara is very fertile and with water - would yield wonderful crops. But where is the water to come from? - Where do we get the water that has made our deserts bloom? Has the - Sahara any such sources of supply? - - Is it true that the Libyan desert was once covered by the sea, as - it was in that story of Phaeton, the boy who set the world afire? - - And speaking of that story, was there a Jupiter and a Jupiter - Pluvius, too?[33] - -[Footnote 33: "That was a good deal like asking if there was a George -Washington and a President Washington too," said the High School Boy, -after he had looked it up.] - - Wouldn't you say the addition of "Pluvius" to the name of their - chief god meant the ancients recognized rain-making as a very - important and difficult business to manage? - - But what is it, really, that brings our rains? What has the sea - to do with it? And the winds? And the mountains? Your geography - answers all these questions briefly. You will find a full treatment - of the whole subject of the weather and of how the weather man, - "the man with a hundred eyes," manages to be so clever, in - "Pictured Knowledge."[34] - -[Footnote 34: In the article in the Nature Department, "What is the It -that Rains?"] - - From what general direction do the winds come that bring the rains - in North America? In South America? Why the difference? - - How many inches of rainfall are enough for raising good crops? - - Nevertheless, they raise fine crops in many parts of the United - States where they have hardly any rain at all. How do they manage - it? I mean how do they store up the water and distribute it, and - everything? (Irrigation.) - - In reading up on deserts in the encyclopedias alone you will - find many such interesting things as the following, and in other - books--particularly books of travel--much more: - - How long the commercial caravans are (such great freight trains as - those that cross the Sahara between Morocco and Timbuctoo); how - many camels one driver takes care of; how fast the camels travel; - how many days they can go without a drink. - - If you're going to cross with one of these caravans (or just - pretend to cross) I must tell you one thing: - - _You've got to look out for lions!_ - - From what you have learned in your geography about African lions, - where would you say you were likely to come across them?[35] - -[Footnote 35: Have you read Roosevelt's "African Game Trails"? or his -"Life Histories of African Game Animals"?] - - What do these caravans bring back from Central Africa? (What is - produced in Central Africa that the civilized world wants?) - - The ostrich is a most interesting citizen of the desert that I - didn't have room to talk about. There's enough for a whole chapter - in your notebook just about ostriches and their ways. - - Among other things, I wish you'd find out for me if the ostrich - really does bury its head in the sand and imagine that it is - thereby hiding itself. (I'll warrant you it's only book ostriches - that do this; not real ostriches.) - - One of the most curious things about Mrs. Ostrich is how she and - her neighbors work together. It's like an old-fashioned quilting - bee, for all the world; although, to be sure, the ostriches don't - make quilts--they make nests.[36] - -[Footnote 36: "Romance of Animal Arts and Crafts."] - - Speaking of ostrich nests naturally suggests eggs--and very big - eggs, of course, including the roc's egg in the "Arabian Nights." - They do have real rock's eggs in the desert, only this kind of a - roc's egg is spelled with a "k." You just turn to the chapter on - deserts in Hobb's "Face of the Earth," and you'll find not only - that there are such eggs, but how the desert sun uses salt in - cooking them and what the crystal people have to do with it; and - how, like a cat in a hen-house, the desert winds suck these eggs, - leaving only the hollow shell. - - - - - CHAPTER IX - - (SEPTEMBER) - - Morning - - The summer dawn's reflected hue - To purple changed Loch Katrine blue. - - --_Scott_: "_Lady of the Lake_." - -Evening - - Now folds the lily all her sweetness up - And slips into the bosom of the lake. - - --_Tennyson_: "_The Princess_." - - -IN THE LANDS OF THE LAKES - -If we really had spent the month of August in a desert what a relief it -would be to find ourselves, as we do now at the very beginning of the -golden autumn time, in the lands of the lakes with their cool, fresh -breezes, the whisper of leaves and the glint of waters dancing in the -sun. The best of it is that the deserts are just as delightful as the -lands of pleasant waters, if you only visit them in imagination as we -have been doing; and they make the lakes all the more attractive by way -of contrast. - - -I. How the Lakes are Born - -But where are the lands of the lakes? I may say to start with, it's -no use looking for many lakes in the lands of the big caves. Caves -and lakes don't seem to get on together any more than do caves and -boulders. - -When this story of the lakes was first told to a certain group of young -people some of the youngest of whom had not forgotten the giants or the -language of their fairy tales, I put it in this way: - -"The rains and the rivers, with the help of some other things, have -made all the lakes in the world. One of these helpers is a bright-eyed -creature with two legs; another a little creature with four legs and -a third a great big thing with no legs at all!" (I said it like this: -"G-R-E-A-T B-I-G T-H-I-N-G," and opened my eyes wide for the benefit of -the younger members of our "pebble parties," as these little gatherings -came to be called.) - -The great big things, as you have already guessed, were the glaciers of -the Ice Age. We have had specimens of their work in the story of how -the Great Lakes were made. - -The four-legged lake makers are the beavers. They live on the margins -of quiet, shallow ponds--really little lakes--which they make for -themselves by gnawing down trees and building dams. - -And the bright-eyed creature with two legs--can't you guess who he is? -If you never helped make little lakes of your own by damming up a brook -or a roadside rivulet, you have missed a lot of fun. - - -WIDE RANGE OF SIZE IN LAKE FAMILY - -But you _must_ have made them; what boy hasn't? And those little ponds -or puddles were lakes, while they lasted, just as much as the great -Lake Superior is a lake. Even lakes that are called lakes and get their -names (and often their pictures) in summer resort folders, differ in -size, ranging from little affairs that are not much larger than the -pond in the meadow, to Lake Superior, with its 31,000 square miles; and -in depth, from a few feet to 5,618 feet in the deepest part of Lake -Baikal. You see if you touched bottom there you would have to keep -going for over a mile. - -"And there's all the way back!" said the High School Boy. - -[Illustration: THE GREAT LAKES OF TO-DAY AND - THE GREATER LAKE OF YESTERDAY - - The farmers of Canada and the Dakotas now sow their harvests and - reap their golden grain on the bottom of the great inland sea of - the Ice Age, Lake Agassiz. It was larger than all the Great Lakes - of to-day put together. It is known how big this lake was from its - old beaches, which can easily be made out all around the margin - shown on the map. -] - -[Illustration: THE BLUE LAKE IN THE VOLCANO'S MOUTH - - In the mouth of a dead volcano lies one of the most beautiful lakes - in all the world, the chief attraction of Crater Lake National - Park. This model of its basin tells how nature did the work. The - steep sides and the glacial valleys show that the top fell in - when the lava that helped build the volcano sank back and so left - it without support. If the top had blown off, as volcano tops - sometimes do, the valleys would have been filled with débris. Later - there was another outbreak, but so small that it only built that - little volcano in the big volcano's mouth. Notice the tiny crater? - This baby volcano rises above the waters of its mimic ocean and - makes an island, just as so many volcanoes of the great Pacific - make the far-flung islands of the Southern Seas. -] - -Even the water ouzel, that wonderful diver of the mountain lakes and -waterfalls, might hesitate at a dive like that. - -Those remarkable old men of the mountains, the glaciers of the Ice -Age, were the greatest of all lake-makers. Although for size the Great -Lakes were their masterpieces, they made lakes of all sizes and no end -of them. They fairly sowed the landscape with lakes. Look at the map of -the lake regions of America and Europe and then turn back to the map -picture of the great ice invasion (page 21). Don't you see the lake -regions and what was once the ice regions cover practically the same -territory? - -[Illustration: LOOKING ACROSS THE LAKE TO WIZARD ISLAND - - There you see is the top of that little volcano--right across the - lake. It is known as "Wizard Island." The lake is 4,000 feet deep. - Its walls are 1,500 feet high; in some places over 2,000 feet high. - In spite of the fact that they, as you see, slope a good deal, - owing to the crumbling down of the weathered rock, the banks are - still so steep it has taken us several hours of careful climbing to - get down where this picture was taken, and we shall be all the rest - of the forenoon climbing back again. -] - -In addition to making lakes in their Great Lakes manner the glaciers -had other methods. A glacier coming into a dry mountain valley would -supply it with a river by melting, and at the same time dam up the -river with stones and soil brought down from the mountain and so make -a lake. Then the water would run over the brim of the dam, and the -thing was complete; a beautiful little lake with one river running into -it and another running out. - - -LOOKS AS IF IT HAD RAINED LAKES! - -You just go through Wisconsin or Minnesota or Maine, and right and left -you'll see lakes and lakes and lakes: and then more lakes! Of course -most of these lakes are small; otherwise it wouldn't have been possible -to work so many of them into the same landscape. In Wisconsin you find -these small lakes in what are called the "Kettle Ranges." The low hills -and their valleys form what the early settlers called "kettles," and in -these kettles are the little blue-eyed lakes. - -It was the glaciers that not only made the kettles but often filled -them with the lakes. In many of the mounds of pebbles and clay that -we read about in "The Secrets of the Hills," the glaciers left big -blocks of ice. Then, when this ice melted, two things happened: (1) -The covering of the ice sank down, much as the sawdust sinks in an -ice-house when a block of ice is taken out, thus making the kettle; (2) -the big ice cake in the hill of pebbles melted, so filling the kettle -with a lake. - -But what broke off these big blocks, these land icebergs that made the -basins for the kettle lakes? They were left by the glacier when it -began to retreat; that is to say when the supply of snow back at the -gathering ground became insufficient to keep pushing it forward as fast -as the front melted away. Melting most rapidly in those huge cracks -called crevasses, big blocks were finally separated entirely from the -main body and left behind as the rest of the glacier slowly melted back -toward the mountains. - -If the glaciers were thus responsible for most of the lakes of the -lowlands you may be sure they had a hand in making the lakes of the -mountains, right where they themselves live. John Muir, who spent his -life in loving study of the mountains of the West and of everything -connected with them, found mountain lakes in every stage of existence -up the mountainsides; empty stone bowls that showed by the work of the -waves on the rocks that they had once held lakes; above these, in the -same chain, lakes growing shallow; and, still higher, brand new lakes -in stone bowls with the edge of the glacier that had carved out the -bowl and filled it with blue water, still bordering it on the upper -side. - -[Illustration: ONE OF THE KETTLE LAKES OF WISCONSIN] - -And this is why, like fruit on a tree, the youngest lakes are found at -the top. Since the glacier melted from the foot of the range upward the -lower lakes were the first to be born and the first to pass away; while -the lakes higher up on the mountain were the last to be born and the -last to pass away. - - -II. The Moods of the Lakes - -Lakes are like the rivers and the sea; they have their moods. In -sunshine and storm, in wind and calm, and from season to season they -show many changes. As we already know they are great sleepy heads. To -Ruskin mountain lakes seemed both to sleep and to dream. But their -longest sleep, like that of Br'er Bear, is taken in the winter. Of this -long sleep Mr. Muir says:[37] - -"The highest (mountain lakes) are set in bleak, rough bowls, scantily -fringed with brown and yellow sedges. Winter storms blow snow through -the canyon in blinding drifts, and avalanches shoot from the heights. -Then are these sparkling tarns filled and buried, leaving not a hint of -their existence. In June and July they begin to blink and thaw out like -sleepy eyes, the daisies bloom in turn and the most profoundly buried -of them all is at length warmed and summered as if winter were only a -dream." - -[Footnote 37: "The Mountains of California."] - - -EVEN THE DUCKS OVERLOOK THESE LITTLE LAKES - -But possibly these lakes are not asleep after all! They may be only -playing possum; or hide and seek. There _are_ mountain lakes that play -hide and seek. That is to say, they hide and _you_ seek; and often you -don't find! They are so small that, surrounded as they are by trees, -tall and thickly set, even the ducks pass them by. The glaciers that -made them seem to have hidden them, as the robins did the babes in the -wood. The glaciers did this, not by heaping leaves over them, but by -piling up stones and soil around them. They are encircled by moraines, -and on the moraines grow the trees that hide the lakelets even from the -sharp eyes of the ducks. - -[Illustration: A LITTLE GIRL'S PICTURE OF A FAMOUS SWISS LAKE - - This picture of the lake of the Great St. Bernard was taken by - Phyllis M. Pulliam, who sent it to _St. Nicholas_ with a long, - enthusiastic letter, such as only school-girls know how to write. - Among other things she met a great St. Bernard dog that had saved - more than fifty lives. -] - -Mountain lakes are usually as clear as crystal, and, like perfect -mirrors, reflect the outlines and coloring of the clouds and the -neighboring peaks. They are apt to contain mica and feldspar ground out -of the granite rock by the glacier that made their basins. Then the -sunlight falling on these rock particles gives them the color of jade -or Nile green, or dark green like a peacock's tail. They are constantly -changing color with the changing angles of the light from morning until -sunset; and under the passing clouds and the rippling of the winds. The -deeper lakes are dark blue in the deepest parts, turning to green in -the shallow waters near shore where the yellow of the sun rays and the -sand mixes most with the blue of the waters.[38] - -[Footnote 38: Van Dyke: "The Mountain."] - - -THE MYSTERY IS IN THE SECRET PASSAGE - -In Florida there are sister lakes so sympathetic that their waters rise -and fall together. One responds to the mood of the other as promptly as -your right eye waters in sympathy when you get a grain of dust in the -left. The reason for this goes back to the days when the corals helped -build Florida. They did this by leaving their "bones" on the coral -reefs when that part of North America was in the making. These remains -formed limestone. Then, in this limestone, "sink holes" were formed on -the surface leading to underground passages, just as they do over the -land surface in the cave regions of Kentucky. These sink holes often -fill with water and form little lakes. These lakes, being connected -by the underground passages, rise and fall together. It looks very -strange, even when you know the secret of it; and still stranger when -you don't. - -Yet I shouldn't be surprised if a bright boy or girl seeing two lakes -rising or falling together would suspect the underground connection; -for, of course, we all know about springs and their underground -channels. But what would you say to this: - -A lake that, a moment before, was as smooth as glass suddenly begins -to shiver all over as one shivers in a sudden draught. But there is no -breeze stirring! A moment later the water rises and falls along the -banks; an inch, two inches, a foot, two feet. Then, in the course of a -couple of hours, the sky, which before was without a cloud, begins to -grow black and there follows a terrific storm. - - -A KIND OF NATURAL BAROMETER - -The cause of the rising of the water is the heavier pressure of the air -at the farther end of the lake, the region of the coming storm. The -water, being forced down at one end of the basin, you see, rises at the -other. Then as the storm advances toward you the pressure is released -and the water falls again; but for a while it rocks to and fro as water -will do in a basin if you tip it up at one end and then let it down -again. - - -THE TIDES IN A TEACUP - -But, besides these imitation tides made by the unequal pressure of -the wind, lakes have real tides just as the ocean does; and from the -same cause, the attraction of the moon. In fact, there are tides in a -teacup, and the tea rises toward the passing moon as does everything -liquid on the face of the earth. In the teacup the rise is so small you -can't see it as you do when the great mass of the ocean waters is moved -in the same way. Even in the Great Lakes the tide only amounts to three -inches or so. - -And, in addition to their tides, there are many other things about -lakes that have led the largest of them to be referred to as "inland -seas." Says Reclus:[39] - -"Lakes are indeed seas. They have their tempests, their swells, their -breakers. It is true the waves are neither so high nor move so rapidly -as those of the sea because they do not move over such great depths. -They are short, compact and choppy, but for this very reason they are -more formidable. And the water being fresh and therefore lighter than -that of the ocean is more readily agitated. The wind has scarcely begun -to stir when the surface is covered with foaming billows." - -[Footnote 39: "The Earth."] - -Not only are lake storms especially dangerous for the reasons just -given by the great French geographer but lakes in mountain regions are -subject to an additional danger; for their storms are most apt to come -at night, just as described in the story of the storm on Galilee in the -New Testament. You remember it says the storm came "down."[40] - -[Footnote 40: Luke 8: 23.] - -"Now it came to pass on a certain day that Jesus went into a ship with -his disciples; and he said unto them, Let us go over unto the other -side of the lake. And they launched forth. - -"But as they sailed he fell asleep: and there came down a storm of wind -on the lake; and they were filled with water and were in jeopardy." - -Macgregor, in his "Rob Roy on the Jordan," draws the following vivid -picture of his own struggles with one of these tempests: - - -HOW THE STORM CAME DOWN ON GALILEE - -"Just as the Rob Roy passed below Wady Fik a strange, distant hissing -sounded ahead where we could see a violent storm was raging. The waves -had not time to rise. The gusts had come down on calm water and they -whisked long wreaths of it up into the sky. This torrent of heavy, cold -air was pouring over the mountain crests into the deep caldron of the -lake below. Just as it says in Luke 8:23. 'There came _down_ a storm -upon the lake.'" - -[Illustration: ON THE BORDERS OF THE SEA OF GALILEE - - You can see this is in a desert, mountainous country, and, from the - dress of the man, that it is in the Orient. The beach is wide--for - so small a lake--because of those frequent and severe storms that - drive the waves, loaded with sand and pebbles, far back from the - shore. -] - -This peculiarity of squalls among mountains is known to all who have -boated much on lakes, but on the Sea of Galilee the wind has a singular -force and suddenness. This is no doubt because the sea is so deep in -the world that the sun rarefies the air in it enormously and the wind, -speeding swiftly over a long and level plateau, suddenly comes upon -this huge gap in the way and tumbles down into it. - - -III. How Lakes Grow Old and Pass Away - -But, however formed, lakes, of all the features of our landscape, are -the soonest to pass away. Because of the sediment brought into them by -the rivers they keep getting more and more shallow and at last, in the -course of time, are quite filled up. The waves of the lakes themselves -help to bring this about by cutting material from their shores and -washing it into the water. - -So the time will come when all lakes now in existence will have passed -away. But the people of those times will not be without their lakes. -New lakes will probably be made by the same causes which produced the -lakes of to-day; for Nature's great processes do not change. - - -WHY LILIES COME TO THE DYING LAKES - -Meanwhile how beautifully they pass, these lakes; particularly the -little lakes like that in Rousseau's painting. First, on the margin of -a dying lake the lilies gather. Lilies grow only in quiet waters and -these they find in the shallow margins of lakes that are filling up. - - -LAST OF ALL COME THE TREES - -Next after the lilies come the sedges, grasslike herbs that grow in -marshy places. And after they are well established they get things -ready for the next arrivals; for these plants come in a regular -procession. The dense tufts of the sedges make mats on which soil -gathers. In this soil shrubs begin to grow. From the decay of all -this vegetation more soil is formed in which the seeds of spruce and -tamarack spring up. Then come willows, then poplars and maples, and -last of all the oaks and nut-bearing trees, which march into new lands -slowly because they must depend on their heavy seeds to move them -forward, while the little seeds of maple, willow, poplar, and pine are -easily carried by the wind. - -[Illustration: - - _"The Lake." From the painting by Rousseau_ - - HOW LAKES GROW OLD AND PASS AWAY - - This picture, called "The Lake," is from a painting by Rousseau, a - great French landscape artist, and illustrates the beautiful way - in which lakes grow old, as described in the text. Already, as you - see, Father Oak and his family have arrived. -] - -But while fresh-water lakes and their surroundings are so beautiful -and poetic, and never more so than when the lakes are passing away, -there are dying lakes, whose surroundings are the very pictures of -desolation. These are the lakes which have become bitter with salt -because their waters are evaporated by the sun faster than fresh water -comes in. The most famous of these salt lakes is the Dead Sea of the -Holy Land, into which the Jordan flows. Lying in a rock-bound pit, in -the deepest part of a vast trench, it is like a caldron into which for -eight months of every year is poured the heat from a burning sun in a -cloudless sky. Although Palestine, as you can see by the map, is in -the temperate zone, the thermometer here often registers 130 degrees, -because cooling breezes never come down into this pit except in those -occasional storms due to the sudden rush of cooler and therefore -heavier air from the surrounding heights. - - -THIS IS HOW THE DEAD SEA DIED - -As shown by the wave-cut terraces on the surrounding rocks this lake -was once a part of a great body of water that extended clear from Mount -Hermon to the Red Sea. Then, by a series of heaving movements, widely -separated in time (as shown by the depth of the beach terraces) the -bottom of this greater sea was uplifted into the two parallel chains of -limestone mountains which flank the Jordan Valley. At the same time a -great block of earth crust between them settled down, step by step, and -made the long trench running clear to Africa, one end of which is the -Jordan Valley, in which the Dead Sea lies. - -Later, during the different Ice Ages, as it is supposed, there was -plenty of moisture, for the rock records show that the Sea of Galilee -and what is now the Dead Sea were once parts of the same body of water. -Then the climate gradually changed, the land went dry, and the Dead -Sea water became far saltier than that of the ocean--so salty that all -life died out of it. To-day the water tastes like a mixture of epsom -salts and quinine, and any unfortunate fish swept into it by the fresh -waters of the Jordan, in which fish are abundant, gives a few desperate -gasps and dies. - -[Illustration: THE DEAD SEA] - -[Illustration: HOW THE DEAD SEA DIED] - -While it is not true, as the ancients believed, that birds drop dead -in flying over it, neither birds nor beasts make their homes in the -choking pit; and on its shores, always gray with a mixture of mud and -salt, of course no green thing can grow. Indeed, there is little plant -life anywhere round about, but as if in mockery there grow nearby what -are known as apples of Sodom or Dead Sea fruit. This fruit looks like -an orange, but it is bitter to the taste and filled only with fibre and -dust. - -The official report of Lieutenant Lynch, of the United States Navy, who -headed an expedition sent out by the government to explore the Dead Sea -and the surrounding regions, is full of word pictures which might well -have supplied material for the imagination of Dante. - - -LIKE A VAT OF MOLTEN METAL - -The sea, yellow from the large amount of phosphorus in the water, is -overhung in the early morning by a dense mist. This mist is made by the -water steaming in the intense heat. It looks, however, like smoke above -a great vat of molten metal "fused but motionless." After dark, when -the night winds come down from the heights and go moaning through the -gorges, the scene changes. - -"The surface becomes one wide sheet of phosphorescent foam, and the -waves, as they break on the shore, throw a sepulchral light on the -white skeletons of dead trees which have been washed from the woody -banks of the Jordan and, lying half buried in the sand, are coated with -gray salt from the muddy spray." - -On a portion of the land now covered by the lake, according to -tradition, were the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and after -their destruction these bitter waters flowed in and forever buried the -scene of their wickedness from the sight of men. - -It seems probable that the region did once support a larger population. -We know this to be true of other parts of the Orient which have since -become desolate owing to the ravages of war, the change of climate, and -the decay of Oriental civilization. And when we recall how the sinking -of the great earth block that carried this land so far below the level -of the sea forced lava up through the earth cracks, we can account for -"the fire from heaven" that poured down upon the cities of the plain. - -Professor Huntington, who headed the Yale Expedition into Palestine -in 1909, speaks of visiting the ruins of Suweim south of the Dead Sea -and picking up bits of lava (the whole region abounds in evidences of -volcanic action) while the sheik who acted as guide told the story of -Sodom as the story of Suweim. The name Suweim, Professor Huntington -thinks, may be a corruption of Sodom. Continuing, he says:[41] - -"The place is much greener than the other side of the valley, and in -the days of Lot may have been 'like the garden of Jehovah'[42]; for in -those times, as our studies of old levels of the Dead Sea quite clearly -indicate, the climate of Palestine was probably decidedly moister than -it is now. - -"And not two miles from Suweim we found a little volcano of very recent -date geologically, and an eruption may have wrought havoc in a town -located near Suweim." - -[Footnote 41: "Palestine and Its Transformation."] - -[Footnote 42: Genesis 13:10.] - -In one part of the valley he also found a cave among the mountains, -hewn out of the limestone above a spring. - -Now turn to your Bible, Genesis 9:30: - -"And Lot went up out of Zoar and dwelt in the mountain, in a cave, he -and his two daughters." - -In short, the geography of the region--such is the conclusion of -Professor Huntington's careful study--"supplies all the elements of the -story of Sodom and Gomorrah in exactly the location where the Biblical -account would lead one to expect them." - -But the native Arab goes further. Not far from the borders of the Dead -Sea is a mountain of salt called Jebel Usdem, which "the early and -later rains" in the course of ages have dissolved into many fantastic -shapes. Among these strange figures is a pillar tapering toward the -top, on which is a wide cap of stone, such as that shown on page 60 and -such as are often seen on detached and pillared rocks. - -But this gaunt remnant of grisly gray, although it is still obviously a -part of the mountain and cannot be less than forty feet high, your Arab -friend insists was once the wife of Lot! - - -HIDE AND SEEK IN THE LIBRARY - - If you were hunting for mountain lakes where would you expect to - find the most, in high mountains or in low? - - Rivers sometimes make lakes by using the same stuff the small - boys do, just plain mud. Look at Lake Pontchartrain in the map of - Louisiana and you can see one of the ways in which this is done. - Remember that all the land around this lake is part of the delta of - the Mississippi. The river deposits have simply enclosed a portion - of the shallow sea. - - Or--this is another way in which rivers make lakes by building mud - walls--a river emptying at right angles into a narrow gulf may - build a dam clear across it. The rich Imperial Valley of southern - California was cut off from the Gulf of California in this way. - Look at the map and you can see just how this was done. - - One of the puzzles about mountain lakes is how frogs got into them. - The frogs never climbed up there, you may be sure. Muir thinks - maybe the ducks did it. How do you suppose? See if you can imagine - and then see what Muir says about it.[43] - -[Footnote 43: "The Mountains of California."] - - In connection with what was said about lakes playing they are - oceans--not these little mountain lakes, of course, but great - big lakes--you will be interested in what Lord Bryce says in his - "Travels in South America" about why lakes may even look larger - than the ocean. - - In the Britannica and other books that you may not yet be old - enough to read you will find many more curious things about lakes. - I can't tell which one of my readers you are, you see, but if you - belong to the "younger set," father, mother, or some other member - of the family can do the looking up and then tell you about it.[44] - In the Britannica will be found such interesting things as this: - -[Footnote 44: I don't know of anything that is more fun, of an evening, -than looking up things in an encyclopædia--except looking them up in -_two_ encyclopædias.] - - How certain kinds of mountains and lakes are made at one and the - same time--by the same movement. - - How even the wind may make lakes. - - Why lakes are to the land what lands are to the sea. - - Then if you will turn to page 75 of that fascinating little book we - have already dipped into several times[45] you will find what the - fact that lakes are to the land what islands are to the sea has to - do with a peculiar beetle in the Shetland Islands (where the ponies - come from) and the famous tailless cat of the Isle of Man. - -[Footnote 45: "Colin Clout's Calendar."] - - One of the quaintest little bits of real life in Lakeland is how - the baby gulls of the Great Lakes worry their papas and mamas by - going swimming before they are old enough; how their parents give - them a spanking and send them back home; and how kind all the lady - gulls are to the little gulls of neighbors that come to their - houses to play with their children.[46] - -[Footnote 46: "The Bird, Our Brother," by Olive Thorne Miller.] - - - - -[Illustration: DROWNED VALLEYS ON THE MAINE COAST - - Wherever you see very irregular shores, as along the coast of - Maine, you may infer that the shores have sunk so that the waters - of the sea came up into the river valleys, and the hills and long - tongues of high land became islands and peninsulas. -] - - - - - CHAPTER X - - (OCTOBER) - - To-night the winds begin to rise - And roar from yonder dropping day; - The last red leaf is whirled away, - The rooks are blown about the skies. - - --_Tennyson._ - - -THE AUTUMN WINDS AND THE ROCK MILLS OF THE SEA - -Nothing looks more aimless, more unorganized, perhaps, than the long -turmoil of the waves of the sea which begins in late autumn and -continues through the winter months. If, with your nose well over the -edge of a cliff, you look straight down, you will see something like -this: With every forward leap of the surges the waters are divided and -entangled among the rocks, and division after division is beaten back -by the upright wall in front and the broken blocks of stone on this -side and on that. On-coming waves, met by those recoiling, rise into -mountainous, struggling masses of wild fury. The whole affair seems to -be as clear a case of wasted energy as a Mexican revolution. - -But if you watch the waves carefully and study them a little you will -see underlying and controlling this apparent anarchy the wonderful -engineering by which the machinery of the sea works out its appointed -tasks. It is when the earth has gathered its harvests and laid down -to its winter rest that the sea begins gathering harvests of its own, -grinding up the rocks for food for the plants in its gardens, for -new clothes for its shell-fish, and new soil for earth harvests in -millenniums yet to be. - - -I. The Destroyer - -On the face of it the case looks bad. The sea's chief business seems -to be that of eating us up, or at least the lands on which we live. -And this idea of it we find running through all literature and art. A -very large number of the pictures of the sea, probably the majority, -show it in wind and storm. And this is still more true of the famous -sea pictures of literature. Shakespere, for example, makes some three -hundred references to the sea, and nearly always, where he gives it a -character, it is that of a monster, always hungry and never satisfied, -a "wild, rude sea," a sea "raging like an angry boar"--and so back to -Homer and forward to Kipling. - -That the sea is constantly eating away the land cannot be denied, and -to an extent that is delightfully alarming if, as did the little boy -listening to the tale of the giants, we "like to be made nervous." It -is said that England still rules the waves, but where she fronts the -sea on the east the coast is being cut back at the rate of two to four -yards a year, in spite of all that modern engineering skill can do. In -the course of a thousand years the losses on all fronts have amounted -to over 500 square miles. Each year carries off 1,500 acres more from -the king's domains, to add them to the Empire of the Sea, "and he calls -to us still unfed." On the east coast the blows dealt by the waves in -severe storms are such that the land trembles for a mile back from -the shore. "The earth," said Emerson,[47] speaking of the industrial -greatness of England, "shakes under the thunder of its mills." So for -ages it has shaken under the thunder of the mills of the sea. - -[Footnote 47: "English Traits."] - -[Illustration: - - _Courtesy of "The Scientific American"_ - - SEA-CLIFFS IN THE SCHOOLROOM - - These dizzy cliffs and the wide sea beyond were made in the - schoolroom in the same way that the glacier and the iceberg were - made in Chapter II. -] - -[Illustration: - - _Courtesy of "The Scientific American"_ - - BEHIND THE SCENES -] - -This apparent war of the sea upon the land is a war of machinery whose -workings are curiously like the ancient war machinery of men. Without -tools the sea is almost as helpless as man himself; and, as in man's -history, its use of tools begins with the Stone Age. Where there is no -stone-strewn beach or underwater shelf extending out from a cliff, the -waves do little damage. They give only a muffled and (to the poetic -ear) a baffled roar. But a sloping shelf along a rocky shore not only -makes a kind of scaling ladder on which the waves can climb to great -heights, but these waves are pitched forward with terrific force -as they reach it from the open sea. As they come on they seize huge -stones which they hurl against the cliffs. Even amid the wild voices of -tempests one hears the boulders crashing against the walls. In storms -of sufficient energy rocks of three tons weight are driven forward like -pebbles. The action against the upper part of a cliff may be compared -to that of one of those great stone-throwing engines of the Romans, -while on the lower portion the drive suggests the battering-ram. - - -WHAT NEPTUNE KNOWS ABOUT WEDGES AND PNEUMATIC TOOLS - -Where the waves strike into narrowing crevices in the rocks they act as -wedges, prying the walls apart. In this form of the sea's destructive -work we find also an application of a motive power which has come to -play so important a part in modern engineering; namely, compressed air. -Waves strong enough to handle big rocks not only dash them against the -cliff, while the waves themselves drive into the crevices like wedges, -but in so doing they force air into the crevices and compress it. This -air, expanding as the waves fall back, forces out great blocks of stone -which, in turn, are also used as weapons of assault. - -And, as we look back in the history of the sea, we find that he long -ago--the deep-laid schemer!--planted enemies within our very walls. -Waves, even when armed with the heaviest missiles, can do comparatively -little damage to walls in which there are no crevices. But there are -few such walls. Usually even the hardest rocks have running through -them those cracks which the geologists (with a fine sense of humor) -call "joints"; or they have "bedding planes," the divisions between -the rock beds. Both of these weaknesses in our defensive walls are, -in a large degree, the handiwork of the sea; the bedding planes -because rocks are so laid in the sea mills, and the joints because the -wrinkling up and consequent cracking of the land rocks is the other -end, as we learned in Chapter I, of the down-wrinkling of the rocks -under the weight of the sea. - -In the very body of the rocks also is hidden a secret enemy; the salt -left when they were made. And more salt is constantly being forced into -the surface pores as the waves strike. This salt helps to dissolve and -weaken the rock under the chemical action of the air, and the rains and -the mechanical expansion and contraction of the surface with changes of -temperature. - - -PLANING MILLS OF THE WINTER SEA - -All the Great Powers of nature, "on land, on sea, and in the air," -seem to be in open conspiracy against our peace. The evidence seems -especially plain in late fall and winter, when the sea, contrary to the -usual practice in war, carries on its most vigorous campaigns. Then -come the winds for the great drives; then come the frosts that change -the water wedges into expanding blocks of ice that, almost with the -force of exploding shells, tear the walls apart. In winter are formed -the great ice-fields that help in two ingenious ways to further the -destructive action of the storm waves. In bays and smaller recesses in -rocky shores, the ice has embedded in it fragments of stone which the -sea has battered down. The constant plunge of the waves breaks up these -ice-fields into sections which, with the embedded stones, become rude -planing mills. Where a headland is sloping, these planers, driven back -and forth by the waves, chisel the rock away as a planer chisels down a -piece of steel upon which it has been set to work. - - -HOW STONES ARE CARRIED OUT TO SEA - -A no less curious feature of sea engineering is the use of ice-fields -as "conveyors." During the spring, summer, and autumn the masses of -stone which the sea brings down from the cliffs on its occasional busy -days--that is to say on days when the winds are high--pile up and so -form a kind of bulwark against further attacks. But when in winter -these stones become embedded as above described, strong offshore winds -carry the ice-fields, stones and all, out to sea. Then, on shore, wind -and wave take up their work again unchecked. All along the rocky shores -of the Atlantic, as far south as New York State, beyond which no rock -walls come down to the shore, all these interesting things may be seen -by the traveller. - -Another phase of this team-work of natural forces in feeding the land -to the sea is that steady advance of the waters upon certain shores. As -if science herself had joined literature and art in giving the old sea -dog a bad name, these advances are called in the language of geology, -"transgressions of the sea." These transgressions are caused in part -by the gradual sinking of the land and in part by the rising of the -waters. It is not possible always to tell which agency is at work. -Often both may be. One thing about the rising of the waters themselves -might be looked at as particularly alarming. The rivers, which, of -course, are parts of one great water system, whose centre and prime -mover is the sea, are not only constantly wearing the land down toward -sea level but raising the sea level by the inpour of vast quantities -of ground-up land. Even as matters stand, the amount of water in the -sea bowls is so great that if all lands were at the present sea level -they would be covered everywhere to a depth of two miles. Wind-borne -dust from the surface of the land and from volcanic explosions also, in -time, amounts to a pretty sum; and, of course, helps makes the waters -of the sea rise upon the land. - - -WEARING DOWN THE LAND AND FILLING UP THE SEA - -Already the sea has advanced a thousand feet or more upon the coasts of -Maine, to take one instance; and the whole ragged outline of Europe is -due to the same cause. Let this sort of thing go on and it is easy to -see that it will only be a question of a few millions of years when New -York, London, and other centres of busy life will be buried like the -wicked cities of the plain. - -And if, to help complete this picture of desolation, we for a moment -forget what we learned about the life insurance carried by the -continents, we can imagine how they too will disappear. And the Last -Man thus: - - For now I stand as one upon a rock - Environed with a wilderness of sea, - Who marks the waxing tide grow wave by wave - Expecting ever when some envious surge, - Will, in his brinish bowels, swallow him.[48] - -[Footnote 48: Shakespere: "Titus Andronicus."] - -To make the thing seem doubly sure, let us reflect with Mr. Burroughs -that the world is now probably in a time of spring, following the -latest of the Ice Ages. If so, the water now locked up in snow-fields -and glaciers among the mountain peaks will, before this summer of the -centuries is over, all melt back into the sea. This alone will be good -for a rise of some thirty feet in sea level. - -Then, still later, we shall no doubt have another Ice Age, and the only -thing that may save us from being frozen to death is the fact that we -have previously been drowned! - - -II. The Builder - -But it's all a bad dream; a delusion of the mind, and of the eye. We -see these things--the destruction of the land, the invasions of the -sea--but we do not see them as they are because we do not see far -enough. Looked at broadly, and reading the story of it to the end, we -learn that the whole relation of the sea to the land and its life and -beauty is that of a builder and fatherly provider. Far from being the -savage creature he has been pictured, Father Neptune seems to have the -kindly disposition of old King Cole combined with the wisdom of King -Solomon. Everywhere is evidence not only of the highest intelligence -but of good will toward man and his brother tenants of the waters, -fields, and woods. - - -THE TRUTH ABOUT THE SEA IS THIS - -To begin with you remember it was the sea that helped put the world -on the map. Of course, if we had not already learned in the story of -how the continents came up out of the sea, that there is no cause for -alarm, we might imagine that having been lifted up they might, by a -reversal of the process, be lifted down again. Indeed, I find a writer -in a popular periodical dealing in science stating that "every part of -the sea floor becomes, in its turn, the shore line and is subjected -to the wear of the waves." But, as a matter of fact, we know that -the continents have finally got their land legs; that for ages the -transgressions of the sea have been mainly confined to the continental -margins; and that unless the earth's shrunken centre should, from some -unimaginable cause, swell back to its old size, it is mechanically -impossible for the entire bottoms of the vast reservoirs of the sea to -be raised. - -[Illustration: HARBOR ENGINEERING OF THE RIVERS AND THE SEA - - In the mouths of certain rivers emptying into the sea the tides - come rushing up in a roaring wave like this. When the tide goes out - the water flows back again. This back-and-forth motion helps to - broaden the harbor made by the river's mouth, as in the case of New - York Harbor, which is the mouth of the Hudson. Owing to this tidal - action the water of the Hudson backs up clear to Albany. -] - -[Illustration: A GOLDEN GATE FOR FRISCO - - The famous Golden Gate of San Francisco (so called because of the - golden sunsets shining through), and its splendid harbor, made by - the sinking of the land. The gate was originally cut by the waters - of those two rivers that join and flow into the bay. What rivers - are they? -] - - -HOW THE SEA HELPS MAKE GOOD FARMS AND BIG CITIES - -Moreover the rivers, in the very act of wearing down the land and with -it filling up the sea, help keep the land from being flooded, as it -would be if something were not done. For, as we learned in the story -of why the mountains border the sea the sediment poured in by the -rivers helps raise the mountains and the land along the sea border. It -is during the downward movement of the continental margins that most -sediment is spread from the inpouring rivers because the dip of the -land is greater and the swifter current not only cuts down the land -faster, but carries the sediment farther out from shore. Here the new -rock is made from old worn-out soil, and, since these new rocks when -brought to the surface will in time decay, fresh soil is thus prepared -for future generations. More immediate benefits of this sinking of -shores and advance of waters are the harbors which have made great -cities like New York and London, on or near the seacoast. These harbors -are all the results of "transgressions," combined with the digging -action of wave and tide. - -[Illustration: - - _Copyright by Underwood & Underwood_ - - STONE TERRACES FOR THE GANNETS - - This picture shows what the rising of the land and the - architectural engineering of the sea did for the gannets on the - coast of Canada. -] - - -TAKING A HINT FROM THE SEA'S SHORE ENGINEERING - -But the sea builds shores as well as eats them. Its chief work in this -line is the widening of the continental shelf by building it up with -rock made of the sea's own grist from its shores, and the sediment -poured in by the rivers. This work is not "delivered," so to speak, -for millions of years, when the sinking shores begin to rise again, -but the sea, in its wave work, does shore building of another kind -that shows above the waters in the generation in which it is done. On -wide, shallow beaches, storm waves break some distance from the shore, -and, so losing their force, drop the sediment which they have stirred -up, after carrying it forward only a little way. As a result of this -repeated dumping, an embankment forms, broadening seaward in the middle -and bending shoreward at the ends. A portion of the sea itself is -finally cut out and enclosed by this embankment, thus forming a lagoon. -Finally this lagoon is filled with material, washed from the land and -by sediment brought in from the sea at high tide. Human engineers, -taking the hint, now put the sea to work on similar undertakings of -their own. An embankment is built enclosing an area of the sea; then -the tides and the land wash do the rest. - -[Illustration: THE DROWNED RIVERS THAT HELPED MAKE ENGLAND GREAT - - Her fine harbors have helped to make England the great commercial - nation that she is. Notice here the relation of her largest cities - to the bay-like mouths of the drowned rivers and to the drowned - valley north of the Isle of Wight. -] - -[Illustration: HOW THE SEA TAUGHT SHORE ENGINEERING TO MEN - - This is a salt marsh at mid-tide. How the sea itself adds such - regions to the dominion of the land, and how human engineers, - taking the hint, have put the sea to work, you will learn in this - chapter. -] - -The sea also works with the busy little corals in building reefs -and islands. Corals can only live and build where the water is kept -in constant and vigorous motion by current and wave. From the air -imprisoned in the bubbles by the stirring and turmoil of the waves and -particularly from the air in the white foam of the crests these little -people get their oxygen. At the same time they absorb out of the water -the food on which they grow. The sea not only feeds these little wards -of its bounty during their busy lives, but extends their usefulness -after death, either by cementing to the reef the coral, ground up by -the waves, or in storms scattering it over wide areas, to be made -later into the finest of limestone; and still later into the best of -soils. - -[Illustration: FATHER NEPTUNE FEEDING THE CORAL PEOPLE - - See that line of breakers just below the horizon? That shows where - Father Neptune is serving the little coral people with food and - fresh air, as explained in the text. -] - -We know also that the sea makes coal as well as stone in its rock -mills; that the pressure of the overlying rock was in large part the -source of the heat that changed the vegetation of the swamps, first -into charcoal and then into coal. - -The subject of what the sea has done and is doing for us is almost -as endless as the seas themselves; and no doubt the reason the sea -is never still is because it has so much to do. Nothing in earth's -animate or inanimate nature exercises an influence to be compared in -importance to that of the sea, not only upon the land, but upon the -whole life which land and sea support; and even in what seem to be the -most aimless of its movements it in reality acts with the precision of -a machine. - - -III. The Artist - -And in the making of the rock in its presses under the water, as -well as in the grinding which takes place along the shores, the sea -evidently has an eye to beauty as well as use. As originally formed, -the conglomerates or "pudding-stones" are always laid nearest the shore -because there the retiring waves and the rivers emptying into the sea -drop the heaviest part of their load, including the pebbles. Next is -dropped the sand which is pressed into sandstone and beyond this the -finest particles of all, the ground-up soil, which becomes slate rock. -Still beyond the zone of slate is deposited the lime from the shells -of sea creatures who can live only in this clearer water, away from -the muddy waters nearer the shore. These deposits make limestone. The -result of this natural sorting process is that all the four kinds of -sedimentary rock are always laid down in just this 1, 2, 3, 4 order and -no other: (1) pudding-stone; (2) sandstone; (3) slate; (4) limestone. - -Then, as a result of the transgressions of the sea, what was once -a region of conglomerate may be later found far out under the sea -and there is thus laid down over the conglomerate beds, strata of -sandstone, slate, or limestone, depending on how far the sea advances. -So we find rocks with all sorts of neighbors above and below; limestone -above conglomerate, conglomerate above slate. These changes take place -over vast regions and from the original uniformity in the arrangement -of the rocks there necessarily results a similar uniformity in the -results of this "shuffling," and no matter what changes may be made -afterward by raising them up into shore cliff and mountain and by -other earth movements, and by the endless reshaping by weather and -wave, there still remains that underlying harmony which, with variety, -gives to rocky shores their picturesque beauty. - -Harmony and variety are necessary in all forms of art--pictures, -literature, music--and the conditions governing harmony and variety are -always found hand-in-hand in the art work of the sea and its helpers. -The difference in texture in different kinds of rock, for example, and -in different parts of the same rock, cause them to yield in different -ways and degrees to the action of wave, wind and weather; so there is -sure to be great variety in the shapes they take as they are worn away. - - -HARMONY, VARIETY, AND THE ART WORK OF THE SEA FAMILY LIKENESS IN ROCK -FORMS - -Yet, with all their differences, the shapes rocks take--sandstone -compared with granite, for example--are so characteristic that one soon -learns to tell a long way off what kind of rock a distant landscape -is made of. There is inevitably a certain type resemblance, since all -sandstone is of the same general texture and weathers in the same way. - - -NATURE'S BUILDING BLOCKS AND THE SEA - -Then take the natural division into blocks made by joints in the rocks -to which cliffs like the famous Castle Head at Bar Harbor owes its -striking form. These blocks are so nearly true that you feel sure they -must have been cut by stone-masons, and yet they have the variety which -art demands; they have not the monotonous sameness of shape of the -bricks in a wall. This is mainly due to the differences in the strains -which cracked the original rock mass. So, from the beginning a sea-wall -built by nature is more picturesque than a sea-wall built by man. And -it goes on taking more and more picturesque shapes under the hammers of -the waves. For the force of the waves, the angles at which they strike, -the size and shape of the rock fragments with which they strike, these -vary infinitely. - - -ETCHING, SCULPTURE, AND LANDSCAPE GARDENING - -Equally true is this of other natural forces that shape the rocks; -such as the daily and seasonal changes of temperature that chip away -the mountain peaks and the faces of the cliffs, and the character and -number of plants that grow on rocks where they can get a foothold and -dying and decaying generate acids which help to etch the rocks away. -Trees growing on rocks search out the cracks with their roots and, -pushing in and prying them apart, help to change their form. And there -is sure to be variety in the arrangement of the wild trees growing on -rocks in the mountains and by the sea, since the seeds, being carried -by the winds or by running water or by birds or four-footed creatures, -fall in an endless variety of groupings. So of the shadows cast by the -trees. These shadow masses, so different in shape, owing in part to -the irregular arrangement of the trees and in part to the differences -in shape of the trees themselves, protect portions of the rock, to a -certain extent, against changes in temperature, while the bare rocks -are fully exposed to it, so there results a corresponding variety in -the result of the sun's work upon the rock. At the same time they help -on the acid etching process, because in these shadowed spots there is -more moisture and therefore more rapid decay. - -The form of whole continents follows the same law. Take, for example, -Europe. "The geological history of Europe," says Geikie,[49] "is -largely the history of its mountain chains"; and the mountain chains, -for all their picturesque variety, have also, and necessarily, a -certain uniformity, because in the wrinkling of the rocks which made -them the vast areas over which they now extend were all subjected to -the same force--a big push from one side which crumpled up the earth's -outer crust as a table-cloth is crumpled up when pushed forward against -a book lying on it. - -[Footnote 49: Encyclopædia Britannica: article on Geology.] - - -HOW THE VERY SCENERY PLAYS MANY PARTS - -The ancient history written in the rocks, in the present relative -positions of the strata, shows that four times a great mountain system -has thus been raised across the face of what is now Europe; that three -times large portions of these mountain ranges have been sunk under -the sea and new rocks deposited over them; and that the mountains of -to-day--the Alps, the Carpathians, and the rest--are the survivors of -the fourth time up. Here we have another striking example of the fact -that on the great stage of life the very scenery has its exits and its -entrances! - -But remember that in all these changes of scenery--in the crumplings -and the foldings, and new rock deposits and the carving by the rivers -and the frosts and the winds and the waves of the sea--we have certain -similar materials, similarly arranged, stretching over vast areas, and -the consequence is a certain uniformity and rhythm in the ups and downs -of the landscape and in the changes worked in the walls of stone "where -time and storm have set their wild signatures upon them." - - -HIDE AND SEEK IN THE LIBRARY - - What would you think of seeing the leaves all out and the trees in - bloom on Christmas Day? That happens right along, and the people - who live in the lands where this occurs don't think anything of - it, because this is in the Southern Hemisphere during the vacation - season of the sea. - - One peculiar thing about this spring and summer in the winter time - in Africa is that when the leaves first come out they are not - green at all. They are brown, red, and pink. Later on they turn - green--just as any well-behaved leaf is supposed to do.[50] It's as - if they got mixed in their dates and thought at first it was autumn - and then woke up and said: - - "Oh, yes, to be sure, this is spring! What are we thinking about?" - -[Footnote 50: Livingstone's "Expedition to the Zambesi."] - - Anyhow they turn from the autumn browns and reds to the appropriate - green of spring, and the flowers come out and the birds begin to - sing in the very season when our winter winds are loudest and the - rock mills of the sea are roaring at their work. - - In which Hemisphere, the Northern or the Southern, do the sea mills - have most land to work on? - - In Shakespere's "Tempest" you will find a description of a storm at - sea that will take your breath away. Almost the whole of Scene 2, - Act I, is in that terrible storm. In fact, the whole play, as the - title of it indicates, is full of storm. - - While you are looking for storms in Shakespere see what you can - find in "Two Gentlemen of Verona," "Twelfth Night," "Midsummer - Night's Dream," and "The Merchant of Venice." - - Speaking of the sea still being in the Stone Age what do you know - about the kind of tools man used in the Stone Age and how he got - along?[51] - - (You'll find that the story of the development of man, as dealt - with in connection with the Stone Age, is part of the strangest - story of all the strange stories of science. You will get a brief - outline of it in this story of mine, in the last chapter.) - -[Footnote 51: Interesting books on this subject are: Starr's "First -Steps in Human Progress" (Chautauqua Reading Course) and Clodd's -"Childhood of the World." Osborn's "The Men of the Old Stone Age" is -the latest and most comprehensive work on the subject.] - - How much more do you know about pneumatic tools than Father Neptune - does? No doubt you've used a "pneumatic" tool of a sort yourself - more than once--a tool for making a noise. Guess what. A pop-gun! - Look up _pneumatic tools_, and you will find that the same thing - that makes the pop-gun pop helps to build skyscrapers, locomotives, - and steamships, and do a lot of other wonderful things. - - In connection with the water wedges made by the sea you must - remember that curious trick ice has when it freezes (page 154); - otherwise you can't understand how it could act like a wedge. - - Yes, and wedges, simple as they look, are almost as wonderful as - levers; and you know what Archimedes said he could do with a lever. - - The whole subject of machinery and particularly of "automatic" or - so-called self-acting machinery[52] is fascinating. Find out about - planing mills and how they work, particularly why they stop planing - just when they are told to. - -[Footnote 52: As a matter of fact, the only machinery that is really -automatic is the machinery of nature, of which what we have called "the -machinery of the sea" is an example.] - - In connection with how the sea sometimes helps make harbors - think of as many great harbors as you can, and then look on your - geography map and see how many you have missed. - - What character in "Titus Andronicus" says that about the man - standing on a rock and watching the sea come to eat him up? - - Your geography has a good deal to say about continental shelves; - and with pictures. Do you remember? - - Speaking of lands sinking under the sea you'll run into a world - of interesting things if you look up the story of the Lost Island - of Atlantis; about the Egyptian priest who first described it to - Solon, the Greek lawgiver, as an earthly paradise where all the - laws and everything else were just right. - - And if you're of High School age you'll enjoy reading what - Plato[53] and Homer[54] say about this ideal land. - -[Footnote 53: Timæus.] - -[Footnote 54: The Odyssey.] - - Isn't it a striking thing how the big sea that can look so fierce - takes such tender care of the little coral people? And what - extraordinary folks these coral people are! Any good article about - them will tell you worlds of interesting things. For instance, you - will find the people of whole villages living together with only - one backbone. I mean not one backbone _apiece_ but one backbone - among them _all_! - - And they have the queerest way with their stomachs, a kind of - co-operative digestion, of co-operative housekeeping. (Your - mother will be particularly interested in this because it shows - the "community kitchen" idea has been thoroughly tried out and it - works! If you don't know about "community kitchens" among human - housekeepers ask mother to tell you, and then you tell _her_ what - you found out about these strange little housekeepers of the sea.) - - - - - CHAPTER XI - - (NOVEMBER) - - It is a noble thing for men ... to make the face of a wall look - infinite, and its edge against the sky like an horizon; or even - if less than this be reached, it is still delightful to mark the - play of passing light on its broad surface, and to see by how many - artifices and gradations of tinting and shadow, time and storm will - set their wild signatures upon it. - - --_Ruskin_: _The Seven Lamps of Architecture_. - - -THE HANDWRITING ON THE WALLS - -One of the most interesting things in this whole wonderful story of the -life history of the world is how men were first able to read it at all. -For we know they didn't find it written out in plain print as we have -it now. Neither was it told in any one language so that getting hold of -the thread of the story they could unravel it all, as other learned men -did the picture writing of the Egyptians and the wedge-shaped marks on -Assyrian bricks. - -We know already how they learned that rivers open their own gateways -through the mountains; how they know rocks are made over in the -fairyland of change; how they know the ancient glaciers scattered -the boulders over mountainside, valley, and field; how they know the -mountains are children of the sea. - -All this and more we have been reading in the written language of the -rocks, but there are other things in this rock script that I have kept -for this last but one of our pleasant talks, so that they might serve -as a kind of summary and remembrance of all that has gone before. - -[Illustration: A WALL THAT VULCAN BUILT - - I've said it several times before, but I can't help saying it here - again, how much more wonderful the ways of Nature are than was ever - dreamed of even in the wonder tales of the Greeks! Take this great - iron wall, for example--a wall of the iron rock called "lava"--and - who would suppose that it was made by natural forces? It was driven - in a molten state into a crack in overlying rock. After it cooled, - the rock above and on either side of it, being of softer material, - was worn away. This wall is near Spanish Peaks, Colorado. It is 100 - feet high and some 30 feet wide. Colorado boys, on their vacations - in that region, run along the top of it for miles. -] - - -I. The Mysteries in Marble Walls - -Take a piece of marble for example, such as you see along the walls of -our great modern buildings. There's a story for you! Why, if half the -things it tells had just happened, or even just been discovered by some -enterprising reporter, we should see pages and pages about it all in -every newspaper in the land. - - -HOW MARBLE RETELLS THE WORLD HISTORY - -In that piece of marble alone you have a pretty full review of the -earth's history; of many of the most important things we have seen and -heard about since we all started out together in Chapter I. It tells of -strange life in ancient seas; of being buried deep in the earth under -immense pressure, and where it could feel the intense heat of the rock -at the centre, and of coming up again completely changed; transformed -from the substance of a dead sea creature's shell to a crystallized -stone beautifully colored and of many patterns; of the chemistry of the -world underground and the laboratories in which its lovely coloring -were made and blended; and solid rock threaded through rock with a -skill that no worker in mosaic has ever equalled; drawn out and fixed -in mere films of white, fading into the rich dark of the marble around -them like white clouds shredded by the winds. - -[Illustration: THE STRANGE STORIES THAT MARBLE TELLS] - -Those broader lines bending and turning, rising and falling, tell of -the work of the giant forces that lift the mountains into place and -of the great earthquakes that accompany mountain building. When those -little quavering lines were being made, away down in the earth where -the limestone changed to marble, mountains were slowly rising into the -sky on the earth's surface far above. The quaverings in the marble are -pictures, "line drawings" of the mountain story. And beside these lines -that you can read so plainly there are others so small that you need a -magnifying glass to see them; echoes, away down in the fairyland of the -microscope, of the doings of the giants of Mountainland far above. - -In following the lines of the earth's great walls of rock over a wide -extent they are found waving sharply up and down in one section, rising -and falling like ocean swells in another, in forward sloping folds in -another, and sometimes even with folds doubling over, as if the great -mountains which these folds made were trying to stand on their heads. - - -WHY LINES IN MARBLE REPEAT MOUNTAIN FORMS - -All these rock folds which, with the help of the sculpturing of the -elements, produce the infinite variety of beauty in mountain scenery -are, speaking generally, repeated in the lines of the marble. But they -are repeated only in miniature, because the rocks deep in the earth are -under such pressure that while the rocks on the surface are free to -rise in big and comparatively simple waves those beneath are doubled up -into smaller and much more crumpled folds. Take several sheets of paper -lying free on the table and press them from the ends. They will rise -in simple arches as most mountains do. Now lay a book on these sheets -and press from the ends again. You see they crumple up a great deal -more; the larger wrinkles themselves doubling into smaller ones. - -[Illustration: HOW MOTHER NATURE MAKES HER Z'S - - These Z-shaped rock folds were made by the crumpling up of the - crust as the centre, cooling, shrank away. They are to be seen near - the east end of Ogden Canyon, Utah. The black lines were added to - the photograph in the offices of Uncle Sam's big department of - geology at Washington, to show clearly just where the rock runs. -] - -You may often have noticed a banded effect in marble. My, what power -it took to do that! Pressure we can't realize. Pressure from above so -great that it made this marble spread; moulded it like clay in the -hands of the potter; the same kind of force that flattened out the -pebbles referred to in Chapter V. This is called "rock flow," and how -plainly the marble shows the flowing movement. I always think what the -weather people call "stratus" clouds, look as if they were made by long -strokes of a painter's brush; and this marble has the very same flowing -lines. Such cloud pictures in marble are made where deposits of other -kinds of rock have been interlaid with the deposits of limestone which -afterward changed to marble, and it is where these bands are folded or -bent that we have set down for us the story of the mountain folds. - -Those gossamer effects and the little white clouds spinning out and -fading into the general mass of the marble, how delicate they are! -Yet it took a force that made the earth quake to put them there. The -more we know of the strange and fearful things that happen in times of -earthquake the more we can read between these filmy lines. They tell of -the sides of mountains tumbling down and spreading their valleys with a -chaos of broken stone; making cliffs where there were peaks and peaks -where there were cliffs; changing the course of rivers; shifting whole -forests on the mountainside and replacing them with grim walls and -bastions of barren stone--all in the twinkling of an eye! - - -THE EARTHQUAKES AND THE DELICATE FILMS - -It is by the crushing movements that made the earthquake that rocks are -broken into confusions of cracks such as you often see in a thick glass -window that has been broken. Then into these cracks come dissolved -minerals from other rocks and harden into stone. In the marble one set -of veins often runs right through another as if they had been inlaid. -Then there may be other veins that cross both of these--no end of -criss-crossings. The different sets of veins usually differ also in -color and in grain, and even have different kinds of mineral in them. -With a good hand-glass you can see this difference in texture. - -[Illustration: WHEN THE EARTHQUAKE TAKES ITS PEN IN HAND - - These are, so to speak, the autographs of earthquakes--the - records earthquakes themselves make on an instrument called the - "seismograph," using a stylus, as the ancients did, as you will - see by looking up "seismograph" in the dictionary or encyclopædia. - After an earthquake starts it seems to stop for breath or for want - of the right word--just like people; for you notice portions of the - lines are almost straight. These were made when the earthquake was - comparatively quiet. Then, when it got excited again--as in the - second record from the top--the stylus fairly jumped up and down; - and there where the waves are long and close together the shocks - were particularly severe and followed each other rapidly. -] - - -II. How Vulcan Drove his Autograph into the Rocks - -But there is another kind of handwriting on the walls that was made -with such a vigorous stroke that it also made the earth shake. Of -course we might expect Vulcan to write a rather vigorous hand--Vulcan, -forger of thunderbolts for Jove. The ancients thought volcanoes -belonged to the kingdom of Vulcan, so in scientific language everything -connected with volcanic action comes under the head of "Vulcanism." -These queer letters we are talking about are called "dikes." They are -made of lava that was driven into cracks in the rocks and afterward -cooled into rock that is as hard as iron. Lava is often largely made of -iron. - -[Illustration: MR. VULCAN'S FAMOUS CASTLE ON THE HUDSON - - This is a part of Mr. Vulcan's famous castle on the Hudson known - as the Palisades. Here the lava rock has formed into columns which - make the mass look all the more like some old castle of the Middle - Ages. The "windows" are where the softer spots in the rock have - decayed away. This castle--come to think of it--really belongs - to mediæval architecture, for it was built in the Middle Ages of - earth's long history. -] - -[Illustration: THIS IS THE HAND OF VULCAN, TOO] - -Were you ever down by the seashore in a storm? If so you remember -how the ground under your feet shook when a great wave rushed into -some narrow passage or crevice in the rocks, and was tossed high in -the air in spray. Then just imagine molten lava, which is many times -heavier than water, driven into a crack in a rock with the force of a -cannon-ball. That's how it happened. That's how those dark strokes in -the rock with their heavy shading were made. - -This was done in the depths of the earth; not on the surface where you -see these rocks now. They used to have piles of other rocks above -them, but these in course of time have been weathered away. This is -known, not only from the marks of the wearing but from the fact that -these dikes, as well as the rock into which they have been driven, are -crystallized, wholly or in part. Such crystallizing, as we know, takes -place away down in the earth. - -Dikes are very common. In some places you find the rocks fairly laced -with them. The picture of the dikes in the granite shores at Marblehead -also shows (in the horizontal plan) many "faults" or slips of the -rock since the dike was made, and each slip probably gave rise to an -earthquake. So you see there's the story of a terrible time written on -those quiet old residents by the sea. - -[Illustration: THE GIANT'S CAUSEWAY - - Here is a still more striking example of the formation of columns - in lava--the Giant's Causeway. Here are 40,000 columns, packed - like the cells of a honeycomb, and they slope to the pavement in - the foreground that gives the mass its name. That bees should make - their little honey-jars in such regular form is wonderful enough, - but think of lava shaping its own self into columns like that! -] - - -DID MR. VULCAN USE A STEAM PILE-DRIVER? - -Just what power Mr. Vulcan used to drive the dikes is not known for -sure, but I'll tell you how it is supposed to have been done. Remember -that all rocks that are deep down in the earth contain water, shut up -in their pores. Then remember how hot it is down there and how this -heat would make steam right in the rocks. Then let the rock above be -cracked by the movements of the earth crust, and this crack extend down -to where these hot rocks are, the pressure, being released along that -crack, the melted rock (lava) would rush up, as it does in connection -with the eruptions of volcanoes, and the exploding steam would help -drive it. - - -III. Ancient Weather Records Turned to Stone - -So much for the literary remains of Mr. Vulcan. Now let's see how much -we can make out of the handwriting of the waters and the winds on these -walls of time. - -What does the picture at the top of page 245 look like? Rain-drops in -the dust. And so you see they are; but the rain fell so long that the -pits made in the dust have turned to stone. Think of the autograph of -a rain-drop older than the Pharaohs; older than the pyramids these -Pharaohs built to perpetuate their names. - -And this is how such rain-drops immortalize themselves; this is the -interpretation of their handwriting on the walls. Along the dry shore -of an ancient sea when the tide was out, rain-drops fell on the sand -and dust. Tides often come in with a rush, in wild waves driven by -the wind, but when there is no wind and no waves rolling in from far -distant storms the tide may overspread such delicate things as the -imprint of rain-drops with a thin protecting film of mud. This was what -happened to our little rain pits. Later tides overlaid them deeper -from day to day, and in course of time both the layer containing the -rain-drop prints and the overlying layers of sediment turned to stone. -Often the heat of a summer sun will bake these rain-drop designs and -this you see helps; it holds the impression until the tide can come in -and spread its protecting film. Many imprints of rain-drops and of the -feet of reptiles are found in the sandstone underlying the coal seams -in eastern Pennsylvania, and they are always, I am told, covered with -a fine powdery material, which was once the slime and mud of the tide. -Such rain marks are often found also in slate. Wouldn't you like to -have a slate with one of these rain-drop autographs on it? - -[Illustration: RAIN-DROP AUTOGRAPHS OLDER THAN THE PHARAOHS] - -Here, by the way, is a very important thing these rain-drops tell. Says -Professor Shaler: - -"They tell us that the ordinary machinery of the atmosphere was -operating in those days very much as it is to-day, and that the climate -was much the same."[55] - -[Footnote 55: This quotation is from Doctor Shaler's "Nature and Man in -America," a book you should read, as you should all of Doctor Shaler's -books. No one has observed so many interesting things in the field of -geology and few have written about them so simply or reasoned about -them so well.] - -So, he argues, the great Ice Age couldn't have been due to change of -climate, but to the other things that we read about in Chapter II. For -they even know in what ages different records of rain-drops were made -because they are found in rocks laid down in different periods; and one -of the periods in which they are found was that in which the North Pole -ice and its neighbors came down and made us those long visits. - - -STORY OF A STROLL IN THE RAIN - -Another story found in museums is written in slate--not by a rain-drop -but by a living creature. The slate shows the track of a reptile with -feet like a bird. Evidently he was strolling along in the rain; for -there you see the marks of the rain-drops right among the marks of his -feet, and in the footprints themselves. Being a reptile who spent much -of his time in or near the water he no doubt enjoyed these little pats -of the rain-drops as he went along. - - -BUT THIS STROLL WAS TAKEN IN THE SUN - -In another of these museum specimens we see written out just as plainly -the story of a stroll in the sun. There are the imprints of Mr. -Reptile's feet, and there are the sun-cracks in the mud showing that -the sun was shining--or at least that it had been shining for several -days or weeks, for it takes a little time to make sun-cracks in mud. -This story, we might suppose, was written so that it could be read -by the blind; the cracks, as well as the footprints, are brought out -in raised lettering. Sun-cracked mud, after a long dry "spell," will -bake so that the cracks will not be washed out by the returning tide -but instead be filled by other material, and this material will go on -building up to a certain extent; so making those ridges. - -[Illustration: "THEN THERE CAME A LONG DRY SPELL" - - This shows how the cracks in dried-up mud are preserved in stone. - The process is the same as in the case of the stone imprints of - rain-drops, the imprints being protected by successive deposits of - mud by quiet tides, and afterward turning to stone. -] - - -THE STONE AUTOGRAPHS OF GENTLE BREEZES - -On still other stones you will find written the story of gentle breezes -that stirred the water and made ripples on long-buried shores. First -the breezes rippled the shallow waters near the shore. Then the waters -rippled the sand, and the sediments of the tide preserved these ripple -marks as they did the rain-drops and the footprints. - -But the wind alone, without the help of water ripples, can write its -name in the sands of time. And when you get to know the handwriting -of wind and wave you will not mistake the one for the other. You are -likely to find wind ripples on any big heap of sand. Have a good look -at them and then go down to shallow water on a sandy shore and compare -the two kinds. That's the way the great men of science do; they notice -every little thing. - -[Illustration: - - _From Norton's "Elements of Geology." - By permission of Ginn and Company_ - - THE STORY OF BIG ROUND TOP AND LITTLE ROUND TOP - - One story of Big Round Top and Little Round Top your history tells, - but long before the battle of Gettysburg these two mountains had - age-long battles of their own with the winds, the rains, and the - frosts, and in these battles lost their peaks and their sharp - outlines of jagged rock, and became rounded down to the forms we - see before us. Those rocks in the field were probably broken off - in these battles, as the rocks of high mountains are to-day, and - carried down by roaring torrents. -] - - -WEATHER RECORDS ON THE MOUNTAIN WALLS - -From a scientific standpoint little things may be just as big as big -things. For example, in this matter of old weather records these -rain-drops and ripple stones are just as interesting as other weather -records written large on mountain walls; such as those which tell that -what is now the Dead Sea was once part of a much larger sea that wasn't -dead at all. You may never get to read these records on the mountain -walls of Palestine, for they are a long way off, but here in our own -country we have a similar story told on mountain walls in the region -of another dead sea--the Great Salt Lake of Utah. From Salt Lake City -you can see on the mountain surrounding the desert of the Great Basin -the marks of old shore lines; where the waves cut into the rock. These -marks show that this Basin once held two great lakes, and the one in -the eastern portion dried up into what is now Great Salt Lake. - -[Illustration: WEATHER RECORDS ON THE WALLS OF TIME - - What is now the Great Salt Lake used to be a much greater lake that - wasn't salt at all. That vast flight of steps up the mountainside - shows how wide it spread. As the big lake dried up, and grew - smaller and smaller and saltier and saltier, its shores were - bounded successively by those wave-cut cliffs. -] - - -IV. Stories Written on the Pebbles - -Sometimes when a geologist picks up a pebble and looks at it a moment -he can hear the roar of mountain torrents and of lowland streams in -flood. If the pebble is round it shows that it has been carried far and -rolled about by streams. If it has pits in it this shows that its water -journeys were rough, because such pits are made by knocking against -other pebbles and sharp stones in the struggle and confusion of the -rushing waters. You see these little dots are a kind of shorthand, for -we pebbles are stenographers too! - -[Illustration: THE PERCHED BOULDER IN BRONX PARK - - This is one of the interesting things to be seen when you visit - Bronx Park in New York City. Of course, _you_ know how that old - boulder got there, and how he drew those straight lines in the - rock-bed beneath, but many visitors to the park do not. -] - - -HOW PEBBLES TELL OF THEIR TRAVELS - -Other great stories in small space are told on glacial pebbles. -Scientific men can often tell from the look of a pebble whether it was -shaped by rivers, by the sea, by the sand blasts of desert winds, or -by the glaciers. Not only that, but, if it is a glaciated pebble, on -what part of the glacier it was carried; whether in the middle of its -back, or on the sides, like the passengers in an Irish jaunting-car; -or whether it rode underneath, like a tramp stealing a ride on the -bumpers. The stones in the middle of the glacier's back naturally keep -their sharp edges longer than stones on the side, ground as the side -stones are by the moving ice mass against the mountain walls. And the -stones on both top and sides would lose less of their edges than the -stones underneath the ice. - -[Illustration: - - _From Norton's "Elements of Geology." - By permission of Ginn and Company_ - - ONE PEBBLE IN ITS TIME PLAYS MANY PARTS - - Here are pebbles faceted in different ways by glaciers. No. 1 has - six facets. No. 4, originally a rounded river pebble, has been - rubbed down to one flat face. Nos. 3 and 5 are battered little - travellers faceted on one side only. Notice how No. 5 got his face - scratched just as I did. -] - -[Illustration: PEBBLE FACETED BY WIND-BLOWN SAND - - You remember how the glaciers ground flat faces or facets on the - pebbles, don't you? Here is another example of Nature's lapidary - work, but here she has used wind and sand instead of ice. -] - - -V. A Greater Cæsar and His Commentaries - -Well, there he is again, you see, Mr. Glacier of the Ice Age. He's -always turning up, everywhere you go in earth history. As Shakespere's -Mr. Cassius said of Mr. Julius Cæsar, "he bestrode the world." And, -like the Roman Cæsar, this Cæsar wrote the story of his own exploits; -but although a vastly greater conqueror than the famous Roman, he was -even more modest. Cæsar and his Commentaries, our High School friend -will tell you, nearly always refers to himself in the third person; -but in his commentaries on his travels and exploits the Old Man of the -Mountain didn't even use his own name. He left the editors of his -manuscript to find out who he was. - - -HOW THE GREAT LAKES WERE TIPPED UP - -One of the most striking things he did, of which he wrote the record on -the walls, was to tip up the Great Lakes. You remember just how he made -them. Well, it seems that as he started back home he tipped them up. -Suppose you could pick up the vast stone bowls that hold these lakes -and tip them toward the north as easily as you can tip a bowl of water, -what would the water do? It would fall lower along the south shores of -the lakes and rise along the northern shores, wouldn't it? Then suppose -the lakes were kept tipped up in this way for ages, and summer wind -storms and winter tempests dashed waves against their shores, what -would happen? Stone walls rising above the shore would have terraces -cut into them, and the line of these terraces would tilt toward the -north. There are terraces just like that on rocks bordering the Great -Lakes, and the explanation of their tilt is that the lakes themselves -were tipped up, and that the Old Man of the Mountain did the tipping. -The rock crust of the round earth bends under great weight like an -arch. So when the enormous weight of the glaciers of the Ice Age was on -a portion of the arch it bent down. Then, as the glaciers retreated, -the weight of them was shifted northward all the time. Finally when -the glaciers in the region of the lakes had melted quite away the arch -slowly rose into place again and lifted the terraces above the water -line as we see them to-day. - -Throughout regions the glaciers visited you find rocks polished like -mirrors; in other cases they are scratched, and in others deeply -grooved. - -[Illustration: SCENE ON THE COAST OF NORWAY BY A GLACIER - - You know the fiords. You've met them in your geography. This is - a fiord on the Norway coast. Notice how smooth the walls of the - mountains are. They were trimmed down by the ice, which also plowed - off their soil. We are here looking up what was once a river - valley, but the glacier cut it down below sea level, and this is - sea water. Notice in the openings of the mountains all the way up - the valley where the tributaries of the ancient river flowed in - then as now. -] - - -HOW THIS MR. CÆSAR IS TRANSLATED - -No one scratch can be followed far. The composition is, like Cæsar's, -in short sentences, whole episodes in a word: "Veni, vidi, vici." But a -series of scratches all run in one general direction--north and south. -To get at the meaning--just as in construing Cæsar--you must take the -context; what goes before and after. - -The sides of the valleys of the Alps from 1,000 to 2,000 feet above -the surface of the glaciers of our own time are scratched and furrowed -in the same way. Here we catch Mr. Glacier almost in the very act of -writing. - - -THE HANDWRITING OF THE TWO CÆSARS - -To do this writing, our Cæsar, like the Cæsar of the High School, -used a stylus. Mr. Glacier's stylus, as we know, was made of stone -held fast in his icy grip (page 121). And here is another curious -resemblance between the manuscripts of Mr. G. Cæsar and Mr. J. Cæsar. -They both wrote in straight lines. The reason Julius Cæsar and other -Roman gentlemen wrote in letters made of straight lines was that they -scratched these letters on tablets covered with wax, using a sharpened -piece of iron or ivory. You can see it would be much easier with such -writing tools and material to form letters in straight lines than to -write in flowing, rounded and connected lines as we do so easily with a -nice flexible pen on a smooth surface. - - -HOW THE OLD MEN CHANGED A "V" TO A "U" - -Here is something else about the story of the Old Men of the Mountain -that is a curious reminder of the Romans and their letters. The Romans -had no letter U in their alphabet and so V had to do a double duty; -it had to be a V and then when asked, had to take its place in line -and pretend to be a U. For instance, a Roman who wanted to write the -word "number" would do it in this way: "NVMERO." After a while, in the -history of the growth of our alphabet, the V that was intended for U -was rounded at the bottom. - -Now, curiously enough, the writing of the Old Men of the Mountain has -gone through the same process. River valleys in mountain regions, as -elsewhere, are originally V-shaped, but where glaciers flowed down -these valleys they not only made them wider but rounded out the bottoms -so that they became U-shaped. Look at the valley in the Wind River -range in Wyoming shown in the geologies. You notice the farther your -eye goes up into the mountains the more V-shaped the valley becomes. -Back toward antiquity, you see, when they had nothing but V! - -[Illustration: THE HANDWRITING OF THE GLACIERS AND THE ROMANS - - Here is an interesting relic of ancient days that will enable you - to compare the chirography of the Old Men of the Mountain with that - of the Romans. These are marks left by the masons on Roman walls. - They show just what part each mason laid, so that if the wall - proved defective the authorities would know who was responsible. -] - -All quite striking, isn't it, this strange kind of writing on the walls -of time? As if, among the ruins that are all there is left of the -fallen Roman Empire, we should in some heap of dust and crumbled stone -find one of the very tablets on which Cæsar wrote his commentaries and -there engraved in Cæsar's own hand: - -[Illustration: THIS STYLE IS CALLED FLUTING - - Looks like moulding, doesn't it? This is a piece of rock, and it - was carved in that way by the glaciers with their tools of embedded - stone. The deeper grooves were made where the rock was softer or - where the glacier's chisels were of a particularly hard quality, - such as flint or granite. -] - -"Cæsar, maximis bellis confectis, in hiberna exercitum deduxit." - -Can you translate that for us? (This to the High School Boy.) - -"As easy as anything," says he. "Cæsar, on completion of these great -wars, led his army into winter quarters." - -And that same phrase might serve in Mr. Glacier's Commentaries too. -For the glaciers of the Ice Age, after their great work was done, also -went into winter quarters; melting back to the present snow-line in our -mountains and the regions of eternal ice around the pole. - - -HIDE AND SEEK IN THE LIBRARY - - One of the most interesting stories of men's handwriting on the - walls and how scholars, many centuries afterward, learned to read - it, you will find in encyclopædias, histories, and other books - under such headings as _Egypt_, _Assyria_, _Rosetta Stone_, and - most of all under _Hieroglyphics_; a big word, but full of meat - when once you've cracked the shell. - - Among other things, you will find that if it hadn't been for the - Egyptians and other clever people of the long ago we would not have - had our written language to read at all; on walls or anywhere else! - - If you had been an Egyptian, say 4,000 years ago, how many letters - do you suppose you would have had to learn before you could have - read well? About a thousand! But it wouldn't have been so hard - as you think, for the Egyptian letters talked, so to speak. They - told their own story much as did the picture words that told so - much to the little Greeks. These Egyptian words, however--for they - were words, or several words in one, rather than letters--were - real pictures, and very good pictures, too. (See Chambers under - "Hieroglyphics" for the little pictures.) - - Some of them were very simple. It wasn't hard to learn. - - But now suppose you were an Egyptian and you wanted to write a - letter telling somebody how pleased you were about something--a - nice new book an uncle had sent you, for instance--the proper - picture-word to use would be a lady beating a tambourine. She is - pleased--that's why she is beating the tambourine, just as a small - boy claps his hands when he says, "Oh, goody, goody!" So this - picture-word came to be used to express "joy" or "pleasure" over - anything. - - These are just some samples to show you what interesting things - even such formidable words as "hieroglyphics" are when you make - friends with them. But now, to get back to Nature's handwriting and - the nature myths connected with it, what do you know about this - Vulcan, who left so much of his manuscript in the rocks? - - The ancients thought of him as a worker in metals. Don't you think - they would have, been quite sure of it if they had known about the - dikes and the palisades of the Hudson, and Fingal's cave, with - their remarkable iron-like columns of cooled lava? But he was an - artist in metals, too, and a mechanical engineer, it seems. Do you - remember about those two statues of beautiful women that he made - of pure gold, and how they walked about with him wherever he went? - And the brazen-footed bulls of Ætes, that filled the air with their - bellowings and from their nostrils blew flame and smoke?[56] - -[Footnote 56: I wonder if Vulcan could have been thinking of -locomotives--what we sometimes call "iron horses"--when he made those -bulls. Do you suppose?] - - The Greeks probably didn't know about such "art metal" work as - the palisades--certainly they didn't know about the Hudson River - or Fingal's Cave--but they had Vulcan (Hephæstus they called him) - doing all sorts of other art-metal things. There was the famous - shield he made for Achilles, for instance. Homer takes several - pages just to tell about the different figures on it and what they - meant.[57] - -[Footnote 57: The Iliad.] - - Why do you suppose a temple was erected on Mount Etna? (What kind - of a mountain is it?) - - Wouldn't it be strange if we could make hard coal out of soft? - Vulcan does that sometimes with these dike strokes of his.[58] - -[Footnote 58: The International Encyclopedia.] - - The International will also tell you why dike rock is usually so - solid and tough, and what the crystal people have to do with making - it so. - - The Britannica (28: 188) tells how, in the walls of volcanoes - Vulcan wrote out the hint for making re-enforced concrete which is - so important a feature of modern architectural engineering. - - Look about on the rock-beds in the stone quarry and see if you - can't find some of the writing of that Older Cæsar with his queer - stone stylus. Probably the men in the quarry will have wondered how - these scratches came there and you can tell them. - - There is one style of Mr. Glacier's hand-work that even the dogs - and the horses notice, and that is the "mirror rocks." Muir tells - about them in his "Mountains of California." - - - - - CHAPTER XII - - (DECEMBER) - - "A fire-mist and a planet, - A crystal and a cell, - A jelly fish and a saurian - And caves where the cavemen dwell; - Then a sense of law and beauty - And a face turned from the clod-- - Some call it Evolution, - And others call it God." - - --_William Herbert Carruth._ - - -THE END OF THE WORLD - -So the Ice Ages and their glaciers and the Romans and their Cæsars -melted away. We know them only by the marks they left on the walls -of time. But why this constant doing and undoing of things? We have -seen it going on from the very beginning; rock crumbling to dust, dust -changing back to rock; rocks raised up into mountains, mountains worn -down to plains; then more mountains, and on through the same cycle of -endless change; as if always starting the whole thing over again. - -What is it all about? Are we getting anywhere? If so, where? - -Ever since men looked out upon the world around them and began to -think, they have puzzled not only about the causes but the purpose of -this endless drama of creation and decay. Some said one thing; some -said another. The Persian poet who wrote those fine lines about the -lion and the lizard in the ruins of the palaces meant to say that's -all that everything comes to; all things, men included, return to the -elements of which they were made and that's the end of them. So, said -he, what's the use of bothering one's head about it? There's nothing to -be learned. One verse of his famous song reads like this: - - "Myself when young did eagerly frequent - Doctor and saint, and heard great argument - About it and about; but evermore - Came out by the same door wherein I went." - -But Science, as we shall now see, has a better answer. - - -I. Nothing Happens - -In the first place you must have noticed as we came along through this -little book that nothing happens in this world of ours; everything -is under a government of laws. Not only did it turn out that there -was method in the apparent madness of the sea but we found method -everywhere. It was not chance that made our worlds, whether they were -born full-grown or grew up piece by piece. And we see the same forces -at work in small things as in the great. The force that keeps the earth -in its orbit is just as careful to catch and plant the tiny seeds of -the grasses and the pine-trees drifting forward in the wind, so keeping -the world clothed with life and verdure. - - -ALL NATURE UNDER A GOVERNMENT OF LAW - -So with the seasons with all that they mean in the life of the world; -spring never fails to follow winter. Little things happen that make -spring "late," as we say; but spring itself never fails to come and -always in its right place in the procession of the year. All this -because the earth stays in its orbit and spins on its axis. Watches -break their mainsprings, clocks run down. These things "happen"; but -we never think of saying that the mainspring or the wheels "happened," -or that they "happened" into their places in the watch. The worlds not -only make their appointed round as regularly as the wheels of a watch -but they never run down, and the power that keeps them going and in -their places never breaks. If it ever occurred in any other way--if we -should hear of a world flying out of its orbit and going banging around -among the other worlds, we could talk of "happening." - - -NATURE'S ACCIDENT INSURANCE SYSTEM - -We might call these laws that make it so certain that nature's business -will go on as usual, rain or shine, the Accident Insurance of the -Universe. We have nothing quite like it in human insurance systems; for -these only make it up to you--the best they can--after some accident -has happened. Nature's insurance system, on the other hand, makes it -certain that nothing _will_ happen to change the main course of things. -The protective insurance of the universe is woven right through Nature -itself. The continents, for example, were bound, in due course, to rise -in their places, because it is the nature of cooling masses to shrink -and for the outside to cool the faster and to harden and to wrinkle up. -It doesn't matter whether the cooling mass is a little baked apple or a -big hot earth. - -[Illustration: THE CLOCK OF THE AGES - - By representing the great geologic periods of time in the form of - a clock-face a writer in the _Scientific American_ enables us to - form a rough conception of their duration, their distinguishing - features, and their relations to one another, according to - ideas associated with the theory of La Place, but which have - been considerably modified in the light of later reasoning and - investigation. The view now generally accepted, for example, is - that the Azoic era was longer than all subsequent time. But, taking - the picture as it stands, each "hour" represents 3,000,000 years. - For a quarter of the total period up to the very recent appearance - of man "there was darkness upon the face of the deep." Next after - the Azoic was the Laurentian Period, when "the dry land appeared." - Later came the dawn of life, and this life, like the inanimate - matter which preceded it, kept rising and continues to rise, as the - ages pass, to higher, more beautiful, and nobler forms. -] - -Nor was it an accident that the continents in their original form grew -larger with the fat of the land that was added to them under the action -of the chemistry of the air. You see Nature must understand chemistry -or things wouldn't come out right in the laboratory, as they always do -if you have made no mistakes. Ever think of that, Mr. High School Boy? - - -II. The Strangest Thing of All That Didn't Happen - -But the strangest thing of all that didn't happen in this history of -the world and its making I'm going to tell you about now. - - -KINSHIP OF KITTENS AND APPLE-TREES - -You remember what I said of the apple-tree in Chapter V (page 93), how -nobody who didn't know it to be true would believe that little Miss -Greenleaf and old Mr. Root and rough Mr. Bark and lovely Miss Blossom -were not only born under the same roof but were as closely related as -a pussy-cat and her nest full of kittens. I didn't mention the kittens -then, but just suppose I had done so; and then had gone on to say -that kittens are relations of the apple family and that all birds are -related to all kittens, and that both are kindred of that terrible Mr. -Cetiosaurus that we met in the Bad Lands of Dakota. - -Would you have believed it? - -No? Well, I don't wonder. It was quite a while before the wise men of -science believed it. Now not only is this idea of the origin of all -living things--animal and vegetable--universally accepted by men of -science, but every educated person is supposed to know about it. It is -always, and as a matter of course, put into the school-books dealing -with the history of nature; just as in all histories we are sure to see -Columbus landing in 1492 and George Washington being inaugurated April -30, 1789. - -Most people, including the scientists, used to think that each kind of -plant and animal was given its present form in the first place and that -this form had never changed. This was known as the "special creation" -theory; while the idea that the various kinds of plants and animals -we now know gradually developed from quite different forms is called -the theory of "evolution." Among the curious facts that finally led -educated people everywhere to believe this strangest of all the strange -fairy tales of the land of science were these: - - -AS WE READ THE ROCKS FROM THE BOTTOM UP - -The remains and imprints of plant and animal life of long ago which we -find in the rocks show successions of related but different forms in -the rocks of different ages. At the beginning in the lowest rocks the -forms are much alike, but grow more and more unlike as we climb these -stairs of time. At first there are no animals with backbones; then -there come animals with backbones that resemble each other in general -build; and finally such wide varieties of backboned creatures as fish, -birds, horses, and men. And so with endless varieties of birds and -beasts and creeping things and the trees and the grasses of the field. - -Sometimes the differences between these apparently related forms, as -we find them in the rocks, are very great; but everything goes to show -that this is because there are missing pages, so to speak, in the great -stone book. When you remember how long it takes to make one of these -layers of stone, and what they go through in cracking and twisting and -wearing down on their way back to dust and the sea, and how quickly -the remains of big animals--to say nothing of plants and insects--are -destroyed, you must agree that the wonder is that we have any records -at all. Yet so enormous has been the number of plants and animals that -have died in the course of the world's history that there have been -found hundreds and thousands of these remains and imprints between the -layers of stone. In all cases the fashions in form change from age to -age; and the longer the time, as shown by the thickness of the rock, -the greater the change. - - -THE RABBIT THAT TURNED INTO A HORSE - -The horse, which has been such a faithful carrier for man since man and -horse arrived from the lower ranges of life, also brought with him on -the way up one of the most complete of these strange autobiographies -that our brother animals have recorded with their bones. The most of -this story of the horse was found in the rocks of our Western States, -but the first chapter of it saw the light about forty years ago in -England. When the bones were found in the rock deposits of that -country known as London Clay they looked so unhorselike that a famous -paleontologist (as the students of these ancient anatomies are called) -gave it a name which means "rabbit-like beast." But in rock of the -same age in Wyoming they afterward found the bones of an animal that -looked a little more like a horse, but plainly a close relation of -the rabbit-like beast. They went on finding different forms, through -thirteen successive stages of rock history, and with each new period -the form kept getting larger and more horselike until they came to a -horse with three toes; and finally to one with the single big toe which -we call a hoof. Instead of the other two toes there were those two -little lumps that you can feel in any horse's foot just above the hoof. -These are the ends of two small splintlike bones that are all there is -left of the other two toes. - -So there have been found in the rock records more or less complete -serial stories of thousands of plants and animals. In the case of man, -not only do we find that there were once human beings on earth like -the caveman with low forehead and huge jaw, but nothing has ever been -found to indicate that there were any higher types of human beings in -existence in his day. And both the caveman and the handsomest human -beings of to-day--the captain of our football team, for example--have -essentially the same bodily framework as the monkey tribe. This does -not mean that man--even so low a creature as the caveman--descended -from monkeys, any more than the fact that he has a backbone means he -descended from humming-birds. But the backbones in humming-birds, -monkeys, and men show that all are descended from older types of -backboned creatures. As monkeys and men are much more alike than men -and birds they are evidently more closely related. - -We might suppose, to be sure, that men and all other forms of life -which they resemble in any way were so made from the beginning; that -is, if we hadn't learned from the records of the rocks that they -_weren't_ so made from the beginning. Yet, even after that, we might go -on supposing that each species was created separately, but that the -form was changed from age to age. But in that case what are you going -to say to this: - -In man's body are several organs that are useless and often harmful. -Other animals, also, contain among useful organs some that are -"out-of-date," as we would say if we were speaking of some old machines -in a machine-shop. Why, in making a brand-new species, shouldn't Nature -have all the latest improvements from the start, just as man does in -building a brand-new home? If each species was separately created it is -hard to understand why these useless or harmful organs should be kept; -but if one species grew out of another, by gradual improvement, just as -cities grow out of villages, this is exactly what we might expect. - -One of these useless organs in man is called the "vermiform appendix." -It is always getting its name in the papers by giving trouble to some -prominent man. Now this appendix, while a perfect nuisance to human -beings, is just the thing for cows and other grass-eating animals. In -them it is very large and of great use in digestion, while in the case -of man and the monkey family it has shrunk into a little affair that -puts in all its time either doing nothing or getting out of fix. - - -III. Upward; Always Upward - -These are some of the reasons why the various varieties of animals are -supposed to have descended from common ancestors and to have undergone -endless changes of form; changes as strange as anything that was ever -written into a fairy story or acted out in a Christmas pantomime. There -are other things quite as convincing and even more thrilling to read -about, such as the little theatre in the chicken's egg where strange, -changing shadows re-enact the drama of ancient life; but these I am -here passing by because my pages are running out and I want the rest -of them to speak of what seems to me to be the greatest lesson of this -whole book; the greatest and most useful and happiest lesson Science -or any kind of book can teach; namely, that not only is the universe -governed by Laws and Mind, but that all these laws act together as one -Great Law and are working out one general result, the constant advance -of all things toward a higher life. - - -HOW MAN HAS RISEN AS HE DESCENDED - -As there was a period in human history when there were no human beings -on earth higher than the cave-dweller, so there was a time when the -highest forms of animal and vegetable life were minute creatures and -plants consisting only of a single cell. It is such low forms of -vegetable life that make the scum on the still waters of a pond. Step -by step, in both the animal and vegetable world, rose the higher forms. -The descent of man from lower forms of life used to be considered -by many people as a thought that degraded humanity, but it is the -most promising fact in all nature. The striking thing is, not that -we are related in some way to the apes and the cavemen but that such -a creature as an ape or a caveman should have helped develop such a -beautiful thing as a little child. - -This progress has not been steadily upward. The world of life, like -the surface of the globe itself, has had its ups and downs. Wonderful -nations like Greece and Rome have risen and flourished and passed -away, but they left the best of themselves, the part that time cannot -destroy. The Greeks taught us literature and art and the grace of life. -The Romans gave us a science of government and a solid way of doing -practical things, such as the building of good roads and bridges. The -great lesson of history is that civilization and human liberty and all -the things that make life worth living have not only survived the fall -of empires but stand to-day on higher and firmer ground than they ever -did before. - - -THE WORLD THAT MOTHER MADE - -But do you know who was at the bottom of it all? Mother! All the things -that men have done in the development of national life, with its arts -and industries, everything we call civilization, grew out of the life -and industry of the home, and it was mother who finally made the home. -The mother idea came into the world with the first seed that ever -started out to make its own way; for the mother plant had provided it -with food enough to keep it going until it could get well-established -in business. But the kind of mothers we know, mothers who stay with -their babies and feed them, came very late in the long story of life. -In the early days the world was not only without flowers and birds -and the beautiful trees and varied landscapes we know, but it was -motherless, in the sense that we understand mothers. In the lowest -forms of life, such as the insects, the mothers and children never -saw each other at all; for among the insects just as it is to-day the -mother simply laid the eggs and then, before the little insects were -born, passed away. Even among the fish, who are much closer relations -of ours than the insects--since fish belong to the great brotherhood -of the backbone--the sense of motherhood doesn't get beyond looking -after the eggs. So with the next higher group to which the frogs -belong; and the next, the reptiles. Only with the birds, the next group -above the reptiles, do we begin to see what motherhood means. Then at -the very top of the list come the class of animals whose very name has -"mamma" in it; the "mammalia." Among these, even outside the human -race, we find very striking examples of family love and devotion. The -gorillas, for instance, although they haven't what one would call an -attractive face, are good to their folks. Not only does Mamma Gorilla -nurse her babies and carry them in her arms much as a human mother -does, and fight and die for them, but a famous African traveller tells -of a Mamma Gorilla who stayed safe with the babies in their humble home -of sticks in the fork of a tree while Papa Gorilla sat all night at the -foot of it, with his back against the trunk, to protect them from a -leopard that had been seen prowling around. - -Among most animals below man the babies are soon able to leave mother -and shift for themselves, but in the case of human beings the baby is -helpless for a much longer time. So, even among the lowest savages, it -was necessary for father and mother to keep together and look after -their children. Thus grew up family life; and out of the family the -tribe; and out of many tribes living together and closely related, grew -first small and then larger nations. Yet, always at the beginning, it -was the mother, more than the father, who looked after the children and -taught them, so bringing before the world the idea of doing things, not -for one's self alone but for others. From this came the mutual giving -and helping which made national life possible, and that is making this -a better and better world to live in. - - -IV. The Great Unseen - -So it is very plain not only that the end, the purpose of all this -machinery and march of things that we have been going through since the -beginning of Chapter I, is to make life better, more beautiful both -in form and character, but to show that "all nature is on the side of -those who try to rise."[59] It is plain also that this end must have -been foreseen and intended from the beginning; for, from the very start -each change in the world and in life was a preparation for another -and a greater change. The change from rock to soil made plant life -possible; the growth of plants made animal life possible, and so on up -through the long succession of changes in this tree of life by which -all things are related and which gave us the infinite variety of good -things we already have--fruit, homes, churches, schools, art galleries, -books, railroads and steamships that make the whole world neighbors; -the telegraph, the newspapers, and the magazines that carry thought and -knowledge and plans for the common good so fast and far that already -it is as if a whole nation with its millions had a heart and brain in -common. - -[Footnote 59: Drummond: "The Ascent of Man."] - -Man himself, you see, has become one of the great forces of nature in -the evolution of nature, in the blossoming out and fruit-bearing of -things. But now notice this: Back of all that man does and all that the -rest of nature does is the great controlling force called Mind; and -this Mind is invisible. If I should say of some great man that he had a -powerful mind you would know just what I meant; but if anybody should -ask "What did his mind _look_ like?" you would think that was an odd -question, wouldn't you? - -[Illustration: - - _From the painting by Burne-Jones_ - - THE FIRST DAY OF CREATION -] - - -THE MYSTERIOUS PRINCESS HIDDEN IN THE BUD - -So it is and has been from the beginning. We can see the _results_ of -changes of one thing into another but never just how the changing is -done. While it is no longer believed that species were given a certain -form in the beginning and that they have always kept that form, it -is still true that each species comes into being from some unseen -cause--"all of a sudden," as it were. Because species thus seem to vary -of themselves, and not for any reason that we can see these changes are -called "spontaneous variations." Always back of the material nature we -can see is a nature that is not material; a part of nature that, like -the mind of man, we can neither see nor hear nor feel nor know by any -of our five senses. Some Unseen Power forms the baby plant out of the -seed; some power changes the leaves hidden away in the bud into the -petals of the flower. When the leaves gather to form the bud, like -little hands playing "button, button, who's got the button," where do -you suppose the flower is? It _isn't_. It has not yet begun to be. But -soon, as if some magician had waved his wand and said "Presto! Change!" -the pink petals begin to form there in the dark of the cup and, first -thing we know, out steps Miss Blossom, all in her pink and gold like a -princess dressed for a ball! - -But always hidden in a mystery these changes take place. We can peep -into the growing bud as often as we like and we will never catch the -fairies making the dress, nor the princess putting it on. We always see -the thing after it is done! - - -WONDERFUL ART BUT WHERE IS THE ARTIST? - -Another thing: How do the fairies of Roseland remember every spring -just how a rose looked, when the roses of last year have been dead -and gone so long? You see they work without a model, something great -artists seldom do; and in some kinds of work, as busts and portraits -and landscapes, never do at all. Even the most powerful microscope -doesn't show any pattern in the seed for the seed to go by in growing -into the finished plant; or in an egg to tell it what kind of a bird it -is expected to be. No, not the trace of a pattern. What then, guides -the growth of the seed; of an oak, say, so that it finally and always -takes the family form? Some Power, evidently, as intelligent as the -power that moves the hand of the human artist when he paints that oak -into his landscape. How many of us have stopped to think that not only -in the world of mind but in the material world itself, all forms of -_power_ are as invisible as the fairies that work unseen in the rosebud -and the little birds' egg and the big rock? All power--what we call -steam power, wind power, electric power and the rest--are not only -unseen but unseeable, unfeelable, untastable. We know steam power only -when heat gets into the water and makes steam; electric power only when -it gets into a wire or a dynamo; or, passing by unseen ways through the -air, moves the wireless telegraph receiver; gravity power only when it -moves something as the water of a waterfall; or when it is helping to -hold things--the earth and the other worlds--in their appointed paths. - - -HIDE AND SEEK IN THE LIBRARY - - You can easily see why evolution is the most talked about of - all phases of science--of the study of this wonderful world we - live in. One reason is it's such an astonishing thing in itself, - this relationship of all forms of life, trees, kittens, birds, - and everything; another reason is that in reading the books on - evolution you're taken into every field of knowledge and into the - most curious and striking aspect of things in those fields. Could - anything be stranger, for example, than a little theatre in a - chicken's egg, over which pass strange shadowy forms that seem to - retell, in a kind of moving picture show, the story of how one form - of life developed out of another? - - Drummond's "Ascent of Man" tells about that and covers the whole - subject of evolution. It is one of the books which no one who has - heard of this wonderful story of life should fail to read. Doctor - Drummond's way of telling the story is very attractive. Readers - from the Eighth Grade up to the Eightieth will delight in it, - and they won't stop until they read it from cover to cover. I'll - guarantee that! - - Then take such a book as "The World of Life," by Wallace. "Alice in - Wonderland" is nothing to it. Here are some of the things you will - find in it: - - How there got to be different kinds of rabbits and what islands - have to do with it. - - (Islands are almost as prominent in the story of evolution as they - are in the story of adventure. There are Robinson Crusoes until you - can't rest!) - - How the pig in the struggle of life won out as usual. - - Why the peacock has such a fine tail and how he overdid it. - - How the elephant saved his life by lengthening his nose. - - How the birds traded their teeth for feathers. - - How shelled creatures coiled and uncoiled their shells. - - Why we miss the "missing links." (As you go into this subject of - evolution you will hear a good deal about missing links.) - - How they know butterfly wings are made first and the coloring and - patterns laid on afterward. - - How much of a butterfly's beauty is probably known to the - butterflies themselves. - - How Nature seems to make things just to be pretty. - - And these are just a few of the things in _one_ of Doctor Wallace's - books.[60] - -[Footnote 60: In addition to all this curious and absolutely reliable -information that ought to be interesting to every one is the fact that -Wallace shows in "The World of Life" how there must have been Mind and -Purpose back of it all. Doctor Wallace was a great traveller as well -as a great student of nature--one of the most famous in the history of -science. His works include: "Travels on the Amazon and the Rio Negro," -"The Malay Archipelago," "Natural Selection," "Darwinism," "Island Life -and the Geographic Distribution of Animals." - -There are so many books on this biggest of all nature -topics--Evolution--that they make quite a library in themselves. The -most famous of these books is Darwin's "Origin of Species," and it -is not at all hard to understand. Other books bearing directly or -indirectly on evolution are "Animals of the Past," by Lucas, "Creatures -of Other Days," by Hutchinson, Fiske's "Destiny of Man," and "Evolution -and Religion." A book for older readers--one of the latest and most -comprehensive treatments of the subject--is Osborn's "Origin and -Evolution of Life."] - - Then he was such a fine man personally. Why, what do you think - he did? Although he thought out the principle of evolution - independently of Darwin, and wrote an essay on it before Darwin - had ever given his views to the world, yet after Darwin's "Origin - of Species"[61] came out Wallace gave Darwin all the credit, - and in his own autobiography always referred to the theory of - evolution as the "Darwinian Theory." Yet Wallace had a very good - reason for taking this generous attitude, as you will see from his - autobiography and other writings, and you are quite likely to find - the reason in articles on Darwin or Wallace or Evolution. - -[Footnote 61: Of "The Origin of Species" it has been said that no work -ever produced so profound a change in the opinions of mankind.] - - The relations of Darwin and Wallace furnish one of the finest - examples in history of the best thing in the world--human - friendship. - - Of course, like so many other great men, Wallace was one of those - boys whose minds never grow old. Read in his autobiography how on - the day he first discovered a new species of butterfly it gave him - a violent headache, and he had to go to bed to get rid of it and - quiet his nerves--he was that worked up! - - Darwin was much the same sort of a man. Everything in the world was - interesting to him. He wrote a whole book about "Fish Worms," for - example. And although probably the most famous man in the history - of natural science he was as humble as could be, always looking for - the truth and ready to accept criticisms no matter how much they - might upset his own previous conclusions, provided these opposing - views were supported by evidence. Of course you will want to know - more about his life, and you will find more in the "Life and - Letters of Charles Darwin," edited by his son. - - How do you suppose this boy began being a great man--by collecting - beetles! Beetles and outdoor sport were his chief delight. - - - - -USE OF THE INDEX - -SOME THINGS YOU CAN DO WITH THIS INDEX - - -I shouldn't be surprised if you thought that an index was the dullest -part of a book. - -But it all depends! As a matter of fact, with your help, I am sure I -can make this index of ours one of the most interesting things in the -whole story; for, like the H. & S., it gives you a chance to "come into -the game." The mind enjoys books and grows upon them much as the body -grows on food, but, as in the case of both food and books--and books -are food--the good you get depends not only on the food but _how you -season it and eat it_. You can't expect _everything_ of the cook! - -Everybody knows, of course, how to use an index to look things up once -in a while and it saves time if the index not only tells the page on -which a given subject is referred to, but conveys some idea of what -that reference is about, as this index tries to do. If, for example, -you are studying the Alpine regions in school you may already have -covered the question of how flowing water carves mountain valleys, but -you may not have had anything about why the Alps don't run north and -south, as so many of earth's great ranges do; and so what could be a -more interesting thing for you to take into those delightful class -discussions? - -Your teacher knows, although you may not have realized it, that these -class talks and debates by the pupils themselves are _the big thing_ -in modern teaching. The best education, we know nowadays, isn't the -mere cramming down of facts, as people used to think. _It's training in -thinking, and in standing on one's own feet!_ - -But memory training is important too; and an index is the best -thing in the world for that. Take some subject you're studying in -school--mountains, for example--they're always studying such big -things as mountains, the work of rivers, and so on; or if they aren't -to-day they will be tomorrow. Look at the references _as questions to -yourself_ and see how well you can answer them: "How do mountains help -make water-gates for the rivers?" and "Why do they have earthquakes in -regions where mountains haven't got done with their growing?" - -Then you can have a lot of fun with these questions at home and with -boy friends, after you have read the book together. For instance: Just -how _did_ the pebbles help dig the Grand Canyon? And that's a poser -for many grown people too--people who've travelled and met the Grand -Canyon face to face! Try it on Father. Yes, and Teacher too. There are -none of her boys that a teacher is so proud of as the boys that have -initiative--_go-aheaditiveness_--and can _ask_ good questions as well -as answer them. - -But, best of all, you can find no end of things to write about for -your language work in school and for the little books of your own that -I've already suggested in the H. & S. Take the subject of pebbles, -for example. Although this whole book has to do with the life and -adventures of pebbles, I haven't put the facts together in just the -way _you_ will if you follow out the references under the heading -"Pebbles" in this index. If you don't happen to remember how pebbles -act as bankers for the farmers, how they helped make the Great Lakes, -built the Grand Canyon, and so on, look these things up and then, as -they thus become digested in your mind, write about them in your own -way--the way you'd talk if you were telling somebody about it. Do that -and you'll _have_ something! one of those things that mothers show to -the neighbors, and that teachers show to visitors. - -Of course you'll have to have a name for your story and you'll think of -plenty: "What One of My Pebbles Told Me," "The Pebbles in the World's -Work," "What a Wonderful Thing a Pebble Is!" "Why Common Pebbles are -Worth More than Diamonds"; for of course a diamond is a kind of pebble. - - -GETTING ACQUAINTED WITH YOURSELF - -In all this you will not only find you'll have a good time, but, -let me tell you, you'll be getting the best part of your education; -you'll be getting acquainted with yourself, your undeveloped powers of -memory--reasoning--expression. You'll find before you get so very old -that one of the most important elements of success, of doing _your_ -part in the world's great work of making itself better all the time, is -in _having something worth while to say and being able to say it_. - -This was the making of the Greeks; and the Greeks, you know, were the -most wonderful people that ever were. It all started with old "Know -Thyself" Thales of Miletus. - -That's what did it! - - - - -INDEX - - - Africa, children's hand-work, illustrating home life of the natives, - including the elephants and the lions, 168 - - Agassiz, Louis, and his stone hut, 43; - adventure in the crevasse, 51; - on the height of ancient glaciers, 123 - - Air, origin of, 16; - how corals get their breath, 225 - - Alaska, the flowers and the snow line, 44 - - Albany, Atlantic tides at, 221 - - Alleghany Mountains, birth of, 10 - - Alps, mountain pastures, 41; - how rain drops helped carve the Alps, 67; - why the Alps don't run north and south, 136; - glacial "autographs" on their walls, 255 - - Amazon River, its stately flow, 74 - - Ants, how they help teach men how volcanoes are built, 123 - - Apollo, how he lighted the world, 2 - - Appalachian Mountains, birth of, 10 - - Arabian desert, physiognomy and complexion, 165 - - Arabian Sea, why its waves salute the Himalayas, 140 - - Arabs, life in the desert, 183; - and the Simoom, 184 - - Atlas Mountains, morning beauty of, 163 - - Atoms, defined, relation to molecules, 110 - - Aurora, the dawn goddess and her chariot, 2 - - Avalanches, impulsiveness of; - snap-shot at one in motion, 63 - - - Bad Lands, why so called, 114 - - Bar Harbor, Nature's remarkable masonry in Castle Rock, 228 - - Bald Mountains, how they got their crowns shaved off, 26, 28, 123 - - Beavers, as lake makers, 192 - - Bedding planes, defined, 217 - - Bees, and Alpine flowers, 45; - why they hide from the cloud shadows, 56; - shape of honey cells and basaltic columns, 243 - - Beetles, varieties in desert places, 180; - use of poison gas, 182 - - Big Round Top Mountain, how it lost its peak, 248 - - Birds, life in the desert, 178 - - Bombs (volcanic), what they are and how they are made, 129 - - Boulders, Agassiz' monument, 54; - travels of Plymouth Rock, 64; - boulders on a New England hill, 145; - why the Indians worshipped a boulder, 146; - the strange stranger on Mount Abu, 147; - as mountain climbers, 147, 152; - why there are no big caves in boulder regions, 148; - how boulders help tell the secret of the Ice Age, 149; - how torrents help shape, 151; - how glaciers carry, 151; - how boulders ride on the water, 153; - how Jack Frost builds boulder walls, 154; - how the sun helps shape boulders, 155; - - Geikie on the story told by a conglomerate boulder, 155; - Ruskin on boulders in art, 157; - why boulders sometimes jump up from the ground, 158; - how rain drops split boulders, 171; - how boulders shiver their skins off, 170; - boulders in the rock mills of the sea, 216; - how perched boulders are perched, 149; - the perched boulder in Bronx Park, in New York City, and its - autograph, 250 - - Bridal Veil Falls, how it got its name and why it hurries to "catch the - train," 74 - - Butterflies, how they help in Alpine flower gardening, 46; - why they hide from the cloud shadows, 56 - - - Cactus, the desert water bottle, 174 - - Cactus wren, how she bars her front door against her bad neighbors, 177 - - Cæsar, Julius, his literary style compared to that of Mr. Glacier, 254; - how he and Mr. Glacier went into winter quarters, 256 - - Canada, her sea terraces for the gannets, 223 - - Canada thistles, and the Siberian "wind witches," 178 - - Canyons, deepened by glaciers, 26, 37; - how pebbles helped make the Grand Canyon, 82; - how long a mile is--straight down! 87; - how the Grand Canyon swallows you up, 88; - how rivers wrote the history of the Grand Canyon and how they cut the - leaves, 88 - - Caravan, the marching camels and their shadows, 185 - - Carbonic acid gas, and air making, 16; - how it helped make coal with one hand and the Ice Age with the - other, 20; - how it helps the volcanoes feed the world, 128 - - Carpathian Mountains, why they do not border the sea, 138; - their ups and downs under the sea, 230 - - Castle Head, a remarkable example of Nature's masonry, 228 - - Catskill Mountains, how they were made, 116 - - Cavemen, a caveman's art note on mammoths, 22; - why they were the handsomest men of their day, 267; - the joyous lesson they helped teach, 269 - - Caves, relation to natural bridges, 85; - why large ones are never found in boulder regions, 148; - their sightless inhabitants, 186 - - Centipede, his numerous feet and objectionable character 62; - how the trap door spider slams the door in his face, 182 - - Centrifugal force, and the birth of worlds, 4; - and the direction of mountain ranges, 137 - - Ceratosaurus, his dreadfulness and his name, 23; - and Nature's dream of the coming of man, 23; - one of our queer cousins, 264 - - Civilization, its constant advance, but with ups and downs, 269; - the civilization that Mother made, 270 - - Coal, did it help bring on the Ice Age? 20; - bad effect of coal making on plant and animal life--volcanoes to the - rescue! 226; - coal seams and the records of ancient life, 245 - - Colorado River, how it dug the Grand Canyon, 88 - - Conglomerate rock, why it is called "pudding stone," 96; - conglomerate boulders as historians, 155; - how made in the sea mills, 227 - - Continents, how they rose out of the sea, 8; - how the fact that they are still rising helps the rivers get back to - sea, 75; - the continents and Nature's accident insurance, 262 - - Copernicus, and the discovery that there are worlds of worlds, 4 - - Coral islands and reefs, how the sea helps the corals build them, 225 - - Coyotes, as ventriloquists, 179; - their night songs, 179; - how they get a living, 180 - - Crater Lake, the blue lake in the volcano's mouth, 194, 195 - - Crevasse, origin of the word, 51; - what a crevasse looks like, 51, 53; - Agassiz' adventure in, 51; - voices of, 54; their water-mills, 55; - picture of a crevasse swallowing an avalanche, 63 - - Crystallization and the fairy land of change, 93; - how the pebble caught cold and what came of it, 94; - crystals in sugar and granite, 94; - the great melting pot and the remaking of the rocks, 96; - how old rocks hatch new ones by sitting on one another, 96; - how mountain making helps, 97; - how Mother Nature uses salt and soda in cooking rocks over and how she - keeps these materials handy, 99; - an illustration of how men of science study things out for the fun of - it, 104; - the crystal fairies and their curious ways, 106; - how crystals help tell about dikes, 243 - - - Dead Sea, its deadness and how it died, 207; - and the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, 209; - what "Lot's Wife" looks like to-day, 210; - ancient history on the Dead Sea's walls, 249 - - Deltas, why delta river mouths always multiply by two, 167 - - Descent of Man, how man has risen as he descended, 269 - - Desert, origin of Lybian (myth), 2; - enigmas of, 161; - the desert and the Sphinx, 162; - physiography and coloring, 163; - "Baths of the Damned," 165; - river "skeletons," 166; - indications of former heavier rainfall, 166; - Roman aqueducts, 166; - "sand roses," 168; - how the desert makes its sands, 168; - its trade-mark on its sand grains, 172; - why deserts are so cold at night, 170; - how a simoom looks from the outside, 173; - how it begins business, 184; - the plant people of the desert, 174-175; - how the Rose of Jericho goes to sea, 176; - the cactus wren and how she bars her front door against her bad - neighbors, 177; - the "wind witches" of the steppes, 178; - animal life in the desert, 178; - the coyote as a ventriloquist, his night song, 179; - bird life, 180; - why the desert humming-birds have rusty coats, 180; - how the trap-door spider slams the door in the centipede's face, 182; - a beetle that uses poison gas, 182; - wonderful flight of the vulture, 183; - a day with the Arabs in the Sahara desert, 183; - the cat, the dog, the Arab, and the struggle for life, 187, 188 - - Diamonds, form of their crystals, 107 - - Dikes, what one in New York City tells about marble making, 97; - the iron walls near Spanish Peak, 235, 241; - dikes in the rocks at Marblehead, 242; - how dikes get their driving power, 244 - - Dinosaurs, their dreadfulness, their habits and their family name, 23 - - Diplodocus, his name, his gentle nature, his defensive tail and how it - helped him at his meals, 24 - - Domes (Mt.), 123 - - Drift theory, 120 - - Drowned valleys, 212 - - Drumlin, why an Irish boy would know what "drumlin" means, 122 - - Dunes, 163 - - - Earth, story of the spoiled boy who set it afire, 2; - how much truth science finds in the Phaeton myth, 3; - theories as to the earth's origin and how they compare with the Bible - story, 17; - watching worlds in the making, 5, 6; - the sun and his pebble worlds, 6; - how you can watch the world turn round, 7; - how the continents came up out of the sea, 8, 14; - lands the seas have swallowed, 11; - reasons for thinking the continents won't go under again, 12; - how earth's slowing up helped make mountains, 137 - - Earthquakes, how growing mountains make them, 86; - earthquakes that travel incog., 158; - how earthquakes are recorded in the veins of marble, 239; - earthquakes and the earth's "faults," 243 - - Echoes, Arab superstitions about, 187 - - Electrons, how they act as messenger boys of the universe, 110 - - Emerson, on the industries of England, 214 - - England, her heavy losses of land to the sea, 214; - how her drowned rivers helped make her great, 224 - - Eskers, defined, 122 - - Esparto grass, 176 - - Europe, how most of her rivers get their start, 73; - her ragged outline and the "transgressions" of the sea, 219; - Europe's geological biography and her mountain chains, 230 - - Evolution, was Nature dreaming of man's legs and arms when she designed - the dinosaurs? 23; - "some call it Evolution and others call it God," 260; - answer of Science to the question "whither," 261; - why nothing "happens," in the great course of things--The Accident - Insurance System of the Universe, 262; - kinship of kittens and apple trees, 264; - universal acceptance of the evolution theory, 264; - the old "special creation" theory, 265; - and the mysterious special creation theory that Science has - substituted, 274; - facts that support the evolution theory; - the story of changing forms recorded in the rocks, 265; - the "rabbit" that turned into a horse, 266; - as to men being descended from monkeys, 267; - how evolution proves the world is getting better, 268; - how man has risen as he descended, 269; - the world that Mother made, 270 - - - Family, the, and civilization, 271 - - "Faults," geological, defined, 243 - - Finland, its butterflies, and the left-over butterflies of the Ice - Ages, 48 - - Fiords, how they were made by the Old Men of the Mountain, 254 - - Florida, her sympathetic sister lakes, 200 - - Folds, how the story of the crumpling of mountains is told in the veins - of marble, 237 - - Fossils, how they help tell the story of marble, 100 - - Frost, how it helped build the stone "Temple of the Winds," 33; - how it builds boulder walls, 154 - - Fujiyama, Mt., why it resembles Mount Rainier, 124 - - - Galileo, and the discovery that there are worlds of worlds, 4 - - Geikie, on the conglomerate boulder as an historian, 230 - - Geodes, Nature's pebble jewel boxes and how they are made, 101 - - Geography, when all our geography was at the bottom of the sea, 8; - how they study geography in Boston on rainy days, 68 - - Geysers, and the geyser basins, 165 - - Giant's Causeway, its architecture, 243 - - Gila monster, 181 - - Glacial Period. (See Ice Ages.) - - Glacial tables, how stones go walking in glacier land, 62 - - Glacier Mills, 55 - - Glaciers, how snow changes itself to ice, 26; - glaciers in their "working clothes," 29; - how to make glaciers and icebergs in the schoolroom, 32; - how glaciers helped make the gray stone "Temple of the Winds," 33; - how the glaciers of the Ice Ages made the Great Lakes, 34; - songs of the glacier and how it sings, 42, 56; - a day's visit with the Alpine glaciers, 49; - the crevasses and the adventure of Agassiz, 51; - how long it took Agassiz to determine the nature of glacial - movements, 52; - why the peasants think the glacier has a soul, 54; - Mr. Glacier's caterpillar tractor, 62; - how the glaciers start Europe's rivers in business, 73; - how pebbles tell on what part of a glacier they travelled, 251 - - Golden Gate, entrance to San Francisco harbor, how it was made, 224 - - Gorges, 26, 82 - - Grand Canyon, 88 - - Granite, ancient lineage and social standing among earth's rocks, 17; - the Granites and the Fairyland of Change, 94; - how they crystallize their neighbors, 103; - how they help make sand, 170 - - Gravitation, how it pulls the worlds into roundness, 5; - and helps them to grow up, 8; - how it helps sea waves to salute the mountains, 139; - equally careful in handling big worlds and little seeds, 261; - like all power it is invisible and intangible, 276 - - Great Basin, records of the two great lakes it used to hold, 249 - - Great Lakes, how they were made in the Ice Ages, 34; - an Ice Age lake that was greatest of all, 193; - tides in the Great Lakes and tides in a teacup, 201; - how the glaciers of the Ice Age tipped the Great Lakes up, 253 - - Great Salt Lake, ancient weather records on its walls, 249 - - Greek civilization, one of the things that do not die, 270 - - - Harbor engineering of the rivers and the sea, 221, 222 - - Hieroglyphics, picture language of the Egyptians and how it was read, 258 - - Himalaya Mountains, glacial table on, a lesson in picture-reading, 59; - why some of the Himalayas are called "hills," 117 - - Horse, evolution of, 266 - - Hot Springs (cause of), 165 - - Hudson River, action of the tides, 221; - the Palisades, 241 - - Hydrogen, and the making of earth's air, 16 - - - Ice Ages, theories as to their origin, 20; - the three union stations of the ice trains, 27; - how the glaciers put the Missouri River together, 29; - how they pushed the Mississippi about, 30; - how they turned rivers around and made waterfalls for New England, 31; - how they chiselled out stone bowls for the Great Lakes, 34; - how they made other lakes, 194; - the thousand-year clock at Niagara Falls and what it tells about the - Ice Age, 35; - how the glaciers set Niagara Falls up in business, 36; - Muir's eloquent tribute to the marvellous "busy work" of the - snowflakes, 37; - how the Ice Age glaciers went off and left the butterflies and the - flowers in the Alps, 47; - how the butterflies missed the train, 48; - how Agassiz discovered the Ice Age, 52; - how the glaciers moved the hills about, 117; - travels of the boulders and how the glaciers rounded them, 146, 155; - why there are no big caves in glaciated regions, 148; - relation of the Ice Ages to the Dead Sea and the Sea of Galilee, 206; - Burroughs's theory as to future Ice Ages, 219; - what rain-drop autographs tell of the Ice Age, 246; - a perched boulder and its autograph in a New York City park, 250; - records of the Ice Age glaciers compared with Cæsar's Commentaries-- - curious similarities, 252 - - Icebergs, how to make them in the schoolroom, 32; - how the icebergs of the Ice Age gave the boulders a ride, 153 - - Ice wells, huge ice water tanks that the Ice Age glaciers left, 49 - - Indian Ocean, why its waves rise to salute the Himalayas, 140 - - Islands, oceanic, the tops of volcanoes, 133; - islands on the Maine coast and how they were made, 212; - how the sea helps the corals build their islands, 225 - - - "Joints," places where rocks don't join, how made, 33; - how they help make "perched rocks," 60; - joints in the "Marble Rocks" at Jabalpur, 105; - joints and the work of the sea's rock mills, 216; - use of joints in Nature's stone architecture, 228 - - Jordan River, why it was born partly grown, 73: - why the making of the Jordan Valley was the death of the Dead Sea, 206 - - Jungfrau, summer pastures on, 41; - its beauty, 44 - - Jupiter, how as rain god he put out the world, 3; - place of the planet in the Solar system, 6 - - - Keewatin, one of the central stations of the Ice Age, 28 - - Kentucky, the sink holes in the cave regions, 200 - - Kepler and the discovery that there are worlds of worlds, 4 - - Kettle lakes, how the glaciers of the Ice Age made them, 196 - - - Labrador, one of the central stations of the Ice Age, 28; - how the butterflies of Labrador tell that their ancestors missed the - train, 49 - - Lakes, the Ice Age lake and the "Temple of the Winds," 33; - how the Ice Age glaciers made the Great Lakes, 34; - how they helped Lake Erie in making Niagara Falls, 36; - the sleep of lakes and how it brightens them up, 80; - how Mirror Lake shows Mount Rainier how beautiful he is, 130; - how, with Jack Frost's help, lakes build boulder walls, 134; - the empty lake beds of the desert, 162; - "trade-marks" on lake-shore sand, 173; - how lakes are born, 192; - moods of lakes, 198; - why the ducks overlook some lakes, 198; - where mountain lakes get their coloring, 199; - sympathetic action of sister lakes, 200; - how some lakes act as barometers, 201; - tides in lakes, 201; - why lake storms are particularly dangerous, 202; - peculiarity of storms on the Sea of Galilee, 202; - and of storms on mountain lakes, 203; - how lakes grow old and pass away, 204; - why lilies come to dying lakes, 204; - the procession of the trees to the margins of dying lakes, 204; - why they have a regular marching order, 204; - the Dead Sea and how it died, 205; - what science says of the legend of Sodom and Gomorrah, 209; - "Lot's Wife" as she looks to-day, 210; - records of ancient weather on the walls of Great Salt Lake, 249; - how the Great Lakes were tipped up and how they tell about it, 253 - - Lake Agassiz, a great lake of yesterday which could swallow all the Great - Lakes of to-day, 193 - - Lake Baikal, its great depth, 193 - - Lake Erie, how the glaciers helped it make Niagara Falls, 36 - - Lake Superior (size), 193 - - Laplace, his great theory of the origin of worlds, 4 - - Lapland, strange stories its butterflies tell, 48 - - Laurentian Highlands, how they rose out of the sea, 9 - - Lava, how it makes dikes and what a New York City dike has to say about - the origin of marble, 97, 241; - how lava plays "grandfather" in the Porphyry family, 102; - lava and the flame effects on volcanic clouds, 126; - lava plains, 126; - how lava helps raise the fine fruit and wheat of Washington and - Oregon, 128; - how it increases the violence of delayed volcanic explosions, 130; - the lava and the "fire from heaven" in the story of Lot, 209; - the iron wall near Spanish Peaks, 235; - remarkable architecture of the Giant's Causeway, 243; - theory as to what makes the lava climb, 244 - - Libyan desert, Greek myth as to its origin, 2 - - Limestone, how it turns to marble, 97, 104; - how the shelled creatures of the sea help make it, 101; - the "Marble Rocks" at Jabalpur, 105; - the place of limestone in the rock-making system of the sea, 227; - limestone and the story marble tells of mountain making, 237, 239 - - Little Round Top (Mt.), the battles that rounded it, 248 - - Lizards, varieties in the Arizona desert, 181 - - London, how it owes its greatness to the transgressions of the sea, 224 - - Los Angeles River, how one of its tributaries plays hide-and-seek, 80 - - Lowell, Mass., how the Old Men of the Mountain helped build it, 34 - - - McCloud River, why it is born half grown, 73 - - Maine, advance of the sea upon its coasts, 219 - - Mammoth, art note on, from the "Cavemen's Diary," 22; - ancient members of the elephant family that wore underclothes, 24 - - Manchester, Mass., how the Old Men of the Mountain built its falls, 34 - - Marble, how a New York City dike helps tell how marble is made, 97; - what the fossils have to say, 100; - how it is quarried, 103; - the mysteries in marble walls, 235; - when marble flows, 238; - the cloud effects in marble, 239; - how marble tells of earthquakes and other exciting things, 239 - - Mars (planet), 6 - - Meanders, engineering work of wandering rivers, 81; - meanders and the making of natural bridges, 83 - - Mediterranean Sea, its connection with the making of the Alps, 136 - - Mercury (planet), 6 - - Metamorphism (defined), 98 - - Miller, Hugh, how he found a fish inside of a stone and so found Hugh - Miller, 159 - - Mississippi River, how the Old Men of the Mountain pushed it about, 30; - how you can jump across it, 69; - the mountains of soil it carries into the sea, 84 - - Mississippi River System (map), 67 - - Mississippi Valley, when it was at the bottom of a mediterranean sea, 10; - why the sea went away, 138 - - Missouri River, how it was pieced together and pushed about in the Ice - Age, 29 - - Mohawk River, why it grew taller as it grew older, 72 - - Molecules, their relations to atoms and electrons, 109 - - Moraines, how the glaciers take them on their backs, 56 - - Moulins, the "mills" of the glaciers and how they are made, 55 - - Mountains, earliest arrivals in the mountain world, 9; - origin of bald mountains, 26; - Muir on the marvellous mountain sculpture of the snowflakes, 37; - how mountain peaks are kept sharp, 43; - rain-drops as mountain sculptors, 67; - mountains and the origin of river valleys, 69; - and the birth of partly grown rivers, 72; - mountain streams and their waterfalls, 77; - storm chorus of the mountain torrents, 78; - how mountain lakes and baby rivers go to sleep together and the - liveliness of the rivers afterward, 80; - how mountains help make the water gates, 86; - why growing mountains make earthquakes, 86; - why almost all granite is found in mountain regions, 97; - the different kinds of mountains, 115; - why mountains border the sea, 134; - why they run north and south, 137; - why sea waves rise to greet the mountains, 139; - Ruskin on mountain drawing, 140; - resemblance of mountains to sea waves, 140; - how mountains helped solve the mystery of the stones of the field, 151; - sunrise in the Atlas Mountains, 163; - why desert mountains look so gaunt and hungry, 164; - why the desert winds are constantly blowing them away, 171; - mountain shapes and the law of the picturesque in Nature's art - work, 229; - how the mountain chains are the making of Europe, 230; - their ups and downs, 230; - why the markings in marble tell the story of mountain building, 237; - and of mountain shaking, 239; - ancient weather records on mountain walls, 248 - - Mountain lakes, the blue lake in the volcano's mouth, 195; - why mountain lake storms are particularly dangerous, 202; - and why they are apt to come at night, 202 - - Mountain meadows, how rapidly their flowers follow the snow, 44 - - Mount Fujiyama, its striking resemblance to a mountain 3,000 miles - away, 124 - - Mount Hermon, its spring that gives birth to the Jordan, 73 - - Mount McKinley, remarkable snap-shot of one of its avalanches, 63 - - Mount Pelée, its discharge of huge rocks and whirling bombs, 129; - the mysterious shaft that rose and fell, 132 - - Mount Ritter, its resemblance to the sacred mountain of Japan, 124 - - Mount Shasta, how it gives birth to a river that has no babyhood, 73; - how the mountain itself was born at the crossroads and why this is apt - to happen in the case of volcanic mountains, 127 - - Mount Vesuvius, why, like other active volcanoes, it seems to smoke but - doesn't, 126, 127 - - Mount Washington, its interesting colony of descendants of butterfly - pilgrims of the Ice Age who missed the train, 48 - - Muir, John, on the wonderful team work of the snowflakes, in the Ice - Age, 37; - on the liveliness of mountain streams after a little nap in mountain - lakes, 80; - on the winter sleep of the mountain lakes and their glad awakening in - the spring, 198 - - - Natural bridges, various ways in which they are made by the very streams - they bridge, 83, 85 - - Nebular Hypothesis, one of the theories as to how the world was made, 4; - how it differs from the latest theory, 6; - the Bible story compared with both theories, 17 - - Neptune (planet), 6 - - New England, how the Old Men of the Mountain plowed its farms away, 31; - and then made up for it by putting in New England's waterfalls, 32 - - Newton, his connection with the theory of the origin of worlds, 4 - - New York City, what one of its big rocks tells about marble making, 97; - what its harbor owes to the engineering of the sea, 221, 222; - the perched boulder in Bronx Park and its autograph, 250 - - Niagara Falls, its thousand-year clock and what it tells about the Ice - Age, 35; - how the Old Men of the Mountain set the falls up in business, 36 - - Nitrogen, how it helped to make fresh air for the new-born world, 16 - - Norway, interpretation of the handwriting on the walls of its fiords, 254 - - - Ogden Canyon, curious example of a rock fold, 238 - - Ohio River, how the Old Men of the Mountain helped it by turning some - rivers around, 31 - - Omar Khayyam, answer of Science to the universal riddle that puzzled - him, 261 - - Origin of Species. (See Evolution.) - - Oxygen, its use in making the world's air, 16; - how the sea feeds oxygen to the corals, 225 - - - Pack Rat, his remarkable fortress in the desert, 187 - - Paleontologists, the wizards of queer anatomies and the strange forms - they conjure up from the fragments of old bones, 266 - - Palestine. (See Dead Sea.) - - Palisades, how they were made in the "Middle Ages," 241 - - Pebbles, how they tell of old sea beaches on inland mountain and - hill, 14; - their enormous age, 18; - dramatic stories the pebble scratches tell, 26; - how the Old Men of the Mountain used pebbles in turning New England - rivers around, 31; - how pebbles helped deepen the basins of the Great Lakes, 34; - how they still help run the thousand-year clock at Niagara Falls, 35; - how they help the glaciers talk, 56; - why the pebbles of Glacier Land can't walk as the big stones do, 62; - how the river pebbles act as bankers for the farmers and the sea, 80; - how the pebbles helped dig the Grand Canyon, 82; - how they tell about doings in the Fairyland of Change, 97; - how a pebble may, in its time, play many parts, 99; - how they help unravel the secrets of the hills, 119; - how they help dying rivers multiply by two, 167; - how they report the fact that the storms on the Sea of Galilee are - particularly severe, 203; - their fixed place in the rock-making system of the sea, 227; - how they tell of rough experiences in river travel, 250; - and of high winds at sea, desert sandstorms, rides on glaciers, and in - what compartments they travel, 251 - - Peninsulas, how the drowning of rivers helps to make them, 212 - - Pennsylvania, autographs left by ancient reptiles in the sandstone under - the coal seams, 245 - - Perched boulder, in Bronx Park and its autograph on its rock-bed, 250 - - - Quartz, how it helps to make the pebble jewel-boxes--the geodes, 101 - - Quartzite, (defined), 98 - - - Rain, what fossil rain-drops tell of ancient weather, 224 - - Rat, desert, 186 - - Reclus, on the motion of glaciers, 62; - on the mountain whirlpools of stones, 141; - on the severity of lake storms, 202 - - Reefs, coral, how the sea helps the little people build them, 225 - - Reptiles, with bird feet, 246 - - Rivers, how the Mississippi River and others were pushed about in the - Ice Age, 26; - how the Old Men of the Mountain helped the Ohio by turning some rivers - around, 31; - how they helped make New England a great manufacturing section by - turning some other rivers around, 32; - how they helped build the "Temple of the Winds," 33; - the little boy's definition of a river system, 66; - how the sea and the rivers take turn about in emptying into each - other, 66; - their wonderful work in the mountains, 67; - the Mississippi River system, 67; - how they study the work of rivers on rainy days in Boston, 68; - how you can jump across the Mississippi, 69; - what springs do for rivers, 69; - how the springs act as regulators of river flow, 72; - how rivers grow at the top, 72; - why some rivers are born partly grown, 72; - how most of Europe's rivers get their start, 73; - why many little rivers have to jump to catch the train, 74; - why all rivers flow toward the sea, 75; - beautiful way in which Ruskin tells of the response of rivers to the - call of the sea, 76; - the human nature in rivers, 76; - baby ways of baby rivers, 76; - why waterfalls are found only in young streams and more often as you - near the source, 76; - how rivers play in the rain, 78; - storm chorus of the mountain torrents, 78; - where to look for hiding rivers, 78; - how rivers sleep in mountain lakes and how lively they are when they - wake up, 80; - why rivers grow more thrifty as they grow older; how, with the help of - the pebbles, they act as bankers for the farmers and the sea, 80; - the machinery of rivers includes circular saws and dirt-spreaders, 82; - how a river dug the Grand Canyon, 82, 88; - the automatic stop in the river machinery, 83; - enormous amount of soil carried by the Mississippi into the sea, 84; - how rivers cut mountains in two, 85; - how rivers help in mining granite, 97; - how they help make hills, 117; - how they combine with the boulders to help out the artists, 157; - the land in which there are river beds without rivers and rivers - without mouths, 162; - the skeletons of dead rivers and what they tell of the past history of - the desert, 166; - why dying rivers multiply by two, 167; - harbor engineering of the rivers and the sea, 221; - how rivers made the Golden Gate of San Francisco and so made San - Francisco, 223; - the rivers and the rock mills of the sea, 227; - the river's trade-mark on its pebbles, 250 - - Rocky Mountains, how they were born, 10; - their relation to the Mediterranean Sea that is no more, 135; - why they are now so far from the sea, 138; - how the mountain waves of stone resemble the waves of the sea, 140; - folded strata that illustrate Ruskin's line about the strange quivering - recorded in mountain rocks, 142 - - Romans, some of the big things we owe to them, 270 - - Rose of Jericho, what it is like and how it puts to sea, 176 - - Round Tops (Mt.), how they are formed, 123 - - Ruskin, on the response of rivers to the call of the sea, 76; - on the sleep of lakes, 80; - on mountain drawing, 140; - on the strange "quivering of substance" of mountains, 141; - on the art lessons to be learned from stones, 158; - on the correct drawing of boulders, 160 - - - Sahara Desert. (See Desert.) - - St. Lawrence River, how the Old Men of the Mountain took some of its - rivers away, 30; - how the Old Men used it in making the Great Lakes, 34 - - Salt, how Mother Nature uses it in warming over rocks, 99; - how Father Neptune uses it in his rock mills, 217 - - Sand, how it helped build the stone "Temple of the Winds," 33; - how Mother Nature dissolves it out of sandstone in her rock - cookery, 99; - how the crystal fairies give sand grains a new lease of life, 108; - how the sand helped shape the old Indian of Mt. Abu, 147; - color of desert sand, 165; - how the desert makes its sand, 168; - "sand roses," 168 - - Sandstone, its place in the rock-milling system of the sea, 227 - - San Francisco Bay, how it was made, the two rivers that opened its Golden - Gate, 222 - - Saturn (planet), 5, 6 - - Sea, when the seas were all in the sky, 16; - how its stratification of rock helped build the "Temple of the - Winds," 33; - the Alps, like sea waves turned to stone, 50; - how the sea flows into the rivers, the endless circuit of the - waters, 66; - why the rivers always get back to sea, 75; - how the pebbles help feed the sea fish and furnish material for the - sea's rock mills, 81; - the Grand Canyon and the ancient sea, 88; - how the sea helps Mother Nature do the work in her rock cookery, 99; - why volcanoes and mountains border the sea, 133, 134; - why sea waves rise to greet the mountains, 139; - how sea sand grains differ from those of the desert, 173; - the rock mills of the sea, method in the madness of the on-shore - waves, 212; - why the sea's chief business at first seems to be that of eating us - up, 213; - the sea in literature and art, 213; - England's heavy losses to the sea, 214; - how helpless the Old Man of the Sea is without his tools, 215; - how he uses the stone-throwing engines and the battering-ram of the - Romans, 216; - what he knows about wedges and pneumatic tools, 216; - the hidden enemies in the rocks of the sea, 216; - planing-mills of the winter seas, 217; - how stones are carried out to sea, 218; - how the sea has shaped Europe, 219; - the sea as a builder, why Father Neptune is like Old King Cole, 220; - harbor engineering of the rivers and the sea, 221, 222; - how the sea helped teach shore engineering to man, 223; - how it has helped make London, New York, and other great cities, 223, - 224; - how Father Neptune feeds the coral people, 225; - the art work of the sea, 227, 228; - Nature's building blocks and the sea, 228; - the ups and downs of Europe's mountains under the sea, 230; - how sea tides help in recording rain-drop marks in stone, 244 - - Sea caves, what they told about how the continents came up out of the - sea, 14 - - Sea of Galilee, why its storms come so suddenly and usually at night, - 202, 203; - how the pebbles on its shores tell that these storms are severe, 203; - why it parted company with the Dead Sea, 206 - - Sea-shells, how some of them tell how marble is made, 100 - - Seismograph, the device for getting the autograph of earthquakes, 240 - - Shakespere, how he emphasizes the rough side of Father Neptune's - nature, 213; - on the man and the swallowing waves, 219; - his reference to the greatness of Mr. Cæsar, 252 - - Shaler, Dr., on the stone autographs of rain-drops, how they throw light - on the climate of ancient days, 246 - - Shasta River, why it is born partly grown, 73 - - Sierra Nevada Mountains, Muir on how the snowflakes helped carve them, 37 - - Silica, its use by Mother Nature in making sandstone, grass, wheat, and - corn, 99 - - Slate, and the Fairyland of Change, 98; - its place in the rock mills of the sea, 227; - ancient autographs found in slate, 245 - - Sodom and Gomorrah, the Bible story of their destruction and what Science - has to say about it, 208 - - Soil, how it was made in the beginning of things, 11; - how the Old Men of the Mountain carried New England's best farms - away, 31; - how river pebbles act as bankers for the farmers, 80; - how the sea helps make good farming land, 222; - Nature's art work and the making of soil, 229 - - Solar system, how it was discovered that there are worlds of worlds, 4; - Laplace's theory as to the origin of the Solar system, 4; - the planetessimal theory, 6 - - Soldanella, the flower of the Alps that blooms its way up through the - ice, 45 - - Special Creation theory, 265 - - Spiders, the tarantula and the tarantula killer, 181; - the spiders of the Arizona desert, 182; - how the trap-door spider slams the door in the centipede's face, 182 - - Spontaneous variation, the scientific modification of the old "Special - Creation" theory, 274 - - Springs, not only start rivers in life but go on feeding them, 69; - how rain-drops stored in big stone safes keep the springs going, 69; - springs that work like a town pump, 70; - hot springs and the geysers, 165 - - Stratification, defined; how it helped make the "Temple of the - Winds," 33; - how it helps in marble quarrying, 103; - as shown in the "Marble Rocks" at Jabalpur, 105; - how it helps in the making over of rock in the sea's mills, 217 - - Stratus clouds, their counterparts in marble and what these marble cloud - pictures mean, 239 - - Striæ, scratches made in rocks by glaciers, and how they helped to - disclose the great secret that there was an Ice Age, 121; - the big boulder's autograph in Bronx Park, New York City, 250 - - - Tarantula, and the life struggle in the desert, 181 - - Terraces, what they tell about the tipping up of the Great Lakes once - upon a time, 253 - - Tides, in lakes and in teacups, 201; - and the harbor and shore engineering of the sea, 221, 225; - how they help preserve the autographs of ancient rain-drops, ancient - reptiles, and other things, 244 - - "Transgressions" of the sea, defined, 218; - how they help to make great cities, 223; - how they help in the art work of the sea, 227 - - - "Umbrella Parties," an interesting form of geography study in Boston, 68 - - Uranus (planet), 6 - - - Valleys, how crooked rivers broaden them, 82 - - Venus (planet), 6 - - Vesuvius, why it seems to smoke but doesn't, 126, 127 - - Volcanoes, what they tell about the inside of the earth, 3; - why volcanoes were more numerous in early days, 16; - difference between ordinary mountains and volcanic mountains, 114, 123; - the volcanic mountains in the Sahara and the "Baths of the - Damned," 165; - the blue lake in the volcano's mouth, 194; - volcanoes and "the fire from heaven" in the Bible story of Lot, 209; - how volcanic explosions help to cause transgressions of the sea, 219; - Mr. Vulcan's famous castle on the Hudson, 241 - - Vulture, his wonderful abilities as a flying machine, 182 - - - Wasp, desert, how it disposes of the tarantula, 181 - - Waterfalls, how the Old Men of the Mountain put them in for New England, - to make up for carrying her farms away, 31; - how they set Niagara Falls up in business and started the thousand-year - time clock, 35, 36; - why the Bridal Veil Falls in the Yosemite has to jump to catch the - train, 74; - why waterfalls are found only in young streams and oftenest near the - source, 76 - - Water Gaps, how the rivers cut them with the help of pebbles, 85 - - Weathering, examples of, 33, 60, 97, 147, 228, 229, 231, 241, 243, 248 - - Wind, how it helped carve the "Temple of the Winds," 33; - how it helps make pillars for perched rocks, 60; - how it helped carve the strange old Indian of Mt. Abu, 147; - how it helps the desert in trade-marking its sand, 173; - the wind witches of the Steppes, 178; - why lake wind storms are particularly dangerous, 202; - the winds and the night storms on the Sea of Galilee, 202; - how winds help fill up the sea, 219; - stone autographs of ancient breezes, 247; - pebble faceted by wind-blown sand, 252; - wind ripples, 248 - - Wren, desert, how she locks her front door against her bad neighbors, 177 - - Wyoming, the ancient bones found in its soil and the wonderful story they - told about horses, 266 - - - Xenophanes, the wise old Greek who first suggested that the mountains had - risen out of the sea, 13 - - - Yosemite Valley, why the rivers of the little valleys have to jump to - catch the train, 74 - - - * * * * * - - -Transcriber Note - -Minor typos corrected. Paragraph break inserted at the top of page -116 to accommodate placement of image related to the text therein. In -the original book, Mt. Fujiyama and Mount Rainier were on page 124 and -125 respectively with the caption spanning the two pages. The words "top" -and "bottom" were substituted for "left" and "right" respectively for their -orientation here. Also, the caption has been updated to say "FOUR THOUSAND". - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF A -PEBBLE *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. 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