Coal is carbon made from decayed trees and vegetation, which became covered with earth and rock, and was subjected to tremendous pressure throughout the thousands of years required to effect the transformation.
Oceans and floods gradually covered millions of acres of trees and plants with ooze and soil and sand. Ages turned some of these deposits to stone.
There in bleak Wyoming is testimony and evidence of changes that time only can bring about.
"A thousand years is as a day and a day is as a thousand years." Thus wrote the scribe of old. So, then, we must consider this estimate of time in reading the first chapter of Genesis which describes the order of the world"s creation.
First took place the dividing of light from darkness, thus bringing about the rotation of day and night.
Then, the separating of land and water; then, the birth of vegetation on the land, the creation of fish and reptiles in the sea, the fowls of the air, the beasts of the field, and finally, the higher animal, man.
[Sidenote: The Measure of Time.]
The pages of the earth"s surface carry in their stratification indelible records harmonizing with this scriptural account of the evolution of the earth from its chaotic misty past to its concrete definite present. Yes, this earth of ours is old, so old that mere man cannot contemplate or accurately estimate its wondrous age.
The fossils of the mammoth reptiles and beasts which lived before the appearance of man on this planet are numerous in the fascinating West I know so well.
In those arid desert hills are bones of the ancient rhinoceros--parent of our horse--and there are sh.e.l.ls, and fossils of fish, and bones of animals imbedded in the strata of rock.
Man reads these pages and he is lost in bewilderment, impoverished in thought, dumb for words, paralyzed by his inability to co-ordinate this evidence with any measure of time that will fall within the range of human comprehension.
[Sidenote: Age of the Earth.]
Historians say the world was 4,004 years old before the Christian era, and 1918 years have pa.s.sed since then, making the age to date 5,922 years. It is not surprising that through the dark ages, dates and facts were lost. We have not a complete history in written language, but we have some very definite history in the rocks and hills and lands and seas.
The world certainly is more than 5,922 years old. Read the record of time so plainly visible at Niagara Falls.
Niagara Falls eats away about two feet of rock in a century; the gorge is a good many miles long. At the present rate of erosion, it takes 2,640 years to eat away a mile. Multiply that by the distance between the falls and Lake Ontario and you have an idea of how many years Niagara Falls has been at work.
Before Niagara Falls was in existence, the country round about was under the sea; before that, under glaciers; before that, in the tropics, and I don"t know how many times it has swung on its pendulum between Frigid, Temperate and Torrid Zones.
We are certain to become lost in a labyrinth of mystery when we take these known facts concerning the earth"s age, and try to specify any particular number of millions of years as the old world"s age.
54.
And now my pleasant occupation of writing this book draws to an end. I sincerely hope you have received some definite suggestions that will be helpful to you.
To get you to think--that has been my aim. To get you to a.n.a.lyze yourself--to take stock of yourself--to know yourself--that has been the task I set before me.
[Sidenote: How to Think.]
Think vital thoughts of courage, faith and hope. Then will your days pa.s.s joyfully, and your path be one of peace, happiness and contentment.
If you fill your mind with gloom and sorrow thoughts, your surroundings will reflect your mental att.i.tude and will accentuate your misery and dejection. Do not give way to this weak, gloomy, pernicious thinking.
You can be strong, you will be strong if you learn to control your thought habits.
Can you face disagreeable facts without wavering? Can you meet adversity with courage in your heart and a smile on your lips? You can, if you have read this book carefully, calmly, thoughtfully, and put into practice the rules I have laid down.
Do not think that you can go through life without your share of pain, disillusion and disappointment. It can"t be done. No man has ever done it. Clouds will come, but they can be dispelled. Obstacles will arise, but they can be surmounted. Troubles will visit you, but meet them boldly and courageously and do not show the white feather.
To the thinking man or woman, life is a great arena wherein good and bad, joy and sorrow, faith and disillusion, happiness and unhappiness, success and failure are inextricably intermingled. The joy and happiness, accept gratefully; the sorrow and disillusion, bear with fort.i.tude. And remember, although it is not possible to enjoy an absolute and continued state of happiness, it always lies within your power to have serenity, poise, peace and contentment.
When you are in the dumps--when that feeling of the hopelessness and un-worth-whileness of life comes over you, then, more than ever, _think_. Do not give way to fear and despondency. Think cheerful thoughts; think of the good things that life has given you, not the least of them being life itself. Think of the ringing words that Milton put into the mouth of Lucifer, the fallen angel, in "Paradise Lost":
"The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a heaven of h.e.l.l, a h.e.l.l of heaven."
[Sidenote: Life"s Ever-Newness.]
To the person who thinks, life is ever-new, ever-interesting. If you have lost your grip on reality--if you have dwelt too long in the shadowland of doubt, fear and despondency--the thing to do is to correct your thinking. Let your mind soar in contemplation of the beautiful things of nature. Steel yourself against petty pull-backs and recognize them for what they really are--trifling annoyances that serve no purpose except to distract you from the pursuit of the great and glorious goal that lies ahead.
Only to the thinking man is it given to see life and see it whole. He only has the true sense of proportion. He keeps his eye on the main objective, secure in the realization that he is master of himself and captain of his own soul. He is self-sufficient, for he knows that no matter what befalls, he carries happiness and contentment within himself wherever he goes.
The practice of thinking is a tower of strength. If you are a thinker, life"s little troubles serve but to reinforce your spirit of resistance and make you stronger.
So then, let this be my last word to you--_think!_--for it is by thinking that man has risen to his present high estate in the world. It is by thinking that the future joy and happiness and peace of the world must be increased.