Page 71 - English Reader - 6

THE man or woman who sees no beauty in surrounding nature has a soul
that sleeps. From the star-spangled canopy of heaven to the far bottom

of the majestic ocean, created earth is teeming with wondrous beauty.

There is endless beauty above in the clouds that sweep over the blue

ethereal sky; the mountain tops and the valleys below reveal the work of

a creating God; the vast plains of the East, and the primeval forests of the
West, display the art, power, and glory of an omnipotent architect. The

beasts of the field that roam at will o’er created earth, call forth wonder

and admiration for Him who gave them life; the birds that soar through
the firmament on high strike awe into the breast of frail weak humanity;

and the leviathan as it traverses the mighty deep, followed by myriads

of fish and fowl, causes him to fear the awful majesty of God. The rivers

that roll for thousands of miles down to their mother ocean, the seas

that join continent to continent, the lakes that reflect the grandeur of the
heavens, the adamantine rocks and cliffs, the hoary majesty of the Arctic

and Antarctic circles, the Eden beauty of the tropics, the wild grandeur

of the southern ocean and the storm-tossed northern seas; the vast
plains of Africa and Australia, the jungles of Asia and South America,

the volcanoes of the old and the new world, the hot springs of the Rocky

mountains and the icebergs of the southern seas; the ice-bound coast

of Labrador and the fairy islands of the vast Pacific--make man gaze
spellbound on the works of the Almighty, and plant in the breast of

the youthful savage an instinctive desire to worship the countless orbs

of heaven, the everlasting hills of earth, and the glorious beauty of all

created nature.
by T. Augustus Forbes Leith

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