Melting Like Wax

A Frenen professor told the recent ecientific cougress iu Rome that "all mountains will vanish off the face of the earth in course of time." We do not doubt it, for it is divinely foretold that the earth itself will disappear at the end of time. However, the Frenchnian's prophecy is Iready iu course of realization. The Ardeunee, tlie Pyrenees and the niouiitains of Provence are going to poices by desees iu our owu age. The mighty Himalayas, a.sif wearyof "rearing their forms sublime"1 thróngh so niany generatious, nodded their heads in one placo two years ago iud hurled iuto tho vuileya below a mas.s of debiis-. which was estimated at 00,000,000 tous. The largest locomotivo ou tho fast truins of tin; Hudsou Rivet railway wuighs only 62 ton. That Asiatic uiuuntain slide, therefore, caused an avalanchoequivalunt to the tumblo of about Ii3,000,000 such locomotivesoli a bridgo 10,000 feet high. Little wonder that "tho uoiso was terrific" and that "the natives were frighteued." Masses of rock wero hurled a niile away, and "ruany blocks of dolomitic liinestone, weighing frorn 30 to 50 tons, wore scut like caunou balls through tho air. " In 1881, in the Alps, there was an immense hill fall, caused by its human undermining tü order to obtain slate for school uso. The miniug bugan iu 1868. In 1876 the Plattenberkoph split across ita crown, and after progressiveenlargements for years, which caaspd commeut and forebodings, it feil iu the year named. This catastrophe precipitated about 12,000,000 cubio yards of rock 1,475 feet downward into the valley. The debris ricochetted across ie valley and rolled 325 feet up the oppositoslopi', where it was cantod over sideways, ami then poured like liquid over a horizontal plane of about 9,700,000 square feet and to a dopth of from 35 to 70 feet. One-half of the viJlage of Elm was overwhelmed, and it was so swiftly cleft by the rosistless mass that tha lino was sharply deflued, aud one house was cut in two. One huudred and iifteeu people were buried. One home was left on the very verge, of which the doors were open, the firo burned, the tabla was sot, the coffee was hot, but no living soul was left. The head of tho household wassaved, but hisentirefaruily, who were out looking at the mountain fall, wero lost. The debris dammed up a river, for which a channel was 1 '. isted afreeb. New soil was carried inu the valley, and spread over the ruins ■'..ro harvests now smilo again, and tl) i peuple go about their work as if ib; re were no such thing as an avabe in tliis hum bl ing and crr.mbling world. The process of change iu earth levéis in all lands is illustrated in your npaved back yard or village sirect after heavy rains. Each tinyrivulet nolarger than your little íinger has its floods, its narrower limits where it runs in its square foot of harder soil, aud is thereby pinched sideways, its sudden sballowng and widening where the soil is sof ter, and tho panic stricken ants or bedragglcd bcetles aro caught in their miniature world and routed as men are on a larger sc:;ilo. Ten feet squaro of back yard may illustrate the successïon of events which make seas shallover and mountains lowcr. The surcharged ■warm cloud gets a chili as it caresses the head of some diguilied pea!:, the sudden oondensation upsets the showcr out of the atmosphere'fl myriad cell buckets, and the torrent rushes down the breasts and linibs of the ïuonntaiiis so swiftly thut tho surpriscd soil catches the spirit of pan i o and forgets to obey gravitatiÍEn anti! it finas itself at sea aud almostout of sightof shore. That transfer of earth leiives the hills thinner and deposits that which malees the river or bay or sea somswhat less deep. People live ín the low lauda near their grain and fruits, and these thrivc on tho alluvium washcd down by torrents and flood. That thoft of matter makes the mountains baroheade'd and puts the valley tmder obligation to the storms which foed the crops with plant nutriment stolen from aboye. Like man, tho harvests lift their cyes to the hills, whence their help comes. The mountains are being carried iuto the sea, and man demands tributo as they pass. The forcea of naturpand the elements in battle, like the gospel, are levelers. They Uring down the mighty and lift up the lowly. One of these days the earth mvtst be resurveyed. The aspirations of the hills will have been reduced; the depths of tho rivers, bays and oceaus will bo ess. Men who journey by water may return to the plans and proportious thut best suited thoso who built the ark, uad they may see that Noah knew something about shipbuilding, notwithstanding our Americans, Auranias and Campanias. David may have had a thought of all this when he said, "The hills melted like was at the presence of the Lord." Isaiah wrote, "The mountains öowed down at thy presence." Ezekiel said, "The mountain shall be thrown down, and tho steep places shall fall." If those Alpine dwellers at Elm read their Bibles, they must have thought of these passages after they recovered from