Oh, how beautiful! The sky is ablaze with a glory
indescribable by mortal tongue. All space seems vocal with praise
to the God of love and beauty.
In the strange and peaceful quiet of that evening I felt the
presence of a mysterious, subtle influence stirring within me. In
the shower of gold flung out as a good-night to me, and as the
star of evening smiled down upon me in the purpling twilight and
began calling her myriads of companions to their sentry-posts to
keep watch over me through the hours of the night in that strange
land, I felt, I think, the spirit of the poetry,
"Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me," etc.,
in its fullness. Indeed, the air seemed vibrant with a living
personality, which, without undue stretching of the imagination, I
recognized as the SPIRIT OF HISTORY come to tell me the wonderful
story of those wonderful mountains. Enraptured I listened.
SAID THE SPIRIT: "Long before Gad was attracted by these heights
and valleys, tribes of people lived here in their simplicity, yet
in sin. The land seemed not different from other lands. Here were
towering wooded mountain, rocky ravine, and strong-flowing
fountain; here the beast prowled among the rocks, the bird nested
in the trees, and the sweet-scented flowers graced all the
landscape.
