God of Nature

820 IMPROVEMENT ERA international peace! The ship of state must be guided over stormy seas, with steady, strong hands. With the ideal of ser- vice to mankind vibrating in our beings we shall foster the American legacy of the past and hand it down more fully devel- oped to the future. We shall gradually make that ideal American whom God is helping us to produce, and he shall con- sider all mankind his brothers and the whole world his work- shop. In making our contribution to the term American, let us write plainly and surely. Let us not blot the sacred parch- ment, nor write what succeeding generations must blushingly erase. Let it be said of us: "They contributed much to the making of an American." Bunkerville, Nev. God of Nature A dark, dreary forest of pine, In whose heavy, pine-needled boughs The laboring winds ever whine, And deep murmuring whispers arouse. A canyon 'midst snow-mounted peaks, With giant cliffs, shadowing vales Where grandeur in eloquence speaks, And the forest its dampness exhales. A night when no moon can be seen, And turbulent storm-centered clouds Shut heaven away as a screen, And wrap earth in misty black shrouds. A gash cut by slithering light, In the canopying clouds of the sky, Which roll back again into night, To listen, spellbound, for earth's sigh. A crash from the batteries of heaven, A deep, rumbling echo, a roar, And the thunder peals off to its haven, Into corners on heave 's great floor. A moment of ear-piercing stillness, Then softly the rain settles down And spangles the pine-needles dullness, With jewels too grand for a crown. O indolent, insolent creature! O man — see these wonders of God! You call them the products of Nature? Why, Nature's the product of God! St. Maries, Idaho. Company B, 2nd Idaho Inf.