AS IT WAS IX THE BEGINNING 155 



working together according to God's will. Every- 

 thing working together! \"\Tiat a wonderful story it 

 makes. Would you like to hear the story? Would 

 you like to think away back to ''once upon a time" 

 and learn what the world was like before nature 

 had made it as we see it to-day? 



First, then, try to think how everything looks on 

 a very foggy day, when the fog is so heavy that the 

 sun is quite hidden and everything seems enveloped 

 in a thick cloud. 



There was a time, long ages ago, when there was 

 a blanket of fog and mist surrounding the world, so 

 thick that the sun was never able to shine through 

 it. The earth was hot then, — very hot. There was 

 never any winter, never any frost or snow or wind. 

 There was no rain even, but just that heavy fog 

 resting like a thick blanket upon the surface of the 

 earth. 



After a long, long time the world began to get 

 cooler. Then the fog did not rest quite so closely 

 or quite so heavily upon it. Once in a while the 

 faintest glimmer of sunlight made its way through 

 the mist. But almost always it rained, — a gentle, 

 soft, oozy rain, as if the fog blanket were a sponge 

 too full of water. This water fell on the hot earth. 



Have you ever seen water fall upon a hot stove? 

 As soon as the water touched the hot surface it 

 disappeared so quickly in steam that there was not a 

 drop of water left. But if the stove had been cold the 

 water which fell upon it would have remained water, 

 and perhaps some of it would have run off upon the 

 floor, leaving the stove wet where it had been. 



