GOD'S WONDERFUL MOUNTAINS 203 



Would you like to know something more about 

 the way those filled-up fissures which we call veins 

 come to be near the surface? You will find it true, 

 as the poet Cowper said, that 



God moves in a mysterious way 

 His wonders to perform. 



When the world was young, and when the thick, 

 heavy fog lay so closely about it, there were no 

 mountains, not even when the first bit of land 

 showed above the surface of the great enveloping 

 ocean. For the mountains are earth's wrinkles 

 and came when it was getting old. 



Does it seem strange to you to think of the world 

 as growing old? Why, everything grows old! The 

 sapling grows into the mighty oak, the apple- 

 blossom into a delicious apple, the puppy into a 

 wise and faithful watch-dog. The young mountain 

 brooks flow into the older river which sweeps peace- 

 fully along to the sea. The sun and moon and stars 

 grow old and change their light and heat. Then 

 why should not the world grow old? 



If our world had always remained young we could 

 not have lived upon it. It was only after it had 

 commenced to grow old, only after it had become 

 wrinkled and had given up some of its secret treas- 

 ures, that it was fitted to become the abode of man. 



Did you ever notice the wrinkles upon a cold 

 baked apple? When it is just taken from the oven 

 it is round and smooth, but when it has grown cold 

 its surface settles into wrinkles. So it is with our 

 earth. 



The crust that was so hot those long, long ages 



