218 THE EARTH MADE READY FOR MAN 



what lived on the earth so very, very long ago. Did 

 you ever know before that rocks, just the common 

 rocks that you see all about, were part of a great 

 book? 



The pebbles lying by the side of the road or on the 

 sea beach have a history, and they tell to all those 

 who can read from them where and of what they 

 were made. They do not tell us exactly how they 

 were made, for that is one of God's secrets. The great 

 cliffs, and the boulders and the blocks from which 

 our walls and buildings are made, all tell us stories, 

 such wonderful stories! 



The great cliff of pudding-stone will tell you, if you 

 can read, ''I was made out of the pebbles that the 

 rivers brought down to the margin of the ocean." 



The large squares of sandstone which make your 

 sidewalk will say, ''I was a part of a sea beach long, 

 long ago." 



The slate upon your roof will say, '^I was the 

 clay that made the floor of the ocean ages and ages 

 ago." 



The granite blocks built into a church will say, 

 ''I was made deep under ground where there was no 

 room for all the minerals of which I am made to form 

 in their own pretty shapes." 



The marble that makes such bright patterns on the 

 floor of a bank building will say, ^'T was made deep 

 under the sea from thousands and thousands of tiny 

 shells, the first there ever were." 



Then what shall we read when we see a piece of 

 sandstone with the surface all curved into little 

 ripples like those upon the beach? ''Oh," we shall 



