CURIOUS ROCKS IN THE GARDEN OF THE GODS. 



We went into The Garden of The ' 

 Gods, through the western entrance, on 

 the afternoon of a clear October day. 

 According to old residents of Colorado 

 Springs, we chose the best.. time and di-. 

 rection for seeing the wonders . of that 

 strange place. We were fortunate in 

 securing an experienced guide, who could 

 point out to us many curious things 

 which would otherwise. have escaped our 

 notice. 



At the very entrance he called our at- 

 tention to what is called "the baggage- 

 room." Here the rocks,, shaped much; 

 like gigantic trunks, are piled tier on 

 tier ; and it does not require a stretch of 

 the imagination to see their resemblance 

 to a well-filled baggage-room in some 

 central railway station. 



"Now," said our guide, "do you see 

 that boulder lying up there on top of 

 those trunks ? If you will turn your 

 heads to one side and look closely at it 

 you will see that it resembles a head 

 with well-marked features. Do you see 

 it?" "Yes," we answered. 



"Well," continued the guide, with a 

 twinkle in his eye, "that is the baggage- 

 man who lost his head while trying to 

 arrange those Saratoga trunks." 



An alligator, a seal, a shark, a camel, 

 the head of a dog, all were pointed out 

 in succession, plainly sculptured out of 

 the rocks by the hand of Nature. On 

 the other side of the driveway a huge 

 toad of red rock reposed under great 

 toadstools of the same formation. Japa- 

 nese pagodas raised their many-storied 

 towers into the air. The hanging rock 

 leaned over the driveway, and we rode 

 underneath its threatening bulk. Our 

 driver said that nervous visitors often 

 begged him not to drive under it ""for 

 fear that it might fall." The balanced 

 rock has been too often photographed 

 and described to need especial mention 

 here. This rock will not always remain 

 as a curiosity for sight-seers, as it has 

 already been propped by thick applica- 



tions of. cement under one side. Some 

 day .it .will topple over and crush the lit- 

 tle photograph gallery which stands 

 .across the driveway from it." As the 

 .horses swept down the. steep incline be- 

 yond the balanced rock our guide said : 



"Cast your, eyes over to that sentinel 

 rock to your right. If you notice, you 

 •will see, that it bears the plain profile of 

 a man.' That is Adam, the father of us 

 all. Keep your- eyes on* it as we drive 

 by, for on the. opposite' side are the feat- 

 ures of Eve. Do you see it?" . 



Sure enough, the reverse, side of the 

 -gigantic, statue bore the face of a woman. 



"And now, if you will turn your faces 

 to the left, I will shpw-yOu the most 

 curious thing in the 'garden," said the 

 gui'de. "Do you see those' two tall rocks 

 yonder standing- entirely to themselves? 

 Those two rocks are Punch and Judy. 

 The one to the left you can easily see re- 

 sembles a good-natured Dutchman, 

 while the shorter one to the right looks 

 like his wife. Nov/, Punch and Judy 

 were a good old couple, but they had no 

 children. One day a prophet told Punch 

 that some day he would have a son who 

 would grow to be half-a-head taller than 

 his father. This amused the old man so 

 much that he turned his , head to one 

 side and ran out his' tongue as a sign of 

 his incredulity. See it?" 



Yes, we could plainly see the strong 

 profile of the old man, and from his open 

 mouth protruded .his tongue. We 

 laughed heartily, and the guide contin- 

 ued. 



"Keep looking. We are not done 

 yet." 



The horses were walking slowly 

 along, so that our point of view was 

 constantly changing. 



"After a time a child was born to this 

 worthy couple. You now see that 

 Punch has faced about, from left to 

 right, and is gazing in open-mouthed 

 astonishment on his son — the rock which 

 now appears between Punch and Judy." 



