CHAPTER SEVEN 



HOW FAR WILL NATURE RESTORE HER WASTED 

 GIFTS? 



The natural wealth of our country is its soil, water, for- 

 ests, minerals, animal and bird life, and, finally, its climate 

 and scenery. 



Of aU these, climate and scenery are the only ones which 

 we can use and enjoy as much as we like without any danger 

 of their ever failing us. The sun will shine through the blue 

 sky, the winds will blow, and the storms will come just the 

 same, no matter what we may do. 



Did you ever think how long a time it has taken to make 

 the wonderful world in which we live, arid place upon it the 

 mountains and valleys, lakes and oceans? Did you ever 

 think how long a time it has taken to make the rocks and 

 store away in them gold, silver, copper, and iron ? Did you 

 ever think how long a time it has taken to cover the rocks 

 with soil, and spread over the surface the flowers and trees 

 and to stock it with uncounted numbers of animals and 

 birds ? 



Nature usually works very slowly, but she never rests. 

 The earth and all things on its surface have always been 

 changing, but changing so slowly that we do not ordinarily 

 notice what is going on. When there is an earthquake,, 

 or a slide of rock on a mountain side, or an eruption of a 

 volcano, we are astonished and often terrified. 



Stories that have come down to us from the distant past 

 tell us that the earth looked then much the same as it does 

 now. If we could look away back to a time long before 

 the first men lived, when even the animals and plants were 



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