Roll back the scroll of the heavens; from out of the womb of birth
Come forth new heavens untainted; come forth, renewed, the Earth!”
MARQUETTE ON THE SHORES OF THE MISSISSIPPI
On seeing the original manuscript map of the Mississippi River by its discoverer, Father Marquette
By John Jerome Rooney
Here, in the midnight of the solemn wood,
He heard a roar as of a mighty wind,—
The onward rush of waters unconfined
Trampling in legions thro’ the solitude.
Then lo! before him swept the conquering flood,