Missouri is not only great in all that is essential to the happiness and comfort of mankind, where homes may be provided with both the necessities and luxuries of life, all produced within her own boundaries, but she offers attractions to travelers, tourists, and her own people, unsurpassed by the scenery on the Hudson and unrivaled by many places to which the lovers of the beautiful have been directed.

The Osage river with its high cliffs and beautiful valleys, dense forests, and deep gulches, and lovely islands, is well worth a visit even by those familiar with what have been deemed the most picturesque spots on earth.

The Current river, pouring its sparkling waters through deep canons of solid rock-again leisurely wending its way through fertile valleys bordered by bluffs that nature has wrought into parks unsurpassed in magnificence of scenery, her forests of towering pines and sturdy oaks interspersed with evergreens shaped by nature's hand, her innumerable springs bursting from imprisonment behind walls of granite and mountains of marble, pouring out their crystal waters in such abundance as to indicate' the existence of mighty subterranean streams walled in no doubt, by ores of inestimable value and that in the future must yield to Missouri fabulous wealth, is worthy of a visit,- a study of the intelligent tourist and to the pleasure seeker offers unbounded opportunities.

But nature, as if unable to place all the attractions designed for this imperial domain on the surface, has invaded the dark recesses of her mountains and given to Missouri caves of immense magnitude and wondrous beauty. Say to an American tourist that Switzerland had discovered a cave finished in glittering onyx and millions of American money would be spent in visiting it, and volumes would be written on its fascinating beauty yet in 'Missouri such caves, rivaling in magnificence and brilliancy the royal splendor of a Solomon's Temple, designed and finished under the direction of a Supreme Architect to evince the unlimited resources and wonderous skill of nature's God, are numerous and in the profusion of our dazzling wonders attract but little attention.

Marble cave in Stone county, Percy cave in Greene county, and a dozen others in the State are unrivaled in beauty and unsurpassed as great natural curiosities.

One room in the Percy cave, perhaps two hundred feet in diameter and one hundred feet to the ceiling, which is studded with innumerable stalactites of various sizes, catching the rays from electric lights and reflecting from a million scintillating points, suspended in groups of immense size that have probably been a million years in formation and extending downward from the brilliant canopy above and unite with glittering stalagmites below, forming massive pillars of support of intricate and marvelous design; the whole making a scene of such unusual beautv, grandeur, and fascinating loveliness as to hold the visitor wrapt in astonishment and awe, entranced by scenery midst which angels might dwell in contentment.

Ha Ha Tonka park, in Camden county. perhaps contains more natural curiosities, more dazzling wonders, more entrancing scenery than any other tract of the same size on earth. Virginia has a natural bridge, Kentucky a mammoth cave, other localities each a sin-le wonder that has attracted the attention of the world, but Camden county has a profusion of these wonderful works of nature not found elsewhere and none the less attractive. It was of this park that Bayard Taylor, an extensive traveler and always conservative in his declarations says: "I have traveled all over the world to find here in the heart of Missouri the most magnificent scenery the human eye ever beheld."

The natural bridge is in the midst of wild and fascinating scenery, is one hundred feet in length, eighty feet in width and fifty feet in thickness. Its composition is limestone, then sandstone overlaid with clay and gravel, and considered in connection with the wonderful panorama spread around it, is a marvelous attraction, the handiwork of a Supreme Power.

The immense natural coliseum, entrance to which is spanned by the bridge, is protected on every side by solid stone walls two hundred feet high, wrought by age and nature into a thousand strange and fantastical shapes, evincing the absolute unapproachable superiority of the architect that designed the universe. This grand auditorium, with a seating capacity of nearly one hundred thousand and perfect acoustic properties, lighted from a system located in the broad expanse of the heavens, canopied by the spreading boughs of giant forests, whose bodies like immense pillars of steel bear their stately tops high up into the heavens, no doubt in ages past the council chamber of the North American warrior, where was planned extensive conquests and recounted deeds of courage, is not duplicated in the world and may be seen only in Missouri.

The waters from Ha Ha Tonka spring, released from the unexplored caverns of the Ozarks, pouring forth in absolute purity thirty million gallons daily, a crystal stream, that, leaping and laughing in the sunlight of freedom, halts as if to consider environments and prepare for its mission amongst men, forming Ha Ha Tonka Lake.

This lake of sparkling waters, located in the midst of rugged hills, moss covered rocks and grotesque designs was no doubt a resting place where the Indian warrior met the untamed maiden, gentle only to him, and rehearsed the story of love and constancy as it has been told from Adam to the present day.

Onyx Island with its glittering walls, its caves and grottos of unequalled splendor and superb magnificence, in the midst of scenery of unsurpassed beauty; Trout Glen, near by, with its deep and silent waters gliding swiftly and smoothly over a polished bottom, then with terrific force hurled over ledges and boulders; uncurbed, impetuous and irresistible, are marvelous attractions and in perfect harmony with the diversified wonders of this fairy land.