Republican vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1857, 1857-11-14
The Sun.

but if any of our readers desire in these
times Of money pressure and lugubrious
countenances, to enjoy real hearty, side
shaking laugh, we advise them to read the
following, which we find in the Fayetteville
North Cafolinton, under the heading given
at the top of this paragraph:
Some of eur readers may never have seen
DR.. Dicks illustration of the impossibility
of the suns rising and setting daily. We
eondense it as follows: In the morning the
sun as he rises above the Eastern horizon is
%, OOO, 900 of miles from the earth. In the
evening when he sets beneath the Western
horizon he is at the same distance from the
earth in an opposite direction, as he was in
the morning. In round numbers then he
has travelled in twelve hours 2S5 200, 000
Of miles, or at the rate of % \ 80, 600 miles
per hour, 800, 1913 per minute, and 6,5g7
miles per second-at which rate the velocity
would be too great for mortal eye to note
the passage of the sun. We reeolleet try
ing to pin dogmatieal old customer down
with that argument once, and VIC shall
never forget how he knocked the whole
column of figures into pi by denying the
premises.
We were teaching an ACADEMY" down
in the wire grass country of South Georgia
soon after we left Collegc-and among the
higher branches taught in that institoo-
ton were the Rudiments of Astronomy, to
which advanced text book we had introduce
ed class of sand bill boys and gopher.trap-
ping girls, ranging in age from fourteen to
twenty years. A few rocita.ions, confined
principally to corrections of niutflated pro-
nunciation, 'stairs," ''hovingi buddies, !"
1.-THE yeath," Comics" planics," &c-and
we made to the advanced class the start
ling and incredible announcement that the
sun did not rise and set daily that the re-
yolution of the earth on its axis made night
and day, &C., &c. There were a few .opcn
countenances in that gaping, wonder-strick
en- class about thon.
Next morning We were waited on by 4
grave, sage looking patron of ours, who,
with some asperity of countenanee and, as
we imagined, contemptuous severity of cx-
preston, thus delivered himself:
"Wc've emply'd we here to learn our
Young 'uns, haint we?' We assentcd to
the proposition.
"Well," continued he, "what's all this
riggymarole and stronamy and stuff about
the sun not settin and risin, and the yeath
,turnin upside down of night, and sich like
.afadJ talk ye'vc ben foolin the skollards
with % Now, thought we, for a triumph
of science, lighting up of this bcnightcd
understanding Inviting him intot he ga
cademy," we proceeded to draw diagram
upon the black board, for the purpose of il
lustration Now said we, "thc sun is
ninety five millions of miles from the earth,
and stop cried he-''how do you know
that? Who's ben thar to measure it? What
survaycr's ever drug his chain over that
route? faint So" In vain We assured
him thai scientific men had demonstrated it,
philosophers proved it beyond doubt, and
that all the learned and eminent men III the
world admitted and believed it.
'They don't know nothin about it,, was
his dogmatie response: mot a bit morc'n
/ do, and they've never ben any closer to
the sun than / hey. It's agin reason, sense
and scripter, to say that the sun don't rise
and set-for thar's a text, which mabbe
you've seed if you ever read the Bible
which KANT scacely believe you ever did.
read it, sayin from the risin of the sun to
the goin down tharof' and see here, young
man, if you KANT tecch the children some
thin better'n sich fool talk and infidet argy-
ment yan mout as well look out for Dooly
settlement Nhar thcr amt no churches and
the folks never iloard o the bible" We
cayed wiped out the diagram with ourilcft
coat tail bowed out our indignant patron,
and the next morning the "stronamy" class
was advanced to Peter Parley's Geography,
and the sun permitted to rise and set MS
usual There's everything in admitting
and denying the premises,