The penny press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1859-1860, 1859-08-31
SPECIAL Correspondence OF the Penny Press.
LETTERS OF A NOMAD.
YELLow SrnINas, O.. August q

YELLOW SPRINGS, o., August 29.
EpIroRs Penny Pass Yesterday CSun-
day. opened with dull sky aud rain; but if
we had the pillar of cloud by day, surely we
had the pillar of fire by night. OF this night
let me write, but first of its fine overture,
the gorgeous sunset. From our piazza de-
clining undulating field GIBBS away on every
side to o wall OF stately forest trees. Our
landscape is not startling and exciting, but it
has certain mystic and grave beauty, as if
we came near to Nature in her deeper and
more earnest mood which the revcrie at once
falling upon us enables us to share. We can
take refuge from cares and worldly distrac-
tions, hidden close in the folds of Nature b
robe.
Under a beautiful sky such a landscape
finds its glory. The sky is the universal
ocean whose light waves lave all shores: it is
kind of compensation for those who can
not spend their days near the magnificent
outlooks of Nahant and Newport, that i'll
sunrises and sunsets endless seas OF light
should stretch out from the horizon, loating
golden isles Of the blest; such sunrses and
sunsets as are seldom or never seen at the
Beashores. 1t was near very much such u
landscape as this that Herbert wrote--that
sweet Sabbath line Of the "sweet day..
"Tho bridal of the earth and sky"
And beneath such sun set as on this even
ing, Of which I write, our landscape is as
IN emerald casped in ring Of gold, ring
| worthy of such o bridal. From the base Of
| dark primeval trees, wall Of purple light
sprang aloft and lowered into a cornico OF
straw tint, go intense that the eye could
scarcely look upon it. Then drew near the
long bars Of sapphire and maroon tint; the
gorgeous cornice is suddenly shivered into a
hundred floating argosies laden with gold,
and for their sailing toward the not distant
| golden fleece, an orangs-purple sea stretches
out, and the heavier bars are now capes, pro.
monitories and islands
But this, as we said, was only overture. We
watched until the last tint had faded away
from the West, then turned away, saying with
Browning's Pippa-
"How could that red sun drop in that black cloud
When 10 to the North, one large, blood-red
spot arrested our attention. And, as night
comes on, We knew the frozen Zone was dream
ing his gorgeous dream-a dream like that
which sh0ne on the exile of Patmos, radian,
with the turrets of celestiahcity, with wall:
of jasper and gates of pearl! The Aurora
Borealis Of Sunday was by no means an ordi'
nary one. The double-bow Of white light il
the the n North with spcule ofred or greenish ligh
shooting up is not unparalleled, though th'
lines are oftener single than double. But thi'
Aurora flowed, wave on wave, with o tida
motion, upward and onward, until the zenith
was reached--when the sky had tho appear
ance of an exactly divided arch, one sido sc
light that beneath it fine print could bo reat
with ease, while the other was so dark that il
the stars had not shOne, we should have taker
it for black cloud. u.H
But the electric waves did not pause at the
zenith, nor till two-thirds of the vault was il
lumiatned. These lights were constantly chang
ing and distributing themselves in quaint anC
woired forms. We observed that the light il
the northeast was usually fainter duplicate
of that in tho northwest, and the shapes muci
alike. But so vast was the Aurora than ever
little south Of east and south Of west thert
was ut one time great red glow. Tho mos
singular phenomena We witnessed was thu
springing forth from the very (cloudless) zenitt
itself of brilliant white light, Of defined and
graceful form, which, like an arial ship, saileC
rapidly across the sky and faded from mer
distance in the extreme west. 1t took abou
two minutes for its voyage, and was the mos
startling thing L nave ever Witnessed. In
most sublime thrg We witnessed was vas
column of red flame which, at about half.pas
ton o'clock, loomed up from the horizon nearl.
to the zenith, and covered in massive grandeu
several degrees Of the horizon.
How wonderful is this phenomenon Of Norther
Light All the more exciting and delightful
because it is one Of those mysteries Of natur
which she seems to reserve for higher devel
opmeut of tho human mind--such as the vari
atoms of the compass, the sources and tn
seven year tides of the American and one o
two other lakes, the frozen we'll, the polar SOC
Tho resources of science are not likely to
soon exhaused, and each secret, when it
reached, implies another stratum of civiizstio
and knowledge for tho forming man. Huma
knowledge passes from superstition to fancy
from fancy to positive science. The first Au
rora drove the fanatics to the temples; at frs
becauspthey thought the world was On fire; aftel
ward because they thought it an omen of Wal
pestilence and famine; the second step was th
fancy that it was the reflection and r0fraction
glaciers Of the north Pole Of sun's rays; but th
agitations of the needle under it detected il
real character, and placed man on the path
discovering its nature. In how many voyage
must the compass guido tho mind as we'll as th
bodyl NOMAD.