The weekly Butte record., 1862-12-13
Baptilng IN the Jordan.

Holy Land thus describes the ceremony Of
the bathing or baptizing Of the pilgrim in The
River Jordan: We rode into small wood,
aud halted upon a ve7dAut hight or little hill.
where We alighted Below this li,,le bill! flow
ed the Jordan, with lis margin tlickly over
gTogn With umbTsgeous foliage We were
soon on its banks, lis light gray waters flow
ed rapidly along from north 10 south, 50 rapidly
indeed. that il seemed as if it would be al the
peril of life to swim across, although the river
was by no means broad Nor did any oue
seem inclined to make the attempt. The wa
ter, however, was calmer. and overShaiowed
by beautiful large trees at the bend Of the
river where we and number Of other pilgrims
had taken our stand aud this in fact, was
the place where the peculiar scene Of the bath
ing or baptism Of the pilgrims was going
forward. Beneath shady tree, upon some
elevated ground, near the bank of the river,
men aud women removed their outer attire.
and then went down in merely linen garments
to the waters edge where, besides an old dry
treetrunk which leaned over the water, stood
an athletic figure. with black shaggy head
and a chest covered with hair-more like a
Hercules than a John the Bap'ist-naked to
the waist, aud standing to his middle in the
water. This man received in his sinewy arms
the pilgrims as they stepped down to the river
into which by the help Of au assistant, he
gave them hasty plunge, at the same time
as it seemed to me, little violently, he pressed
down with his hand their heads under the
wafer. This was repeated three times TO each
person. Bat the broad shoudered, black hair
ed Hercuean Baptist had such good temper
ed, jovial expression that We could see very
plainly that he was accustomed 10 the business.
and that they who came TO him had nothing
to fear. The baptized then mounted up the
hill again, and resumed their garments in the
shade of the large tree; women helping one
another in so doing, and the men performing
the same good Office for men. Beautiful Young
women, gray haired old women, youths and old
men, children of all ages, were thus plunged
into the river. The children cried numerically
but il was to no purpose down to the river
they must go, and over head three times in
succession, and not till then were they restored
to their mothers. There was here no fervency,
as when John the Baptist baptised in the
river Jordan, to repentance and preparation
for the kingdom of heaven, both by word aud
expression, as powerful as the rocks of the
desert. 1t was not in this case frivolous
sport. People here seem to go into the bath
as to some pleasant church festival The wa
ter also was so agreeable so fresh and soft at
the same time, that l experienced physical
longing to have dip likewise But the great
assemblage of people terrified me. merely
bathed my forehead and eyes with the water
of this river, rich in memories. and thanked
God, who had permitted me, a little pilgrim on
earth, to behold the Mississippi in the far
West-that river, rich for the future-and
who had now led me hither to the banks Of
the Jordan! For, though the river Jordan
be small in comparison with all the great
rivers Of the world, ana small its significance
in the history of the present times, yet memo
ry is connected with the Jordan such as with
no other river on the face Of the earth"
DISTANCE OF TUE FIXED STAEs.-It is not
twenty five years since the distance Of a fixed
star was measured. This was star Of the
sixth magnitude, 10 the constellation of Cyg-
nus, and its parallax was found to be less than
four-tenths of a second Of space, which CORE
spends with distance of 592 200 mean dis
tances of the earth from the sun. and which
requires period of nine years for the trans
mission of its light.
This great feat was accomplished in l84O.
by that illustrious, seftaught astronomer and
mathematician, Frederick Wilhelm Bessel, af-
ter three years untiring application to the
problem, and constituted an important epoch
in the history of sldereal astronomy.
The nearest fixed star yet known is Alpha
Centauri, star of the first magnitude in the
southern hemisphere. This star is nearly twen-
ty millions of miles from our sun distance
which would require nearly three years for its
light to reach u.
1t was formerly supposed that the larger
stars were much nearer to US than the fainter
ones but this is found not to be the case with
all of them. The nearest star is of the first
magnitude yet there are stars of the fifth and
sixth magnitudes, which are great deal near
er to US than many of our first. The bright
star CapeIla, which is of the first magnitude, is
farther from US than the pole star, which is
the third. The last named star is SO distant,
that if it were annihiIated, it would serve as a
guide 10 the mariner for quarter of a century.
Among the innumerable stars which the tele
scope discloses TO Us, there may be those whose
light is hundreds, and perhaps thousands, Of
years in travelling down to our system.
A GOOD minister was lamenting the fruitful