Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes Co., O. [Ohio]) 1870-1895, 1872-10-31
Mr.. Stark, the Astronomer

MI. SLdIh, tue 4SLluuuu1eI'
"Master curiss feller as ever seed
or heerd tell Of" remarked Mrs. Par.
ker to her next door neighbOr, Mrs
Spring, who was making her call
Use had good many crotchety board
ers in my house, but must say lie beat,
the whole of them. He's a starOlOgisl
of the hardest kind. It's enough tC
make anybody's hair stand up to heal
him talk. Its dreadful onreverent. He
LATED himself purple the other day, be-
cause l happened to say was afraid Of
comics, and then he went OIL to tel
what they was, just as though he'd tied
one down and examined it. He sed they
was nothing but-well 1 won't pretend
to tell what, but nothing of any eonse-
quence anyway. He said was a goose
to be afraid of 'm.'' s
"He did! Why, Mrs. Parker! He
must be an. awful 0nsanetifled critter
Why, when there's comic round,
never think of going to sleep without
covering my head mp in the blanket
Not that think if a eOmi c should come
into the house that blanket would save
my life, but it wouldn't be 30 likely tC
SINCE my hair and eyebrows, you know
/ should look more natreller after was
dead, and that's something.' 2"
"To be sure tits. Your friends would
feel so much better. l think we Ort to
consider Cur friends in such cases.
The conversation was stopped by the
entrance of the subject of it, Mr.. Stark
himself. He was good looking man
of twenty-eight or thirty, with slight
stoop in the shoulders, and grave, pre-
occupied air. ......-.f
Mrs. Parker took bOarders, and Mr..
Stark had occupied her best front cham
ber for more than week. He had
come to Rawdon for the purpose of pur-
suing his favorite study in peace and
quietness. RawdOn, like most country
villages had its gossips, and it was not
the most enlightened place in the
world. -.
Mr.. Stark was devoted to his science,
soul and body. He slept most of the
time by day, and nights he wandered
about the country making observations
of the heavenly bodies. He carried
with him telescope as large as mod
crate sized stove pipe, and put it up on
every hill he came to, and took squint
at the heavens. ..-4.... f..-s.-..
Miss Patty Flanders, the village
school mistress, boarded at Mrs. Par
ker's, and as soon as Mr.. Stark arrived
she set her cap for him. Evening after
evening she tried to engage his atten-
ton by her conversation. Hf
r. "Do You love flowers, Mr.. Stark -
"Yes, do. Have you class in as
tronomy:" r-uafF-s rat
= N0-l-
"Oh, what pity! You ought to
have. 1t cultivates the powers of cal
culation astonishingly. Is an amazing
help in mathematics. And the distance
of the planets from the sum is a grand
exercise for the memory. There's Mer-
cury-3,224 miles in diameter, 81 900,
900 of miles from the sun, and has an
hourly motion of 10000 miles. Venus
is 1878 miles in diameter, is 6S,000,00O
of miles from the sun, revolves around
the sun in 2224 days, and has an
"Have you heard the band play, Mr..
Stark? They have concert tonight
at Union Hall. Oh, lido wish / could
CO." -4a aiit .fa n4aar -Ito.1 :.
"Yes, it's going to be fine night for
observations. Mars will be unusually
splendid. Ever seen his telescope
phases?'' o. -H4I.+..i -.rt
"NO," shortly.
Indeed! You ought to. Perfectly
splendid. His face presents great
clianges-sometimes spotted, sometimes
striped, then clouded, and sometimes all
these appearing at once. The atmos-
phere is of great density, and
"Dear me, Mr.. Stark, isn't somebody
rapping?" .... ,.. .sl. r
I" L did not observe. We were speak
ing of Mars, believe? His density is
exceedingly great, as is proved by the
dimness of the fixed stars when seen
through it. The nearer they approach
the line of his disc" .-t..aW
The remainder of his speech was lost
upon his auditor-she rose angrily and
fiounced of.
MIR. Stark wondered why women did
not take any more interest in science
at showed very plainly their inieriori-
ty to men, he said to himself"
So he went of to Glassmer Hill with
his telescope, to take observations. Ht
made practice going thither al.
most every night. Scarcely had he got
his telescope arranged for a squint Al
the Great Bear, over the chimney of the
widow Glassmer's house, when he wa,
startled by loud, shrill voice at hi'
elbow. .,... Is,r..t-... -.....
"Ill be switched if I'll stand 1t any
longer" .' -+'..
lie turned, and saw woman of tn,
stature of Hercules; fire in her eye
and rage on cheek; armed with form
idable broomstick.
:" What do you want" he asked.
"I'll let you know, if youstir a step!
said she; $50 you think I'm gwine t
stand idle and let you lombard IN,
house with that cOlumbused of yourn
I've read enough of them guns sine
the rebellion was, to larn me when
see it. If there hain't power enoug
In the Constitution Of the United State
to keep you from pointing guns at hon
est peoples houses after they're abe
and asleep, I'll try what power there
in n wannut broomstick. Here you'v
been perambulating the country nigh