Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1873-05-29
Tne Man I'm the s1ooa.

From Chambers Journal
Men have had strange fancies about
earth's beautiful satellite. They have
worshipped il as a goddess, sung OF II as
the birthplace OF dreams, honored i as
the abiding place, Of bene6cent spirits
empowered to visit the earth to aid good
men and punish evil-doers. Some have
held the moon to be the first home OF
humanity, the Paradise lost by Eve
transgression; others have believed it to
be the place to which the souls of men
ascend after death. Byron wrote,
Sweet Dian's crest
Floats through the azure air, an Island Of the
blest;
and q modern poetess has avowed her
faith that the wretched find rest In
Luna's serene regions. Many wise men
of old believed the moon to be a world
full of life, Pythagoras boldly asserting
il had its seas and rivers, its mountains,
plains and woods, its plants, far lovelier
than the flowers OF earth, its animals
fifteen times the size of those familiar to
mundane eyes, ruled over by men OF
larger growth and higher mental facul-
ties than those of earthly mould.
Leaving philosophers to speculate Us
to whether the moon was or was not the
home of creatures more or less akin to
humankind, unphilosophical folk agreed
that the moon had one inhabitant at
least, one of their own race, whose form
was palpable to all who had eyes to see.
How he attained his elevated position
was in this wise: While the children OF
Israel sojourned in the wilderness a man
was detected gathering sticks upon the
Sabbath day, whereupon he was taken
without the camp and stoned until he
died. Not satisfied with this exemplary
punishment of the offender by his fellow
wanderers, the vox populi condemned
the unhappy Sabbath breaker to a
perpetual purgatory in the moon, where
IN he may be seen, bearing his bundle
Of sticks upon his back, ever climbing
and climbing without gaining a step;
accompanied by dog, faithful in worse
than death, to a master, whom an old
English song-writer pictures shivering
With cold as the frosty air bites his back
through his thorn-rent clothes. Shak-
speare's Stephano found Caliban ready
enough TO believe he was the man in the
moon, dropped from the skies to become
king of the enchanted Island: have
seen thee in her, and | do adore thee;
INV mistress showed me thee, and thy
dog and thy brush" InGermany the story
runs that, many years ago, an old man
went into the woods TO cut sticks upon
A Sunday morning. Having collected
as many as he could carry, he slung the
bundle upon a stick, shouldered it, and
trudged komeward. He had not got far
upon his way when he was stopped
by a handsome gentleman dressed in
his Sunday best, who inquired if he
was aware that it was Sunday on earth,
when every one was bound to rest from
labor. Sunday on earth or Monday in
Heaven, it is all the same to mel was
the irreverent reply. So be it, said
his ouestioner; bear, then, your fagot
forever; and, since you do not value
Sunday on earth, you shall have an
everlasting MONDAY in heaven, stand
ing for eternity in the moon as q warn
ing to Sabbath-breakersP As he pro
nounced sentence the stranger vanished,
and before the wood.gatherer could
apologize for his rpdeness, he was
seized by invisible hands and borne to
the moon, pole, fagot and all. Accord
ing to another version, he had the option
of burning in the sun or freezing in the
moon, and cheese the latter as the least
Of two evils.