The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1873-08-08
THE COMET.

THE COMET.
And the comet came, with luminous
head, and threatening his fiery tail. 1t
was gazed at from palace to cot, by the
crowd upon the street and the lonely
wanderer over the painless heath ; and
each of all the gazers had his own
thoughts about it. Come and see the
sign i'll the sky !" were words on the lips
of all, and all fastened to see.
But in the house a little boy was sit
ting quietly with his mother the tallow
candle was burning, and the mother
thought she perceived Shaving" i'll
the light. The tallow had raised in
point, and formed a curl, which, as she
thought, signiied that her little boy
would soon die, for the shaving turned
towards him. 1t was an old supersti-
ton, and she believed it, But the fittle
boy was to live many days upon the
earth-live to see the comet when,
after more than sixty years, it should
reappear.
The little boy did not see the omen in
the light, nor did he see the comet
which now, for the first time in his life,
was shining from heaven. He was sit
ting with mended bowl containing
soap-suds, into which he was dipping
the head of clay pipe, then putting
the stem to his mouth and blowing off
bubbles, little and big, they waved and
from yellow to red, lilac and blue, and
then becoming green, like the forest
leaf, transparent in the sunlight.
"God grant you years upon earth as
numerous as the soap-bubbles you
blow " said his mother.
$50 many so many " said the little
boy 1.-THE suds can never be blown
up ~ and the little one blew bubble af-
ter bubble. "There goes year See
how they fly" said he as each bubble
foated away. A couple of them went
directly into his eyes, giving them pain
and bringing tears. In each bubble he
had a vision of the future, shining,
glittering.
eve can see the comet p called the
neighbors. "Oh, come out don't sit
in there y
And the mother took the little boy by
the hand he had to lay away the pipe,
the soap-bubble toy; the comet was
there, and the little one saw the shining
ball with the fiery tail. Some said it
seemed to be three yards long others
that it was millions of yards people
see differently.
"Children and children's children
may be dead before it comes again, +"
said the people, and the most of those
who said it were dead and gone when it
came again, but the little boy, for whom
the shaving stood in the candle, and
concerning whom the mother thought
"he will soon die ~ lived yet, was old
and white haired The old adage says
that "white hair is the blossom of old
age ~ and with him the blossom was
profuse he was now an old school
master His pupils spoke of him as
wise, knowing so much OF history, ge-
ography, and astronomy.
" All things return, he said only
set your mark upon characters and
transactions, and you will always find
the same again, in some other dress,
some other country.
And the school-master told them of
William Tell, who was compelled to
shoot an apple from the head of his son
but before shooting had concealed upon
his breast another arrow with which to
pierce the breast of the wicked Gesler
In Switzerland this occurred, but many
years before the same transpired in
Denmark with Palnatoke. He, too,
was compelled to shoot an apple from
the head of his son, and, like Tell, con-
cealed an arrow with which to take re-
venge and, further back, more than a
thousand years, the same event is re-
corded as having transpired in Egypt
the same events reappear as do the
comets they disappear, remain a while
away, and then come back again.
And he told of the comet, now ex.
pected, the comet which he had seen
when he was little boy. The school
master knew much about the heavenly
bodies, meditated upon them, and yet
did not forget history and geography
He had laid out his garden in the
shape of the map of Denmark. Here
herbs and flowers were arranged accord
ing to the adaptation of soil in different
parts of the country. Bring m,
peas ~ and these were brought from tn,
bed that represented Holland. Bring
me buckwheat ~ and this was brough
from Langeland. The beautiful blu,
gentian and sweet-willow were to b,
found up at Skagen the glossy Chris
thorn over at Silkeborg. The town
were signified as emblems. Here wa
st. Canute with the dragon, signifyinl
Odense Absalon, with bishop-stafl
signifying Soro ; and little vessel witt
oars (Aarer) signifed Aarhus. From