The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1874-05-26
The Comet.


And the comet came, with luminous
head and Its threatening, fiery tail. 1t
was gazed at from palace and cot, by the
crowd upon the street and the lonely
wandercr over the painless heath, and
each Of all the gazcrs had his own
thoughts about il. Come and see the
sign in the sky :" were the words on the
lips of all, and all hastened to see.
But in the house little boy was sit
ting quietly with his mother the tallow
candle was burning, and the mother
thought she perceived shaving" in the
light The tallow had raised in q point,
and formed curl, which, as she thought,
sgnified that her little boy would soon
die, for the shaving turned toward him.
1t was an old superstition, and she be-
lieved it. But the little 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. lie was sitting
with mended bowl containing soap.suds,
into which he was dipping the head of a
clay pipe, then putting the stem in his
mouth and blowing off bubbles, little and
big, that waved and scared in most beauti-
ful colors, changing 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 p-buboles you blow :"
said his mother.
80 many So many said the little
boy. The suds can never be blown up :"
and the little one blew bubble after bubble.
"There goes year. See how they
Gy," said he as each bubble foated away,
\ couple OF them went directly into his
Dyes, giving them PAIN and bringing tears.
In each bubble he had vision Of the
future, shining, gittering.
I'VE can see the comet" called the
neighbors "Oh, come out don't SIT in
there :"
And tho mother took the little boy by
the hand he had to lay away the pipe
the soap-bubbe toy; the comet wa;
there, and the little one saw the shining
ball with the fiery tail Some said il
seemed to be three yards long; Others
that it was millions of yards people see
differently.
"Chidren and children's children may
be dead before it comes again" said the
people, and the most of those who said il
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 "whito hair is tn,
blossom of age" and with him the bios.
som was profuse; he was now an old
schoolmaster. His pupils spoke of hin
as wise, knowing so much of history ge
ographv aud astronomy.
"All things return" he said; "only
set your mark upon characters and trans
actions, and you will always find the SAINT
dpdlU III sOlut OiucT COuutTy.
And the schoolmaster told them o
William Tell who was compelled to shoe
an apple from the head of his son bu
Safore shooting had concealed upon hi
breast another arrow with which to pierc
the breast of the wicked Gesler. Ii
Switzerland this occurred, but many year
before the same transpired in Denmarl
with Palnatoke. He, too, was compelle
to shoot an apple from the head of hi
son, and, like Tell, concealed an arrol
with which to take revenge; and, furthe
back, more than thousand years, tn
same event is recorded as having trans
pired in Egypt; the same events reappea
as do the comets; they disappear, renal
a while away, and then come back agar
And he told of the comet, now expect
ed, the comet which he had seen whe
he was little boy. The schoolmasts
knew much about the heavenly bodie
meditated upon them, and yet did n,
forget history and geography.
He had laid out his garden In tt
shape of the map of Denmark. Hel
herbs and flowers were arranged accort
ing to the adaptation of soil in differer
parts of the country. "Bring me peas
and these were brought from the bed th'
represented Holland. bring me bucl
wheat !" ana this was brought fro
Langeland. The beautiful blue gentia
and sweet.willow were to be found up
Skagen the glossy Christhorn over Silk
borg. The towns were signifed as C.
blems. Here was St. Canute with Il
dragon, ,signifying Odense Absalom, wi
a bishop-staff, siguifying Soro; and
little vessel with oars (Aarer) signif,
Aarhus. From the schoolmaster's ga
den one could learn quite we'll the geo
raphy of Denmark, but of course he mu
be instructed by the schoolmaster, "
was so agreeable.
The comet was expected, and concer
ing it he told what people of old da,
when il was last here, had said. 18th
comet is a good wine year." he sal