The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1874-11-10

slonally 10 every person VINO u engage"
in constant occupation either Of brain or
muscle. have often thought If the
workers could have rest and the busy
idlcrs have some real true work to do, it
would be blessed change for both par.
ties. must draw my moralizing and OBJ.
serving both to a close, for such is the
irailty Of our mortal frames that rest is
needed, even from riding in an easy car.
riage. NJ. +. c.
total ECLIPSE OF THE MOON.
The announcement which had been
widely circulated during the few days
previous, to the effect that committee Of
the heavenly bodies had engaged the eel.
cbrated Md'lle Luna to repeat her won.
derful performance of Now you see it,
and now you don't" drew out, last Sat
urday night, Que Of the largest and most
appreciative audiences OF the season.
Md'lle Luna has not appeared in this role
before for eighteen years. and considera.
BILE anxiety prevailed among all classes OF
our citizens to witness the event. AID
Judge for themselves OF her merits as q
commedenne. The Watchers ,as they saw
the dark shadow of the earth stealing
over the ght surface Of the moon pune
tual to the very minute toretold by the
astronomers, had realizing sense OF the
accuracy Of science. OF course every.
body in these days feels bound to accept
the statements OF the astronomers in re-
~ ,vkf nj hnr
qualities Of the heavenly bodies but we
venture to say that the average person is
very far from getting a realizing sense OF
this marvellous lore The pretensions oi
astronomy are so vast and almost incred-
ibe that the science needs to be accred.
tied from time to time by signs IN the
heavens. No other science needs, and no
other science has, such splendid almost
miraculous confrmations. 1t is no won.
der that the man who ioretels an eclspse
seem. a god to savage tribes. Even the
educated mind receives somewhat awe.
some impression of the might Of the hu.
man intellect, as he watches the course oil
an eclipse, until some school boy reminds
him that 4" it's easy enough to calculate. y
For the prediction Of eclipses, after oil,
though decidedly the most effective feat
Of the astronomers, is al-o one Of the
easiest.
The astronomers took comparatively
little interest in the eclipse Of the moon
on Saturday night. because there was
nothing new to be learned from it. Ev.
erybody is supposed to know that the
black cone OF the earths shadow stretch.
es continually into space in direction
opposite to the sun, and sweeps the clip.
tic with every revolution oil the planet.
The pathway of the moon from month to
month, although apparently somewhat er.
ratio, is matter Of easy calculation for
some years ahead. Sometimes it is on
one side OF the elliptic. or the suns appa.
rent path, and sometimes Oh the other,
and of course it frequently crosses IT.
Once in about eighteen years and eleven
days it crosses it just at the point where
the earth's shadow lies at the same time,
and as the shadow reaches far beyond the
moons orbit, OF course the satellite passes
through it and its light is obscurcd,-or
more accurately speaking, the suns light
is intercepted from its face. \, all Other
times. whatever its form may appear tC
be to US. and whether we can see i, al
or not, it is 10 the full light of the SUI
aud one side is completely illuminated
The earth's shadow, which is 5000 mile
in diameter at its base, is 5000 miles ii
diameter when it reaches the orbit Of th'
moon,
Those who took the trouble to sit ~
or to get up Saturday night, to see th'
eclipse. noticed that the moon was at N
time altogether invisible though great.
obscurod The reason OF this is that th
light Of the sun rs it posses through th
atmosphere Of the earth is - much re
facted from lrec, course that enoug
T of il is thrown iu,o the shadow to max
the moon dimly visible even in what
| called the total eclipse II u person wcr
standing on the moon at such time, b
would s,c bright rim or halo of ligh
encircling the earth bu, nobody i, SUP
: posed to be standing on the moon. Tha
d weird and worD.out orb that adds ;
b much to the garn=hment Of our night
c has no atmosphere, AMI IL is pretty We
settled that no form Of life is -ustainr
& on its surface |, is lonely wildernes
S scanned and ragged with the effects OF e,
e linct volcanic action, and rolls about o,
l. planet with no purpose but to illumil
I our nights and exert its powers Of at,ra
h ton upon the ocean and the atmospher
= This matter of the earth : shadow il
g curious subject, OF which We seldom thin
ID The celestial hemisphere is not jal ken,
when the sun goes down, but the heave
" ly bodies become visible to us because Il
Ct glaring light is Withdrawn from our e.,
ID as we roll round into the shadow of Il
ie earth. From the bottom OF a deep W,
OF or u mine we can see the stars in the da
OF time. The earth's shadow is a well
d. darkness, stretching thousands Of mil
's' into the armament, and from the botto
IL Of it we can see the lumnaries Of oil
'd half of the heaven, simply because t
he glare of day is removed II the :
ng were altogether blstted out for the tn
e. being, we would see neither the moon n
IN the planets, and the fixed stars. viii
ur are suns shining by light OF their ov
'e- would twinkle in armament of ut
&c. backuess The heavens are above
ut and around us at all times, and there
OF no more darkness or light in them at G
Is tim than another, but, every night
lla IS al L.
by out the gariug sunlight from our Q,
'n' aud the myriad lumiuaries become visit
las These are the commonpaces of scien
ul' but we do not realize them. except
those rare occasions when our atteDt
''' is specially attracted by some such P
wn nsmeuou as that Of Saturday night
ad' Record anil Farmer
ac- The other dav, after meeting @