The Hickman courier., 1877-12-07
REVOLVING STORIES.
\ Ne" "nemiesI Diseo@ery OF Great
1nIeresC

1nleresG,
No intelligent man now doubts the
CoPeIhlclan theery. We know that the
planets reVolve around the sun, and that
every satellite reyolyes around its own
private planet. Still mankind has been
curiously slow to -.lr, .aI,,eite that the law
upon which the 6oneTnician theory is
based is of vastly w;6er application than
astronomers suppose All things do not
literally revolYe hut all things have
their periodic times
The appearing in the Chicago Tribune
Vi Il,, tne sioiy ef an alleged marriage cere-
hohy wh'Gh came to an abrupt END De-
cause the bride and groom mutually ac'
eused each other of awkwardness,
furnishes a hitting occasion to call atten-
tioh 10 lhe tact that all stories nave
tneir periodic tines. The story IN ques-
tiioP0Was popular one precisely twenty
81 years ago, as viii appear - an
examination of the comic almanacs oil
the year 1891, and It's reappeaTance at
TINS Time shows that its perlodlc time
Is III round numbers twenty-slX years.
Ihe tribune, ignorant of this tact, sup
poses that the story is new one, Jus
dlscOVered by one of its reporters: All
comets and all stories have existed during
incalculable ages, and their regular
temperatures Do not justify us IN as
suming that they are new.
There Is a vast difference in the peri
odic time of different stories, and 1t ls
probable that some of them revisit the
earth not ottener than Once IN many mil
lions OF years. The one which appeared
in the Chicago Tribune will, OF course
if its time has been accurately computed
-reappear in 1902, when 1t will sud
denly dawn upon score OF simultaneous
newspapers, all o which Will hail it as a
genuine novelty Vastly longer Is the
period of the story Of the man who, with
the aid of his tstheT, a widow, and the
widow 3 daughtr, and an intricate sys
tenn of inter-msrrisge, became his own
grandfather. The first recorded appear
ance of this lin a Sanscrit work, trans
lated by Bur0n, the African explorer.
Its second APPEARANCE was in this city, IN
1897, when it was told with much ap-
plause at a negro minstrel entertainment.
/ Between these two appearances there
was an interval of not far from $500
years. We need, therefore, fear no re-
/ currence Of the story until about the
year $3.50; a fact upon which we
may fairly congratulate ourselves,
in view OF its almost unique
tediousness and intricacy. In con
/ trast with the long cycle through which
/ the grandfather story sweeps, is the briei
period of the anecdote Cf the Irishman
/ who thought that he would never be able
10 put on pair of tigh boots without
previously wearing then for day ol
two. This reappears every two yean
v.h unvarying regularity, AL though
it has been slightly modified, since the
/ date when the sandal expanded into tn,
boot. it has maintained the same perioC
for at least three thousand years.
1t would be impossible, within tn,
limits of newspaper, TO discuss tn,
causes which frst set stories in motion
ard regulated them by law. Neither cal
the pertuIhations and phrases which
certain stories manifest, or the disturbing
influence which one sometimes exert
upon another, be more than barely al
luded to at this time Very little obser
vatio1 is, however. needed, TO establisl
the fact that every story has its periodi
time, and that it's path and its speed ar
governed by natural and inhexible law;
as truly as are the path and speed of tn
moOu.-F. y Iiaes.