American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1879-01-25
DAWN ON THE MOON.
The Lunar Wonders Revealed by the Ad
vancing Sunlight.

| The Lunar Wonders Revealed by the Ad-
| vancing Sunlight.
From the Rochester Express.J
A Rochester journalist who visited
Prof. Swift the other evening and had a
view of the moon says: "The telescope,
with a power of SO diameters, was turn
ed upon the moon. At first the flood of
light was binding, and the view was
but cursory. The moon looked like a
shield of embossed silver-the shield of
Achilles-hung by his goddess mother
| in the azure of the heavens. Professor
Swift looked over the field, and noted
rs he looked MANY of the interesting
points, and suggested that wc follow the
sunrise on the moon. On the moon the
dawn advanced at the rate of ten miles
an hour, lighting up new fields and
furnishing to him an everchanging pan
Drama. Still, there is naught but desc
lation, yawning craters, and sharp
peaks of volcanic mountains and circu-
lar sides that surround deep pits. The
moon is dead, to all appearance-burn-
ed ont with volcanic fires. No water
laves the desolate and rugged shores of
its great sea bottoms. But in the gray
plains, where some astronomers think
an ocean once spread, craters are seen
with perpendicular walls.
The gray plains can be seen with the
naked eye, forming what is called the
man in the moon," ON map like the
eastern continent. Under the telescope
we could trace what seemed at first to
be shore lines on the borders of this
plaih. On closer inspection, instead of
wave-washed sand, these lines appeared
to be but rounded steps formed by sue
cessive lava bursts spreading over the
plain and making, by the lessening flow,
the gradual exhaustion of the volcanic
force. From one of the largest craters
rise three volcanic cones, the SUBMITS
of which are tipped with sunlight be-
fore the floor of the crater is lighted.
In another large crater two cones arise.
From the larger craters rays spread out,
as though the volcanic force cracked
the firm crust in its upheaval, injecting
through the broken surface ridges of
dazzling white lava, tbat spread out
like the arms of cuttle-fish covering
vast surface.
The grandest phenomena are to be
observed by following the sun on the
moon. The advancing dawn forms a
ragged crescent line upon the surface
still in darkness. The SUMS rays pass
over dark chasms and low fields, light
ing up ragged mountain tops far in ad-
vance. They appear like little islands
of light lying off the coast of an illumi-
mated sea. High mountains and crater
walls near the shore of light cast deep
shadows. The circular rims of crater
are illuminated, and shine like rings of
silver, glittering upon cushion of
darkness. The advancing dawn now
lights up the bases of the outlying
mountains that but moment ago show
ed but speck of light, and still new
mountain tops are tipped with silver far
in advance.
The sunlight strikes upon de ofthe 81
circular wall of a crater, and there is
a silver crescent, with black space
between 1t and the sea of light. Slowly
the summit of other portions of the cir
cular wall are lighted up, and then the
sunlight invades the depths of the era
ter, while the shadow of the wall near
est the sun stretches half across the floor
of the chasm. Frequently great gaps
are broken in the crater walls, and
streaks of light stream across the floor.
The jagged rocks, in calm, cold beauty,
shine and glitter in the fierce white
light. The mountains are mountains of
desolation, and the valleys are valleys
of silence and death. They are wrin-
killed. with the flow of lava and torn with
upheavals. The moon is dead. No air,
no sea, no forest shade, or living thing.
The moon is a never-failing source of
delight. 1t is also awful in its sugges-
tions of power and in its loneliness of
utter deso1ation.