Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1881-01-07

Some will hatter,rsomc cwill slight; -
Cease from man and look above thee,
Trust in God and do the right"
-yorIaGa Ka&-od
1881.
THE YEAR on WHICH MOTHER sHPToN PRO
PFEsTEp THE FINAL COLLAPSE
From the-New York SUM-
The world to an end shall come
In eighteen hundred and eighty lone.
Mother Shipton's PropLssy
Superstitious people of every sort, an
some who are not willing to admit tbs
they are superstitious, regard the yea
1881 with more or less anxious expects
ton and dread. As the earth, on Ney
Years day. swings out into another roun,
about the sun. it will go to meet host o
evil omens. Yet there is no reason VIII,
persons of good digestion should not g
to sleep on New Years night confiden
that after having encountered the averag
quantity of storm and sunshine, the one
horse ball that we call the world vii
bring them safe through the perils of it
five-hundred- -million-mile flight round t.
the starting point again.
Timid persons first began to look for
ward with some alarm 10 the year that ii
about to open, when, several years ago
the KEY to the so-called prophetic sym
bolism of the great pyramid Of Egypt
was made public, backed by the name
and reputation Of the British astrono
mer, Plazzi Smyth. Others, using Mr..
Smyth's observations and measurements,
have gone much further than he did il
drawing startling influences but no one
can read his book without perceiving how
powerfully it must affect those who have
the slightest leaning toward superstition
or credulity. Besides, this record Of ex-
plorations and experiences in the heart Of
Egypt's greatest marvel has all the charm
and interest Of DIR. Schliemann's descrip-
tions of his discoveries in Homer's Troy
Such book could not well be neglected
by the world of readers and by the ma
ture of the human mind many of its
readers were sure to be imbued with its
ominous dogmas SO the belief, or at
least the suspicion, spread that the Sc
cret chambers of the great pyramid, un-
der divine guidance by the most mystical
character il ell history, Melchisedek,
king of Salem, foretell, among other
things, that the Christian era will end in
1881.
Mother Shipton's so-called proph ecy
fixes upon the same date for the end Of
the world. The ominous jingle of her
rhymes has probably done at least as
much to disturb the equanimity of credu-
lous persons as the more elaborate vati-
cinations of the pyramid interpreters
Moreover, Mother Shipton is represented
as foretelling that in the latter days Eng
land will accept Jew" As England
has, with considerable emphasis, and
more than once, accepted the remarkable
son Of old Isaac Disraeli for her prime
minister, this has been taken as a fulfill
ment of the prophecy. So Lord Beacons-
fields dramatic personality is made a
principal figure III the murky cloud OF
evil prophecy that hangs over lSSl.
As if the evil eye Of Mother Shipton
and the mystical menace OF the Great
Pyramid were not enough for one poor
twelvemonth to bear, the horrors of the
perihelia" have been denounced upon the
coming year. About two vears ago GER
tain pamphlets were circulated about the
country, purporting TO be writte,. by
men of science, and predicting that awful
consequences to mankind would result
from all tie great planets reaching their
perihelia, or nearest points to the sun,
together. According to these prophets
the sinister effects of the perihelia were
to begin making their appearance this
fall, when Jupiter passed his perihelon,
and next year the scythe of death was to
be put to tho harvest in the far east, and
to sweep westward, with a swathe as
broad as the continents, until 1t reached
the Pacific ocean. The narrow Atlantic
was to be no moro than brooklet in the
path Of this terrible harvester. Plaques,
famines, pestilences, fire, earthquakes,
foods and tornadoes were to scourge the
human race until only few remained,
like Noah and his family, to repeople the
earth with a sturdier and more God-fear-
ing race.
So much alarm was caused by this no
cuspocus of pretended science and pro-
phecy, that some real men Of science
Mr.. Proctor among others-were at the
pains to show that so far as these predic.
tions professed to rest upon scientific
facts they were baseless. The great
planets will not all be in perihelion in
1881, and they will not all be in perihe.
lion together at any time. 1t is true that
several of the chief planets will reach
their perihelia within a few years, and
close together as they will be at one tim,
next year 1t is also true that remarka
BILE condolences have been observed be
tween the existence Of great storms OF
the sun, that produce electrical disturb
ances and possibly meteorological changes
upon the earth, and the presence of Ju
piter near his perihslion. Astronomer
have also susp pected that the influence o
some of the other great planets upor
the earth can be perceived, but they have
never discovered any reason to believe
that the combined forces of all the plan
cts could, under any circumstances, pro
duce upon the earth thousandth par
of the evil effect ascribed to them by til.
astrologers, if indeed they produced any
evil effect whatever.
Still the astrological almanacs for mex
year are repeating substantially the SAINT
predictions of evil things to begin, if no
to culminate in 1881. Because, as the,
say, the ravages Of the black death in th'
middle ages followed the nearly coinci
dent perihelia Of four great planets, the.
predict similar consequences from tn
coniiguration Of the planets now. Blu
neither in their premises nor their infer
ences does science recognize any validity
In truth, however, the astrologers, no
l,ss tl.an the astronomers and nll sta
gazers, will have plenty OF phenomena i
the heavens to occupy their attention 70
the next IL months. The sky will no
present such brilliant pageants again thi
century There will be a remarkabl
series of conjunctiona, and double an
triple conjunctions. The most interest
ing of these is the great 20-year conjunc
ton of Jupiter and Saturn in April. Thi
conjunction is one of the stronghOlds c
the astrologers. As 1t occurs in the sig
Taurus, which they say rules Turkey an
ireland, they feel safe, on account of re
cent occurrences, in predicting very mC
mentous effects in those countries froi
the conjunction. There will also be col
functions of Jupiter and Mars, Nenn
and Jupiter, Saturn and Venus, and I'll
far-away giants Uranus and Neptune vi
play part in this remarkable planetar
levee
Venus will reach her greatest bright
ness in the spring, and Will be 20 bri
liant as to be visible at monday. He
delicate crescent will be favorite oblet
in the amateur astronomers telescope
Saturn will open still wider its wonderfr
rings, and will be one of the chief attrn'
tions of the evening sky for sever
months. Jupiter will not lose much {
his present brilliancy before he become
morning star in April. Mars will b.
gin to brighten in the latter part Of I'll
year, and then his snowy poles M
shadowy continents will again become Il
admiration of those who gaze throup
telescopes. In short, there will be ]
end of attractions in the starry heaven
and all the representations of the SCOT
sayers will not be able to darken the 81
of 1881.
ITENs-SEAsoNABLE AND OTHERwIsE.-
Good time to buy straw hats.-What is zel
without thermometer ;-Slush is slmp
snow in a thaw'tful mood. Hang up yo
left stocking New Years eve.-Why dor
somebody get up strawberry festival Z
December will long be remembered Tor