Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1883-09-05
TIE miDNIGnr sun.
Oae Of the tsrandest Spectaeies
Afforded by Rtufe-.--SOme
Graphic Descriptions.



London Daily News.
Nature is, indeed, very often skill>
full in her arrangement OF shows. She
has q fine sense Of contrast. and knows
how to set off one thing by another
So at North Cape the splendor of sea
aud sky is heightened by a dull and
uninteresting land. The spectator
stands upon a bare and gloomy moor
and his vision ranges along q broker
hut monotonOus coast, attractive Only
when It's highest portions catch ano
throw back the rosy light that fall,
upon them from the glorious heavens
Nothing, therefore, draws the min
away from contemplation Of the ex
panse Of water and sky over which tn,
sun lords in its strength. Many ,
traveller has sought to paint in world
he weird splendor OF the scene when,
It the midnight hour, the orb hang
above the horizon diffusing over all 3
rich yet mysterious light. We ma,
say mysterious, for this uncanny glow
has about it q sort OF night effecl
Indescribable in words. The ligh
is that Of day, but it is not day, and
all nature seems to sleep as though
shrouded in darkness. True, Lore
Dufferin's celebrated rooster" did
not perceive the fact. An unreheouee
Stranger in "high ATTITUDES the un
happy bird was deceived into an idea
If perpetual sunrise, and, having pro
claimed the morn for thirty-six hours
lied a victim to impulse, combined
with ignorance of physical geography
,hanticleer's experience notwith
standing there is over the whole scene
md in the mind OF the observer, a
consciousness of night, which make
the more wonderful a simultaneous
vision of the orb OF day. TIE impress
sion cannot be communicated, but the
mere picture has been again and again
limned for US by skillful pens, and b,
none more successfully than that Of
Bayard Taylor, who speaks Of tn,
'eddies Of returning birds, cleaning
golden in the nocturnal sun, like
drifts Of beech leaves in the Octobaf
iir," and continues: Far to the north
the sun lay 10 q bed o. saffron light,
| ever the clear oil the Arctic Ocean. A
few bars OF dazzling orange cloud
Aoated above him, and still higher in
the sky, where the saffron melted
through delicate rose color into blue,
hung the wreaths of vapor, toucheo
with pearly opaline Pushes OF pink and
golden gray"
He describes the sea as "a web o.
pale slate color, shot through With
threads Of orange and saffron" and
the air as filled with a soft, mysteri
GUS glow" while between the head
lands stood the midnight sun shinin.
on us with subdued fires, and with
the gorgeous cOloring Of an hour for
which we have no name, since it is
neither sunrise nor sunset, but the
blended loneliness of both-but shin>
ing at the same moment in the heat
and splendor Of MONDAY on the Pacific
isles" Even on paper the magnificent
picture excites admiration and awe.
We are all sun worshipers more or
less. We go up u%ncomiort-
able mountains to watch the
luminary rise; and his setting on sea
o land, on height OF in valley, is often
a spectacle grand enough to justify
Jean Paul Rlchtor's outburst, II see
the sun standing amid roses in the
western sky, into which he has thrown
the ray brush wherewith he had all
day been painting the earth" These
spectacles are viewed for the most
part ! 0 vever, under ordinary condi-
tons, aud lack the wonder of that
upon which Herr Stoll has been re
Gently gazing Far deeper than any
made by physical beauty must be the
impression due the thought Of the
dark aud sleeping world out of which
the traveller has come to look through
golden vistas into heaven. This is the
idea upon which Carlyle seized when
making his Teuieldroekh stand at
the farthest northern limit oil
the continent. "Silence as Of
death, for midnight even in the
Arctic latitude has is character; moth
ing but the granite cliffs, rudy. tinged,
the peaceful gurgle Of that slow, heav.
log Polar ocean, over which, in tho
utmost North, the great sun hangs low
and lazy, as if he 90 were slumbering
Yet is his cloud couch wrought of
crimson and cloth of gold; yet does hi
light stream over the mirrors OF water,
like a tremendous fire pillar shooting
downward to the abyss. and hide itself
under my feet. In such moments soll-
tude also is invaluable; for who would
speak or be looked upon, when behind
him lies all Europe and Africa, fasr
asleep, except the watchmen, and be
fore him the silent imme sity, and
Palace OF the Eternal, whereof our
sun is but a porch-lamp2' We know
not whether Herr Stoll had thoughts
like those, our information being lin
tied to the statement that he found
two spots on the suns face; but in
such spirit, which scars lar above
science, should worshipers penetrate
to the holy places OF nature.