Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1883-05-16
One Lunar Day.

Let us, in fancy, take such journey
as perhaps the emancipated soul may
take, across the abysSeS of space. We
must leave our bodies behind us, and
90 on the voyage as unclothed spirits
90. We swiftly traverse the void, ana
take our place i'll the center OF the
moons visible hemisphere III the depth
of the lunar midnight. We are not
wrapped in complete darkness; sill
very earth-light illuminateS such a
landscape rs Dante might have added
to his pictures of the Inferno. We are
camped upon rugged plain of CLASSY
hasalt and scoria. To the westward,
the prodigious volcanic masses OF
Copernicus rise twelve thousand feet
above us, and to the northward the
view is bounded 10y the great wall OF the
Apennines. rising to Andean heights.
They are not forest-clothed or snow
crowned. We see only basaltlc needles
and columns, and enormous vertical
precipices of CLASSY obsidian, standing
unchanged and immovable from age to
age-for here is no wind nor ram, nor
any active agency capable OF disturbing
the deathly stiffness and repOse. No
stream gnaws at the base of the tre-
mendous precipiceS; no cloud rests upon
their SUBMITS; no sound ever reyer-
berates from mountain to mountain.
Under our feet the floor of lava seems
to rest upon insecure foundations.
Vast chasms and crevices, of mconceiy-
able depths and filled with mysterious
darkness, traverse the PLAIN. We seem
To he lost spiritS-sole SURVIVORS OF
some awful doom, dwelling upon the
burnt-out cinders of a floating planetary
hell. now dead and frozen to its heart.
We look upward and see a falrer VISION
l-one of planetary life. In the center
| of the black dome above us, unchanSng
in its place except as 1t sways lmper-
ceptiblv northward and southwark i'll a
/ slight vibration, we see, as vast and
bright as its equator the great cloud
ring is revealed as zone of dazzling
whiteness: and cloud-masses are float
ingeveTywhere,y yet not twhollyconeeallng
fifteen full moons, our familiar earth.
Around are the well-known outlines oil
tbecontinentS. The earth has no secret To
hide from us. as the moon hides one OF
its hemispheres from the earth. AS
| We lOOh ullNd dlu We H'aNN''N ~ tNN'N'
rotation. the continents marching past
in panoramic succession. AS ASH
yanishes upon the eastern RIM, America
rises upon the western; the polar Ice
cans shine with splendid white light
The earth remains fixed i'll our zenith
, but the stars march past 1t Ill an end
less flow. The milky way, the constel
llations of the zodiac, the planets IL
, their order, all sweep by or are hlddeI
!, for a little while behind the great white
) orb. which seems to take no part III the
endless procession of the universe; i
whirls swiftly and visibly on its axis
! but never changes its place. But TO
t, its slight pendulum swing, 1t Is flXet
: immoTably in mid-heaven. 1t was wei
: that we left our bodies hidden unde
the warm, white atmosphere OF TN
earth; the great planet above us ha
completed more than seven revolution
since the sunlight shone upon our rest
ljnp-place. and around us Is deadly
terrible cold. almost the inconceivable
D absolute zero of the interplanetar
spaces. The long night slowly wane
as we keep our strange watch. III wa
liqhtest at the lunar midnight, Tor
: black shadow is slowly creeping acros
; the earth's splendid white disk. 1t wa
a perfect sphere when we first locke
!. upon it, but now it has completed seve
revolutions. and is but a hemisphere
|, half of it has been swallowed by dark
: ness. 1t is darkest just before dawn
|, but now a change is coming. There
no dawn light in the sky, but the ut
n mendous spires of the Apennlnes. .begl
! to glitter with an intense bltllsh-whit
. splendor. The moons morning Is
|. hand. There is no pomp OF prepar;
d ton. such as we saw on earth; II
9 chariot of Apollo wrapped III gold an
J crimson clouds, no Aurora opening IL
o Gates of day; the glaring blue light
) Strangely contrasted with the uttt
a blackness of the shadow. Slowly I'll
,e day gains upon the night, as the illun
: nation creeps downward toward II
r mountain bases. Suddenly the rim
" the sun rises above the eastern horror
v without a moments preparation, or az
le Gradual transition, we pass from Il
% depths of midnight to the light OF Il
at lunar day. The deadly desolatlon
10 the landscape is now fully reveale
" We see only volcanic ruins, ashe
Of scoria. hardened laya-fows, the chm
q. news of burnt-out craters- Not a clo'