The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1884-01-02

republicans get the truth about matters and |
affairs in Vermont Had the Argus' lofty |
pretentions been anything more than wind, we |
might have been able to lay before our readers |
this week genuine sensation in the shape OF |
an unrelenting disclosure Of the personality OF |
"the chiefs OF the ring" who have constituted |
themselves into a close corporation " in this
state. We are disappointed, or rather we are
compelled to disappoint our expectant readers
We asked for bread and fish, but we get stones
and scorpions. An individual whose efforts on
a late occasion we're properly characterized by
the editor.in-chief OF the Argus as "puerile in
the extreme" makes long and successful at
tempt not to tell what our contemporary pro-
fesses to know about the alleged chiefs Of the
ring" The last state of this writer Is worse
than the FIRST since his efforts are "puerile -
not to say eeble-minded-in both "extremes."
In short, the Argus puts forward kind of
journalistic Flibbertigbbet to distract the at
tention of its readers Under the cover of his
antics, our contemporary suddenly lodges into
its hole and draws the hole in after it. 1t was
the old dodge Of trying to create diversion by
Justify shouting stop thief" As a matter of
fact, the Argus and Patriot probably knows
enough about the alleged ring" and the
"chiefs," for it is notorious that it is hand and
glove with it and them, and no one expected it
would dare to make disclosure. Its periodical
philippcs are sheer buncombe, all for effect,
and the alleged ring" laughs in its sleeve at
the farce. A few very fresh persons, whose
only source Of information is the Argus, may
take stock in that papers pretentions but peo-
pie generally rate its pretences at their real
value. The well-informed may be amused by
its conceits but never taken in by them.
| THE remarkable glow, so noticeable in the
sunset and sunrise sky, for the past month, has
caused no little wonder and speculation among
all classes of individuals, and has inspired a
many. The following theory concerning 1t Is
advanced in a letter to the London Times by
Mr.. Norman Lockyer, the editor Of Nature, the
leading scientific periodical. Mr. Lockyer con-
siders the sky glows, which have been observed
all round the planet-in England, Germany,
Spain, Ceylon, the Sandwich Islands, South
America and across North America, from
Maine to California-to be connected with the
| great volcanic disturbances in Java, August 26
and 81, which were Of extraordinary magni-
tude. An island three thousand feet high en-
tirey disappeared; the sky was as black as
night for forty hours; the quaking Of the island
produced a sea-wsve one hundred feet high; vol
canic products-sand, stones and vapor-were
hurled to an enormous height; and the sound
of the eruption was heard two thousand miles
away. Mr.. Lockyer finds it easy to imagine
that with the devastating forces Of nature at
work on this gigantic scale, millions Of tons OF
matter and millions of cubic miles of vapor
must have been thrown into the upper air.
The coarser elements would have Immediately
descended, but the mere DUST comparable in
fineness to particles Of vapor, would have re-
manned in suspension. To this volcanic dust
are ascribed the remarkable series OF sky ef
fects. At first, and at points near Java, there
was dimming of the suns light; then there
was cooration Of the sun at noon, and finally
there was gradual development of twilight
lengthening phenomena. The volcanic dus
suspended in the upper air must have gradually
been thinned out At first the coarse-grainet
particles were competent to absorb light com
pletely, and there was thick darkness arounl
Krakatoa; as these disappeared the sun seemed
were left behind, blue and red molecules pro
duced the Windermere effects of blue ant
green; and finally there was just enough float
ing material in the atmosphere at a height o
forty or fifty miles, to reflect the suns light al
ter sunset and to prolong the twilight. Pro
fessor Loomis Of Yale college, while confessinl
his inability to satisfactorily explain the phe
nomena, suggests interesting theories concern
ing them. He does not ascribe them to vapor il
the air, and says: The lateness of the hon
shows the cause to be at great elevation fron
the earth's surface. He objects to the theor.
Of volcanic dust from the eruption in Java Ii
the autumn, as that took place too long ago
and the phenomenon was only noticed recently
As to the volcanic eruptions in California an,
Washington territory, while smoke is emitte
which contains dust the dust may not be red
but when the sun shines through the cloud o
dust its red rays have more penetrating powe
than the other rays in the spectrum. Professo
Loomis instances the red sunsets upon he
nights in summer when the atmosphere is file
: with dust. Another suggestion by him is tina
she phenomena are due to some foreign sui
stance falling into the air and the possibilit,
that meteors constantly falling into the atmos
phere may cause the brilliancy, but he add
that the latter is vague conjecture.
THE Keene IN. II Sentinel publishes an in
> teresting letter from Vermont, from which W
make the following extract, lack of space pre-
: venting us from presenting the whole commun
cation: Perhaps no New England state ha
: produced more distinguished men-men VIII
have made their mark and won nations
reputation-than this little Green Mountai
state. By going back to the time of the Revc
i lutionary war, we find her Seth Warner an
Ethan Allen among its most distinguishe
heroes. Coming down to later period, whe
efforts were made to establish a protectiy
; tariff, we find Rolln G. Mallory the leadin
> and ablest champion of that policy in congress
y For more than twelve years Samuel S. PhelI
stood the peer in the senate Of Webster, Cla
and Calhoun as q debater, Webster often say
. ing that there was no man whom he felt to
y 80 formidable in opposition before the suprem
a court as Sam Phelps;' and the Washingto
: Globe, the leading democratic organ of tn
~ country, paid him the compliment of saying
after his death, that no man ever came I
. Washington who had 80 great an inhuenc
with the national administration, no matte
what might be its politics, as Judge Phelp,