Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-07-25
i REMYTESCEtCE.
The Shooting stars and 2 star that Did
TeL Sheet


and many yet live Who saw, the shower OF
shooting stars in the year 1882. l was then
between seven and eight years Of age. and
saw the wonderful phenomenon in all ts
glory and beauty-not to say, for many, its
terror. ! lived near Bowling Green, Ky,
with my Glthar-a large faluily-parents,
children and 3 few negroes a bright
negro man, whom we called Cage, used to
tells us, a You boys ought to get up early
in the morning and see the stars shoot"
On this particular morning he came to
our window and called Us to get up and
see the stars shooting-that ne never saw
so many before NY three older brothers
responded more rapidly than ! did; but
their animated CALCULATIONS, See therei"
and Oh, what big onei" and Look
lCOk that beats all that | have seen r
these and many others ike them, and kept
up 80 long, drew NE oat to see what l sup
posed took place every morning. But the
supposed eOmmonness of the event did not
destroy the wonderful beauty Of the scene.
and my interested ewes dweit upon it til
dayight-if you plesse-dropped the cur
tain upon the heavenly scene.
can well remember thEt my father vas
in bed NJ the hight and in the middle Of the
great panorama. lie was not informed Of
it until day was well nigh dawned, He
came out and got good position for be-
holding everything, and had the satislac
ton Of seeing teJy dozen glide from their
positions in the heavens, with their long
trails OF comet OF meteOric light streaming
through the skies. / can well remember
my effort to get j viC1 of some OF the most
wonderful shots that were to, hut " HIGH did
not, come of according to my programme
l singled ont some bright particular star"
and thought when it cid down the SKY %
its day resting-place thar it would make
everything luminous ana leave q track Of
light would be as 4 great highway among
the lesser roads and paths made by tie
smaller stars. But they disregaTded my
whims, and slowly faded away. AID have
been developing By darkness and fading By
light ever since and VIII, l suppose, con
tinue TO do SO until the heavens are
Toted together 50 . scroll"
ANOTHER APPARENT sTAE.
The date Of this was nearly the same -
the above, and far more vivid and very
much nearer 10 the view. 1t was in Au-
gust I remember. because il was the time
Of our yearly election. The election always
lasted, in those times in Kentucky three
DAYS We had but one polling place IN the
county and al voted viva vCce. The
whole country tnrned ont On such coca
sions, and many attended each day and
took an interest III the success of his favor
tie candidates. The exact condition Of the
poll was always known, and when only 9
few votes lay between the success OF one
or the other candidate, the excitement often
became intense ana the work prodigjOus
Thus much incidentally.
On the evening OF one Of these election
days IL was announced 10 few Of the citi-
zenS that a balloon would be sent Up At
dusk. Now, il so happened, that the wind
blew directly from BoWlng-Grcen toward
my father house, and toward come Of our
neighbors. no one there had received
any inimatiOu Of q balloon ascension, and
[ dc not know whether many Of Us had
ever heard whether there was such thing
as a balloon. / bad net ! believe
My mutheSnlas out winding up the
- se-busiaeSof the dag. My father and
George Webb sat near q window facing
toward Bowling Green, and I was some
where near them. NJ mother, passing
the corner Of the house, called the
attention of mg father - bright and
beautiful star, saying II was : new one and
the brightest she had ever seen
because the sky was clear, and vent on in
his conversation with hr. Webb. But my
mother had deeper interest il her lstrO-
nomical visitor, and returned very soon 20
see II it had shed any OF It's glorles. She
aled out fha. star IS brighter than
ever and il seems nearer than ever
Why, il seems to novel il does. novel
Seei see Il does move! Look look
qujck %
The star was nearly past tie window and
my father 40. willing 10 take his ewes of,
jumped out ~ the window and bir. Webb
followed him. SIS the vision Of Doth kept
track O. TIE wonderful yisi;aut Abou; .
quarter or half mile rom Us, and opposite
our house, portion Of the star fell 10 the
earth, and r. blaze shot mp to the top OF
the trees among which it fell What re
manned, n1 iess brilliant for It's loss, kept
on It's gay ofconGgest and glory towards the
favored residence Of David Smith, about one
mile awav There il descended 70 The
ground. Lighting near his barn, double
alarm was created-foT the strange Ti=!tant
and the danger Of loss by fire.
The alarm was very intense 10 all c. bis
family and visitors, and various were the
actions OF different members according t.
their conjectures. The negroes thought II
= etar and would not g 10 CElJGSuish
il because water would have 10 etiec. upon
heavenly Ere. But m5lk WcuLd, and 4 was
said that some of them got half way toward
the blaze but turned back IN 4lBrm- David
Smith seemed 70 oe self-p9ssessed, as least
sufficiently So to try 70 quiet alarm and
save hi- property but he could NOT get
away from the scene OF excitement his
family for q considerable time
s visitor from the Green River country
3 ON rllflr
something he probably neglected till this
time But young lady named Betsy
Lowry believed fiYmly that the end Of the
world had come, and that the time Of her
reward was at hand She shneked Glory
to God Hai.elajah T. and welcomed the
coming with great joy.
have heard many shouts in my life, but
never one under such circumstances. Need
say that ] am glad | heard it; that real
izsd that there IS state of preparedness
IN the hearts Of some that viii welcome a
burning world, because Of the Joy 70 them
that will accompany IT,
Most o! this narrative and much that Is
not now 50 distinctly remembered. is not
reported from hears4y for though the dis
lance was about 8 mile, the words and
shouts wer" az distinct as If they had been
in our yard or even in the same room
The more alarming part Of this scene
having transplred, ! will add that none
was more deeply sgiSated than our neish-
bOr Webb. He lived about half way be.
tween oar house and Mr.. Smiths. He
begged my father to go home with him
on the ground that his family would he
scared nearly to death, and If he could not
GO al the way, to at least 80 part of the
way. OF course my father told him he
could not go, for that would be to leave his
own family alone. Failing 70 get com
pany he bounded over the fence at a single
leap and made very quick time in reashing
his house and family.
The next morning my father saddled two
horses, after which himself, my mother
and were soon at David Smiths to I'M
rayel the great mystery. This was quickly
accomplished, as upon entering the house
we we've shown large hogshead hoop with
wires stretching across from side TO center,
where they were bent down into the shape
of a rourid-b ottomed basket In this had
been placed the burning materials. which
in turn heated the air and caused the bal
loon to rise. Large wire had been bent
- a. ~, sims fAriniDp n donna raaf