The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-11-10
AN ALMANAC SAGE.
THE BLACKSMITH ASTRONO.
MER OF NEWMANSTOWN.
(lliterate but Wise-Makes Calcula.
tions for Some Of the Best Al
manacs in the Country
His Career, Etc.

Right under the shadows of the Cones.
toga Mountains, in the little village OF
Newmanstown, Lebanon County, Penn,
lives the blacksmith astronomer, Lau.
renee j. Ibach. He is q comparatively
illiterate man, but seems natural born to
this special science. His knowledge OF
the heavenly bodies and the bearings of
their cycles has brought him into use
with scientific minds, and his little
world has been enlarged to the literary
centres of our great cities. He was found
seated upon the front portico Of his
modest little home. 1t is frame b.iild-
ing, one story and half high, sur
rounded by large shade trees and stands
in the centre of the village. Ibach is now
seventy -one years old and has been in
practical service as an astronomer for
twenty FIVE years. He was born in AL
lentown, Penn, and moved to New
manstown in 1895, where he engaged
with his fath.r at the blazing forge in the
manufacture of iron ladies. He speaks
Of his 100-pound tilt-hammer with lin.
gering affect ON, and regrets that the
sweet intonations of his anvil will never
ring out from hi, blows again. The
close attention to his chosen calling has
made him physical wreck and his days
are numbered. He is of medium height,
with o we'll built form, a clean-shaven
face ani has an honest, good natured
eye. His memory is Somewhat i'm
paired.
He remarked that as boy he had an
instructive longing for the stars. 1t was
his pleasure to sit up late at night and
hold communion with them. He then
already was familiar with Venus, Mars,
Jupiter, Saturn and Herschel. He read
books on the planets, and this, with a
meagre school education, was about the
only equipment he received for the great
SCIENCE. He got the first impulse to a
practical use of his knowled ge from an
obscure astronomer in Reading. Mr.
Ibach, was journeyman with him at
trade for two years, when Mr.. Edleman
died and gave into his hand the arduous
task of unfinished calculations for the
Blumb Almanac, of Salem, N. C.. So he
settled down to study in the little village
by the hills, and for two years worked
hard to master the rules of the solar,
! lunar and planetary cycles.
In 1868 he published his first calcula-
tions, and since then the name aud fame
Of this village astronomer worked out
into silent but enlarge recognition. Dur
ing all these years his anvil rung out the
tune of honest toll, but his busy brain
rose above the smoke of his burning
forge. He relates how, when in his cal
,ulatlons the solutions failed him and
would not come, he then would go out
md beat on the anvil with vengeance
and perhaps like the sudden fash Of his
Gre, the light came. He dreamed of the
planets most frequently and in his dreams
he solved difficult problems.
To engage in so intricate science
one would suppose that an array OF pre-
tentious books would be called into use.
But ,Dur astronomer is altogether self
made, and at that very unlearcd prod
ICY. He simply has pile OF old alma
macs and one or two nautical works. He
has been complimented with presents OF
Chambers's, Newcomb's, Seel's, Loomis's
and Robinson's works, but he has only
one really scientific book, which IS the
Bible, of all his astronomical calcula-
tions. He produced his English Ephem-
eris and declared that to be the guide
of all his problems. ..
"With that book will awake in ship
mid-ocean and I can soon calculate my
bearings and sail to any point OF tho
earth. Before that book came into use
the orrery was the key to all calculations,
but the quaint wheel of my preceptor is
now an encumbrance. So having de-
clared, he laid aside his "Ephemcris, "
! but I could not help but wonder how
such an uni ttered man was ever able to
make book of such mathematical hero
plyphics the basis Of sure procnostlca-
tons. He ne>t explained the signs OF
the consultations in homely but most
satisfactory manner. He incidentally re-
ferrcd to re uest received from Pitts
burg gentleman to write an explanation
Of these almanac signs for his sick wife,
and told how he received much appre-
ciated FIVE dollar bill as his expression OF
thanks.
He calculates for no less than twenty
five almanacs in the country. This ex-
tcnsive and most thorough work has
brought him into contact with the dlstln-
guished Professor Simon Newcomb, L. 5.
Naval Observatory. All this work has
enriched his patrons. but kept him poor.
The sum total of his annual receipts
foot up the trihing sum of 500. Leslie,
of New York, pay him $1S for four
calculations: Hagerstowa, Lancaster ana
/ other firms pay him SO for one cllcula-
ticn. A shrcwd business like man wake
fortune out OF the work, but the modest
blacksmith is content with bare living.
eyes" he says, 'the world is full OF
superstition. Cur good housewives plant
beans in Lei, the lion, for otherwise tie
seed should shoot too much into the
stalk; cucumbers arc sown in Gemlnl,
the twins, for then they will hang fuller;
radish arc stuck in Aquarius, the butler,
to make them grow watcry and tender
flowers are planted in the Virgin, to
make them bloom more abundantly
n thing must he planted in Aries, the
ram, to grow it hard, and sauerkraut
I must not be made in the 'galus week OF
October to turn it bitter; meat must be
saltcd in the right sign, and hair never
cut in the wan .ng of the moon.
"It is all superstition" he reiterated,
with emphasis. erich soil, seasonable
l weather and little attention make things
grow. The moon has only power on
| the tides. The sun is the mother of all
and delegates power. We plant into t., the