The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-06-17

he Wonderful Meteoric shower OF 1855.
Theories as to the Cause and Effect-A
Child's Wonderment at the Scene-Super-
stitious Awe of COlored People.
One of the earliest and most vivid of
ny personal recollections is Of the grand
neteoric shower of Nov. 13, 1888. a
imilar occurrence is recorded as happen
" in northern Europe near the close of
ne last century. But no meteorological
isplay has equaled that of 1888 in ex-
ent and duration from the beginning Of
he historic period.
-vEXED QUESTIONS.
With reference to the origin Of these
neteors there have been divers cOnjec-
ures, most of which are at best hap
hazard speculations. A number of astTon-
)mers have regarded them IS fragments
Of an exploded planet small in size, but
Of a like sort with the hundred and odd
asteroids that have been discovered be-
tween the orbits of Mars and Jupiter
Kepler himself thought that large
planet was needed in this vast interplane-
tary space to perfect the rhythm Of the
skies and the tabled music Of the spheres
The subsequent discoveries of Piazzi and
Oilers and their successors have fully
justified this opinion. This old astro-
nomical fancy of a lost Pleiad likewise
finds its vindication, it may be in these
asteroids and in the far more numerous
meteoroids which have since been seen in
all parts of the world. Whether they be,
as suggested, the disjecta membra of
some Grant and wrecked orb doomed
and damned for some earlier Adamic
transgression, they certainly occupy
definite place in our system.
Their periodical occurrence with great
er or lesser brillianey in May and Novem-
Der and likewise in August and Deem
Der, establish the facts that at these dates
our earth in its annual travel comes in
frequent contact with a meteoric zone.
1t may require another century of inves-
tigation with the aid of mightier instru-
ments than that of the Link observatory
to determine whether, as is probable,
these meteoric exhibitions result from a
vast volume of nebulous matter revolv-
ing around the sun, and itself the nur-
sery of embryonic planets.
Whatever our conclusion on these
vexed questions, it was certainly not
only the privilege of a lifetime, but
millennium, to be an eyewitness of such
stupendous and Respondent spectacle. I
distinctly remember being aroused about
4 o'clock in the morning by the weird
outcries of the domestic servants. They
seemed possessed with the idea that the
day of judgment was at hand, and read
lily recall the efforts of my father to quiet
the uproar by assuring them that there
was no cause Of alarm.
Of course, knew nothing of scientific
import. My impressions were those of
elation rather than fright. To me the
whole scene was about what l have
since conceived of the pyrotechnic dis
plays Of the VauShall garden or full
hedged Chinese feast Of lanterns. A boy
reader will best understand the aspect of
things when add that aside from the
f1zz and the pop it was like thousand
Christmases condensed into one.
Scientific observers have since told us
that these meteoroids all seemed to pro-
coed from point in the constellation
Leo. For this reason they have been
since called Leonids. My boyish remem-
brance accords with this statement of
the scientists. Usually they issued singly,
but at times they had the appearance of
q stream of fire. A few that / observed
were very large, one or more not unlike
the nucleus of Halley's comet in 1885,
when it was receding from the sun. 4,
READY FOR "a WORD OF PRAYER"
They nearly all seemed falling directly
to the earth, and it was matter of child
ish wonderment to me, that they did not
cover the ground as l had seen falling
snow flakes do at othertimes. Thes plen-
dor of these celestial fireworks gradually
waned as the dawn approached, very
much to my personal regret.
A great many stories are still current
in regard to the general CONSERVATION
produced by this marvellous phenomenon.
In some instances persons were fright
ened into commissions, and several deaths
were reported from different parts of the
country.
In my boyhood there was a story cur
rent of a wealthy Shareholder in western
Georgia, who was besides something of
a philosopher. He resided in the center
of a large negro quarter, and being
awakened by the shrieks and yells of
nearly one hundred slaves, he hur1iedly
equipped himself in pants and slippers
and stepped out on his front piazza He
was soon surrounded with a large num-
Der of slaves who were frantic with ter
ror. For time he surveyed the heavens
with decree of painful apprehension.
Noticing in the crowd an old negro
preacher, in whose piety he had much
confidence, lac addressed him in this wise:
Uncle Joe, do you watch the seven
stars and the ell and yard, and when
YOU see them start come into the big
house and we viii have a word of
prayer"
OF course the Pleiades were immova-
bic, nor did the empyreai suns that blaze
in the belt of Orion shoot madIy from
their spheres" As a consequence the
hypothetical WORD of prayer" was I'M
spoken. The return of daylight blotted
out the meteors and claimed the super
stitious fears of master and slave.
Most astronomers tell US that another
such spectacle viii probably never be
witnessed again through all the genera
tons Of men. st. John, who was a
prisoner IN Patznos, says: 81 beheld
when be had opened the sixth seal" that
1.-The sun became as blood; and the stars