Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1891-10-22

barometer and high temperature to it,
meteorolpgicslly speaking. Prof.
Macadam fumed and said something.
about fortune hunters and fatty de-
clined to consider the subject of such
an alliance. cit is absurd!' he said
what would you live on?'
Prof. Morgan intimated that two
people might sustain themselves in
modest way on the salary he was get
ting.
Nonsense, sir! Nonsense!' was the
retort- my daughter has been accus-
toned to better style of living than
you could afford her and decline to
consider the proposition for q moment
You're in no condition to support a
| wife, sir! Figures do not lie, sir Fig
| ures do not lie!''
Prof. Morgan suggested that figures
| sometimes did give . wrong i'm pres
| sion.
Then it is because they are used by
| an incompetent person! I am surprised
| that you, sir, assistant professor of as
| tronomy in a great institution of learn
| ing, should assert that any mathemati-
| cal fact is not an actual one. Prove to
| me that figure lie and you can have
my daughter! But this is only nom
| sense. You are presumptuous and
something of an ass, sir! Good day,
| sir!''
When Prof. Morgan impaired to his
| sweetheart the result of this interest
| ing interview they were both some
| what cast down. It was she who first
recovered.
''And so papa said could have you,
did he, if you could prove to him that
| figures ever Eed?"
| eyes. he said that, though I don't
suppose he meant it. It was simply a
sort of defiance he blurted out in his
| anger. But what difference does it
make? How could prove an impossi-
bility in any event, even if such a gro
tesque challenge were accepted in
earnest? When l said to him that fig
ures might give wrong impressions, it
| was only to convey the idea that peo-
pie who cared very much for each
other might get along with very little
money and that the ordinary estimates
for necessary income did not apply"
"You don't know papa! He'll keep
his word, even one uttered in excite
ment He has almost superstition
regarding the literal observance of any
promise made, though it might be &C
cidental and really meaning nothing.
You are very clever-as great math-
ematician as papa is. You must prove
to him that figures sometimes really
lie, even where computations are all
correct. Surely there must be some
way of doing that?''
''I'm afraid not, dear. The moon
isn't made of green cheese"
'But there must be some way and
you must find it. You shall be like q
knight of old who is to gain a maiden's
hand by the accomplishment of some
great deed of derring-do. Am 1 not
worth it, sir?" and she stood before
him jauntily, with her pretty elbows
out.
He looked down into face so fair and
SO full of all fealty and promise of sweet
wifehood that he resolved in an in
slant that, if it lay in human power to
meet the terms of the old mans gro
tesque challenge, the thing should be
accomplished. He said as much and
what he said was punctuated labially
Being professor, it would never have
done for him to neglect his punctua
ton.
1t was not three months after the
stormy Macadam-Morgan interview
that Prof. Morgan's great book on
"Eclipses, Past and to Come made its
appearance. And it was not three
weeks after that great works appear
ance when all the scientific world was
in turmoil.
Prof Macadam had for a season
after the interview between him anG
Prof Morgan, maintained cold ano
formal air in all his intercourse with
the latter gentleman, but after time
this wore away and the old relations
never very familiar, were resumed
. Indeed, it seemed at length that Prof
Macadam had forgotten all about the
| affair or if he remembered it at all
did SO only as an exhibition of fool
ishness which his own force and wis
dom had checked forever. When, there
fore, Prof. Morgan's book appeared il
was read at once with interest as TIT
word of a scientist who. though not {
veteran, was of undeniable ability ant
good repute. But when the book hat
been considered, there was literary
earthquake! Prof. Macadam reviewed
it and sought to tear it, figuratively
limb from limb! He was ably sup
ported by other pundits everywhere
The point upon which the debat.
hinged was a remarkable one.
AS already indicated, Prof. Morgan
standing as an astronomer was undis
puted and Prof. Macadam did no
question the accuracy of his reasoning
so far as mere computations went.
is known, even to the non-scientific
that eclipses of the moon can be fore
told with the utmost accuracy, and no
only this, but that astronomers Cal
readily determine, by the same meth
DDS reversed, when eclipses of tn
moon have occurred at any time in tn
past. 1t was to one of Prof. Morgan
past eclipses that Prof. Macadam oh
jected.
In recent issue of great foreig1
review, NJ. Camille Flammarion, tn
French astronomer, advanced the viev
that this globe has been inhabite,
, twenty-five million of years, which i