Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1892-10-12

| with rules of their own and having no
"unpire" or anything to go by. For a
change, it got 10 be more fun watching
for the planets to rise than watching
the girls come from church.
Lily found nothing so fascinating as
the moon, and by singular coincidence
the moon was John Clark's specially.
No one had supposed he had any special
| ty before this. The organist had fire.
quently expressed his dstrust Of young
man who cared nothing for music; the
| schoolmaster found several occasions to
| remark upon the general worthlessness
I of young men who sneered at the poets
and despised culture; the postmaster,
who painted Gin Lustra), foretold NOR
tifying future for young man who
was nothing but muscles and mustache,
and all estimable people frowned upon
John because he showed no ambition to
distinguish himself in business.
! But when it came TO sitting in the OBJ
servatory with Lily, for the purpose of
carefully investigating the moon, John
was present on every occasion. Bessie
| and Frank, who preferred comets and
longed for regular procession Of seven
tailed "fiers," were allowed to see stars
as often as their good behavior earned
them that privilege.
| The observatory hours were distributed
something after this manner: Every
fine day and few evenings the captain
had possession, but shared his evenings
with Mrs. Banks, assisting her TO COM
prehend the nebular hypothesis of Kant
and Herschel and Laplace, as well as the
more modern holdings, and he explained
to Frank and Bess that though there
were only about roo comets in running
order, and many Of them came in thou
sand years behind schedule time, there
were over 5000, coo shooting stars flying
around every day and night which were
worth watching for.
After the captain had retired to his
study" and the children had gone TO
bed, Rob and Lily, assisted by John
Clark and his sister Lou, monopolized
the telescope until after midnight
! Bridget and Mike were permitted to
gaze quite often, and also to hear from
the garden path during their evening
strolls the readings from "The Heavens
Above, in which the Banks family fair
ly reveIed. When Mrs. Banks well
modulatad voice was heard reading
something like this, "The nubecula
then combine, each within its area,
characteristics Of the galactio and nebu-
lar system" Bridget would grasp
Mikes ann and say: "Wud ye listen to
that, Moikel II takes the misthress TO
wiring out them big words" And Mike,
holding her hand protectingly, would
reply: "Sure, an its fearful things them
neblcrs is, an it's a mercy they don't fall
down! But if they did, Biddy, I'm here
to perteck yez." Thus treasured Bridget
would speak learnedly Of wet and dry
moons, and which offered the greatest
advantage for washing and gardening
When not absorbed in writing out
notes the captain would favor the family
with readings concerning penumbral
filaments. fsculR, magnetic storms and
disturbances of the photosphere and
chromosphere, and he delighted TO ex-
plain the illustrations, printed in lurid
red, OF eruptive prominences and other
1 mysterious ailments of the sun. Asmay
be inferred, one copy Of "The Heavens
Above" was not enough for the family,
and Bob bought copy for Lily and
himself, and John bought one for Lon
and himself, but when they met in the
summer house to read it was found that
the print of Johns copy suited Lilys
eyes best, and Lou confessed that Robs
had something prettier about the bind
ing, so the young men obligingly shared
their books with each others sister in
stead Of their own sisters, as had been
intended.
This made study very simple and i'm
proving, and after few months of con-
slant observation any Of the young peo-
pie could have told you (after referring
to the book the exact situation Of Mare
Serenitatis, Oceanus Procellarum, Plato
and Kepler, and even without the book
they would have been ready to declare
the moon to be the most admirable of
heavenly bodies,
The summer was very dry, eminentiy
favorable for astronomic study and OBJ
servation, but in September wet spell
came, and it was during this painful
period that Judge Bixby met Captain
Banks in town and exclaimed Hello,
capt Where you been all summer"
The captain explained about his astro
nomical studies, which he modestly
claimed might yet be of service to the
| world.
"Star gazing, Ell? Well, that's all
very pretty for rich old fellow like
you. By the way, hear your daughter
is engaged to young Clark-smart fell
low, but lazy. You'll have to dover
your girl"
The captain explained again, this time
with a certain heat, that his daughter
was not engaged to John Clark, nor
would be, and then he came home.
The rain had ceased, and as he came
through the garden he heard voices in
the summer house.
arm see about this" said the captain,
and without meaning to be dishonor-
able, but simply to assist accurate OBJ