Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1892-02-11
THE FOLKS IN The MOON.

the stories They Have In sented.
Every little boy and girl who has
looked upon the face of the full moon,
has seen there the outline of a human
form. Many think it is the image of
man, whom they call the man of the
moon, a venerable, benevolent fellow
whose dear face they have stared at,
wondered about, and almost talked 10.
But some very prosaic people, peerinp
idly through glasses and long tubes,
very learnedly protest that there is nc
man there, ana that the outlines which
we see are only mountains Of scorched
and blaclsened rocks deep and gloomy
caverns, whore neither life nor verdure
is found | suppose we must believe
these wise people, however unpleasant
it is TO have our ideas confused about
something we have long regarded as
fixed fact,
Still it is difficult to believe that the
astronomers, for all they look through
several thicknesses Of glass, can see
farther than the clear eyes of the shep.
herd, the Indian, or even those of some
young folks, and that the lunar spots
are only meaningless spec ks Singu.
larly wise as we have grown within
few years, it would not be curious il
now and t. @y should make some
mistakes yfor the fun Of the thing
we are TO imagine that the wise
men @wrong, and that the moon
is inha ed, and that these specks are
really Representations of human be.
ings.
Some way, all the nations have a diff.
ferent way Of seeing things, and SO the
persons they see in the moon are al.
verse from each other. Not few OF
these are very amusing, and some are
really lauglable. Others are quite
grave and solemn. It is really wonder
full to think of all the diverse figures
which mankind have pictured in the
broad full moon, and no doubt you will
be interested TO learn what some OF
them are.
First, we viii peep at the queer pic
ture that the boys aud girls of the min
die ages thought they saw in the moon.
II is that of little, solemn, old mau
with bundle of sticks on his back In
the old prints of the time, he is repre-
ones idea of a Dutch Santa Claus, and
a face ugly, sour and forlorn, the fea-
lures all askew. and long black tear
triekling from the right eye. He clasps
his clumsy arms over q huge staff, and
his broad back is bowed down under
heavy bundle Of fagots
The following is tie story of this
square-built, solemr faced individual,
which the children, and the old folks
for that matter, believed as much as
they did the Bible four and five hun
dred years ago in Europe
Ages ago, there went, one Sunday
morning, an old man into the woods 10
hew sticks. He cut a fagot, and slung
it on a stout staff over his shoulder and
went trudging home with his burden
On his way he met handsome man in
Sunday suit, walking towards the
church, who stopped and asked him:
DO you know that it is Sunday on
earth, when all must rest from their
LAHORE"
sunday on earth. or Monday in
Heaven, it is all one to me, laughed
the woodcutter,
Then bear your bundle forever.
said the stranger, ''and as you value
not Sunday on earth yours shall be "a
perpetual Monday in Heaven and You
shall stand for eternity in the moon,
warning to all Sabbath breakers"
Whereupon the stranger vanished,
and the man was caught up with his
staff aud his fagot into the moon.
where he stands yet.
Many of the poets refer to this per-
sonage. Dante calls him Cain Chaucer
speaks of him as undergoing punish
ment up there for theft
Barring bush Of thorns on his backe.
Whiche for his theft might cline so near the
heaven.
An ancient song Of the time Of Ed
ward H. the poor king who you re-
member was barbarously murdered by
his mobiles, is addressed to the man in
the moon This is the first stanza in
more modern spelling:
Man in the moon. stand and slit
on his fat fark his burden he beneath.
II is much wonder that he do ma down slit
For doubt lest he faJ he shudderoth and shiv-
ercth
Shakespeare speaks Of this forlorn
individual in one of his most beautiful
plays, and introduces dog as his COM
panion According TO the nursery
rhyme, the man in the moon once Wis
tied this earth, and took fancy to
some pease porridge, which he was in
such a hurry to devor he scalded his
mounth;
The man in the moon
Came tumbling down
And asked the way 70 Norwich"
but whether he ever reached this des-
tination we are not told.
The peasants Of Swabis and Bohemia
see two folks stand in the moon. a man
and a woman. The man carries a