The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1895-06-22

odItu, duulu mOuItasus uuO Valleys, up.
on whose bold outlines no earthly eye
has ever gazed. 1t is by far the best side
of the moon, too, but she Is getting
rather tired of living there and talks
about changing places with me. l ex-
pect you would be rather surprised down
below there if some fine day-or night,
r~ather--you found a woman in the moon
instead of a man. Ha, ha, ha ~ and for.
getful Of his recent fit of the blues the
old chap gave ven to a hearty guffaw.
Eve should indeed" l replied,
laughing in my turn, although ! fancy,
unless your sisters appearance differs in
= marked degree from your own. that
W should scarcely be able to distin-
yuish the difference. You must admit
yourself that one must possess good eye
sight to tell a man from a woman 240,-
900 miles away"
"Oh. but, answered the old man,
with a touch of family pride, ''she is a
fine woman! Not bent and bowed with
age like me. Indeed she is really 6. 000,-
600 years younger than am I. Then, Of
course, she dresses in-in'-
THE habiliments suitable to her
sex" I ventured to say.
Precisely, and, like all the women
here, is fond Of dress. Why, when I last
visited her, some 25, 900 years ago, al
most her first question was, How do tho
ONE dress now ON the earth?' OF
course there wasn't much to tell her be-
cause-well. the women Of that day
didn't trouble themselves much about
dress, but I am thinking Of paying her
another visit soon, and then I shall have
q different budget of news for her"
But tell me-" l interrupted, for l
was not much interested in the old fell
lows sister, something about the
earth. You must have seen almost as
great changes in the earth as in the
MOON"
almost. was the answer, but not
quite. My world is cold and dead.
Yours is still alive, as was mine once.
but your turn will come some day, and
then we shall both 60 circling through
space, cold, silent and l~ifeless. But
that" he continued, Twill be many
millions of years from now, almost as
many millions as it is since I first set
eyes on your planet. Then, as I said be-
fore, 1t was a mere mass of molten mat
ter-a vast white hot ball whirling
round the sun and carrying me with it.
I remember as though it were yesterday
the first beginning Of earthly life. At
first the seas covered everything, and
beautiful specimens of marine fora
floated everywhere upon the surface of
the water, while in it's translucent
depths fishes Of strange form and glo-
rious coloring disported themselves.
Then the dry land began to appear, and
by slow degrees the great forests that
shrouded as with q mantle all the earth
not covered by the waters. For millions
Of years what you are pleased to call
the lower animals were the only deni-
zens of their somber depths, and even
after man came it was hundreds Of
thousands Of years before he even par
TALLY dominated the face of nature"
but was there not" I asked, IAN
ice agei"
"A what?" he exclaimed, with a puz.
zled expression of countenance.
IAN ice age," I repeated. "A period
Of time when the ice, which, as You are
aware, is always present at the poles,
spread northward and southwark until
it enveloped almost the entire globe"
"Oh, yes" responded mine host,
with the air Of a man trying to recall
some long forgotten and altogether triv.
ial incident. II believe something of
the kind did happen, and not more than
100, 600 or 100, 900 years ago either.
But it only lasted about 20, 900 years,
and I had quite forgotten all about it
until you mentioned it."
This concluded the interview, for
although I would have liked to have
pursued my inquiries further the old
chap suddenly snatched up his bundle,
bent his back and resumed his orthodox
position, at the same time indicating by
q gesture that he was not inclined for
any further conversation. 1--WE are right
owe Greenwich observatory" be ex-
planned in answer to my look of sur
prise, land I don't want the astrono-
mers there to see me without my bun
die and talking to a stranger too. 1t isn't
respectable. London Amusing Jour
nal.