The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1896-01-21

comet because my conveyance did not
show that the wife of the conveyer had
been taken taken apart and examined
by the notary as required by law.
This proves that we live in a cold,
selfish world, and also that most liter
ary men are not practical. I am not.
Neither was Milton. Still I am a little
more ~businesslike than Milton. He got
$45 for paradise Lost" however, and
that shows that he was pretty keen on
a trade, I think, for I had to analyze it
in my school days, and when I heard
that John got $45 for it the idea came
to my childish mind that literature was
a cinch. OF course I do not use slang
now nor even think slang, but that was
the way the matter struck me in my
callow days. But the practical poet of
to-day is careful to write in such a way
as to fill out columns that need n or
two stanzas only. Milton to day would
be unpopular, and if he sent paradise
Lost" to one Of our old season cracked
editors he would send the poem down
the dumb waiter to the room of a pale
girlish youth, with orders to boil it
down to Is lines to Justify" with the
Holmes murder.
But since my real estate deal in the
comet line l have been reading up more
in regard to these erratic bodies. lam
surprised to find that they are irregu-
lar in their habits and move in a
~parabola, like a presidential candidate.
I had made some calculations owe
ing both sides of the barn and was sure
that I was coming at the date of my
CONNECTS return when Iran across this
caution: 1T has been remarked that
when An ephemeris of ~geocentric po-
sitions (right ascension and declina-
tion) for any length of time i5 required
it is convenient to calculate with rec
tangular equatorial CO. ordinates instead
of by the process we have followed in
comparing the orbit with the middle
observation"
So then I had to buy a new barn and
begin all over again.
At one time I had the whole back
yard full of logarithms, and a person
going out after coal in the cleaning
would fall over and skin his nose on an
equation almost invariably.
After I had worked my multiplier
till I had to build on a lean to for my
multlplicand I ran upon this little
paragraph of instructions:
I'VE may now refer to the calcula-
ton of ephemerides Of the geocentric
places of a comet from the parabolic
elements which are required during
its visibility to facilitate observations. "
Now, what sort of reading matter is
that to place before a family2
The general respect and esteem
shown by comets toward the sun have
endured them to the thinking mind. I
have read of every comet since the
savant was enabled first to ramble
through the sky, and no comet has
ever been known to turn its tail to-
ward the sun during that time. Comets
for many years we're regarded with
disfavor and were unpopular among
the masses, the general opinion being
that they preceded pestilence and con
gressional legislation. In the fifteenth
century to the Ave Maria" was added
Lord, save us from the devil, the
Turk and the comet"
The chemical construction of comets
has for many years occupied the atten-
ton of our greatest scholars and at
mospheric explorers. Generally they
are thought to contain nothing but
carbonifous gases and scenery. As
one may comfortably observe the stars
through the tail of a comet, says the
astronomer, we are led to believe that
the whole substance of the comet is
merely a nebulous gas illuminated by
other bodies, such as the sun or moon
If I had known that in April, it
would have been worth something to
me, but I am too apt to purchase
things and then read about them after
ward.
Donati's comet, 1 think, gave the
most general satisfaction. It was here
in 1853 and returns regularly every
1850 years, rain or shine. It would
come oftener, but has an aphelion of
Is, ZOO, 600, 900 of miles and therefore
has to be very active in order to make
the trip.
Donati was very proud of his comet,
but it has never paid him at all. Since
getting mixed up in the matter I have