Omaha daily bee., 1897-11-30
WHEN THE STARS FELL.
Murnt HnIstend Recalls His Boyhood
Memory of the Sight.

Murat HaIstead Recalls His Boyhood
Memory of the Sight.
1 am of the few who can speak as eye
witnesses OF "The Night of the Falling
Stars" November 1918, 1898, writes Murat
Halstead in the Cincinnati Commercial
Tribune. Those who behed the wonders of
that time were dazed by the awful splendors
and long spoke of them as OF some majestic,
| supernatural vision. The sleepers through
the night were aggrieved and could never be
| sure that their friends, who were favored
| with views of the astounding spectacle did
| not conspire to magnify the marvels of the
sky when afame with meteors, II was the
night Edwin Booth, the famous actor, was
born. My age was years and months, and
point of observation valley in southwestern
Ohio One OF the treasures of our house was
an astronomical atlas with mysterious maps
of the consultations over which my parents
pondered; and the strange animals drawn
among the stars were figures the more In
comprehensive the more they were explained.
| My parents were much given to studying the
| clouds by day and the stars by uight, and
one of my earliest recollections is that they
would call each others attention to celestial
| phenomena, so that l was something of a
| "star gazer" myself and knew when 4-year-
| old about "Job's Coffin" and "Orion's Belt"
"The Seven Stars" "The Dioper,'' "The North
STAR and the star of the morning and even
| ing
My father, the day before the memorable
uight. had CHILLED mess of young squirrels"
| and out of Difference to me had not shot them
as marksmon should, through the head, for
my favorite diet was squirrels brains. My
| passion for this dainty dish was INDUCED at
supper and during the night l disturbed the
house shouting for alleviation of sharp pains,
resulting from too much brains-in my in
! experienced stomach My mother, aroused,
saw strange light glarng at the w!udOws,
and 10! it was evident enough the universe
was afire, My father seldom allowed any
| thing to astonish him, but that did. If he
had not seen it he would not have believed
it. and yet he did net think the last hours of
the globe we inhabit had come and "the
judgment" at hand The hour was after
midnight and how long the stars had been
| falling could not be ascertained. 1t was very
good of my parents to think 1t worth while
to have me take part as watChman of the
| tremendous Illumination, just to see whether
1 could remember it as long as l lived.
| have SO far, clearly as If it had haCDened q
few days ago; and ii is stxty-four years! My
| face was washed to clear my eyes from tears,
perhaps, and, wrapped IN blanket, was
| carried into the yard on the north side of
the house The view to the north was some
what obstructed by wild cherry tree. East
ward a low hill covered with hickory,
maple, walnut and sassafras trees, and that
was where the morning star peeped through
| the lofty fringe Of naked boughs and trunks
|
| Special attention was given to pointing
things out for me to Ak ir, my memory, and
| the amazing scene is before me now. though
| that was long before photography. l do not
| recolect that / locked westward at all
| Observation of the east fascinated me, and |
! do not think | turned my face in any
| other directions. There were innumerable
lines of light, drawn as If by invisible pencils
| with points of fire; strangely straight lines
sweeping from near the zenith to the horizon
My clear impression is there were no cross
| lines that there seemed to be a monstrous
| stream of fiery hair, a vivid blending of sun
and moonlight, pouring from stupendous
eXhaustless urn; some of the bright lines
| fading as they swept far down. fantlng into
the serene depths of the sky. There was
certain majestic serenity about the exalted
! oonflagratioD My parents were not alarmed
| or greatly agitated, but enjoying every
moment. recall their low tones and some
of their exclamations of surprise and admra-
| tion All the boys and girls OF the house
were called. and they wanted to know
whether it was really the stars that were
| falling; and my father reassured them by the
| rather unsatisfactory statement: mo; It's
| nothing but metecrs" How it happened
| there was such a food of them was a matter
| not deeply gone into The idea that comet
had exploded and our world was whirling
through the dust left floating in the abyss
of space not at once evolved, and 1t
was some time before our weekly papers
mentioned that there had been other s 'artling
SuONtIS VI lHGlcOiS, LIIal bhiS INNS uoPpNhch
several times, and might and probably
would, again.
The silence that attended the dazzling dis
pay-the apparent flight of all the stars from
their courses-the mighty movement, mex
presslve save in the swift darting of celes-
tial arrows that flashed into space and made
no sound, most impressed the beholders, and
was always mentioned as something mys-
tical-an appariton of glory lnconceivable.
twas nsubstamtial as the northern lights and
We Nyhq
seen the vault of heaven incandescent with
a thousand streams of pale lightning al! still
as tho frost that glistened on the grass.
The dome of the edifice in which the world
is toy was the fountain from which
sped sheaves of long-drawn shafts of light,
as If some sudden volcano in the blue had
sent forth radiant array OF spectral spears,
putting out the stars The commotlon
among the people in some country neighbor-
hoods was as if warning had been given that
tho day of burning worlds was at hand,
There were horns blown-always in the west
In rural regions signal of alarm at night
or on Sunday-and messengers ran from
house to house 1t was a long time before
tho full restoration of the confidence of the
people in the steady proceedings, as Of old,
of the sun and moon and the consultations.
The stories of the distraction of southern
negroes furnished fun for many years. The
amount OF loud praying reported of them was
remarkable.
1t was relief to the watchers-my eyes
were soon weary OF the fireworks, and so l
have only hearsay for it--when the FIST cold
white, then rosy, light az morning came, and
| 1t was seen the hills had not skipped, and
that the brooks babbled on in their accus-
toned way; and tho chickens that had
cackled and crowed and given signs of
apprehension on their roosts, came down
and found the earth as they had left it the
evening before; and the farmers set forth
as usual to husk corn in the fields. When
the evening shades fell once more the veil
OF the meteors had vanished, and there were
gladness and gratitude that the majestical
oYerhangiag armament was still there,
fretted with the golden fires Of the familiar
stars
simply Left His Wife.
SAN FRANCISCO. Nov. 29.-The detect