The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1897-06-05

N@A ~ nv 6lShN OoN
n no interest of state was undertaken with
out first consulting the stars. The wis
men were called Chaldeans from tn
d birthplace of %astTology and in al
q matters OF moment they were religiousl.
consulted.
Although it is now considered merely
s superstition, ~astrology has come down t.
q Us through the ages as a powerful facto
in the history of the world, and the live
? of our greatest men rave been strongl,
influenced by their belief in sta
prophecies. Napoleon had his lucky sta
and the great German general, WaIlen'
stein. was a firm believer in the influence
OF the planets on the lives of men.
Schiller in his Observation-Disclosures
us a fine passage on this same planetary
influence, when Thekla, describing to
Max PIccolonini her fathers tower where
he practices astrology, says:
1.-THE planets govern worldly fates, and for
that cause are imaged here as kings,
He farthest from you,
Spiteful and cold an old man melanch ply,
With bent and yellow forehead, he is
Saturn.
He opposite, the king with the red light
An arm'd man for the battle, that is Mars
And both these bring but little luck to
man.
Bat at his side a lovely lady stood,
The star uPon her head was soft and
bright
And that was Venus, the bright star of joy.
% the left hand lol Mercury with wings,
Quite in the middle gIittered silver bright
A cheerful man and with a monarchs
mein;
And that was Jupiter, my fathers star"
Even in America horoscopes are some
times cast, and in the death of Stonewall
Jackson one is said to have strangely
come to pass. By nance jackson, when
a very young man, found himself aboard
a steamer on the Mississippi. Among the
passengers was an ~astrologer-or rather a
young man who dabbled a little in the
occult. One night the steamer ran
aground, a weary time of waiting ensued,
to enliven which the young astroIoger
proposed to cast Jackson's horoscope. To
this jackson mildly assented and the
heavens declared that the fate OF Jackson
and that of a young northerner, who was
also among the passengers, crossed-the
stars indicating that both would be in the
same great danger and that Jacks n
would not escape. The young men
ridiculed the idea and perhaps both for a
time forgot it. But, long afterward, when
the direful prediction was fulfilled one of
them remembered and retold the incident.
1t was the night after the dreadful
struggle at Charlottesville. and Jackson
thinking the battle done, went out with
his staff to make observations. As he
rode back to his command, the con:eder-
ates, deceived by the thick fog which
shrouded everything as with a veil. mis-
took Jackson and his staff for a body OF
union soldiers, and fired on them.
Although wounded he rode toward them,
thinking hat they would recognize their
beloved leader, but a shot from the pick
cts robbed the south of her idol.
BY some freak of fate the young North
erntr, whose destiny was so strangely
linked with that OF Jackson, was acciden-
tally separated from his regiment. and IS
the soldiers bore the wounded confeder-
ate to the rear, the union officer, refining
his horse in the shelter of a cIump of
distinctly heard them say,
jackson is killed."
Realizing that he was within confeder-
ate lines he put spurs to his horse aud
rode for his life. To the stern command
to "halt" he gave no heed, and although
his horse passed like the wind, bullets
from the gun OF the picket went through
coat and hat. But he reached his men
The southern soldiers who
saw 1t were much mystiied by the ghOstly
figure which shot out of the thick uuder-
brush and flew past the sentry in the fog.
This superstition, like everything mys-
has a peculiar charm that appeals
especially to poetic natures, and the pleas
ure which poets take in things savoring
of the mystic is easily explained. The
poetic soul is so finely attuned to the ex-
quisite harmonies of heaven and earth
things unintelligible to the ordinary
man, are to the poet but intricate chords
in perfect harmony. To every
poet mysterious messages and impress
sions, inexplicable and yet as strong as
life, conn from the unseen. The soul
frets in its narrow prison, and in ITS
Ihroes the mysterious phases of nature
seem in some strange way to satisfy the
Iongings of the finite. Hence the stars,
IS messages from the unseen, as lights in
he darkness, fill the poet soul with an
irresistible impulse to voice the wondrous
beauties which it cOnceives, and thus
poetry is born.
So it is that we find Homer, first OF
great poets, writing passages OF marvellous
beauty, which tell the glory of the stars.
)ne particularly fine is found in Pope's
Translation of the Had:
troops exulting sat in order round,
And beaming stars Illuminated all the
ground,
Is when the moon, refu'gent lamp OF
night
)'er heavens pure azure spreads her
sacred light,
not a breath disturbs the deep
serene,
md not a CLOUD o'ercasts the solemn
scene,
Around her throne the vivid planets roll
nd stars ~unnumbered gid the glowing
pole"
Many later poets make Homer thei
model and Virgil speaks of "Stormy
)rion'' and "Plague-bringing Sirius ris-
ng over the ocean," Horace often sings .
# the "starry citadels," and in the first
de of the first book he says: "If am
ound worthy of the crown of Lyric poets,
will strike the stars with my uplifted
cad" or our English poets, perhaps
kelley more than any other, has made
Sc of the stars and he seems to lind the
CChNSb ihNhb hh ~ aga ~
gain the beauty OF the heavens.
The stars point us 10 the highest pcrfec-
ion, to the glory of glories, the beauty of
eauties-to wisdom and their glory
hough told over and over never grows =
Id. How could il? When a star pointed (
way to the mauger at Bethlehem -
here lie lay, who is called: "Wonderful \
THE Mighty God,' "The
.verlasting Father" The Prince of 5
eace." N
PRESIDING ELDERS APPOINTMENTS. II
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% and %. II
Sweet Springs and Blackwater, at Black q
alter, May % and 30.
Elmwood and Bethel, at Elmwood, June -
and @, n. IN. u
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8 and q, p. IN.
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