The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1897-12-28

hours when we sleep a mysterious
world awakens in the silent solitude.
Then the springs sing more clearly, the
ponds kindle tiny fires on their sur
faces, the mountain sprites come and
go without fear, and there are rustlings
and an imperceptible commotion in the
air, which seem like the growing Of
branches or the springing of young
plants. Day is the life of beings, night
the life of things.
"All this is even terrifying to one
who is not in the habit of seeing it.
Our young lady was trembling from
head to foot, and she chung to me at
the slightest noise Once long, mourn
full cry floated toward us from the
cleaning pond below. At the same in
slant superb shooting star glided over
our heads in the same direction, as if
this moan we had Just heard were the
bearer of a light.
What was that?' Stephenette asked
me in a low voice.
ga soul entering paradise, mis-
tress. And made the sign of the cross.
"She, too crossed herself and staid
for moment in meditation, with her
face turned toward heaven. Then, Is
it true that all you shepherds are wiz
ards?' she asked.
"Not at all, my lady, but we live
nearer the stars here than the people in
the valley, and SO we know better than
they what is going on.
''She was still looking up, with her
head on her hand. She was like little
celestial shepherdess, sitting there with
the sheepskin around her.
How far it goes How beautiful it
isl have never seen anything like it.
Do you know their names, shepherd?'
Yes, mistress. Here, just over us,
is st. James road (the milky way). 1t
goes from France straight into Spain.
st. James of Galioe laid it out to show
the way to the brave Charlemagne
when he was waging war with the
Saracens. Farther along you see the
chariot of souls (Ursa Major with its
four dazzling axles The three stars in
front are the three animals, and that
quite small one opposite the third is the
charioteer. Do you see that rain Of
stars all around it? They are the souls
which the good God does not want in
his house. A little lower is the rake,
or the three kings (Orion). 1t serves
as a clock to us. By looking at it /
know now that it is past midnight.
Lower toward the south is John of Mi
Ian, the torch of the stars (Sirius). The
shepherds have this legend about it:
John of Milan was invited one night
with the three kings and the Pleiades
to the wedding of one of their star
friends The Pleiades were in greater
hurry than the others, SO they left first
and took the highroad. See it up there
at the very top of the heavens The
three kings cut across lower and over
took them, but that lazy John of Milan,
who had oversight, was left far behind.
In a rage he threw his stick to stop
them. That is why the three kings are
also called John of Milan's stick. But
the most beautiful of all the stars, mis-
tress, is ours, the shepherds star,
which lights us at dawn as we take out
the aooks and at evening when we bring
them home. We call it Maguelonne,
too, the beautiful Maguelonne who runs
after Peter of Provence (Saturn) and
marries him every seven years..
SIS What, shepherd Are there really
marriages among the stars?'
"'Oh, yes, mistress
"And as I was trying to explain
what these unions are like l felt some-
thing fresh and delicate weighing gen.
tly on my shoulder. 1t was her head,
heavy with sleep, which leaned against
me with pretty rumpling of ribbons,
laces and curly hair. She lay so with
out stirring until the stars paled-ef-
faced by the rising day. watched her.
little moved in the depths of my be-
ing-but sweetly guarded by this clear
night, which has never given me any
thing but noble thought. Around us
the stars continued their silent march,
docile as great flock-and at moments
l fancied that one, the most delicate,
the most brilliant of them all, had lost
her way and rested upon my shoulder
in sleep. From the French of AL
phonse Daudet For Short Stories.