The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1898-07-21
REMARKABLE PHENOMENON.
A Picture of Realistic Beauty and
Marvellous Deception Witnessed
From the Atlanta Special
Early Saturday
Morning.

From the Atlanta Special
Early Saturday
Morning.
Saturday morning between the hours
OF four and five o'clock the editor wit
messed q most remarkable phenomenon,
the like of which We have never seen be-
fore.
Leaving here on the Northbound At
lanta Special, soon after passing Ridge
way and before Warren Plains was reach
ed, our little boy 4 years old, sitting at the
window looking out, asked if that was a
river. Knowing there was no river or
other stream of water in that section,
We answered no. Eyes it is, Papa, look"
said the little fellow, quite convinced that
he knew what he was talking about. To
satisfy him we looked and sure enough
spread out before US on the left side of
the track was what appeared to be as
perfect a sheet OF water as our eyes ever
beheld. We viewed the picture with won
der and amazement for several minutes
in silent admiration. Then the stiffness
was broken by our aforementioned trav-
cling companion who enthusiastically
exclaimed: "Ain't that a river, Papa,
didn't tell you soe'
For miles we observed the strange
phenomenon and as the train sped swiftly
onward the deception was more perfect
Not being able to account for the un-
usual and mysterious "apparitiOn" and
desiring Others to see it also we walked
back to the rear of the coach where Mr..
E. Powell, Jr., was seated and called his
attention thereto. lie said he and the
gentleman who shared the seat with him
had been looking atand remarking about
the same thing. The attention of a
young lady friend was called to it and
she too had observed it from the op-
pOsite side of the aisle She changed
seats where she got better view and by
this time the attention of a dozen or
more passengers having been attracted
blinds were raised and the whole crowd
gazed in wonder and admiration upon
scene which would delight an artists
eye. One man who occupied seat just
back OF US having aroused from his sleep
pushed up the blinds and looked out to
see what we were all so intently looking
at in the "pitch darkness" He was a
stranger unfamiliar with the country and
80 realistic was the picture, so perfect the
deception, that he refused at first to be-
lieve that it was not really water he was
looking at.
On until after Littleton was passed for
some distance and the East began to
light up with the first gray streaks of
dawn, the same picture was spread out
before us. The scenes shifted, the piano.
rama changed taking on different forms
and sizes but until it faded from view at
the approach OF daylight it was the same
grand, glorious picture-a picture which
requires an artists conception and a
poets pen to describe
Do you ask what was this very rcmarka-
BILE phenomenon? Not an optical illusion,
but deception of course. 1t was simply a
picture on the horizon, drawn there by the
hand of the great Master Artist himself.
But SO low was it that it did not extend up
ward, but receded-extended far out and
away, fiat like, as if it had been reflected on
the ground: The condition of the atmos-
phere had great deal to do with it to be
sure, and the time and all that. But the
same effect is not produced often and we do
not expect to witness similar sight again.
When We first saw it it appeared to be
about a quarter of mile wide, extending
back from IS or 100 yards of the track. At
other times it looked to he much wider ia
king the form more of lake than running
stream. At such times it would appear to
lie from quarter to mile distant but
reached as far along the line of railway in
both directions as one could see from the
car window.
The flecks of cloud on the edges looked
like points of land projecting into the water
and others still looked like little islands OF
jagged rocks jutting up out of its CLASSY sur
face. The motion of the train added to the
deception making it appear as if one could
see the water Tor what had the appearance
of water at least) agitated by gentle ripples
and undulating waves while around the
sides or banks the denser clouds and shad.
ows which came out of the darkness sur
rounding assumed the figures of trees and
shrubs and tangled mass of foliage and
underground, all Of which made the picture
more complete and the deception more real
1t was simply grand, magnificent, sub
lime! Wonderful does not begin to express it
Gorgeous in its rich colorings and delicate
pencilings, rejecting every tint and hue Of
the rainbow and those to it unknown, il
seemed as if the very dye-pots of the vast
studios of Heaven and Nature had been ex.
hausted in its portraiture. Purple and gold
crimson and blue, silver and green-all the
lights and shades and colors and tones in
| one marvellous picture there outlined upon
the rim of the horizon were harmoniously
blended.
1t was scene never to be forgotten-one
| which cannot be described.