The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1899-11-01
ing OF late. AS for those weird. yellow

ing OF late. AS for those weird. yellow
lights which have either oircled the
moon when at her full or brimmed the
interval between her two cups when she
has been yet al immature growth in
our heavens-these, I should say, are
certainly caused by fiery issues Of a
like sort from craters on her other side,
that side which the eye Of man has
never beheld."
Then you think" I said 10 your
father, that these outbursts are merely
the last throes of dying life in the orb,
and that no harmful consequence to
earth may possibly come from them?"
Your fathers grave, sweet face cloud
ed little.
There is one chance" he replied,
"and it might be fraught with fearful
danger"
"0ne chance?" I questioned eagerly.
you mean"
That imprisoned gases within the
moon may lie at the core OF this aglta-
ton. If I can use so queerly contradic-
tory an expression, the moon might un-
dergo an earthquake. You of course
understand me-"
Perfectly; why not? But considering
the depth OF the moons frozen crust, a
seismic disturbance in her could scarce
ly be OF serious import.
Your father stroked his gray, siiken
beard and into those mild, starry blue
eyes Of his came troubled look.
The frozen crust on the moon 8
other side, he slowly said. may not
be half so deep as on the side at which
we are able to gaze. Those strange
lights indicate that there eruptive agen-
cies are at work which are fiercer than
any we have been able distinctly to
mark"
And you then apprehend-" I
asked, suddenly pausing, and scarcely
unaware Just why I had either begun my
query or thus abruptly broken it OF.
"Apprehend?" your father repeated,
with u faint yet meaning smile. For a
time he was silent, even broodingly so,
and then he again began to speak, in
his rich even tones, and with touch OF
unwonted fervor.
at has long been my theory" he said,
that nearly all the worlds in space
have a moment at which they definitely
perish. The great astronomer, Ardiland,
does not agree with me on this point,
and yet he admits the probabilities OF
my hypothesis. In any large orb like
the moon, these cooling-off, processes
have been, OF necessity, irregular. All
the surface OF the planet is not equally
dense or obdurate. Meanwhile the gases
engendered by ages OF slow, sullen. and
repressed combustion have been in
sisting on some sort OF outlet. For
certainly on bulk so volcanic as that
Of the moon they surely must have OBJ
tanned it. And yet nothing is more
thinkable than that they should at last,
in some stern effort to escape, rend
comp, etely asunder the material which
contains them"
II see!" was my exclamation. And
then you believe that the moon may
literally explode in the heavensp"
His gentle eye kindled.
You have grasped my meaning pre-
cisely Ardiland believes that these
phenomena we are now so constantly
witnessing have a most harmless ex-
planation. I cannot agree with him,
Tor the secretion OF gases must still, I
5houli say, be enormous, and if certain
chemical crises occur their disruptive
agency would be terrific.
, 1 held my brea'h for moment; had
the profoundest iaith in your fathers
Judgment on all subjects, and for his
astronomic knowledge I had long felt
positive reverence.
THAT" I presently gasped, would
signify the destruction OF the moon?"
Her total destr.uction-yes."
And 10 the earth, what7'
Excessive danger.
"Of what2"
II will not say destruction also," he
returned, with hesitant voice; but sure.
ly there would be friGhtful injury. And
perhaps, too, our planet might be sent
from her orbit and flung into the sun.
Again, it is wholly credible that in case
the moon should be shivered into frag.
ments, not all OF these would by any
means strike the earth. Many Of them
perhaps most Of them-might dart
into the radius of attraction wrought by
urn; Tor the centrifugal force OF their
flight would be furious when first gener-
ated, and much OF the telluric mass, in.
deed, for this very reason of intense
speed, be dissolved into vapor during it's
wild passage through ether; and hence
our collision with any part OF it might
be rendered far less hurtful.
lTo BE CONTINUED