The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1899-08-10
BILL ARP ON THE DOG DAYS
GIVES n LESSON IN ASTRONOMY
He Answers Inquiries About tho
Prcscm season Some Folks nrc
| Possessed with u Devil

"A
: 1t socms 10 mo that | had hot,,r nn
. swcr somo OF these Interesting ou,a
, ttons through the Ear. .rcarhlrw mrui
, um OF tho press, llcro arc thrrr In
quirtes from among your rouucrs VIII,
wish ~ know SNmrthlnE Ithnttr aNNu,
thoSc so.ra,trI iNS aaya. Nt rNurar,
know only what Ert trNm N,Nka IN,
vast m"ltUuAN have NOT thr >,NA
nor access ,N ihvm. WhnthNr tNv
advent and tnN 'roAHnro " ars dnNa
Nc n surrrStUtNN W tact, all thAt IL
known ShoulG ~ Nt>srmtnatnA.
fl!ny and Nrrrir,us Nrth wrote
about dog days irN Years hnturo lhrtat.
Ancient aStrNuNMrra and muuvru uuea
aErco IN asrr, Nlnr ~ Sirius n very ma.
! hEnant tUNuCurr W NNn II nrisvs IN con.
junction with tho sun, Tor IL Is tho
brightest star IN tue hrnvNnH and its
great heat Added ~ tho h, NJ OF tho
sun increases AuN lntVnstNrs tho tom
pcraturc nS Iona ~ this con junction
continues. Eut tins r.sinE with tho
sun Is not NNcN Nay. 1t varies from
tho 3rd ot July ~ the 10th OF August,
and hence the a,tMaNAr mnkrrs take
an average day aud SGT down July 10Th
as the first 1, \ day. Some dntN IL July
.+th, hut these dates may miss It two
or three weeks.
| 1t Is gcnrrally believed that thcsc
uoE days continue tNr forty days, but
IN TACT that Is All lndrNntto ported, for
the conjunction 0t S,rluS with the sun
sometimes lasts tor titiy four davs. The
sum OF tho whole mattrr is that about
this time OF the year We may look for
very hot weather and showers almost
every day, and 10 call il todurr pulling
weather would hr as good u nniio ia
any. Whether Sirius nHa anything to
90 with 1t or not w can only sur
mise, but Sirius Is the dog star and
gave the name. Sirius Is the very
brightest star III the heavens, and Is Ia
the mouth Of " hlE uuE-a constella-
tlon that the ancient astronomers
named CAMS major. The ancicnt r. syp-
tlnns mapped OF the starry heavens
with Imaginary animals ana mon, such
as dogs, bears, dragons balls, Her
| cules, Orion, etc, and the nnmEs they
gave To groups OF stars have mover
oecn changed. There Is u big dog and
a little dog, u big bear and little bear.
u big dipper and little dippcr.
hight IN the tip Of the tail OF the
| little bear Is very notable star called
the Pole STAR Or North star, that navi-
gato.s used to sail by aud they called
IT Cynoskuros, which IN Greek means
y dogtail, From this name We have
the word cynosure and SO when we say
OF beautiful woman in ap Assem- bly,
| that she WAS the cynOSurc Of all eyes it
Is ca iivaicnt to saying that she was
the dog tail OF the concern. Just how
the sailors got to calling this star the
dogtnil Is not known, for it is really in
ursa minor, the little bears tail. The
ancicnts gave many names 80 the stars
10 tit lha tuings in nature that they re-
| sem bcd. The word comet comes from
Comctus, which means a mares tail.
The word lunatic comes from luua, the
| moon, for the ancientS believed that
| the mind was affected by changes in
| the moon.
Those old Egyptians were very i'm.
| aginatlvc and supcrstitious, but they
| were very learned. How they got so
far ahead Of the Hebrews, Gods favor
| lite people, we do not know. Their
| astronomy, mathematics and architcc-
lure nave never been improved. The
| Scrip urcs tell us that Moses was learn
el in all the wisdom oi the Egyptians
job asks: "Canst thou bind the sweet
Influences OF Pl1ildc5 or loose the
bands Of OciOn >" Amos calls them the
seven stars and mythology names them
thc seven sisters, but modern astrOnO-
mcrs say there never were but six and
there are only six no". II nc. the su
perstitiOn about the lost pleiad. Their
sweet intlucnccsn arc said to come
from the fact that whenever seen in the
heavens it is a sign Of good weather, and
sale time Tor vessels to sail, for Dleiad
means q sail. 1t Is like the pretty
word halcyOn that literally mcans duck
o. ..i.nr, for the ,iGcr duck nlvc,
bni!ds it's nest ON the Cllifs by the sea
unit pleasant weather comes to stay
fo.' tnn se;son. Hence the w0r, al;
| the sea and con an egg.
| Bat | reckon this Is enough about
| Il 4. l,x r / -l-i
| times 20 have something to write about
besides the Philippines and war scan
dals and mobs up North and Iynchings
down South and Kentucky politics.
IHcrc are good people everywhere
who would love TO live in peace with
their ncighhOrs and the rest OF man
kind, but somo folks are POSSESSED v ith
ii devil nowadays, just like they used
to be and there Is nobody to cast them
out. The people feed upon excitement
more than they uacd TO do. Commu-
mites want sensations aud politicians
and preachers can be found who get
them up. Governor Northcn had hn nrdly
got the Bo5tunianS sOo!hcu down be-
iOrc that Miss Jcwct, gets up q counter
lrrltant and wants to raise Is thousand
dollars TO come to Charleston and move
the Baker family 10 Boston. Why, it
won't take more than Il hundred. Thew
can be sen without her coming If they
want to go. There's u niggor in that
woodpllc sure. She either wants to
marry one or put $YUO Of that money
IN her pocket. Wonder ii she would
ent like to come TO EARLY County and
take away Il few more orphans. The
way they do things down in EARLY suits
our people generally. Suppose lynch
Ing does n"t stop these outragcs. II a
rnltlcsnnHc bitr. ii nl@o "" kill the
9nai.c. ii a. tiger carries OF child
TO tha jungle the brute is pursued and
killed. These negro brutes are in
hnltely worse tkan snakes or tigers
ana have more sense. Suppose they
arc not identified according to law, no
good negro Is in dagger and the bad
; ones arc "f no consequence. The devil
gets them little sooner, that's all.
LIT the North howl. They have
howled before. L,t Thurbor issue his
, !pso dixit. He has made millions out
OF the South and ] hope our peOplc
: Will boycott him. The impudcnt, i'm.
= pcrtlnent conceitcd swcll Such ut-