The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1899-04-23
A voyAcn ID TnE MOON. J

VOYAGE TO THE MOON Fy NJ
C,,.rsv, de Rerrcrac. TRANSLATED hy A.
Lowell Doubleday & Mcclure Com
psry. Sew York.
THO realization that Edmond Rosland
popular hero. CrTno dc Bcreerac was DID
h.. J+v d writDr .f books. and that Doe
combined succe- .u authorship with his
many other attra. ti0ns AND accomplish
menfs comes upon ONE Boz the na-lre OF
complete surprise Ihc one ot DIS works
introduced hy ~. Rostaud in the most
Ingenious scene of DIS play "a Voyage To
the Mo0n and rho People of the Moon.
serves The clever device OF transiXing
DE Gulchr avd thereby losing him his
Intended bride HoXaHc
OF the $50 new portraits Of Cyrano.
ono shows hln 90 us in his study, intent
upon the pages OF "A Voyage % the
Moon" a seventeenth century transla-
ton Of ibis has just been presented by
tha Doubleday and Mcclure Company
On their reprint o. a douhly attractive
production one which viii baLoagerly re-
roived and read by an the admirers Of
its originator. his oramaust. and his
Eosllsh interpreter.
To such 10 viii be a profound matter
81 interest that " de Bergerac's book
has proved source of inspiration 20
The author OF "Guilivcr's Travels. es-
peciaIly in Tho Iapufa Chapters" ale
though "a Voyage 70 the Moon unlike
that famous Imaginative extravaganza.
o. q curious mixture 90 the philosophy.
ike astronomy and the physics of its
dav. IN The description OF the first at
tempted ascent 20 heaven. and the ex-
planation ~ ltr failure. Cyrano tells us.
II planted myself m the middle % a
great many Glasses full OF Dew. tied fast
scout me. upon which the sun so VIC
lenty darted his Rays that the heat
which attracted them as IL does the
ttnckest clouds carried ne I'D 50 high
found myself above the middle
Region u rhe Air. and more distant from
the Moon than 40 my FIRST setting out ]
broke several o. my walls and sometime
after fei 20 tho ground asa n: and
20 reckon from the hour that ] set ont
al. 4 must then have been about mid.
night. Nevertheless ] found the sun 10
be IN meridian and that A. was noon
in fact while The aerial voyager had
hung suspended in mid air. hts mother
Earth had proceeded calmly on In her
customary revolution and when his feet
returned 70 terra Hrma they pressed not
The shores % his native France but the
foreign soil Of her Canadian step-chiid
and All was unfamiliar save the accents
o: common tongue
Noth"'g daunfed. however. the adver-
turous spirit ~ Cyrano impeis him 10
mako second ascent I'm flying ma
chine which escapes from his control
and 10 which some soldiers are attaching
fireworks as ho mes upon the scene. We
ena'ches match from the hand of the
solder who WAS giving fire" 70 hts ma
chine springs into II himself. when hcv.
presto the fireworks explode. and away
he goes "up in q cloud" A. great dis
lance above The earth he bids adicu 20
HIS machine, as Il falls back through
spece. and. his elevation continuing. he
suddenly drops with his heels up and his
head down upon that region Of extinct
volcanoes and burned out fire.. known
70 dwellers upon this mundane sphere
az the moon. He saws here
y found myself under tree cniane'ed
VIII three or four pretty large brar ehes
which had broken or by my fall. and
my face besmeered By ar apple that had
dashed asaine, II. BY good lack tina.
plses was as you shall know hy and by
che Garden OF Edsn>. As he advanced