The Washington bee., 1899-04-22
The End of the World.

The comet which an Austrian as
trOnOmer states will next year buck
the earth into kingdom come and toss
it. disembOweled to fertilze the fur
rows of space where worlds foment
have lacked into the beauties of Aus
trian astronomy. Since the day when
Il French astronomer declared that
comets were composed of diamonds
and gold we have encountered nothing
more entertaining. A little over n
century ago comets were learnedly re-
garded as sideriaI automobiles. packed
not with globe but with universe trOt-
ters. Maupertuis pictured one pull
ing up ut Paris and wondered who
would he the more surprised. the hOul-
evardiers or the tourists. The imagi-
nation of Ambrose Pare was capable
of even greater flights. In his work
entitled Celestial Monsters" he des-
cribes blood-colorPd comet that
sailed about freighted with axes.
knives and swords. and which was
named with hideously bearded
gnOmeS $50 horrible and frightful
was" he says. ''the spectacle of it and
such terror did it en@endPr among the
devout that many fell sick and others
died" Lambert FASTENED to the res
cue. In his Chronological Letters
he distinctly stated that bloOd-cOl-
Ored comet, however well equipped.
could only destroy few kingdoms
But later ho was induced to admit
that a real big one might carry off the
moon or hurl us "bevond the regions
of Saturn. where hideous Winter
reigns interminahly."
Kepler himself believed that comets
were animated. He said there were
more in the sky than fish i'm the ocean
Arago saw and counted them all. Ac-
cOrdng to him there were exactly
1T.3O0OOO. According to Laplace. one
of them produced the deluge. On the
other hand. NPWon announced that q
comet as long as from here to Saturn
would. if condensed to the degree of
our atmosphere find comfortable
quarters in thimble. Now comes
this Austrian gentleman. The pea
cock that he sees in the periheliOn dis
turbS us aS little as it diSturbS Flam-
marion. We assume. as he does
that the end Of the earth will coin
eide not with the end of the century,
but with the end of the sun. When
that event occurs we shall have been
all too long dead to bother.
TheSame of Barnum.
Charles \. Davis. of Forepaugh's
circus. said recently that James A.
Bailey had organized a $1,000. 900 stock
company in London. with Dukes and
Earls and Lords as his directors. to
take over Rarunm's circus. of which
there is now little left but the name.
Three hundred thousand dollars. he
said. would be fair appraisement of
the property. but the good-willis worth
at least S1,OOOOO0. and represents
nothing but the value of Barnum's
name ten years after his death.
"Barnum." he said. "was the great
est Snowman ever known, and his rep
utation and popularity were greater in
England than in the United States.
The English people could never com
prehend his methods. His candor
myStitied them. They were accus-
toned to all kinds of gilded frauds and
fakes. but when he announced that
he had humbug to exhibit every
body laughed and went to see it and
advertised it as genuine He first went
over with Tom Thumb in 1S43. and
captivated the nation. Every time he
went afterward his popularity grew
He probably took more gate money
from England than any other amuse-
ment man that ever lived.
Buffalo Bill has probably been seen
by more human beings than any other
professional. continued Mr.. Davis
''but his name attached to a show is
not worth a cent unless he appears
himself. 1t was the same way with
Booth, who was the greatest of actors
and Patti, who is the greatest of sing.
ers. A theatrical troop travelling nm.
der Booths name or an opera enm-
panp under PATHS name. would not
draw any more than Buffalo BiIPs
company without Buffalo Bill Rut
the name 'barnum' attached to = show
is worth million dollars. II shows
the eccentricity 90 the hum.n natnro -