The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-11-16
THE STARS DID FALL
SHOT AcRose THE uxAvENs IN
 NUMBERS LAST NIGHT.
Some Were Visible for Parts of . Second Only While Others Were in Sight for Several
 Seconds.

ing with necks asksw must not DC mis- taken for India rubber freaks ot tne circus side show variety. They are oniy good citizens who leaned out ot' tneis acquired crick in the neck while watcn- Ing the stars fall.
 The stars did fall. for fact. Aun- elreds of them skated across the heavens over in the northeast. leaving Tn tneir trail. fiery snakes and dragons made Of vivid sparks. At times they crossed each other and made gorgeous pyrotecn- uics in the sky. Some were visible Ter fractional parts of second only. while others. with majestic sweeps, sailed from the center of the sky dome right down into the horizon, being clearly outlined against the heavens for several seconds.
 1t was such a display of heavenly phe- uomenon that even the most cailous oid astronomer who observed 1t with hts tele- scopes must surely have strokso ms sacred beard In glee and covered all the walls of his cell with figures m caiculat- ing how many thousand years these same shoting stars have been falling hence.
 Many Montgomery people remained up until nearly daylight watching the dis play. It began shortly after midnight and continued until dawn. Sleep was forgotten in scores of homes ana family groups were gathered on more than one front porch. ghostly figures, some or them in their star gazing costumes. A little girl on South Perry Street thought she saw a shooting star strike in the middle of the street.
 "Oh, look, mamma" she cried, as bright red object came hurtling down over the roof of the verandah and land-, ed in shower of sparks on the pave ment, Look. 8 tar has got on the track and fallen on our street!
 That's not 8 star, my eniid' the mother explained, "Its only the stump of a cigar papa has thrown out of the upstairs window"
 A policeman on Dexter Avenue shortly after midnight met staggering ana De- fuddled citizen, who was attempting to break in the door of a lawyers offce.
 Here, there," the oficer called out. What are you dolng at that doorr
 befuddled one.
 "He is.''
 linen I mush get in there. sir" the citizen hiccoughed Tell you, sir, l want tswear off. I'm seein' shootin' stars, sir. Thash what I'm sesin.' Pm goIn' swear off.
 The officer finally persuaded him that the things he was seeing were real and not imaginary.
 The stars were falling in small auanti- | ties on Thursday night. Few people observed them, however. since the astro- nomers predicted a swarm of them Tor Wednesday night, too, and 1t was on | that night that everybody sat up. They declared they had been fooled Wednes- | day night when the stars didn't fall and they would not sit up Thursday night. | Those who did see the stars on Thurs day told their friends of the splendid
 sight, hence, the numbers who sat up | last night.
 | Of all the shooting stars the Leonids | as the November swarm is called, are l by all odds the most striking to the eye, the most numerous, have filled the
 largest place in history, and. 1t Is be-
 iieved. offer the astronomer the most
 fruitful field for research. A few of the
 swarm were seen on November 14, 1887. The swarm was then looked for on the
 night of November IA. G9S, and few | days before that time about 800 were
 noted November l4. 1899. the astronomers
 again awaited their coming, armed with
 the latest photographic weapons of
 our photographic age. From 100 to 200 were recorded. Last year again,
 though with diminis he'd hope. the watch
 CTS of the sky made ready, but again
 there were no substantial results. Some | thing over a hundred were noted alto | gether in northern latitudes. principally l at Yale and Harvard. Professor w. H. Pickering of the Harvard observatory, favored with clear sky at the station which he was then maintaining at Jamai-
 ca, West Indies, saw over hundred on
 each of the two nights on which he ob-
 served them. But this was nothing to the
 glorious records of the swarm in the past. In the ninth century the Arabs recorded It's appearance in their annals as rain
 of stars" The Chinese have 1t in their astronomical records as early as 9iS and
 again in 10O2, the last time by ''thous- ands," with two of the msteors as large as a quart measure" From that time to tthis, they have been noted with fair reg ularity every thirty-three years or SO though with gaps here and thers-and al-
 ways in terms that bespoke sight of splendor and sublimity.