Omaha daily bee., 1902-03-22
OLD SOL IN THE FACE
Day When Mother Earth Presen ts Broad
side TO Sun.
MARKS THE BEGINNING OF SPRING
Night e. Equal with Day By the Time
Schedule Until the Globe Again
TiIts on Equatorial
Axis.

Friday was one OF the two days Of the year
when Mother Earth gets squarely on her
feet-or would II she had feet. IL was the
vernsl equinox and practically the Hrst day
of spring, when the globe is supposed to
present a broadside to the view Of merry
Old Sol. and It will not happen again until
September ~, which goes on the calendar
as the autumnal equinox.
The earth, 1t will be recalled by those
who used to sit up nights with physical
Biographies or seminary girls. has four diff
ferent courses Of progress. First, It peram-
bulates its elliptical orbit about the sun.
Second, Il ~revolves on It's polar axis. Third,
1t sways on its equatorial axis. Fourth, It's
extremities. marked by the geographical
poles. describe an erratic course that would
trace the figure s II anybody could ever get
a piece of paper In the right position to
take the tracing.
II is in the course Of this third motion,
the swaying on the equatorial axis, that
there come those days which are distin-
guished as the equinoxes, the title being a
combination of the words "sequus," mean
ing equal, and "nox'' meaning night. AT
these periods the earth is on its dead CEN
ter, equatorially speaking, and night is as
long as day-at least for those who are dis
posed to get to bed when they should.
vernal Equinox IL the Term.
March q is termed the vernal equinox.
After the autumnal equinox, the 22d Of last
September, this mundane sphere began so
incllning its self that the northern hemi-
sphere leaned from the sun, while the south
ern leaned toward 1t. That's how 1t hap
pened that they were having a long success
sion of hot times dovn in Khamas king
dom, while up In Florence precinct every
body was keeping tab on everybody's else
coal pile.
On December II. or the winter s~olstice,
the earth had tilted as far as 1t comfort
ably could, and halted preparatory to tip
ping back again. Yesterday 1t had Just
righted itself and presented it's full side to
the SUMS plane, or. to be more specific and
less technical. the suns face.
Today the fitting will be the other way,
and the northern hemisphere will be
thrown nearest the sun. 1t will continue
tipping nearer and nearer until the sum-
mer s~olstice, June 81, when there will come
another hating and another turning back.
After that it Is the same old story, the
earth getting to rights again on September
%, the autumnal equinox.
Just who invented equinoxes, or why, is
not definitely known. They antedate the
damp late spring Of Rev. Noah's time and
perhaps are older than even Adam and Eve
and a school teachers funny ~story-which
are the three oldest things of which the
present generation has any knowledge.
r equinoctial storms are another fea-
ture that are commented upon considerably
by people who know something about them
and by some others who don't. Scientists
used to have q long and complicated ex-
PLANTATION for them. involving the tides. but
recent discoveries of the Hopsonian insti-
tute reveal that they are in reality only Sc
we're atmospheric disturbances incident to
the preparations for spring and fall house
cleaning.