The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1902-04-19
HEAVENS GRAND
APRIL DISPLAY
ORNAMENTS CHIEF PLANETARY
BEAUTY VISIBLE IN THE
EARLY MORNING..
NORTHERN SKY IS THE SCENE
BLAZE OF GLORY JUST BEFORE
DAY DAWNS.
Interesting Description of Planets
and Speculation as to Conditions
and Inhabitants.

April, the fourth month in the year,
presents many attractions for those
who follow with unwavering interest
the everchanging movements of the
heavenly bodies.
The scene Of beauty is, however,
shifted to the early morning hours, if
one would see the planets in their
glory. So that it takes an early riser
to CLEAN from the heavens the really
choice bits, unless telescope is at
hand. The stars are, however, always
to be relied upon, and just now in the
northern section of the heavens we see
the Little Bear passing above the hori-
zontal position which he had not quite
reached last month, while the Great
Bear is overhead and inverted. King
Cephus is now Immediately below the
pole, and, like some earthly monarchs,
Is standing on his head in most I'M
kingly attitude. Cassiopeia is where
it always can be found, on the oppo-
site side of the pole from that occupied
by the Great Bear, so that the Lady
in the Chair need never fear being
Rugged by this fierce denizen Of the
the great sea serpent, Hydra, occupies
the leading position. This is the long
est and nearly the largest of the con-
stellations. The ruling elliptic con-
stellations for the month is the Lion,
easily distinguished by the Sickle, in
the handle of which IS the bright star
Regulus. In the east there is Bootes,
underneath which are the stars of the
Serpent, but the fangs Of the latter are
innocuous, for presumably they cannot
pierce the boots of the former, who
trampfes fearlessly upon him. In the
west Taurus is passing from sight. The
Twins, followed by Procyon, the Les
ser Dog, are approaching the midwest,
or prime vertical, and hang like glor-
ious csowux over Orion as he passes to
bis setting place, says the New York
Times,
While contemplating these worlds,
shining 80 brightly In the morning and
great an effort ~ the imagination,
think that they cr'': n beings moving
with all the activity of life; nations
civilizations, cities like Babylon, Thebes
or even something approaching our
own cosmopolitan Gotham-human be-
ings, in a word, who are everything
that we are, under different physical
forms, but no doubt reasoning by the
aid OF the same principles Of logic
which govern our thought, though
their manner Of perception may be to-
tally different from our own. Perhaps
they have escaped more quickly from
the limbo Of barbarism and form INTEL
ligent, enlightened, pacific and frater-
nal societies, worshiping the beautiful,
the true and the good.
The month opens with the sun four
degrees north of the equator, and the
days twelve hours forty-one minutes in
length. The declination increases more
than ten degrees to the northward, with
the addition of one hour and nineteen
minutes to the days length This
should cause all nature to bloom and
put on its lovely spring coloring. On
the 8th there is a partial eclipse of the
sun, one Of three allotted to this year.
We are not among the favored this
time, however, as the various phenom-
ena attending the entrance into the
shadow and the departure therefrom
are not visible In our latitude.
The moon is quite generous with us
this month, as it presents five phases,
the last quartering taking place on the
first and last days Of the month, the
new moon coming on the Sth, the day
of the partial eclipse of the sun, first
quartering coming on the 18th and the
full moon coming on the 22d. People
are wont to Judge of the chances of
there being dry or wet month
throughout April by the position Of the
horns Of the crescent moon. It is an
excellent illustration of the persistence
with which the belief in lunar in
fluences upon mankind still fingers,
though repeatedly proved to be false
The early Chaldeans believed in the
influence of the position Of the heaven
ly bodies upon human life, and their
system was later elaborated by the
Greeks. If we once assume that there
is a relation between the configuration
of stars and planets in the sky and af-
fairs on the earth, it is not difficult to
find condolences which apparently
prove that relation. It is curious
fact that the Greek astrology ascribed
an influence to the appearance Of the
moons horns, which the later belief
in it's effect on rainfall seems to have
supplanted. Saturn In twice in con-
junction with the moon, once on the I'd
and again on the 29th. On the 18th
the planet is in quadrature, or half way
between conjunction and opposition.
He is slowly increasing in size, but is
not as conspicuous now as we shall
have him about the middle of summer.
when he appears on the horizon about
sunset and remains with US throughout
the evening. Jupiter rises about 8
o'clock in the morning, 80 that we have
him some little time TN view before the
sun comes up. It is a satisfaction to
know that this giant of the sky il
gradually increasing in size, and that
during the midsummer he will be a.
glorious object In the evening.
Venus, having transferred her daz-
cling personality to the morning sky, is
engaged in moving to the furthest
westward point Of her swing, and she
now gets up about $3.50 o'clock, pursu-
ing Jupiter with all possible speed, but
destined not to catch him. She is in
conjunction with the moon on the 9Th.
and with this somewhat uninterestinr
meeting her part on the monthly pro-