Waterbury evening Democrat., 1906-08-23

,immediately. know his meaning. and. quick as thought, I rushed to the cabin stairs. In another moment, l reached the deck. and, as the door swung open, dazzling, bewildering, overpowering light, as if the world were really and truly ablaze under the agency of some gorgeously colored fires, burst upon my startled senses.
 How can I describe 1t? No human
 hand could do 90. l will put down
 my thoughts of the time and try to give some idea of what I saw. My first thought was: There is none among the gods like unto thee. o Lord, and there is none according to thy works. All the nations thou
 hast made shall come and adore be- fore thee, o Lord, and they shall glorify thy name. For thou art
 great and dost wonderful things;
 thou art God alone. Conduct me, o Lord, in thy way and I will walk in thy truth; let my heart rejoice that 1t may fear thy name. will praise
 thee, o Lord. my God, with my whole
 heart and will glorify thy name for ever"
 Then tried to picture the scene
 before me. Piles of bright. precious.
 yellow, golden light and rainbow light scattered and dispersed along
 the azure vault of heaven, extended
 from behind the western horizon to
 the zenith, then down to the eastern,
 within a belt space of 20 degrees in width, where the fountains of
 beams, like fire threads, shot with the rapidity of lightning, hither and
 thither, upward and athwart to this
 place, and to that place, to higher
 place and transversely, in the great pathway indicated. No sun, no moon,
 yet the heavens were glorious sight, flooded with light, flooded with
 rivers of light, and such light
 Light, all but inconceivable! The
 golden hues predominated, but in
 rapid succession, prismatic colors leaped forth.
 We looked and we trembled, for,
 even as we gazed, the whole belt of
 aurora began to be alive with flashes.
 Then, each pile or bank of light be-
 came myriads; some now dropping
 down the great pathway or belt, oth-
 CTS springing up, other leaping with | lightning flash from ane side, while
 more. as quickly passed into the va- cated space; some twisting them
 selves into folds, entwining with oth- CTS like enormous serpents, and all i the movements as quick as the eye
 could follow. It seemed as If there
 were a struggle with these heavenly lights to reach and occupy the dome
 over our heads. The whole arch above became crowded. Then down, down 1t came; nearer and nearer 1t approached us. Sheets of golden flame, coruscating while leaping from the auroral belt, seemed as if met
 with in their course by some mighty
 agency that turned them into the colors of the rainbow, each of the
 seven primary: three degrees in
 width sheeted out to twenty-one de-
 grees. the prismatic bows at right angles with the belt.
 While the auroral fires seemed to be descending upon us, my compan-
 ion could not help exclaiming:
 "Hark! Hark! Such a display |
 is almost as if warfare were going
 on among the beauteous lights above,
 so palpable, so near" But no noise
 accompanied the wondrous display. Almost as If warfare were going on among the beauteous lights above, so palpable, so near, seems impossi- ble without noise. But no noise ac- companied the wondrous display. have many times seen the north ern lights. but have never seen any thing to approach the glorious. the magnificent. the lively. the sprightly
 and the vivid display of this even
 ing.
 That this display was more than ordinarily grand, was evidenced by
 some of the Icelanders, who came on board our vessel the next day, who stated 1t had exceeded in beauty and magnifcence all displays ever be- fore witnessed by them. Here I
 would remark that the finest dis plays of the aurora only last few
 moments.
 Though 1t may be playing all night. yet 1t is only now and then that It's
 grandest displays are made.
 As if marshaling forces, gathering
 strength, compounding material. 1t continues on It's silent workings. At
 length 1t begins It's trembling throes; beauty ever and anon shoots out here and there, when, all at once, the au-
 rora flashes into living hosts of pow dered coruscating rainbows belting the heavenly dome sometimes with such gorgeous hues that mortals tremble to behold.
 GA classification of clouds accord ing to their forms was first prepared by the meteorologist Howard, and this is still substantially employed. The following varieties and sub-vari- cities are recognized: (a) Cirrus. This is the most elevated of all the forms of clouds; Is thin, long drawn, sometimes looking like carded wool or hair. sometimes like brush or broom, sometimes in curi-like or fieece-like patches. 1t is the cats tail of the sailor. (b) Cumulus. This form is somewhat elevated and ap- pears in large masses of a hemispher- ical form. or nearly so. above. but
 fat below. one often piled above an- other, forming great clouds. common in the summer. and presenting the appearance of gigantic mountains crowned with snow. It often affords rain and thunder gusts. tc) Stratus. This form Is moderately high and ap- pears in layers or bands extending rrL l-