Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-05-06
Wonderful Star Shower.
BY FRANK T. BUILEN.

Di IhA-Nh a. DOlA@L-N
(Author of The C-uise of the Cachalot." etc,
80 ELECTION in this case is the hardest
part of my task. l have seen so
many strange things IN my varied
career ashore and afioat that haroiy
know to which of them / may as
sign the ,pre-emiuent position OF stranseSN
and OF course 1t may well be that what ap
Apears to me the strangest OF my experiences
may for lack or appreciation appear almost
commonplace to my readers. STILL AFTER an
afternoons Ineditative review OF the oeeui
rences of a lifetime l have come 10 the CON-
,,,. .hat az far as my perceptions are
L..,,e1 the straugest thing i ever saw
1,anpened one night In the north Atiah.ic
A. the month of February, 1870, that 49,
49,, 7 was thirteen years old. yet had ex-
h,erienced more vicissltudes than ran 10 lne
LOT Of most of our citizens all their hVes
long And l am supported In this loea Ny
the vivid recollection of the remarks passed
Nv every member of the crew. albeit CON
n-ersatior in that ship was carried on IN q
r1rious medley of Spanish and French' Ioi
we had shipped entire crew IN f1a ma, sin;
4be original ships company having al uieu
~ ,-ellnw fever and as many natlonalttes
- -erraeanted as there were individuals
rTbe skinner was Welsh-Yankee, the mate
Scotch the second mate Canadlah, tne . 80
renter Russian Finn, the COOK ana slewaIU
Zone individually Dominican. Inc crew S"S
disb French Montenegrin. Italian, Greek
Austrian. American. negro, one man WIZ
ala not know where he was born: pu' wa'
7,rnbablv Portuguese, and myseH, -
doner. The ship hailed from st. Ahore" d
Nova Scotia.
CO ,,ucb bv way of introduction. we leit
Mobile. Ala with cotton, bound TOT Liver
,,ool and after not more than the u7u'i
amount Of knocking about, considering ''ie
fine of year we found ourselves wen OUT
=, "a AtIantic-I can't OF course tell where,
except that I know we were well clear oi
.ba american land. We had weathered
.-s,,a,,lous gale. and the consequent sea
nal aied down very quickly, so that on the
,,iebt Of which I speak we had almost
,,,,-ce,t calm and smooth water save for
-. iravitsble swell. ! belonged to the port
watch which came on deck al miohIshl'
and as soon as wheel and LOOKOUT Were re-
Iieyed I cuddled down on the after-hatcn
Inv the side of my chum. Louis Didelot OF
bordeaux. and carried on our usual unsat-
isfactory conversation in broken Spanish
he knowing no English and no french
The sky was utterly devoid of CLOUD ana
the moon had set. Lying there looking up
into the immensely, the star-beams seemed
10 pierce my eyeballs, and | fancled them
quite near. while the awful void behind
them flied me with a vague fear. But
could not help staring upward into 1nhnlty
and wondering. primitive tolk nave ever
wondered. what was beyond Then sud
denly out of that dark violet heaven there
burst sun-a globe of fire so brilliant that
its light struck the eye with acute pain
Nor did 1t come silently. report as OF
great gun fired reverberated sullenly along
the silence of the mid-sea. The first amaZ-
ing splendor of this celestial portent only
lasted a fraction of a second; then, as 1t
rushed its way around an arc Of the heav-
ems It left a wide band OF light behind IT.,
with a kissing as If 1t sped through wet
mist At the same time II threw off a null
titude of vari-colored sparks, 1 must call
them. 1 suppose. but really stars would con-
vey a better popular idea of the appearance
of these lovely coruscations. They were
audible. too. above the Kissing already no.
ticed. the sound they made being like that
OF the firing of a cannon heard at an i'm
menSe distance.