The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1908-07-03
THE ECLIPSE

strange appearance will become OBJ
fseryab!e in Ocala a little after S
O'Clock. so get your smoked glass;
ready 10 observe how these celestial
/ potentates behave toward each 9th
Ter.
! In the olden times such an occur
renee would mean a great deal If on
such a day there were a war between
two great cOntending forces, or a king
were 10 be crowned, or some great pO-
,tentate 10 be buried. or the celebration
: OF some great event were on the ia
pts. and the earth were suddenly TO
grow so dark that animals would be
come apprehensive with fear, the
people would predict the most evil
iforebodings.
II was so within the past hundred
years. There was q day known as
the dark day" OF the happenings Of
that day all sorts of strange stories
are handed down to us.
Among other things il is said that
the legislature Of Georgia was in
session. The day suddenly began TO
grow dark and the darker it grew the
more frightened the inhabitants be
came. The chickens hunted for their
lrOOsts and il looked like black night
/ had settled upon the land. In Il ose
! days stage coaches were in vogue and
were supplied with a bugle horn. and
as they approached an inn the driver
gave a blast on the bugle for each pas
lsenger aboard. so on this particular
occasion the coach was crowded with
/ passengers. and when il neared Mil
Iledgeville. the then capital of GeOr-
gia, the driver gave several blasts
I just as the whole earth became over
Swallowed with q pail OF blackness;
! the inhabitants became alarmed and
iran 10 the churches for safety, beIiev-
4 ing that these bugle blasts proceeded
from the very trumpet Of Gabriel
Some member Of the legislature NOV
/ ed that the body adjourn, but one
member more rigidly decOrous AMI re
! ligiOus than some OF the others. said.
NO; light the candles" he replied in
Istentorian tones. and if it be true
I that the Day of Judgment is al hand
/ let us be found at our post of duty"
So il was also when the stars fell
in the Sos Half OF the population of
the UniteI States were in consteIna-
ton. They believed that the final
Day Of Accounts were upon them good
and strong, and some called upon the
+ very rocks 10 protect them from the
avenging wrath OF the Almighty
These occurrences no longer pro
duce fear. trembling and consterna-
ton 10 any people on the earth. They
are accurately foretold by aswono-
mers and their coming is printed in
the newspapers and. almanacs days
and days beforehand. 50 no alarm is
longer felt.
More than eighty years have pass
ed since this particular phenomenon
was seen upon the earth. These hea-
venly bodies have made a tremendu-
ously Ions journey since that time
and have been shooting at an almost
inconyeivabIe speed through space,
yet as vast as has been the journey,
and as -apid the pace, our astrono-
mers have kept pace with them, and
have welcomed their return to the
very moment with an accuracy that
/ is astounding
All of which shows net only the
vasness but the wonderful accuracy
and adjustment of the heavenly bod
les.
! If a mans span Of life We're a thous-
and years and he travelled at the speed
OF the fastest locomotive engine he
could not have covered the distance
that these heavenly bodies have ira
|versed since their last visitation to
the earth in the same relative posi-
tons that We shall see them today.
Should not this fu us with admira-
ton for the wonderful Omniscience be
hind so vast a creation.
The more We study the works of
creation the more wonderful do they
appear.
And keeping trace Of them with so
much mathematical accuracy also
tells of the possibilities of the human
mind. That it, indeed, must be fash
toned after the likeness Of God"
Man has succeeded in weighing the
earth in a balance; he tells the dis
lance to the remotest stars; he tells
OF the coming and going of the winds !;
the approach of heat and cold; the
movement Of the planets; he has har-
messed the forces of nature, and is
compelling them to do his bidding
\ l. L