The Elbert County tribune., 1910-05-20

bility in those words 1T is nearer" 1t hur-
ried along awakening streets, it was shouted
down the frost-stilled ways of quiet villages.
men who had read these things from the throb-
bing tape stood in yellow-lit doorways shout
ing the news to the passersby. ut is nearer"
Pretty women, flushed and glittering. heard
the news told jestingly between the dances and
feigned an intelligent interest they did not
feel. Nearer! Indeed. How curious! How
clever people must be to find out things like
that"
Lonely tramps faring through the wintry
night murmured those words to comfort them
selves-looking skyward. 1T has need to be
nearer. for the nights as cold as charity.
Don't seem much warmth from 1t If 1t Is
nearer, all the same.
what is star to me?" cried the
weeping woman kneeling beside her dead
The schoolboy rising early for his exami-
nation work. puzzled it out for himself-with
the great white star shining broad and bright
through the frost-fowers of his window. Cen
) trifugal centripetal" he said. with his chin on
his fist stop planet in its fight, rob it of
its centrifugal force. what then? Centripetal
has it, and down 1t falls into the sun. And
this"
DO come in the way. wonder"
The light of that day went the way of its
brethren and with the later watches of the
frosty darkness rose the strange star again
And 1t was bright that the waxing
moon seemed but pale, yellow ghost of ITSELF
hanging huge in the sunset In South Afri-
can city great had married and the
streets alght to welcome his return with
his bride. Even the skies have Illuminated"
said the fatterer. Under Capricorn, two negro
lovers, daring the wild beasts and evil spirits,
for love of one another, crouched together In
a cane brake where the firefies hovered. THAT
is our star" they whispered, and felt strangely
comforted by the sweet brilliancy of it's light
The master mathematician sat in his pri-
nd n,-she he
His calculations already finished In a
small white phial there still remained little
of the drug that had kept him awake and
active for four long nights Each day. serene.
explicit and patient as ever. he had given his
lecture to his students and then had come
back at to his momentous calculation.
His face was grave, little drawn. and hectic
from his drugged activity. For some time he
seemed lost in thought. Then he went to the
window and the blind went up with click.
Half way up the sky. over the clustering roofs.
chimneys and steeples of the city. hung the
star.
He looked at 1t might look into the
eye of a brave enemy "You may kill me-" he
said after silence; but l hold you-and
all the universe for that matter-in the grip
of this little brain. would not change. Even
now"
He looked at the little phial. There will
be no need of sleep again." he said. The next
day at noon. punctual to the minute, he
tered his lecture theater put his hat on the
end of the table as his habit was. and carefully
selected large piece of chalk. 1t joke
among his students that he could not lecture
without that piece of chalk to tumble in his
fingers, and once he had been stricken to i'm
potence by their hiding his supply. He came
and looked under his gray eyebrows at the
rising tiers of young. fresh faces and spoke
with his accustomed studied commonness of
phrasing. circumstances have arisen-cir-
cuu1s stap M ha
paused, (which will debar from completing
the course l had designed. 1t would seem,
gentlemen, If l may put the thing clearly and
briefly. that-man has lived in vain"
The students glanced at another Had
they heard Alright? Mad? Raised eyebrows
and grinning lips there were, but one two
faces remained intent upon his calm, gray
fringed face. "It will be interesting" he
saying, ito devote this morning to expos
ton, far as can make it clear to you. of
the calculations that have led me to this
cusion. Let US assume"
He turned toward the blackboard, medita-
ting diagram in the way that was usual to
him. What that about lived in vain'?"
whispered student to another Listen"
said the other nodding toward the lecturer.
And presently they began to understand
That night the star later, for it's proper
eastward motion had carried it some way
across Leo toward Virgo and its brightness
was SO great tnat the SKY became luminous
blue as 1t rose and every star hidden in
its turn, only Jupiter near the zenith.
Capela Aldebaran. Sirius and the pointers
of the Bear. 1t was white and beautiful. In
many parts of the world that night pallid
halo encircled it about. 1t perceptibly
larger; in the clear refractjve sky of the trop-
les it seemed If it were nearly quarter
the size of the moon. The frost still on
the ground in England, but the world
brightly lit as If it we're midsummer moonlight.
One could to read quite ordinary print by
that cold, clear light, and In the cities the
lamps burnt yellow and
And everywhere the world awake that
night. and throughout Christendom a somber
murmur hung in the keen air over the country
side like the belling of bees in the heather.
and this murmurous tumult grew to a clangor
in the cities. 1t the tolling of the bells
in million belfry towers and steeples. sum-