The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-05-14

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deepening eonvergng channels upon the plains o. srr
ma and Hindustan. The tangled SUBMITS Of tns L.
dian jungles afame in thousand places -
below the hurryipg around the stems YER
dark objects that struggled feebly and renscfsa
the blood red tongues of IRE. And in rudderlsss
confusion multitude OF men and women ned aoMAA
the broad riverways TO that one last nope u
open sea. s
Larger grew the star larger hotter. and bright.
er with terrible swiftness The tropical ocean
had lost it's phosphorescenee the whiriiuG steam
rose in ghostly wreaths from the black waves tnas
plunged necessarily speckled with storm tossed snp
And then wonder. 1t seemed 10 tnoss 49,
e., Europe watched rising of the star that -
world must have ceased Its rotation. In tnoussnn
onen snaces OF down andsupland the people who nad
aed thither from and the falling houses ana
sliding slopes hin watched for that rising IN vsAn
Hour followed hour through terrible suspense. -
the star not Once again men ser their 49,
unon the old considerations they had counted lost =
them forever In England 1t hot and clear go
head, though the ground auivered perpetuaiiy' nus ID
the tropics Sirius and capeia and AideoarAn saowe1
through veil of steam, And when at last the greek
ten hours late. the sun ross Close upo
and in the center of its white heart was disk e
black
over Asia 1t the star had begun 70 raii oen'la
the movement of the sky. and then suaasniy - ".
- 800 india Its light had been vefled All thsa
,lan of India from the mouth OF the Indus to khe
mouths of the Ganges shallow waste OF sninink
,a4ar that night cut which temples ana psi
acas ro,nas and hills with people Every MINI
aret was clustering mass of people VINO feh one y
one the tureid waters as neat anu ee.ao. 49,.
rame them The whole land seemed awaiting, Ana
suddenly there swept shadow across that furnaca s.
sesnair and a breath of cold wind and gathering
of clouds out the cooling air Men looking up neat
h,faaea Mt the star saw black disk was craap-
ing across the light. 1t was the moon, coming 0e-
tween star and the earth And even a. men criea
t God Mt respite, out of the east with strAA9e
nexplicabe swiftness the sun And them ssars
sun and moon rushed together across the heavens va
So 1t was that presently to the European watchefs
star and sun close each other drove nea4-
long for space and then slower, and at last cane
to rest merged into one glare % nAnnes
at the of the sky The moon no longer ecipssa
the star but sight in the brillancs 81 til
sky And though who stfll alive regAr0e4s
1t for the most part with dull stupidity that hun
ger fatigue heat, despair engender, there wafaa
still men who could perceive the meaning Of thsea2
signs and earth had been at their nearest hA4s
swung aboutaone another. and the star had p9sse4;
Already receding. swfter and swifter. In th4s
stage of Its headlong journey downward into -
Ana then the clouds gathered plotting out the visto
sky; the thunder and lightning wove saruene
the world all the earth was such down
pour rain had never seen before; and whetN
volcanoes against the cloud tAae
descended Of mud. tEverywhere the wnt1taS
were pouring of the land leaving mud siitsd ruian
and the earth Uttered like storm worn beach With
all that had Hoaed and the dead bodies Of the u1n
and brutes, Its children. FA
For days the water streamed OF the land sweepingI
soil and trees and houses in the way ana piline
dkes and scoopipg out titanic gullies the
countryside. Those were the days Of darkness thse
followed the star and the heat All through thsn An4
for many weeks and months. the earthquakes con-
tnued.
star had passed. men. hunger drivsu ax6s
their ruined cities buried granariss and soddsn aeld
Such few ships had escaped the storms Of that
came stunned and shattered and sounding their wAx
cautiously through the marks and shoals IT o1S%
familiar ports. And the storms subsidized men 1880
ceived that everywhere the days hotter S&
yore, and the larger and the NOON ahFunk ~ ri
third OF its former size took fourscore days u
tween its and gsssS S23E
But OF the brotherhood that grew prose1ff1
among OF the saving OF laws books ana l3{
chimes of the strange change that over
land and Greenland and the shores OF Bann's No..
that the sailors coming there presently found tn1 =
green and gracious, and could beitevo tHrxS
this story does not tell Nor Of the moveea&&
mankind. now that the earth hotter, north1&7Nz
and southwark towards the poles OF the EARTH IS
concerns itself only with the coming and the paaG1
of the star S@sss3S2SF
The Marian astron0mcr1--for there askycnoaS
Mars although they different beings frexa III
were naturally profoundly interested ~ 1k4i
things. They them from their own sta1dpoink
course considering the and Temperature ~
missile that was hunx through solar systs l14@
SUM-. wrotes III II astonishing what = utt1e AqS
the earth. which Il missed Narrowly. hn& nnnl6f
All the familiar continental markings snA - MnNQ
the remain intact. and Indeed ~ oniy 6tfEe1
seems q shrinkags 81 the white 4t66o19G3
supposed to be frozen watef1 ronna etlh1r SQ<
which only shows how small tho vnakaek Sxs GG2
catastrophss may seem y dis<ancs ~ = 11V 1