The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-05-15
On May 49, 1910 the the earth m will ,1 plunged s for at time mel into
which will be which, the vastness of


had become visible IN Instruments o
moderate power Tho laboring classes
who had neither leisure nor money tt
indulge In astronomical luNuries. be,
places every evening in which the celes-
tlal visitor was 10 be seen.
These telescopes of the poor nettcc
small fortunes for their half starved own
ers. Quadruple prices were charged fol
squint through public instrument
Hardly had some curious. ragged begea
glued his eye To an Instrument than Inc
was thrust aside to make room for ar
impatient mechanic behind him, Curious
ly enough the first man In France who
had discovered the comet (outslde of the
established observatorieS) was neither n
man of the world nor an academician
the suburbs Of Sosson, a. man who passed
most Of his nights in communion with the
stars. and, by pitiful plnching and self
denial, had succeeded In purchasing q
little telescope. which was his pride.
1t was worth noting that almost all
the inhabitants of the world lived with
ont knowing whore they were up to the
twenty-rourth century, and without even
having tho curiosity OF inquirinS their
celestial whereabouts. They were like
blind men occupied solely with their
bodily needs. For about hundred years,
however the human race had been study
ing the universe and thinking about It.
The comet had come In sight of tho
earth at tho time OF tho new moon. in
a nlarvclousiy clear sky, a few keen eyes
had succeeded in deserving: not far from
the zenith. in the region of the Milky
Way to the south of Androneda. a pale
nebuiosity. patch that reScmbled n very
light cloud OF smoke. very small, and
a trifle elongated In a direction opposite
TO that OF tho sun. 1t was the comet.
It's trailing gases were assuming tho
form Of Il rudimentary tail, No one
would have suspected from its lnofeusivc
eppca1anco The tragic rolo this new star
was 20 play In the history oi humanity,
Tho mysterious body WAS fast drawing
noar The next day half OF mankind
could see IT, and the following day only
lhose with very poor eyes sought i, in
vain In less than a week all eyes could
In the public places Of all the cities
and the villages groups or people could
he seen al night looking Tor the comet or
noiuting il out. II grew larger every oay,
rhe Instruments began 10 distinguish in
.it q luminous nucleus. which was tho
object OF the widest specuiatiou.
Thcn The tall divided into divergent
streeme,s and assumed By degrees the
fcrn OF a fan. Everybody was startled
when. after tho FIRST quarter OF the moon.
.nd during the days OF The fun moon, the
comet seemed to stand stllli while every
one watched 1t growing rs,pidIy IN sihe, ~
had been made In the calculations AT the
biC ohServatorleS. -, ,.
W After the fun moon the barometer
fell considerably. The center Of tho de
r'.ns,it,n was a great storm. which came
rom the Atlantic and swept the British
islcs For twelve days the SKY oi nearly
ali E5trope was overcast.
az Wien tho sun reappeared, II shon' In
atmosphsrs pnrss gn4ssd by Syyoroaa is stem Ssar
5 /, u5 fnotIess WIth fovcrlsl anxiety
,,.,,i,h Iii high and low alike shared Europe
awaited i the setting Of the oi sun nr-,vso from
I.,-,,Iees cities OF America and had
xr9 xwssthered tho gale had reported , that ,ho ,h
Comet comet was bigger than ever ever WI when a,,n rhc
SUI - =, L.,nnue saw "A wonderful spec
toes .'i,, I,,,@,-y upward turned eye saw net
tRc amng star i E3 e%Pses@G sp 10 befosc sse Sg but
tile cnnninrsIy bcautifui aurora. gigantic
q ,.,nstioi maIog'I fan with seven brsnShes seven
sy,sn,' g reen streamers dancing and Pickering In