St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1910-06-04

k A tune, the outermost of all the
Ml|h alllgG planets that wheeled about the
&NH @HW sun, had become cratic. Ogilvy
SknaNNEEM mad already called attention to
A111zaI1 suspected retardation in its We
locity In December. Such piece
u news was scarcely calculated to interest a
"orio the greater portion Of whose inhabitants
were unaware of the existence of the planet
neptune, nor outside the astronomical profess
sion old the subsequent discovery Of faint
remote speck of light in the region of the per-
'olped planets cause any great excitement
. oclentlnc people. however. found the intel
Hsence remarkable enough, even before it be-
came known that the new body was RAPIDLY
craving larger and brighter, that its motion
was quite different from the orderly progress
vi the planets and that the DETECTION Of Nep-
e anu us satellite was becoming now of
an unprecedented kind
Few people without training in sc,ence
can realize the huge isolation of the solar svs
tem The sun with its specks of planets its
duse OF paneto1ds and it's impalpabe comets
s"lms IN vacant immensely that almost de-
leats the imagination. Beyond the orbit of
neptune there is space, vacant SO far as hui
man observation has penetrated, without
warmth or light or sound. blank, emptiness for
twenty million times million miles. That is
the smallest estimate of the distance to be
'io'oiSeu peloTe tne nearest OF the stars Is
attained. And, saving few comets more un.
substantial than the thnnest flame no matter
had ever to human knowledge crossed this
gulf OF space until early in the twentieth GEN.
fury this strange wanderer appeared
vast mass of matter it was, bulky heavy,
rushing without warning out of the black mys.
terry of the sky into the radiance of the sun.
BY the second day it was clearly visible to any
decent instrument, a speck with a barely
sensible diameter, in the constellation Leo
near Regulus In little while an opera
glass could attain it,
On the third day of the new year the news
paper readers of two hemispheres were made
aware for the first time of the real Importance
of this unusual apparition in the heavens. "A
Planetary Collision" one London paper headed
the news, and proclaimed Duchaine's opinion
that this strange planet would probably
collide with Neptune. The leader writer's
larged upon the topic. So that in most of the
capitals of the world, on January 3. there was
an expectation, however vague, of some immi-
nent phenomenon In the sky; and as the night
followed the sunset round the globe thousands
of men turned their eyes skyward to see
the old familiar stars just they had always
been.
Until it was dawn in London and Pollux
setting and the stars overhead grown pale.
accumulation of daylight. and the light of gas
and candles shone yellow in the windows to
show where people were astir But the yawn-
ing policeman saw the thing. the busy crowds
in the market stopped agape, workmen going
to their work betimes, milkmen, the drivers
OF news CARTS dissipation going home jaded
and pale homeless wanderers, sentinels on
their beats. and In the country, laborers trudg-
ing afeld, poachers Sinking home, all over the
ha
and out at sea by seamen watching for the
day-a great white star, come suddenly into
the westward sky!
Brighter it was than any star in our SKIES;
brighter than the evening star at its brightest
IT still glowed out white and large, no mere
twinkling spot of light, but small, round.
clear, shining disk, an hour after the day had
come And where science has not reached,
men stared and feared, telling one another OF
the wars and pestilences that are foreshad-
owed by these fiery signs In the heavens
Sturdy Beers, dusky Hottentots. Gold Coast
negroes, Frerchmen, Spaniards, Portuguese,
stood in the warmth of the sunrise watching
the setting of this strange new star
And in a hundred observatories there had
been suppressed excitement rising almost to
shouting ptch. as the two remote bodies had
rushed together and a hurrying to and 1ro
to gather Photographic apparatus and spectre
scope and this appliance and that, to record
this novel astonishing sight, the destruction
of a world For it was world, a sister planet
If our earth, far greater than our earth lndeed'
that had so suddenly flashed into naming
death. Neptune 1t was. had been slruck' 1airly
and squareIy, by the strange planet lioii
,nter space and the heat Of the conclusion had
ncontinently turned two solid globes into one
uast mass of incandescence. Round the world
hot dav. two hours before the dawn, went the
,a1lid great white star, fading only as 1t sank
and the sun mounted ABOVE IL. EV-
,rvwbere men marveled at it, but OF all those
who saw it none could have marVeled more
han those sailors, habitual watchers or the
stars who far away at sea mad neard nothihs
# its advent and saw 1t now rise ike plsmy
Noon and climb zenithward and hang over
,aaa and sink westward with the passing Of
he night.
And when next it rose over Europe every.
,,,ore were crowds of watchers On hilly slopes.
m bouse roofs, in open spaces, staring east
ward for the rising of the great new star. IL
osa with a white glow in front OF it. like the
,lore of white fire, and those who had seen
: come into existence the night before cried
,t at the sight of it, ut is larger" they cried.
If is brighter." And indeed the moon quar-
or full and sinking in the west was IN lts
nparent size beyond comparison, but scarcely
y ali its breadth had it as much brightness
low as the little circle of the strange new star.
"It is brighter!" cried the people clustering
n the streets. But in the dim observatores
he watchers held their breath and peered at
ne another "It is nearer" they said. Nearer"
And voice after voice repeated 1T is near
r )" and the clicking telegraph took that up.
nd It trembled along telephone wires, and in
thousand cities grimy compositors fingered
ne tyne. 1T is nearer" Men writing IN