The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1910-05-19

'HAknaHArR' suspected retardation in its ve-
locty In December Such piece
OF news was scarcely calculated to interest a
world the greater portion OF whose inhabitants
were unaware Of the existence Of the planet
Neptune. nor outside the astronomical profes.
sion did the subsequent discovery Of faint
remote speck Of light in the region of the per.
turbed planets cause any great excitement
Scientific people, however, found the intel.
lgence remarkable enough. even before II be-
came known that the new body was rapidly
craving larger and brighter that its motion
was quite different from the orderly progress
OF the planets and that the detection OF Nep.
tune and its satellite was becoming now OF
an unprecedented kind.
Few people without a training in science
can realize the huge isolation of the solar sys.
TEN. The sun with its specks of planets, its
dust Of planotods and It's impalpable comets
swims In vacant immensely that almost de-
feats the Imagination. Beyond the orbit Of
Neptune there Is space. vacant so far as hu.
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
trayersed before the nearest OF the stars ia
attained. And saving a few comets more I'm.
substantial than the thinnest fame, no matter
had ever to human knowledge crossed this
gulf OF space, until early In the twentieth cen
tury 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. as a speck with barely
sensible diameter in the constellation Leo
near Reguus. 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 apparltion In the heavens, "a
Planetary Collision" one London paper headed
the news and proclaimed Duchaine's opinion
that this strange new planet would probably
collide with Neptune. The leader writer's en-
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 lmmi.
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 as they had always
been
Until II was dawn In London and Pollux
setting and the stars overhead grown pale.
The winters dawn 1t was. a slckly altering
accumulation OF daylight, and the light OF gas
and candles shone yellow in the windows to
show where people we're astir But the yawn-
Ing policeman saw the thing. the busy crowds
in the market stopped agape. workmen going
to their work betimes. mllkmen. the drivers
of news carts. dissipation going home ladeu
and pale. homeless wanderers, sentinels on
their beats. and in the country laborers trudg'
ing aield poachers sinking home, all over the
dusky qulckening country 1t could be seen
and out at sea by seamen watching for the
day-a great white star. come suddenly into
the westward sky
Brighter II was than any star In our skies;
brighter than the evening star at Its brightest
II sin glowed out white and large, no mere
twinkling spot of light but small round.
clear, shining disk, an hour after the day had
vome And where science has not, reached,
men stared and feared, telling one another OF
Abe wars and pestilences that are foreshad'
owed by these fiery signs In the heavens
Sturdy Beers, dusky Hottentots. Gold coast
negroes. Frerchmen. Spanards, 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 10
shouting pitch as the two remote bodies hau
rushed together, and hurrying to ana ITO
to gather Photographic apparatus ana spec"o,
scope and this appliance and that, TO record
this novel, astonishing sight, the destruction
u
of our earth, far greater than our earth indeed
that had so suddenly flashed into naming
death. Neptune II was. had been struck fairly
and squarely. by the strange planet from
outer space and the heat OF the conclusion had
tncontinently turned two solid globes into one
vast mass of incandescence. Round the world
that day, two hours before the dawn, went the
pallid great white star, fading only as II sank
westward and the sun mounted above 1t. Ev-
erywhere men marveled at 1t, but OF all those
who saw II none could have marveled more
than those sailors, habitual watchers OF the
stars. who far away at sea had heard nothing
of its advent and saw It now rise like pigmy
moon and climb zenithward and hang over
head and sink westward with the passing OF
the night
And when next II rose over Europe every
whore were crowds Of watchers on billy slopes
on house roofs, in open spaces, staring east.
ward for the rising Of the great new star IL
rose with q white glow In front OF 1t, like the
glare OF a white FIRE. and those who had seen
q come into existence the night before cried
out nj the sight OF It, at is larger" they cried.
at is brighter" And indeed the moon a quar-
tor full and sinking In the west was IN It's
npparent size beyond comparison, but scarcely
IN nil its breadth had 1t as much brightness
now as the little circle of the strange new star
at is brighter" cried the people clustering
in the streets But in the dim obseryatories
the watchers held their breath and peered at
one another. at is nearer" they said. Nearer"
tod