The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1911-05-26
As A Mariner
Views The Heavens

The great dome of the sky, hlled
with glittering stars is one OF tne
most sublime spectacles in nature
To enjoy this fully night must De
chosen when the atmosphere is clear
and the moon is away on vacatlon
We then gaze upon the deep blue'
an immense expanse studded with
stars of varied color and brilllancy.
Some shine with vivid light per
petually changing and twinkllng;
others more constant beam tran
gully and softly upon US; while
many just tremble into our sight
like wave that struggling to reach
some far off land, dies as it touches
the shore. In the presence OF such
weird and wondrous beauty the
tenderest sentiments of the heart
are aroused-a feeling of awe and
reverence, of softened melancholy
mingled with thought of God
comes over us. Those far off lights
seem full of meaning to US, could
we but read their holy message;
they become real and sentient, and
like the soft eyes in pictures, look
lovingly and inquiringly upon us,
We come into communion with an
other life. and the soul asserts its
Immortality more strongly than ever
before. We are humbled as we gaze
upon the infinity Of worlds, and
strive to comprehend their enormous
distances and magnificent retinue of
suns. The powers of the mind are
aroused and eager questionings
crowd upon us. What are those
glittering fires? What is their dis
tance from us? Are they worlds
like our own? Do loving, thinking
beings dwell upon them? Are they
carelessly scattered throughout in
finite space, or is there an order Of
the universe? Can we ever hope to
fathom those mysterious depths, or
are they closed to us forever? Many
of these problems have been solved;
others await the astronomer whose
keen eyes shall be strong enough to
read the mysterious scroll of the
heavens.
Two hundred generations of study
has revealed to US such startling
facts, that we wonder how man in
his feebleness can grasp so much,
see so far. and penetrate so deeply
into the mysteries of the universe.
Astronomy (astron star and nomos
a law has measured the distance
of many of the stars, and all the
planets, computed their weight and
size of their days, years and seasons,
with many of their physical features;
made HAP of the ,.,oon, in some
respects more perfect than any map
of the earth; tracked the comets in
their immense sidereal journeys,
marking their paths to nicely
which we can scarcely conceive, and
at last it has analysed the structure
of the sun and far off stars, an
nouncing the very elements of which
they are composed.
Observing for several evenings
those stars which shine with a clear
light we notice that they change
their position with respect to The
others. They therefore are called
planets (literally speaking, wander
ers.) Others remain immovable and
shine with shifting, twinkling light.
They are termed "fixed stars" and
although it is now known that they
also are in motion the most rapid
of any known even to astronomy but
through such immense orbits that
they seem to us stationary. Then,
too, diagonally glrdling the heavens,
is a whitish vapory belt, the
milky Way. This is composed
of multitudes of millions of suns
OF which our own sun itself is one.
so far removed from US that their
light mingles and makes only a
fleecy whiteness. This magnificent
panorama of the heavens is before
us inviting our study and waiting
to make known to us the grandest
revelations of science.
"The stars are the landmarks Of
the universe. They seem to be
placed in the heavens by the Creator
not alone to elevate our thoughts
and expand our conception Of the
infinite and eternal, but to afford us
amid the constant fluctuations of our
own earth, something Interchangeable
and abiding. Every land mark
about US lis constantly changing but
over all shine the eternal stars
each with its place SO accurately
marked that to the astronomer and
geographer no deception is possible.
10 mariners they become a dial-plate,