The herald., 1912-06-06
A Surprise
BY MARTIN BRADFORD

my income by lectures on astronom!
One November day started to walk
from the town Of A., where ! had
lust given a lecture. to the town OF h.
where | was to give one that night
The weather was Indian summer ana
delightful. Some of the trees were late
| in shedding their leaves, and the woods
were here and there still decorated
with patches of scarlet. brown and
deep green.
On emerging from a cut through
which the wood ran | saw man
walking ahead Of me. ! don't mind Il
companion now and then in my walks.
SO | FASTENED my pace and caught up
with him. | found him to be about
thirty years old, dressed in shabby gen
| teel clothes and of an intellectual cast
Of countenance. ! addressed him.
speaking of the beauty Of the scenery.
the autumnal glow and the invigorat-
ing atmosphere. He responded appre-
ciatively.
| After chatting awhile on general top
ics he asked me where i was going.
and my purpose to give lecture that
night at B. on astronomy came out
He said that he had always had a de
sire to know something on that sub
ject and regretted that his education
had been neglected, for If 1t had not
been he would certainly have devoted
some time to the study of the stars.
Would l tell him something about
them?
1t occurred to me that this would be
q good opportunity to rehearse my lee
ture. My subject was to be, THE So
lar System" and, beginning with the
central orb, l gave its dimensions and
weight and then passed to the planets
in their order of distance from it, end
ing with an account Of the discovery
Of the farthest, Neptune, by means
Of the perturbations Of Uranus. then
supposed to be the most distant satel-
lite Of the sun. My companion seem
ed greatly interested in this marvel
Gus power Of a man to reach out into
space and take cognizance Of world
invisible to the unaided eye and greed
| fly absorbed all l told him, though, be-
ing expected to lecture to popular
audience, / did not enter upon the
marvellous development of knowledge
Of the constitutional ingredients ofour
system with the Interpretation Of the
lines on the spectrum. In other words.
| contented myself with stating the
simplest truths known half a century
ago and within the grasp of ordinary,
intellects.
Now and again in his comments on
the information l gave him my COM
panion astonished me by an observa-
ton indicating a natural aptitude for a
subject of which he was ignorant. He
wondered how the heat Of the sun
could pass through realms Of space in
rnitely cold without being lost. He
asked II we were sure that Neptune
was the most distant planet Of our sys-
tenn. These ant other points he sug-
gested convinced me that if he were
uneducated he at least possessed an
original or at least an inquiring mind.
While we were conversing / felt a
giddiness to which l am subject and
which is always followed by a disabili-
ty for either hours or days. My com
panion kindly guided me to a farm
house beside the road and ministered
to my wants l told him that l was
very much troubled at the prospect of
not being able to keep my engagement
to lecture. and in order to help me out
Of the difficulty, since he was going to
B., he offered to call on the manager OF
the course and explain my unfortunate
position. told him to say that past
experience had taught me that / would
not be able to lecture the same night
even If l were able to get to B., but the
lecture might be put of till the next
evening or such time as had recover
ed. He promised to bear my message
but put a damper on my anticipations
by asking for a small loan. l gave him
what he asked.
In the course Of a few hours ] felt
so much better that l made bargain
with the farmer with whom / was
lodged to hitch up team and drive me
into B. would reach the town toe
late for the lecture, but that would
have been postponed anyway.
On driving into B.. which / reached
about half an hour after the hour SCI
for the lecture, ! was surprised to set
the hall in which 1t was to be given
illuminated. I asked the farmer to pull
up. got out and entered the hall.
To say I was astonished conveys
little idea Of my condition. There on
the rostrum was the man who had
taken my message. speaking easily and
gracefully on the solar system. In
short. he was delivering my lecture
but so much more easily and graceful
ly than i could have done 1t, SO en-
riched with entertaining facts and
with so much poetic inspiration. that
sank into a back seat and listened
spellbound.
No one present had ever seen me
The man had palmed himself or fO'
me and was speaking for me far better
than could have spoken for myself.
When he came out Joined him. he
felt very uneasy and drew me aside
as quickly as possible to tell me that
he had not been paid for the lecture
and had no idea Of perpetrating u