The Washington herald., 1915-02-21

heavens, and from the broad an,
shining Garth upon which my being
had begun, / seemed to grow, in som,
incredible manner, vast: vast as re
\ CARDS this world | had left, vast a
regards the moments and periods o
human life
Very soon saw the full circle o
the earth, slightly gibbous, like tn,
moon when she nears her full, bu
very great; and the silvery shape o
America was now in the noondal
blaze, wherein (aS it secmcd It'll,
England had been baSking but few
minutes ago. At first the earth wa
large, and shonc in the heavens. fill
ing a great part OF them: but every
moment she grew smaller and NOR,
distant. As she shrunk. the broaC
moon in its third quarter crept into
view over the rim of her disc.
| looked for the consultations
Only that part OF Aries directly be
hind the sun and the Lion which the
earth covered were hidden ! recog
nized the tortuous, tattcrcd band OF
the Milky Way, with Vega very
bright between sun and earth; and
/ Sirius and Orion shonc splendid
HagainSt the uniathomablc blackncSs
in the opposite quarter OF the hcav-
ems. The Polcstar was overhead. and
the Great Bear hung over the circle
OF the earth. And away beneath and
! beyond the shining corona OF the sun
were strange groupings OF stars | had
never seen in my life; notably dag
ger shaped group that knew for the
Southern Cross.
Presently, when ! looked again, the
little earth seemed no bigger than
the sun, and it dwindlcd and turned
as | looked, until, in seconds space
Gas it seemed to mel, it was halved:
and so it went on swiftly dwindling.
Far away in the opposite direction a
little pinkiSh pins head OF light. shin
ing steadily. was the planet Mars. I
swan motionlcSs in vacancy, and
without trace OF terror or astonish-
ment, watched the spcck OF cosmic
dust VIC call the world fall away from
me.
Presently it dawncd upon me that
my sense OF duration had changed;
that my mind was moving not faster,
but infinitely slower; that between
each separate impression there was 4
period OF many days. The moon spun
once round the earth as | noted this;
and | perceived, clearly, the motion
of Mars in his orbit Moreover it APP
pcared as if the time between thought
and thought grew steadily greater,
until at last thousand years was
but 4 moment in my perception.
At first the consultations had shonc
motionlcss against the black back
ground of infinite space; but present.
ly it seemed as though the group OF
stars about Hercules and the Scor-
pion was contracting. while Orion
and Aldcbaran and their ncighbors
were scattering apart. Flashing sud-
denly out OF the darkness, there came
flying multitude OF particles OF rock.
glittcring like dust spccks in sun
beam and encompasscd in family
luminous haze.
They Swirlcd all about me and van
ishcd again in twinkling far be-
hind. And then saw that a bright
spot OF light. that shonc little to
one side OF my path. was growing
very rapidly larger. and perceived
that it was the planet Saturn rushing
toward me Larger and larger it grew.
swallowing up the heavens behind
ii, and hiding every moment a fresh
multitude OF stars. ! perceived its
f1attcncd whirling body. its disc-likc
belt. and seven OF its little satellites
1t grew and grew, till it lowered
enormous. and then | plunged amid
a streaming multitude OF clashinG
stones and dancing dust particles and
gas cddies. and saw for a moment the
mighty triple belt like three Conccn-
trio arches OF moonlight above nc. its
shadow black on tho boiling tumult
below.
These things happened in one
tenth OF tho time it takes to tell OF
them The planet went by like a flash
OF lightning; for a few seconds it
blottcd out the sun, and there and
then became mere black. dwindlinc.
winged patch against the light. The
earth, the mother mote OF my being.
| could no longer sec
Broader and wider and deeper
grew the starlcSs space. the vacant
Beyond, into which was being
drawn At last a quarter OF the
heavens was black and blank. and the
whole hcadlong rush of stellar uni
verse closed in behind me like a veil
OF light that is gathered together 1t
drove away from me. like mon
Strous Jack-o'- lantern driven by the
wind. | had come out into the wild !
crncsS of space. Even the vacant