Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-08-23

IKE the magician's wand. But there
is SO much apparent intuition in
/ the true character readers proceed
tngs that one begins to think that
men and women have their atmos-
pheres, developed from their inner
nature, and in which some of their
secrets may be read as we read the
constitution of the sun in the spec
trum of its gaseous shell.
stood with n crowd of people at
jackson avenue waiting for trolley
car. 1t was n magnificent night and
where we were, with a wall behind and
projecting wooden awning overhead,
It's edge framing the sky above like a
proscenium arch. one had the impress
sion OF being In a vast theater. The
ioothghts were represented by electric
bulbs. spelling name on one of a
series of low buildings across the way
and by other lamps lighting rows OF
eolored posters strung along the walls
winch formed as it were the front of
the stage.
The curtain was raised. and in the
vast eNpanse disclosed behind shone
the universe, so grand so magnificent.
su indescribably splendid that caught
my breath and felt as if 1 had never
truly seen II before.
SiCal lSuIGS were on tne
stage together and behind them in the
depths of immensity cleaned the
countless multitudes of stars that pop
ulate the boundlcss heavens with liv-
ing fires The conspicuous three were
the full. round moon, her face smiling
with ripples OF light that streamed
from her fairy mountains and poured
over her golden plains the proud
planet Jupiter. wrapped In his belted
mantle st hi Iii
nifty as the chief of the planetary con-
| clave, and the great Star of Egypt
and the Nile Sirius. whose rays,
| packed with the energies of a sun
| forty-fold greater than ours. bickered
white and red and emerald. an electri-
fled diamond, living Kohmoor.
l looked round at my neighbors. TO
kindle my enthusiasm higher at their
! flame - but not an eye among them
saw the universe! Not glance was
| uplifted to view the city of God" dis
| played there for encouragement and
| JOY to the souls of men, When | step
| ped out from under the awning to OBJ
| tain better view of the wondrous
spectacle overhead two or three men
hastily initiated me; but after single
anxious glance at the sky they turned
and looked at me. wondering whether
l had really seen something which they
| had missed.
There IL was, scintillating before
| them and over their heads, grander
| than Imagination can conceive. beauti-
full as thought, and they looked right
at it and never saw it Was 1t fa-
miliarity that made them indifferent?
No. they had never seen 1t in all their
lives 1t was the blindness of ignor-
arce, the blindness of a lack of educa-
tlcn, or of a false education. They
found nothing blase in the electric
lights across the way. Two admir-
inGly discussed the ingenious arrange
ment of the colored bulbs that spelled
out the name of little theater and
many perused the posters. but Sirius,
the might sun whose circling worlds
would belittle ours, shone straight into
their eyes and found them blind.
The moon, sweet regent of the sky"
child of the earth's youth, wandered
but not lost; the moon that has looked
down upon Il thousand generations of
little men and beheld hundred en-
pres rise and fall. leaving only their
| ruins to be silvcred ny her light was
nothing to them, absolutely unnoticed,
non-eXistent
While 1 waited the crowd changed
more than once, but the newcomers
| never saw the universe! They saw
the electric lights and the posters; but
being only of the earth, they did not
| and could not look beyond the earth
Thus is mans greatest birthright cast
aside. Born to dwell in spirit among
| the stars, millions grovel and perish
| in the dust of the earth. never caring
even to inquire what their relations
may be to the vast cosmos about them.
Gravity ties down their souls as we'll
as their bodies. They are prisoners
to mere material forces. Their eyes
alone would emancipate them II they
employed them wisely, but they will
not receive the messages that light
brings across the abysses of space. For
them the sky is but a curtain and the
earth is the only real thing. They
| tie God to the little globe of their ador-
alton. thinking that He, too, can have
no other provinces.
They are ignorant of the great law
| of RELATIVELY which would teach them
| that the beginning of salvation. the
| first step away from annihilation. is
| the recognition of infinite dependency.
| God gave sight to man and backed 1t
with supra-brutal intelligence in order
| that he might see and know that he
was made a Citizen of the Universe.
There ought to be public schools of
astronomy, not to turn out astrono-
mers but to turn out men and women.
| That side of education which looks to
our material well-being is abundantly
provided for; the side that would feed
the soul imprisoned in us is neglected.
! Some one will probably say THAT
| is the work of religion" to which
reply, Astronomy is religion"