The Neshoba Democrat., 1921-05-19

quoting his own remark of one even
ing five years back.
Sylvester replied with a scornful
laugh.
"The moon inhabited? Ridiculous
We have telescopes that bring that
old hulk only forty miles away, and
1--WE have wormed all Its secrets from
lit. The moon Is cold and lifeless. It's
devoid of vegetation, being simply an
old volcanic shell, without an atmos-
phere and consequently without living
and breathing human beings The
moon ceased to interest me a long
time ago. It's only couple Of hundred
Thousand miles away, and I'm In
lterested In big suns whose distance Is
lreckoned In billions.
For instance, with the aid of Prof.
IMichaelson's new measuring device,
we have ascertained that the star
Betelgeuse (or sun, which 1t really is)
has a.diameter of three hundred million
miles. Betelgeuse is member Of the
constellation Of Orion and has long
been a subject Of much speculation.
Think of 1t! Our own sun is less than
ia million miles In diameter, and II
hollow 1t would contain a million
bodies as large as the earth; and the
earth would make forty-nine moons.
mo, I'm not interested in Luna any
longer; l leave that for the children.
How foolish l used to be-"
Eyes, how foolishl" sighed Nina,
and wished he would get foolish once
more. She still loved Sylvester, in
spite of the great change that had
come over him with the learning he
had acquired.
Sylvester's return to Beaver Falls
Icreated quite a social stir, due to the
.eminence to which he had climbed In
scientific realms; and Mrs. Clayton
HILL one Of society's leaders who did
not even know him by name when he
was a resident Of the city, conceived
the idea of entertaining in his honor,
so she invited a select crowd to a
jratfer elaborate function at her home
and, learning that Sylvester and Nina
were supposed to be engaged, she felt
compelled to invite the young lady
In question, although the latter was
not ''up" In society.
Nina enjoyed herself until mid
dle-aged guest who was a semi
scientific crank got into conversation
with Sylvester and caused the latter
4, hn1
another young man of her former
acquaintance, she would have been a
wall-ffower In the dancing part OF the
evenings programme. Still she was
not angry with Sylvester.
"What is the spiral nebula theory
as to the origin of the solar system?"
the semi-scientific crank wanted to
know. The subject being one of Syl-
vester's hobbies, he offered to go to
his home, few blocks away, and re-
turn with treatise dealing with the
nebula, which he had written for a
magazine and brought to Beaver Falls
to undergo the process Of correction.
knowledge had made Sylvester
locating the manuscript. His search
carried him through all the drawers of
his dresser and In the bottom one he
came across package of letters tied
with blue ribbon, and a photograph.
The picture was of Nina, snap
shot he had taken one summer af-
ternoon five years ago. and she also
had been the author of the letters.
Somehow, he felt a touch Of the old
sentimentalism, and this prompted him
to unite the ribbon. In few seconds
he was eagerly opening and devouring
them, while moonshine streamed
through the window and wreathed his
head.
AS Sylvester read these letters Of
the past a smile played about his
lips and now and then a. drop Of
moisture trickled from his eyes. He
forgot his surroundings, and had no
thoughts of the foolish whim that had
caused him and his sweetheart to
correspond through the mail even when
living in the same town.
When Sylvester finished reading
the letters, he replaced the blue rib
bon around them, and stood for a
moment gazing into the laughing eyes
of the photograph. Then he leaned 1t
against the dresser mirror and turned
to see the moon peeping into the
window. He smiled and sighed, re-
placed his hat on his head and left
the house. AS he did so he recollected
where he had placed the manuscript
but he made no further effort to pro
cure 1t. nE GE " ft&
The semi-scientific crank was wait
ing to hear about the spiral nebula,
but Sylvester gave him slight heed.
Instead he sought out Nina, who was
sitting out dance with young man,
and asked if she could excuse herself.
She did SO, and he led her to the
veranda of the Hill home.
He said placing an arm about her
and gazing up at the moon. "Sea
Luna is smiling at us once more. Per-
.haps her inhabitants are looking down