Evening star., 1931-12-17

No one interested in the beauties OF
nature should fail to pay particular at
IGNITION to the morning and evening
skies to be seen at this time.
II Is not necessary to 60 to Italy
Tor beautiful sunsets and dawns of the
preathless sort. We can see them right
mere In Washington
skies which would not be believed
were they put on canvas are everyday
occurrences around here at this time Of
the year.
Perhaps the loveliest Of these nat
urai phenomena already have occurred
ID the plentitude Of late November and
early december, but that should deter
no one from watching for others.
Manageable weather such as the Dis
trict Of Columbia and enyirons have ex-
pefieneed recently is likely TO continue,
and 1t Is precisely this sort which
orings about the showiest sky lines.
Inc sunset Monday was a thing
WmGh Whistler would have envied US.
IN the south bants Of light purple and
eul blue We'd with the clear sky, re-
suitlng In soft greenish tint to the
iatter: an almost unbelievable thing.
N tne west great patches of blue and
sold were imposed upon a background
OF mingled pink and white. The pink
was not what one thinks of by that
name, put rather took on the character
of a celestial old rose.
Inc sun had gone down completely,
as lar as human eyes could see, leav-
ing this glorious light behind ia
llgnt transformed into the glowing COL
ors we nave named but cannot describe.
II goi6en pink can be imagined. If
goloen blue, golden purple, golden
Fa;.
nation Of that evening sky line, so far
flung. so colorful. yet so soft and
yielding
1t is cne OF the joys of natures paint
ings that even when the lines are
straight there Is nothing harsh to the
sight.
We recall viewing a sun-up recently
which no one would have believed II
we had possessed the ability to transfer
1t with pigments to canvas.
The striking feature of this particu-
lar morning sky was the formation Of
a bank OF clouds across the east-a
cloud formation which had a perfectIv
straight line for bottom.
Beginning at what seemed about a
half mile from the earth on the north
east. this line rose into the heavens for
miles upon miles. until at the southeast
end 1t seemed many miles above the
earth there.
This line was not jagged, but divinely
straight, as If ruled off with celestial
instrument
Beneath it began to appear the
mingled tints of purple and green
which characterized this particular
mornings color display
The great brooding bank of clouds
dl1 not move or change in any way,
but held its intensity for a full half
hour, after which it began to break up
and go away to the far east.
Almost any afternoon now as twi-
light comes ON this peep show of the
skies takes up. There is no charge
for admission and no reserved section,
All one has to do is to look up, but
some seem to find that a difficult
matter.
Sone. unfortunately. labor under the
impression that time spent in admiring
the beauties Of nature Is time wasted
Wasted time?
After all, one may wonder what the
phrase means-Wasting time
Is 1t wasted time to sit ana dream. to
DO nothing in the viewpoint of an OBJ
server?
Then the scientist who discovered
as we say, the law of gravitation was
wasting his time
Was 1t time wasted to dream of
new world?