Evening star., 1946-12-19
This and That
BIZ Charles E. Trace,DeH

An old-time reader reminds this col
umn that a long time ago-some; 20
years, to be exact-we wrote several
articles on the subject of the dawn.
He wants to know if we watch the
dawn as much as in the old days, and
asks that something be done about it.
Surely the dawn, both as natural
spectacle, and as subject, is just as
good as ever.
Ancient sun worshipers found 1t
good. Today's sun worshipers, with a
little scientific jargon to uphold them,
feel that the ancients were right.
Sunshine is good, and everything con-
nected with it is fine, within reason. 1t
is possible to get too much sun, and no
douiot some persons could see the dawn
too many times, but by and large it is a
marvellous spectacle, one which too
many persons miss.
The inclination is to say that all
sensible persons appreciate and some
times witness the arrival of Aurora.
The truth Is that many sensible per-
sons have never seen the sunrise in
their lives.
/ Let us put it this way: If it is con-
venient, every one should, at some time
or other, make point of getting up in
time to watch the dawn, the real dawn,
arrive.
Even the sleepiest citizen would be
the better for witnessing this phenome-
non, at least now and then.
Watching the sun come up Is getting
down to the rock bottom of living, there
is something so elemental, something SO
clean about it. Here is nothing OF
the sophisticated modern. The wise
cracker, the joker, would be very much
out of place
One feels this, even by oneself, if upon
a sleepless morning, without much
thought of seeing anything divine, the
shade is suddenly pulled up onto the
real, not the false, dawn.
Here is sense of mystery, the pull
of the planets, the colors of rain
bow, out the window, off there.
Just how much of the panorama the
observer can take in is limited, of course,
by his physical position.
1t is not every house in city, suburbs
or in the country, that is so situated
that the view from it is good.
While it is always possible to see
something of the dawn, and even part
is good, the window may not give access
to the whole spectacle.
But the colors, at least, can be seen
from any window.
To get them in full, it is necessary
to be there waiting just before they
start to appear.
This means that the darkness must
be complete at the start.
The creeping light has SO many as
poets that it is necessary to wake one
self up bit, at the beginning.
The increasing spectacle will do the
rest. The sudden widening of the view,
the ever changing aspects, the slow. ap-
pearance of familiar objects nearby
all these are part of this early morn
ing show, like nothing else on earth.
The thrilling part fthrilling at least
to the city-bound) is that 1t is not nee
eSsary to 60 to the Pacific isles to see 1t.
1t comes regularly to every home, no
matter how humble.
Weather conditions, Of course, have
much to do with its complete, its best
displays, but even at its worst, the dawn
does very well, indeed.
Here is spectacle easy to take, pro-
vided one knows how to get up.
Today's common attitude, that one
should never get out of bed before one
has to, is antagonistic to the dawn and
all it stands for.
The birds do better. Those babies are
up at the first crack of dawn, singing
praises to the universe, and trying to
find something to eat, both Of which
are highly laudable aims.