Campfire Musings - Life and Good Times in the Woods by Gray William Cunningham

Author:Gray, William Cunningham [Gray, William Cunningham]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Read Books Ltd.
Published: 2018-01-30T16:00:00+00:00

MUSING XVI

THE MUSIC OF THE SPHERES

Living under the shade of trees by day and under the stars at night, with a roof over one’s head only when it rains or when asleep, it is natural that one should gaze at the stars, see many splendid meteors, and take much note of the coming and going of the moon and the rising and setting of the constellations. There is no such dial for marking the time as that of which the polar star is the pivot. There glitter the constellations of Ursa Major, or, as it has been called, the “Dipper,” the “Chariot of Arthur,” the “Chariot of David,” “King Charles’ Wain,” and the “Plow,” the constellations also of the Lyre, Ursa Minor, the Dragon, and those brilliant queens of the North, Cassiopea and Andromeda, and the “demon” star Algol. These revolve majestically around Stella Polaris, and one can mark the hours as they pass by observing them. Among them is Arcturus, mentioned by Job, though it is probable that he referred to Ursa Major, the constellation.

The plain moon in a clear sky is beautiful, but, like a beautiful woman, its charms are heightened by drapery. This, one may have at times anywhere by the clouds, but always here by the tall pines, of the fleecy foliage of which Luna makes an aureole and a veil for herself, while she lets fall her train of silver across the dimpling lake.

When the August meteors come on, about the 11th of the month, we betake ourselves to the boats for an unobstructed view of the sky, and count them as they come. One of the most curious things about astronomy is the vast number of these diminutive planets, some flying singly and some in long trains. The stellar orbs are of all sizes, from that of a minute grain of sand up to the gigantic Sirius, twelve hundred times larger than our enormous sun, their diameters a sand grain, a pea, an apple, a boulder, a half mile, a mile, twenty miles, an hundred. Vesta, diameter 250 miles, the moon 2,160 miles, Mercury 3,000, the earth 8,000, Jupiter 88,000, the sun 866,000, Sirius, three millions of miles. Imagine little toy worlds with moons not bigger than walnuts as seriously moving in their orbits around the sun as does our own earth, their days and nights only a minute, or an hour long! and then worlds so large that they grapple on nearly equal terms with Algol and Sirius, and swing them untiringly around in space forever and ever!

Persons who do not live by lakes have little idea of the great variety of beauties which they display. I have mentioned in previous years our Fourth of July celebrations. We go to considerable expense in fireworks, and it is always a regret to me that our readers can not see them. Fire-works on the land are tame in their beauty compared with those on smooth water. All preparations are completed during the day. We make

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