Otl)c Sltlanta Banner anft Baptist,
Shadows.
On the pictur’d wall most grimly,
Flaunt the shadows .to and tro;
Clearly now, and now all dimly,
Fretful on the arras show.
Bolder as the firelight’s clearer,
Weaker as it falls and wanes—
Now the statued alcove nearer,
Now athwart the blazon’d panes.
Thus they come, and thus they go,
Looming—lapsing—to and fro.
As I gaze, each shadow taking
From myjancy outline quaint,
Seems a world phantastic making.
Such as Callot. lov’d to paint.
Now a nodding plume before me
Tops some huge and monstrous crest;
Now a giant arm sweeps o’er me,
Idly smites me on my breast!
Thus they come, and thus they go,
Looming—lapsing—to and fro.
Now the battle heaves about me,
Serried ranks in order wheel:
Now the maddest goblins flout me—
Now the grim Bacchantes reel!
Mighty woods no sun can brighten,
Seem astir with sudden breeze;
Rolling watei’3 seethe and whiten,
Wrathful swell the winter seas.
Thus they come, and thus they go,
Learning—lapsing—to and fro.
O’er the pictur’d wall they wander,
Changeful shadows to and fi o,
While the flame-spire rises yonder,
Fitful on the arras show.
Bolder as the firelight’s clearer,
Weaker as it falls and wanes;
Now the statued alcove nearer,
Now athwart the blazon’d panes.
Thus they come, and thus they go,
Soon forgot the spectral show!
So the fire of some great passion
Shining on the Heart’s still Deep,
Strongest shadows aye will fashion,
Spirits rouse from lifedong sleep.
All the Old Time’s memories waken
In the fierce hut fleeting light.
Soul! thus in thy weakness taken,
Dost thou shudder at the sight i
Hah, hah, they come--hah, hah, they go !
Soon forgot the spectral Show !
MY ANNULAR ECLIPSE.
AN ENGLISH STORY.
ON Monday, the fifteenth of March last,
I rose soon after daylight to study two
interesting documents: one, a rnnp of Eng
land, which Mr. Warren Da la Rue had
intersected with three straight lines, to
show the direct path to he traversed that
morning by the Solar Eclipse across this
island ; the other, a hand-bill invitation to
the public generally from the Great West
ern Railway Company, to an excursion to
Swindon —where the darkness which, ac
cording to the astronomers, was to prevail
at mid-day, would be most visible. To
these aids to reflection wore added a few
personal observations of the state of the
weather ; which, as the morning advanced,
was very encouraging.
The result of nil this study—the first
lesson in astronomical and meteorological
science I ever voluntarily undertook—-was
a rapid toilette, a cold breakfast (f am a
bachelor), a sharp walk, and a seat in a
railway carriage; of which I and my friend
The Count, whom 1 had picked up on the
platform, were the earliest occupants.
‘ It is a singular fact,” observed this
friend of mine—a Scotch schoolfellow—
who was looking out of the window and
filling it up with his broad shoulders to
prevent the intrusion of strangers; “that
of the crowd of passengers now struggling!
tui places, at least fifty per cent,"wear!
spectacles; and, <>f these, twenty-five peri
cent, are adorned with white cravats.”
It. was liis passion for arithmetic (termed
counting ” in Scotch schools) that gave
him his title; his real name being Mae-
Aliquot. “The luggage, too, is exception-!
al,” ho went on to observe. “It, is all
mahogany and brass, if you notice. And
heio The Count, suddenly seeing
someone he knew, waved his arm franti
cally, exclaiming: “Hi! hi! Sidery! Pro-!
lessor! There’s plenty of room here!— j
' ° !ne The signal was answered.— I
Capital fellow!” he said to me, as he!
gathered up his coat, his newspaper, his
hat, and his gloves from five of the seats,
which he had appropriated. “ Formerly
Professor of Conic Sections at our College,
Jxnith W ales; and no mean astronomer, 1
can tell you. See what a lot of apparatus
he has brought ! ”
Ho you include in that expression the
I 'Sciy young woman dinging so gracefully
to him, am.dst the unwieldy pile of things
at his feet; and the three young men?” I
asked.
\\ oil, yes; said the Count, wh" was
.* iways as literal as an Arabic numeral.—
** \oa will see: Sidery will utilise even his
daughter and sous somehow for eclipse pur
purposes; as he will me, and you. too. if
you don't mend.”
“ Have you room for five ? ” the astron
omer asked with timidity.
’ For any number,” 1 answered fervent
ly, while making room for Miss Sidery!
who passed me with a gracious bend, and i
the sweetest unspoken “Thank you.
She was followed by her brothers, to whom
the professor handed in, terderly —as if it
were a well-packed baby-—a great mahoga
ny box containing his telescope. Ihen lie
delivered through the open door, several
thermometers, pronouncing with each a
verbal label: ‘dry bulb, ‘wet bulb, ‘red
bulb,’ ‘black bulb.’ Then a barometer;
then a sextant, boxed up in a kind of ma
hogany cocked-hat; then a couple of lorg
nettes ; then a pair of clouded goggles; then
some packets of stained glass. I felt
dreadfully afraid of the professor and of
all these instruments. My ignorance of
every kind of heavenly body was now to
( be punished by seventy-seven miles of hu
miliation ; and I should have hated Ihe
Count for bringing it upon me, if any sort
of harsh sentiment could have been possible
in the benign presence of the two day-stars
that shone full upon me from the opposite
seat. Still the professor went on shipping
apparatus with all the perseverance and
\ with something of the manner of a wbarf
| clerk ; calling out the names of the objects
;as they were taken from him : a box of lu
jcifers; a candle; a Welsh testament, large
'print; a Welsh testament, small print; a
!copy of Jones’s Diamond Classics; a roll
|of photographic paper; a burning glass;
|two ounces of gunpowder; a pot ofcro-1
cuses, in full bloom; a pot of violets; a!
bundle of camp-stools; three umbrellas,!
several papers of sandwiches, and tw'ofulll
flasks; “ for,” Mr. Sideiy observed, in allu-!
sion to the latter miscellanea, as he entered
with the train already in motion, “ Science
must be 1 fed.”
Surely they were not going to eat the
candle, or the crocuses, or the gunpowder.
Yet those strange appliances could hardly
be wanted to observe the phenomena of the
eclipse with. Not liking to show my ig
norance too soon, 1 suppressed inquiry for
the present.
By dint of packing this medley under- j
neath the seats, and overhead in the net- J
tings, the professor found a spat for himself!
while we were passing Hanwell.
“ We must now distribute our parts,” he |
said when fairly settled. “There are so!
many phenomena to note, and so little time
to note them in, that each of us mustun-j
dertake to observe one, or one class of;
them. What will your friend be responsi
ble for?” he asked of Mac-Aliquot. “The
| time of Decollation, the barometer, or Bai
! lev’s beads ? ”
I blushed to the ears; for the das stars
beamed an effulgent curiosity upon me ;
but The Count interrupted, to my great
relief, with “ We had better leave him
out —he is not scientific.”
“ Not scientific! ” exclaimed the bright
particular star gleefully. “ 1 am so glad !
There will be somebody to sympathise
with my own ignorance.”
I should not like to describe—even if I
could—the effect of this little remark upon
my sensations. Fortunately, 1 kept them
so strict ly to myself, that I did not do any
thing ridiculous. 44 The sun is to be dark
ened,” she continued, glancing charitably at
me, “ 1 know. But I really do not know
how, or why.”
The Professor seemed delighted to have,
or to pretend to have, somebody to teach.
In a minute he had out two pocket hand
kerchiefs ; one white, the other snuff-color.
He rolled them up into balls, tight enough
to play at tennis with. He suspended one!
between each finger and thumb. He de
clared that the globular lamp iu the roof
of the carriage was the sun, that the ban
dana handkerchief was the earth, and the j
cambric one the moon." He then imitated:
an orrery, with the earth moving round j
the sun (as far as the roof of the carriage;
would permit), and the moon revolving;
round the earth. “That being so,” he al-j
ways addressed me, “a time comes when
the three spheres must, for a few moments,'
travel into one line; the moon getting be-;
tween the earth and the sun, thus: you,
don’t see the sun now,” he continued, as if
; speaking to his daughter, but still looking
I my way.
“ How can 1. while you put your linen
moon between it, and my eyes?” said the.
young lady. But I can see part of it.”
“Of course ; the moon, being smaller
than the sun, and nearer to you,” was the
reply. “ You see the outer rim of the
lamp in the form of a ring, don't you ?
Well, that’s an annular eclipse.”
“ From annulus, a ring,” whispered Si
dery Tertius, popping in a quotation from
his dictionary.
u 1 ask (I thought I was bound not
to be absolutely dumb) why it is that the
moon, being the smaller body, as you say,
will obscure so much of the sun, as to leave,
when the eclipse is at its height, no more
than a nanow rim .of the latter visible ? ”
Mr. Sidery and Mac Aliquot were both
eager to let off' an answer upon me; but
Sidery conquered, by generously offering
to lend me a fourpenny piece. “ Place it
before one eye ; shut the other, and look
at the sun—-no, not the lamp, but the real
sun ; which is now just enough obscured
by thin clouds not to blind you. That
very small disc completely obscures the
sun, does it not? ”
“ Yes.”
“ Hold it further from your eye, alarm’s
length. Does it still hide the sun from
you ? ”
“ It does.”
“ Ay ; but if held uearer to the sun by
three or four yards, your little silver moon
would cover no more of it than would pro-
duce an annular eclipse.”
The Count could hold out no longer. —
“ The distance of the sun from the fourpen
ny piece, when close to the eye, is about
ninety-five millions of miles, and the eclipse
is total; but, reduce the distance to ninety
live millions of miles, less half a dozen
yards, and the eclipse becomes annular so
long as you keep your eye and the two
bodies in a straight line with one another.
Now, the moon ”
“ Very true,” interrupted the lecturer,
I who could hold out no longer, “ the fur-
I ther you remove the coin from your eye,
the less of the sun will be eclipsed. You
see, now, how it is that a small body can
a large .one.”
“ Therefore ” (Mac Aliquot was not to be
beaten), “the moon, although one quarter
| the size of the sun, being also only a four
hundredth part of his distance from the
earth, naturally eclipses a large portion of
that luminary when it passes between him
and us.”
“ Bless me, here’s Reading ! ’ exclaimed
the Professor, “ and we have not appointed
our observing officers yet. As ladies,” he
continued, addressing his daughter with the
mild rudiments of a joke twinkling in his
eye, “are said to be particularly astute
wherever rings are concerned, you shall
watch the annulus. It will be perfect at
two minutes past one o’clock, when it w ill
be half a digit broad.”
“ But I don’t know what a digit is, papa,’’
murmured Bright-Eyes, looking down. —
‘ Is it the ring-finger ? ”
Everybody laughed except Mac Aliquo t;
who gravely informed us that a digit is the
tw-elfth part of the circumference of the sun
or moon. His friend the scientific stage
manager went on casting the parts :
“You, Charles,” (his eldest son) “will
fix your attention on Bailey’s beads. Bai
ley’s beads, my dear,” he looked at Stella,
but he meant the enlightenment he was
going to administer for me, “ are curious
; and unaccountable appearances that were
first accurately noted by Mr. Bailey.—
During that stage of an annular eclipse
when it is complete and the ring is about
to be put out of shape, a number of long
black parallel lines are drawn out by the
moon, as if some glutinous substance had
stuck to the edge of the sun, and was being
pulled out in strings (the light between
them giving an appearance like beads), un
til they break, and wholly disappear. —
This phenomenon has been observed during
every eclipse.”
“ Please, papa, may I let off the gun
powder?” asked Sidery the Third, flourish,
ing the burning-glass.
“Yes; but George [Sidery Secundus]
must stand by with the watch, and register
the power of the sun by noting the time
its rays, concentrated by the burning-glass,
take to explode the gunpowder.”
44 1 fear there will be no rays to catch.—
Look at those provoking clouds ! ” Miss
Sidery pointed to windward.
The astronomer surveyed first the w eath
er, then his elaborate preparations nervous
ly ; but was too hopeful to encourage a
doubt that the eclipse would be an entire
success. Before we arrived at Swindon,
ho had distributed all his offices. I was to
observe that the beasts of the field knelt
down to rest; that the birds in the air
fluttered back to their nests. 1 was to
watch the crocuses in the flower pot, that
they duly partook in the universal deeep
tion as to the time of day, and closed them
selves ; 1 was to perceive that the violets
gave out their more powerful night-scent.
These duties were imparted to me in a tone
which conveyed a threat that I should be
held responsible if Nature did not behave
precisely as philosophy had foretold. —
Charles was to hold the lighted candle be
tween the sun and his eye, to testify at how
many sun’s breadths’ distance from the
sun the flame could be seen. Mac Aliquot
undertook the Welsh Scriptures and the
Diamond Classics, to ascertain the different
degrees of darkness, by his ability to read
the three sizes of print. He was also to be
general time-keeper; to check off the punc
tuality of the eclipse in keeping the ap
pointment astronomers had made for it.
both in its first appearance, its greatest
magnitude, and its exit over the face of the
sun. The professor took to the telescope.
He was, besides, to keep everybody at his
post, and to maintain a thorough discipline
amongst his corps of observation.
Swindon—ten, fifty-five. CofTee, sand
wiches, tea, rolls, bread-and-butter, Ban
bury cakes, soda, bottled porter, pork-pies
for one hundred—-—immediately ! The
young ladies at the counters of the refresh
ment room conduct themselves with that
deliberate self-possession which is charac
teristic of great minds during emergencies.
The Sidery flask and sandwiches, however,
make us independent of them. Meanwhile
the male branches of the Sidery family have
unloaded all the apparatus upon the south
platform; and, being persons of great con
structive abilities, have fitted up an observ
atory in defiance of every railway regula
tion, and even of a train, on the eve ot run
ning away from the Eclipse to Gloucester.
They construct it of chairs purloined from
the offices, wheelbarrows, their own camp
stools, umbrellas, and other impromptu
materials. Even the telescope finds a sta
tion of its own in the same precincts.
The hundred orders for refreshment have
at length been executed, and some of the
excursionists post themselves on a rising
ground to the left; others climb the hill
into the town; but the knowing ones make
for the old church-yard. Bo many are,
however, of one way of thinking, that the
station is very soon quite occupied. Sofas
are brought out, and ladies gracefully re
cline upon them, opera-glasses in hand, pre
cisely as if they were inspecting the lumi
naries of her Majesty’s theatre.
Eleven, thirty. Clouds pass rapidly
over the sun. Some obscure him altogeth
er ; others supersede colored glasses. Mr.
Sidery looks vexed and disappointed. —
Little Sidery lets off his “ poofs !” of gun
powder; now in one minute; now in seven.
Mac Aliquot, watch in hand, looks official
and important. Miss Sidery, having as
yet nothing celestial to observe, makes de
lightful observations to me on subjects I
am better acquainted with, than the firma
ment; such as pictures, music, and light
literature. T am occasionally called to a
sense of duty by our chief, who points out
a cow in the meadow, and a particularly
spruce hovering upon and around
the wires of the telegraph. More clouds.
Eleven, thirty-five. Intense excitement.
Clouds too thin to obscure the sun. Every
bit of colored glass to every eye. Yet the
eclipse must have corne upon some of the
spectators as an unexpected accident ; for
they have brought nothing wherewith to
see the great glaring orb as in a glass, dark
ly. Whereupon railway workmen sudden
ly ascend from unexplained lower regions
with bits of smoked glass, for which, people
who have not courage to borrow of the bet
ter provided, distractedly bargain. One
slender gentleman seizes a huge danger
signal-lamp, and lifts it up before his face;
but, being no Hercules, is unable to main
tain it in that position long enough even for
a glimpse of the sun, and restores it to its
rack.
Eleven, forty. The right-hand low-er
edge of the sun begins to flatten. The
watch trembles in MacAliquot’s hand as
he exclaims “ Wonderful! ” The dark
segment increases in size. “ W hat a testi
mony is this accuracy of foretelling the ;
exact time of the eclipse, to the power of
figures ! ” The Count continues : “As w r e
have always known that eleven digits and
a half of the sun will be eclipsed at one
o’clock to-day, we also as certainly know
that on the nineteenth of August, 1887, at
three o’clock in the Afternoon, the next 1
great eclipse will occur, leaving only the'
small fraction of a digit of the sun unob 1
scured.”
After about half of the sun had been
eclipsed, came a woful disappointment—a
total eclipse by clouds. No annulus, no
flames, no Bailey’s beads; very little dark- j
ness, even at the moment (two minutes;
past one) of the greatest obscuration. —•
Bright-Eyes, in admiration of whom l had
been again lost, woke me up by observing!
very pleasantly (Miss Sidery is a distin-j
guished amateur in water colors) that the
atmosphere seemed to be tinted with aj
weak wash of Indian ink. The air was per-!
ceptibly colder, all the thermometers hav- j
ing fallen at a mean rate of three degrees.
I am bound, however, to state that the cow
in the meadow, the crocus *, tb violets,;
and the other natural objects that came un-i
der my ken, treated the eclipse with curio-!
ous unconcern—as if it were a darker cloud ■
passing over other clouds. The spruce
sparrow flew away from the wires, leisure-;
ly and playfully, over the station roof; the
country people going along the road did;
not even look up; every thing in the sur
rounding landscape conducted itself very 1
much as usual; but, a despondent astron
omer coming back from the churchyard!
under a load of unused instruments, assured j
us that he saw a flight of rooks return to
their nests; and Mr. Charles Sidery—who, j
having given up the annular eclipse in de-j
spair, bad strolled into the village—testified
to the jack daw belonging to the Odd Fel
lows’ Arms going to roost, and to a horse
having been so frightened (perhaps by the
darkness) that he threw his rider and ran
away. We ourselves witnessed an un
pleasant phenomenon. ’ A good-looking
young country squire had mistaken mid
day for dinner-time, and created great
consternation at the station by banging ev
ery body and every thing about, in a state
of postprandial excitement. He was
speedily eclipsed by the police.
The journey back to London, 1 asked my
friend The Count to describe; finding the
task impossible, for reasons which need
not be explained ; but, as his manuscript
is arranged in columns in the manner of
Bradshaw’s Guide, and consists of a record
of the times of our passing places of note :
of our arrival and depart ure at each station ;
of the number of successful puns he made,
and of the number which all the rest of us
failed in, I shall make no further mention
of it.
It is now five weeks sincethe Great Solar
Eclipse happened. I have been obserGrrg
the stars, as much as possible, ever since ;
having become Mr. Sidery’s pupil. Every
evening, dear or cloudy, 1 have spent at
his charming little villa at Dulwich. 1 find
in him a friend and a confidant. Last
night, during an occultation of Venus (she
had hastily retired to her mamma’s room
after an embarrassing interview with me),
I laid before the kind astronomer, w’hile
standing at the end of his telescope in the
garden, abatement of my private circutn
stances and prospects. Mac Aliquot has
since made his calculations, and confidently
predicts that the Annular Eclipse of my
bachelorhood will take place on an early
day in August next.
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