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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. Tlie Banner and Baptist. Weekly, (fifty Nos.,) per annum, invariably in Advance. $3 00 Money due the Office, may be sent by mail a our risk—always mail it in presence of a friend (other than the P. M.,) or procure a friend to mail it foryou—never register. Contributors should write only on one side of each leaf, and number the pages, 1,2, 3, &c. Those wishing papers changed, should give the Post-Office they wish changed from, as well as the one to be changed to. Those forwarding names of subscribers or re mittances, should always write the name of Post Office, County, and State, in full. Ale letters containing remittances, or articles or the Paper, should be directed to the Banner & Baptist, Atlanta, Georgia, and not to the Edi tors by name AGENTS FOR THE BANNER. The following brethren will act as Agents for the Banner, and will receipt for money paid for the paper. Elder J. S. Murrow, Traveling Agent. “ F. M. Haygood, do “ J. H. Stockton, Thomson, Go “ Thos. Musk, Outhbert , Go. “ Robt. Cunningham, Macon, Go. “ Thos Aldridge, Millwood , Ga. “ W. W. Odom, Valdosta, Ga. “ G. F. Cooper, Americas, Ga. “ J. IT. Campbell, Griffin, Ga. “ W. J. Speairs, Peaks P. 0., Go “ John 11. Clarke, Henderson, Ga. 44 P. A. Lawson, Gaffin, Ga. “ William Lowe, McDonough , Ga. Dr. E. R. Carswell, Waynesboro 1 , Ga William Roberts, Byrumville, Ga. R. IL Jackson, Franklin, Heard Cos., Gu. J. H. B. Shackelford, Spring Place , “ Dr. John Cheney, Columbus, Go. Correspondents of the Runner. Elder N. M. Crawford, Penfield Ga. “ J. H. Campbell, State Evangelist. “ J. R. Graves, in the Army. “ G. C. Connor, Army Chaplain. “ B. E. Tharp, Perry, Ga. “ W. N. Chaudoin, Albany, Ga. “ R. J. Mays, Florida. “ A. E. Dickinson, RiGiu.mjJ, Va. “ VV. D. Mayfield. South Carolina. M. W. Philips, Edwards, Miss. * *♦• *►-—.— Now is the Time! Now is the time for the friends of THE BANNER to be up and doing. In less than a month we shall have reached the close of our third volume, and The Banner must be admitted as one of the existing facts of the times. Friends are rallying to its support, and if each will do its duty it will continue to wave in triumph, in 4 the land of the free,’ and be unfurled in 4 the homes of the brave.’ We have made arrangements to have in each number a column, or more, of origi nal and selected reading suited to the wants of our Soldiers, and those who have rela tives in the army can not confer a greater benefit upon them than to send each of them a copy of the paper. We will send the paper to soldiers at 12,50 a copy, be cause we ara particularly desirous that our brave boys should have the means of spiritual improvement in some available form. Our City Subscriber*. The term for which a good many of our city subscribers have paid is about to ex pire. And as we have labored hard to sustain the paper, we hope they will still continue to fevor us with their patronage. They can obtain their papers either through the Post-Office or by calling at our office, in the Franklin Printing House. Terms of The Banner and . Baptist— hree dollars a year, in advance.