The Claremore Messenger. (Claremore, Indian Terr.), Vol. 7, No. 21, Ed. 1 Friday, August 9, 1901 Page: 3 of 8
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MAT OF THE +r
r .> HEAVENS
for ^/lugust.
August being one of the months
during which we muy expect on a
lurgo scale dazzling downpours of
shooting stars, 1 think it particularly
opportune for me to devote to these
curious phenomena the first purt of
my monthly talk.
What we are accustomed to call
shooting stars are really not stars
at all, but fragments of some destroy-
ed planets within our Solar system,
abandoning their circulatory motions
around the Sun, and millions of
which are supposed to exist in all
sorts of sizes from a pebble to a mass
of many tons' weight. As their orbits
cross that of the Earth, their small
bulk renders them ultra-sensitive to
our power of attraction—that same
power to which we owe the Moon's
regular and obedient moving around
our sphere. When these fragments of
broken-up planets thus enter the
boundaries of the Earth's gravity
power, they "shoot" downward with
such rapidity as to ignite, as they fly
through our atmosphere at a rate of
not less than ]8 to 25 miles per sec-
ond, and there, these opaque, until
discovered in the analysis of water, of
snow, even in matter brought up from
the bottom of the ocean. Thus do the
heavenly bodies give us a "touching"'
token of their existence.
"Shooting StarB" begin to be visible
at about 75 miles above sea level, that
is, as soon as they reach our atmos-
phere, which is believed by the ma-
jority of expert scientists not to ex-
tend any farther around us. The
nights of August 10 and November 14,
of every year are noted for a plentiful
downpour of those aerolites. Every
33 years there is a recrudescence of
such manifestations; ever since 1902
these exceptionally fine star showers
came to time with promptitude, the
years ISfiC and 1899 being no exception.
Looking Northward.
To our Zenith, the second magni-
tude stars Restaban and Etanin of
"Draco" (the Dragon), indicate the
place occupied by the head of the
celestial monster; while to their left,
Nekkar of "Bootes" (The Herdsman)
is the largest visible star of this con-
stellation. The tail of the Dragon
stretches down, between the Great
Zenith
* 1
„ DR*(?ON
utntb
CorCaroti V LITTLE DIPPER
•' Cep'neus
Coma fee re rt ice A" IP P E
VEGAS*#**;
CASSIOPEIA A'*
s Q...fa ANDROMEDA
AURIGA*,
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PERSEUS
1
LOOKING NORTH1
then invisible fragments of stars be-
come suddenly luminous, leaving a
streak of light behind their vertigi-
nous, head-long course. On the way,
most of this matter is reduced to an
impalpable powder—partly iron and
nickel—which, under microscope ap-
pears absolutely different from any
earthly mineral combination. There
is plenty of that "celestial powder"—
Dipper and the Little Dipper,
its principal star, Thuban,
shining between Alioth of "Ursa Ma-
jor" and Kochab of "Ursa Minor.':
Along the western limit, "Cor Corali"
(The Heart of Charles) displays a
fine star that bears its name. Some-
times this constellation is called
"Canes Venatici" (The Hunting Dogs)
and then the appellation of Cor Caro-
Zernfh
•Dolphin > 0 -
* , ,
•', ,i:
•pfpw
Ar y ktm
^ Doreans
' ^ Artfwjs
'• ' '^SERPENS
, . "V ,.vir OPhtiyCHUS <fU
/ ' . LIBRA „
/.A, uariusv
' tit. £/* A^_ ^
' /CAPRICORNUS^" - --till * • Sf""'
_• u
LOOKING SOUTH
a rather bold association of words— i lis is given its main luminary of the
all over the surface of our globe; it is third magnitude. One of these two
dogs' name is Asterion, and at
the place where his collar Is supposed
to be Is found a remarkable nebula,
the center of which is surrounded with
a sort of broken ring; no telescope
has been round powerful enough to
separate the stars it Is composed of.
Underneath, close grouped, see the
stars of "Coma Berenice" (Queen Bere-
nice's Hair). Of the Zodiacal Constel-
lation "Leo" (The Lion), behold Regu-
lus (or the Heart of the Lion) a re-
markably fine, first magnitude star.
Returning to the Zenith point, we no-
tice to the East, four of the stars of
"Cygnus" (the Swan), Arided in its
solitary splendor, and in a row, four
very fine luminaries. The rest of the
long arm of the cross will be visible
in our southward aspect. You remem-
ber that it ends with Alblreo,doubtless
the finest double star of the heavens,
its larger component of a fine orange
color, the smaller one of an intense
blue.
Following downward and crosswise,
in direct line with Arided, we find Al-
deramin, Alphirk and Erral of "Ce-
pheus." Underneath, the W, clearly
formed by five stars, of "Cassiopeia"
(the Seated Lady), and, to its right
the three principal stars of "Pegasus"
(the Winged Horse), Markab, Scheat
and Algenib forming such a fine
square with Alpheratz of "Androme-
da" (the Chained Lady). Mirach and
Almach of the latter constellation
lead us to the triangle of "Perseus"
(the Champion) close to the horizon,
with Mirfak and Algol shining su-
perbly; west of them Capella (the
She-Goat), the first magnitude star
of "Auriga" (the Waggoner), and its
companion Menkalinan send us their
brilliant message.
Let us turn about now and begin
Looking Southward.
The minor stars ot' "Hercules" (the
Kneeler), are at our Zenith, its two
chief luminaries, Ras Algethi and
Korneforos lower down. Vega of
"Lyra" (the Lyre) reigns supreme in
that region of the firmament; Sheliak,
another star of the same constellation,
leads us downward to Albireo of
"Cygnus (the Swan), of which I spoke
above. Continuing alo;.g the Eastern
limit, we notice "Delphinus" (the Dol-
phin), known by its four leading stars
forming an irregular square. Under-
neath we are greatly attracted by the
dazzling light of Altair, the first
magnitude beauty of "Aquila" (the
Eagle), Alshain and Tarazed shining
on either side. .Close to the Eastern
horizon, we meet the Zodiacal Con-
stellation "Aquarius" (the Water
Bearer), its three leading stars (of the
third magnitude) in a fairly regular
triangle. Its Easternmost star, Sadal-
sund, is close to "Capricornus" (The
Sea-Goat), another Zodiacal Constella-
tion, and a curiously shaped triangle,
with Segunda Giedi and Deneb Giedi
(third magnitude) close together at
the Western angle. These almost
reach up to a third Zodiacal Constella-
tion, "Sagittarius" (the Archer), only
the upper portion of which is visible
this month. Still in line, close to the
horizon, is stretched a fourth Zodiacal
Constellation, "Scorpio" (the Scor-
pion) including the deep red first mag-
nitude star Antares (the Heart of the
Scorpion). Several stars in the tail
of Scorpio are so far south as never
to rise In our latitude.
Working our way back to our Ze-
nith. we meet the beautiful square of
"Ophiuchus" (the Serpent Bearer),
with its fine Cabalrai and Ras Al-
hague In direct line with Ras Algethi
and Korneforos of "Hercules" (the
Kneeler). "Corona Borealis" (the
Northern Crown), a necklace with
Margarita as its best jewel, leads up to
these stars of "Bootes" (the Waggon-
er), which we did not see in our
Northern inspection. Looking gradu-
ally downward, we pans "Serpens"
(the Serpent), with Unukalhul, a third
magnitude star, and reach the three
stars of "Libra" (the Balance), a Zo-
diacal Constellation. Finally "Virgo"
(the Virgin) completes the largest
number of Zodiacal Constellations
(seven) we ever saw together in ono
and the same month. The square of
Virgo shines splendidly with Spica
(the Ear of Wheat), first magnitude,
In the lead.
The Planet* Visible Thl* Month.
No chance of seeing "Mercury," too
close to the Sun. "Venus" is the
Morning Star, toward tho East.
"Mars" also Illumines the Orient be-
fore sunrise. "Jupiter" will shine In
"Scorpio" during the first half of the
night; "Saturn" will be visible—pale
but steady—In '.'Sagittarius" for two
thirds of the dark hours.
C. de SAINT-G KRM A1N.
SOTHERN'S LITTLE JOKE.
As ft VentrUoquMt He I'lays Trick on
III* Partner.
One of the peculiarities of Sothern's
elaborated jokes was the way in which
he worked up to them. He pretended
to have discovered accidentally that he
possessed the gift of the born ventrilo-
quist, and arranged an experiment on
the occasion of a supper party given in
his honor at a pleasant house in a Lou-
don suburb. There was a foolish kind
of hanger-on of Sothern's who loved
to boast of his intimacy with tlip fa-
mous comedian. He had often said, "I
wish you would let me help you in one
of your practical jokes, Mr. Sothern."
Sothern humored his desire. Every one
knows how fond the professional ven-
triloquist ie of talking up the chimney
to an imaginary man on the roof. Soth-
ern had arranged for his slavish con-
federate to mount the roof by a ladder
and play the part of the voice on the
roof, which he did to perfection, and
Sothern's success as a ventriloquist
was voted nothing short of marvelous.
Supper being over, the party adjourned
to another room, at which point Soth-
ern said "Good night" to his friend
above when it was arranged that the
seance should be concluded. Sothern,
had, however, plotted against his man,
who found, when he wished to descend,
that the ladder was gone. By hook or
by crook the deceived confederate
found his way to the chimney of the
smoking room, where the supper party
were settling down for a long evening.
Presently a voice was heard calling
down the chimney, 'Sothern! Sothern!
for heaven's sake come and help me!
I can't get down and it's raining like
mad!" Sothern was taken aback for a
moment, but only to be In ectasies the
next at the exclamations of his friends,
who considered the voice only another
example of Sothern's skill. "You said
you could do more, your voice was
tired, and here it is stronger than
ever!" Sothern, accepting the compli-
ments of his friends, managed in a
short conversation with the voice on
the roof to let his happy confederate
understand that as soon as possible he
would go out and help him down. Af-
ter a time, just when Sothern was
about to slip out and release his friend,
his host went to the chimney, and, all
the more emphasize Sothern's success,
as he thought, called out, "Are you
still there?" This was the last straw
upon the rain-drenched back of the
sufferer. "Oh, go to blazes!" came the
angry reply, and with it a piece of
mortar that rattled in the grate,
"You're a beast!"--Exchange.
Blearing tlie Crops.
A curious old custom has been re-
vived at the village of Castleacre, in
Norfolk—that of blessing the crops.
The parishioners gathered at the
church and formed in procession
headed by the vicar and choir. After
parading the village they preceeded to
visit the fields of growing corn, at one
of which a service was held, hymns
sung, and a blessing pronounced by the
vicar on the crops of the parish. The
procession then returned to the church,
singing recessional hymns by the way,
and idispcrsed after receiving benedic-
tion
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The Claremore Messenger. (Claremore, Indian Terr.), Vol. 7, No. 21, Ed. 1 Friday, August 9, 1901, newspaper, August 9, 1901; Claremore, Indian Territory. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc177857/m1/3/: accessed April 24, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.