February 1, 188".] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



89 



I, must be the passionate intensity of feeling among those 

 who live in his immediate neighbourhood 1 Contemplation 

 of the experience in store for me served only to magnify the 

 dimensions of the task which I had been detailed to per- 

 form, and were it not that '• Peanuts " came along on one of 

 his raids through the train and pushed a volume into my 

 hand, I might have been tempted to abandon the under- 

 taking. 



I was about to toss the book a.side, thinking that it was, 

 perhaps, a Life of Jesse James or a History of Anderson's 

 Raid, this class of literatore being popular throughout 

 North-west ^Missouri, and for sale on ever)- train, when my 

 eye accidentally fell upon the title — "Apparent Motions of 

 the Planets, by General James Cr;ug." I called the •' candy 

 butcher," and, s;\id I, " Is the General James Craig who has 

 written this book a resident of St. Joseph ] " 



" Yes," replied Peanuts, " Gen. Jim Craig ; don't you 

 know him ? " 



" Why, of course I know Jim Craig," said I, " but I 

 didn't know he was writing books, and least of all books of 

 this character." 



" Oh, that's where ye'r off," replied the uncultured candy 

 butcher, " they've all got it." 



"All got what?" I asked. 



" This yer astronomy craze — they're all cranky on the 

 stars." 



" You don't mean to tell me that the citizens of St. 

 Joseph are all writing books on astronomical subjects 1 " 



" "Well, prettj' much all of 'em. This is Jim Craig's third — 

 here's the other two. I sell 'em for a doUar apiece, or three 

 for two an' a half." 



He handed me the volumes. One of them was entitled 

 " The Rings of Saturn — Are They Round or Oblong ? " and 

 the other " Density of the Fixed Stars." 



" How long has this been going on ? " I asked. 



" Since Professor Proctor kem over," replied the boy. 



He then handed me a volume on " Lunar Oacultation of 

 the Skirs," by SUas Woodson, ex-governor of Missouri ; 

 another on the " Parabolic Motion of Comets," by James 

 N. Burnes, M.C. ; another on " Xebular Hypothesis," by 

 Hon. Waller Young ; another on " Meteoric Showers," by 

 John Edwards, of the Gazette ; another on the " Celestial 

 Axis," by Dr. E. A. Donelan, member of the Missouri 

 legislature, and several others on various astronomical sub- 

 jects, all written by citizens of St. Joseph. 



" Do you find a ready sale for these works t " I asked. 



" They go beautifully," said Peanuts. " The people up 

 this way don't read nothing else now. 1 can't sell no other 

 kind of books to 'em." 



" And do they pay well 1 " 



" Yes, I should say so ; There ain't much profit on 'em, 

 but we just sell stacks." 



When the train reached Plattsburg newsboys made their 

 appearance with the St. Joseph morning papera. " Here's 

 the Gazette 1 Full account of the discovery of a new 

 planet I " I bought a copy. The telegi-aphic and local 

 news was given a secondary place on the inside, but the 

 astronomical intelligence appeared under flaming headlines 

 on the first page. Such lines as " Another Triumph of 

 Science," " A St. Joseph Astronomer Discovers a Xew 

 Planet," " The Queen City of the Missouri Valley again in 

 the Lead," " StartUng Intelligence," " Rumoured Collision 

 in the High Heavens," " A Star of the Third Magnitude 

 Run Down b)' Jupiter," " August Meteors," " A Magnifi- 

 cent Spectacle Last Night," " Ten Thousand Telescopes 

 Pointed toward the Sky," " Finest Display of the Season," 

 took the place of those which usually greet the eye of the 

 reader in the daily newspaper. 



Milton Tootle, a wholesale merchant and one of the 



biggest capitalists in the North- West, boarded the train at 

 Plattsburg. I introduced myself to him, and we con- 

 vereed for a few moments upon the weather, the condition 

 of trade, politics, ifcc, but he suddenly gave me a blow 

 between the ej'es with the question : 



" Do you think that the stars which cover the universe 

 are properly distributed through space 1 " 



" I have not given the subject much thought of late," I 

 replied, for I had to say something, " but my impression is 

 that they ai-e not." 



" But why do you think they are not ] " he asked. 



This question took me by surprise. The subject was one 

 I knew absolutely nothing about, and I was unprepared to 

 discuss it. I thought I would make a break of some kind, 

 however, so I looked him steadily in the eye and answered : 



'■ Because Sir John Her.schel tells us that, from a numerical 

 estimate of the stai-s, there are more in some places than there 

 are in othei-s. Therefore I di'aw the inference that they are not 

 properly — I should, perhaps, say evenly — distributed. It 

 stands to reason that, if there are more stars on one side 

 than there ai-e on the other — there must be some difference 

 between the " 



" Yes. yes, i understand," said Mr. Tootle, rather petu- 

 lantly, I thought ; " we will say no more about it. Read 

 my book on the subject, and 3'ou will be able to talk more 

 intelligently upon simple questions of this kind." 



When the train arrived at the Union Deput, the first 

 sounds that reached my ear were, " Carriage here for the 

 Mars House," "Take the street car for the Venus Hotel," 

 ■■ Take the Ursa Major, best two-dollars a day hotel in the 

 city," " Step this way for the Mercury, right in the business 

 centre." 



" I want to go to the Pacific House," I said to a police- 

 man ; " where will I find it ? " 



•' There is no Pacific House now," he said ; " j-ou are 

 evidently in search of the Arcturus — take the 'bus." 



I took the 'bus and was soon bumping through the streets 

 of the cultured city. On the way to the hotel I observed 

 large numbers of schoolchildren, evidently going home to 

 their noontime lunch. Most of them carried ponderous 

 volumes in theii- hands, but many had their books cjirted 

 behind them in a wheelbarrow. I remarked to a fellow- 

 passenger that St. Joseph must be a great educational 

 centre. 



" The greatest on earth," said he. " During the past two 

 months it has become the Athens of America. Ever since 

 Professor Proctor married a St. Joseph girl there lias been 

 a great educational revival going on here ; but it was only 

 when he came here to live that the matter began to look 

 serious. As it is, heaven onlj- knows where it is going to 

 end," and my fellow-passenger .sighed. 



" You live here 1 " 



" Oh, yes, I live here. I left about a month ago 

 expecting that the epidemic would have exhausted itself 

 before this time, but I return only to find it raging with 

 greater virulence than ever. You see how bad it is I " 



He pointed in the direction of a saloon on the window of 

 which was the sign, " The Gemini Sample-room — sidereal 

 entrance Sundays." 



" As if that wasn't enough," he continued. " Look here ! " 



He pointed to a barber shop with the sign, " Transit 

 Tonsorial Parlours," swinging across the side walk in front. 



" Will you want aroom with a telescope in it ? " asked the 

 clerk of the Ai'cturus when I had registered my name. 



" No," I replied, " I want a i-oom with a wash-stand, a 

 pitcher of water, a bowl, and a bed in it." 



"Front," .said the clerk, whose diamond sparkled like a 

 morning star, "show this gentleman to 321, fifth constella- 

 tion. It is a good room," he continued, "convenient to the 



