ZEbe Ba^llflbt Comet's departure 49 



But did ever comet create such a diversion ! To 

 turn the minds of men from the political plea of Codlin 

 not Short were surely no easy task. Yet such a feat 

 it successfully accomplished, and who knows, had it 

 been visible later in the evening, that it would not have 

 gone far to rob protesting candidates of their nightly 

 audiences ? 



Then who can ever forget the humours of its visita- 

 tion ? There was, indeed, a delightful homeliness of 

 wit about that culinary comparison which made the 

 comet " the size of a plate." Then, who, too, but 

 relished the " yards " and " feet " in which the length 

 of the tail was expressed though in Dante's day they 

 did make the sun one foot in apparent diameter, and 

 though Marco Polo did measure the altitude of the 

 North Star and the Great Bear in fathoms. But the 

 serious attempts to prove that the comet was not 

 responsible for those very deplorable floods in Paris 

 and for the snowstorm in the north . 



Even the provision of a celestial comedy of errors 

 was not beyond the scope of this amazing object. 

 The receiver of the telephonic message which announced 

 the discovery misheard " Drake " for " great " and 

 thus originated the title of " Drake's Comet." Of 

 course, there was much wondering in the scientific 

 world as to the identity of the mysterious " Mr. 

 Drake," and as nothing more was heard from him 

 from South Africa it was concluded that he was not 

 only a marvel of mysteriousness but a monument of 

 modesty as well. 



The situation was all the more inexplicable in that 

 " Mr. Drake " was supposed to be a Johannesburger. 



When, however, it became known that the imper- 



