THE BLUE SKY 
53 
rather than illusion. What causes it I cannot 
say, but it would seem to belong to some shak- 
ing of the lower atmosphere, for I have never 
seen it from high mountains. 
The lower atmosphere is, indeed, responsible 
for most of the volatile capricious appearances 
of the sky. From mountain-tops the sky is 
not so changeable, the stars twinkle less, show- 
ing that the atmosphere is quieter, and the face 
of the blue more uniform and serene. It lies 
there calm as at creation’s dawn, lighted as was 
the old Mosaic firmament, and studded with 
the same jewel-like stars. It seems above and 
beyond all local and temporary disturbances. 
Winds mark it not, storms are far beneath it, 
heat, dust, and moisture effect it but slightly. 
It pales and lightens under the sun, deepens 
under the moon, and darkens under the stars, 
but in other respects it shifts not. An enor- 
mous sweep of violet-blue, it rests, a type and a 
symbol of unchanging serenity. 
And oh, the mighty silence of the upper sky ! 
What a contrast it is to the noisy, wind-swept 
earth and the restless ocean! Infinite realms 
of violet-blue sweeping outward and upward, 
yet from them comes only the Great Silence— 
the hush that tells of limitless space. No 
The blue 
from 
mountain- 
tops. 
The Great 
Silence. 
