NRLF It f '> : ' f\: : I IftM? FROM \1 J. D. MURRAY, 1 DRUGGIST,! AND If 800K*UEK, LIBRARY j UNIVERSITY Of j CALIFORNIA SANTA CRUZ MENDOCINO, : : CAL. BEILLIANT EXAMPLES FOE AMEEICAN YOUTH. Authentic, Instructive, and Entertaining. LIVES OF 1 . MODERN AMERICAN HEROES. FOR BOYS AND YOUNG MEN. BY THE POPULAB BIOCRAPHKB REV. P. C. HEADLEY. i. THE HERO BOY. Being the Life and Deeds of Lieut-General Ulysses S, Grant, THE PATRIOT AND HERO. Tracing his career from Boyhood to Manhood, from the Schoolhouse to the Battle Field and Victory. 1 vol., 16mo, fancy cloth, 840 pages and nine Illustrations. Price, $1.50. Extract from a letter received from Gen. Grant's Fath&r. Rev. P. 0. HEADLET : DEAR SIB I have read over carefully the Hero Boy, written by yourself. It is correct and well written, with direct reference to doing justice to all parties. Yours, most truly, J. R. GRANT. Notices of the Press. Of all children's books we doubt if any class exercise so direct an influence ass the lives of eminent men ; to emulate their example is often the first ambition of the young in the career which native genius indicates. Hence, it is of no small im- portance what exemplars are put into the hands of children. One of the most at- tractive and authentic of these contemporary biographies for the young is the "Hero Boy," or the "Life of Gen. Grant," by Key. P. C. Headley. It is a hand- some duodecimo, written with spirit, well illustrated, and handsomely bound, li will prove a taking book for boys. N. Y. Ecemng Pout. This volume is the first of a series for boys, entitled "The Young Amerrcan'3 Library of Modern Heroes." It is full of entertaining incidents of Gen. Grant's early life, and contains sketches of his careef in the Mexican war, on his farci, and in the whole course of our national struggle against rebellion. The book is il- lustrated with maps and plates, and will be, according to its design, a very useful and entertaining book for boys. N, Y. Observer, " Gen. Grant is noTj the foremost figure in this war, and the whole nation is eager to know his history. The narrative of his rise from a very obscure and humbl* position to his present high command, illustrates the character of our institutions, and the certainty of the rewards assured to honest energy; and the eyes,' not only of the whole country, but of the world, are now directed toward him. The bio- graphy before us gives a brief sketch of his early life, but is much more minute in detail of military operations since the war begun. The style is animated and graphic, and is well suited to its stirring theme. N. Y. Independent. In the " Hero Boy," Mr. Headley has made his work a labor of love and honor love for the boys and honor for the man. Gathering his materials with' great care, and arranging them with the skill of a practised hand, he has really pro- duced the very best outline of the Lieutenant-General's career yet put in print; it is illustrated with maps, enriched with a glossary of military terms, and lead* off admirably as the first of a series entitled " The Young American's Library of Modern Heroes." Chicago Journal. II. THE PATRIOT BOY. BEING THB Life of Major-General 0, M, Mitchel, the Astronomer and Hero. 1 vol., 16mo, cloth, 800 pages, fully illustrated. Price, $1.50 Extract from a letter received from Gen. MitcheFs Son. WM. H. APPLETON, ESQ. : DEAR SIR I have read with great pleasure the life of my father, written by Rev. P. C. Headley, and just published by yourself. In every thing relating to the boyhood and early life of my father, the author has been most successful and correct. Very respectfully, yours, B. W. MITCHEL. Notices of the Press. General Mitchel was a remarkable man. As an astronomer, he was one of the foremost of the age ; as an orator, he had few peers ; while as a general, he proved himself possessed of the highest qualities of leadership. His nature was strong and magnetic ; there was no resisting the fascination of his presence. He was idol- ized by his troops ; and had he lived, he would doubtless have disputed the honors with the most successful of our chieftains. We are glad the life of this gifted man has been written with reference to the youth of our country. We know it will do good, and stimulate many an ardent youth to noble endeavor. The present volume should be placed in the hands of every boy in the country; for the subject of it is one that cannot be too promi- nently kept before the eye of the nascent generation. It is got up in beautiful style, and reflects credit on the publisher. Albany Evening Journal. The career of one of the noblest characters America has yet produced. * * * u The Patriot Boy ; or, the Life and Career of Major-General Ormsby M. Mitchel." It is written in the enthusiastic style of this author, who says in his preface that it is from authentic sources ; and that in no important statement can the truthful- ness of the narrative be questioned. The reader may here learn the leading inci- dents of Mitchel's romantic career. We know of none who presents a nobler ex- ample to the youth of America than the illustrious Mitchel. N. . Evening Post. We had once the pleasure of seeing the subject of this biography in his observa- tory in Cincinnati, where he most affably explained some of his methods of ex- ploring the visible heavens. He was not then a soldier, but the patriotic love of country was active within bun, ready to be called into action at hia country'* summons. He became a soldier and an eminent one and in the service he sur- rendered his life. As an astronomer, and as a general, he maintained a Christian life, and his death was a transit beyond the stars. Mr. Headley, who has succeeded *o well in other biographies, has raised a fitting monument to the great and good man, and he directs the eyes of our youth to contemplate it. -The Presbyterian. The subject is a brilliant example to American youth. We are familiar with "the career of Prof. Mitchel, and rejoice to see it graphically portrayed in this beautiful volume. We would put this book into the hands of a lad to show him what true greatness there is in a man who has knowledge, religion, and patriotism. New York Commercial. III. THE MINER BOY and his MONITOR. Being the Life of Capt, John Ericsson, the Inventor, DESIGNER OF THB FAMOUS IRON-CLAD " MONITOR," ETC. A DEEPLY INTERESTING AND INSTRUCTIVE BOOK FOR BOYS. One volume, 16mo,* fancy cloth, 800 pages, fully illustrated. Price, $1.50. Notices of the Press. In his series of beautiful and useful Juveniles, Wm. H. Appleton, 92 Grand street, lias last published "The Miner Boy and his Monitor," being the Life of John Erics- son, the inventor, by Headley, in which the story of that remarkable man is told with glowing enthusiasm, inspiring in the young reader a kindred appreciation. No recent career has been more crowded and, in one sense, oppressed with varied fortunes and extraordinary hazards and recoveries than that of Ericsson. It will amgly repay study, and at the same time add to the stock of patriotic pride in a country which can welcome and encourage all who plant their foot on its soil. The New Yorker. The lives of Gens. Grant and Mitchel by the same author, were flatteringly re- ceived by the public, not by boys alone, but of grown up people as well. The idea of placing our prominent and most deserving men in a historic light before the ac- tions which have made them illustrious are deprived of their freshness, is certainly a happy one ; and the practised pen of Mr. Headley is just the one to produce biographies worthy of the subjects sketched. There is as much romance for the general reader, old or young, in the life of John Ericsson as in that of Georga Stephenson, and we undertake to say that the author has in the present instance been as faithful to the ingenious Swede as to the talented biographer of the great railway man was to him. The text of this pretty volume is liberally illustrated, which never fails to heighten the interest of reading boys. Troy Daily Whig. We have no hesitation in saying that this is the most interesting and romantic of all the recent "boy books." It treats of a personage whose name is far more familiar to our people than his history of a man who belongs to that class of great mechanics who are equally important and useful in war or in peace. Of course, it will be said that the life of Ericsson is an example to boys, and it ia, as far as industry, honesty, and energy go ; but it is of special interest to boys who have a genius for mechanics, and, in any event, is most entertaining and instructive reading. N. Y. Evening Post. A fascinating history of a man of remarkable inventive genius to whom the nation is under immeasurable obligation. None can tell what course the war :imght have taken, or what result might have been reached, had not the monster Menimac been checked by the Monitor, and her early success turned into defeat in the ever-memorable battle at Hampton Roads. The great influence of Erics- son's genius in manifold inventions is also shown, and many interesting things are iold concerning Sweden, his native land Congregationaltet. IV. LIFE AND CAREER OF MAJOR-GENERAL W. T. SHERMAN, "THE GREATEST OF LIVING CAPTAINS." Being an Authentic History of Ms Early Life and Remarkable Career. 1 vol., 16mo, fancy cloth, 368 pages, fully illustrated. Price, $1.60. Notices of the Press. WILLIAM H. APPLKTON, 92 and 94 Grand street, publishes as another in his well- planned series of " Biographies of Modern Heroes, for Young Americans," the- Life and Military Career of Major-General William Tecumseh Sherman, by Rev. P. C. Headley. These biographies are not hasty compilations from the daily papers, but veritable histories, derived from direct and authentic sources, and, where necessary, from the immediate families and personal friends of the subjects. This Life of General Sherman is amongst the most interesting in the series, full of life, incident, bustle, and movement. One of the greatest Commanders in History is shown as he is, and we are now more than ever astonished at the extent and variety of his achievements, when they are.thus brought into the compact shape of a single volume. The book is not less attractive by its mechanical appearance,, with its clear text, portrait, sketches, map, &c. New Yorker. The facts here, from the early life of Sherman, are obtained from the most au- thentic sources. It is full of the incidents of his younger days, illustrating his life and character. His career is one of the noblest in military annals. It is well to have such books, that fall into the hands of the young, written by men of excel- lent taste and judgment. Mr. Headley has done justice to his subject. Boston Post. In press, to be published October 1st, uniform with above : HEADLEY'S LIFE OF VICE-ADMIRAL FARRAGTJT. HEADLEY'S LIFE OF GEN. P. H. SHERIDAN. The above Biographies were written expressly for Boys and Young Men. They are not mere compilations from Newspapers, etc., but authentic histories, Mr. Headley having been furnished by the heroes in question, their relatives and friends, all the material and facts necessary to make them complete and reliable, in- structive and entertaining. NEW EDITIONS OF HEADLETS of JEmpress Josephine, ^fary Queen of Scots f Life o/ JZmperor Napoleon, General Lafayette, Women of t?ie Bible. Frice, ^l.^S each. WML H. APPLETON, Publisher, 92 and 94 Grand Street, N. T, THE PATRIOT BOY; OR, THE LIFE AND CAREER OF MAJOR-GENERAL ORMSBY M, MITCHEL, - Bl KEY. P. C. HEADLEY, ATTTHOE OF "NAPOLEON," "EMPRESS JOSEPHINE," "HEEO EOT," EWX NEW YORK : WILLIAM H. APPLETON, 92 GRAND STREET. 1866. ENTERED, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1864, by WM. H. APPLETON, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. E Mto H3> TO J. B. S.* THE WIDOWS ONLY AND DUTIFUL SON, AND ALL OTHER YOUNG AMERICANS, WHO EMULATE THE EXAMPLE OP THOSE NOBLE MEN WHO FOUNDED, PERPETUATED, AND HAVE DEFENDED THE REPUBLIC, THIS BRIEF RECORD OF A TRUE HERO IS DEDICATED, WITH A WARM INTEREST IN THEIR WELL-BEING, BY THE AUTHOR. See note on page 301. PEEFACE. THE " Young American's Library " would indeed oe wanting in one of the most instructive and en- couraging examples of the highest success in the' midst of disheartening trials, of a resolute will and hopeful spirit, without the life of General Mitchel. This volume is from authentic sources ; and it is believed that in no important statement will the truthfulness of the narrative be questioned. Still the portraiture drawn must fall below the splendid original. For, while the records of his life are not full as we could wish, and as the " great departed " intended they should be for the sake of his family, it is no idle task to present, with fidelity, a life and character in successful activity and moral excellence so far above that of the majority of distinguished men. Some latitude has been taken in the introduction of incidents and explanations, which, if not directly connected with General Mitchel's career, shed light upon the strong points in his nature, and on the conflict in which he sacrificed his noble life. 6 PEEFACE. The author is indebted to Abbott's "History of the Rebellion," Pittinger's " Daring and Suffering," and to those who knew and loved General Mitchel, for many important facts. Brief extracts illustrative of his brilliant oratory, and remarkable power to make astronomical science simple and attractive to the common mind, are taken from his " Sidereal and Planetary Worlds," " Popu- lar Astronomy," and the " Bible and Astronomy," the only published works of the lamented author. The most difficult part of the delightful task of writing the biography has been to give interest, and adapt to the juvenile mind, that portion of it which relates to his scientific career, without resorting to imaginary facts or conversations. It is devoutly hoped that the narrative may stimulate to manly effort, and Christian fidelity, many youthful hearts in our land of "fiery trials," and of a glorious future. NOTE. The next volume in the " Young American's Library of Modern Heroes " will be the "Miner Boy and his Monitor,'' or the extraordinary life and achievements of Captain John Ericsson, the American-Swede, by the same author. CONTENTS. CHAPTEE L The Hero before the War His Birthplace An Orphan The Family re- move to Ohio The Life-struggle "begins Clerk and Errand Boy- Leaves his Employer He wouldn't be called a Liar Drives Team A Noble Spirit, .... ....... 18 CHAPTEE II. Spare Moments Improved Ormsby goes to West Point Foot travel over the Country His career resembles that of General Grant His Stu- dent-life "Writes Home Graduates with honor Wants to go to France and fight Joins the Army in Florida Eesigns Is Married Domestic Enjoyments, 25 CHAPTEE III. Anecdote of our Hero Is Elected Professor in Cincinnati College His Enthusiasm in Astronomy Is a Captain He wants an Observatory What is that? . 84 CHAPTEE IV. The New World waked up to the Importance of Watch-towers for the Stars A Wonderful Sight Observatories Built-Professor Mitchel's great Enterprise The First LectureOnward .... 48 8 CONTENTS. CHAPTEE V. PAGB An Eclipse Who first solved the awful Mystery ? What are Comets ? Danger of burning the Earth Other Wonders The Dream, . . 64 CHAPTEE VI. The Astronomer a Business Man His Noble Energy Two Eules of his Life Starts for Europe Voyage The Stranger in England In Paris Munich The Treasure The Professor in Greenwich A Curious old Town Its Lions, 62 CHAPTEE VII. Professor Mitchel leaves England Eeaches Cincinnati Disappointment Not Discouraged He Toils on Mr. Longworth's Gift The Corner Stone of the Observatory is Laid Interesting Ceremonies The As- tronomer at work with the Mechanics The Watch-tower Finished. . 72 CHAPTEE VIII. The beautiful Monument of Faith and Work A new Trial The Confla- gration Turns Lecturer The first Effort Lectures in New Tork The influence of his splendid Oratory, 81 CHAPTEE IX. He becomes Eailroad Engineer A new course of Lectures Examples of his Oratory He is appointed Adjutant-General of the State of Ohio . Various Honors Inventions, 96 CHAPTEE X. Professor Mitchel called to Albany Makes a War Speech Thrilling Anec- dote related by him Intense Enthusiasm His influence at Albany What is the use of Observatories ? The largest Telescope A Poet's Hymn, 104 CONTENTS. CHAPTEE XL PAGE The Preparations for Conflict The attempt to Assassinate the President- electThe Secret History of the Inauguration The Commencement of Hostilities, 119 CHAPTEE XII. Mitchel enters the Field Goes to Cincinnati Takes Care of the City Eaises Volunteers Visited by the Secretary of War Noble Words The Sad Failure General Mitchel's sources of Power over Men "Old Stars 1 ' His pure Ambition, 127 CHAPTEE XIII. General Mitchel as a Disciplinarian His Division unrivalled in Drill- Proud of their Chieftain Eeady for Active Service General Mitchel desires to lead them to the Field Brave and Patriotic Language National Victories General Mitchel breaks up Camp Fine Spectacle Splendid Marching, . * - 186 CHAPTEE XIV. Bowling Green Forced Marches The first Gun Crossing the Eiver Consternation and flight of the Eebels Scenes in the City De- spatches Visit from General Buell Nashville Occupied Scenes there General Mitchel calls on Mrs. James K. Polk, . . . .148 CHAPTEE XV. General Mitchell plan of Campaign Its Sublime Daring Moves to Mur- freesboro' Scenes near Corinth Rebel Contempt of the Flag of Truce Eebel Woman's Letter General Mitchel's Justice and Humanity Guerrillas Buffering Union Men A Fight The value of Seconds, . 158 CHAPTEE XVI. A daring Adventure under General Mitchel The leader of the band de- 10 CONTENTS. PAGB tailed to conduct it Perilous Travelling Partial Success The Flight for LifeArrest of the "Engine Thieves," 1T3 CHAPTEE XVII. A brave Boy The Dungeon Iron Cages The escape and arrest of An- drewsThe Death-warrant Deep Experiences General Mitchel blameless in the whole affair, 186 CHAPTEE XVIII. The advance of the Third Division to Fayetteville The Old Planter The Slaves The Grand March Scenes by the Way In the Eiver The mysterious Night March The Prize Secured, . . . .195 CHAPTEE XIX. General Mitchel enters Huntsville The Union Flag and the Loyal Judge The Scenes in the Town Bridges Burned Bridgeport Decatur Tuscumbia Congratulations A brilliant attack on the enemy at Bridgeport Advancing in the cheerful morning air, .... 203 CHAPTEE XX. Practical Questions The Enemy must pay the Army Expenses The Trials of Loyalty General Mitchel believed in crushing the Eebellion The Cotton Bridge Slavery Negroes reliable Anecdote, . . 218 CHAPTEE XXI. General Mitchells views of Slavery The abuse of its power An Illus- tration General Mitchel deals promptly but justly with the citizens of revolted States A "Genteel "War "General Mitchel's plans and policy He is ordered to Washington, 224 CHAPTEE XXII. General Mitchel at Washington The Secretary of War and the President are his friends The Secret Expedition The Patient Inactivity The CONTENTS. 11 PAGE Order to Port Koyal The History of his new Department The Naval Attack Scenes which followed, 234 CHAPTER XXIII. The impression made by the Major-General in his Southern Department Expeditions Daring Adventures The progress of the Contrabands- Anecdotes The Mortal Sickness, 240 CHAPTEE XXIV. The Scenes of the Sick-Koom The kind and Christian words spoken The Victorious Death The Burial The testimony of noble Friends- Elegy, 265 CHAPTER I. The Hero before the War His Birthplace An Orphan The Family remove t Ohio The Life-struggle begins Clerk and Errand Boy Leaves his Em- ployerHe wouldn't be called a Liar Drives Team A Noble Spirit. \Y young readers who are very far in their " teens/' heard of Professor Mitchel before the civil war made him a general. Nearly all of our officers were men but little known previous to the rebellion. Professor Mitchel, the as- tronomer and lecturer, was widely popular in the time of peace. He was justly admired for genius, and a char- acter as bright, pure, and uniform, as the globes of light whose marches and motions he enthusiastically watched, " When marshalled on the nightly plain, The glittering host bestud the sky." This fact will lend a charm to the record of his career, so worthy of your imitation. The Mitchel family were originally Virginians. The father of our hero was an unassuming, intelligent, and 14: LIFE OF GENEBAL MITCHEL. enterprising man, of no ordinary mind. With a fine mathematical genius, he had a decided taste for astronom- ical studies ; and, like many other youths who have not enjoyed the means of education, he might have gained a high position in the walks of science had he received the indispensable culture perhaps have rivalled his honored son in splendid attainments. His wife was a remarkable woman. Over natural powers of a high order, and an attractive person, was shed the lustre and loveliness of unaffected piety. Mr. Mitchel was at one time in pos- session of a handsome property ; but, besides raising a large family, by unavoidable reverses, he saw it pass hope- lessly from his hands. Discouraged, and having sons who had never known the pressure of poverty, and were therefore unfitted to assist him in his efforts to retrieve his fortunes, he decided to leave Virginia, and go to the far West, to' begin life anew. He disposed of his effects, and travelled slowly and wearily through what is now West Virginia, until he struck the Ohio River. The country was unsettled and wild. There were no rail- roads, and the only means of transportation was upon the flatboats of the Ohio. Upon one of these the family embarked, and went on their way to Kentucky. In this State Mr. Mitchel resolved to find a home. He bought land near Morganfield, Union County, erected a tem- porary house, and fairly commenced pioneer life. In the nw Kentucky dwelling, which the strangers LIFE OF GENERAL MITCHEL. 15 from the " Old Dominion" called their own, in the year 1809, was born Ormsby McKnight Mitchel. The father was a planter, and, consequently, had slaves to work the land ; but often expressed his hatred to the system of labor that made it apparently necessary to own the negroes, and at his death gave them their freedom. This noble act, in advance of the public feeling even at the North, contributed largely to the embarrassment in business, which, with sickness attending a change of climate, had much to do with the life-struggles of the infant boy, all unconscious of the changes about him. There was nothing in Orinsby's experience different from that of other children until three years of age, excepting a premature interest, perhaps, in the moon and stars, call- ing forth exclamations of singular beauty. Then Mr. Mitchel was taken sick. The boy still played, unheed- ing the suffering and peril of the father. Day after day disease did its work. Ormsby knew there was something strange and new in the dwelling. Mother's sad face, the physician's frequent calls, cast a shadow even upon the spirit of the child. And when he was told that father was dead, and touched the cold face, and then saw the coffin borne away, the boy wept with a grief which was caught from the faces about him a pass- ing shower of tears, succeeded by sunny smiles and laugh- ter. It was years after, that he learned what he had lost the meaning of the word orphan. 16 LIFE OF GENERAL MITCHEL. It is a sad thing, and a great misfoistune in a human view, to be left early an orphan. But God often over- rules it for the highest benefit of the bereaved. This was evidently true in Ormsby's experience. Having no nurse to aid the burdened mother, the youngest boy was taken care of much of the time by an older brother, who ever after cherished a strong affec- tion for the object of his peculiar interest. Adversity had marked this household for peculiar trial. The chosen spot for a habitation proved to be sickly, and nothing of an earthly kind seemed to prosper. Mrs. Mitchel and her family lived in Kentucky when it was a vast hunting ground. Some of the brothers be- came familiar with the romantic adventures of those early years. They often threaded the wilderness with the rifle. One of them served in the war of 1812 with the " Hunters of Kentucky." The family, afflicted, and the means of support by the Providential discipline greatly reduced, broke up the sadly interesting associations in the Kentucky home, and started for that garden State of settlers from the East and South, Ohio. Leaving on horseback, they travelled through the wilds of Kentucky to the banks of the Ohio. Little Ormsby rode in front of his eldest brother. At night they not un- frequently stopped in the forests where the Indian prowled a v ound, fearing they should be murdered before morning. LIFE OF GENEEAL MITCHEL. IT They finally found themselves on the banks of the Ohio, and on the spot where Covington now stands, opposite Cincinnati, then only a few houses along the river side. Under the very shadow of the hill upon which the Mitchel Observatory stands, the family attempted to cross in row boats. A fearful thunder storm burst upon them, and they all came near being lost. The first boat, contain- ing the older brother, had gained the landing ; and he, the head of the family in fact, stood upon the bank watching the imperilled little bark. It finally reached the shore in the face of the tempest, wind, and current. After some hesitation, they concluded not to stop at Cincinnati, but pushed forward to Miami, a pleasant little town in Cler- mont County, in which, at Point Pleasant, you recollect, Lieutenant-General Grant was born. Not long after, another move took the widow and her children to Lebanon, a thriving village in Turtle Creek township, and the capital of Warren County. It. is be- tween thirty and forty miles northwest of Miami. The country around Lebanon, which now contains three thou- sand inhabitants, is very beautiful and fertile. A few miles east of the village, on the Miami Kiver, is a great curiosity, which Ormsby often saw with won- der. It is an ancient fortification, nearly a mile in length, enclosed by a wall of earth. This enclosure is in some places ten feet high. It has more than fifty gates, or openings. By whom, when, or for what purpose the sin- 18 LIFE OF GENERAL MITCHEL. gular defences were built, is unknown. You know that all over the great western valley are scattered these relics of the past. Men of genius and culture have studied them, and volumes have been printed containing their speculations. Still we are in the dark. God limits our curiosity and knowledge on every hand. Wherever we turn, in our explorations, a voice comes at length to our inward ear, " Thus far and no farther." Ormsby climbed over these memorials of past ages, as wise as the philosopher, in regard to their history, beyond plausible theories. Still his holidays were few, for he had neither time nor money to spend. He had all the while a treasure more precious than a fortune ; a gifted, devout, and loving mother. She threw over him an influence which was the true source of his success and greatness in after life. This he delighted to acknowledge through his whole history. Though left alone with her cherished offspring, and struggling to feed and clothe them, the heavenly atmosphere of her faith and love surrounded him continually. We shall not know on earth the debt of gratitude which the Church and State owe such mothers quietly, and caring not for human applause, doing their mighty work then retiring into obscurity while their sons as- cend to high positions. Ormsby passed most of the years of early boyhood in Lebanon. Soon as the boy could earn money, he was LIFE OF GENEKAL MITCHEL. 19 ready to embrace every opportunity of adding a penny to the common treasury. Here his early school-days were passed. But the schools there were then poor. Ormsby r however, progressed rapidly. When eight years of age he was reading Virgil, and soon surpassed his country teachers. He often would say with regard to one of them, that after translating the most difficult passages he- would ask him to read them ; and upon his failure to do- it, rendered them himself. At the age of twelve he en- tered a store as a clerk. We come now to the most important crisis in his ex- perience the fountain of his highest eloquence the seal of his true greatness and eternal destiny. He took his position in the world as a Christian. Thus early did he connect his studies, his ambition, his life, his everlasting state, with the cause of the Redeemer of mankind ; and borrowed from Him strength " to will and to do." His entire history from childhood till fourteen, is one of noble self-denying effort to lay a good foundation for success in life. His ambitious, aspiring heart, struggling with poverty, felt it no disgrace to stoop to what many would think a menial service. At one time you might have seen him running to the chamber or cellar of the store to get a broom, or gallon of molasses, for a cus- tomer. Then again you would have found him in his employer's house, doing the "chores" in and around it. The Kentucky orphan was the general waiter of the Ohio 20 LIFE OF GENERAL MTTCHEL country merchant. A humble beginning for an astron* omer and a major-general. But in this country, where we have no inherited nobility, our noblemen come oftener from the humblest and obscurest homes, than the mansions X)f the rich. I will let our hero tell his own story of this rough experience : " I was working for twenty-five cents a week, with my hands full, but did my work faithfully. I used to cut wood, fetch water, make fires, scrub and scour in the morning for the old lady before the real work of the day was commenced. My clothes were bad, and I had no .means of buying shoes, so was often barefooted. " One morning I got through my work early, and the old lady, who thought I had not done it, or was especially ill-humored then, was displeased. " She scolded me, and said : ' You are an idle boy. You haven't done the work/ " I replied : 4 1 have done what I was told to do.' " ' You are a liar/ was her angry reply. " I felt my spirit rise indignantly against the charge ; and, standing erect, I answered : ' You will never have the chance of applying that word to me again.' " I then walked out of the house to reenter it no more. I had not a cent in my pocket when I stepped into the world. " What do you think I did then, boys? " I met a countryman with a team. I boldly and LIFE OF GENERAL MITCHEL. 21 earnestly addressed him, saying : ' I will drive the leader if you will only take me on.' " He looked at me in surprise, but in a moment said, * I don't think you'll be of any use to me.' " ' O yes I will/ I replied ; ' I can rub down and watch your horses, and do many things for you, if you will only let me try.' " l Well, well, my lad, get on the horse/ " And so I climbed upon the leader's back, and com- menced my teamster-life. The roads were deep mud, and the travelling very hard, and consequently slow. We got along at the rate- of twelve miles per day. It was dull and tiresome you will, believe ; but it was my starting' point. I hacj >begun to push my way in the world, and went ahead after this. An independent spirit, and steady, honest conduct, with what capacity God has given me as he has given you, boys have carried me successfully through the world." And now hear and always remember what he says to boys who have like himself, in early life, no friends to help with money, and must enter the busy world penni- * less. They are noble, inspiring words, spoken to a large assembly of lads in one of our cities : " Don't be down-hearted at being poor, or having no friends. Try, and try again. You can cut your way through, if you live, so please God. I know it's a hard time for some of you. You are often hungry and wet LIFE OF GENERAL MITCHEL. the rain or snow, and it seems dreary to have no one in the city to care for you. But trust in Christ, and He will be your friend. Keep up good heart, and be determined to make your own way honestly and truly through the world. As I said, I feel for you, because I have gone through it all : I know what it is. God bless you." The fatherless boy had thus far been in a school of sad trial, yet blest with the kindly influences of home. In one view, he had no childhood ; but took his place very early among men, to battle with poverty and pay his way. The indignant and unceremonious desertion of his em- ployer, you will notice, was not a rebellion against even tyrannical authority, nor a petulant refusal to do a servant's work in the honest endeavor to secure the needed compensation. It was the charge of falsehood, of unreliable character, which made him a homeless orphan. He felt even then that he could not, and would not, brook the insult to his sense of justice and his conscious integrity of purpose. The association with a nature so narrow and harsh was beyond endurance, and ho went forth the penniless possessor of a fortune ; he had the wealth of a fine mind, lofty principle, and tireless energy of character. Brave young spirit ! God will bless always such a venture upon His providence. And no part of Ormsby's life has a more important, LIFE OF GENERAL MITCHEL. 23 useful lesson for you, my young reader, than this very experience. It laid the foundation, so far as native char- acter is concerned, of all his greatness, Those habits of patient industry, self-denial of present, transient pleas- ures, and a regard to the endless future which distin- guished him, and gave him the noblest success, were formed in his boyhood. It reminds me of a youth in Yale College many years since, of similar spirit, who blacked the boots of the richer students to aid in the pay- ment of his current expenses. One day they were around him at his work, talking over their future plans, when one of them said : " Well, K , what are you going to be?" K brushed away, and quietly replied, " Gov- ernor of the State of New York." A laugh went round the little circle at his expense. The merry young men went forth from the college halls to be either a burden to society or comparatively unknown. The boy who was not ashamed to black boots to pay his debts, was heard in Congress, and was elected Lieutenant-Go vernor of the Empire State. I must give you one more true and encouraging story. Thirty years ago, in the small academy at B , was a boy faithfully devoted to the culture of his mind. But he was poor. Opening the drawer to his table you would have wondered and smiled, to see a lowl of molasses well sprinkled with crumbs. This was the student's whole pro- 24: LIFE OF GENERAL MTTCHEL. vision for board. A loaf of bread, and the bowl with ita contents, was the simple living. Now that lad is a pop- ular author, whose beautiful cottage stands on the green banks of the glorious Hudson. CHAPTER H. Spare Moments Improved Ormsby goes to "West Point Foot travel over the Country His career resembles that of General Grant His Student-life "Writes Home Graduates with honor "Wants to go to France and fight Joins the Army in Florida Eesigns Is Married Domestic Enjoyments. \OUNG- Mitchel had improved his leisure mo- ments. He early learned the value of these golden sands of time. Were you ever in the United States Mint? If so, you noticed a per- forated floor, where the work in gold is done. Under this wooden net-work is the polished stone which catches the small particles. The woodwork can be re- moved, and the gold dust swept up and saved. The guide will tell you that nearly forty thousand dollars are thus saved every year in these sweepings. Young Mitchel "caught the little fragments of time, and used them well. When thirteen years old, Ormsby had acquired a con- siderable knowledge of Greek and Latin, in addition to English branches, including mathematics. He panted 2 26 LIFE OF GENERAL MTTCHEL. for opportunities to cultivate his mind in the halls of a college. A penniless lad, what could he do ? Unlike the youthful and equally aspiring Grant, he had no father to help him seek a place for this discipline of his powers. Still he had a will to do, and had also friends, who became interested in him. The Military Academy at West Point offered the twofold attraction of the highest intellectual training, and an allowance by Government to pay all the expenses of the rare advan- tages. He resolved to go there. His gifted mother was a relative of the most excellent and distinguished Judge McLean, then a prominent citi- zen of the rapidly-growing State of Ohio. Through his influence he received the appointment. Not long after- wards he was at the house of one who had been most prominent in procuring his appointment, when that gen- tleman thus addressed him : " "We have had many of our boys go to West Point, but few of them get through." Ormsby drew himself up, looked him in the eye, and merely said : " I shall go through, sir !" Such was the favor he won, that not only did he obtain the appoint- ment, but, as a special indulgence, was admitted when only fourteen a year before the time fixed by the rules of the institution. The way was opened to get into the Academy, but he had no money to go to it. This did not discourage him. Putting into a knapsack his small outfit, he started for the distant goal of his aspirations. LITE OF GENEKAL MITCHEt. 27 The distance to be travelled over from Ohio to West Point, at that early period, was like a pilgrimage to a foreign land ; the wilderness covered the largest part of the intervening States. Sometimes Ormsby travelled on foot, sometimes on horseback, with Indian guides, and then again on canal boats. The latter part of the journey was upon one of these safe but slow navigators. Friend- less and alone, he had no one to sympathize with him. The captain of the boat noticing this, took a fancy to him, and in every way within his power cheered him on his way. But who the lad was, and where he was going, no- body knew, for he told no one his secret. Upon leaving the boat, however, he took from his pocket his cadet's warrant and showed it to the captain. This stated that the little stranger was a member of one of the first insti- tutions in the country, and at once gave him great im- portance in the captain's view. Ormsby arrived at Albany on Saturday night, and there remained over the Sabbath with relatives. On Monday morning he went aboard a boat, and landed in the evening at West Point, unwavering in his purpose, and cheerful with hope, his knapsack on his back, and twenty-five cents in his pocket. His first thought was, how he should pass the examination. This troubled him, for he had not prepared especially for it. He was leaning out of his window the next day, thinking how he should get through, what he should do in case he could not pass 28 LIFE OF GENERAL MITCHEL. far from home, without money and without friends, which way he should turn if he were rejected. While he was looking' thoughtfully from his window, watching a sentinel pacing up and down, that stranger spoke kindly to him, asking him " if he was prepared for examination/' and offering him all the assistance in his power. " Tell me what books I am to be examined in," said Ormsby, " and I will take care of the rest." "Soon he was posted by his friend in regard to the text-books used in the severe trial before him. In a few days he had passed the ordeal with flying colors. Being very young when he entered the Academy, his greatest ambition was to make each recitation as nearly perfect as possible. He had not been accustomed to the routine of study, like many of his classmates, who had reached even manhood. But his progress was steady and rapid. In his class was Robert E. Lee. Jefferson Davis was in the Academy at this time ; and being some- what older than Mitchel, used to take him with him in his walks amid the magnificent scenery on every hand.* From the cadet's barracks, where the young men had their rooms, he went to recitation, military drill, and mess hall or boarding-house, with promptness and regularity. His perfectly correct and abstemious habits kept him from the finely-constructed and managed hospital belong- ing to the Academy. He was no stranger in the engi- neering and model rooms, which contain the costly and * See note on last page. LIFE OF GENERAL MITCHEL. 29 beautiful apparatus, and miniature forts, &c., for instruc- tion in all kinds of civil and military engineering. In the riding hall, for exercises in horsemanship, he ac- quired equestrian gracefulness seldom excelled in the Academy. Nor did he neglect the elegant gallery of art, in which the marble and canvas seemed to breathe and speak. It was especially favorable to study at West Point when our cadet was there. The visitors were com- paratively few. Railroad cars and steamboats did not then whistle at depot and wharf every hour. TKe tide of travel had not begun to flow toward that romantic spot ; nor* was it really thought of as a watering-place for the summer. Every object, from the grand old mountains to Kos- ciusko's garden of beauty, interested him. He often sat near the iron enclosure of relics, itself the most suggestive of all a part of the great chain which was drawn across the Hudson during the Revolutionary War. It was com- menced January 20th, 1778, and finished April llth of the same year. This gigantic chain weighed one hundred and eighty-six tons. The heaviest link weighed a hundred and thirty pounds. Benedict Arnold, who commanded the position, had a link removed, pretending it was for repairing, to carry out his traitorous plan of giving, through Andre, the British possession of the stronghold the key to the mag- nificent river. 30 LIFE OF GENERAL MITCHEL. Nothing will more forcibly show the depth of treason which gave birth to the great Rebellion, than the oath taken by every cadet upon entering the Military Academy at West Point. It is a well-known fact that nearly all the leaders in the revolt were graduates of this institution. Jefferson Davis, as already stated in the biography, was a classmate of General Mitchel. The cadets have been largely from the South. The result was, when the officers of the army and navy re- signed their positions to join the ranks of treason, they furnished a larger number of commanders educated for the service at the expense of the United States, than were left to defend the Republic. The following is the oath deliberately broken, and its national character denied and scorned by Davis, Beaure- gard, Lee, and other master spirits in the unexampled rebellion against constitutional law and order : " I do solemnly swear that I will support the Con- stitution of the United States, and bear true allegiance to the national Government ; that I will maintain and de- fend the sovereignty of the United States paramount to any and all allegiance, sovereignty, or fealty I may owe to any State or Country whatsoever ; and that I will at all times obey the legal orders of my superior officers, and the rules and articles governing the armies of the United States." Young Mitchel wrote letters glowing with his ear- LIFE OF GENEBAL HITCHEL. 31 nest, affectionate nature, to his mother and brothers. Those to his mother revealed the characteristic tender- ness and reverence to which allusion has been made. His large sympathies remind us of a great living divine, also widely known as a lecturer, who, when he was asked for the name of his gifted and devout mother, no longer among the living, wrote it in the following form : " Elizabeth W H , a name never spoken or written, without devout thanksgiving to God our Saviour, for her wonderful purity, piety, and charity ; that she was and is my mother." How beautiful is such filial love ! The hue of a river's tide is often visible far out into the bay which receives it ; so in the manhood of these lofty minds clearly flows from the fountain at the cradle, the stream of affection for her who watched the dreamer there, and onward till the world was his sphere of action and influ- ence her gift to its struggling millions. Cadet Mitchel graduated with honor. The highest mark of confidence in his attainments and character was, his appointment as assistant professor of mathematics in the Academy. This chair he filled for two years. The next year after his graduation there was a revo- lutionary movement in France. Napoleon, you recollect, died on the rocky island of St. Helena in 1821. Charles X. succeeded him to the throne. He became unpopular on account of tyrannical measures, and the restless peo- 32 LIFE OF GENERAL MITCHEL. pie, always changeful and unreliable, resolved to get rid of him. "When the outbreak of feeling came, and there was some prospect of a struggle for freedom, cadet Mitchel caught the fever of adventure. He wanted to have a hand in the strife. Day after day he thought of the arena of martial glory, and his dreams were haunted by its far- off enchantment. He wrote home, expressing his enthu- siasm and his increasing desire to repair to France. But the volatile Frenchmen soon dispelled his visions of valor and honor on their soil, so often red with the blood of revolution. In a few months Louis Philippe was seated on the throne of the empire, and the people were ready to shout, " Long live the King ! " Leaving West Point, Mitchel joined the army in Flor- ida, and was stationed at St. Augustine. His life became monotonous. The active mind of the youthful soldier could not endure the confinement, with no prospect of a larger field for the use of his culture, and the attainment of the reward of an honorable ambition to " make his mark in the world." The occasional expedition the many hours of idle- ness the separation from social and religious scenes all made him weary of a position which seemed to be of little worth to the country or to himself. He won a single victory which shed over his whole life a sacred halo of light. Miss Louisa Clark, of Cornwall, in which "West LIFE OF GENEKAL MITCHEL. 33 Point lies, had married Lieutenant Trask, who died. Her father was Judge Clark, at one time a member of the Legislature, and a gentleman of wide and deserved influence. Mrs. Trask was a lady of fine intellect, rare culture, and of beautiful Christian character. This interesting young widow attracted the interest of the professor. His enthu- siasm and noble character successfully won her -hand, and they were married. The tenderly confiding nature of Mitchel found a congenial one in Mrs. Trask. Life from that hour became to hirn^ who had the rough experience of orphanage, a new and blessed existence. Resigning his place in the United States army, he went to the growing and charming city of Cincinnati, Ohio. The soldier became an honest attorney. For two years, old tomes and new, of legal lore, clients and courts, with the endearments and delights of home, which no one knew better how to value and enjoy than he, filled up the time. Like poor Payne, who wrote the world-wide song, * " Home, sweet home," but was a wanderer all his days, Mitchel had a contrast to what he now enjoyed, to make that melody the very music of his soul. Wife, children, friends, around his table or hearthstone, were next to heaven in his affections. This suggests the crowning excellence of his charac- 2* LIFE OF GENEBAL MITCHEL. ter ; his consistent, unsullied Christian life. It brought no blush to his cheek, in any place or at any time, to " stand up for Jesus ; " everywhere giving the whole weight of his influence to the cause of true religion and human well-being. Soon after he had taken up his residence in Cincinnati, he connected himself with the church of Dr. Lynian Beecher, and became a useful young layman under the eloquent teachings and practical activity of that distin- guished divine. Here, also, ten years before he began his career as an astronomical lecturer ; he made his first effort on the platform in the " Old College Building." The Rev. Thomas Brainerd, D.D., then pastor and editor there, relates, that his paper with others contained a notice that this stranger, a graduate of West Point, would lec- ture on astronomy. At the hour appointed the hall, lighted with candles by the friends of the speaker, contained an audience of sixteen persons. Though succeeding efforts were crowned with better success, he left the platform for the forum altogether, little dreaming of the splendid future before him as the orator of the stars. CHAPTER III. Anecdote of our Hero Is Elected Professor in Cincinnati College His Enthu- siasm in Astronomy Is a Captain He wants an Observatory What is that? k ROFESSOR C , who knew him weU, related to me an anecdote illustrating Mr. Mitchel's enlightened views, and readiness to meet any objection to truth and duty. He was warmly interested in conference meetings, where the humblest voice could be heard in exhortation and prayer. The professor objected to them, because those would speak and pray who were either unsound in doctrine or otherwise unfit to lead a congregation. With the quick- ness of thought, and wonderful beauty of expression and manner peculiar to him, he answered his friend by nar- rating two incidents. One of them was to show the perversion of the freedom of such meetings, and the other, the vast amount of good which flows from them. Mr. Mitchel said : "A certain minister rose in a noon-day meeting, and with apparent sincerity told this story of his 36 LIFE OF GENEEAL MITCHEL. experience. Returning from a foreign coast, he prayed in faith that the Lord would give him ten souls the first meeting he should attend. He went to a religious meet- ing and made some remarks. The result was, ten per- sons became Christians. The man then snapping his finger, added, ' I might just as well have asked for a hun- dred'" In contrast with such occasionally erratic and unhappy moments, Mr. Mitchel went on to say : " There was in the West a gentleman to whom another in a distant town was deeply indebted. This creditor wrote to a law- yer there, to collect the money due him. x The attorney wrote back, that the young man who owed him was unable to pay, but struggling hard to get the means. The impatient creditor soon sent another demand for the collection of the debt. Again the considerate, compas- .sionate counsellor at law, urged forbearance with the em- barrassed, honest young pioneer. The indignant claimant replied, that the money was his rightful due, and he must have it. Time passed, and the debt was not paid. So off the angry creditor started for the lawyer's town and office. Entering the latter, he addressed his attorney excitedly, wishing to know why he had not collected the money. The kind appeal was once more urged ; the exercise of mercy pressed upon the client. c Right is right ; ' was the unyielding response. i I believe in justice, and all I ask is to have it done in this case. And now, I want to know whether you will get the money? ' LIFE OF GENEEAL MITCHEL. 37 " ' I must if you insist it is my business ;' the law- yer answered, ' and I will attend to it at once/ " The gentleman left the office and strolled into the busy streets. Almost unconsciously he followed people going to the place of prayer. Soon after he was seated, a plain man arose, and repeated the passage, ' And what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with thy God?' The speaker dwelt upon the grace of mercy, which was so often over- looked in the stern demands of justice. He impressively showed the deep meaning of the words of Christ, ' Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy.' The stranger was smitten with a sense of cruel injustice. The conviction of guilt became too strong for endurance. Rising, he astonished persons around him by his almost wild excitement. Pushing aside those in his way, he said, ' Here let me come out of my way, I must go ! ' Hasten- ing to the attorney's office, he inquired with anxious earnestness, ' Have you collected the debt?' " ' No,' was the answer ; ' but I was just going to see what could be done, and issue the warrant if necessary.' " ' Don't you do it don't you do it ! I have just found out that I haven't had the first idea of justice, or mercy either. I don't want the money, give it to the young man, for I'll have no more to do with it forever.' Thus the debtor returned to his home a better citizen, if not a Christian." 38 LIFE OF GENERAL MITCHEL. The lay-preaching had beeii the appeal more power ful to the creditor than all the eloquence of the pulpit, though indispensable in its high position. In 1834, Mr. Mitchel was elected Professor of Math- ematics, Philosophy, and Astronomy, in Cincinnati Col lege, then just established. From this time dates the beginning of his career as an Astronomer. For ten years he filled with great honor the chair which was the very one most congenial to his taste. The students admired and loved him. His enthu- siasm in the study of the starry heavens rose with the growing familiarity of his mind with their glories. He loved, upon a clear evening, to gather his class about him, and with the poor helps they had only inferior instruments to direct their attention to the wonders of the firmament. With glowing words he would speak of the " shepherdess of night, and her starry flock." He felt, and tried to impress upon youthful minds, the language of the still and radiant dome above their heads, sung by another : " Though voice nor sound inform the ear, Well known the language of their song, When, one by one, the stars appear, Led by the silent moon along, Till round the earth from all the sky, THY beauty beams on every eye." Not only in the college and the church was he active, but interested in all the sources of public improvement. LIFE OF GENERAL MITCHEL. 39 He was captain of a volunteer company ten years, drilling the men with the devotion to military order and discipline, of a colonel preparing his troops for the field of battle. It proved a valuable drill to him, keeping fresh and available his education at West Point. In other ways Providence was fitting him for his future and splen- did, though brief military career. In 1836 he filled the office of Chief Engineer of the Little Miami Railroad. Think of the Professor look- ing after the engines, tracks, and all the machinery for running the cars ; learning lessons to be worth more than he dreams possible, nearly thirty years later on rebel soil, in his ever-active and valuable life. The Professor's department of instruction of the col- lege, and want of the helps needed, turned his attention to the possibility of having an observatory. " And what is an observatory? " asks a young reader. A general definition is, "a place appropriated for making observations upon natural objects." In astrono- my, it is a building designed for making celestial observa- tions. It has a dome for the optical instruments, which usually revolves ; or a room in the upper story, with a movable roof, which can be removed when the heavens are viewed. The dome has openings with shutters. Its revolutions will sweep the horizon ; and a single person can turn them just as he would the turret of a monitor. The first thing essential is, to have the structure free 4:0 LIFE OF GENERAL MTTCHEL. from tremors, or any motion. To secure this, there are piers of solid masonry, built upon rock, or deeply imbed- ded, separated from every other part of the edifice, and rising high as the place for the instruments. This, you will see, gives an immovable support for the heavy and nice telescopic apparatus. The second consideration is, to avoid the effect of changes in the air. So, places are selected secluded from the dust of travel and from fogs. A third important consideration in putting up an observatory is, to have a free view of the horizon a clear sweep of the circular base of the blue dome. I hear another questioner inquire, "What is the * furniture of such a house ? " An equatorial, or telescope, with which any part of the heavens may be seen by adjusting it, is the leading article in the costly furnishing. There are two great classes, called reflecting and re- fracting telescopes. In the former, the rays of light from a star, or any other object, pass down the large tube of the instrument, and fall on a metallic mirror, whose polished surface reflects them to a point called the focus ; and there, forms a very luminous image of the object. You then examine the image with a magnifying glass. Of course, the greater the power of the lens, the larger will the object appear. The refracting telescope has no mirror. Instead of LIFE OF GENEKAL MTTCHEL. 4:1 this, the rays of light fall upon an object-glass , or power- ful lens, which brings them to a focus, and then you use the eye-glasses as in the other telescope. Hear what he who has 'gazed many nights, while you were asleep, through the telescope, says about it : " I will not here undertake to explain how it is that the telescope enables the eye to penetrate space. That this power belongs to this magic instrument, no one can doubt who- has ever seen a small, feeble star, converted by optical power into a magnificent orb, forty times more ex tensive than the moon's surface, as viewed by unaided vision. " Who could have divined the nature of the revelations which would be made by an instrument giving to the eye a depth of penetration a thousandfold greater than it pos- sessed by nature ? " If indeed the Creator is infinite, if His august pres- ence filleth immensity, then we had a right to anticipate that, no matter how deep the eye of man might pierce the domain of space, a point never could be reached wherein the evidences of God's presence would not appear. " Such has been the result of the application of the tele- scope to sounding the mighty depths of the universe. Every augmentation of power has served to reveal new wondors ; every increased depth to which the eye has penetrated, has evoked from the viewless depths of space, millions on millions of shining orbs, until the imagination 42 LIFE OF GENERAL MITCHEL. is overwhelmed by the teeming numbers as by the mighty distances to which these island universes are removed. " Conceive, if it be possible, of an object so remote that its light, flashing with a speed which no mind can com- prehend, should still occupy a million of years in passing the mighty interval by which it is removed ! and yet there is evidence that we now behold with the most pow- erful tubes, objects even ten, twenty, or thirty times more remote. "We yield the point, and, in humble adoration, repeat the language of the sacred book, ' He inhabiteth eternity, His presence filleth immensity, and of His king- dom there is no end ! ' " Such, indeed, is the effect produced by the telescopic explorations of the universe, that man has ceased to doubt the infinitude of God's empire, and now limits his ambition to a deeper penetration into its grandeur, without ever indulging the thought that he shall by any power pierce beyond its mighty limits. Lo ! these are parts of His ways, but the thunder of His power who can understand ?" Besides this instrument, the next to it are the transit and clock for observing and keeping correct time, and the mural circle, which is used in measuring the distance of stars from the zenith, or point overhead the central spot in the blue arch. There are also barometers, thermome- ters, &c. * And would you like to know when the first palace for a star-gazer was built ? LIFE OF GENEEAL MITCHEL. 43 It was commenced in 1667, and finished in 1671, at Paris, France, by Louis XIV. It was here that Picard, the superintendent, made calculations which furnished the great Newton with very valuable help in demonstrating the sublime law of gravitation, suggested by the falling apple. Leverrier is at the head of it now. But where would you guess is the largest observatory ? Do you recollect who began the Crimean war, in which three empires were engaged? Yes, the Emperor Nicholas. In 1839, he had erected at Pultowa, ten miles from , St. Petersburg, an Imperial Observatory. It cost half a million of dollars, and fifty thousand more are annually appropriated for its management. More than a hundred families are connected with its operations, and it is the best furnished and endowed in all Europe. The cele- brated M. Struve superintends it. His name, as you will learn hereafter, is forever associated with that of the lamented Mitchel. CHAPTER IV. The New World waked up to the Importance of Watch-towers for the Stars- A Wonderful Sight Observatories Built -Professor Mitchell great Enter- prise The First Lecture Onward. FEW years since, we were entirely dependent on the Old World, especially upon England, for the discoveries in astronomy. The people of in- telligence even, did not care for any thing so far above the business of a newly-settled hemisphere. About the first thing that waked up scientific men in this country, was the transit of Venus, June 3d, 1769. " What is that f " you inquire. The word transit, you know, means a passing, as of goods over the country, from one point to another. When applied to Venus, the beautiful morning and evening star by turns, it indicates a wonderful event. It has happened but three times, it is believed, since the creation of the world. The path of the planet is across the sun's face ;*that LIFE OF GENEEAL MITCHEL. . 45 Is, it passes between us and the luminary of day, and looks like a little blot on its surface. This phenomenon requires such a position of the earth and Venus in regard to the sun, that it can rarely occur. The first time it was seen was in 1639, when a single s person beheld the beautiful sight. Young Horrocks, liv- ing near Liverpool, England, suspected the thing would occur, and watched the result of his calculations. How intensely he waited for the grand spectacle ; because never seen before, and attended with fresh light upon the science of astronomy. He could scarcely eat or sleep for days. But near the time for the expected wonder, the hour of divine worship arrived. Few, indeed, would have risked the loss by going to the House of God. Horrocks we nt bowed to the "King of kings," and returning, looked through the tube of his instrument, and lo ! the speck was in the " sun's eye ! " In 1761, the swift revolutions of the heavenly bodies brought again the transit. Astronomers from England, France, and Russia, were scattered round the globe, from Siberia to the South Sea, to be sure of clear, accurate, and varied observations. Eight years later, the spectacle, it was predicted, would recur. In January, 1769, our scientific men began to get ready for the anticipated sight. They selected dif- erent points for watching the little black ball floating on the sea of fire. Temporary watch-towers were soon after 46 LIFE OF GENERAL MITCHEL. erected, and aid to build better and permanent ones, was solicited from State Governments in vain. Money and politics, not stars, occupied the thoughts of legislators. In 1825, John Quincy Adams, President of the United States, recommended in eloquent language, and urged with strong arguments, the appropriation of money by Congress, to build a national university and observatory. And what did the people say ? They treated the pplendid project as the Romish priesthood did Galileo, because he said the earth turned on its axis, excepting the imprisonment of its advocates. They ridiculed the idle fancy the proposed waste of Government funds. The years vanished ; for the world rolled on, and the sun and the stars swept along their high pathways. Meanwhile Yale College, in 1830, placed a fine tele- scope in the steeple of a college building, which was al- most a prison for it. "Williams' College, Western Reserve, and other insti- tutions, followed in the erection of observatories, and put- ting in them good, but not the most powerful instruments. The Military Academy at West Point, ten years after Cadet Mitchel left its walls, built a noble edifice for the library, having three towers for the use of optical in- struments. In 1842, Professor Mitchel determined to devote himself to the erection of an observatory that would compare with those in Europe at least be entitled to the name. Congress, about the same time, began to LIFE OF GENERAL MTTCHEL. act with reference to a national edifice for naval and astronomical purposes. He was alone in his enter- prise. And now we come to a new exhibition of the energy and hopeful perseverance of the untiring MitcheL You have another illustration of the great lesson of his useful life ; the resolute will, seizing every opportunity for success in the noblest attainments, made sacred and sublime by his faith in God. No timid, vacillating, or selfish man would have conceived the enterprise of build- ing an observatory which should have no superior in the country for years to come, and furnishing it with the best instruments the world could produce. But how shall the professor, without fortune, begin the undertaking? The business communities care but little about the stars ; the glitter of coin, or schemes that will make it, move the busy throng crowding the market- place and thoroughfares of commercial activity. The genius that knows no failure in a worthy cause, and had never repeated for himself the word " can't," thinks and dreams over the grand idea. He knows that it will seem to many like the extravagant scheme of an en- thusiast. But he remembers that Columbus was regarded as a lunatic while he mused and wept over his mental discovery of a hemisphere, which none were ready to help him make a splendid reality. Kings and queens smiled at his harmless fancies, while he heard with his inward ear the shining surf breaking upon the shores of unknown 48 LIFE OF GENERAL MITCHEL. lands, and saw the treasures of half the world lying at his feet. The navigator succeeded, because he thought not of final defeat. Professor Mitchel saw, in his imagination, the massive structure on some green summit, and himself behind the tube, whose glasses revealed resplendent and hitherto unseen wonders in the star-sown fields of ether* The edifice must be^ reared to science, the country, and God. He could devise no plan to get the ear and awaken the interest of the people, unless he could excite enthu- siasm through the high themes which filled and delighted his soul. One day it was announced by a " poster," in the hall of Cincinnati College, and a notice in the daily papers of the city, that Professor Mitchel would commence a series of lectures in the audience room of that institution. The astronomer finds it necessary to use his tact in this bait for the public. For however excellent the imme- diate instruction, his object is to catch his hearers in the golden meshes of his yet imaginary observatory, And just as you, young reader, have gone by yourself, tools in hand, to work out some ideal model of miniature mechan- ism, the professor goes to his study, to invent and con- struct a machine for exhibiting in brilliant light, and greatly magnified, the beautiful and wonderful telescopic views, on paper, taken in the silence of the night, when those whom they were to delight were asleep. The evening for the first lecture came. Such had LIFE OF GENERAL MITCHEL. 49 been the efforts of friends of the man and the cause, that before the hour had struck for the experiment, that had disturbed the very repose of the lecturer, through the open doors of the College Hall a large procession of intel- ligent citizens poured into the finely-illuminated room. The extempore Stereopticon was a success, and is ready for the exhibition. Manly, yet modest, is the bearing of the " star-gazer" as he takes his position, surrounded by members of the faculty and anxious friends anxious, not in regard to the quality of the lecture, but the effect of the occasion on the scheme which suggested it. And I am sure my intelligent reader will love to fol- low the astronomer through a few passages of this opening and most eloquent lecture, and others which succeeded it. How sublimely he walks among the ages past, and through the starry depths ! " The starry heavens do not display their glittering constellations in the glare of day, while the rush and tur- moil of business incapacitate man for the enjoyment of their solemn grandeur. It is in the stillness of the mid- night hour, when all nature is hushed in repose, when the hum of the world's ongoing is no longer heard, that the planets roll and shine, and the bright stars, trooping through the deep heavens, speak to the willing spirit that would learn their mysterious being. " Often have I swept backward in imagination six thousand years, and stood beside our Great Ancestor, as 50 LIFE OF GENERAL MITCHEL. he gazed for the first time upon the going down of the sun. What strange sensations must have swept through his bewildered mind, as he watched the last departing ray of the sinking orb, unconscious whether he should even behold its return ! Wrapt in a maze of thought, strange and startling, his eye long lingers about the point at which the sun had slowly faded from his" view. A mys- terious darkness, hitherto unexperienced, creeps over the face of nature. The beautiful scenes of earth, which through the swift hours of the first wonderful day of his existence, had so charmed his senses, are slowly fading one by one from his dimmed vision. A gloom deeper than that which covers earth, steals across the mind of earth's solitary inhabitant. He raises his inquiring gaze toward heaven, and lo ! a silver crescent of light, clear and beautiful, hanging in the Western sky, meets his as- tonished eye. The young moon charms his untutored vision, and leads him upward to her bright attendants, which are now stealing, one by one, from out the deep blue sky. The solitary gazer bows, and wonders, and adores. The hours glide by the silver moon is gone the stars are rising, slowly ascending the heights of heaven and solemnly sweeping downward in the still- ness of the night. The first grand revolution to mortal vision is nearly completed. A faint streak of rosy light is seen in the East it brightens the stars fade the planets are extinguished the eye is fixed in mute aston- LIFE OF GENERAL MITCHEL. 51 ishment on the growing splendor, till the first rajs of the returning sun dart their radiance on the young earth and its solitary inhabitant. To him t the evening and the morning were the first day/ " The curiosity excited on this first solemn night the consciousness that in the heavens God had declared his glorythe eager desire to comprehend the mysteries that dwell in these bright orbs, have clung to the descendants of him who first watched and wondered, through the long lapse of six thousand years. In this boundless field of investigation, human genius has won its most signal vic- tories. Music is here but it is the deep and solemn harmony of the spheres. Poetry is here but it must be read in the characters of light, written on the sable gar- ments of night. Architecture is here but it is the colos- sal structure of sun and system, of cluster and universe. Eloquence is here but ' there is neither speech nor lan- guage. Its voice is not heard/ yet its resistless sweep comes over us in the mighty periods of revolving worlds. " Shall we not listen to this music, because it is deep and solemn ? Shall we not read this poetry, because its letters are the stars of heaven ? Shall we refuse to con- template this architecture, because ' its architecture, its archways, seem ghostly from infinitude ' ? Shall we turn away from this surging eloquence, because its utterance is made through sweeping worlds ? No ; the mind is ever inquisitive, ever ready to attempt to scale the most 52 LIFE OF GENEBAL MTTCHEL. rugged steps. Wake up its enthusiasm fling the light of hope in its pathway, and no matter how rough, and steep, and rocky it may prove, onward! is the word which charms its willing powers." How beautifully does the life of the orator illustrate these last words ! He had been charmed to duty, and cheered in the trial of courage from his earliest boyhood, by the music of that single lesson of the stars, onward I And the wonderful orations, we may call them, which week after week fell from his lips, carried the delighted hearer* " onward " over the whole field of time. Like a daz- zling comet, he went among the mighty systems of worlds, and led the mind along the track of discovery to the mag- nificent telescopic revelations of the present. With the first " star-gazers " he seemed to stand and watch the great over-arching sky, and decipher the fact that there was real and apparent motion there ; that is, there were objects moving, and others which only seemed to be so, like the trees when the cars alone change their place : then he studied with them in the dim light of early ages, the revolutions of that nearest planet the moon, the grand march of the constellations, the flight of the terror-inspiring comets, and appearance of the dreaded eclipses, while the rays of seience brightened along the track of discovery ; till he looked among the glories which stream upon the vision of the latest " sentinels on the watch towers " of the starry heavens. LIFE OF GENEKAL MTTCHEL. 53 His strong and fiery imagination swept from the "hill-tops of Eden" to the heights of America, from which the inquiring eye has been lifted to the sky. How strange it is that we do not know, and shall never know on earth, when and where, and by whom the first intelli- gent observation of the heavens was made ! Hear the sublime language of the professor : " I would fain stand at the very source of discovery, and commence with that unknown godlike mind which first conceived the grand thought that even these mys- terious stars might be read, and that the bright page which was nightly unfolded to the vision of man needed no interpreter of its solemn beauties but human genius. On some lofty peak he stood, in the stillness of the mid- night hour, with the listening stars as witnesses of his vows, and there conscious of his high destiny, and that of his race, resolves to commence the work of ages. ' Here,' he exclaims, ' is my watch tower, and yonder bright orbs are henceforth my solitary companions. Night after night, year after year, will I watch and wait, ponder and reflect, until some ray shall pierce the deep gloom which now wraps the world.' " Thus resolved the unknown founder of the science of the stars. His name and country are lost forev*.. What matters this since his works, his discoveries, have endured for thousands of years, and will endure as long 5tt LIFE OF GENERAL MITCHEL. as the moon shall continue to fill her silver horn, and the planets to roll and shine." Here you have also a fine glimpse of our hero's char- acter. Not anxious about the world's changing mood, his great concern was to do his work well, and leave to God and posterity his fame. Of the moon and the polar star, he adds : " Go with me, then, in imagination, and let us stand beside this primitive observer, at the close of his career of nearly a thousand years (for we must pass beyond the epoch of the deluge, and seek our first discoveries among those sages whom, for their virtues, God permitted to count their age, not by years, but by centuries) , and here we shall learn the order in which the secrets of the starry world slowly yielded themselves to long and persevering scrutiny. And now let me unfold, in plain and simple language, the train of thought, of reasoning, and research, which marked this primitive era of astronomical science. It is true that history yields no light, and tradition even fails ; but such is the beautiful order in the golden chain of discovery, that the bright links which are known, re- veal with certainty those which are buried in the voiceless past. If, then, it were possible to read the records of the founder of astronomy, graven on some column of granite dug from the earth, whither it had been borne by the fury of the deluge, we know now what its hieroglyphics would reveal, with a certainty scarceiy less than that which LIFE OF GENERAL MITCHEL. 55 would be given by an actual discovery, such as we have imagined. We are certain that the first discovery ever recorded, as the result of human observation, was on the moon. "The sun, the moon, the stars, had long continued to rise and climb the heavens, and slowly sink beneath the western horizon. The spectacle of day and night was then, as now, familiar to every eye ; but in gazing there was no observation, and in mute wonder there was no science. When the solitary observer took his post, it was to watch the moon. Her extraordinary phases had long fixed his attention. Whence came these changes? The sun was ever round and brilliant the stars shone with undimmed splendor while the moon was ever wax- ing and waning, sometimes a silver crescent hanging in the western sky, or full-orbed, walking in majesty among the stars, and eclipsing their radiance, with her over- whelming splendor. Scarcely had the second obser- vation been made upon the moon, when the observer was struck with the wonderful fact, that she had left her place among the fixed stars, which, on the preceding night, he had accurately marked. Astonished, he again fixes her place by certain bright stars close to her posi- tion, and waits the coming of the following night. His suspicions are confirmed the moon is moving ; and what to him is far more wonderful, her motion is precisely con- trary to the general revolution of the heavens, from east 56 LIFE OF GENEKAL MITCHEL. to west. With a curiosity deeply aroused, he watches from night to night to learn whether she will return upon her track ; but she marches steadily onward among the stars, until she sweeps the entire circuit of -the heavens, and returns to the point first occupied, to re- commence her ceaseless cycles. " The long and accurate vigils of the moon, and the necessity of recognizing her place, by the clusters or groups of stars among which she was nightly found, had already familiarized the eye with those along her track, and even thus early the heavens began to be divided into constellations. The eye was not long in detecting the singular fact, that this stream of constellations, lying along the moon's path, was constantly flowing to the west, and one group after another apparently dropping into the sun, or at least becoming invisible, in conse- quence of their proximity to this brilliant orb. A closer examination revealed the fact, that the aspect of the whole heavens was changing from month to month. Constellations which had been conspicuous in the west, and whose brighter stars were the first to appear as the twilight faded, were found to sink lower and lower toward the horizon, till they were no longer seen ; while new groups were constantly appearing in the east. u These wonderful changes, so strange and inex- plicable, must have long perplexed the early student of the heavens. Hitherto the stars, along the moon's route, LIFE OF GENERAL MITCHEL. 57 had engaged special attention ; but at length certain; bright and conspicuous constellations, toward the north, arrested the eye : and these were watched tq, see whether they would disappear. Some were found to dip below the western horizon, soon to reappear in the east ; while others, revolving with the general heavens, rose high above the horizon, swept steadily round, sunk far down, but never disappeared from the sight. This remarkable discovery soon led to another equally important. In watching the stars in the north through an entire night,, they all seemed to describe circles; having a common centre, these circles grew smaller and smaller as the stars approached nearer to the centre of revolution, until finally one bright star was found, whose position was ever fixed alone unchanged while all else was slowly moving. The discovery of this remarkable star must have been hailed with uncommon delight by the primitive observer cf the heavens. If his deep devotion to the study of the skies had created surprise among his rude countrymen, when he came to point them to this never-changing light hung up in the heavens, and explained its uses in guiding their wanderings on the earth, their surprise must have given place to admiration. Here was the first valuable gift of primitive astronomical science to man. " But to the astronomer this discovery opened up a new field of investigation, and light began to dawn on some of the most mysterious questions which had long 3* 58 LIFE OF GENEEAL MTTCHEL. perplexed him. He had watched the constellations near the moon's track slowly disappear in the effulgence of the sun ; and when they were next seen, it was in the east, in the early dawn, apparently emerging from the solai beams, having actually passed by the sun. Watching and reflecting, steadily pursuing the march of the north- ern constellations, which never entirely disappeared, and noting the relative positions of these, and those falling into the sun, it was at last discovered that the entire starry heavens was slowly moving forward to meet and pass by the sun, or else the sun itself was actually mo vino backward among the stars. This apparent motion had already been detected in the moon, and now came the re- ward of long and diligent perseverance. The grand dis- covery was made, that both the sun and moon were moving among the fixed stars, not apparently, but abso- lutely. The previously received explanation of the moon's motion could no longer be sustained ; for the starry heav- ens could not at the same time so move as to pass by th( moon in one month, and to pass by the sun in a perioc twelve times as great. A train of the most importanl conclusions flowed at once from this great discovery The starry heavens passed beneath and around the earth the sun and moon were wandering in the same direction, but with different velocities, among the stars the constellations actually filled the 'entire heavens abov* the earth and beneath the earth the stars were invisible LIFE OF GENERAL MITCHEL. 59 in the day time, not because they did not exist, but be- cause their feeble light was lost in the superior brilliancy of the sun. The heavens were spherical, and encom- passed like a shell the entire earth, and hence it was con- ceived that the earth itself was also a globe, occupying the centre of the starry sphere. " It is irnposible for us, familiar as we are at this day with these important truths, to appreciate the rare merit of him who by the power of his genius first rose to their knowledge, and revealed them to an astonished world. We delight to honor the names of Kepler, of Galileo, of Newton ; but here are discoveries so far back in the dim past, that all trace of their origin is lost, which vie in in- terest and importance with the proudest achievements of any age. " With a knowledge of the sphericity of the heavens, the revolution of the sun and moon, the constellations of the celestial sphere, the axis of its diurnal revolution, as- tronomy began to be a science, and its future progress was destined to be rapid and brilliant. A line drawn from the earth's centre to the north star formed the axis of the heavens, and day and night around this axis all the celestial host were noiselessly pursuing their never ending journies. Thus far, the only moving bodies known were the sun and moon. These large and brilliant bodies, by their magnitude and splendor, stood out conspicuously from among the multitude of stars, leaving these minute 60 LIFE OF GENERAL MITCHEL. but beautiful points of light, in one great class, unchange able among themselves, fixed in their groupings and cor figurations, furnishing admirable points of reference, i watching and tracing out the wanderings of the sun an moon. " To follow the moon as she pursued her journe among the stars was not difficult ; but to trace the sun i his slower and more majestic motion, and to mark acci rately his track, from star to star, as he heaved upwar to meet the coming constellations, was not so readily a< complished. Night after night, as he sunk below tb horizon, the attentive watcher marked the bright stai near the point of setting which first appeared in the evei ing twilight. These gradually sunk toward the sun o successive nights, and thus was he traced from conste lation to constellation, until the entire circuit of tli heavens was performed, and he was once more attende by the same bright stars, that had watched long befor< his sinking in the west. Here was revealed the measui of the Year. The earth had been verdant with the beai ties of spring glowing with the maturity of summer- rich in the fruits of autumn and locked in the icy chair of winter, while the sun had circled round the heaveni His entrance into certain constellations marked the con ing seasons, and man was beginning to couple his cycl of pursuits on earth with the revolutions of the celestii orbs. LIFE OF GENERAL MITCHEL. 61 " While intently engaged in watching the sun as it 'jowly heaved up to meet the constellations, some ardent evotee to this infant science at length marked in the irly twilight a certain brilliant star closely attendant pon the sun. The relative position of these two objects r as noted, for a few consecutive nights, when, with a de- ree of astonishment of which we can form no concep- on, he discovered that this brilliant star was rapidly pproaching the sun, and actually changing its place mong the neighboring stars : night after night he gazes a this unprecedented phenomenon, a moving star ! and Q each successive night he finds the wanderer coming earer and nearer to the sun. At last it disappears from ight, plunged in the beams of the upheaving sun. What ad become of this strange wanderer ? was it lost forever ? r ere questions which were easier asked than answered. ut patient watching had revealed the fact, that when a roup of stars, absorbed into the sun's rays, disappeared i the west, they were next seen in the eastern sky, slowly merging from his morning beams. Might it not be pos- ible that this wandering star would pass by the sun and sappear in the east? With how much anxiety must lis primitive discoverer have watched in the morning (vilight? Day after day he sought his solitary post, nd marked the rising stars, slowly lifting themselves bove the eastern horizon. The gray dawn came, and tie sun shot forth a flood of light, the stars faded and 62 LIFE OF GENEBAL MITCHEL. disappeared, and the watcher gives over till the coining morning. But his hopes are crowned at last. Just before the sun breaks above the horizon, in the rosy east, refulgent with the coming day, he descries the pure white silver ray of his long lost wanderer. It has passed the sun it rises in the east the first planet is dis- covered ! "With how much anxiety and interest did the delighted discoverer trace the movements of his wander- ing star. " Whatever light may be shed upon antiquity by de- ciphering the hieroglyphic memorials of the past, there is no hope of ever going far enough back, to reach even the nation to which we are indebted for the first rudiments of the science of the stars. " Thus far in the prosecution of the study of the heavens, the eye and the intellect had accomplished the entire work. Rapidly as we have sketched the progress of early discovery, and short as may have been the period in which it was accomplished, no one can fail to perceive how vast is the difference between the light that thus early broke in upon the mind, heralding the coming of a brighter day, and the deep and universal darkness which had covered the world before the dawn of science. En- couraged by the success which had thus far rewarded patient toil, the mind of man pushes on its Investigations deeper and deeper into the doiflain of the mysterious and unknown. LIFE OF GENERAL MTTCHEL. 63 " In these primitive ages the heavenly bodies were egarded with feelings little less than the reverence we tow bestow on the Supreme Creator. The sun, espe- ially, as the Lord of life and light, was regarded with eelings nearly approaching to adoration, even by the as- ronomers themselves. The idea early became fixed, that he chief of the celestial bodies must move with a uniform r elocity in a circular orbit, never increasing or decreasing. Change being inconsistent with the supreme and dignified tation which was assigned to him what, then, must have >een the astonishment of the primitive astronomers, who n counting the days from the summer to the winter sol- tice, and from the winter round to the summer solstice, hese intervals were found to be unequal ? " CHAPTER V. An Eclipse "Who first solved the awful Mystery ? What are Comets ? Danger of burning the Earth Other Wonders The Dream. reader, have you seen an eclipse of the sun or moon? You know what it is? When the luminary of day is veiled, the moon has come between us and it, just where the tracks cross ; that is, at the point in their orbits which brings them in a line with the earth. Of course we cannot see through the moon, and so the sun is obscured. When the moon is eclipsed, the earth gets in a similar way between the sun and moon, and the light is cut off from the satellite of our world. You will be interested in the orator's description of the discovery of this simple fact that robbed the eclipse of the horrors which had terri- fied the people. A watcher of the heavenly bodies had become convinced that the dreaded darkness was caused by a natural law of revolution, and made calculations ac- cordingly. Up to this time nobody knew or could guess LIFE OF GENEEAL MITCHEL. 65 what blackened the face of the sun and moon. It is not strange that the night coming at morning or midday, should alarm the inhabitants wherever it was seen. I think we should be just as much alarmed were it not for the labors of that man ages since, and his successors in astronomical studies. Let us go back over long cen- turies. The prophet of such an event, explaining the dark marvel of the past since creation's dawn, has arisen. Every thing is ready for predicting the sun's hiding behind the moon. Says the eloquent Mitchel : " He announces to the startled inhabitants of the world that the sun shall expire in dark eclipse. Bold predic- tion ! mysterious prophet ! with what scorn must the un- thinking world have received this solemn declaration. How slowly do the moons roll away, and with what in- tense anxiety does the stern philosopher await the coming of that day which should crown him with victory, or dash him to the ground in ruin and disgrace ! Time to him moves on leaden wings ; day after day, and at last hour after hour, roll heavily away. The last night is gone the moon has disappeared from his eagle gaze in her ap- proach to the sun, and the dawn of the eventful day breaks in beauty on a slumbering world. " This daring man, stern in his faith, climbs alone to his rocky home, and greets the sun as he rises and mounts the heavens, scattering brightness- and glory in his path. Beneath him is spread out the populous city, already 66 LIFE OF GENERAL MITCHEL. teeming with life and activity. The busy morning hum rises on the still air and reaches the watching place of the solitary astronomer. The thousands below him, uncon- scious of his intense anxiety, buoyant with life, joyously pursue their rounds of business and of amusement. The sun slowly climbs the heavens, round, and bright, and full-orbed. The lone tenant of the mountain-top almost begins to waver in his faith, as the morning hours roll away. But the time of his triumph, long delayed, at length begins to dawn ; a pale and sickly hue creeps over the face of nature. The sun has reached his highest point, but his splendor is dimmed, his light is feeble. At last it comes ! Blackness is eating away his round disc ; onward, with slow but steady pace, the dark veil moves, blacker than a thousand nights the gloom deepens the ghastly hue of death covers the universe the last ray is gone, and horror reigns. A wail of terror fills the murky air ; the clangor of brazen trumpets resounds ; an agony of despair dashes the stricken millions to the ground, while that lone man, erect on his rocky summit, with arms outstretched to heaven, pours forth the grateful gushings of his heart to God, who had crowned his efforts with triumphant victory. It is to me the proudest vic- tory that genius ever won. It was the conquering of nature, of ignorance, of superstition, of terror, all at a single blow, and that, blow struck by a single arm." " Who," you ask, " was this wonderful man, whom LIFE OF GENERAL MITCHEL. 67 4 his fellows must have regarded as little less than a. god?" His fame is "inscribed on the very heavens," but lost on earth. No one can tell his name or nation. Such is human glory ! But great and good deeds never die. "A thousand years roll by; " and in ancient and splendid Babylon the record of an eclipse is made, "which is safely wafted down the stream of time." A thousand years more have swept by, and among the fierce Arabs again the prediction is made, and the eclipse appears. And then after a thousand years are added to those already gone, the astronomer of Paris observes the same phenomenon. Is it not amazing that the prophets of eclipses, whose records cover three thousand years, should exactly agree ? That the Frenchman should study the record of the Baby- lonian who looked on the sun and moon so long before ? You have learned how the great law of gravitation, the mysterious bond holding planets, suns* $nd systems to- gether, was discovered by Isaac Newton. A falling apple led him to ask the natural question, " What brings it to the ground?" That apple was the key to wonders vast as God's universe. Little thoughts and little things are not to be lightly esteemed ; they have been the beginning of world-wide discoveries and eternal destinies. We cannot follow the celestial orator through his un- rivalled lectures. But since writing this a young lad said : 68 LIFE OF GENERAL MTTCHEL. " Tell us about the comets, and the boys will be inter- terested. What did General Mitchel say about them ? " He had just read that a learned professor in Munich, a city of which I shall have more to say hereafter, predicted the burning of the world in 1865 by a comet. Next to the eclipse has this wanderer frightened the world. The boy's questions were doubtless the same you would ask, and I will give them with the answers. "What are comets?" "It is a very hard question to answer. They sud- denly blaze forth and sweep through the heavens with amazing velocity. Their aspect is often terrific. Their paths are irregular, and from all points of the compass they rush toward and around the sun. What they are no man has yet been able to tell." " I just recollect seeing one a few years ago ; but will you describe their appearance ? " " The comet of 1858 was very beautiful. It resem- bled a plume ; the trail of light flowing backward from the splendid starlike brow. Others have been double ; and the great comet of 1744 had six luminous trains, which streamed above the horizon long after the globe of splendor had sunk below it. The Catholics, who were afraid of the armies of the Sultan of Turkey at that time, offered this prayer : c The Lord save us from the Devil, the Turk, and the Comet ! ' " " Why were people afraid of comets?" LIFE OF GEXEKAL MITCHEL. 69 " Because they seemed to be wiTd and wandering mes- sengers from, distant regions, having no connection with our starry dome. They were regarded as omens of war, pestilence, and famine." " How did astronomers find out they were not?" " Observation proved that these fiery corsairs of the blue deep were, after all, governed by the same law of gravitation which binds all the worlds together. And though some of them plunge away for several hundred years into space, and then return, they had their appoint- ed periods, like the earth and moon." " Is there really any danger that a comet will destroy the world?" " Newton, Mitchel, and others think not ; at least that the collision is not likely to occur. If it did they believe the curious body is too light, or cloudlike, to jostle our planet out of its orbit, or set it on fire. Yet none, can deny that God could make it a torch to kindle 4 nature's funeral pile.' " The lad looked thoughtful. The possibility of the world's meeting with a comet troubled him. I could only cheer him with the assurance that a sincere trust in Him who created the comet, would give us " A heart for any fate." He then inquired about the milky way, made of re- splendent suns, so far away you cannot separate them LIFE OF GENERAL MITCHEL. with the eye. And many of the nebulas or luminous clouds floating in the blue depths " blaze with countless stars " when a powerful telescope is directed to them. Professor Mitchel seemed to forget that he was on earth, in dwelling on the boundless grandeur of the uni- verse, which he had viewed during the " night watches/' and talked as if he were among the resplendent worlds and discoursing from the skies. He was like the im- aginary traveller of the German poet, quoted by him to express his overwhelming visions of Jehovah's power, wisdom, and omniscience in the celestial vault. Here is the singular and beautiful fancy : " God called up from dreams a man into the vesti- bule of heaven, saying, ' Come thou hither and see the glory of my house/ " And to the servants that stood around the throne, he said : c Take him, and undress him from his robes' of flesh : cleanse his vision, and put a new breath in his nostrils : only touch not with any change his human heart the heart that weeps and trembles.' " It was done ; and with a mighty angel for his guide, the man stood ready for his infinite voyage. From the terraces of heaven, without sound or farewell, at once they wheeled away into endless space. * * * In a moment the rushing of planets was upon them ; in a mo- ment the blazing of suns was around them. On the right hand and on the left towered mighty constellations, form- LIFE OF GENERAL MITCHEL. 71 ing triumphal gates and archways that seemed ghostly from infinitude. Suddenly, as they swept past systems and worlds, a cry arose that other heights and other depths were nearing, were at hand. " The man sighed, and stopped, and shuddered, and wept. His overladened heart uttered itself in tears, and he said : ' Angel, I will go no farther. Insufferable is the glory of God. Let me lie down in the grave, and hide me from the infinite ; for end I see there is none/ " And from all the listening stars that shone around issued a choral voice ' the man speaks truly ; end there is none that ever yet we heard of/ " ' End is there none ? ' the angel solemnly demanded. ' Is there indeed no end ? and is this the sorrow that kills you ? ' " But no voice answered that he might answer him- self. Then the angel threw up his glorious hands to the heaven of heaven, saying : " ' End there is none in the universe of God. Lo ! also there is no beginning/ " * I will only add the closing passages of these unequalled lectures : " Look out to-night on the brilliant constellations which crowd the heavens. Mark the configurations of these stars. Five thousand years ago the Chaldean shep- herd gazed on the same bright groups. Two thousand years have rolled away since the Greek philosopher pro- 72 LIFE OF GENEBAL MITCHE^. nounced the eternity of the heavens, and pointed to the ever-during configuration of the stars as proof positive of his assertion. But a time will come when not a con- stellation now blazing in the bright concave above us shall remain. Slowly, indeed, do these fingers on the dial of heaven mark the progress of time. A thousand years may roll away with scarce a perceptible change ; even a million of years may pass without effacing all traces of the groupings which now exist ; but that eye which shall behold the universe of the fixed stars when ten millions of years shall have silently rolled away, will search in vain for the constellations which now beautify and adorn our nocturnal heavens. Should God permit, the stars may be there, but no trace of their former relative posi- tions will be found ! " Here I must close. The intellectual power of man, as exhibited in his wonderful achievements among the planetary and stellar worlds, has thus far been our single object. I have neither turned to the right hand nor to the left. Commencing with -the first nmte gaze bestowed upon the heavens, and with the curiosity awakened in that hour of admiration and wonder, we have attempted to follow rapidly the career of the human mind, through the long lapse of six thousand years. What a change has this period wrought. Go backward in imagination to the plains of Shinar, and stand beside the shepherd as- tronomer as he vainly attempts to grasp the mysteries of LIFE OF GENERAL MITCHEL. 73 the waxing and waning moon, and then enter the sacred precincts of yonder temple devoted to the science of the stars. Look over its magnificent machinery ; examine its space-annihilating instruments, and ask the sentinel who now keeps his unbroken vigil the nature of his in- vestigations. " Moon, and planet, and sun, and system, are left behind. His researches are now within a sphere to whose confines the eagle glance of the Chaldean never reached. Periods, and distances, and masses, and mo- tions, are all familiar to him ; and could the man who gazed and pondered six thousand years ago stand beside the man who now fills his place, and listen to his teach- ings, he would listen with awe, inspired by the revelations of an angel of God. But where does the human mind now stand? Great as are its achievements, profoundly as it has penetrated the mysteries of creation, what has been done is but an infinitesimal portion of what remains to be done. " But the examinations of the past inspire the highest hopes for the future. The movement is one constantly accelerating and expanding. Look at what has been done during the last three hundred years, and answer me to what point will human genius ascend before the same period shall again roll away ? But in our admiration for that genius which has been able to reveal the mysteries of the universe, let us not forget the homage due to Him 4 LIFE OF GENERAL MITCHEL. who created, and by the might of his power sustains all things. At some future time, I hope to be permitted to direct your attention to this branch of the subject. If there be any thing which can lead the mind upward to the Omnipotent Ruler of the universe, and give to it an approximate knowledge of His incomprehensible attri- butes, it is to be found in the grandeur and beauty of His works. " If you would know His glory, examine the inter- minable range of suns and systems which crowd the Milky "Way. Multiply the hundred million of stars which belong to our own ' island universe ' by the thou- sands of these astral systems that exist in space, within the range of human vision, and then you may form some idea of the infinitude of His kingdom ; for lo ! these are but a part of His ways. Examine the scale on which the universe is built. Comprehend, if you can, the vast di- mensions of our sun. Stretch outward through his sys- tem, from planet to planet, and circumscribe the whole within the immense circumference of Neptune's orbit. This is but a single unit out of the myriads of similar systems. Take the wings of light, and flash with im- petuous speed, day and night, and month and year, till youth shall wear away, and middle age is gone, and the extremest limit of human life has been attained ; count every pulse, and at each speed on your way a hundred thousand miles ; and when a hundred years have rolled LIFE OF GENERAL MTTCHEL. by, look out, and behold ! the thronging millions of blazing suns are still around you, each separated from the other by such a distance that in this journey of a cen- tury you have only left half a score behind you. " Would you gather some idea of the eternity past of God's existence, go to the astronomer, and bid him lead you with him in one of his walks through space ; and as he sweeps outward from object to object, from universe to universe, remember that the light from those filmy stains on the deep pure blue of heaven, now falling on your eye, has been traversing space for a million of years. Would you gather some knowledge of the omnipotence of God, weigh the earth on which we dwell, then count the millions of its inhabitants that have come and gone for the last six thousand years. Unite their strength into one arm, and test its power in an eifort to move this earth. It could not stir it a single foot in a thousand years ; and yet under the omnipotent hand of God, not a minute passes that it does not fly for more than a thousand miles. But this is a mere atom ; the most insignificant point among His innumerable worlds. At His bidding, every planet, and satellite, and comet, and the sun himself, fly onward in their appointed courses. His single arm guides the millions of sweeping suns, and around His throne circles the great constellation of unnumbered universes. " Would you comprehend the idea of the omniscience 76 LIFE OF GENERAL MITCHEL. of God, remember that the highest pinnacle of knowledge reached by the whole human race, by the combined efforts of its brightest intellects, has enabled the astronomer to compute approximately the perturbations of the planetary worlds. He has predicted roughly the return of half a score of comets. But God has computed the mutual per- turbations of millions of suns, and planets, and comets, and worlds, without number, through the ages that are passed, and throughout the ages which are yet to come, not approximately, but with perfect and absolute precis- ion. The universe is in motion system rising above system, cluster above cluster, nebula above nebula all majestically sweeping around under the providence of God, who alone knows the end from the beginning, and before whose glory and power all intelligent beings, whether in heaven or on earth, should bow with humility and awe. " Would you gain some idea of the wisdom of God, look to the admirable adjustments of the magnificent retinue of planets and satellites which sweep around the sun. Every globe has been weighed and poised, every orbit has been measured and bent to its beautiful form. All is changing, but the laws fixed by the wisdom of God, though they permit the rocking to and fro of the system, never introduce disorder, or lead to destruction. All is perfect and harmonious, and the music of the spheres that burn and roll around our sun, is echoed by that of ten LIFE OF GENERAL MITCHEL. 77 millions of moving worlds, that sing and shine around the bright suns that reign above. If, overwhelmed with the grandeur and majesty of the universe of God, we are led to exclaim with the Hebrew poet king ' When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast or- dained, what is man, that thou art mindful of him ? and the son of man, that thou visitest him ? ' If fearful that the eye of God may overlook us in the immensity of His kingdom, we have only to call to mind that other passage, ' Yet thou hast made him but a little lower than the an- gels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion over all the works of thy hand ; thou hast put all things under his feet.' Such are the teachings of the word, and such are the lessons of the works of God." CHAPTER VI. The Astronomer a Business Man His Noble Energy Two Rules of his Life- - Starts for Europe Voyage The Stranger in England In Paris Munich The Treasure Tho Professor in Greenwich A Curious old Town Its Lions. )HE pictorial illustrations of the lecture were very beautiful. The splendor of thought and diction were the more surprising, because unaided by manuscript in the delivery. The audience were fascinated. Week after week the throng gath- ered around the gifted astronomer, who meanwhile, in private conversation and in his solitary moments, was maturing a plan to secure the object which led him to the platform of oratory unrivalled in that, or any other college. When the last lecture was announced, he was re- quested to repeat it in one of the largest churches of the city. This was the opportunity toward which all his efforts had been tending. Two thousand people assem- bled. The simple yet lofty eloquence enchained the mass which packed the spacious temple to the last echo of the LIFE OF GENERAL MTTCHEL. 79 orator's voice. When the strain of thrilling address ceased, the professor came down from the glory and music of the spheres to practical business, and requested the audience " to give him a few minutes of time, for the explanation of a matter which it was hoped would not be received with- out some feelings of interest and approbation." He was now among the " money changers." Business-like, he goes right to their sober, practical judgments with the terrestrial part of his work. It is amusing to think of such a transition from the star-lit dome above them, to the counting-room and safe. After a simple, honest statement, he went on with his appeal in these words : "You look at Europe, and find rapid advancement in astronomy, and all over the world costly observatories are erected. In Russia, Germany, France, and England, there are instruments in great variety and magnificence, while there is an utter deficiency in our own country in every thing pertaining to the science of the stars." The fact that monarchs lavished treasures on the temples of science, that the people must build them here, was urged ; the assertion that the reliance on these would be a vain one, suggested ; and finally, the assurance given that the ques- tion would now be tested and settled. For he had de- termined to devote five years of faithful effort to secure the projected observatory. This was always a quality of General Mitchells char- acter. He never said go simply, in a good enterprise, but 80 LIFE OF GENERAL MITCHEL. " come with me." It was his rule to lead, as well as point the way. A murmer of applause went through the vast assem- 'blage. The plan was submitted. The amount needed was to be divided into shares of twenty-five dollars each ; nothing was to be done till three hundred names were obtained, and each subscriber was to have the, privileges of the observatory. This was accomplished, and the heroic spirit of the founder of the star-tower, was assured of triumph. Hear the pure and inspiring words of his lips: " Two resolutions were taken at the outset, to which I am indebted for any success which may have attended my own personal efforts. First. To work faithfully for five years, during all the leisure which could be spared from my regular duties. Second. Never to become angry under any provocation while in the prosecution of this enter- prise." Let every youth catch the spirit of perseverance and patience breathed in these resolves, which were faith- fully kept by him. He believed and tried the truth of the heavenly counsel, " He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty ; and he that ruleth his own spirit than he that taketh a city." Soon as the three hundred shareholders were obtained by quiet effort suceeding the lectures, the association thus formed gave him permission to visit Europe, to see what LIFE OF GENERAL MITCHEL. 81 the old world had accomplished in astronomy, and what it might have for him. It was a happy day for the pro- fessor when he turned his face toward Europe. No purer earthly delight could make a great heart beat with quickened pulsations. How wide the contrast between the barefooted errand work of Miami and Lebanon, and the scientific mission to the capitals and royal observa- tories of the mightiest kingdoms of the earth ! He could sympathize with Columbus when his vessel's prow was pointed toward the untravelled seas where continents lay. He hastened to New York, the port of departure, and June 16th, 1842, sailed down the bay. With loving eyes he watched the receding spires of the great Metropolis, and the shores on either hand, till Neversink faded from the view. His vision dimmed with the dew of feeling, for his idolized family and native land were disappearing, per- haps forever, from his sight. But his Christian faith hung a bow of promise over the darkness of distance behind, and " flung the light of hope " on his pathway over the sea. The flashing waters at night were the beautiful foundation of his floating observatory, from which he gazed with affection which they seemed to reciprocate, upon the bright friends of his nightly vigils, for whose sake he was self-exiled for a time to a strange land. No moments are wasted on the voyage. The traveller has made activity the highest pleasure. Between the world of stars above, the wonders of the deep, the books, 4* 82 LIFE OF GENERAL M1TCHEI . and a few intelligent friends, and tie intense thinking o\ er his plans for getting into the heavens and seeing for him- self what was there he had not beheld, the days flew past. Sights and sounds of land again began to appear. Soon after, the shores of England greeted his vision, and a glow of new enthusiasm spread over his fine face. He was near " Fatherland " and the object of his many anxious thoughts, a window to the starry depths. He went to London and the Royal Observatory of Greenwich, to find the treasure that lured him across the Atlantic, an object-glass of the largest size. In the de- scription of the telescope, you recollect this expensive part forms the distant object, bringing it before the eye-glass, through which the observer gazes upon the remote orb, as if it were comparatively near. The gay capital of France, to which he longed to go when Charles the Tenth was dethroned, and draw the revolutionary sword, next attracted his steps. How dif- ferent his errand ! Not the soldier's glory, nor the pleas- ures of art, nor yet of sensual indulgence, stirred his ambition. He wanted a piece of rounded glass; and Paris, with all its dissipation, had gifted devotees of science, and splendid instruments for its service. But here, also, he was disappointed. He looked in vain for the creation of skill which should open to him when in the tube prepared for it, Ihe marvels and glories of the canopy studded with globes of light. LIFE OF GENERAL METCHEL. 83 That scientific centre of the German States, Munich, was the next goal of his hopes. The