expectedly placed up it, as the members of the staff will relate wi awed voices, for it wa a shock to their nervs that they are not likely soon to forget. One summer night three years ago, only some ten days after the telescope had been finally placed in work ing order, and was beginning to show how finely it was coming up to all expectations regarding it, Professor Barnard, whose tur it was for observing having finished his evening's work and seen all well, left the observatory, put the key in his pocket, and went home to bed. This was in the small hours of the morning, hours later another member of g an early visit to the great dome, scene of wreck and desolation he and his brother-astronomers The steel supports of the r had been improperly fastened iles high by the workmen intrusted with the business, and had evidently for months past been gradually drawing from their places. And now they had gone altogether, and the entire floor had crashed down many feet into the basement below, carrying with it all that stood thereon, as well as a spiral iron staircase and part of the clock mechanism belonging to the telescope, which now rose up gaunt among the ruins. That the staff of the observatory had had a very narrow escape of their lives was only too apparent, for Professor Barnard had been upon and Professo: Ellerman beneath the floor only a few minutes probably before it fell. But it was not for themselves that the Yerkés' astronomers hearts beat nervously and their cheeks paled, but for the fate of their priceless instrument, now hanging inaccessibly above their heads, and not to be approached till a new floor should be erected. Inspection from the roof indeed seemed to show that as far as could be seen the object-glass was still intact, but how far the inevitable jar might have affected it, and how much it might be thrown out of adjustment they were perforce obliged to wait another four months in terrible anxiety before they could determine. At the end of that time a new floor had been affixed, but before describing what was then discovered it were well that we complete our inspection of the telescope itself. Ascending the iron staircase beside us, we stand at last, wondering and awe-striken, in the dim religious light of the very Holy of Holies of this Western temple. Above us stretches the vault of the great dome, ninety feet from wall to wall, image of the infinite vault beyond, a wedge-shaped slice of which, spangled with stars, we can see through the wide slit stretching from horizon to zenith. The broad expanse of floor is bare of all furniture, save a massive pair of observing steps, but through the centre of it rises the upper end of the pier we have seen below; and supported on this the mighty telescope itself, its great black tube reaching right across the building, its stand a mass of cogged wheels and graduated circles, its further ex tubes and handles and rods, the figure of the astronomer looks a very insignificant thing Professor Barnard welcomes happy hunting-ground (he mai way, that comet-hunting is sport), and bids us see what he engaged upon, a tiny nebula to be distinguished in very lar We peer into the eye-piece, s (From a photograph by Gertrude 1 selves by holding one of the it, and there in the velvet fi lies a shining cluster of tiny 1 of the size and brilliancy app Pleiades, only infinitely 1 scattered and therefore infinite and impressive. "Now see looking at !" says the Professo are exclaiming on its beauty along the tube of the tele: manage to get a glimpse with of a tiny star that even the fair i (From a photograph by Gertrude Bacon) EYE-END OF THE GREAT TELESCOPE Professor takes the the handles and with it into position, tho itself, not counting th less than a ton. stand as it were daz some terrible convuls the heaven is turning ground rising beneath swinging beside us a stationary object on bewildered eyes. ceases as silently as i is a new object in th us to gaze upon. Lat are intrusted with the dome and floor and tel see how easily they are three cases the motive generated in a powe hundred yards from where a fine engine worked both night and Standing here, bene instrument, Professor what anxiety and trepic rest of the staff recomm The next object we are shown is in the Lyre, but for this neither the telescope nor dome are in proper position. No matter; in an instant our guide has stepped to a lever candy to his grasp, and immediately, without shock or jar, but only a subdued murmur of machinery, the great dome is turning slowly round on its well-oiled wheels and new areas of sky sweep across the open slit. For this new star, too, the floor will be too low for comfortable observation, so another lever is depressed and in a moment the great Vem the second brightest in the heavens (From a photograph by Professor Barnard) blin draw back lest we brilliance of that speck, which m magnifying power can reveal as We are shown point of flame. double double, all four compone here appear so widely apart t impossible to conceive they rea that small solitary star that o keenest unaided eyesight can e Weird and mysterious to degree is the Ring Nebula in t stellation, a pin-prick of light scope interprets as a thick glis a magic jewel in a setting of b Last of all we are granted a g grandest object that the skies matchless cluster in the const tiniest spark of imagination in their composition to behold that glittering mass of myriad suns, each maybe with its solar systern of encircling worlds around it, set in the vast silence of untold space, through which their feeble twinkling has taken hundred of years to reach our eyes, speaking so eloquently with their silent voices of infinite distance, infinite possibilities, infinite time, and infinite might, without feelings of awe, humility, and reverence. How much more then when that splash of light thrown on the background of space is resolvable every scrap of it into its component tens of thousands of sta the heavens for bill miles, grouped, festoor confusion, scattered i a handful of sand fr Creator. This is our last glin and with its exquisite stamped indelibly up steal back to our bed through long hours and approach, by mea ment he is privileged all into their hidden a AN UNKNOWN PEOPLE AT OUR By J. MACLEAY T is curious to reflect that even in these days there is no need to go beyond the British Isles to find an unknown people. Every week almost light is cast upon local habits and customs that have remained hidden from the general gaze. The truth is that in those places which do not maintain their ancient ways for purposes of show or to attract the visitor, the people are shy about divulging any old beliefs or practices they may still retain. This is especially so with regard to the Gael, who cherishes what the past has handed down to him in the deepest secrecy. His mind is wonderfully set upon what his fathers did, but he makes no display. Ask him about a superstition or belief, and the answer is a patent evasion. With respect to the Irish Gael, Mr. W. B. Yeats and other writers have given numerous proofs that popular ideas of his character are far astray, and Miss Fiona Macleod has done a similar service for the Gael of the Western Highlands. Both writers have, indeed, strongly tinctured their writings with their own individualities, and their vision is restricted; but despite this they are, after a manner, realistic in a remarkable degree. Some of Miss Macleod's most intimate writing is contained in a semi-autobiographical with the actual, but an to few, for the island the Gael of the quiet mystery to us as gre which he ever broods. The outstanding fa of the Gael of the We of glowing spirituality. with strange and wond ecstasy-is one of th mena of modern life. history of the Gael an circumstances? Defe From the fruitful Ea forced to a home am that look over the w cases he has been driv a new land, from whic to the old dim cheerl sheilings. In the maj the Gael is often bitte miserable. Till with even now in some ca the island communiti extreme. The people times the cattle lived room. Better houses of sanitary inspectors cure: disease is seld ds of stars, stretching throu S for billions upon billions of ed, festooned, and flung in faires. cattered in lavish prodigality a of sand from the fingers of the ur last glimpse and our grandes, sexquisite beauty and awfulness delibly upon our memories o our beds, leaving our host ye g hours to watch the heavens h, by means of the noble instr. privileged to employ, farthest ci hidden abyss. OUR DOORS ual, but an actual which is know he island Gael-sometimes eve the quiet mainland places-is a us as great as the mysteries on er broods. Gael has retained many of those fine, uplifting qualities of mind which have attracted poetic students to Celtic things. With the many attributes of the Gaelic mind I have no intention of dealing here. Let us confine ourselves to one-its exalted spirituality. In these days, as the result of defective education and the teaching of a ministry which is and has been unfortunately narrow and restricting, the island Gael has earned a reputation for bigotry and prejudice. The Protestant population has cast off with the past and prides itself on the fact, though old fancies continually reveal themselves. It is the Roman Catholics who have longest retained the customs of the old days; but even they are leaving behind the things that once delighted and consoled. For all the wonderful length of Gaelic memories, very many, perhaps most, of the old customs have passed beyond all record. Recent researches have unveiled some, and fragments that should be brought to light still remain. But of all that has of late been done by the collector, nothing equals the great work of Mr. Alexander Carmichael, "Carmina Gadelica "two volumes of ancient hymns and incantations which have been gathered mostly among the Outer Hebrides and in the Roman Catholic communities there-South Uist, Benbecula, and Barra during the past forty years. The value of this great book, to which I am indebted for the matter of this article, is in the searching light it casts upon the spiritual anding fact in all that we know of the West is that he is a mar irituality. His poetic mind, fille. and wondrous fancies-his high one of the most curious pheno ern life. For what has been the Gael and what are his present s? Defeat has been his portion uitful East he has been slowly home among the grim outposts er the western seas; in mary back been driven still farther west inte from which his heart goes m cheerless cottages and brig h the mainland glens, the lot of ften bitter; on the islands, it is Till within a few years ago— some cases-the condition mmunities was deplorable in th he people lived in hovels, some le lived with them in the sar r houses and the supervisi Spectors have not yet worked is seldom absent, intermar d the people, consumpti and the element in the Gaelic mind. Moreover, it reveals to us a people holding firmly by their Christianity and yet retaining with a pathetic persistence beliefs and customs born of pagan times. In the beautiful prologue to "The Washer of the Ford" Miss Macleod has described the essence of what Mr. Carmichael has rescued from oblivion. "The characteristic of the purely Celtic mind in the Highlands and Islands is," says Miss Macleod, "a strange complexity of paganism and Christianity, or rather an apparent complexity arising from the grafting of Christianity upon paganism. Columba, St. Patrick, St. Ronan, Kentigern, all these militant Christian saints were merely transformed pagans. . . . Nor is it the pagan atmosphere only that survives: often we breathe the air of that early day when the mind of man was attuned to a beautiful nature itself." This is Everything, every item in had its religious observ simple, lovely and pat crudely pagan. The evidences of the many of the beliefs and su Gael are wonderfully nume of sun, moon, and fire wors with on all hands. For and every person must, to sun-wise. There is a ph "sun-wise turn for every custom is still persistent. found it even among the S munities of the East Coa there after launching their them sun-wise. The mo in high regard, and, on th the new moon, the Gael n it, the woman curtsying and low in a peculiar fashion bonnets. Mr. Carmichael ing chaunt which was repe people on these occasions. say that I quote in all cases unrhymed translations. Gadelica" the Gaelic is of it is rich in assonance and In name of the Holy Spirit of In name of the Father of the In name of Jesus who took dea Oh! in name of the Three wh need, If well thou found us to-night, Seven times better mayest th harm Thou bright white moon o It was believed that killed during the waxing other times the flesh wo influence of the moon exte Curiously enough, astrol unknown in the Highland tive of pagan times, with th is the ceremony which w Beltane Day (May 1). O hold fires were extinguis called the need fire lit up need fire was divided into and cattle rushed throug they purified and protec From the need fire, kindl |