I suspect it to have been shut most of the time, for I observe
a good many elderly people adjust the organ of vision to any optical
instrument in that way. I suppose it is from the instinct of protection
to the eye, the same instinct as that which makes the raw militia-man
close it when he pulls the trigger of his musket the first time. He
expressed himself highly gratified, however, with what he saw, and
retired from the instrument to make room for the Young Girl.
She threw her hair back and took her position at the instrument. Saint
Simeon Stylites the Younger explained the wonders of the moon to
her,--Tycho and the grooves radiating from it, Kepler and Copernicus with
their craters and ridges, and all the most brilliant shows of this
wonderful little world. I thought he was more diffuse and more
enthusiastic in his descriptions than he had been with the older members
of the party. I don't doubt the old gentleman who lived so long on the
top of his pillar would have kept a pretty sinner (if he could have had
an elevator to hoist her up to him) longer than he would have kept her
grandmother. These young people are so ignorant, you know. As for our
Scheherezade, her delight was unbounded, and her curiosity insatiable.
If there were any living creatures there, what odd things they must be.
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