THE SUN.
Although at the time these lines are written the sun has not in his northern course reached the equator, and with us here in the north the ground is covered with snow, yet by the time our readers see these words in print a great change will have taken place in the face of nature; the beautiful green of the winter wheat will cover the fields, the tulips and hyacinths exhibit their brilliant colors, and our forests begin to display their refreshing foliage, and “Old Sol” himself will have completed half his journey to the tropics and have measured for us many days of the “little span” allotted to the life of man.
“Men may come and men may go,
But I go on forever.”
And thus are we ever reminded of the “flight of time.” The days grow longer and the shadows shorter; but “all too soon” the shadows begin again to lengthen and the nights increase. Of this, perhaps, we should not complain; for the many long days of summer give us ample opportunity to perform our duties during the “noble sunlight,” and we shall probably be glad of the rest that comes with the “shortening hours.”
During May our time is slow, the sun coming to the meridian about three minutes before noon, as indicated by our clocks. Sunrise occurs at 4:58, 4:42, and 4:32 a. m., on the 1st, 16th, and 30th, respectively, while sunset is at 6:55, 7:10, and 7:22 p. m. on the corresponding days. Day breaks on the 16th at 2:43 a. m., and twilight ends at 9:09 p. m., giving eighteen hours and twenty-seven minutes from “early dawn to dewy eve.” The length of day varies from thirteen hours fifty-seven minutes to fourteen hours fifty minutes. Increase in right ascension, north 6° 36′.