What do We Mean by “The Old Moon in the New Moon’s Arms”?
“Earth-shine,” in astronomy, is the name given to the faint light visible on the part of the moon not illuminated by the sun, due to the illumination of that portion by the light which the earth reflects on her. It is most conspicuous when the illuminated part of the disc is at its smallest, as soon after new moon. This phenomenon is popularly described as “the old moon in the new moon’s arms.”
The Story in a Bowling Alley[27]
From the “stone age” onward the probabilities are that man has always had some kind of bowling game.
Bowling, as we know today, is an indoor adaptation of, and an improvement upon, the old Dutch game of “nine-pins.” This game was brought from Holland by those colonists who settled Manhattan Island in 1623.
Washington Irving, in his story, “Rip Van Winkle,” refers to the old Dutch fairy tale, that the rolling thunder on the mountain tops of the Catskill was the noise made by the rolling balls as the elfs and gnomes engaged in their favorite pastimes of bowling.
That little section of New York City known as Bowling Green is the original spot which, in 1732, Peter Bayard, Peter Jay and John Chambers leased for eleven years and enclosed for a bowling green.
With the influx of German immigrants, who brought with them a game similar to the Dutch game, additional popularity was given to the sport.