It is one of the many marvels of wireless telegraphy that the
ether waves which carry its messages, unlike light waves,
suffer no absorption in mist or fog. Quite the opposite, in
fact, is the case, for the effect on them of clear sunshine is
so marked that they can be sent with equal initial power only
less than half the distance by day as by night. For this reason
press dispatches and long-distance messages sent by wireless
telegraphy are, whenever possible, committed to the ether waves
after sunset.
“He knoweth what is in the darkness.” This is what the prophet says
in connection with the affirmation, “He revealeth the deep and secret
things.” We must not imagine that darkness is symbolical only of evil.
The shadow is as beneficent as the sunbeam. (Text.)
(661)
* * * * *
The love of evil prowlers for the darkness is not confined to the
insects named in the extract. It is also a characteristic of those who
hunt men’s souls; the saloon-keeper thrives best by his night trade.
Tarantulas are night prowlers; they do all their hunting after
dark, dig their holes, and, indeed, carry on all the various
business of their life in the night-time. The occasional one
found walking about in daytime has made a mistake, someway,
and he blunders around quite like an owl in the sunshine.
(Text.)--VERNON L. KELLOGG, “Insect Stories.”
(662)
* * * * *
A whimsical treatise entitled, “William Ramsay’s Vindication of
Astrology,” propounds the absurd theory that the absence of the
sun is not the cause of night, but that there are tenebrificous
stars by whose influence night is brought on, and which ray out
darkness and obscurity upon the earth as the sun does light.
Are there not some men and some institutions that shed darkness rather
than light on the world? (Text.)
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Those who love darkness rather than light are morally blind. Here is a
case of physical blindness:
Richmond, Va., has a nineteen-year-old boy, Audrey Wilson, who
is totally blind in the day, but can see like a cat at night.
He can speed a bicycle where ordinary persons have to walk with
caution; but in the day he gropes about, able only vaguely
to distinguish any object and with no discrimination as to
colors. He is quite a possum hunter. He can easily distinguish
the animals in the trees without the aid of a lantern.
Needless to say, young Wilson is in great demand by possum
hunters.--_Leslie’s Weekly._
(664)
See SHADOW; SOLITUDE, LESSON OF.