Show WHEN MOON LOSES ITS SILVERY HUE orb of night can assume intense blackness who has seen a black moon some have seen a blue moon but this Is so uncommon that its rarity has passed into a proverb of infrequency sll sil very Is the term that the poets apply to the new moon and golden to the full moon sometimes owing oming to the heaviness of the air near the ho the moon may rise or set wear insa deep red as if in the scriptural phrase it had turned to blood but when if ever Is the moon black it can only be when its side turned toward the earth Is wholly unlighted then why not in an eclipse of the moon it then has a deep shade over it but its hue Is coppery an I 1 it Is lighted so well that we can even make out its face this is due to irradiation through the earth earths s atmo sphere the rays of the hidden sun are bent around the solid body of the earth and fall upon the moon which at that time Is always exactly full we shall have to look for some other time if we are to find it black Is there any time when the moon as it looks at us Is wholly unlighted yes just when it is passing from old to new for then the opposite side of the moon receives all the sunlight and our side none but if it Is not lighted how can we see it at alii alli As a matter of fact we usually can not particularly since it Is so near the sun as to be lost in its brightness the moon would surely be black if I 1 we could see it but how are we ever going to we have only to wait for 1 an eclipse of the sun whether the eclipse be total or partial the blackened part of the sun as it seems to us Is not the sun at all but this very moon that we are looking for there is no doubt about its blackness the bible compares it to the blackest haircloth but no hair or ink or jet was ever so black as this black moon and when the eclipse Is total and this great black ball hangs in heaven blotting bl ottin out the sun one must have strong nerves to behold it without a sudden feeling of terror it Is a black moon black beyond our wil will I 1 est imaginings if once we see it we never shall forget it and we shall be fortunate if it does bof haunt our dreams providence jour nal |