H. SMYTH.
In regard to the colors of stars, Miss Mitchell had already begun their
study, as these extracts from her diary show:
"Feb. 19, 1853. I am just learning to notice the different colors of the
stars, and already begin to have a new enjoyment. Betelgeuse is
strikingly red, while Rigel is yellow. There is something of the same
pleasure in noticing the hues that there is in looking at a collection
of precious stones, or at a flower-garden in autumn. Blue stars I do not
yet see, and but little lilac except through the telescope.
"Feb. 12, 1855.... I swept around for comets about an hour, and then I
amused myself with noticing the varieties of color. I wonder that I have
so long been insensible to this charm in the skies, the tints of the
different stars are so delicate in their variety. ... What a pity that
some of our manufacturers shouldn't be able to steal the secret of
dyestuffs from the stars, and astonish the feminine taste by new
brilliancy in fashion. [Footnote: See Chapter XI.]
[NANTUCKET], April [1860].
MY DEAR: Your father just gave me a great fright by "tapping at
my window" (I believe Poe's was a door, wasn't it?) and holding
up your note. I was busy examining some star notices just
received from Russia or Germany,--I never knew where Dorpat
is.--and just thinking that my work was as good as theirs. I
always noticed that when school-teachers took a holiday in order
to visit other institutions they came home and quietly said, "No
school is better or as good as mine.
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