The moon, then in the last quarter, had
just risen, and the stars shone with a spectral lustre, but little
affected by her presence. Jupiter, two hours high, was the herald of the
day; the Pleiades, just above the horizon, shed their sweet influence
in the east; Lyra sparkled near the zenith; Andromeda veiled her
newly-discovered glories from the naked eye, in the south; the steady
pointers, far beneath the pole, looked meekly up from the depths of the
north, to their sovereign.
Such was the glorious spectacle as I entered the train. As we proceeded,
the timid approach of twilight became more perceptible; the intense blue
of the sky began to soften; the smaller stars, like little children,
went first to rest; the sister beams of the Pleiades soon melted
together; but the bright constellations of the west and north remained
unchanged. Steadily the wondrous transfiguration went on. Hands of
angels, hidden from mortal eyes, shifted the scenery of the heavens; the
glories of night dissolved into the glories of the dawn. The blue sky
now turned more softly gray; the great watch-stars shut up their holy
eyes; the east began to kindle. Faint streaks of purple soon blushed
along the sky; the whole celestial concave was filled with the inflowing
tides of the morning light, which came pouring down from above in one
great ocean of radiance; till at length, as we reached the Blue Hills, a
flash of purple fire blazed out from above the horizon, and turned the
dewy tear-drops of flower and leaf, into rubies and diamonds.
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