Morag Sees an Aurora

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23205, 26 November 1938, Page 8 (Supplement)

Morag Sees an Aurora

:T])EAR ANNE SHIRLEY and Members.—Here 1 am again writing to Jell you how much I enjoyed reading through'a bundle of the club pages ,which a New Zealand correspondent so kindly sent me. The standard of letter •writing and stories is excellent, I think, and tlio. younger members contribute some quite interesting epistles.

Now I must tell you about the most remarkable display of the Aurora Borealis (northern lights) which I was fortunate in witnessing one night a few months ago, iu the north-western sky. The phenomenon was seen all over Britain—from the far north of Scotland, where it is fairly common, to -the Eow;h of, England, where it is nCely .visible.

"White pillars of light playing on a background of brilliant red and green "flames." First noticed at 6.i?0 p.m. the show continued on until nearly 10

®'c:lock, occasionally dying down and then bursting up again. The aurora commenced with the formation of an arch taking on streamers and; feathery flames, which varied ill sihade considerably, being sometimes smoky black or steel.grey, and at other times brilliant yellow, green, violet or fiery red. Under the arch, the sky was apparently darker than the rest of the Leavens—known as the "dark segment." Stars were visible through this part of the sky as well as the aurora itself. In places people mistook it for ,the reflection of a great fire. The pilot of a "Paris-London aeroplane crossing the English Channel at 10,000 feet altitude, had a fine view. The lights caused uneasiness among sheep and cattle and several English farmers went out to quieten the frightened animals. The lights have been observed several times in the north of Sco tland recently, but not on this scale. Ever since the display we had very stormy weather —gales and rain. As we are hoping to spend a month's holiday in our little country cottage down in the south of Scotland at Greenlaw, a sleepy inland village, I hope the weather will have improved by the time Tve arrive, sometime soon. I, personally, always look forward with pleasure to the visit because the change of air does us good. We have a big garden divided into two parts—flowers and

vegetables—and a small lawn bordered on" one side by a hawthorn hedge and on tlio other by black currant bushes. As a family we are very fond of jam, and every -year 1 help mother to make about 201b. of rhubarb and black currant jam. We grow potatoes, cabbages, cauliflowers, green pens, parsnips, turnips, Urusscl sprouts and lettuce. Dad, some years ago, built two big cairns of stone anil scattered seeds of arabis, a lovely white flower, which spreads easily, on the top. Now there is a beautiful white mass covering the two cairns and when the sun is shining and the bees are humming happily among the flowers gathering nectar it is a wonderful sight. There are also several old chimney pots in the garden full of soil, which have growing in them a little blue llower called aubretia, and the white of the arabis mixes together very well ■with tlio blue. Nasturtiums ramble up the sides of the cottage and add yet an-

other colour to the rainbow. Now is the time for daffodils and chrysanthemums, and we usually have a nice show. Greenlaw boasts of a little nine-hole golf course, where dad and I plav twice a day, two tennis courts, one hard and one grass, and plenty of trout and .salmou fishing. There is any amount of walks, most of them leading to the sweeping moorland, where grouse make their homes and hatch their young. But the countryside is very bleak in the winter time and many a time the roads have been blocked with snow. —With best wishes from Morag Daphne Morrison (16), Edinburgh, Scotland.