Free Love Finds You in Mackinac Island, Michigan by Melanie Dobson Page A

few piles of limestone were all that was left of the buildings. In the distance he could see the glow of the village, but it would have to do.
    The wind whisked over the trees and rustled his jacket. He wished he could be even higher, far above the trees and away from the lights, but this would suffice for tonight.
    He opened the satchel, and the copper barrel glistened in the lantern light. He lifted the cylinder carefully out of the linen that cushioned it. A man by the name of Nelson Reese had spent his entire inheritance to develop this telescope. Chase would do everything in his power to keep it safe.
    Many of his colleagues were investing in the giant refracting telescopes to be housed in domes for scientific use. It was a wise investment, Chase believed, to put money into the study of astronomy, but he wanted to invest in a telescope that wasn’t used by science. He wanted to sell a telescope to people of all incomes who wanted to view the wonders of the universe from their front porch.
    To his knowledge, no one except a scientist inside a dome had ever used such a powerful telescope as the one in his hands. The only difference was, the scientist had to wait for the right weather conditions to watch the stars from the observatory. Reese’s telescope collapsed to eight inches, so instead of waiting for the right weather conditions, one could easily transport it to where they could be found.
    Chase set the lantern behind a tree to keep the flame burning without being distracted by its light. Above him, the entire galaxy seemed to serenade him like a majestic choir above the earth. He wished he could see the full moon as well, but tonight it was scaled back to a sliver. In a week or two, he would be able to see it in its fullness.
    He took a tripod from his satchel and secured it on the grass. Then he removed the lens cap of the telescope and pushed out the three draws, extending it to twenty-four inches, before he secured it on the tripod and slid away the covering that protected the eyecup.
    Dipping his head back, he looked through the telescope for the first time, and his heart leaped. The stars appeared almost life-size, and he could see dozens more of them through the telescope than with his naked eye. He knew this portable telescope was only a link to what was to come, but it was an important link. Photographers like Andrew Common and John Draper had taken beautiful pictures of the heavens, but he had never seen anything as spectacular as this.
    A breeze rippled over the hill as he watched the stars. In time, students and scientists alike would learn more about the stars and planets. They would find out if there was life in the skies beyond the earth. If the men and women in Matthew Frederick’s generation persisted, perhaps they would even develop some sort of flying machine that would take them high into the worlds above them. The possibilities were endless if one only escaped the frivolous distractions of life and imagined what could be.
    Chase didn’t know how long he stood on the hill, gazing at the lights stretched out above him, but he was mesmerized by the power of the instrument in his hands. He would wait a few days or even weeks longer, if he must, to test out the telescope when the moon returned to its fullness, to see what only a few scientists had been able to see and perhaps even more. If he and Richard could find a way to make many more of these, if they could distribute them to the masses around their country and Europe, he was almost certain they would sell.
    Who wouldn’t want to see the wonders of God’s creation?

 
     
     
     
     
    November 21, 1812
    The wind blows harder now. I am trying to keep the lantern lit for the passing ships, but it won’t be long before ice covers the strait. Then no one will pass this way until spring.
    Oh, Jonah, where are you? Why do you not come home?
    I can’t stop my mind from wondering what might have happened if Thomas and I hadn’t gone to fetch