Therefore, we try for the impossible.
"One of our party, a young lady from California, was placed at the chronometer.

She was to count aloud the seconds, to which the three others were to listen.

Two others, one a young woman from Missouri, who brought with her a fine telescope, and another from Ohio, besides myself, stood at the three telescopes.

A fourth, from Illinois, was stationed to watch general effects, and one special artist, pencil in hand, to sketch views.
"Absolute silence was imposed upon the whole party a few minutes before each phenomenon.
"Of course we began full a minute too soon, and the constrained position was irksome enough, for even time is relative, and the minute of suspense is longer than the hour of satisfaction.

[Footnote: As the computed time for the first contact drew near, the breath of the counter grew short, and the seconds were almost gasped and threatened to become inaudible, when Miss Mitchell, without moving her eye from the tube of the telescope, took up the counting, and continued until the young lady recovered herself, which she did immediately.] "The moon, so white in the sky, becomes densely black when it is closely ranging with the sun, and it shows itself as a black notch on the burning disc when the eclipse begins.
"Each observer made her record in silence, and then we turned and faced one another, with record in hand--we differed more than a second; it was a large difference.
"Between first contact and totality there was more than an hour, and we had little to do but look at the beautiful scenery and watch the slow motion of a few clouds, on a height which was cloud-land to dwellers by the sea.
"Our photographer begged us to keep our positions while he made a picture of us.