Ode to Astronomer/Telescope Operator

Found this in one of David Levy's books, a ditty originally published
in the Harvard Observatory Pinafore on December 31, 1929:

An astronomer is a sorry soul,
As free as a caged bird;
His sympathetic ear should be always quick to hear
The directorial word.
He must open the dome and turn the wheel,
And watch the stars with untiring zeal,
He must toil at night though cold it be,
And he should never expect a decent salaree...

Uncannily applicable to runnning the 16 inch at Mt. Wilson, with its
hand wheel cranked dome, and lack of monetary compensation for the
operators. We work to earn telescope time.....which is quite
sufficient.

Matthew Ota
Posting form the Mt. Wilson Observatory Library....

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