Chapter II: Part 2

"Perhaps, Harry," said his sister, laughing; "that is, if there are any people on Mars, and captains and boats. How you would enjoy going in a yacht up and down these canals, seeing the lovely flowers and scenery on Mars, for I am sure it must be a very beautiful little world.

"It is not quite as bright on Mars as it is here, since it is farther away from the sun and only gets one-half as much light and heat. The year is also nearly twice as long and lasts six hundred and eighty-seven days, instead of only three hundred and sixty-five. Therefore, the summer season is nearly twice as long, but not nearly as warm as here."

"Then the winter must be twice as long and much colder than here," Harry said. "I do not think I should like that. But perhaps the canals freeze over in the winter time, and there may be fine skating up there?"

"No, the canals disappear altogether during the winter time," replied Mary; "or, rather, we cannot see them until they reappear again as faint dark lines in the spring-time. They get wider and wider until the summer season, then they get narrow again and disappear. Some of them are double, but the double lines we see may mean only grass and ferns on each side of a large canal fifty miles wide. When the canals double, the little round spots at the junctions of the canals darken. Perhaps these spots are like little islands in a desert, and they are covered with grass during the summer time."

"I should like to live on one of those little islands," said Harry. "Wouldn't you, Nellie?"

"If I could take my dollie with me," she replied, as she gazed at it tenderly. "And we might go for little boat-rides all around the islands. Do you think there are any little girls on Mars who have beautiful dollies like mine?"

"I really do not know," replied Mary; "but if there are any people living on Mars, I do know they are not like us. We could not live there, as there is not enough air for us to breathe. We would gasp just as that poor fish did the other day, when Uncle Robert hauled it up out of the lake and threw it into the boat. We must have air, and plenty of it, if we want to live."

"So we could not live on Mars, could we, sister?" said Harry.

"It would not be comfortable," replied Mary; "besides, it is not nearly as warm as here. Poor Uncle Robert would nearly freeze during the long winter. He would also find another surprise awaiting him if he went to Mars. Mars is a smaller world than the earth, so everything weighs less."

"Ah! I see," said Harry, clapping his hands with glee. "Uncle would not be so heavy on Mars. How glad he would be to go there! Poor Uncle Robert! He is so heavy he just shakes the house when he walks across the floor. Next time I see him I shall say: 'Go to Mars, Uncle Robert, and see what will happen to you there.' How much would he weigh on Mars?"

"He weighs two hundred and forty pounds here, and would weigh only ninety pounds there, and you would weigh only thirty pounds. So I could pick you up, couch and all, and carry you as easily as Nellie carries her doll in its doll-carriage."

"Then dollie would weigh nothing at all," said Nellie, looking at her doll curiously.

Harry looked puzzled, and after thinking a moment, he said to his sister:

"I cannot see why I would weigh less if I went to Mars."

"Because the planet being smaller than the earth, it has less power to attract you and to hold you down to its surface. The earth is like a great magnet, and if there were not something drawing us to it and keeping us there, we would be greatly puzzled. Tables and chairs would not stand firm, and we would stagger about for want of weight, just as when a diver tries to walk in deep water. He has to have heavy weights fastened to him so as to keep him in place. A stone that would be quite heavy on earth would weigh only a few ounces on Mars. Nellie could carry this large rocking-chair I am sitting in and eight or ten dollies as well. Do you remember seeing the men at the circus jumping over bars five feet high? Well, on Mars they could jump fifteen feet, while the clumsy old elephant we saw there would probably be as graceful and nimble as a deer."

"How would football be on Mars?" asked Harry.

"Very unlike football here, dear. A good kick would send the ball much farther than here."

"Is Mars very far away?" asked Nellie. "If we could go there in a train, would it take us ever so long going?"

"About sixty years," said Mary, laughing, "if the train went a mile a minute. If you tried to walk it, going four miles an hour and ten hours a day, it would take you more than two thousand years to get there. So, I don't think we can take that trip, little girl, can we? But let us call on the next-door neighbor or neighbors to Mars, for there are about four hundred and fifty of them."

STORY OF THE BABY PLANETS.

"Four hundred and fifty little worlds?" asked Harry.

"Where can there be room for them all, and don't they knock against each other in the sky?"

"No, there is plenty of room for them up there. Besides, they are so small, some of them being only ten miles wide."

"Why, Uncle Robert walked ten miles the other day," said Harry; "he could walk all around those little worlds. And if they are so little, I suppose he would weigh scarcely anything at all if he lived on one of them. I should think he would be almost like the giant with the seven-league boots. Don't you remember, Nellie, you were reading about him the other day. Poor little Jack the Giant Killer would not have much chance there, but perhaps he could fly if he weighed so little. And how would football be on these little worlds?"

"You might give the ball such a kick that it would leave the planet altogether and circle around the sun as a planet on its own account."

How Harry and Nellie laughed at the idea of a football circling around the sun as a planet!

"And is this really true?" inquired Harry. "Why, this is better than any fairy story I ever heard. Now, tell me some more. Don't you think we might be able to fly on these tiny worlds?"

"If you could get someone to make you a pair of wings up there, it would be quite easy to fly. Our bodies would only weigh a few pounds, so we ought to be able to flap a pair of wings strong enough to keep us flying. That is, if the air around these little worlds is as dense as ours."

"Don't I wish I lived there, then," said Harry regretfully, "because it would not matter about my being lame. And I could put on my wings whenever I wanted to see you, Nellie, and fly across the park, and way, way up into the sky, and----"

"Oh, don't! Harry," said Nellie, throwing her doll on the ground and catching hold of her cousin in dismay; "if you go you must take me with you too. And poor little dollie," she continued, suddenly remembering her precious charge, "and Cousin Mary and Uncle Robert and Aunt Agnes and everybody in the world. What would we do if you flew away from us?"

"But I can't," said Harry, laughing at her dismay; "and it's just like a little girl to think I would go and leave her all alone. No, we'll all go some day, won't we?" he continued, turning to his sister Mary; "and we'll be with the angels--and have wings. You and Nellie and I--why, we will all fly, and I shall forget I ever was lame on planet earth then."

"And will father have wings, too?" asked Nellie curiously. "He will want a very big pair, something like the big eagle's down at the aquarium."

"Will he, you little rogue?" exclaimed the loud, good-natured voice of her father, as he appeared on the scene. "So this is where you are, and I have been looking for you all over the house and grounds."

"I told nurse I would be back in a minute," she replied.

"A minute!" said her father, laughing heartily; "why, you have been here nearly an hour. So you want your father to have wings, do you, you little rogue! Wait till I show you how you would fly if you had wings." The next moment he put her up on his shoulder, dollie and all, and ran with her across the meadow at full speed, while she laughed merrily and clapped her hands with delight.

"So the party is broken up," said Harry's nurse, who came to look after her charge.

"Yes; one of the audience has flown," said Harry, laughing.

"And I must fly, too," said Mary, as she kissed Harry lovingly. "And I shall tell you about the rest of Giant Sun's family to-morrow. Good-by."

STORY OF JUPITER AND HIS MOONS.

It was several days before Mary could see Harry again and tell him "sky-stories," as he called them, for he had been suffering much pain. Even her gentle voice irritated him, and perfect quiet was ordered by the doctor until the little sufferer was better. At last he was able to enjoy the sunlight and the flowers and the song of the birds again, and one bright morning he was all ready, as he told his sister, to take another trip to Starland. As Mary arranged the pillows on the couch for him, and a large sunshade, so that the glare of sunlight would not hurt his eyes, he caught hold of her hand and, pressing it lovingly, he said:

"Darling, what should I do without you? You are so good to me."

"How can I help it, little sweetheart!" said Mary, as she turned her head aside to keep him from seeing the tears that would come to her eyes; "how can I help it, when I love you so dearly. Besides, you are my own dear little brother, and you don't know how I missed you all last week."

"Did you really, sister? And I was dreaming away all day long about the wonderful stories you have been telling me. I played football on Mars, and had beautiful wings when I lived on the baby planets, and flew from one to another, and now I want to know something about the giant planets. You said they lived next door to the little tiny planets."

STORY OF JUPITER.

"Yes, next door to the baby planets we come to the largest of all, the giant planet Jupiter. If a tunnel were made through the center of Jupiter, eleven globes as large as the earth, placed side by side, would reach from one side to the other. You could make thirteen hundred globes out of planet Jupiter as large as the earth. If the earth were a large snowball, and a giant could roll thirteen hundred such snowballs into one, he would have a ball to play with as large as planet Jupiter. If it were made of the same material as the earth, it would be more than three hundred times as heavy."

"It would take a very big giant to play with that snowball, wouldn't it?" said Harry, smiling at the thought. "There would not be much room in the sky for him to play in, would there?"

"Plenty of room," replied his sister, laughing; "room for millions and millions of balls as large as Jupiter, and much, much larger."

"What a wonderful place the sky must be!" said Harry, in awe. "Now, tell me some more about Jupiter. Didn't you tell me last week that he is hidden away among blankets, and very, very hot?"

"That is right, Harry, but some day he will cool down, and the blankets will change into beautiful oceans and seas and lakes. Then it will be a world like ours, with trees and flowers, and perhaps people will live there."

"The sun is so much further away from Jupiter than from the earth that it gives it only one twenty-seventh as much light and heat. If you can imagine the sun as a bright lamp in the sky, and someone turning down the wick of the lamp till its light is only one twenty-seventh as bright as it is now, you can imagine how dim the light and small the amount of heat must be on Jupiter."

"How long does Jupiter take in going round the sun?" asked Harry.

"About twelve years," replied Mary; "and the day is only about ten hours long, instead of twenty-four as here."

"What a short day!" said Harry, in surprise. "Then you could work only five hours and sleep five hours. I believe I would sleep all day, and all night, too. I must tell Nellie about that next time I see her."

"Why did not she come this morning, I wonder?" said Mary. "Perhaps she has gone for a walk with her nurse."

"I'll tell her about my trip," said Harry generously, "when she comes over here again. And now what else is there about Jupiter?"

JUPITER AS SEEN THROUGH A TELESCOPE.

"If you look at it through a large telescope you will see that it is beautifully colored, as if Uncle Robert had taken his paint-box, and dipped his brush into browns and reds, and tinted the cloud-belts around Jupiter here and there with touches of yellow and orange, olive-green and purple. Only an artist could get such beautiful effects. If we could journey to one of the little moons of Jupiter----"

"Has Jupiter moons also?" asked Harry, delighted at the thought.

"Five of them," said Mary; "and I shall tell you about them later. Supposing we could journey to one of these little moons, what a glorious sight Jupiter would be! From the nearest moon it would look thousands of times larger than our moon. The colors we see only faintly through our telescopes would present a magnificent sight when seen at close range, while constant changes would be taking place, as varied as the changes in the clouds flitting across a summer sky. Great cloud-masses drift hither and thither with enormous speed, driven by winds of hurricane force. By watching the changes that take place in the clouds, we know there must be winds blowing at the rate of nearly two hundred miles per hour. Do you remember the cyclone Uncle Robert told us about, when several houses were blown down and trees uprooted?"

"Yes, indeed, I do," replied Harry, "and his poor little dog Fido was nearly killed by a falling chimney."

"Poor little Fido would not have much chance on Jupiter. The storms there are ever so much worse than here. The strongest buildings would be blown down in a few moments; sturdy oaks would be uprooted and blown about by the wind like straws."

"Do the storms last very long?" asked Harry.

"They last six and seven weeks at a time," replied Mary, "so that Jupiter would scarcely be a comfortable world to live on yet. Besides, it is still in the fiery stage."

"Won't you tell me some more about the little moons of Jupiter?" asked Harry.

THE MOONS OF JUPITER.

"They are not so little, after all, brother, except the first one, which is only one hundred miles wide. It is such a shy little moon that it keeps hiding behind Jupiter, or gets so close to him that it is lost in the glare of light from the giant planet. We had no idea it was there at all until an American astronomer, Professor Barnard, caught sight of it one evening. It was playing hide-and-seek as usual, but Professor Barnard, with his keen eyes, spied the little speck of light. It is now known as the fifth moon of Jupiter. It was only discovered in 1892, and just think, that for the hundreds and hundreds of years it has been there, yet no one had seen it. The French people were so delighted because Professor Barnard caught sight of the little truant that they gave him a beautiful gold medal."

"Won't you show the little moon to me sometime?" said Harry. "I should like to see it so much."

"You can only see it through a very large telescope; but I can show you the other four moons if Uncle Robert will lend us his telescope."

"Here he comes," said Harry, in great glee, as he saw Uncle Robert crossing the meadow. "Won't you bring over your telescope this evening?" said Harry pleadingly, as he told him what Mary had just said.

"Certainly, my little man," his uncle replied; "but we can only see three of the moons this evening as one of them is eclipsed."

"What's that?" said Harry, in surprise at the strange word.

"Eclipsed means hidden," said Mary, laughing. "If Uncle Robert stands right in front of you, as he is doing just now, he hides me from you, so I am eclipsed."

"Very true," said Uncle Robert, laughing heartily at the hint. "Planet Mary is eclipsed by Uncle Robert, and poor little Planet Harry cannot see her till Uncle Robert gets out of the way." This he immediately proceeded to do, and next moment he was pursuing Fido, who was having a not over-friendly encounter with a strange cat in a neighbor's garden.

"Oh, dear," said Harry, in distress, "where were we? We were up in the sky among the planets, and now Uncle Robert has brought us back again to earth. Do listen to poor Fido." He certainly seemed to be getting the worse of the encounter with Pussy; but when Uncle Robert came to the rescue the enemy vanished, and Fido, nothing daunted, went in search of other prey. When peace and quiet were once more restored, Mary resumed her story.

ECLIPSE OF JUPITER'S MOONS.

"Do you know, the appearance and disappearance of the little moons of Jupiter once gave a great deal of trouble to astronomers. They had a way of appearing a little too soon or a little too late. They were very seldom on time. This was very provoking, as astronomers were rather proud of being able to tell exactly when these little moons could be seen. At last they found out what was the matter, and that they were to blame and not the moons. We see the little moons on account of their light, and light takes time to travel. Don't you remember, I told you sound travels a mile in five seconds. Light travels even more quickly, for it only takes a little over a second in coming to us from the moon. It takes about eight minutes in coming to us from the sun; but Jupiter is about five times as far away from us as the sun, so that light takes about half an hour in coming to us from Jupiter. We do not see it as it is, but as it was more than half an hour ago, when its rays of light started out to Planet Earth.

"Now, Jupiter, in going around the sun, is sometimes on the same side of the sun as we are. Then the light from the moons reaches us in about thirty-two minutes. But when Jupiter is on the opposite side of the sun, and as far away from us as it can be, then light takes as much as forty-eight minutes in coming here--over a quarter of an hour longer. So a clever astronomer decided that when Jupiter and his moons are nearest to us, it does not take as long for their light to reach us as when they are farther away, and this is because light, like sound, must have time to travel.

"Even though light can go round the earth seven times in a second, traveling at the rate of about 186,000 miles a second, yet, as Jupiter is millions of miles away, it takes light about half an hour, and some times forty-eight minutes, for it to cross that great distance. It is just the same as if Uncle Robert were in India. It would take him a much longer time to come and see you than if he were at his home just a few hundred yards away. It takes time for him to travel here, just as it takes time for light to travel from the little moons of Jupiter."

"I wish we had five moons shining on our earth," said Harry; "how pretty it would be! Does it take the moons as long as our moon to get around Jupiter?"

"They are much livelier than our moon," replied Mary; "and the second moon flies right around Jupiter in a little more than a day and a half, and even the outside moon only takes about two weeks; so there must always be a moon shining in the sky for Jupiter. These moons, except the moon discovered by Professor Barnard, are all larger than our moon, and the fourth one is nearly as large as Mars. But I hear the bell for lunch, Harry, and I must run away now. I will tell you about the other planets later."

"How many are there?" said Harry, as his sister kissed him good-by.

"Only three," replied Mary; "and I shall tell you about them to-morrow, if you are not too tired."

"Too tired!" said Harry. "I am never too tired to listen to you."

JUPITER.

Oh! that it were my doom to be
The spirit of yon beauteous star,
Dwelling up there in purity,
Alone, as all such bright things are;
My sole employ to pray and shine,
To light my censer at the sun!

Moore: Loves of the Angels.

A LESSON IN ASTRONOMY.

The solar system puzzled us,
Miss Mary said she thought it would,
And so she gave us each a name,
And made it all into a game,
And then we understood.

Theresa, with her golden hair
All loose and shining, was the sun,
And 'round her Mercury and Mars,
Venus, and all the other stars
Stood waiting, every one.

I was the earth, with little Nell
Beside me for the moon so round,
And Saturn had two hoops for rings,
And Mercury a pair of wings,
And Jupiter was crowned.

Then when Miss Mary waved her hand,
Each slow and stately in our place,
We circled round the sun until
A comet, that was little Will,
Came rushing on through space.

He darted straight into our midst,
He whirled among us like a flash,
The stars went flying, and the sun,
And laughing, breathless, wild with fun,
The "system" went to smash.

--Youth's Companion.

THE GIANT PLANETS.

THE PLANET SATURN.

Harry had spent a most delightful evening looking through Uncle Robert's telescope at the little moons of Jupiter, and he also had seen the planet Saturn, with its rings and moons. Next evening when his sister came to talk with him he had many questions to ask her. First of all he wanted to know what the rings were made of.

"Millions of little moons," replied his sister. "I wish you could see Saturn and its rings through the great telescope at the Lick Observatory. It makes such a pretty picture. Like Jupiter, the planet Saturn is surrounded by clouds; but they are tinted with blue at the poles, yellow elsewhere, and dotted here and there with brown; purple, and red spots. Around the center is a creamy white belt. Then, there are eight moons that accompany Saturn in its journey around the sun; but they give very little light to the planet, since if they could all be full together they would give but a sixteenth part of the light we receive from the moon."

"Why is that?" asked Harry.

THE PLANET URANUS.

"Because Saturn is so far away from the Sun," replied Mary. "Next to Saturn we find Uranus. This planet was first seen by William Herschel, who afterwards became one of the greatest astronomers the world has ever known. When Herschel was a little boy his home was in Hanover. He had great talent for music, and when he was fourteen years old he joined the band of the Hanoverian Guards. What a proud boy he was when he dressed in his new uniform! However, pride must have a fall, and it was not very long before he wished he had never entered the army. Just about this time war broke out between France and England, and as Hanover belonged to the English it was attacked by the French. The Hanoverian Guards were badly defeated. Herschel spent the night after the battle hiding away in a ditch, and next day, assisted by his friends, he ran away to England. There he continued his musical studies, and some years later he became a fine organist."

"Did he have to play a big organ like the one in our church?" asked Harry.

"Something like that, I suppose," said Mary; "and he played very well indeed. He learned more and more about music, and in the evenings when going and coming from the church he used to notice the beautiful stars overhead, and he wished to learn something about them."

"Just the way I feel," said Harry. "I get nurse to pull up the window curtain at night so that I can see the stars from my bed, and they seem to laugh and wink their little eyes at me as if they knew I was watching them. Did Herschel have a telescope like the one Uncle Robert has?"

"He was not so fortunate, but he wanted one very much indeed. So he borrowed a telescope from a friend, and every night after practicing in the church he would amuse himself looking at the stars. He longed to have a telescope of his own; but he found that they cost more than he could afford to pay, so he decided to make one. He bought all that was necessary, and turned his home for the time into a workshop. He had a dear, good-natured sister named Caroline, and she did all she could to help her brother. Sometimes he was too busy to eat and she used to feed him. When he was tired she would read to him from the 'Arabian Nights.'"

"The same book I have?" asked Harry, in surprise.

"The very same; and this helped to pass away the time while Herschel polished away on the great mirror of his telescope. When the telescope was finished people came from far and near to see it. One evening when Herschel was gazing at the stars with this magic glass he spied a star not marked down on his charts. 'Something wrong here,' thought Herschel; 'this must be a comet.' But after noticing it for a while he found that it was not a comet, but a planet or wanderer among the stars."

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A PLANET AND A STAR.

"How could he tell the difference?" asked Harry. "When I looked at Planet Jupiter last night it looked like the stars, only rounder and bigger."

"The planets are so much nearer to us than the stars that we can follow them as they slowly creep between us and the stars in their journey around the sun. The stars are so far away that we would have to watch them for thousands of years before they would seem to move at all, yet we know they are moving."

"Are the stars moving?" said Harry, in surprise.

"Yes, they are moving, just as distant steamers seen at sea are moving; but they are so far away that they seem motionless. Don't you remember how we used to watch them from the seashore. Still they were going as fast as steam could take them. We might compare the steamers to the stars, and the little boats nearer shore were more like the planets. We could easily follow the boats with our eyes as they danced over the waves, and in the same way we can easily follow the planets as they creep across the sky, because they are so much nearer to us than the stars."

"The new planet was called Uranus, although at first the friends of Herschel wanted to name it after him. Next to Uranus comes the planet Neptune, which was discovered before it was ever seen."

THE DISCOVERY OF PLANET NEPTUNE.

"How could that happen?" asked Harry.

"Because Uranus behaved so strangely," replied his sister. "The planets attract each other; for instance, the earth is swayed to and fro by Jupiter and Venus, and a great struggle is always going on among the planets in the family of Giant Sun. It could be plainly seen that Saturn was taking part in the struggle and dragging Uranus toward it, but something beyond the newly discovered planet was pulling it the other way. 'There must be another planet,' said the astronomers, and they were right. After puzzling over the problem two astronomers found the truant, and announced exactly when and where it was to be seen. And there it was, nearly exactly where these learned men said it would be. The new planet was christened Neptune, and it takes about one hundred and sixty-four years to go around the sun. It is so far away from the sun that it only receives one nine-hundredth of the amount of light and heat we receive on planet earth."

"Then it must be very cold on planet Neptune?" said Harry.

"And very dark also," said Mary, "since from this planet the sun only looks as large as an electric light seen at a distance of a few feet."

"IS IT TRUE?"

BY MORGAN GROWTH.

She stood where the winter sunlight
Seemed opening into the skies--
(She was only a little girl, you see,
And her teacher was old and wise).

"You never can be promoted,"
That wise, wise teacher said,
"For the lesson you need the most of all
You leave unlearned, little maid."

"I didn't like to say it"--
Her answer was grave, and slow--
"That the earth goes whirling 'round like a ball,
For I don't see how they know.

"I'll write it down on my paper,
(The one that I hand to you)
But when I die I shall find the Lord,
And ask Him if it's true."

The classes were called without her,
And the schooldays come and go,
And other children wonder and wait--
It is hers alone to know.

Sometimes, in the empty schoolroom,
The teacher is left alone
With the echoes that linger about the place
And call from stone to stone.

And, lo, with this world's learning
Before his wondering view,
He goes to his Lord--his all-wise Lord,
And asks Him if it's true.

--From Child-Study Monthly.

COMETS AND METEORS.

A few evenings later Mary had a wonderful story to tell her brother about some visitors from space who often visit the kingdom of Giant Sun. "They are called comets, or hairy stars, but I rather enjoy calling them 'celestial tramps.'"

"What are they like?" asked Harry.

STORY OF COMETS.

"They usually have a bright golden head, sometimes as large as the earth, and as they approach the sun they adorn themselves with a glittering train millions of miles in length. Some of the comets are regular visitors, and we know just when to expect them; others come, and do not return for hundreds of years, while a few visit the sun never to return again."

"Where do they come from?" asked Harry.

"We scarcely know," replied Mary, "except that it is from outer space, just like tramps on earth. We do not know where tramps come from, nor do we expect to see them again. If they do revisit us, however, we can usually recognize them. Do you remember the old man who came to the kitchen door the other day and begged for food? You felt so sorry for him. You would know him if you saw him again on account of his long white beard, white hair, and shabby clothes.

"When a celestial tramp returns, however, it is not so easy to recognize it. When it first greeted us it may have had a large head and a gorgeous train millions of miles in length. Next time we see it, how it has changed! Its head may be small, its train may have vanished, or it may be the proud owner of three or four trains. A comet usually changes its appearance at every visit. Just as if the old man we saw the other day were to cut off his beard, dye his hair black, and wear Uncle Robert's dress-suit. We should not know him, should we, Harry?"

"I should think not," said Harry, laughing at the very idea. "Then how can you tell when the same comet visits us again?"

"Because it has a regular path marked out for it in the sky," replied Mary, "and it travels along that path unless something happens to it on the way. It may go too near giant planet Jupiter. Just like our tramp again. Let us suppose he has a regular path marked out and it takes him across Uncle Robert's farm and leads to our kitchen door. We may expect to see Mr. Tramp to-morrow, but as he crosses the farm a dog bites him and frightens him away. Perhaps then we may not see him again."

"Poor old man," laughed Harry. "I hope that won't happen to him. Do the 'celestial tramps' travel very quickly through the sky?"

"Not very quickly until they come close to the sun. Then they rush around it ever so much faster than an express train; but as they recede from the sun they go more slowly until they seem only to creep along, as if worn out by their long journey. They also lose their trains after they go away from the sun, and the train becomes shorter and shorter, till the comet looks like a round, fluffy ball, just as it did before it came too near the sun. It is the sun's heat that drives the particles from the head of the comet and forms a train."

"What are comets made of?" asked Harry.

"Of millions of tiny little particles covered with coats of glowing gas. These particles are made up of carbon, sodium, iron, and magnesium. You will find plenty of sodium in the sea, while common table salt is partly sodium. You know what magnesium is. Some of that medicine doctor gives you is made of it."

"So if I get some iron and salt and coal and some of my medicine, and put them all together, I should have a bit of a comet," said Harry.

"But you must remember the coal, iron, sodium, and magnesium must be very much heated, and don't forget the coat of gas. Sometimes a comet breaks into pieces, and the fragments travel along by themselves as meteors."

"Sometimes the earth plunges through swarms of meteors, which journey in regular paths around the sun. At such a time, the bright masses seem to fall in showers from the sky. There are three great showers which we always know when to expect. Some come in August, some on the 13th or 14th of November, and there is another shower which always appears within a day or two of the 27th of November.

"'If you November's stars would see,
From twelfth to fourteenth watching be,
In August too stars shine from heaven,
On nights between nine and eleven.'"

STORY OF METEORS.

"What are meteors?" asked Harry.

"Meteors are great masses of stone or iron which sometimes weigh several tons. Lieutenant Peary found one not long ago in the Arctic regions, and it weighed about eighty tons. It is lucky for us that many meteors do not fall on the earth, or we should have to walk about with iron umbrellas over our heads as a protection. When they do fall on earth, they are much prized and placed in our museums as curiosities.

"A story is told about a meteor that fell on a farm some time ago. The landlord said it belonged to him, for when he rented the farm to the tenant he claimed all minerals and metals found in the ground.

"'But it was not on the farm when the lease was made out,' said the tenant.

"'Then I claim it as flying game,' replied the landlord angrily.

"'But it has neither wings nor feathers, so I lay claim to it as ground game,' said the tenant in reply.

"While the dispute was going on the custom-house officers seized the meteorite, because, as they said, it had come into the country without paying duty."

"That is not a true story, is it?" asked Harry, laughing.

"Scarcely," replied Mary; "but it was a good joke on the landlord. And now we come to the very smallest members of the family of Giant Sun. I mean the shooting stars."

"Those bright little flying stars we can see at night?" asked Harry.

STORY OF A SHOOTING STAR.

"Yes," replied Mary; "and if they could only talk, what a wonderful story they would have to tell! A shooting star is very much smaller than a meteor, and the largest does not weigh more than a quarter of an ounce. You could easily hold one in your hand, for it is like a small stone, only, unlike a stone, it is always on the move. It hurries along through space ever so much faster than an express train, and all goes well as long as it keeps above the blanket of air that surrounds the earth. If it comes too near, however, it is sure to be destroyed. It dashes into the air at the rate of twenty-five miles a second, rubbing against every particle it meets on its way. This makes it intensely hot, until it glows with brilliant light. We see it for a few moments as it flashes out against the dark sky; but the light soon fades and all that remains of the shooting star is its ashes. Sometimes they sift down upon the earth and settle on the tops of high mountains, or sink into the ocean, or float in through an open window and rest upon tables and books as fine dust. But when our good housekeeper finds it there she carefully removes it with her duster. She does not know nor does she care where it came from; it certainly has no right there, and she treats it with small ceremony."

"I wonder what she would say if she knew that the dust had come from the sky," said Harry.

"I do not think it would make any difference," said Mary, laughing. "And now I am going to tell you a little story about a shooting star, and then I must say good-night.

"It is said that the evil genii--you remember reading about them in the Arabian Nights, don't you, Harry?"

"Indeed I do," he replied.

"Well, at night they are said to fly up to the gates of heaven and listen to the conversation of the angels. When the angels see their hidden foes, they hurl fiery shooting stars at them and with so good an aim that for every shooting star we may be sure there is one spirit of evil less in the world."

STARLIGHT AT SEA.

Overhead the countless stars
Like eyes of love were beaming,
Underneath the weary Earth
All breathless lay a-dreaming.

The twilight hours like birds flew by,
As lightly and as free;
Ten thousand stars were in the sky,
Ten thousand in the sea.

For every wave with dimpled face
That leaped upon the air
Had caught a star in its embrace
And held it trembling there.

--Amelia B. Welby.

STORIES OF THE SUMMER STARS.

It was a glorious night in June, and the stars sparkled like gems against the dark background of the sky.

Harry was enjoying the scene, as the doctor had allowed him to spend the warm summer evenings out on the lawn in front of the house. This was a royal treat to him. He could see all the sky at once, he said to his sister, and could look at the stars while she told him stories about them. First of all, there was the Great Dipper in the North, and the Little Dipper with the Pole Star. He was surprised when his sister said that the Great Dipper formed part of the group of stars known as the Great Bear, and he listened intently while she related the story as told in olden times by the Grecians.

LEGENDS OF THE GREAT BEAR.

"The Great Bear was said to be Calisto, the beautiful daughter of Lycaon, king of Arcadia. Juno, the wife of Jupiter, was jealous of Calisto, and threatened to destroy her beauty. Fearing that Juno would harm her, Jupiter changed her into a bear.

"'Her arms grow shaggy and deformed with hair,
Her nails are sharpened into pointed claws,
Her hands bear half her weight, and turn to paws;
Her lips, that once could tempt a god, begin
To grow distorted in an ugly grin;
And, lest the supplicating brute might reach
The ears of Jove, she was deprived of speech.'

"Calisto had a son named Arcas, who became a great hunter. One day he roused a bear in the chase, and, not knowing that it was his mother, was about to kill her, when Jupiter, taking pity on them both, changed Arcas into the Little Bear."

"Who was Jupiter?" asked Harry.

"In the olden times, he was supposed to live on the top of Mount Olympus, with his beautiful wife Juno. When Jupiter was angry with people, it is said he would hurl thunderbolts at them, and when he was pleased he placed them after death among the stars."

"So he was pleased with Calisto and her son?" said Harry.

"So the story says," replied Mary. "But he also seemed to be afraid of his jealous wife Juno.

"A modern Greek legend gives another account of this constellation or group of stars. It is supposed that at one time the sky was made of glass and it touched the earth on both sides. It was soft and thin, and someone nailed a bear skin upon it, and the nails became stars; and the tail is represented by the three bright stars known as the handle of the Great Dipper.

"Another story is told about a princess who was turned into a bear on account of her pride in rejecting all suitors. For this her skin was nailed to the sky as a warning to other proud maidens.

"Would you like to hear what the Indians tell about the Great Bear?" asked Mary.

"Indeed I should," replied Harry. "I had no idea the Indians looked at the stars."

"They spend so much time on the open plains that they cannot help noticing them," said Mary; "and they tell many strange legends about them. The Iroquois Indians tell the following story about the Great Bear, which must have seemed like a Bear to them, just as it did to the Grecians.

"Once upon a time a party of hunters who were in pursuit of a bear were suddenly attacked by three monster stone giants who destroyed all but three of them. These, together with the bear, were carried up to the sky by invisible hands. The bear is still being pursued by the first hunter with his bow, the second hunter carries a kettle, and the third is carrying sticks wherewith to light a fire when the bear is killed. Only in the autumn does the hunter pierce the bear with an arrow, and it is said that it is the dripping blood that tinges the autumn foliage."

"I like that story," said Harry. "Don't you know another bear story?"

"I can tell you one," replied his sister, "that is told by the Fox Indians of Louisiana. In the days of long ago the Indians believed that the trees were able to walk about at night and talk to each other. One dark night as a bear was wandering homeward through a lonely wood, he was very much surprised to see the trees walking about, nodding their heads and whispering to each other.

"At first Mr. Bear thought it was only the wind; but where he saw a mighty oak before him, the next moment it was far behind him or on the other side of the road. Presently he happened to run against a tree. It was the oak, the lord of trees. The oak was angry and reached out one of its long branches and grabbed the bear by the tail. The bear struggled all night long to get away, and at last the oak, losing all patience, gave his tail a final twist and hurled him up into the sky. They say his tail was stretched in the struggle."

STORIES OF THE GREAT DIPPER.

"That is a funny story," said Harry, enjoying the account of Mr. Bear. "Are there any stories about the Great Dipper? I wonder why it is called the 'Dipper'?"

"Because it is supposed to look like a dipper," replied Mary. "You can see the four large stars representing the dipper and the three stars that form the handle. It is known as the 'Saucepan' in the South of France, and in other parts of France it is called the 'Chariot of David.' In England it is called the 'Plow' and sometimes 'Charles's Wain.' That means wagon. In Italy it is known as the 'Car of Bootes.' Bootes was supposed to be an ox-driver and inventor of the plow--the Dipper. One day the driver, oxen, and plow were suddenly lifted off the earth and placed in the sky. You can see Bootes now, and in front of him are the seven stars of the Great Dipper, which he must drive around the Pole Star for all eternity.

"A pretty story is told of a peasant who met our Saviour near the shores of Galilee and gave Him a ride in his wagon. As a reward he was offered a home in heaven; but he preferred to drive his wagon from east to west for all eternity, and his wish was granted. There stands his wagon in the sky, and the brightest of the three stars is called 'The Rider.'

"In North Germany 'The Rider' is supposed to start out on his journey before midnight, and to return twenty-four hours later, his wagon turning round with a great noise. He urges on his horses with loud cries of 'hi! he!' which it is said have sometimes been heard by lucky mortals."

"Hush, sister," said Harry softly; "let us see if we can hear him now."

"No, you could only hear him at midnight," replied his sister--"that is, if the story were true."

"It is only like a fairy story, then?" asked Harry.

"All these stories are fairy stories," replied Mary; "and here is another.

"A Basque legend relates that a certain husbandman had two oxen stolen from him by two wicked thieves. He sent his laborer after them, but he did not return. Then he sent his housekeeper, and his dog, and finally he decided to go after the thieves himself. He was so angry that he lost his temper, and in punishment for the remarks he made he was condemned to continue his search through the sky for all eternity. There you can see him now. The two oxen are the first two stars, then follow the two thieves, and lastly the two servants, the husbandman, and the little dog."

"Where is the little dog?" asked Harry.

"Look at the three stars in the handle of the Dipper," replied Mary. "Now look at the middle star, and if you have good eyes you can see a little star close beside it. Here, look through this opera-glass and you can see it better."

"I see it now," said Harry, as he looked through the glasses. "So that is the little dog?"

"Yes," replied his sister; "and the Arabians gave it the name of Alcor."

"Dear little Alcor," said Harry, as he continued looking at him, "I am going to look for you every evening now, because I can see the Great Dipper from my window."

"So you can," replied Mary; "I forgot that it faced north.

"The American Indians tell a quaint story about the Little Dipper. Would you like to hear it?"

"If you are not tired, sister," said Harry.

"You will get tired first, for I enjoy telling you these stories, if they amuse you, dear. Well, here is one that I came across some years ago among a collection of Indian legends.

"Once upon a time a party of Indians went out hunting in a strange country and lost their way. They wandered about for many moons."

"What does that mean?" asked Harry.

"I suppose they did not know anything about our months, so they counted from full moon to full moon. This shows how much they observe the sky. But, as I was saying, they wandered about for many moons, and at last the chiefs decided to hold a council and pray to the gods to show them the way home. During the dance that preceded the council, while the flames of burnt offerings were ascending to the gods, a little child appeared suddenly in their midst and said she had been sent as their guide.

"She said she was the Spirit of the Pole Star, and that if they followed where it led them they would reach their home in the far North. The hunters thanked the child, and following her advice they soon reached home. Here they held another council, and decided to call the Pole Star, 'the star which never moves,' by which name it is known among these Indians to this day.

"When the hunters died it is said they were taken up to the sky, and we can see them still following the Pole Star. The hunters are supposed to be the stars that form the Little Dipper."

"They are smaller than the stars of the Great Dipper," said Harry, "and the dipper is smaller, but I can see it quite well. And what are the stars between the two Dippers?"

STORY OF THE DRAGON.

"They curve in and out like a great dragon," said Mary; "and two bright stars mark its eyes."

"Yes, it does look something like a dragon," said Harry. "What is its name?"

"It is called the Dragon, as that was the name given to it by the Grecians long ago. This was supposed to be the dragon that Juno placed as guardian of a tree covered with golden apples. No one dared to touch the tree while the dread monster was there. But a brave man named Hercules was not afraid, and killed the dragon. To reward it for guarding the tree Juno placed it among the stars.

"See the two bright stars that mark the eyes of the Dragon, and quite close to it is Hercules, represented in the olden maps as crushing the head of the dragon under his foot. Bootes, who drives the Great Bear around the Pole Star, is very near Hercules. There you can see him, with his hunting dogs."

"Where, sister? I cannot see him," said Harry.

"Look right overhead, and to the west you will see Bootes with a very bright star; and to the east is Hercules, or the Kneeler, as he is sometimes called. Now, in between there is a pretty little half-circle of stars like a crown. This is called the Northern Crown."

STORIES OF THE NORTHERN CROWN.

"I can see that very well," replied Harry, "for it is exactly overhead, and I cannot help seeing Hercules and the Bear-driver. They are large enough," he continued, laughing. "Why are the little stars called the Northern Crown?"

"This was supposed to be a beautiful crown of seven stars given by Bacchus to Ariadne, the daughter of Minos, second king of Crete.

"'Her crown among the stars he placed,
And with an eternal constellation grac'd,
The golden circlet mounts, and as it flies
Its diamonds twinkle in the distant skies.'

"There is a pretty legend told about it by the Shawnee Indians. They call this group of stars the 'Celestial Sisters,' on account of the story, which is as follows:

"White Hawk was a great hunter, handsome, tall, and strong. One day, while wandering through the forest in search of game, he suddenly found himself on the borders of a prairie. It was covered with grass, and flowers, and a ring was worn through the grass, without any path leading to or from it. White Hawk was surprised at this, so he hid behind some bushes and watched.

"'Soon he heard, high in the heavens,
Issuing from the feathery clouds,
Sounds of music, quick descending,
As if angels came in crowds.'