Mary Proctor

“ 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. ”

“ And, besides, would you not miss seeing the moon and the beautiful stars?"
"I would live on the edge of Mercury," said Harry thoughtfully, "so that when I was tired of day I might slip around it and have night. It must be very cold on the other side, where the sun does not shine, if Mercury gets all its heat from the sun."
"I suspect it is," said Mary, "and I don't believe we should like to live on Mercury, after all; so let us try the next planet, which is called Venus." ”

“ 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 [99] they would seem to move at all, yet we know they are moving." ”

“ According to a Swedish legend, there once lived on earth two mortals who loved each other. When they died they were doomed to dwell on different stars, far, far apart. But, 'as they sat and listened to the music of the spheres,' they thought of building a bridge of light that should reach from star to star, till it spanned the distance separating them from each other. ”

“ COMPARATIVE SIZE OF THE PLANETS.
"Yes, dear," replied his sister; "only some planets, like Jupiter and Saturn, are still wrapped up in a blanket of clouds and steam, and we cannot see them yet. They are very hot indeed, and all the water that will make the oceans and seas and bays is now steam and clouds hiding the true planet from view. Water could no more rest on the surface of the planets Jupiter and Saturn than it could rest on red-hot iron. Don't you remember, the other day, when nurse upset a cup of water on the hot stove, how the water sizzled and turned into steam in a moment? ”

“ 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. ”

“ Venus is nearly as large as the earth, and sometimes she is called her twin sister.
"Like Mercury, she may probably always turn the same face to the sun, and get baked on one side and frozen on the other. She looks like a beautiful silver globe in the sky. Sometimes we see her early in the morning as a morning star, or just about twilight as an evening star. Like Mercury and the earth, she borrows all her light from the sun. We only see her because the sun is shining on her. Next to Venus is our own planet, earth, and around it circles the moon, but I must tell you about that another time." ”

“ There are other stars so far away that light takes hundreds of years in coming here. Perhaps they faded out long ago, but the message is still on its way. It does seem strange to think of people who may be living on distant worlds in space, watching our little world, but we need not fear. The earth is so small that it could not be seen at all, even from the nearest star. At that distance Giant Sun would not look quite as bright as Sirius does to us, and giant Planet Jupiter would only appear as a faint speck of light near the sun. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ But imagine heat so great that masses of iron and copper are not only melted but turned into vapor. Then you have some idea of the intense heat that prevails on the stars. The rains that fall on earth are made up of drops of water, but the rainfalls on the stars must be drops of melting iron, while the clouds that form are sheets of molten metal. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Fair Venus next fulfills her larger round,
With softer beams and milder glory crowned;
Friend to mankind, she glitters from afar,
Now the bright evening, now the morning star.
—Baker.
[49]
A RAMBLE ON THE MOON.
The moon was shining brightly and flooding Harry's room with its rays. He was suffering so very much, and had tried in vain to sleep. Presently he asked his nurse if she would not let Mary come and talk to him. "It will not tire me," he begged earnestly; "and it does tire me to lie here hour after hour with no one to talk to." ”

“ 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. ”

“ Our little universe is like an island in space. There are other islands like our own, with their millions of stars and star-clusters and star-mist, passing through the periods of youth, middle age, old age, and decay. Our little universe is not eternal. It cannot last forever, but as long as it does we should feel glad that we are here to enjoy it.
"Now, Harry, I really think we have had quite a long ramble in starland for one evening, and I believe two little stars I know need a rest."
"They are a little tired," said Harry, smiling; "two little worn-out stars, sister ”

“ If you look at [161] the Pleiades through your opera glass you will see quite a number of little stars, and if you could see it through the large telescope at the Lick Observatory you would be able to count hundreds of stars. When the cluster had its photograph taken, not long ago, six thousand stars were counted, so you might call the Pleiades a 'ball of suns.' There are hundreds of these clusters, or 'family parties,' in the sky—mighty regiments marching across the star-depths."
"What do you mean, sister?" asked Harry in surprise.
"All the stars are moving," replied his sister. ”

“ 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. ”

“ One day when White Hawk was out hunting she made a silver basket and, taking it to the fairy ring, she stepped into it, while she sang a magic chant. White Hawk was returning home across the fields just as the basket rose above the tops of the trees, and, hearing the music, he knew what had happened.
"But his wife did not forget him, and her father sent for him and invited him to come to the sky, where he is now one of the bright stars shining near the Northern Crown."
THE NORTHERN CROWN, AND BOOTES, THE BEAR-DRIVER.
"That must be the brightest star in Bootes," said Harry. ”

“ Just like the central ball, the planet kept whirling around, threw off a ring, the ring broke up into little pieces, and the pieces, coming together, made a little moon. The planet is Neptune, and it still has only one moon. Meanwhile the ball in the center kept whirling around, other rings formed other planets with their attendant moons, completing the family of Giant Sun. ”

“ The Sun is in the center and his planets circle around him. Next to him is playful little Mercury, then beautiful Venus, then our own planet Earth. Beyond it, we find ruddy Mars, the four hundred and fifty baby planets, giant planet Jupiter, the ringed planet Saturn, and the last two planets, Uranus and Neptune. All these planets are under the control of the sun, and cannot get away from him. ”

“ The stars at these points in space seem to be actually growing out of the star-mist now surrounding them. I shall show you to-morrow some fine photographs Professor Barnard has [137] taken of the Milky Way where you can see this star-mist in the background of the stars.
"According to a French legend, the stars in the Milky Way are lights held by angel-spirits to show us the way to heaven. The Grecians called the Milky Way the road to the palace of heaven. On the road stand the palaces of the illustrious gods, while the common people of the skies live on either side of them. ”

“ Perseus had cut off the heads of one of these terrible beings, and when he saw the monster approaching Andromeda, he turned the head which he still held in his hand toward it, and in a moment it turned to stone.
"As a reward for his bravery, he was placed after his death among the stars, and near the fair Andromeda. He still holds the head in his hand, [154] and a star named Algol, or the Demon, as the Arabs call it, marks the evil eye. Sometimes it is bright, but in a few hours it will grow dim, as though winking at the people on earth. ”

“ 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 [112] a stone, it is always on the move. ”

“ Even the Algonquin Indians had something to say about it, for they believed that it was the 'Path of Souls' leading to the villages in the sun. As the spirits travel along the pathway, their blazing camp-fires may be seen as bright stars. ”

“ You would never know that you had burned it, for the pain of burning would be one hundred and fifty years going along your little finger, and down your giant arm nearly ninety-three millions of miles long, before it at last reached your brain. ”

“ There are young stars and old stars, and even the star that gives us light and heat will grow cold and dead some [176] day, and not warm its planets any longer. But that will be millions of years hence, long after we are dead and gone. ”

“ 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 [109] to fall in showers from the sky. ”

“ The stars are made of iron, copper, zinc, and other such metals, but the heat is so intense that these metals are turned into vapor. You have seen the steam coming from the spout of a kettle when water is boiling, and you know then that the water is scalding hot. ”