Part 15

"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.