Part 7

"I expect they will all die," said Harry wisely; "because you know, Nellie, they can't live out of water. Can they?"

"Or else that fish Uncle Robert caught would have lived," said Nellie. "But please tell us a story about Mercury, Cousin Mary, and the other little planets."

"Well, Mercury is a very little planet, and instead of taking a year of three hundred and sixty-five days, it goes around the sun in eighty-eight days. That is, it goes round the sun four times while we go round it only once. Some think Mercury always keeps the same side turned to the sun, so that it is always day on one side and night on the other, but we are not quite sure about this yet."

"I should like to live on Mercury, wouldn't you, Harry?" said Nellie, clapping her hands with glee. "Just think of day all the time, and never having to go to sleep!"

"But you would get very tired of that," said Mary, "and long for the night to come. 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."

STORY OF PLANET VENUS.

"What a pretty name," said Nellie; "and is Venus very warm, like Mercury?"

"It is not so near to the sun," replied Mary, "but it is about twice as warm and bright as our planet. 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."

ESTELLE'S ASTRONOMY.

BY DELIA HART STONE.

Our little Estelle Was perplexed when she found That this wonderful world That we live on is round.

How 'tis held in its place In its orbit so true Was a puzzle to her, With no answer in view.

"It must be," said Estelle, "Like a ball in the air That is hung by a string; But the string isn't there!"

--St. Nicholas, March, 1896.

VENUS.

Fairest of stars, last in the train of night, If better thou belong not to the dawn, Sure pledge of day, that crown'st the smiling morn With thy bright circlet.

--Milton.

THE EVENING STAR.

Lo! in the painted oriel of the West, Whose panes the sunken sun incarnadines, Like a fair lady at her casement, shines The evening star, the star of love and rest! And then anon she doth herself divest Of all her radiant garments, and reclines Behind the somber screen of yonder pines, With slumber and soft dreams of love oppressed.

O my beloved, my sweet Hesperus! My morning and my evening star of love! My best and gentlest lady! even thus, As that fair planet in the sky above, Dost thou retire unto thy rest at night, And from thy darkened window fades the light.

--Longfellow.

MERCURY.

First, Mercury, amid full tides of light, Rolls next the sun, through his small circle bright; Our earth would blaze beneath so fierce a ray, And all its marble mountains melt away. 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.

A RAMBLE ON THE MOON.