Chapter II: Part 2

"When we have found _Capricornus_ the sea goat," said Uncle Henry, "it is easy to find _Aquarius_ or the water carrier. Just prolong the line that connects the goat's right foot with his tail until it runs close to a little triangle of three stars with another in the centre. (19) It looks a little like the head of the Serpent we found squirming in _Ophiuchus'_ hands, but it is the water-jar _Aquarius_ is carrying."

"Oh, I see it," cried Paul.

The other stars in _Aquarius_ were soon found and represented by pebbles. Then Uncle Henry drew the outline that finished the Water-Carrier, like this:

"Now we're all through?" inquired Betty.

"Until next Christmas," smiled back Uncle Henry.

"Can't we have just one more poem?" teased Paul.

"What shall it be about?" asked Uncle Henry, with the air of a man who could write a poem to order on any subject.

"One about the lovely swan," commanded Betty, "you haven't made one up about the swan."

Uncle Henry was in a quandary; he wanted to please everybody with the last poem. He lay down on his back and looked up at the sky for so long that the children thought he must have fallen asleep. Finally Uncle Henry began to recite,

"The eagle of Starland
Got tired of his tree,
And challenged the swan to a race.

'Come up from the water!
Fly up and be free!
To northward I'll beat you a chase.'

The swan thought of shivers
And icebergs and frost--
He made up his mind to race South.

So they are still flying--
Their race can't be lost--
Till Gabriel blows with his mouth."

"What'll Gabriel blow?" inquired Peter when the hand-clapping had stopped.

"His trumpet, of course, silly!" answered Betty for Uncle Henry.

Just then the children heard a toot from an automobile horn that they all recognized, and the Society of Star-Gazers raced with Uncle Henry back up to "Seven Oaks Cottage."

"Sister" and "the Children's Father" had come back from their trip and had surprised everybody.

The summer sessions of the Society were over.

FIRST WINTER EVENING

THE "SOCIETY" LEARNS WHY ORION NEEDS A CLUB TO KEEP FRISKY
TAURUS IN ORDER--AND WHY WE SAY "BY JIMINI!" WHEN WE GET
EXCITED

Uncle Henry came, as he had promised, to spend his Christmas holidays with "Sister," "the Children's Father," Peter, Paul and Betty, in their city apartment.

The children's hope for fair weather in Christmas week was not disappointed either. The days were snowy and sunny and the nights frosty and clear.

Only one thing had worried the "Society of Star-Gazers"--what was to take the place of the smooth sand of the beach when Uncle Henry should begin to point out the sky people that were visible in the winter sky? There were pebbles, it was true, on the flat roof of the apartment house, but there was no sand.

The children were certain, however, that Uncle Henry would find a way, as he always did, and sure enough, when he arrived he brought, as one of his Christmas gifts to the children, a wonderful blackboard, an easel to stand it upon, and plenty of white chalk.

After dinner on the first night of Uncle Henry's visit, the Society of Star-Gazers was bundled up in warm coats and mufflers and he led the way to the roof, carrying the blackboard and his pocket electric flashlight.

Far above the lights of the city arched the great, blue-black bowl of the sky, filled with the sparkling patterns of stars that the children had learned to know as steadfast, unchanging friends.

"Uncle Henry," said Betty, "you've told us about enough animals to really fill a Noah's ark, but we've never heard anything about Noah himself. Isn't there any Mr. Noah in the sky?"

"Well, Betty," said Uncle Henry, "There isn't any constellation that's named for Noah, but he was a great hunter, and since there is a great hunter in the sky, we can call him Noah if we want to, even if his last name is _Orion_."

"Noah O'Ryan!" laughed Paul. "I know a boy named Michael O'Ryan."

"It's not the same spelling," said Uncle Henry, as he turned the flashlight on the blackboard while he wrote the word upon it, and underneath, made three large chalk dots, like this:

"Find those three stars," said Uncle Henry, "and you will have the _belt of Orion_. It ought not to be hard to find them, for there are no other stars like them anywhere in the whole sky. Those three stars have always attracted a lot of attention from people in all times and countries. In the Bible Job calls them 'the bands of Orion'; the Arabs called them 'the Golden Nuts'; the fierce Masai Tribe in Africa call them 'the three old men'; the ancient Chinese named Orion 'Tsan,' which means 'three'; and to the Eskimos these three stars appear to be the three steps that a Starland Eskimo cuts in a snowbank when he wants to climb to the top of it."

The children soon found _Orion's_ belt about a third of the way up the southeastern sky.

"Now," said Uncle Henry, "see who can find his shoulders first. Here is a piece of chalk for each of you. Put the shoulders in as soon as you see them."

Paul found _Orion's_ right shoulder, and Betty his left, and made large chalk dots to show how bright and beautiful the stars that mark the shoulders are.

"Oh, I see his feet!" exclaimed Betty delightedly.

"Put them in then," said Uncle Henry.

Then _Orion_ looked like this on the blackboard:

"I'll tell you this much more," said Uncle Henry, "and then you must finish _Orion_ by yourselves. He has a great club, raised, ready to strike, in his right hand, and he holds a lion's skin on his left arm, as a shield."

"What's he going to hit at?" inquired Peter, with his boy's joy in battle uppermost.

"At _Taurus_, the wild bull," said Uncle Henry. "You can see that _Taurus_ is very fierce, and would enjoy nothing better than to chase the twin star boys round and round the sky. He might not really want to hurt the boys, whose names are _Castor_ and _Pollux_, but _Taurus'_ horns are very sharp and he doesn't know how to play gently, so it keeps _Orion_ pretty busy getting between him and _Gemini_ and threatening the bull with his club."

"What's 'jimini,' Uncle Hen?" said Paul. "Sounds like our swear word."

"It _is_ the origin of it," said Uncle Henry. "The ancient Romans used to swear 'by _Gemini_,' and it has slowly been changed into your 'jimini.' _Gemini_ is the Latin word that means 'twins.' We'll find them after we finish up _Orion_ and _Taurus_, and then you'll see just how _Orion_ keeps protecting them from the bull."

"Hurry up, Uncle Hen!" urged Peter. "I'm dreadful excited!"

Uncle Henry did, and as a result _Orion_ looked like this:

"Ooh! he's got a sword, too!" cried Paul, as Uncle Henry added the three tiny stars below _Orion's_ belt, and drew the outline around them.

"Why didn't he use the sword on _Taurus_?" asked Peter.

"Because he knew _Taurus_ was only playing in his rough way," Uncle Henry replied.

"Well, we've heard a lot about that bull," said Betty. "Let's find him right away."

Uncle Henry said nothing, but took the chalk from Betty and drew a light line from _Orion's_ right foot to his left shoulder, and continued it upward about the same distance. (20)

"There," he said, "that point is just between the bull's horns and over his right eye. The right eye of _Taurus_ is a very bright star called _Aldebaran_. Anybody see it?"

"Oh, I do!" said Paul. "What, hasn't _Taurus_ any left eye, Uncle Hen?"

"He has," said Uncle Henry, "but he has it closed just now. He's winking it at _Orion_ as much as to say, 'Oh, I act fierce, but I wouldn't hurt those twins after all. I'm just playing.' Go ahead and put in the stars for the bull's head and horns as fast as you find them, youngsters."

The children did, and when Uncle Henry had showed them the fore legs and shoulder, which contains the beautiful little group of faint stars called the _Pleiades_, _Taurus_ looked like this:

"Now we want the twins!" cried Betty.

"All right," said Uncle Henry, "follow a line straight up the bull's left horn and a little more than the length of the horn beyond its tip and you will reach _Castor_, the head of the fainter twin." (21)

Peter and Paul began to show great interest, because they were twins themselves. They demanded that each be allowed to select one of the sky children and finish him completely, without Uncle Henry's assistance.

Paul, having first choice because he was twenty minutes younger than Peter, selected _Pollux_, and Peter had to be contented with the less bright _Castor_.

It was not a difficult task for either of the boys, after finding the twin star _Castor_, for the head of _Pollux_ is quite close beside it and the bodies of both star children stand side by side, with the feet just above _Orion's_ uplifted club.

When _Gemini_, the twins, were finished, the blackboard looked like this, and since the children's fingers were so stiff with the cold that they could hardly hold the chalk, Uncle Henry moved that the Society of Star-Gazers adjourn until the next evening.

SECOND WINTER EVENING

IN WHICH THE DOGS OF ORION AND GEMINI FOLLOW THEIR MASTERS,
PEGASUS ESCAPES AS USUAL, AND ANDROMEDA GETS A NICE SOFT BED
OF HAY IN PLACE OF HER HARD OLD ROCK

"Uncle Hen," said Peter, when the Society was assembled round the blackboard, in overcoats and mittens, on the following night, "what is that very bright star that is down behind _Orion_? It looks sort of important to me."

"Right you are, Pete," answered Uncle Henry, looking where the boy pointed, "it _is_ important. It is the star _Sirius_, the brightest star in the whole sky. We'll begin with it and find _Orion's_ dog, or _Canis Major_, which is Latin for 'bigger dog.'"

"That's great!" exclaimed Paul, "you told us last Summer that we'd find him this Christmas-time."

"So I did," agreed Uncle Henry. "Well, you can always find _Orion's_ dog by drawing a line through _Orion's_ belt and extending it behind him until it meets _Sirius_. (22) You can't miss it because it's so bright. Everybody see it?"

Everybody did.

"Now," went on Uncle Henry, "extend the line that came from _Orion's_ belt, curving it slightly downward after it passes through _Sirius_, and you will have the dog's backbone. Put in the chalk dots as we find the stars, Pete. Now draw lines upward and downward from _Sirius_, at right angles to the backbone line and you will have the dog's forelegs and ears. At a point on the backbone about twice the length of the foreleg from _Sirius_, you will find another fairly bright star, and below it a little way another star. Connect these two and keep on with the line, at right angles to the backbone, and you will find one hind foot. The other is not far in front of it. Yes, that's right, Betty, there's a star in the tip of his tail, too. And the three stars near _Sirius_ make _Canis Major's_ nose."

The children soon finished the skeleton and Uncle Henry took the chalk and put the flesh upon it. Then the dog of _Orion_ looked like this:

"He's a faithful old fellow, isn't he?" said Betty, "to always follow Mr. _Orion_ around like that?"

"I'm not always sure," said Uncle Henry, "whether the dog of _Orion_ would always be so faithful if it wasn't for the rabbit that is always just ahead of him, almost under _Orion's_ feet."

"Oh, show us the rabbit!" cried Betty. Her father had promised her that when they all went to live in a house in the country, she should have a pair of them for her very own.

"All right, Betty," said Uncle Henry. "You can find _Lepus_, the rabbit, yourself. The three rather faint stars just below _Orion's_ right foot make the curve of his back. Join them together with a curved line and extend it forward and downward until it passes through two brighter stars. The lowest of these is in the fore-shoulder of the rabbit. Now draw lines backward from both of these brighter stars, at about right angles to the line that joins them, and you will find the rabbit's hind hip and hind foot. He is lying down for a moment to rest. You see he's been galloping away from _Canis Major_ for such a long time that he is tired."

"Poor little rabbit!" cried Betty, and her little face looked so pitiful in the light of the electric torch that Uncle Henry hastened to reassure her by saying that the big dog had never yet caught the rabbit, and by the very nature of things never could. Then she took heart to go on putting in the stars.

"Now," said Uncle Henry, "you can find the star in the rabbit's eye by drawing a line forward from the upper one of the brighter stars, and the star in his fore-foot by drawing another forward and downward from his fore-shoulder. That finishes his skeleton, all except his ears. They are made by finding four faint stars just under _Orion's_ left foot, and using two of them in each ear."

"Now can I draw his outline in, too?" asked Betty. "I want to make every bit of him myself."

"Of course you can!" exclaimed Uncle Henry indulgently.

"You've got to let me make all of the horse, then, when we come to him!" exclaimed Peter.

"In just a little while, Pete," said Uncle Henry, "we're making the rabbit now."

"All right," agreed Peter.

Betty had looked longingly at rabbits in pet stores so often that she really did very well at drawing the outline of the sky-rabbit.

We leave it to you to better it. You can't--unless you love rabbits more than she did.

Betty's brothers were quite astonished, and pleased the little girl immensely by clapping their hands when the rabbit was finished.

"Now let me do the horse!" demanded Peter.

"What'll be left for me to do?" inquired Paul wistfully, "if you let Pete do the horse?"

"That'll be all right, Paul," reassured Uncle Henry, "the sky horse is very large, but we'll give you two smaller animals to do yourself to make up for him--_Aries_, the ram, and _Canis Minor_, the smaller dog."

"Fine," agreed Paul. "I know all 'bout rams."

The children laughed gleefully. Paul had been butted over once by a ram when they were on a summer visit to their grandfather's farm.

"Well, Pete," said Uncle Henry briskly, "you'll find _Pegasus_, the horse, grazing clear on the other side of the star field. Somebody built a box stall for him over there, but he's so big and strong that he doesn't stay in it except when he feels like it. He's all the time leaping the fence and escaping. When you find him, you'll see that he's doing that very thing now. In fact, you'll catch him right in the act!"

"Oh, let's hurry then!" said Peter, "he might be out before we see him do it!"

"Everybody find the big dipper," directed Uncle Henry. "You remember how we found the pole star in the tip of the little bear's tail by drawing a line up through the 'pointer stars' of the dipper's bowl, on the side away from the handle? Well, do that again now, and follow the line through the pole star, passing behind _Cassiopeia_ in her chair, and continuing until your line passes through two fairly bright stars quite a distance apart. (23) A line connecting these stars marks the top edge of _Pegasus'_ box stall, which is called 'the square of _Pegasus_.'"

"_Cassiopeia_ is about halfway between the pole star and _Pegasus_. A line drawn from the pole star through the back of _Cassiopeia's_ chair will reach the two stars that form the lower corners of _Pegasus'_ box stall." (24)

"Oh, I see the square now," said Peter.

"Me, too," said Paul.

"It's very big, isn't it?" said Betty.

"Yes," agreed Uncle Henry, "and _Pegasus_ is big, too. He is upside down just now, with his head just above the western horizon. His nose points northward toward _Delphinus_ and his neck curves up from the side of the box stall that's away from the pole star. His fore feet curve up from the side of the square that is toward the pole star, and both feet point toward the swan."

"I see him now," cried Peter, and began putting in the chalk dots and lines for the framework of the box stall and the skeleton of _Pegasus'_ head and forelegs, which are all of him that can be seen. As Uncle Henry said, _Pegasus_ is just in the act of jumping out of his stall.

When Peter had finished drawing _Pegasus_, the horse of poets looked like this. Uncle Henry put in the arrows pointing from the pole star, and the skeletons of _Delphinus_ and the swan.

"It seems to me," observed Paul sagely, "that _Pegasus'_ box stall is a lot too small for him."

"That's why he is all the time jumping out and running away," explained Uncle Henry. "I told you that we should catch him in the act. He's always at it."

"Pete's had his turn; now I want to find the ram and the little dog," said Paul.

"If you'll wait just a little longer," said Uncle Henry, "I'd like to show Betty the last of the sky ladies, because she's right close to _Pegasus_."

Paul's face fell a little, but he said, "Ladies first, of course," as any gentleman would.

"I said she was a lady," said Uncle Henry, "but I'm not so sure that she is acting like one. In fact, she is in an attitude that few ladies would like to be seen in, at least not in the plain view of everybody who looks at the sky."

"What's she doing, Uncle Henry?" inquired Betty, in a tone that said, "I guess it can't be anything so _very_ bad."

Betty was herself fond of climbing trees, in spite of motherly disapproval of such tomboy activities.

"She's lying flat on her back, with her arms and legs sprawled out and her head resting against the corner of _Pegasus'_ box stall. I should think it might be very uncomfortable for her, unless she is lying on a pile of hay, for _Andromeda_ has been there a very long time in the same position. The ancient Greeks said that _Andromeda_ was chained to a rock. Let's not have her that way; it would be so disagreeable."

"She's probably asleep and doesn't notice, but we'll give her the hay," said Betty. "There's nobody to tell her not to lie down where she likes. How do we find her, Uncle Henry?"

"First look for her head," said Uncle Henry. "It is the same star we found forming the lower corner of _Pegasus'_ square on the side toward the pole star. _Andromeda's_ feet are just below the W-shaped _Cassiopeia_. A line drawn from the swan's beak through his tail, and extended across the sky, will reach the stars in the feet. (25) Another line drawn diagonally across the square of _Pegasus_ to _Andromeda's_ head and extended will pass along her body, and farther on, her left foot will be seen just above the line. You see her now, don't you, Betty?"

"Yes," said Betty, "and I think I see her arms."

"All right, draw her in," Uncle Henry encouraged.

Betty did, but didn't think she could draw well enough to outline the sleeping girl, so Uncle Henry did that. Then _Andromeda_ looked like this:

Betty added a few lines to show that _Andromeda_ was lying on a pile of hay, instead of being chained to that hard rock the Greeks insisted upon.

"What is that fuzzy little star just to her right, about at her hip?" asked Paul.

"I'm glad you noticed that," said Uncle Henry. "The astronomers who lived ever so long ago, long before the birth of Christ Jesus, noticed that it looked 'fuzzy,' just as you have, and called it 'the little cloud.' It is now called 'The Great Nebula in _Andromeda_.' If you looked at it through a telescope you would see that it is not one star, but a great many. Some of them, as astronomers who live now tell us, are as large as our sun."

"Ooh, how wonderful!" said Betty softly, and the boys' faces showed that they thought so, too.

"Some night," promised Uncle Henry, "we'll bring up a little telescope and look at 'the little cloud' again. It is a fine sight."

"Now," said Paul after a moment, "please can I find the ram and the little dog?"

"Certainly," said Uncle Henry. "Just as _Canis Major_, the bigger dog, follows _Orion_ and belongs to him, so _Canis Minor_, the littler dog, follows and belongs to the star children, the twins named _Gemini_."

"Ooh!" exclaimed Betty, "just like 'Rags' belongs to Peter and Paul! We'll call the little dog 'Rags' when Paul finds him."

"Fine!" laughed Uncle Henry, "but I warn you that he won't come when you call him as well as the real live 'Rags' answers to his name."

"Where do I start?" inquired Paul, anxious to have his chance to draw.

"At the feet of the twins," directed Uncle Henry. "Draw a line through their feet and extend it away from the feet of _Pollux_, in the direction away from _Taurus_, the bull. (26) At a point about as far away from the foot of _Pollux_ as the height of the twins you will find a bright star, and between it and the foot of _Pollux_ a fainter one. Draw a line to connect them, and you have the little dog's backbone. You can fill in the rest of him any way you like, for those are the only two stars he has in him. I'll tell you one thing, though. The brighter star is at the little dog's tail instead of his head. The opposite was the case with _Orion's_ dog."

The children found the two stars very easily and Paul put down dots of the right size to represent them. Then he drew the outline of the little sky dog, making him an Airedale, as you can see, so that he might be the same as his beloved flesh and blood name-sake "Rags."

"Now that we've found the two dogs, that makes it easy to find _Cancer_ the Crab," said Uncle Henry. "Just draw a line from _Sirius_, in the Big Dog, through the Little Dog, and extend it almost as far again. (27) That's right. Now what do you see?"

The children searched the sky for some time, and Betty finally said, "Sort of a sprawly bunch of six or eight rather faint stars."

"Make little chalk-dots for them, then, Betty, and we'll try our best to make them look like a crab."

This shows how _Cancer_ the crab looked when he was finished on the blackboard, and how he crawls in the sky away from _Canis Major_ and _Gemini_, the twin boys. Perhaps he has learned by experience to leave boys and dogs as far behind as possible.

"Now let's find the ram!" said Paul. "I want to draw him."

"The ram," said Uncle Henry, "is very small, and is made of only three stars. A line drawn from the top corner of _Pegasus'_ box stall, on the side next the pole, going straight down the side, and extended below it one and a half times the height of the stall, will point to the ram. (28) You can also locate _Aries_, the Ram, by drawing a line from the star in the swan's tail, across the stars in _Andromeda's_ hips, and beyond them a little more than the distance from her head to her hips. Don't mistake a little triangle of stars that you will see just below _Andromeda's_ left leg for the three stars of _Aries_. _Aries_ is a triangle, also, but it has _two_ fairly bright stars, while the triangle has only _one_. Do you all see _Aries_, the Ram?"

The children had all found it after a few moments, as well as the triangle under _Andromeda's_ feet. When Paul had made the chalk dots and lines for _Aries'_ skeleton, Uncle Henry drew the outline around them and the ram looked like this. You will see that in order to show _Aries_ right side up, the blackboard had to be turned so that _Andromeda_ was upside down.

"While we are in the neighborhood of _Pegasus_ and _Andromeda_ and _Aries_ the Ram we may as well find the two fishes. One of them, called the _Northern Fish_, lies just about halfway between _Andromeda's_ body and _Aries_--and the other, called the _Western Fish_, lies just back of _Pegasus'_ box stall, quite close to the water jar of _Aquarius_. (29)

"The two fishes are tied together by their tails. The cord or ribbon runs eastward from the tail of the _Western Fish_, running about parallel to the side of _Pegasus'_ stall, and then makes a sharp angle, coming back toward _Andromeda_, where it is fastened to the _Northern Fish's_ tail."

When _Pisces_, or "The Fishes" were found and drawn with chalk they were in this relation to _Pegasus_, _Andromeda_, _Aries_, and _Aquarius'_ Jar.

"While I think of it," said Uncle Henry, "I want to tell you that sometimes you may find a very bright star in a constellation where it doesn't seem to belong. If you watch it for a few nights you will see that it moves. It isn't a star at all, but a _planet_ or "wanderer." Sometime I'll show you how to know all the planets by sight and name. You will never see them except in the zodiac constellations, so they need not confuse you. And now I think all of us had better go downstairs and get warm before we go to bed. Besides, we want to leave a little to do to-morrow night, and there are only two constellations left now."

"Only two?" cried the children in disappointment.

"Only two that we can see well," assured Uncle Henry.

"Well," said Peter, "I guess we'd better have the Society adjourn. I move we adjourn."

"Second the motion," said Paul, with true parliamentary solemnity.

"Carried," murmured Betty, who was beginning to get sleepy in spite of herself.

THIRD WINTER EVENING

THE SKY CLOUDED OVER, BUT PETER FOUND THE STAR PEOPLE HIDING IN
THE ALMANAC--PAUL FOUND HIS HEAD WAS THE WORLD--AND THE
"SOCIETY" FOUND OUT ABOUT THE SWASTIKA AND THE ZODIAC, AND
HOW YOU TELL WHEN A DIPPER IS A PLOUGH AND WHEN IT'S A WAGON

Next evening Peter and Paul carried the blackboard to the roof after supper, but soon returned in disappointment. The sky had all clouded over! The evening's session of the "Society of Star-Gazers" was spoiled. Its members stood in a circle about Uncle Henry and looked hopefully at him. Never yet had he failed to make good in an emergency.

"Well, it can't be helped," said Uncle Henry cheerfully. "We'll just have to bring Starland down here into our playroom for this evening. Suppose you get me--let's see--about a dozen sheets of paper from a big scratch pad, some of Betty's colored crayons--they had better be the dark-colored ones--and a good-sized sheet of stiff cardboard or Bristol board. Yes, and some pins and an Almanac. Betty'll get the colored pencils, Paul the cardboard, and Peter the sheets of paper and the pins. I'll borrow the Almanac from Katy. She has one in the kitchen."

The children scattered for the materials and Uncle Henry took the shade off the electric lamp that stood on the playroom table.

When everybody was back in the playroom with the things needed the Society gathered around Uncle Henry and asked,

"Where do we go from here, Uncle Hen?"

"Out into Starland," said Uncle Henry, spreading out his arms wide. "This room is the universe. This lamp with the shade off is the sun. Imagine that the pictures on the walls are groups of stars, the constellations, the star-people we have been finding in the sky right along. Imagine that there are pictures on the ceiling, too, and on the floor. Lots of them, all over the six sides of this square room.

"Now Paul, you have a nice round head and have just had a hair-cut. Your head can be the earth. Just walk around the table once or twice until we get used to thinking about your head as the world. It seems rather small at first. That's right. Now you're going around the sun the way the earth does, from right to left, just opposite to the way the clock-hands go. You go once around the sun every year.

"The earth of course spins on its axis, too, just like a top, while it is circling round the sun. It turns round completely every twenty-four hours, from West to East. Paul, see if you can spin like a top while you are going round the lamp. Spin from right to left, just opposite to the way the clock-hands go."

Paul did his best to spin and walk at the same time, and Uncle Henry showed Peter and Betty that the side of Paul's head that was toward the lamp was always bright, while the other side was always in shadow. As Paul turned on his axis from right to left his face became lighted, then the right side of his head, then its back, then the left side, and so on, round and round.

Part of the time Paul was facing a picture on one wall and the next minute his back was toward that picture and he was looking at another picture on the opposite wall, across the lamp.

These two drawings show how Paul faced the two pictures one after the other.

"Now tell me," commanded Uncle Henry, "which picture you see the plainest--is it the one you see when your back is to the lamp--or is it the one you see when you face the lamp, and look across it toward the picture on the wall beyond?"

"The lamp is so bright without a shade that it blinds me when I try to see the picture beyond it," said Paul.

"Oh, I see! I see!" said Betty, beginning to hop up and down. "Can I tell, Uncle Henry?"

"Surely," laughed Uncle Henry, "what do you see?"

"When Paul faces the picture with his back to the lamp," said Betty, "it's night on his face, and day on the back of his head! Is that right?"

"Yes, go on," encouraged Uncle Henry.

"And so he can see that picture better, 'cause the lamplight isn't in his eyes. But when he faces the lamp and looks across it, then it's day in his face, and night on the back of his head, and he can't see the picture beyond the lamp very well, 'cause the sun-lamp shines in his eyes."

"So that's why we can only see the stars at night!" said Peter.

"Yes, that's why the moon and the stars come out only when it gets dark," said Uncle Henry. "You see the earth turns round and carries us to its dark side, the side that is away from the sun. We say 'The sun has set.' Then when the sun glare is gone from our eyes we can see the sky-pictures, just as Paul sees one picture better with his back to the lamp than he does the other when he has to look through the lamp-light toward it."

"And the stars are in the sky all day long, whether we see them or not?" asked Paul.

"Certainly," said Uncle Henry. "If you could look up at the sky from the bottom of a very deep well, or a tall chimney, so that the sun-light was kept out of your eyes, you could see the stars shining in the daytime. There is a long deep tunnel in the great pyramid of Egypt that goes up and out from the centre of its base toward its north side at just the right angle so that the ancient Egyptians could always see the pole star through it--no matter whether it was night or daytime. You see the pole star never rises or sets, because it is always right over the end of the axis that the earth spins on."

This picture shows how the tunnel in the great pyramid always pointed to the north star because the tunnel is always parallel to the axis the earth spins on.

When the pyramid was built, the star in the tip of the little bear's tail was not the pole star, as it is now. At that time the star that was nearest the pole was one of those in the dragon. Since the pole of the earth goes round in a complete circle among the stars every 25,000 years, the star in _Draco_ will some time be the pole-star again--in, say 20,000 more years!

Peter had picked up the Almanac that Uncle Henry had borrowed from Katy and suddenly cried,

"Oh, Uncle Henry, the Almanac has a lot of the Star People in it. It calls them 'The Signs of the Zodiac.' What's the Zodiac, Uncle Hen?"

"We are going to find out right away, Pete," said Uncle Henry, "but first we must draw pictures of the twelve star folks that are the Zodiac signs. That means three drawings apiece. Pull up your chairs to the table and we'll draw on the sheets of scratch paper with Betty's colored pencils. Paul, you do the _Virgo_, _Leo_, and _Cancer_ the Crab; Peter will draw _Gemini_ the Twins, _Taurus_ the Bull, and _Aries_ the Ram; Betty will do the Fishes, called _Pisces_ in Latin, _Aquarius_ the Water Carrier, and _Capricornus_ the Goat; while I will draw _Sagittarius_ the Archer, _Scorpio_, and _Libra_ the Balance. All old friends of ours."

"We'll put the Almanac here in the middle of the table where we can all see it while we copy the 'signs,' one on each sheet of paper."

Everybody was very busy indeed for about half an hour. At the end of that time the twelve rough drawings were done and pinned up at equal distances apart around the walls of the playroom, three on each of the four walls. They were arranged around the room in the same order in which Uncle Henry had assigned them. The room then looked like this, though of course you see only three walls in a picture. You must imagine how the fourth wall looked.

"Now Paul, suppose you walk around the table again, spinning on your own axis as you go, and we'll try to find out what the Zodiac is. You notice that the pictures are all pinned on the walls at the same height from the floor, which is just the height of the electric lamp bulb, and just the height of Paul's head too, no matter where he is in his walk around the lamp. The twelve constellations, or signs of the Zodiac are in the real sky also on the same level with the earth and the sun, no matter where the earth is in its journey round the sun. Astronomers say it this way: they say that the earth revolves around the sun 'in the plane of the ecliptic.' That simply means that if the sun was in the centre of an enormous horizontal pane of glass, the earth and all the signs of the Zodiac would also always be touching the pane of glass, which would then represent the 'plane of the ecliptic.' Put an l in 'pane' and you have 'plane.'"

"Is each sign for a month?" asked Peter. "I see there are twelve of them."

"That's correct," said Uncle Henry, "and you want to notice that as Paul walks round the lamp and looks across it at the signs on the wall beyond it, the lamp seems to Paul to move from one picture to the next."

This picture is drawn as if the ceiling of the room was taken off and you could look down on Paul walking around the lamp.

When it is January first, Paul, representing the earth, is in the position marked A, nearest to the picture of _Gemini_ behind him, while the lamp, representing the sun, appears to him to be entering the sign of the Zodiac called _Sagittarius_, directly opposite across the room. Later, on April first, after three months, Paul, or the earth, has traveled a quarter of the way around the sun, has passed the pictures of _Cancer_ and _Leo_ on the wall behind him, and stands nearest _Virgo_ in the position marked B. The lamp has also seemed to move through a quarter circle, has passed through the signs of _Capricornus_ and _Aquarius_, and appears to Paul to be just entering the sign of _Pisces_, or the Fishes. In the same way the earth moves through a sign of the Zodiac every month and the sun, while really motionless, _appears_ to also travel through a sign every month. Of course we cannot see the sign or constellation, where the sun appears to be, at the same time we see the sun, for his brightness makes the stars invisible, but if we _could_ see the constellations by day, the sun would appear to travel from one sign of the Zodiac to the next every month.

Here is a clock of the year which shows the earth at one end of the hand, the sun in the middle, and at the other end of the hand an arrow, which points to the sign of the Zodiac where the sun appears to be, and to the date when it seems to be there to an observer on the earth. Draw the hand with the earth-end in several different positions and you will see that the sun, if viewed from the earth, would appear to be in the sign of the Zodiac exactly opposite.

When the children all understood the way the Zodiac divides the yearly path of the earth into twelve equal parts, Betty said, "I want to know why the geography globe at school always looks just as if it was going to tip over."

Uncle Henry laughed. "If you think the geography globe looks unsteady because its axis of iron rod is on a slant, what will you think about the earth when I tell you that it spins around in just the same slanting position, with only an _imaginary_ line for axis?"

"Does it really?" asked Betty.

"Yes," said Uncle Henry, "and it spins so steadily in that slanting position that the north end of its imaginary axis always points toward the same place, a point very close to the north star, or _Polaris_ as it is called."

"_Polaris_ is named for the North Pole, I suppose," said Peter.

"That's right," Uncle Henry replied. "Let's get some scissors and we'll use our big sheet of cardboard to make a cap for Paul's head that will show you just how the slant of the earth's axis makes it hotter in summer and colder in winter."

"Ooh!" exclaimed Paul, "I always thought it was hot in summer because the earth got nearer to the sun then."

"Lots of people think that, too," said Uncle Henry, "but it isn't so. The earth is really farther from the sun in summer."

Betty ran for the scissors, and Uncle Henry cut out a big circle from the stiff cardboard. Then he cut out an opening in the centre of it that fitted Paul's head just as a stiff straw hat would that was a size too big for him. The circle of cardboard dropped down until it rested on Paul's ears and on the bridge of his nose. This cardboard brim represented the "plane of the earth's equator," just as the pane of glass represented the "plane of the ecliptic." Since the "plane of the equator" is always at right angles to the slanting axis of the earth, the "plane of the equator" is always at a slant to the "plane of the ecliptic."

If you will run a long hat-pin through an orange, and sink the orange exactly to its middle in a glass bowl filled with water, holding the hat-pin at a slant, you will see that the equator of the orange is at a slant with the surface of the water. Half of the orange's equator curves up above the water, while half of it curves down under the water's surface. If you fasten a cardboard ring around the orange at the equator the cardboard will then be at an angle with the surface of the water, which represents the "plane of the ecliptic."

Uncle Henry cut two long strips from what was left of the cardboard and crossed the strips over the top of Paul's head, fastening the four ends of them to the round cardboard brim close to his head.

After this Uncle Henry rolled a sheet of the scratch paper round a pencil, put rubber bands tightly around it, cut the end to bend up and make a foot and pinned the foot to the cardboard strips at the place where they crossed. When Paul had it all on he looked very funny with the pencil sticking straight up from the top of his head, and his eyes just peeping over the cardboard brim on each side of the strip down the middle of his nose.

"Now come on, Mr. Earth," said Uncle Henry, "It's time for you to spin round the lamp-sun for another year or two."

So Paul held his head on a slant and kept it so that the pencil always pointed in the same direction as he went round the lamp. These four little pictures show how he looked at the four sides of the sun where the earth is in Winter, Spring, Summer, and Autumn.

"Now," said Uncle Henry, "you see that if we make a black dot on one of the cardboard strips about halfway between the cardboard brim, or the earth's equator, and the pencil, or the North Pole, it will be about as far north as we are in the United States. And when Paul is in his Summer position, with the pencil slanting _toward_ the 'sun,' you see that the sun's rays beat down much straighter on the black dot than they do when he is on the other side of the lamp, with the pole slanting _away_ from the 'sun.' That is why the Winter sun appears to be lower in the sky at noon than the Summer sun, and also why the Summer sun shines hotter on the earth than it does in Winter. Notice, too, that the rays from the lamp light up Paul's head for quite a little way beyond the foot of the 'pole' when it slants _toward_ the 'sun,' while when it slants _away_ from the 'sun' the rays fail to reach the 'pole' at all. This means that in summer the sun shines a longer time upon the part of the earth that slants toward it. If you could look down from the ceiling at Paul's head in his Summer position and in his Winter one you would see why."

Uncle Henry quickly drew these two pictures of the top of a globe to show the children why the days are long in Summer and short in Winter at any point in the United States.

_The Summer Day_ lasts while the black dot on the earth travels from
C to D--more than half-way round.]

"It's just like the hot water bottle mother kept in my bed that time I had a chill after swimming," said Paul. "The hotter it was before she put it in the bed the slower it cooled off."

"That's the idea," said Uncle Henry, "the longer the sun shines on any place on the earth the hotter it gets, and when the nights are as short as they are in Summer the place hasn't long to cool off before it is round in the sun's hot rays again. Now do you see why Summer is hotter than Winter?"

The children did.

"There's one thing I don't understand, though," said Peter. "Why are there different stars in the sky in Winter than there are in Summer?"

"That's easy to answer," said Uncle Henry. "Look at Paul again--first when it's 'night' on his face on the 'Summer' side of the lamp, and then when it is 'night' on his face on the 'Winter' side of the lamp.

"At 'night' in Summer Paul looks at the pictures on one end of the room. The cardboard brim, or 'plane of the equator,' is slanted _up_, above the 'plane of the ecliptic.'"

This picture shows how Paul looked.

"But in Winter, at 'night,' Paul looks at quite different pictures, at the other end of the room. The cardboard brim is slanted _down_, below the level of the 'plane of the ecliptic.' This is why the path of the Winter Signs crosses the sky higher up than the path of the Summer Signs. In both Winter and Summer you must imagine the cardboard brim to be as transparent as glass, for the 'plane of the equator' is in reality only imaginary."

This next picture shows how Paul looked at the constellations at "night" in Winter.

"Of course the north star and the stars for a considerable distance round the pole never set, and can be seen all night at any time of the year. It is only the ones that rise and set that go and come from our sight with the seasons. In reality they never leave us, for if it wasn't for the sunlight getting in our eyes by day, we could see the Summer night star-pictures in the Winter daytime, and the Winter night star people in the Summer daytime. We are just looking at opposite ends of our big room in the universe on Winter nights and Summer nights, that's all," said Uncle Henry.

Uncle Henry took some folded papers from his pocket and spread them out on the table.

"Here are four maps of the sky," he said, "which show the way it looks at different seasons at 9 o'clock in the evening--on January 1st, April 1st, July 1st, and October 1st. You will see that the groups of stars around the pole are always in view, while the rest of the star people change with the seasons, but even the groups around the pole change their positions with the seasons.

"You have all seen the _Swastika_. It has been known and used as an ornament for hundreds of years, all over the world--by the American Indians, the Chinese, the East Indians, and many others. I'll show you where I think all these widely separated people got the _Swastika_, and how it stands for the four seasons."

Uncle Henry drew four little pictures showing the four positions in which the big dipper stands in the four different seasons, with its "pointer stars" always indicating the pole star.

Then he drew all four positions on one sheet of paper, like this:

And when heavy lines were drawn along the handles of the dippers and across the pole star from bowl to bowl the _Swastika_ suddenly appeared like this:

The Society of Star-Gazers was very enthusiastic about the origin of the _Swastika_, and found the dipper in its different positions on all of the four maps that Uncle Henry had put on the table.

You can see the position of the dipper and all the other stars at January 1st, April 1st, July 1st, and December 1st, at 9 o'clock in the evening, by looking at the four maps inside the covers of this book.

After the children had looked at all the four maps as long as they wanted to, Uncle Henry suddenly remembered to look at his watch and exclaimed,

"My goodness! I guess it's about time the Society adjourned for to-night. Ten o'clock! I'll get scolded for keeping you up so late."

"I want to ask just one thing more," pleaded Betty.

"All right, what is it?" said Uncle Henry.

"Who found all the sky people?"

"Well," said Uncle Henry, "now that's a long story. They were all found and named so long ago that nobody knows who did it. The inventors of the star people naturally thought they saw pictures in the sky of the things they were familar with in everyday life--the bear, the bull, the serpent, the archer, and so on. If they had had any steam engines then somebody would have drawn lines from star to star until they had a picture of one in the sky. In England the Great Bear or Dipper is usually called the 'Plough' and you can see why

"It is also called 'Charles' Wain' or wagon.

"We only know that the constellations are very, very old, and that an ancient people living in the valley of the Euphrates river probably named most of them. The Babylonian Tablets, the oldest records known, show that the Zodiac constellations were known over 3000 years before the birth of Christ, which is now nearly 5000 years ago."

"Can't we have just one more poem before we go to bed?" said Paul.

"Yes," said Uncle Henry, "but not one of mine. I'll give you a little bit of a long poem that was written by a man named _Aratos_ about 280 years before the wise men followed the star that told them where to find the new-born Christ. It has been running through my mind all the evening. This is it:

"And all the signs through which Night whirls her car,
From belted _Orion_ back to _Orion_ and his dauntless Hound,
And all _Poseidon's_, all high _Zeus's_ stars,
Bear on their beams true messages to man."

FOURTH WINTER EVENING

IN WHICH THE "SOCIETY" MEETS THE LAST OF THE STAR PEOPLE AND
THE BEGINNING OF ASTRONOMY--AND BETTY PROPOSES A "NOTE" OF
THANKS

The Society of Star-Gazers assembled upon the roof the next night with an eagerness that was tempered a little by regret that it _was_ the last.

Uncle Henry saw this, and before starting to find the evening's constellations with the children, told them a few of the many wonderful things to be seen among the stars with the aid of a small telescope.

He reminded them of the "little cloud" in _Andromeda_, called the Great Nebula, and said that there were not only many more of these wonderful clouds of star dust, but numbers of beautiful double stars, some of them lovely with tints of red, green or orange, and some that can be seen with an ordinary opera-glass.

Then he told them of the curious variable, or "winking" stars, which turn bright and faint alternately on a regular schedule, so many hours bright, and so many hours faint. Also he described the beauty of the planet _Jupiter_, surrounded by its four little moons, all of which could be seen with a small telescope.

Then the children began to feel more cheerful, for they saw that being introduced to the creatures and people of Skyland was only the beginning of the study of astronomy.

"So," finished Uncle Henry, "we don't need to feel that there is no more fun coming, for there are lots more faint constellations which are all beautiful, even though not plain enough for us to find easily in the beginning. Besides, if you ever journey to the South, beyond the earth's equator, you will find a whole new sky full of marvelous people, and creatures, and objects--all pictured in the flashing southern heavens."

"Well," said Peter briskly, "what do we find to-night, Uncle Hen?"

"We'll begin," replied Uncle Henry, "with a person you may have heard of--_Perseus_, who killed the terrible Gorgon _Medusa_."

"Oh, I know him," cried Paul, "we read all 'bout him last year."

"Quite right," said Uncle Henry, "then you remember that when he had killed _Medusa_, and cut off her head with his sword, he had to hold the head with the terrible face away from him, because everybody who looked at that face was instantly turned to stone."

"Yes, yes, we know!" chorused the Society.

"Well, now we'll find _Perseus_, his sword, and the head of _Medusa_," promised Uncle Henry. "All you have to do is to extend the line of _Andromeda's_ left leg and prolong it from her foot, straight out for about her whole length. (30) There you will find _Algenib_, the brightest star in _Perseus_. It is right in his neck, between his shoulders. From _Algenib_ you can trace a row of stars downward, almost to the _Pleiades_ in the bull's shoulder. This row of stars is _Perseus'_ body and legs. Then find two stars above _Algenib_, one over the other, and you have his head and helmet.

"After that it is easy to start at _Algenib_ and trace out his right arm, with the sword. A line drawn toward _Perseus_ through the stars in _Andromeda's_ head and left hip points out the star _Algol_, which is the head of _Medusa_, held in _Perseus'_ left hand. (31) _Algol_ is a famous variable star, which the ancients named 'the dragon of the slowly winking eye.'"