POPULAR ASTRONOMY 



59 



dreamer of the stars! He looks up, 

 and lo ! A wondrous realm is revealed. 

 In all their sublime majesty the con- 

 stellations dance and glow in the deep 

 depth of the darkened heavens. The 

 eyes of the star lover stray to every 

 extremity, embrace every object from 

 horizon to zenith. Recognition, com- 

 panionship, gleam in his face ; those far 

 off silent stars he has known long, and 

 they never disappoint him ; their beam- 

 ing friendly faces never falter. No 

 wonder he loves them ! 



He beholds in the starry domain a 

 fairy world of mythological characters ; 

 each constellation represents some 

 famous person or animal of ancient 

 times. He sees Orpheus's magical 

 harp, which recalls to him memories of 

 the ill-fated hero and his beautiful 

 Eurydice. The star-framed Argos is 

 pregnant with recollections. Argos ! 

 Why the very name is magical ! He 

 dreams again of the famous voyage of 

 those valiant, marine heroes through 

 mystical, unknown countries and 

 gloomy, tempest-tossed seas. In a blaze 

 of glory the majestic Orion strides 

 through the heavens, accompanied by 

 his two faithful dogs. The star gazer 

 remembers that this giant hunter was 

 laid low by a beam from Diana, and 

 then placed in his eternal home among 

 the stars. Leo, Taurus, Gemini, in fact 

 the whole gorgeous array of zodiacal 

 constellations, are laden with incidents 

 of times remote. The bold Perseus and 

 lovely Andromeda become alive to him 

 again, as he contemplates their images 

 in the sky. He views the mighty Her- 

 cules and great Flying Horse ; in short, 

 each and every figure of the broad can- 

 opy above him has its wealth of legends 

 to offer him. 



Truly, to know the stars is a valu- 

 able accession to the nature lover. It 

 is a fascinating pursuit, in which both 

 profit and pleasure are stored in gen- 

 erous quantities. 



Mr. McPherson is a lover of astron- 

 omy from the amateur point of view. 

 He is regularly engaged in the publica- 

 tion of a daily newspaper. He has full 

 appreciation of the real student and 

 lover of this "grandest of sciences." 



Beginning with this number, "The 

 American Astronomer," formerly pub- 

 lished at South Framingham, Massa- 

 chusetts, is merged into this depart- 

 ment. The editor, William D. Mc- 

 Pherson, will here continue his work. 



There's a Wonderful, Bright Star in 

 the East. 



Have you seen the wonderful bright 

 star in the east that arises in the early 

 evening in the first part of June? If 

 not, you have missed one of the grand- 

 est privileges of human life, and you 

 will miss more if you do not go and 

 see it again and again. 



It is the star of good luck to earth ; 

 it has always shone brightly when the 

 best things have come to this planet. 

 Its rays were clear and brilliant, and 

 its twinklings, joyous, at the dawning 

 of human intelligence in this Garden 

 of Eden ; they have been ever ready 

 and have ever helped to scatter dark- 

 ness when wisdom has rolled away the 

 clouds of ignorance, when kindness 

 has banished cruelty or realization has 

 been the fruition of faith. The light 

 born of a knowledge of it has been 

 ever ready to scatter the darkness of 

 superstition. 



It has a long tale, could its light 

 records of the past be read, of love over- 

 coming hate, of freedom of thought 

 annihilating bigotry, and of action super- 

 seding precept. 



It has brought to the present, a God 

 of the long, long ago ; it makes pos- 

 sible a present heaven formerly postu- 

 lated of a distant future. 



We pass through the tail of light, 

 streaming centuries long, every second 

 of the year, and it brings us no evil — 

 and no good, if we pay no heed to the 

 light. We breathe an atmosphere that 

 has been blessed by its benign rays for 

 the good of mankind — and still, alas ! 

 no effect. 



Altair is the name of this wonderful 

 star. It rises during the first part of 

 June at about nine o'clock in the even- 

 ing. 



"Altair!" you shout in surprise. 

 "Why Altair is only one of the ordi- 

 nary fixed stars. I thought you were 



