82 Musings by Camp- Fire and Wayside 



the fleecy foliage of which Luna makes an aureole 

 and a veil for herself, while she lets fall her train of 

 silver across the dimpling lake. 



When the August meteors come on, about the 

 nth of the month, we betake ourselves to the boats 

 for an unobstructed view of the sky, and count 

 them as they come. One of the most curious things 

 about astronomy is the vast number of these diminu- 

 tive planets, some flying singly and some in long 

 trains. The stellar orbs are of all sizes, from that 

 of a minute grain of sand up to the gigantic Sirius, 

 twelve hundred times larger than our enormous sun; 

 their diameters a sand grain, a pea, an apple, a 

 boulder, a half-mile, a mile, twenty miles, a hun- 

 dred. Vesta, diameter 250 miles; the moon, 2,160; 

 Mercury, 3,000; the earth, 8,000; Jupiter, 88,000; 

 the sun, 866,000 ; Sirius, 3,000,000 miles. Imagine 

 little toy worlds, with moons not bigger than wal- 

 nuts, as seriously moving in their orbits around the 

 sun as does our own earth, their days and nights 

 only a minute, or an hour long! and then worlds so 

 large that they grapple on nearly equal terms with 

 Algol and Sirius, and swing them untiringly around 

 in space forever and ever! 



Persons who do not live by lakes have little idea 

 of the great variety of beauties which they display. 

 I have mentioned, in previous years, our Fourth of 

 July celebrations. We go to considerable expense 

 in fire-works, and it is always a regret to me that 

 our readers cannot see them. Fire-works on the 



