266 LEAVES FKOM THE BOOK OF NATURE. 



terious globe in the high heavens each house a coffin in 

 which slept a thousand joys or sorrows. Only through 

 one low window shone the feeble glimmer of a night- 

 lamp. A mother was watching her sickly babe; fierce 

 fever glared in is glowing face and burning eyes, and 

 restlessly the poor child tossed from side to side. At 

 last it grew quiet, and seemed ^ to slumber. The mother 

 stepped to the window, and looked with tearful eye up 

 to the moon. A feeling of deepest loneliness chilled her 

 sinking heart; all around her slept ten thousands in happy 

 peace; the wicked had ceased from troubling and the 

 weary were at rest ; she alone was in sorrow and watched 

 with anguish the flickering life of her beloved. 



"Oh," she sighed, "how peaceful and happy it must be 

 up there in the silvery light of the moon ! There is 

 peace in her pale even light, quiet happiness in her calm, 

 unbroken pilgrimage through the dark blue heavens!" 

 And she wished she could wander in her sweet meadows 

 and rest by her still waters. She prayed, half Breaming, 

 half awake, that her soul might, hereafter, be allowed to 

 rest from the pain and sorrow of earthly life, in the calm 

 sweet light of the moon, praising God and enjoying the 

 peace that knows no end. 



For so we dream, even in our day, of paradisiacal 

 peace and mysterious charms in the moon; as thousands 

 of years ago, the nations of the earth revered in her a 

 godlike being, who lighted up the long, sad nights with 

 her sweet silvery light, and in chaste beauty, wove strange 

 spells over the hearts of men. They built temples in 

 honor of the goddess, priests sang her praises in mighty 



