CHAPTER VIII 



THE MOON 



WITH a class of children observations on the moon must 

 always be of less importance than those on the sun. In the 

 winter months, however, and especially with country children, 

 a considerable number of simple observations on the moon may 

 be readily made. To town children the changes of the moon, 

 even during the dark months of the year, are not very obvious, 

 and our satellite is not much noticed except when it is full or 

 nearly so. To country children, on the other hand, not only is 

 the moon of more importance, in that winter entertainments are 

 usually arranged at such times as to permit the dispersing com- 

 pany to find their way home by moonlight, but also the greater 

 probability of a clear horizon makes the observation of the waxing 

 and waning an easier matter. With town children the chance 

 of seeing the crescent moon at sunset, for instance, must always 

 be smaller. 



Where the school is placed near the sea, it is important to 

 draw attention to the variations of the moon in relation to the 

 movements of the tides, a subject which cannot be treated at 

 an inland school with any success. 



The first and most obvious observations to be made are that 

 the moon appears to us to be the same size as the sun, but while 

 we cannot look at the sun unless it is veiled in cloud or fog, the 

 clear white light of the moon does not dazzle our eyes in the 

 same way. The fact that the markings are the same at every 

 full moon should be pointed out, for this is one of the reasons 

 we have for knowing that the moon always turns the same face 

 towards us. Similarly, the small dark spot which occurs near 

 the upper portion of the western border of the full moon may 

 be pointed out. The interesting point is that this spot is seen 



on the young crescent moon when it is only a few days old, but 



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