SLEEPING OUT OF DOORS 



a dark canoe bearing two happy souls; their voices 

 blend in snatches of folk song; the words come dimly 

 to my drowsy senses; but the meaning is the old, old 

 story which is ever new. Far off, the weird call of 

 a loon, nearer across the lake a tinkling bell, and a 

 faint "moo" breaks the stillness. 



And that brief glory which we call a falling star 

 thrilling us with its mysterious hint of power, as it 

 sweeps across the heavens! What is that strange up- 

 heaval whose pale reflection reaches us? Can the 

 imagination leap those millions of long miles into the 

 abode of limitless space and grasp the meaning of that 

 molten mass? What a fascinating science is astronomy 

 to young and old alike! It offers that unbridled, riot- 

 ous scope which one's imagination demands. Its 

 mighty numbers, its astounding facts, its inspiring dis- 

 coveries — but yet in the beginning — bring one nearer 

 to a realization of the Infinite. Nothing can give one 

 a more appalling sense of the earth's speed than to look 

 through a fixed telescope at the Milky Way. With 

 incredible swiftness vast fields of stars rush across the 



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