CHAPTER XVII. 



FROM OUR OBSERVATORY. 



t 



Our observatory at the apex of our quadri- 

 lateral roof was not an afterthought; it was 

 provided for as a vital part of our home life, 

 a necessary adjunct for culture and pleasure. 

 We are not astronomers nor astrologers, but 

 we love the stars and planned this place so that 

 high up over the trees we could see the night 

 sky with its beautiful worlds from all points 

 of the compass. What a bright and glittering 

 page, full of loftiest wisdom and greatest pow- 

 er, is ever unrolled before the eye of man ; and 

 that he may read every part of this great page, 

 his world turns him about by day and night 

 and through the livelong year, and so creates 

 an ever-moving panorama of beauty and order. 

 I do not wonder at astrology. It originated 

 with early Orientals, where the stars are large 

 far beyond what we know. The days were hot 

 but the nights were brilliant, and so they came 

 to be star-gazers and star-lovers; thus arose 

 Magianism, that system of astrology that has 

 been so fascinating for thousands of years. 

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