nature's calm 



115 



angles, but to those who when chil- 

 dren studied the old black charts, with 

 the strange figures of mythology enclos- 

 ing their component stars outlined in 

 white, the heavens are more vitally 

 peopled. We cannot all be positive 

 scientists, and heaven help the world 

 if we could be! the spirit of things 

 would be dried away by letter, and the 

 affections ranged in systems about 

 material suns. 



From Indian summer until the vernal 

 equinox is the time when vision most 

 tends skyward. The Pleiad sisters 

 lead the Milky Way in its scarf dance, 

 and Taurus, with the star Aldebaran 

 set in his forehead, follows Orion, the 

 night-watchman, with his belt and 

 club, who wears Betelgeuse for a shoul- 

 der knot. Below Orion, Canis Major 

 trots backward, holding Sirius, for a 

 lantern, in his jaws, and to the east 



