THE GIANT SUN "If you are not very tired, sister," said Harry coaxingly, "I should like to know how large the sun is. Is it as large as the earth?" "Ever so much larger," replied Mary. "It is so large that if it were cut up into a million parts, each part would be larger than the earth. If we could weigh the sun in a pair of giant scales, it would take over three hundred thousand globes as heavy as the earth to make the scales even. If the sun were hollowed out, and the earth placed in the center, there would be room for the moon as well. Now the moon is thousands of miles from the earth, and yet the edge of the sun would be thousands of miles from the moon. "If a tunnel could be made through the center of the sun, and a train started going at the rate of a mile a minute, it would take six hundred days for the train to reach the other side of the tunnel. If this same train went around the edge of the sun it would take five years. A train going around the earth would take seventeen days to complete the journey." "But suppose we went around the sun in a big steamer, like the one Uncle Robert came over in; how long would that take?" asked Harry curiously. 66 'Only fifteen years," said his sister, laughing. "If you had started when you were a little baby you would still have five more years to travel before you would get back again to the starting point." "Then the sun must be very large," said Harry thoughtfully. "Let us call it Giant Sun. Has it always been as large as it is now?" "Ever so much larger," replied Mary. "Once upon a time it was a ball of glowing gas reaching as far as the path of the last planet. The ball whirled around rapidly and the outer edge cooled. A ring formed and separated from the ball and whirled around on its own account, until it broke up into fragments. “One of the fragments drew all the others toward it, and another ball was formed, but quite a small ball this time, called a planet. Just like the central ball, the planet kept whirling around, threw off a ring, the ring broke up into little pieces, and the pieces coming together, made a little moon. The planet is Neptune, and it still has only one moon. Meanwhile, the ball in the center kept whirling around, other rings formed other planets with their moons, thus completing the family of Giant Sun. "The Sun is in the center and his planets circle around him. Next to him is playful little Mercury, then beautiful Venus, then our own planet Earth. Beyond it, we find ruddy Mars, the four hundred and fifty baby planets, giant planet Jupiter, the ringed planet Saturn, and the last two planets, Uranus and Neptune. All these planets are under the control of the sun, and cannot get away from him." "What is the sun made of?" asked Harry. "Of iron and copper and silver, and many other things that we can find on earth; but the sun is so hot that they are melted together into a mass like glue. This is the center of the sun. Outside is a shell of bright clouds, from which rosy flames leap to a height of thousands of miles above the surface of the sun. All around the edge of the sun, and reaching millions of miles beyond it, is the pearly light of the corona like a crown of glory. The pearly corona fades away into a soft beam of light." "How beautiful the sun must be!" said Harry, as he listened attentively to his sister. "But is it all alone in the sky, and does it not have any little stars to play with?" 66 It is not at all lonely," said Mary, laughing at the idea of stars as playthings for Giant Sun, " and is kept quite busy looking after its large family of planets. I will tell you about them to-morrow, my dear. Don't forget all I have told you about Giant Sun." "Forget! how could I, sister? It is better than any fairy tale I have ever heard. Giant Sun! Why you have told me enough to keep me thinking all day and all night. Here comes Nellie. Hello, Nellie! Come here and let me tell you all about Giant Sun, and how he melted your doll for you the other day." "Melted my doll!" said a pretty little golden-haired girl, as she tripped like a little fairy up the gardenpath. "So he melted my doll, did he? I should like to see him do it again!" Tears came into her eyes at the thought of her sad experience. Since then, however, a china head had replaced the melted wax, and Nellie had been comforted. So the tears soon disappeared in a smile as she showed her new treasure to Harry. -MARY PROCTER. Neptune něp'tun.-Mercury: mer'kū-ry.-Venus: vē'nus.-Mars: märs.—Jupiter: jū pit-er—Saturn: săt ărn.—Uranus: ūra-năs.—côrỡ. na: a circle of light around the sun. A JAPANESE LULLABY Sleep, little pigeon, and fold your wings, Away out yonder I see a star, Silvery star with a tinkling song. In through the window a moonbeam comes, Up from the sea there floats the sob Of waves that are breaking upon the shore, As though they were groaning in anguish, and moaning Bemoaning the ship that shall come in no more. But sleep, little pigeon, and fold your wings, anguish great pain. -EUGENE FIELD. MR. RABBIT, HE'S A GOOD FISHERMAN One day when Brother Rabbit, and Brother Fox, and Brother Coon, and Brother Bear and a lot of them were clearing up some new ground to plant a roasting-ear patch, the sun began to get hot, and Brother Rabbit got tired. But he didn't let on because he was afraid the rest of them would call him lazy. He kept on carrying off trash and piling brush, till by and by he called out that he had a briar in his hand, and he slipped off and hunted a cool place to rest. After a while he came across a well with a bucket hanging in it. "That looks cool," said Brother Rabbit. "I'll just get in there and take a nap." And with that he jumped |