And now, before I try to tell you a very little about the sun, I should
like to know whether you have ever learnt any astronomy. My children
thought it a hard name, but its meaning is beautiful, for it is only the
Greek way of saying, "the law of the stars." Astronomy is the science which
teaches us about the heavenly bodies, as the sun, moon, and stars are
sometimes called; and all that we can learn about them is very wonderful
and interesting, so that the more we know, the more we want to know. But
the pleasantest way for you to learn would be if someone would talk to you
a little, especially about the stars, and take you out of doors on clear
nights, and show you some of those which are best known, so that in time
you would learn to look for them yourself; _that_ would be a delightful way
of beginning to learn.
I remember that I had a great wish to know about the different
constellations, or groups of stars; I wanted to know where to find Orion,
with his seven brilliant stars, and those other seven stars which form the
group called Charles's Wain; from an idea that they are so placed as to
give a rough sketch of a waggon and three horses; and the wonderful cluster
of the Pleiades--for I had heard of all these constellations; but I did not
like the trouble of learning about them in difficult books. One day I met a
gentleman who was very fond of sailing about in his yacht, and I thought he
would teach me all about the stars, for I had heard that sailors knew them
well.
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