THE MILKY WAY.
THE MILKY WAY IS CROWDED WITH STARS.
"Now look at the band of silvery light reaching from the north to the south. That is the Milky Way, and it is made up of millions of bright stars. There are large stars and little stars, and Professor Barnard thinks that there may be some very small stars forming out of the star-mist. These little stars glitter in vast beds of glowing gas. As scientists believe, this gas is the matter from which worlds and suns are made. The stars at these points in space seem to be actually growing out of the star-mist now surrounding them. I shall show you to-morrow some fine photographs Professor Barnard has taken of the Milky Way where you can see this star-mist in the background of the stars.
"According to a French legend, the stars in the Milky Way are lights held by angel-spirits to show us the way to heaven. The Grecians called the Milky Way the road to the palace of heaven. On the road stand the palaces of the illustrious gods, while the common people of the skies live on either side of them.
"Even the Algonquin Indians had something to say about it, for they believed that it was the 'Path of Souls' leading to the villages in the sun. As the spirits travel along the pathway, their blazing camp-fires may be seen as bright stars. Longfellow refers to this in his poem 'Hiawatha,' in describing the journey of Chibiabos to the land of the hereafter.
"While hunting deer he crossed the Big Sea Water and was dragged beneath the treacherous ice by evil spirits. By magic he was summoned thence, and, hearing the music and singing, he,—
"'Came obedient to the summons,
To the doorway of the wigwam,
But to enter they forbade him.
Through a chink a coal they gave him,
Through the door a burning fire-brand.
Ruler in the Land of Spirits,
Ruler o'er the dead they made him,
Telling him a fire to kindle
For all those who died hereafter,
Camp-fires for their night encampments,
On their solitary journey
To the kingdom of Ponemah,
To the land of the hereafter.'"