CHAPTER VII
AN EVENING AMONG THE STARS
o you love the stars?" asked the magician of his lads, as they crowded round him on the college green, one evening in March, to look through his portable telescope.
"Have you ever sat at the window on a clear frosty night, or in the garden in summer, and looked up at those wondrous lights in the sky, pondering what they are, and what purpose they serve?"
I will confess to you that when I lived in London I did not think much about the stars, for in the streets very few can be seen at a time even on a clear night; and during the long evenings in summer, when town people visit the country, you must stay up late to see a brilliant display of starlight. It is when driving or walking across country on a winter's evening week after week, and looking all round the sky, that the glorious suns of heaven force you to take notice of them; and Orion becomes a companion with his seven brilliant stars and his magnificent nebula, which appears as a small pale blue patch, to eyes accustomed to look for it, when the night is very bright and clear. It is then that Charles's Wain becomes quite a study in all its different positions, its horses now careering upwards, now plunging downwards, while the waggon, whether upwards or downwards, points ever true, by the two stars of its tail-board, to the steadfast pole-star.
It is on such nights as these that, looking southward from Orion, we recognise the dog-star Sirius, bright long before other stars have conquered the twilight, and feast our eye upon his glorious white beams; and then, turning northwards, are startled by the soft lustrous sheen of Vega just appearing above the horizon.
But stop, I must remember that I have not yet introduced you to these groups of stars; and moreover that, though we shall find them now in the positions I mention, yet if you look for them a few hours later to-night, or at the same hour later in the year, you will not find them in the same places in the sky. For as our earth turns daily on its axis, the stars appear to alter their position hour by hour, and in the same way as we travel yearly on our journey round the sun, they appear to move in the sky month by month. Yet with a little practice it is easy to recognise the principal stars, for, as it is our movement and not theirs which makes us see them in different parts of the sky, they always remain in the same position with regard to each other. In a very short time, with the help of such a book as Proctor's Star Atlas; you could pick out all the chief constellations and most conspicuous stars for yourselves.