In the quiet night, they saw the lovely stars come, one by one at first, and then in such numbers that their eyes were dazzled, and they thought of God and of the beauty of His works.
“The million-handed sculptor molds
Quaintest bud and blossom folds;
The million-handed painter pours
Opal hues and purple dye;
Azaleas flush the inland floor,
And the tints of heaven reply.”
They listened to the carols of the birds and they believed that the brooks, the trees, and the flowers could talk to men.
The poets dreamed and sang about the spirits which inhabited all the forms of nature. All the people loved these fancies, and repeated the stories again and again. These stories,—these beautiful fancies about nature, which to the Greeks seemed true,—we call myths, or fairy tales.
“The beauty of the sea and sky,
The airy flight of birds on high,
The lovely flowers, whose perfume rare
So softly fills the summer air;
The rainbow’s glow, the shimmering rain
When springtime buds peep out again,
The golden glory of the sun
The fields of ripening grain upon,
The winds that sigh harmoniously,
The tempest’s wrath o’er land and sea,
The purple haze of mountains far,
Or snowy crest, whereon the star
Of night shines soft and silvery:—
These joys that nature offers thee,
Wilt thou not know; wilt thou not feel
What God and thine own heart reveal?”
THE MONTHS.—WINTER.
In addition to its four seasons—spring, summer, autumn, and winter—the year is divided into twelve months. Long ago, there were but ten months, and the first month was March. But when January and February were added, the year had twelve months, and January, the second month of the winter season, is now called the first month of the year.
“Month” and “moon” come from a word which means “to measure.” It takes the earth three hundred and sixty-five days, or a year, to revolve around the sun. The moon revolves around the earth about twelve times in one year; so the moon is the measurer of the year, and the twelve periods we call months.
From Janus, a Roman god, comes the name of the first month of the year. Janus is the two-headed god. A temple of this divinity was placed at the city gate of Rome. His statue had one face looking toward the city and one beyond the gate. The month of January stands at the gateway of the year, with one face looking toward the past and one toward the future.