“O, Philip! haven’t you noticed that they are called fixed stars to show that they do not move like planets?  The word planet means to wander. These fixed stars are suns themselves, which may have planets of their own.  They are so very far away that we cannot know much about them, except that they shine of themselves just as our sun does.

“We know that our sun gives light and heat to the planets and satellites with which he is surrounded.  We know that without his warm rays there would not be any flowers or birds or any living thing on the earth.  So we can easily imagine that all other suns are shining in the same way for the worlds that surround them.”

* * * * *

Make a drawing of the sun and the three planets nearest it, as directed in the lesson.

Fill each blank space in the following sentences with the correct form of the action-word draw: 

My boys like to —.

Yesterday they —­ the picture of an old mill.

They are now —­ a picture of the solar system.

The lines on the blackboard were —­ by John. 
He —­ well.

* * * * *

65

dew’ y clos’es ca ress’ twined wreaths weath’er brook’ let togeth’er

WILL AND I

We roam the hills together,
In the golden summer weather,
Will and I;
And the glowing sunbeams bless us,
And the winds of heaven caress us,
As we wander hand in hand
Through the blissful summer land,
Will and I.

Where the tinkling brooklet passes
Through the heart of dewy grasses,
Will and I
Have heard the mock-bird singing,
And the field lark seen upspringing,
In his happy flight afar,
Like a tiny winged star—­
Will and I.

Amid cool forest closes,
We have plucked the wild wood-roses,
Will and I;
And have twined, with tender duty,
Sweet wreaths to crown the beauty
Of the purest brows that shine
With a mother-love divine,
Will and I.

Ah! thus we roam together,
Through the golden summer weather,
Will and I;
While the glowing sunbeams bless us,
And the winds of heaven caress us,
As we wander hand in hand
O’er the blissful summer land,
Will and I.

Paul H. Hayne.

* * * * *

CLOSES, small inclosed fields.

Write about what you and Will saw, heard, and did, as you roamed together over the hills, through the woods, along the brooklet, on a certain bright, clear day in early summer.  You are a country boy and Will is your city cousin.  If you begin your composition by saying, “It was a beautiful afternoon towards the end of June,” keep the image of the day in mind till the end of the paragraph; tell what made the day beautiful,—­such as the sun, the sky, the trees, the grass.  In other paragraphs tell the things you saw and heard in the order in which you saw and heard them.  Give a paragraph to what you did in the “closes” of the cool forest, and why you plucked the wild flowers.  Conclude by telling what a pleasant surprise you gave mother on your return home; and how she surprised you two hungry boys during supper.