THE
HESPERIAN STUDENT.
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VOL. VII.
OCTOBER, 1878.
no. 7.
STAliS AND MEN.
"God's wheeling heaven" has ever been
fraught with the most intense interest to
all mankind. The rude, untutored child
of the forest gazes into its inlluilc depths,
and is awed and enraptured, and for the
moment civilized.
Wise men, of all ages, have spent their
lives in discerning the face of the skj.
It lias inspired the grandest and most
bountiful songs ever sung by poet. And
the little babo in its mother's arms is
hushed to sleep by this quaint old lulla
by, " Sloop, baby sloop,
The largo star tiro the nhocp,
The llttlf one are the lambs I guoss,
And tlio groat round moon Is the ghophordoss,
Sloop baby sloop."
Whether wc study the sky by day or b'
night, wc Hud in it that which interests
us intensely. The light of day reveals to
us the ever changing forms of the llcccy,
billowy clouds that stand out in bold re.
lief against the deep blue of the distant
sky. The fa .led and broken moon that
lias lingered after the morning light has
dawned, drifts among their lofty forms
like a wrecked ami deserted ship that is
giadually sinking and losing in the sea
of light that is Hooding half the world.
Or us a huge pupa case from which the
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light and life, gold and glory have depart
ed. Wo marvel at the course of the sun,
day after day, year after year, age after
age, the same old journey.
By night, the sky presents an entirely
dlfl'erent aspect. Then the myriads of
twinkling stars, like gleaming tapers held
by angels' hands, dot the darkness that
envelops every thin;-. And of all the.
hosts that whirl in space, none so interest
men as do the stars. There is a bond of
sympathy and similarity between him
and them that exists between man and
none other of the celestial bodies. We
can liken men to stars for there is a re
semblance between them. We cannot
liken men to the sun or to the moon ; to
liken him to the former would not beap
propriate; to liken him to the latter would
not be complimentary even if it were ap
propriate. Tho moon is too solitary and
sad, or else too cold and proud.
Sometimes we sec her afar oil in the
deep blue vault of heaven, trying like a
banished and hunted queen to hide from
her pursuers behind the giant chains of
the cragged cloud mountains. But even
thoy cannot hi.do her glory for it rifts
from between their lofty forms as she
moves in her grandeur among them.
Again she is nearer to us but is so cold
and proud we feel awed by her majesty.
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