The Stars of Summer

To us, who dwell in a world of change, the stars give the comfort of abidingness; they remain ever the same to our eyes and the teacher should make much of this. When we once come to know a star, we know exactly where to find it in the heavens, wherever we may be. A star which a person knows during childhood will, in later life and in other lands, seem a staunch friend and a bond, drawing him back to his early home and associations.

The summer is an enticing season for making the acquaintance of eight of the fifteen brightest stars visible in northern latitudes. Few midsummer entertainments rival that of lying on one’s back on the grass of some open space which commands a wide view of the heavens, and there with a planisphere and an intermittently lighted candle with which to consult it, learn by sight, by name and by heart those brilliant stars which will ever after meet with friendly greeting our uplifted eyes. To teach the children in a true informing way about the stars, the teacher should know them, and nowhere in nature’s realm is there a more thought-awakening lesson.