in the west. To prove this, choose some brilliant star
you can see at five or six o'clock; get it in line with some bush or
other object over which you can just see it. Put a stake where you
stand, and then go to the same spot about eight o'clock or just before
you go to bed. You can tell at once how much the star seems to have
moved westward.

Another thing, every star rises four minutes later every night, and
therefore the sky looks a little different at the same hour every
evening. The stars in the north set for a short time only, but when
those toward the south set they are gone a long time. For instance, the
brightest star of all is Sirius, the Dog Star, which really belongs to
the southern hemisphere. There are only about three months in the year
when children who go to bed by seven o'clock can see it--January,
February, and March.

So now you understand why I am so eager that you should not miss the
pleasure of seeing the famous Northern Cross. But although it is a big
cross, and easy to find, after you know it, I have never yet known a boy
who could show it to another boy simply by pointing at it. The surest
and best way to find it is learn three bright stars first--Altair, Vega,
and Deneb.

Altair is the brightest star in the Milky Way. It is just at the edge of
the Milky Way, and you are to look for three stars in a straight line,
with the middle one brightest. Those three stars make the constellation
called "the Eagle." The body of the eagle is Altair, and the other two
stars are the wings. I should say that Altair is about five degrees from
each of his companions. It is worth half an hour's patient search to
find the Eagle. Now these three stars in the Eagle point straight toward
the brightest star in the northern part of the sky--Vega.

To make sure of it, notice four fainter stars near it which make a
parallelogram--a sort of diamond. These stars are all part of a
constellation called "the Lyre." If you try to trace out the old musical
instrument, you will be disappointed; but here is a game worth while.
Can you see a small triangle made by three stars, of which Vega is one?
Well, one of those stars is double, and with an opera-glass you can see
which it is. On very clear nights some people with very sharp eyes can
see them lying close together, but I never could.

At last we are ready to find the celebrated Northern Cross. First draw a
line from Altair to Vega. Then draw a line at right angles to thi