s,
until you come to another bright star--Deneb--which is about as far from
Vega as Vega is from Altair. Now this beautiful star, Deneb, is the top
of the Northern Cross. I can't tell you whether the Cross will be right
or wrong side up when you see it, or on its side. For every
constellation is likely to change its position during the night, as you
know from watching the Dipper. But you can tell the Cross by these
things. There are six stars in it. It is like a kite made of two sticks.
There are three stars in the crosspiece and four in the long piece.
Deneb, the brightest star in the cross, is at the top of the long stick.

But you mustn't expect to see a perfect cross. There is one star that is
a little out of place, and sometimes my fingers fairly "itch to put it
where it belongs." It is the one that ought to be where the long stick
of your kite is tacked to the crosspiece. And one of the stars is
provokingly faint, but you can see it. Counting straight down the long
piece, it is the third one from Deneb that is faint. It is where it
ought to be, but I should like to make it brighter. Have you the Cross
now? If not, have patience. You can't be a "true sport" unless you are
patient. You can't be a great ball-player, or hunter, or any thing else,
without resisting, every day, that sudden impulse to "quit the game"
when you lose. Be a "good loser," smile and try again. That is better
than to give up, or to win by cheating or sharp practice.

This is the last thing I want you to see in the northern part of the
sky; and if you have done a good job, let us celebrate by having a
story.

Once upon a time a cross didn't mean so much to the world as it does
now. That was before Christ was born. In those old times people did not
think of the Northern Cross as a cross. They thought of it as a Swan,
and you can see the Swan if you turn the Cross upside down. Deneb will
then be in the tail of the Swan, and the two stars which used to be at
the tips of the crosspiece now become the wings. Is that a true story?
Yes. If we lived in Arabia the children there could tell us what Deneb
means. It means "the tail."

Another story? Well, do you see the star in the beak of the Swan, or
foot of the Cross? What color is it? White? Well, they say this white
star is really made up of two stars--one yellow and the other blue. That
is one reason I want to buy a telescope when I can afford it, for even
the smallest telescope will show that. An