understand the word, nor would they comprehend why one man, who is
naturally as good as his fellow-creature, should submit to the caprice
of another, and obey him.

_Tommy._--Indeed, sir, I begin to think that I am not so much better
than others, as I used to do.

_Mr Barlow._--The more you encourage that thought the more likely you
are to acquire real superiority and excellence, for great and generous
minds are less exposed to that ridiculous vanity than weak and childish
ones.

A few evenings after this conversation, when the night was remarkably
clear, Mr Barlow called his two pupils into the garden, where there was
a long hollow tube suspended upon a frame. Mr Barlow then placed Tommy
upon a chair, and bade him look through it, which he had scarcely done
when he cried out, "What an extraordinary sight is this!" "What is the
matter?" said Mr Barlow. "I see," replied Tommy, "what I should take for
the moon were it not a great many times bigger, and so near to me that I
can almost touch it." "What you see," answered Mr Barlow, smiling, "is
the moon itself. This glass has indeed the power of making it appear to
your eye as it would do could you approach a great deal nearer; but
still it is nothing but the moon; and from this single experiment you
may judge of the different size which the sun and all the other heavenly
bodies would appear to have, if you could advance a great deal nearer to
them."

Tommy was delighted with this new spectacle. The moon, he said, viewed
in this manner, was the most glorious sight he had ever seen in his
life. "And I protest," added he, "it seems to be shaded in such a
manner, that it almost resembles land and water." "What you say,"
answered Mr Barlow, "is by no means unreasonable. The moon is a very
large body, and may be, for ought we know, inhabited like the earth."

Tommy was more and more astonished at the introduction of all these new
ideas; but what he was particularly inquisitive about was, to know the
reason of this extraordinary change in the appearance of objects, only
by looking through a hollow tube with a bit of glass fixed into it. "All
this," replied Mr Barlow, "I will, if you desire it, one day explain to
you; but it is rather too long and difficult to undertake it at the
present moment. When you are a little farther advanced in some of the
things which you are now studying, you will comprehend me better.
However, before we retire to-night, I will show you something m