read
these pages know that this Sun is a star in the Milky Way, and that
every star is a sun? How many take any account of the reality and
grandeur of the Universe? Inquire, and you will find that the number of
people who have any notion, however rudimentary, of its construction, is
singularly restricted. Humanity is content to vegetate, much after the
fashion of a race of moles.

Henceforward, you will know that you are living in the rays of a star,
which, from its proximity, we term a sun. To the inhabitants of other
systems of worlds, our splendid Sun is only a more or less brilliant,
luminous point, according as the spot from which it is observed is
nearer or farther off. But to us its "terrestrial" importance renders it
particularly precious; we forget all the sister stars on its account,
and even the most ignorant hail it with enthusiasm without exactly
knowing what its role in the universe may be, simply because they feel
that they depend on it, and that without it life would become extinct on
this globe. Yes, it is the beneficent rays of the Sun that shed upon
our Earth the floods of light and heat to which Life owes its existence
and its perpetual propagation.

Hail, vast Sun! a little star in Infinitude, but for us a colossal and
portentous luminary. Hail, divine Benefactor! How should we not adore,
when we owe him the glow of the warm and cheery days of summer, the
gentle caresses by which his rays touch the undulating ears, and gild
them with the touch? The Sun sustains our globe in Space, and keeps it
within his rays by the mysteriously powerful and delicate cords of
attraction. It is the Sun that we inhale from the embalmed corollas of
the flowers that uplift their gracious heads toward his light, and
reflect his splendors back to us. It is the Sun that sparkles in the
foam of the merry wine; that charms our gaze in those first days of
spring, when the home of the human race is adorned with all the charms
of verdant and flowering youth. Everywhere we find the Sun; everywhere
we recognize his work, extending from the infinitely great to the
infinitely little. We bow to his might, and admire his power. When in
the sad winter day he disappears behind the snowy eaves, we think his
fiery globe will never rise to mitigate the short December days which
are alleviated with his languid beams.

April restores him to superb majesty, and our hearts are filled with
hope in the illumination of those beauteous, sunny