e movement of our
planet? But our poor Earth may roll on a long time yet before its
inhabitants will become reasonable.

CHAPTER IX

THE MOON

It is the delightful hour when all Nature pauses in the tranquil calm of
the silent night.

The Sun has cast his farewell gleams upon the weary Earth. All sound is
hushed. And soon the stars will shine out one by one in the bosom of the
somber firmament. Opposite to the sunset, in the east, the Full Moon
rises slowly, as it were calling our thoughts toward the mysteries of
eternity, while her limpid night spreads over space like a dew from
Heaven.

In the odorous woods, the trees are silhouetted strangely upon the sky,
seeming to stretch their knotted arms toward this celestial beauty. On
the river, smooth as a mirror, wherein the pale Phoebe reflects her
splendor, the maidens go to seek the floating image of their future
spouse. And in response to their prayers, she rends the veil of cloud
that hides her from their eyes, and pours the reflection of her gentle
beams upon the sleeping waters.

From all time the Moon has had the privilege of charming the gaze, and
attracting the particular attention of mortals. What thoughts have not
been wafted to her pale, yet luminous disk? Orb of mystery and of
solitude, brooding over our silent nights, this celestial luminary is at
once sad and splendid in her glacial purity, and her limpid rays provoke
a reverie full of charm and melancholy. Mute witness of terrestrial
destinies, her nocturnal flame watches over our planet, following it in
its course as a faithful satellite.

The human eye first uplifted to the Heavens was struck, above all, with
the brilliancy of this solitary globe, straying among the stars. The
Moon first suggested an easy division of time into months and weeks, and
the first astronomical observations were limited to the study of her
phases.

Daughter of the Earth, the Moon was born at the limits of the
terrestrial nebula, when our world was still no more than a vast gaseous
sphere, and was detached from her at some critical period of colossal
solar tide. Separating with regret from her cradle, but attached to the
Earth by indissoluble ties of attraction, she rotates round us in a
month, from west to east, and this movement keeps her back a little each
day in relation to the stars. If we watch, evening by evening, beginning
from the new moon, we shall observe that she is each night a little
farther to t