The Galaxy, or Milky Way, is seen to great advantage near the Cross. It is about the milkiest in that quarter. And I can make a good guess now about the two Magellanic clouds, as the captain called them--these two clouds of light not far from the Cross. Why, they are only places where the shining stuff is thickest. You would, then, really believe there might be lots of stars in those clouds. Yes; but what are the two black clouds? Look at them attentively, and tell me what you think of them? There is no milk there, anyhow. I suppose they look black by contrast with the bright clouds near. How cold and dreary they seem! And yet now I can make out a few stars scattered about, like ships on a big sea at a great distance from one another. The early navigators southward used to call them the _Coal Sacks_, because so black. Why, the Southern Cross seems to rise from that pear-shaped Coal Sack, and all at once to get crowned with a blaze of light. True, my dear boy. The Cross of our faith has often brought man from the darkness of doubt and misery into the glorious light of freedom and hope. Thank you, kind father, for saying that. I do trust I may always have the cross shining on my way through life.” THE NEBULÆ. How wondrous a sight did James think the Milky Way! Evening after evening would he stare at the weird-looking object. Moonlight eclipsed it, as sunlight the stars. The atmosphere through which we contemplate the heavens at times obscures their glory. That dreamy radiance is easily concealed from view. The bold planet looks down upon us with an unblinking eye. The fixed stars peep more coyly, with an uncertain lustre. The Milky Way, yet more retiring, seldom deigns to do more than glance timidly at us here. With our magnificent climate in Australia, we are favoured beyond most countries with its soft, peculiar light. “What is a Nebula, father? said James. A white, cloudy patch in the heavens. There are about five thousands of them scattered about space. You said the Milky Way was made up of stars and Nebulæ, and that many patches of white, when looked at with a good telescope, turn out to be only lots of stars. Yes. These are the _Resolvable_ Nebulæ. But there are _Irresolvable_,--that is, some of them still look cloudy with our best telescopes. Can you find me a Nebula in Orion? What must I look for? A small, distinct, white patch of light. No; I don’t see it. Look again. Do you see the Belt, with a bright star over it, and one about the same distance below it? I see all that clear enough, but not your Nebula. Look, boy, steadily and closely between the Belt, and that top bright star Rigel, where on the Atlas is pictured the sword-handle of the great hunter. I don’t feel very sure, but I fancy I can distinguish something that ought to be it.