I think you will understand some of the reasons that have led to such a conclusion. If you observe smoke, steam, or any vapor, you will find that the farther you are from it, the more difficult it is to see through it. The fog which hides the distant mountains, or even the sun, does not obscure those objects immediately about you; the thin vapor which you see at a distance covering the meadow, disappears on approaching it. A body of vapor, therefore, becomes at a distance perfectly opaque and impenetrable to the direct rays of the sun; so, were the planet Mercury composed of materials of a like nature and density, they would still appear, during a transit, like a black spot on the sun’s disc. The comet, however, instead of obstructing the rays of the sun, offers little impediment to those of a star. No vapory substance perceptible to our senses could maintain any degree of transparency at a comet’s distance, but, if the volume were large enough, would appear as a perfectly dense and opaque mass; yet during the visit of the comet of 1835, a star of about the tenth magnitude was seen through the most dense part of it, within one three hundred and sixtieth part of a degree, of its centre. Through the centres of other comets, stars have been seen, so small that it would require a thousand to make one as large as the smallest of those seen by the naked eye. The conclusion, then, is reasonable enough, that were thousands of these bodies placed between us and the sun, it would obstruct no appreciable portion of its rays, and that it would continue to appear in undiminished splendor. We shall have a little more to say about comets in our next number. [Illustration: LITTLE LEAVES FOR LITTLE READERS SEE! EACH MONTH, OLD MERRY WEAVES, FOR LITTLE FOLKS, HIS LITTLE LEAVES!] Things that have happened. A CHILD’S REASONING. It is related of a child, that he begged his preceptor to instruct him in the law of God; but he declined, saying that he was too young to be taught these things. “But, sir,” said the boy, “I have been in the burial ground, measuring the graves, and find some of them shorter than myself; now if I should die before I have learned the word of God, what will become of me?” STEALING. A man, who was in the habit of going to a neighbor’s corn-field to steal the grain, one day took his son, of about eight years old, with him. The father told him to hold the bag while he looked on to watch if any one were near to see him. After standing on the fence, and peeping through all the rows of corn, he returned to take the bag from the child, and began his sinful work. “Father,” said the boy, “you forgot to look somewhere else.” “Which way, child?” supposing he had seen some one. “You forgot to look up to the sky, father, to see if God was noticing you.”