"Because Saturn is so far away from the Sun," replied Mary. "Next to
Saturn we find Uranus. This planet was first seen by William Herschel,
who afterwards became one of the greatest astronomers the world has ever
known. When Herschel was a little boy his home was in Hanover. He had
great talent for music, and when he was fourteen years old he joined the
band of the Hanoverian Guards. What a proud boy he was when he dressed
in his new uniform! However, pride must have a fall, and it was not very
long before he wished he had never entered the army. Just about this
time war broke out between France and England, and as Hanover belonged
to the English it was attacked by the French. The Hanoverian Guards were
badly defeated. Herschel spent the night after the battle hiding away in
a ditch, and next day, assisted by his friends, he ran away to England.
There he continued his musical studies, and some years later he became
a fine organist."
"Did he have to play a big organ like the one in our church?" asked Harry.
"Something like that, I suppose," said Mary; "and he played very well
indeed. He learned more and more about music, and in the evenings when
going and coming from the church he used to notice the beautiful stars
overhead, and he wished to learn something about them."
"Just the way I feel," said Harry. "I get nurse to pull up the window
curtain at night so that I can see the stars from my bed, and they seem
to laugh and wink their little eyes at me as if they knew I was watching
them. Did Herschel have a telescope like the one Uncle Robert has?"
"He was not so fortunate, but he wanted one very much indeed. So he
borrowed a telescope from a friend, and every night after practicing in
the church he would amuse himself looking at the stars. He longed to
have a telescope of his own; but he found that they cost more than he
could afford to pay, so he decided to make one. He bought all that was
necessary, and turned his home for the time into a workshop. He had a
dear, good-natured sister named Caroline, and she did all she could to
help her brother. Sometimes he was too busy to eat and she used to feed
him. When he was tired she would read to him from the 'Arabian Nights.'"
"The same book I have?" asked Harry, in surprise.
"The very same; and this helped to pass away the time while Herschel
polished away on the great mirror of his telescope. When the telescope
was finished people came from far and near to see it. One evening when
Herschel was gazing at the stars with this magic glass he spied a star
not marked down on his charts. 'Something wrong here,' thought Herschel;
'this must be a comet.' But after noticing it for a while he found that
it was not a comet, but a planet or wanderer among the stars."
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A PLANET AND A STAR.
"How could he tell the difference?" asked Harry. "When I looked at Planet
Jupiter last night it looked like the stars, only rounder and bigger."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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