Overhead the countless stars Like eyes of love were beaming, Underneath the weary Earth All breathless lay a-dreaming. The twilight hours like birds flew by, As lightly and as free; Ten thousand stars were in the sky, Ten thousand in the sea. For every wave with dimpled face That leaped upon the air Had caught a star in its embrace And held it trembling there. --Amelia B. Welby. [Illustration: LICK OBSERVATORY.] STORIES OF THE SUMMER STARS. It was a glorious night in June, and the stars sparkled like gems against the dark background of the sky. [Illustration: THE GREAT BEAR.] Harry was enjoying the scene, as the doctor had allowed him to spend the warm summer evenings out on the lawn in front of the house. This was a royal treat to him. He could see all the sky at once, he said to his sister, and could look at the stars while she told him stories about them. First of all, there was the Great Dipper in the North, and the Little Dipper with the Pole Star. He was surprised when his sister said that the Great Dipper formed part of the group of stars known as the Great Bear, and he listened intently while she related the story as told in olden times by the Grecians. LEGENDS OF THE GREAT BEAR. "The Great Bear was said to be Calisto, the beautiful daughter of Lycaon, king of Arcadia. Juno, the wife of Jupiter, was jealous of Calisto, and threatened to destroy her beauty. Fearing that Juno would harm her, Jupiter changed her into a bear. "'Her arms grow shaggy and deformed with hair, Her nails are sharpened into pointed claws, Her hands bear half her weight, and turn to paws; Her lips, that once could tempt a god, begin To grow distorted in an ugly grin; And, lest the supplicating brute might reach The ears of Jove, she was deprived of speech.' "Calisto had a son named Arcas, who became a great hunter. One day he roused a bear in the chase, and, not knowing that it was his mother, was about to kill her, when Jupiter, taking pity on them both, changed Arcas into the Little Bear." "Who was Jupiter?" asked Harry. "In the olden times, he was supposed to live on the top of Mount Olympus, with his beautiful wife Juno. When Jupiter was angry with people, it is said he would hurl thunderbolts at them, and when he was pleased he placed them after death among the stars." "So he was pleased with Calisto and her son?" said Harry. "So the story says," replied Mary. "But he also seemed to be afraid of his jealous wife Juno. "A modern Greek legend gives another account of this constellation or group of stars. It is supposed that at one time the sky was made of glass and it touched the earth on both sides. It was soft and thin, and someone nailed a bear skin upon it, and the nails became stars; and the tail is represented by the three bright stars known as the handle of the Great Dipper.