But the Autumn night Has a piercing sight, And a step both strong and free; And a voice for wonder, Like the wrath of the thunder, When he shouts to the stormy sea! And the Winter night Is all cold and white, And she singeth a song of pain; Till the wild bee hummeth, And the warm spring cometh, When she dies in a dream of rain! --Adelaide Proctor. THE CALLING OF THE STARS. God's presence through the twilight stillness glides, To spirits vocal--silent to the ear; He calls by name each fair star where it hides, And each star brightens, as it answers 'Here!' Though we too call the stars, they answer not, They do not softly come like children shy At a fond parent's calling, for, I wot, We do not know what names God calls them by. [Illustration: THE GREAT TELESCOPE AT LICK OBSERVATORY.] STORIES OF THE WINTER STARS. I heard the trailing garments of the night Sweep through her marble halls, I saw her sable skirts all fringed with light From the celestial walls. --Longfellow. Winter had come with its cold north winds and frosty air. The stars glittered like gems against the dark velvet sky, and seemed reflected in the mantle of pure white snow that covered the earth. Mary had asked Harry's nurse to move his couch into her room so that he might see the stars from the windows, one looking south, the other east. Impatiently Harry now awaited his sister, who had promised to take him on another trip to starland. The room was in total darkness, and nurse had raised the curtains. Looking right into one window was the mighty giant Orion, while the Twins peeped into another. STORY OF THE ROYAL FAMILY. "It is as good as a play," said Harry, as his sister started to tell him about them. "First of all," she said, "I am going to tell you the story of the Royal Family, although we cannot see them from this window. You can get a glimpse of Cepheus from your own room, but the rest of the Royal Family are overhead. You would have to make a hole through the roof if you wanted to watch them while I told their story." "If we could go out-of-doors, as we did last summer, could we see them overhead?" asked Harry. "Yes," replied his sister; "but it is too cold now to look at them except from a warm, cozy room. To-morrow I shall show you a map of these stars, and when the days grow warm again we can look for them in the sky." "Can you see them during the summer-time as well as the winter?" asked Harry. [Illustration: QUEEN CASSIOPEIA.]