[Illustration: _Eclipse of the Sun. Frontispiece._] THE STARRY SKIES: OR, FIRST LESSONS ON THE SUN, MOON AND STARS. BY AGNES GIBERNE, AUTHOR OF “AMONG THE STARS,” “SUN, MOON, AND STARS,” ETC. [Illustration] _AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY_, 10 EAST 23D STREET, NEW YORK. COPYRIGHT, 1894, AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. This Earth of Ours PAGE 5 CHAPTER II. Why Men Do Not Fall Off 16 CHAPTER III. By Day and by Night 27 CHAPTER IV. How the World Spins 38 CHAPTER V. The Moon by Night 49 CHAPTER VI. The Moon’s Changes 61 CHAPTER VII. The Moon through a Telescope 72 CHAPTER VIII. The Sun by Day 82 CHAPTER IX. Storms on the Sun 90 CHAPTER X. How the World Journeys 102 CHAPTER XI. Other Worlds 111 CHAPTER XII. What is Meant by an Eclipse 124 CHAPTER XIII. Mercury and Venus 136 CHAPTER XIV. The Planet Mars 147 CHAPTER XV. The Planet Jupiter 158 CHAPTER XVI. Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune 166 CHAPTER XVII. Long-Tailed Comets 175 CHAPTER XVIII. Little Meteors 184 CHAPTER XIX. The Sun’s Kingdom 191 CHAPTER XX. A Starry Universe 200 CHAPTER XXI. Star-Groups 209 CHAPTER XXII. Giant-Suns and Clusters 217 CHAPTER XXIII. How to Study the Sky 226 THE STARRY SKIES. CHAPTER I. THIS EARTH OF OURS. Once upon a time--thus runs a certain tale--there was a man who wanted to see what could be found at the other end of the world. So he left his home behind him, and started off to explore. He had a toilsome journey. He wandered over wide plains; he climbed steep mountains; he forded dangerous rivers; he crossed stormy seas. Through weeks and months, and even years, he kept straight on, steadily on, patiently on, never turning to right or to left. And at last, what do you think he found? Was it a world of giants? Or a land of fairies? Or a dark ocean, without any further shore? Or a vast range of hills, reaching skyward? Or a profound depth, going downward?