If somebody should make his home on the farther side of the Moon, and should never come round to the nearer side, he would not have a glimpse of the Earth. He would see the Sun, because the Sun shines on each part of the Moon in turn: but no Earth would be on his sky. One side of the Moon has a magnificent Moon in the Earth, more than a dozen times as large as our Moon. But the opposite side of the Moon has only starlight when the sun sets. The reason for this is that the Moon takes just exactly the same length of time to spin once round on her axis that she takes to travel once round the world: twenty-eight days for the one and twenty-eight days for the other. Suppose now that you choose to walk round and round a table with a lamp in the middle. You may do it in three different ways. First: you may spin fast on your feet, like a teetotum, as you go. Each spin of your body may perhaps take a second; and passing slowly round the table may last half-a-minute. As you thus move, each side of your head in turn is towards the lamp with every spin. Secondly, you may pass slowly round the table in the same manner; not spinning at all but keeping your face fixed on one direction--let us say, towards the fireplace end of the room. Then again, as you move, each part of your head in turn will be towards the lamp. Thirdly: you may pass round the table turning very gradually indeed upon your feet as you go, turning so slowly that a single spin will last exactly as long as one journey round the table. If you start with your face towards the lamp you will continue to face it all the while, and the back of your head will all the while be away from the lamp, in shadow. In fact, the lamp will never once have a glimpse of the back of your head. [Illustration: _The Moon. Last quarter. 23⅓ days old._] The last of these three is the manner in which the Moon spins on her axis and travels round our Earth. Such a slow spin brings about a curious state of things. We on the Earth have day and night in every twenty-four hours; but the Moon’s day and night come only once in every twenty-eight days. The day there is a whole fortnight in length of our Earth-time: and the night is another whole fortnight. Fourteen days of blazing sunshine: then fourteen days of pitchy darkness--except for the brightness of the Stars, and except also, on one side, for the beautiful radiance of the Earth. QUESTIONS. 1. What is meant by the Moon’s Phases? The different shapes of the Moon as we see her in the sky. 2. What kind of shapes? As Full Moon; as Half Moon; as Crescent Moon. 3. Which part of the Moon shines? That side which is turned towards the Sun. 4. Do we ever see her dark side? Sometimes, not far from New Moon, we have a glimpse of it, lighted up by Earth-shine very dimly. 5. Does the Moon spin on her axis? Yes; but very slowly, only once in twenty-eight days. 6. How long does it take the Moon to get once round the Earth?