QUESTIONS. 1. How far is Mercury from the Sun? Sometimes nearer, sometimes farther; but, roughly, about 36 millions of miles. 2. How fast does Mercury journey? At his fastest, about 35 miles each second. 3. How long is Mercury’s year? About 88 days, or three months, of Earth-time. 4. Can we see much of Mercury? No; because it is too near to the Sun. 5. Is Mercury heavy or light in make? Much heavier in make than our Earth is. 6. Which is brighter, Mercury or Venus? Mercury gets most sunlight, but Venus reflects sunlight best. 7. What is a Transit of Mercury or Venus? The planet passes exactly between Earth and Sun, and is seen against the Sun, crossing his face. 8. What distance is Venus from the Sun? About 66 millions of miles. 9. How fast does Venus journey? About 22 miles each second. 10. Why is Venus slower than Mercury? Because Venus is farther off than Mercury from the Sun, and so the pull of the Sun is less. 11. How long is the year of Venus? About seven months and a half of Earth-time. 12. Is any other planet in our sky brighter than Venus? No planet or star--only the Sun and the Moon. 13. How near to us does Venus come? At her nearest she is about 26 millions of miles off. 14. Is she very bright then? Her bright side is turned away from us then, and we cannot see her at all. 15. When is our best view of Venus? When we see her as really Half-Venus. CHAPTER XIV. THE PLANET MARS. Next outside the pathway of Venus comes the pathway of another planet, named EARTH--this same globe on which we live. From it, as from a little boat on the great ocean, we look out upon other floating worlds, and upon the countless stars. We can see the worlds and stars, but we cannot get to them. All of us are prisoners upon this little Earth-boat, during our earthly lives. As a Planet our Earth is one of the smaller worlds. She is nearly 8,000 miles through, and about 25,000 miles round. She has a north pole and a south pole, and an equator. She has many continents and oceans, part of her surface being Land, and a larger part being Water. The Earth spins on her axis once in twenty-four hours; and she travels round the Sun once in twelve months, going at a rate of about nineteen miles each second. This is not so fast as Venus, and not nearly so fast as Mercury; yet it is seventy times faster than the speed of a cannon-ball. Think of our whole big Earth, with all of us on board, rushing wildly through the sky more than seventy times as fast as a cannon-ball rushes through the air. Only it is not “wildly;” the movements of the worlds, though very rapid, are calm and quiet.