At first the Moon seemed a long way off, compared with any country in our world; till we began to think of the Sun. And then, compared with the Sun, the Moon seemed near. And the Sun seemed a very long way off, compared with the Moon; till we began to think of Neptune. And then, compared with Neptune, the Sun seemed near. And Neptune seemed a very, very long way off, compared with the Sun; till we began to think of the nearest Star. And then, compared with that Star, Neptune seemed near. And even the very closest of the Stars, which, compared with Neptune, seems so desperately far away, would, as compared with yet more distant Stars, seem almost near! QUESTIONS. 1. How far does the Solar System reach? Nobody can say; but at all events beyond Neptune’s pathway. 2. Has the Sun any power beyond his own kingdom? He has power to attract other stars. 3. Does he pull other stars as strongly as he pulls his worlds? No: much more gently, because of their great distance. 4. How many stars are in our Solar System? Only one star, the Sun. 5. What lies round our System, between us and all the stars? A wide empty space of cold and darkness. 6. Do we really know that it is empty? We can only say that it seems empty to us. We _know_ very little about the matter. 7. If we let one inch stand for 2,000 miles, how large will the whole Solar System be? Less than 50 miles across. It would lie between New York and West Point. 8. Does this mean the whole of it? The whole of which we know. Some comets may wander a little farther. 9. On that small scale, how near would Mercury be to the Sun? About a quarter of a mile off. 10. And Venus? About half a mile off. 11. And the Earth? About three quarters of a mile off. 12. And Mars? Over one mile off. 13. And Jupiter? About three miles and three quarters off. 14. And Saturn? About seven miles off. 15. And Uranus? Over fourteen miles off. 16. And Neptune? More than twenty-one miles off. 17. And the nearest Star? About two hundred thousand miles off. CHAPTER XX. A STARRY UNIVERSE. I wonder how many of the Stars you know by sight, so as to be able to point them out one by one, and say, “That is Sirius,” or “That is Arcturus,” or “That is Capella,” or “That is the Pole-star.” We are not now thinking of Planets, but of Stars; not of Worlds, but of Suns; not of our little Solar System, but of the great _Stellar System_, or Universe of Stars. Our Sun and all his worlds belong to that Starry Universe. And no doubt countless other worlds, as well as countless other suns, belong to it also. In long-past days the name of “fixed stars” was given to the greater number of shining points in the sky. They are called “fixed” to make a difference between them and the planets, which are seen to be _not_ fixed.