The Project Gutenberg eBook ofThe Star People

The Project Gutenberg eBook ofThe Star PeopleThis ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.Title: The Star PeopleAuthor: Gaylord JohnsonRelease date: November 4, 2011 [eBook #37916]Language: EnglishCredits: Produced by Juliet Sutherland, eagkw and the OnlineDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STAR PEOPLE ***

This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.

Title: The Star PeopleAuthor: Gaylord JohnsonRelease date: November 4, 2011 [eBook #37916]Language: EnglishCredits: Produced by Juliet Sutherland, eagkw and the OnlineDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

Title: The Star People

Author: Gaylord Johnson

Release date: November 4, 2011 [eBook #37916]

Language: English

Credits: Produced by Juliet Sutherland, eagkw and the OnlineDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STAR PEOPLE ***

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THE MACMILLAN COMPANYNEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGO · DALLASATLANTA · SAN FRANCISCO

MACMILLAN & CO., LimitedLONDON · BOMBAY · CALCUTTAMELBOURNE

THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd.Toronto

BYGAYLORD JOHNSON

WITH DRAWINGS ON SAND AND BLACKBOARDBY “UNCLE HENRY AND THE SOCIETYOF STAR-GAZERS”

“Why did not somebody teach me the constellations, and make me at home in the starry heavens, which are always overhead and which I don’t half know to this day?”—Thomas Carlyle.

New YorkTHE MACMILLAN COMPANY1921

Set up and electrotyped. Published June, 1921.

TOBABY ANNE

PAGEFirst Evening—In which the Society of Star Gazers is formed and discovers Two Bears, one with a stretched tail1Second Evening—The Herdsman’s Dogs chase Ursa Major and the terrible Dragon wriggles away in fright12Third Evening—Uncle Henry’s magic turns the Lyre into a Ukelele, and the Archer’s arrow misses the Swan and hits the Scorpion24Fourth Evening—The Virgin is too busy feeding her Sky Poultry, so Cassiopeia gets the Ukelele to play31Fifth Evening—In which a Dolphin with an ear for music saves a Poet’s life—and Uncle Henry puts two birds in one poem41First Winter Evening—The “Society” learns why Orion needs a club to keep Frisky Taurus in order, and why we say “By Jimini!” when we’re excited52Second Winter Evening—In which the dogs of Orion and Gemini follow their masters, Pegasus escapes as usual, and Andromeda gets a nice soft bed of hay in place of her hard old rock61Third Winter Evening—The Sky clouded over, but Peter found the Star People hiding in the Almanac—Paul found that his head was the World—and the “Society” found out about the Swastika and the Zodiac, and how you tell when a Dipper is a Plough and when it’s a Wagon78Fourth Winter Evening—In which the “Society” meets the last of the Star People and the beginning of Astronomy—and Betty proposes a “Note” of thanks99

TO HELP YOU FINDTHE STAR PEOPLE IN THE SKYWhenever Uncle Henry draws a line to point out one of the star people you will find a figure, close to what he says, like this: (10).Find the same figure on one of the maps inside the front or back cover, and you will see the line that Uncle Henry drew—and find the star person or animal easily in the sky.Numbers 1 to 17 can be located on the front cover maps. Numbers 18 to 32 can be found on the maps inside the back cover.To Use the MapsFace South and hold the map for the proper season over your head—with the top of the book toward the West and the bottom toward the East. You will then see the Star People in the same places they appear in the sky.The maps are drawn for 9 o’clock on April 1st, July 1st, October 1st, and January 1st, but they will be found serviceable in the preceding and following month. When necessary consult the maps for the season coming before or after.

Whenever Uncle Henry draws a line to point out one of the star people you will find a figure, close to what he says, like this: (10).

Find the same figure on one of the maps inside the front or back cover, and you will see the line that Uncle Henry drew—and find the star person or animal easily in the sky.

Numbers 1 to 17 can be located on the front cover maps. Numbers 18 to 32 can be found on the maps inside the back cover.

To Use the Maps

Face South and hold the map for the proper season over your head—with the top of the book toward the West and the bottom toward the East. You will then see the Star People in the same places they appear in the sky.

The maps are drawn for 9 o’clock on April 1st, July 1st, October 1st, and January 1st, but they will be found serviceable in the preceding and following month. When necessary consult the maps for the season coming before or after.

Names of Star PeopleHow to PronounceWhere to Look in the BookWhere to Look on the MapsWhen You Can See Them in the SkyAndromeda(an-drom´-e-dä)Page70Number25Sept.toFeb.Aquarius(a-kwā´-ri-us)“50“19Aug.“Dec.Aquila(ak´-wi-lä)“48“17June“Nov.Aries(a´-ri-ēz)“75“28Sept.“Feb.Auriga(â-ri´-ga)“105“32Oct.“JuneBoötes(bō-ō´-tez)“16“2April“Oct.Cancer(kan´-ser)“73“27Jan.“JuneCanes Venatici(kā´-nez ve-nat´-i-cī)“17“2Feb.“Sept.Canis Major(kā´-nis mā´-jor)“62“22Jan.“AprilCanis Minor(kā´-nis mī´-nor)“72“26Dec.“MayCapricornus(kap-ri-kôr´-nus)“49“18Aug.“Nov.Cassiopeia(kas-i-ō-pē´-ya)“35“12Jan.“Dec.Cerberus(seer´-ber-us)“38“14April“Nov.Corona Borealis(kō-rō´-nä bō-rē-a´-lis)“33“11April“Oct.Cygnus(sig´-nus)“21“4June“Jan.Delphinus(del-fi´-nus)“44“16June“Dec.Draco(drā´-ko)“23“5Jan.“Dec.Gemini(jem´-i-ni)“59“21Dec.“JuneHercules(her´-kū-lēz)“38“14April“Nov.Leo(le´-o)“20“3Feb.“JulyLeo Minor(le´-o mī-nor)“20“3Jan.“JulyLepus(lē´-pus)“64“Dec.“MarchLibra(lī´-bra)“36“13May“Aug.Lyra(lī´-ra)“25“6April“Dec.Ophiuchus(of-i-ū´-kus)“42“15May“Oct.Orion(ō-rī´-on)“56“20Nov.“AprilPegasus(peg´-a-sus)“67“23Aug.“Jan.Perseus(per´-sūs)“102“30Sept.“MayPisces(pis´-ēz)“76“29Sept.“Feb.Sagitta(sa-jit´-a)“26“16June“Dec.Sagittarius(saj-i-tā´-ri-us)“27“7July“Sept.Scorpio(skór´-pi-ō)“29“9June“Sept.Serpens(ser´-pens)“42“15May“Oct.Taurus(tâ´-rus)“58“20Nov.“AprilTriangulum(trī-an´-gū-lum)“75“31Sept.“Feb.Ursa Major(er´-sa mā´-jor)“7“1Jan.“Dec.Ursa Minor(er´-sa mī´-nor)“10“1Jan.“Dec.Virgo(ver´-gō)“33“10April“Aug.

Star People on Maps but not Talked About by “The Society”

(a) Hydra (hī´-dra)(c) Corvus (kôr´-vus)(e) Cetus (sē´-tus)(b) Crater (krā´-ter)(d) Cepheus (sēf´-ūs)(f) Eridanus (ē-rid´-a-nus)

IN WHICH THE SOCIETY OF STAR-GAZERS IS FORMED AND DISCOVERS TWO BEARS—ONE WITH A STRETCHED TAIL

Uncle Henrysat on the porch of “Seven Oaks” Cottage, watching the new moon sink into the woods across Sand Lake.

The ripples of the motor-boat that had carried “Sister” and “The Children’s Father” away from the dock had gone from the glassy water. Over across the lake, at Pentecost station, they would catch the ten o’clock train, to be gone a week.

Uncle Henry had urged “Sister” to go. He had said he was perfectly sure of being able to look after Peter and Paul and Betty for just seven days, but now that “Sister” was really gone Uncle Henry felt the size of the task he had undertaken.

Of course he wasn’t alone. There was big, wholesome Katy, the maid. “Competent Katy,” he had at once named her to himself on his arrival two weeks before. The sleeping, eating, and dressing of twin ten-year-old boys and a seven-year-old girl would go on as usual without Uncle Henry’s assistance.

In the daytime he planned to take them fishing, berry-picking, sailing, and bathing. Target-practicewith Peter and Paul’s air-rifle would help, too, and there would be walks in the woods, and up to Brighton’s farm house for the milk every evening.

But between supper and bed was a gap that Uncle Henry thought might be hard to fill. He must think of some games. He didn’t want to be a poor companion for his adored niece and nephews for even an hour of the time.

Uncle Henry blew a cloud from his pipe and watched it eddy slowly away, filtering through the leaves of the oak-branches at the side of the porch. Then he looked up to the vaporous band of the milky way. Stars hung in it, sparkling. It was like a chiffon streamer with tiny diamond spangles—or a cloud of smoke, blown, with sparks, from the pipe of Pan.

You will see right away that Uncle Henry was a poet, even if Pan’s pipe wasn’t the smoking kind. It might have been, as easy as not. Uncle Henry was wondering whether this last fancy might be made into a poem for his college paper, when the children’s voices floated up from the beach. They were sitting on the smooth sand and singing in unison,

“Star bright, star-light—Many’s the star I see tonight.Star bright, star-light—Tell me, is it true?I wish I may, I wish I mightGet the wish I wish tonight—Star bright, star-light,Tell me, is it true?”

“Star bright, star-light—Many’s the star I see tonight.Star bright, star-light—Tell me, is it true?

I wish I may, I wish I mightGet the wish I wish tonight—Star bright, star-light,Tell me, is it true?”

Uncle Henry took his feet off the porch-railing and allowed his chair to use all of its feet again. Then he leaned out by a post and looked straight up into the blue-black vault of a moonless July night sky. The stars were beautifully clear.

Evidently Peter, Paul, and Betty were singing praise to the fact. They had clapped enthusiastically for themselves, and were now beginning the encore—a repetition of “Star bright, star-light.”

Uncle Henry’s face had become thoughtful, and now he stepped down from the porch, and strolled down the boards to the dock. There he stood craning his neck backward and looking up, until the children had once more finished the verse, laughing and clapping. Evidently the applause for themselves was not enough this time, for there was no encore.

Peter, his eye on Uncle Henry, flopped down on his back and began gazing upward, too. In a moment he called,

“Uncle Hen?”

“Yes, Pete,” from the dock, where Uncle Henry was star-gazing in the opposite direction.

“Why do they call ‘the big dipper’ the ‘great bear’—andisthere any ‘little dipper’? Betty says there isn’t, ’cause she never saw it.”

Uncle Henry stepped off the dock upon the smooth sand, kneeled down, and without answering began collecting little smooth pebbles.

Peter sat up and asked in surprise,

“Don’tyouknow, Uncle Hen?”

Surely this genius, who could make new kinds ofkites, and willow-whistles that “worked fine,” was not going to fail now. The other children turned to him, expectant too. Betty herself was willing to be proved wrong about the existence of the “little dipper,” rather than admit a limit to Uncle Henry’s wisdom.

“Let’s make a nice, smooth place on the sand,” said Uncle Henry, his hands now full of those mysterious pebbles. These he put into his pocket and began, on all fours, to smooth sand industriously.

“Come on, youngsters,” he invited, “and I’ll let you settle the questions yourselves. We’ll make a game of it,” he added.

The trio breathed easier. Uncle Henrydidknow, and was going to tell—in a new, interesting way. Three pairs of hands started smoothing sand, with some waste of energy, but with rapid results.

“Now,” said Uncle Henry, squatting down before the leveled place, and pouring out the pebbles in a little pile, “how many stones do you need to make the dipper, Pete? We’ll draw it on the sand, with pebbles for stars.”

Three necks craned upward in unison, and the two boys’ voices answered, almost together,

“Seven.”

Betty gazed a moment longer, and said,

“Eight.”

Uncle Henry looked interested.

“Where do you see the eighth, Betty?” he asked.

“Right close where the handle bends,” announced Betty.

“Correct,” said Uncle Henry, “that shows you have good eyes. The Arabs used to call that little star ‘the proof,’ because it is a test of good eyesight to see it. The star at the bend of the handle is also called ‘the horse,’ and that faint little star over it ‘the rider.’ You can make the dipper itself with seven pebbles, though. Go ahead and do it, Peter,” Uncle Henry finished, “and take good-sized stones, to show that they’re bright stars.”

When Peter had finished, the smooth patch of sand looked like this in the light from Uncle Henry’s pocket electric torch.

The big dipper

Betty insisted upon adding a tiny stone above “the horse,” to represent her discovery, “the rider.”

“Now,” said Uncle Henry, looking upward, “I’ll help you this much in finding all of ‘the great bear.’ The handle of the dipper is his tail. Everybody try to find the rest of him. Put down a pebble in the right spot for every star; big ones for bright ones, and little stones for faint ones.”

“Ooh,” interrupted Betty, “I got his nose!”

Here is where Betty put it.

His nose

“—and his shoulders!” she added in a moment, putting them in with small pebbles.

“I got his front leg!” announced Paul excitedly, adding three pebbles rapidly.

Then the bear looked like this.

Then the bear looked like this

It was Peter who contributed his hind legs and his “skeleton,” made of finger-drawn lines in the sand. Like this.

Finger-drawn lines in the sand

And when Uncle Henry had drawn an outline in the sand with his finger, the “great bear” was done to everybody’s satisfaction.

The “great bear” was done

While they were all looking at it, Uncle Henry recited,

“Ursa Major’s Latin—And it means, ‘the greater bear.’Ursa’s ‘bear,’ andMajor’s ‘bigger,’If you want to see his ‘figger,’At the dipper’s handle stare—That’s the tail ofUrsa Major.Find his shoulders, nose, and toes—Who first named him, no one knows.”

“Did you say, ‘Noah’—or ‘no one,’ Uncle Henry?” asked Betty.

“I said, ‘no one,’ but have it ‘Noah’ if you like,” said Uncle Henry. “Maybe Noah named him. He was interested in animals, and Adam ought not to have the only right to name them.”

“Now let’s find the little dipper!” urged Peter, anxious for a victory over Betty’s doubts of its existence.

“When we find it,” announced Uncle Henry solemnly, “it won’t be a dipper at all; it will be another bear—a little bear. You know that Noah had two of everything in his ark.”

“I told you there wasn’t any little dipper!” shrilled Betty at Peter.

“Uncle Henry said we’d find it, though,” countered Peter, looking hopefully at the oracle.

“So we will,” laughed Uncle Henry, “the little dipper and the little bear are the same thing!”

“Come on!” urged Paul, “how do we start, Uncle Henry?”

Uncle Henry got up on his knees and drew a long straight line in the sand with his forefinger. (1) It went up through both stars in the middle of the great bear’s body, and a long way beyond. Over three times the distance between the two stars the line went beyond them. Uncle Henry put down a fair-sized pebble at the end.

“There,” he said, “is the tip of the little bear’s tail. Go ahead and find him; but I warn you—it’s a very long tail, and you’ll have to imagine his legs and nose.”

There was a moment’s silence. Then Peter said,

“I can’t see any bear, but Icanmake out a dipper.”

“Make it,” said Uncle Henry.

The little dipper

When Peter finished putting down little pebbles the little dipper was very plain, just above the great bear’s back.

Then Uncle Henry solemnly drew an outline around the seven small pebbles.

Pole Star

“Oooh, what a funny bear!” laughed Betty, when Uncle Henry’s finger had finished. “His tail is solong!”

“Bears always haveshorttails,” said Peter, looking reproachfully at Uncle Henry, as if that person was responsible. There was, however, a note of expectancy in Peter’s voice. He expected a satisfactory explanation from Uncle Henry.

“This bearoncehad as short a tail as any other bear,” said Uncle Henry, quite undisturbed.

“Who stretched it?” inquired Paul breathlessly.

“You will note,” began Uncle Henry, “that thetip of the little bear’s tail is a star that is right at the top of the North Pole. You can’tseethe pole, but it’s there—and long ago somebody tied the tip of the little bear’s tail fast to it. As the earth turned around year after year, and the pole turned with it, the little bear was swung round and round by his tail. That would make anybody’s tail stretch, wouldn’t it?”

There was a moment’s quiet. Then Peter said roguishly,

“You can’t kid us into believing that, Uncle Hen—but we’ll sure remember it.”

All Uncle Henry said was,

“Your mother doesn’t like you to talk slang, Peter.”

Uncle Henry had scored again, and knew it.

“To-morrow night we’ll find the dragon, and the man who drives the great bear around the pole, and his dogs, and maybe the lions and the swan,” promised Uncle Henry, as he looked at his watch and stood up.

“Oooh, great!” cried the trio together.

“We’ll have a reg’lar Noah’s Ark on that sand, won’t we?” said Betty.

“We’ll call it ‘Noah’s Ark in the Sky,’” Uncle Henry agreed, as the children followed him up the walk to Seven Oaks Cottage.

THE HERDSMAN’S DOGS CHASE URSA MAJOR—AND THE TERRIBLE DRAGON WRIGGLES AWAY IN FRIGHT

Thenext evening Peter, Paul, and Betty were all down on the beach as soon as supper was over.

Peter and Paul had that morning made a fence of laths around the sand drawings of the two bears—big, and little, so that “Rags,” their Airedale puppy, could not spoil them.

Now that “Rags” was asleep under the cottage, Peter and Paul removed the fence and smoothed the sand carefully for several yards around the bears, while Betty collected a quite unnecessarily large number of pebbles to represent the stars that would be found, with Uncle Henry’s help, when the twilight faded.

When all this was done the trio sat down beside the smoothed space and called to Uncle Henry, on the porch, that one star was already out and he had better hurry.

“I’ll come when you can seeUrsa Major’stail,” called back Uncle Henry, and the children had to wait, although they shrilly announced each new star that glowed into sight in the darkening sky, and repeatedly urged Uncle Henry to “come on and begin!”

The seven stars of the big dipper were all plainlyvisible when Uncle Henry came down the board walk and sat cross-legged on the sand.

The first thing he did was to extend the line joining the last two pebbles in the great bear’s tail until it was about five times as long as before, and curved slightly downward as it went. (2)

“Now, Betty,” he said, “give me a pebble—a good big one. This is a bright star we’ll begin with; see if you can find it,” and Uncle Henry put down the pebble at the end of the line, like this.

Arcturus, Horse Rider

The three exclaimed, “I see it!” almost together.

“All right, then, we’ll find ‘Boötes,’ the herdsman who drivesUrsa Majorround the pole,” said Uncle Henry. “He has two dogs to help him besides. We’ll find them too.”

The children gazed upward for some time, intently silent.

“I guess,” observed Betty finally, “that you’ll have to tell us whether that big star is the bear-driver’s head—or one of his ‘booties,’ Uncle Henry.”

A duet of groans from Peter and Paul followed this example of the lowest form of wit.

“I can’t see anything that looks like a man the least bit,” she went on, oblivious of the groans, “but I can see a kite, with that big star at the place where the tail would be fastened on.”

“Fine,” said Uncle Henry, “Make the kite then, Betty—and then we’ll find the herdsman after we’ve flown the kite a while. That’s the wonderful thing about Starland. If you get tired of one of the beasts or people in it—presto! You can change him into anything he looks like to you.Boötesis really much more like a kite than a man, so let’s make the kite. Put the pebbles down, Betty.”

Betty did, and they looked like this.

The kite

“That was easy!” exclaimed Peter.

“Never you mind, Mr. Peter!” Betty burst out warmly, “I found it first, anyhow!”

“We’ll let Peter find the bear-driver’s head,” said Uncle Henry judicially.

Peter promptly picked the big star at the tail-end of the kite.

“You’re wrong,” said Uncle Henry, “but I don’t blame you.Arcturusis much too bright and beautiful to be only a big, bright button on the lower edge ofBoötes’ shepherd’s kilt—but that is all it is. The star at the top end of the kite is his head, and the two stars at the ends of the cross-stick of the kite are his shoulders. About halfway from them toArcturusyou can find the belt of his kilt, and——”

“Oh, I see his legs!” interrupted Paul. “He’s running after the big bear.”

“Put them in, Paul,” said Uncle Henry.

Paul did, and the figure ofBoötesgrew to look like this.

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