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Ebook has 434 lines and 23591 words, and 9 pages
THE STAR PEOPLE
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
NEW YORK ? BOSTON ? CHICAGO ? DALLAS ATLANTA ? SAN FRANCISCO
MACMILLAN & CO., LIMITED
LONDON ? BOMBAY ? CALCUTTA MELBOURNE
THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD.
Toronto
THE STAR PEOPLE
GAYLORD JOHNSON
WITH DRAWINGS ON SAND AND BLACKBOARD BY "UNCLE HENRY AND THE SOCIETY OF STAR-GAZERS"
New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1921
Set up and electrotyped. Published June, 1921.
TO BABY ANNE
WHAT HAPPENED IN STARLAND
PAGE FIRST EVENING-- In which the Society of Star Gazers is formed and discovers Two Bears, one with a stretched tail 1
SECOND EVENING-- The Herdsman's Dogs chase Ursa Major and the terrible Dragon wriggles away in fright 12
THIRD EVENING-- Uncle Henry's magic turns the Lyre into a Ukelele, and the Archer's arrow misses the Swan and hits the Scorpion 24
FOURTH EVENING-- The Virgin is too busy feeding her Sky Poultry, so Cassiopeia gets the Ukelele to play 31
FIFTH EVENING-- In which a Dolphin with an ear for music saves a Poet's life--and Uncle Henry puts two birds in one poem 41
SECOND 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 rock 61
THIRD 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 Wagon 78
FOURTH WINTER EVENING-- In which the "Society" meets the last of the Star People and the beginning of Astronomy--and Betty proposes a "Note" of thanks 99
WHERE TO FIND THE "PEOPLE" YOU WANT
Andromeda Page 70 Number 25 Sept. to Feb. Aquarius " 50 " 19 Aug. " Dec. Aquila " 48 " 17 June " Nov. Aries " 75 " 28 Sept. " Feb. Auriga " 105 " 32 Oct. " June Bo?tes " 16 " 2 April " Oct. Cancer " 73 " 27 Jan. " June Canes " 17 " 2 Feb. " Sept. Canis Major " 62 " 22 Jan. " April Canis Minor " 72 " 26 Dec. " May Capricornus " 49 " 18 Aug. " Nov. Cassiopeia " 35 " 12 Jan. " Dec. Cerberus " 38 " 14 April " Nov. Corona " 33 " 11 April " Oct. Cygnus " 21 " 4 June " Jan. Delphinus " 44 " 16 June " Dec. Draco " 23 " 5 Jan. " Dec. Gemini " 59 " 21 Dec. " June Hercules " 38 " 14 April " Nov. Leo " 20 " 3 Feb. " July Leo Minor " 20 " 3 Jan. " July Lepus " 64 " Dec. " March Libra " 36 " 13 May " Aug. Lyra " 25 " 6 April " Dec. Ophiuchus " 42 " 15 May " Oct. Orion " 56 " 20 Nov. " April Pegasus " 67 " 23 Aug. " Jan. Perseus " 102 " 30 Sept. " May Pisces " 76 " 29 Sept. " Feb. Sagitta " 26 " 16 June " Dec. Sagittarius " 27 " 7 July " Sept. Scorpio " 29 " 9 June " Sept. Serpens " 42 " 15 May " Oct. Taurus " 58 " 20 Nov. " April Triangulum " 75 " 31 Sept. " Feb. Ursa Major " 7 " 1 Jan. " Dec. Ursa Minor " 10 " 1 Jan. " Dec. Virgo " 33 " 10 April " Aug.
STAR PEOPLE ON MAPS BUT NOT TALKED ABOUT BY "THE SOCIETY"
Hydra Cepheus Crater Cetus Corvus Eridanus
THE STAR PEOPLE
FIRST EVENING
IN WHICH THE SOCIETY OF STAR-GAZERS IS FORMED AND DISCOVERS TWO BEARS--ONE WITH A STRETCHED TAIL
Uncle Henry sat 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-practice with 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 might Get 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.
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,
Surely this genius, who could make new kinds of kites, 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.
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