Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1876-11-16
The Morning and Evening Star.

s'Fairest of stars, last in the train Of night
If better thou belong not to the dawn,
Sure pledge of the day, that crowns't the smi-
ling morn
With thy bright eirclet, praise Him in thy
sphere" Milton.
All through the spring months, and
onward to the end of June, the eve
ming star shOne brightly in the west,
slowly passing downward along the
track which the sun had fOllOwei l. She
had been gro wing brighter and bright
er up to the end of May, and for week
or so longer, but then she began to lose
iuster, night after night. She also
drew nearer and nearer to the suns
place on the sky, so as to set sooner
and sooner after him. AT last she was
no more seen. But if, during Septem-
Der and October, and afterward till
next spring, you get up before sunrise,
you will see the morning star in the
east, shining very brightly in Septem-
Der, but gradually with less and less
splendor, until at length, late in spring
next year,it will be lost to view. This
morning star is the same body which
before had shone in the evening. 1t
shines halfthe time as an evening star,
and half the time as a morning star;
or, to be more exact, | ought to say
that after shining for d long time as an
evening star, and being lost for time
from view, il shines for just as long a
time morning star, then is again lost
from view, then shines for as long a
time as before in the evening, and so
on continually. 1t also changes in
brightness all the time, in this way:
For rather more than eight months
you see it in the evening, getting
brighter and brighter, slowly, for the
first seven months, and then getting
fainter much more quickly, until at
last you lose sight OF it. In about q
fortnight you see it as a morning star,
getting brighter and brighter quickly
during rather more than month, and
then getting slowly fainter and fainter
during seven months, after which it
can no more be seen. So that it shines
about eight months as a marning star.
After this it remains out OF sight for
about eight months, and Is then seen
as an evening star. And so it goes on
changing from a morning to an eve
ming star, and from an evening to
morning star continually, and always
III vi IL 'AAN VIZ JN'S
described.
The star which shows these strange
changes is called by astronomers We
nus, and is the most beautiful Of all the
stars. Venus was called the Planet of
Love; and in old times, when men tho't
that the stars ruled our fortunes, the
rays of Venus were SUI poced to do a
great deal of good to those who were
born when she was shining brightly.
but in our time, men no longer fancy
that because star looks beautiful like
Venus, it brings good luck; or that be-
cause star looks dim and yellow. like
Saturn, it brings bad fortune. Tley
know that Venus is globe like cur
own earth, going round the sun just as
the earth does. Our earth seen from
Venus looks like star, just as Venus
looks Iike!a star to us. And if there are
any creatures living on Venus who
can study the stars as we do, they have
quite as much reason for thinking that
the globe ON which we live brings them
good luck, as we have for thinking that
their globe brings as good luck.-PrOf.
Richard A. Proctor, st. Nicholas, Oc-
tOber,