Mexico weekly ledger., 1876-12-21
A Clock in the Sky at Night.

There are some old churches in Eng
land which have clocks showing the
time with only one hand-the hour
hand. | dare say that it will seem very
strange to active and busy minds in
America that such clocks as these
should still continue in existence. A
slumberous place it must be, truly,
where men are content to know time by
the hour, and to take no note of the
minutes. Or, if that is not really the
way of it, still it must be a strangely
backward world where such clocks,
once sufficient for their purpose, have
not yet been replaced by time measures
better suited to active, business-like
folks. When such clocks were more
common, and house clocks and watches
less used (and probably very seldom in
order), it would have been useful to
know what / am now going to tell you
about a clock in the sky, though at
present the knowledge will help rather
to teach young folks the stars, than to
show them how to learn the time from
the stars; for the clock I have to de-
scribe has only one hand, and not only
so, but that hand goes the wrong way
lOul1us ouu Ou1y olSO lOuuu III u udH.
The first step toward a knowledge of
the stars should be the recognition of
the pole-star, because the pole of the
heavens being the point round which
all the stars are seemingly carried, so
o 10 as we know the stars around the
pole we have q center, so to speak,
from which we can pass to other
groups until we know them all. Once
known, the pole-star can always be
found by the learner, supposing he OBJ
serves the heavens always from the
same station; for it lies always in the
same position Cor so nearly so that the
change can scarcely be noticed). If,
for example, you have once been
shown, or have found out for yourself,
that from a certain spotin your garden,
or from a certain window in your
house, the pole-star car be seen just
above a certain chimney or tree, then
at any time on any night when the sky
is clear, if you betake yourself to that
spot, or look through that window, you
will see the pOle-star over its accus-
toned chimney or tree. It is there,
indeed, all the time, whether the sky
be clear or cloudy, whether it be day or
night. Not only does a knowledge of
the pole-star give you a central-point
whence to proceed to others, but it
gives you the means of knowing where
lie the cardinal points round the hori-
zon; for, of course, when you face the
pole-star, the north lies before you, the
south behind you, the east o. your
right, the west on your left.
But TO find the pole-star, it is we'll to
begin with the dipper. This well
marked group includes two stars which
are called the ''pointers," because they
point to the pole-star. The dipper is
so conspicuous and we'll marked a group
that it is easily learned and a not
easily be forgotten. Although otvery
neal the pole, it is yet not so far from
it as to range very widely owe the
heavens; and if you look toward the
north at any hour of any clear night,
you will seldom require many seconds
to find the familiar set of seven bright
stars, though at one time it is high
above the pole, at another close to the
horizon, now to the right of the pole,
and anon to the left. In England the
dipper never sets; in America it partly
sets, but still can be recognized Except
at stations in the most southern States)
even when partly below the horizon
| Prof. Proctor, in st. Nicholas for Dec.