Bristol news. [volume] (Bristol, Va. & Tenn.) 1867-189?, 1880-04-13


Beach,"
at does seem strange" said Mr.. New
man, "but it was true, and the man who
first declared that he believed it round
was laughed at by everybody for hold
inr such an absurd idea. The earth
turns round on its axis, and that makes
day and night, you know. Then it goes
round the sun once year, and by
changing its position at different times,
gives what we call our seasons. But be-
fore we tall, more about the earth, | will
tell you something about the sun, If you
want to hear it,"
81 do, " said Harry, every much"
"Wcll," continued his father, "you
will hardly believe me when tell you
that the sun is so far Off that if you could
take passage in ear going from here
there at the rate of thirty miles an hour,
and should start next New Years day,
1881, pou would not reach the sun till
the middle of the year 223l-three hun
dred and fifty years from the time you
start--in other words the sun Is about
nlnety-two million Of miles away"
"Wheww said Harry, 81 should have
to be- as old as Mcthusclah."
"And the sun Ia 40 large" continued
Mr.. Newman, "that IN this aNme aryou
would be ten years In going around It,,
while YOU would travel around the earth
nt that rate In about month. II takes
200, ,000 oarths to make ono sun, or, II
you call u good sized orange the sun, the
earth would be no larger in proportion
than the head Of n PIN"
"What IL the sun made OFF" usked
Harry.
"'rhe best astronomers" answered
Mr.. Newman, "say that tho whole In
side Ia II Kind Of hot gus, and that the
surface Is great ocean Of fire which IL
all tho time boiling and scething and
sending up huge Jets Of fame thousands
of miles hgh--thc most glorious nre-
works one could dream Of. lfa portion
OF this fiery mass should be blown over
tho United States at the rate at which It
: moves on tho sun, II would only be 80
seconds In rushing from the Gulf Of ST,
Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico, leaving
the whole country not only Il mass OF
ruin, but of glowing vapor, while the
? ashes of New York, Boston, and Chlca-
go would only be one cloud. You VIII
yet II little Idea of how hot 1t Is when |
tell you Tint If the earth were made Office,
and the whole heat Of the sun were put
upon It, II would take hut two minutes
to melt Il; two minutes longer to boil
the water which It would then consist
of, and thirteen minutes more to convert
II all into steam"
"Oh :" said Harry, 81 never would
have believed that yellow ball over there
could be so big, or so far of, or SC
hot as you say; but | don't see how you
find out all these things"
"By and by,n continued his father,
"when you grow old, you will under
stand some of the wonderful ways III
which astronomers make these discoy-
cries"
81 wish were old enough now" said
Harry. "But Papa, if the sun is SC
large, how big Is the moon9 That looks
about the same size"
"Why, my dear boy, It would take
sixty millions of our moons to make the
sun! 1t looks so much larger because II
is so much nearer to us. IL Is about
2iO,0 900 miles from us, and reyolyc.
around us In about twenty-cight days
as we do around the sun once u year
A curious thing about the moon Is tha
no one has ever seen the other side of 1t
. and many astronomers have con
jecturcd that the other side Is like th'
, earth and that people live there; but /
Is clearly known now that there sncithc
air nor water there; 80 Of course n,
one could live on the moon. lwill SHOW
n little how the surface of the moonlook
as seen through u telescope"
As Mr.. Newman spoke, he picked NJ
=. ahindful Of pebbles from the groun'
; and threw them into a soft bed Of muO
, which they had just reached
"Thcsc pebbles sunk in the mud,
said lie, "look very much like the fla
craters IN the middle of the mountains o
the moon, while these little mounds O
mud around them represent the man.
curious shapes of the mountains them
themselves. One of these days | vii
>. show them to you through my telescope
and some of the planets too"
"IIow many did you say there were
papaY" asked Harry.
"scycn, besides the earth, replied hi
q. father. "'lhe one nearest the sun i
called Mercury. II IL about onc-thlrI
u the size Of the earth and Is forty million
of miles from the SUM- Next comes We
nus, that beautiful bright star You hay
n ~ often seen near sunset time. TIN
i Grecks long tine ago, called 1t Hes
: pcrus, or the evening star, and ais
Il 'phosphorus, or the morning star; 70
y part Of the year It Ia seen IN the morn
Ing. II Is aboutas large as the earth
!, aud slXty-scycn millions Of miles fron
y the sun"
Z "When docs the earth come in, papaY
4 said Harry.
"Ncxt TO Venus, my boy" replied hi
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