hought, that they had ever seen
in their lives.

"Oh, what is that, Captain Lovechild, and what is it for?" So the
children all asked, in nearly the same breath.

I suppose, indeed, I hope, that you are so much interested in my
story, that you have already had the same questions pass through your
mind; and I will answer your questions as the captain answered those
of his little friends. The instrument which the kind old gentleman had
brought with him all the way from Boston, on purpose to please and
instruct these children, was called a _telescope_. A telescope is a
long, hollow cylinder, with glasses in it. It is so made that when you
look through it, at anything a great way off, like the moon and the
stars, they appear a great deal larger. It seems to bring them near to
you. You can see them much more distinctly, and as you look at them,
you can find out many wonderful things about them.

As soon as the captain had got the instrument in order, he took it out
into the yard, and pointed one end of the long tube towards the moon.

[Illustration: LOOKING THROUGH THE TELESCOPE.]

"Now, then," said he, "just take a peep at the moon. You'll see
something up there, which will make you wonder, or I'm very much
mistaken. One at a time."

And the children, who did not need to be urged much, gathered around
the lower end of the telescope, first one, and then another, until
they had all got a peep at the wonderful things in the moon. I can't
tell you how much they were delighted. It would fill a small volume,
if I should set down all their "ohs," and their "ahs," and everything
else which came rattling out of their mouths, while they were looking
through the telescope. But I will tell you what Samuel Bissell said,
though. I will tell you one thing he said, at all events. After he had
looked through the instrument, and had listened to what the old
gentleman said about the moon, and the planets, and the fixed stars,
"I declare," said he, "I don't know anything. _I'll be somebody_, I'll
know something and do something, if I live."

Samuel, as you will perceive, had his little head so full of the
wonders of the heavens, and had such a strong desire to add to his
stock of knowledge, that he used pretty bold language. He did not
say, "I'll _try_ to be somebody," as he might have said, if he had
studied his speech a little. His head was full, so that his words
burst out from his mouth as the water would burst out of a hole in