of magnitudes compared with which the earth is but a
foot-ball; of starry hosts--suns like our own--numberless as the sands
on the shore; of worlds and systems shooting through the infinite
spaces, with a velocity compared with which the cannon-ball is a
way-worn, heavy-paced traveler![A]

[Footnote A: Nichol's _Architecture of the Heavens_, p. 160.]

THE SPECTACLE OF THE HEAVENS.

Much, however, as we are indebted to our observatories for elevating our
conceptions of the heavenly bodies, they present, even to the unaided
sight, scenes of glory which words are too feeble to describe. I had
occasion, a few weeks since, to take the early train from Providence to
Boston; and for this purpose rose at 2 o'clock in the morning. Every
thing around was wrapped in darkness and hushed in silence, broken only
by what seemed at that hour the unearthly clank and rush of the train.
It was a mild, serene midsummer's night; the sky was without a
cloud--the winds were whist. The moon, then in the last quarter, had
just risen, and the stars shone with a spectral luster but little
affected by her presence; Jupiter, two hours high, was the herald of the
day; the Pleiades, just above the horizon, shed their sweet influence in
the east; Lyra sparkled near the zenith; Andromeda veiled her newly
discovered glories from the naked eye in the south; the steady Pointers,
far beneath the pole, looked meekly up from the depths of the north to
their sovereign.

Such was the glorious spectacle as I entered the train. As we proceeded,
the timid approach of twilight became more perceptible; the intense blue
of the sky began to soften, the smaller stars, like little children,
went first to rest; the sister-beams of the Pleiades soon melted
together; but the bright constellations of the west and north remained
unchanged. Steadily the wondrous transfiguration went on. Hands of
angels hidden from mortal eyes shifted the scenery of the heavens; the
glories of night dissolved into the glories of the dawn. The blue sky
now turned more softly gray; the great watch-stars shut up their holy
eyes; the east began to kindle. Faint streaks of purple soon blushed
along the sky; the whole celestial concave was filled with the inflowing
tides of the morning light, which came pouring down from above in one
great ocean of radiance; till at length, as we reached the Blue Hills, a
flash of purple fire blazed out from above the horizon, and turned t