The moon was shining brightly and flooding Harry's room with its rays.
He was suffering so very much, and had tried in vain to sleep. Presently
he asked his nurse if she would not let Mary come and talk to him. "It
will not tire me," he begged earnestly; "and it does tire me to lie here
hour after hour with no one to talk to."
His nurse understood him so well, and her heart ached for the lonely
child who had so little to amuse him in life. She never refused a request
if it were at all possible to grant it. So she called his sister Mary,
who hastened at once to his room, and brother and sister were soon far
away on a ramble in starland.
"We shall go to the moon this evening," she began, "and find out what
a queer old world it is."
"Old?" asked Harry; "why do you call it old, when it looks so bright
and new? See, sister, how it seems to be looking right into the window
and watching us. I wonder if it knows what we are saying about it. Now
what would it think if it heard you calling it old?"
[Illustration: THE MOON.]
"But it is," said Mary, laughing; "and very old indeed. Its face is
wrinkled and scarred, and is just like that of the old dried-up apple
we found in the orchard the other day."
"What makes it so bright, then, if it is so old?" asked Harry, as he
looked curiously at the moon.
"It borrows its light from the sun," replied his sister; "if the sun
were to stop shining you would not be able to see the moon at all. It
would be as dark as night and twice as gloomy."
"Do you think there are people on the moon?" asked Harry excitedly.
"No, dear, not even the 'Man in the Moon,' though I am going to tell
you some stories about him presently. Besides, no one could live on the
moon, as there is not any air to breathe, and you cannot live without
air. There is not any water to drink; in fact, there is not a drop of
water on the moon."
"Then it must be very old," said Harry thoughtfully, "because you know
you told me, sister, some time ago, that if a planet grows very old all
the oceans and bays disappear."
"Yes, the moon is very old; it is a dead world. If you could go there,
you would find it a very gloomy spot. There are no trees or flowers;
and there is not even a blade of grass. The sky is always black and the
stars shine night and day. The shadows are so black on the moon that
it would be a fine place to play hide-and-seek. The moment you stepped
into a shadow you would become invisible."
[Illustration: SCENERY ON THE MOON.]
"Just like the prince in the fairy tale who put on a little cap and no
one could see him," said Harry.
"Yes; that prince would not need the cap on the moon. If he did not want
anyone to know he was there, all he would have to do would be to keep
in the shadow. No one would hear his footsteps, as not a sound can be
heard on the moon. It would be useless to speak, as there is no air to
carry the sound of a voice."
"I should not like to go to the moon, then," said Harry seriously,
"because you could not tell me any stories, sister, could you? What
would I do then?"
"I really cannot imagine," said Mary, laughing; "but perhaps you might
come across the Man in the Moon and talk to him in sign-language."
"Like the deaf-and-dumb people?" asked Harry.
"If he could understand it," said Mary; "but then, we know there is
really not any Man in the Moon."
"But there is a story about him," said Harry coaxingly, "and I do wish
you would tell it to me, just now while the moon is looking at us from
the sky."