How shall I make such little folks understand that the sun and the stars really stand still, when they seem to take a journey across the sky every day? Perhaps the best way will be to make a little game of it. We will explain it with boys.

I want a boy to represent the earth, and as many as can be found for sun and stars: there is no danger of too many. Now, the fattest boy of all must be the earth, and stand in the middle. We want him fat and round, because the earth is as round as an orange. (We need not mind about the size of the stars: they always look small, they are so far off.)

All the other boys must stand about him, and stand still. If they are not satisfied with their places, they must not move; for they are fixed stars. That is right. I can imagine you now just as you are, the fat boy in the middle.

But you must not stand still, fat boy, because I told the star-boys not to move. You are the earth, and must do what the earth does. Don't you know what it does? Oh! it does not run away. Come back, and I will tell you what it does. It turns around just as a top spins. That is right. Every time the earth turns, it makes a day and a night, by turning towards the sun, and away from it again.

Don't turn so fast, my dear: you make the days and nights too short, and you will be dizzy. Besides, you are turning the wrong way. The earth turns from west to east, and you must remember you are the earth, and not Charlie. Now go the other way, and more slowly, and keep your eyes on the little boys who are the sun and stars.

We will suppose now that Frank is the sun. There he is just behind you. He is shining now on the other side of the earth,—on your back. As you turn around to the left, to the east, you begin to see him: he rises. Now, as you turn more towards him, he seems to pass in front of you towards the west, and pretty soon he is out of sight. He has set. So much for the sun.

It is just the same if you look at the stars,—John, or Willie, or James. As you turn round they all seem to be going round you. Now can't you see, that, as the real earth turns around, the sun and stars about it seem to you to rise and set, although they stand still, like Frank and John and Willie and James.

A great many years ago, everybody supposed that the earth stood still, and the sun and stars revolved around it; but a wise man named Copernicus found out the mistake, and you had better call your game the Copernican game.