Find where to look for this "Lion That Twinkles" and how to find him among the rest of the stars.

It was nine o'clock of a mid-April evening. Wrapped in heavy blankets, Great Uncle John Harris and his two nephews, Ted and Jack Kennedy, were lying under the stars, on the shore of Lake Crystal, a few miles from the boys' home. The three had hiked out after school to pass the night under the open sky, and to spend Saturday about the sugar camp and on the lake.

As they lay on their backs, looking up into the dark-blue, star-spangled sky, they traced the star groups they had learned, and found new ones.

"I see something," Ted pointed almost directly overhead, "that looks like the old sickle with which daddy cut grass about the trees last summer."

"There, laddie, you've named the group right," returned Uncle John. "It is called the Sickle, and is part of a larger group known as the Lion. Do you see it, Jack?"

After a few moments of silence, Jack replied: "Is it just half way across from the east to the west, Uncle, and the handle pointing down, with the back of the sickle to the east?" "You have it, Jackie. Now notice the very bright star in the end of the handle. That is Regulus. Notice how sparkling bright Regulus is. Count

it for the thirteenth in the list of the fifteen brightest stars which you are learning. Now see the lion. The sickle forms the head and shoulders of the creature. Regulus shines about where the lion's heart should be. The lion is lying down, facing the west. Of the three stars that make a triangle a little west of the sickle, two are at the rear end of the lion's body and the third in the end of his tail." "Why, it's very like a lion," Ted declared.

"The Lion and the Big Dipper and the Northern Crown are easy enough to trace," added Jack. "How pretty the Crown is to-night!"

"Look near the Crown for another group I want you to learn now, one not so easy to see, but which is interesting because it represents a famous hero. It is a large figure, shaped something like a man's body, with three waving arms and legs."

"The hero must have lost an arm or a leg then,' laughed Ted.

"Or severely wounded," added Uncle John, "for he is down on one knee. This figure is Hercules." "Oh, our story book tells about the giant Hercules, who was so strong he could do anything. I want to see him, Uncle."

"Suppose, then, Ted, we find first the dragon, on the head of which Hercules has placed his foot. Beginning about halfway between the Big Dipper and the North Star, trace a winding line of stars down toward the south until it ends in a small triangle. That winding line is the Dragon, the triangle its head. Do you see it?"

"I do!" Jack cried, and a moment later, from Ted, "So do I!"

"Now, Hercules stands with his head to the south, since one foot is upon the Dragon's head. As I said, he is supposed to be down on one knee. Those two crooked prongs stretching out toward the south are his arms. One is uplifted as if to strike, the other outstretched."

After a little both boys could see Hercules. Ted thought the giant seemed to be holding something in the outstretched hand, and Uncle John replied, "Some say he is clutching a captured enemy.'

"Hercules is after the Dragon; Orion is chasing the Bull; and Bootes and his Dogs are driving the Bears. There's some excitement up there," Jack declared, "and they're shooting stars!"

Ted thought that if he didn't know a whole lot better, he might think, when he saw falling stars,

that the fighters up there were shaking them down, but Uncle John replied:

"The stars do not fall, laddie. What you call falling, or shooting, stars are meteoroids-star fragments that dissolve into shining dust as they shoot through the atmosphere. The stars have their fixed places in the sky, always traveling the same paths. Not one of all the twinkling lights looking down upon us to-night, or of the thousands upon thousands more that a good telescope would show you, ever misses its way. God's hand guides each and every one in its nightly journey across the bending blue curtain. Sometimes the clouds hide them from us, but they are always there, sending out their little beams of light to some good purpose.

"This old uncle of yours, little mates, has traveled in many parts of the world, and when he has been far from home, he has found it a great comfort to look up into the heavens from the deck or the pilot-house of his vessel and see the same old stars beaming down in their friendly way. They speak to him of God's love and care for all his creatures." -Josephine E. Toal.

HELPS TO STUDY

1. From what point were the boys and their uncle observing the star-groups? 2. How did they locate the lion? 3. What other star-groups are found in that same region? 4. Locate the different star-groups mentioned and make sketches of each.

PLAIN BUTTONS

If some one were to offer insult to Old Glory, what should be done to him? After reading this selection, ask yourself if the man's punishment was just.

Once there was a man, an officer in the American Army, who said something dreadful when he was only a mere boy; he cursed his native country! He pretended for a while that he didn't care, when he was punished for his wrongdoing, but in the end he was very, very sorry. Because he wore his uniform without the official buttons, the sailors on the ships where he spent his life called him "Plain Buttons."

His name was Philip Nolan. He had been brought up on a southern plantation where the most welcome guests were Spanish or French officers. He spent half of his time with an older brother hunting wild horses in Texas. The "United States" meant almost nothing to him.

Still, when he grew up he became an officer in the army of the "United States." Nolan was a lieutenant in the "Legion of the West," as our western army was called one hundred years ago.

At that time the Mississippi Valley was the "far west" to most people, and seemed a very distant land indeed. We had a number of forts along the river and Lieutenant Nolan was stationed at one of these. Nolan's idol was the brilliant and dashing