178 LUCY AMONG THE MOUNTAINS.

a very bright star in the middle of a large opep
place among the clouds ; and she exclaimed, —

“OQ mother, see that star!”

“ Yes,” said her mother; “that’s Venus, I
really believe. Yes, it must be Venus.”

“ The evening star?” said Lucy.

“ Yes,” said her mother ; “ see how bright it is;
and yet you cannot see any other star in the sky.”

Lucy looked all around, but no other star was
to be seen. The sky was somewhat obscured by
clouds; but in the spaces between the clouds
there were no stars to be seen.

“ You see, Lucy,” said her mother, “ that it
would not have done any good for you to have
got up early to see the morning star; for Venus
is the evening star now ; the sun is before her.”

“ Yes, mother,” said Lucy.

* And so, being before her,’ continued her
mother, “the sun goes down, and leaves Venus a
little way up in the sky. Of course, when he
rises in the morning, he leaves Venus a little
below the horizon, where she is out of sight.”

‘‘ How fast Venus goes!” said Lucy.

‘¢ No,” said her mother ; “it is the motion of
the clouds which makes it look as if Venus was
going fast. But yet she is going down slowly.
If you notice how high she is now, and then
again when we get home, you will see that she
has gone down considerably.”

Lucy said that she meant to watch Venus.
But she did not watch her very long, for her at-
tention was attracted by a large light, some dis-