Weekly New Oregon plain dealer. (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1866-1867, 1867-01-04
Easy Lessons i'm Geography


THE EARTH.
The earth is an old subjective
don't know how old. Wise men
have endeavored to ascertain it's age
in various ways, and have succeed
ed very well, only differing in their
calculations a few thousand centur-
les or so. &f i @Sa.@aa.%s p 6 w.
We have several reasons for wri-
ting upon the earth, the principal
one being the imperfect facilities af-
forded for getting upon any other
planet to write. Nothing prevents
our writing upontne sun VI oi'v nvv",
except the difficulty in getting there.
The earth is the third planet in
order from the sun, and the largest
within the belt of the planetoids.-
We have wondered, sometimes, why
the earth did not have a belt all to
herself, being the champion of the
universe.
The ancients looked upon the
earth as a fat disc, swimming upon
the water like piece of toast in a
basin of milk. Once upon time a
lot Of adventurous young ancients
started QUIT find the jumping-otf
place, and continuing on straight
line, they were, astonished to find
themselves on the very spot whence
they started. They informed their
parents of the circumstance, and
they, after about century of pain
full and laborious thought upon the
subject, came to the conclusion
that the earth must be round, "be-
cause if it amt" triumphantly
asked jolly old ancient, chow
could the boys ha' got around it -
There was no getting around that,
and the earth has been ola spher-
ical form ever since. .-.
1t is estimated that about two
thirds ofthe surface of the globe is
covered with water. Although mil
lions of living creatures slake their
thirst daily, the quantity of water
has not been materially diminished
tUI Uvrourrvr r,.er, -.-"-.~---~-
the introduction of whisky-shops,
which prove a great saving Of water,
and are therefore Of immense benefit
to navigation.
The greatest distance from the
earth to the sun is 90, 600, 600 of
miles, and the least distance some
thing over 94,OOO,000 miles. y
saving of, 900, 900 ofmiles could be
effected if railroad should ever
connect the two planets, by taking!
the least distance. This would
shorten the time consumed in run
ming and reduce the expenses very
materially. Any railroad man will
tell you that.
The mean distance from the earth
to the sun is 95, 900, 900 miles,
which is no mean distance, either,
when you try to walk it.
The earth moves around the SUI
from west to east, consuming 36t
days and 6 hours in every revolu-
tion, travelling nights and Sundays.
Joshua, it will be remembered by
some of our oldest citizens, oncc
commanded the sun to stand still,
and he is standing, still. It ain't
every fool of a planet that can gel
around the sun. The earth does 1t
however. She would get arount
most anything.
The earth turns upon it's axis
making one revolution every TWEEN
ty-four hours, except in Mexico
there they have revolution two O
three times a day. The earth ant
her axis were thick as peas togethe
at one time, but one day the eartl
got down on her axis and turned on
it. ... .....- .,.-.... ...- ..- ii. -
| 1t is the revolution Of the eartl
that makes night and day to every
body but printers and editors VIII
work on morning papers-it is al
day with them.
After digging a certain depth int
the bowels of the earth the temper
ture becomes warm, and grows war
mer as you warm to your work, s
that at the depth Of thirty miles Ga
we are informed by gentleman VIII
dug that distance one July morn
ing), everything is like molten iro
at white heat, There is good rea
son for believing that people VIII
cheat the printer and who try t
get into shows without paying 70