The Butler weekly times. (Butler, Mo.) 1881-1918, 1905-12-07

the atmosphere of the earth, a fact that all
scientists accept. Some OF these bodies are
as sinai! as pinheads, while others may be
larger That this last was cnrrrcr was r,i
dent: yet how 1t had never been discovered
by the earths astronomers was puzzle
10 me
That is simple matter of explana.
tion.' said our leader; this astcroid has
never been discovered, for the same rca-
son that many small but important things
have been for years overlooked by scirn-
lists In search Of greater fields TO con-
quer. 1t is within less than one hundred
miles OF earth, while the very nearest
object That has ever attracted the telc-
scopes OF our astronomers is the moon,
distant quarter Of a million miles Can
you not understand that no astronomer
would ever train his instrument so as to
focus an object less than hundred miles
distant.
'That sounds reasonable. yet I asked
him how 1t was that 1t had never been
seen with the naked eye.
r Simpler STILL ne answered. because
this little planet Is less than ten miles in
diameter. SO small an object, with
color nearly identical with that of the
earth's atmosphere, would never be no.
ticcd. and having no lirht of lis own
could not be seen at any time. It Is
mere spcck In the sky, and no man can
tell how long 1t has foatcd around our
{ earth. There NAV hr many more of
them. but for the present we will confne
ourselves to this on. and soon shall land
and see what there is 10 see.'
"An ancroid barometer was then iet
through the trap In the floor. in order to
ascertain the pressure of the atmosphere
before we dared to open the car and step
onto the little world we had discovered.
The planet was growing larger every mo-
ment. and we were now within less than
u mile of its surface. The Instrument
showed that the pressure was eight
pounds to the square inch, which about
equnled that on high mountains on the
earth. so We were safe to land. The
thermometer attached to the car at this
time showed an entire lack Of breeze, and
we gently dropped to the surface OF the
'Nrhula,' as ! had volunteered to call the
discovery. AS we looked upon the land.
scape, 1t seemed as If we had suddenly
dropped into SN"thcrn CAlifo-nia. and |
| could not possibly Justify this condition
of verdrre with tho small size of the tiny
world. for such little thing could not be
expected TO obstruct enough of the heat
Of tine sun to produce such a condition
Pnzzled, ! myself dropped thermometer
through the trapdoor and noted Its reg
lstcr. IL was eighty degrees-a fact that
further surprised me-and 7 said 50.
1 dare say we shall find that there
are other sources Of heat besides the sun.
said one Of my companions; ana no
sooner had we opened the car door md
begun to climb down the anchor rome,
which had been cast out, than we dis.
covered the correctness OF his pronhecy.
There were boiling springs everywhere.
and the verdure was magnificent.
frying the anchor rope about a howl.
ger, we began survey Of our world.
Bnt first of all, I took good look at the
earth we had left few horrs before.
" was more magnificent sight than
words can ever tell It filed almost thc
entire dome Of the sky. and tae continen,
Of North America looked exactly as n
Goes .c en- ssssd globe .am %sh ss We have
Francisco as weH AZ II had had a man
and pointer: and from that Western mr..
tropolis conid trace the outline Of the
United States to the city Of Chicago, and
so on to the gateway Of Europe-New
York. II was wonderful The air was
not SO rare as to be hard on lungs used
party complained, and one suffered nose.
bleed. There was q rppling brook near
mt hand, Its banks lined with plant life.
and i wont toward II 10 get a drink.
felt wonderfully elated In mind and body.
and ran lightly toward It. falling on nv
chest, and ,quenchine my thirst with the
most refreshing water 7 had ever drank
The stream was not more than ten feet
wide. and. A far a. we could see from
where We stood. there Was no narrower
place. We wanted "a cross II. and
faneied I could make the leap. old, man
though ! am. ! took few steps back.
ward. ana then ran toward the bank and
sprane into the afr.
| IT SCARED through that ar Ike 4 bird,
and landed At least tvsaty yards beyond
the farther bank. NY companions, a.
sli.htsd With the ease Of q feather. first
looked bswildsrsd, and then broke into
peals II almost BnseaEag laughter. For
they undsrstosd the reason before I'd.
mo. Wen, u explanation b - tm-
ole M ali the okhnaG hAya han. and fna-