The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1905-12-01

! the atmosphere Of the earth, a fact that all
scientists accept. Some of these bodies are
as small as pinheads, while others may be
4 larger. Tint this asr was rc 4.
dent; yet how 1t had never been discovered
by the earth's astronomers was q puzzle
10 me.
That is a simple matter Of expiana-
| ton said our leader; this asterod has
/ never been discovered, for the same rea-
| son that many small but important things
| have been for years overlooked by scien-
fists In search of greater fields to con-
! quer. IT Is within less than one hundred
miles OF earth, while the very nearest
object that has ever attracted the tele-
scopes or our astronomers Is the mooa.
distant q quarter of q million miles, Can
you not understand thar no astronomer
would ever train his instrument so as to
focus an object less than a hundred miles
distant.
''That sounds reasonable, yet I asked
him how It was that it had never been
seen with the naked eye.
Simpler STILL he answered, because
this little planet is less than ten miles In
diameter. So small an object, with a
color nearly identical with that of the
earth's atmosphere, would never be no.
ticcd, and having no light of fits own
could not be seen at any time. It IS a
mere speck In the sky and no man can
tell how long 1t has ioated around our
earth. There may be many more Of
ourselves to this one, and soon shall land
and see what there is to see.'
IAN aneroid barometer was then See
through the trap in the floor, in order 10
ascertain the pressure Of the atmosphere
peIofe we dared to open the car and step
onto the little world we had discovered.
The planet was growing larger everv mo-
ment, and we were now within less tiaan
a mile of its surface. The INSTRUMENT
showed that the pressure was eight
pounds to the square inch. which about
equaled that on high mountains on the
earth, 50 we were safe to land. The
thermometer attached to the car at this
ume showed an entire lack OF breeze. and
we gently dropped to the surface Of the
fNebuia, as I had volunteered to call the
discovery. AS we looked upon the land
seape, II seemed as IL we had suddenly
dronped into Soptherr Cslifornias and I |
could not possibly Justify this condition |
OF yerduFe with fhe small size ~ fhe ffrv |
world, for such little thing could NOT ne |
expected TO obstruct enough OF the heat /
OF tne sun to produce such a condition. |
Puzzled, / myself dropped n Thermometer
through the frapdoor and noted its req. |
ister. 1T was eighty degrees-a fact that
further surprised me--nnd I said co
y care SOY we shall find TINT there
are other sources Of heat besides the sun.
sooner haa we opened the car donr as
begun to climb down the anchor rome
which had been cast out than rva d,s'
covered the correctness Of his prophecy
Ihere were boiling springs everywhere.
ann me yerdure was magnificent
Tying the anchor rome ahor+ a ho~-,
Ger. we began survev Of orr world
BHt hrst OF all, I took a good Iook ~ the l
earth we had left few hours before
Z was q more insignificant sight than
words can ever tell II filled almost thp
entire deme Of the sky, ana f,e ennsi.s srv
= North America locked evaetiv ~ II
Toes on raised globe srch as We have /
U sche0l-rooms. could locate San
ffsneiseo as wen rs n had had n map
and pointer; and from that Western ~.
erepolls could trace the outline ~ mo
United States to the city Of chicago. ara
so on 10 fhe gateway Of Furonp-Naw
fork. IT was wonderful The air was
lot SO rare ~ to be hard on lungs used
9 mountain conditions: brt some or tie
1arty eomplained. and one suffered nose
,leea. There was . ripping brook near
Z hand, its banks lined with plant life.
mo / wont toward II 10 get a drink II
eit wonderfully eiated IN mind and body.
md ran lightly toward ", falling on nv
nest, and quenehing my thirst with the
lost refreshing victor had ever drant
me stream was not mere than ten feet ,
vide, and. ms far as we could see from .
where We stnnd, there was no narrower
lace We wanteH ~ cross II. and
ancied could make the leap. old man
hou<h am. ! took few stems back
sard, ana then ran toward the bank and Z
prang into the air.
II SCARED through that air IKE hsrd.
nd landed AZ least twentv Yards heysnd r
he farther hank. MY compaBions, as !
lighted with the ease 4of feather, FIRST i
1oked bewidered. and then broke Into
eais OF almost nnceasine laughter Fer
hey understood the reason before I ald.
10 vouq q
EMO. Wen, the explanation ia as sim .
le as all the others have been, ana fol- {