The Washington times., 1918-07-03
You Live on a Wheel With a
Pneumatic Tire
Did That Ever Occur to Youi

Il Did That Ever Occur TO 4ou1
Did You ever notice how we take the big things for
ganted-and make great fuss over the little, freash
things?
Men studied ECLRsEs of the sun and moon LONG
BEFORE THEY BEGAN TO THINK ABOUT TIE
DAILY RISING AND SETTING OF THE SUN.
They took for granted the marvellous truths Of the uni
verse and worried over the little eccencites Of natural
phenomena they had studied the suns apparent move
they studied the ecpses they might have discoy
cred much earlier that the earth is round THEY might
have dared to go outside Gibraltars Straits The Pill
lars Of Hercues with no fear Of falling of the earhs
edge and they might discovered America earlier and
wound up the trust phase of life centuries back
We have all marveled at the ingenious pneumatic tire
which uphods bicycle over Us on some
elses automobile The ball bearing axle and the tire
Of air make think and scratch heads and say How
wonderful is man!'
What about the big ball of earth you live on?
Did it you that the earth runs on an air
tire also turning round and round on its spiral spin through
everlasting space with the ether for ball bearings?
HOW is the air pneumatic tire for the earth DO you
Il Is that absolutely And besides keeping us alive,
that tire of air and planet many millions of
bumps that would make life here impossible.
Have you any idea how many hundreds Of millions Of
meteors have struck this earth?
Do you know that we bombarded by meteors every
day the tire of flying automobile bombarded with
pebbles? Do you know that the tail OF comet hit US and
swiped u.s. at least once?
The meteOrs- flying masses of rock, IRON copper, and
other mea-Yary In size from small pebbleszed dust TO
stone projectles the size Of house.
Once IN great while big comes through the air
without being entirely melted and hits
without our pneumatic tire, THE AIR, these msteOrs
would smash down earth's surface constantly,
saughterng u.s. wipng out nations at certain times of
year when pass through millions Of meeors in jour
ney around the sun.
But the dangerous meteor flying with speed incredible
comes in contact with atmosphere AND Is MELTED
In spite Of the tenuty of atmospheric air. the friction
at such great speed suces to melt the projeces that
lombard u.s. that they fall to the earth in harmless dis
integrated dust-and do no harm.
Constantly this dust of disntgrated meteors falls upon
the surface Of the eak every year it raises the bottom of
the ocean Just so much And if we last long enough will
Ill up the ocean that like the Marians shall have to
erng the earth two miles deep all and driving to
death or houseboat civilization.
Does interest you to think of these things-ou of
which not cent be made? Do you like the notion that
we little human creatures simply live inside Of pneumatic
tire breathing the air in the tire and travelling through the
mmenes Of space shielded by that tire from the rough
spots In celestial Journey and digging food of
the rim of the wheel on which travel?
Do you take interest in Natures great carving
pnoving all her loads in the shape of rolling spheres
that move without friction from the tiny blood corpuscle
that up inside neck to the giant that whirs
our earth along in its train?
Il is funny to think of US little creatures adrf in the
of space We set up little machines this great
driving wheel that carries We struggle with one an
other have comic fights for newspaper supremacy
political supremacy financial supremacy. We kill one an
other In quares to the nature of the Power that rules
us and crow loudly when achieve trivial little
success
There microbes in the dusty air inside the tire Of
big automobile
II we could hear their talk they would seem to US as
funny to the big spirits that look into the
eahs big air tire to watch struggles and listen to
bOagtin0.