Vernon Parish Democrat. (Leesville, La.) 1917-193?, 1921-02-03

IL Im sure we can 90 IL
''Do what2p
eco to the moOni"
'You are crazy" said Sister. ''YOu
have been reading some silly story.
There are all sorts Of stories about go
ing to the moon; but they are all fairy
tales"
Brother sat down calmly and said,
II have no doubts except about one
thing. Can the carpet go where there
isn't any air7 That's the question,
We've got the nosals and the clothes,
and we can breathe and keep warm.
We can try and see. If we get up to
where there Is no air and the carpet
has to come back, why, It won't tumble
back, and we can retreat safely"
Aristotle was now gazing at the
moon and barking slowly and solemnly.
"The dog loves the moon," said Sis
ter. Don't you remember how he
barked at it so long on the night in
the desert9 wish he could go too"
''Tn tell you," said Brother. "rT
take Aristotle up to Cambridge tomor-
row and ask the professors advice. If
he says try it, we will. And he is so
ingenious that I'm sure he can dress
up Aristotle all right"
When the professor heard the plan
he was overjoyed. "At last" he said,
Eat last l have found q child who
shows signs Of intelligence. Go, my
boy, and do not worry about the car
pet. 1t is equal to anything. Go and
come back, and come and grow up
here, and 1 will make you the wisest
man in Cambridge, and you shall sniff
at Peters father"
Did they rig up Aristotle? Indeed
they did. When he was rugged up, he
looked like a gunboat or something.
There was no tail on him to- speak of,
because it was shot off, and that made
1t easier to dress him.
When Professor Pepper had packed
up Arlstotle's things in a bundle, he
said to Brother:
"There is only one thing to remem-
Der on the moon. The moon Is only
quarter as thick as the earth, and so
it is only a quarter as hard to walk
there. Be careful how you jump
around or you will bump your nose
and break the nosal The moon does
not pull on you so hard as the earth
does. It let's you fly up more. The
law Of gravitation is less powerful
there"
"What is the law Of gravitationT'
said Brother.
cit is the law that in any celestial
system, the sum Of the wires vivae Of
all the bodies Of the system subtracted
from the sum Of the reciprocals Of the
distances between the several bodies.
each reciprocal being multiplied by the
product Of the masses Of the pairs Of
bodies concerned and these masses be-
ing expressed in terms of a gravita-
| tional unit, remains unchanged"
Aristotle liked the sound of these
words, and he barked and wagged his
stump. But they nearly knocked poor
Brother down. So he only said, Eyes,
sir, thank you, sir" and started for
the door.
Being returned to the shore, Brother
got a big dry-goods box just four feet
square, and nailed the carpet to the
bottom Of It. He loaded the box with
everything they needed. He and Sis
ter and Aristotle got dressed, and piled
into the middle of the box, where space
had been left for them. All this was
in the evening, by the light of the
moon. Me came up into the grove to
see them of, and when they had start
ed she climbed a tree and watched till
they were out Of sight.
Brother had told the carpet all about
the plan, and asked 1t to go as fast as
it could. I forgot to say that he had
poured some stuff all over the box, to
keep It from catching fire as it shot
through space. Professor Pepper gave
him the bottle Of stuff. do not know
what the stuff was.
When the carpet got really under
way, it speeded up to ten thousand
miles an hour. 1t took a little less
than twenty-four hours to make the
trip.
The children fell asleep and slept
until they were within ten thousand
miles Of the moon. The looked down
for the earth, but it was not down, it
was up. Under them was the moon,
nearly as big as the sky. They could
see that it was covered with ranges
of mountains and round rings where
volcanoes had been many years be-
fore.
Down they went, slower and slower,
till they lowered over a great round
ring of hills about a mile across. Down
and down, softly as a feather, down
came the carpet. They were within
ten feet of the moon.
Brother tried to say something, but
he could not hear his own voice. So
he got out pad of paper and wrote
on 1t. Professor Pepper had told him
that he would have this trouble. There
fore Brother had brought along two
pads, and two pencils. Their gloves
were very soft, and they could easily
write.
Aristotle looked out and saw his
I