Those vast volumes of water rest on the
surface of a whirling sphere travelling through space at fearful
speed. The slightest derangement, the slightest lack of balance
in our motion round the sun, the slightest shifting of the poles,
and mountains of water miles high would sweep over the continents
and wipe out--not only one small city--but the entire human
race. ----
Our existence here requires a precision so great that our minds
can but feebly grasp it. Change the temperature of your body by
but a few degrees and you die. But you travel through space
safely, with a freezing ocean of ether about you. You travel in
company with suns that throw out endless billions of degrees of
heat. You are protected in a travelling hothouse, regulated
exactly to suit your feeble strength and all your wants. ----
Did you ever see the small, black nose of a pug dog pressed
against the window of a flying express train?
Have you ever seen that pug barking at the landscape whirling by?
Have you ever reflected on the utter inability of that pug to
realize the marvellous intelligence and power that are whirling
him along as he barks and wags his tail and enjoys himself
calmly?
Kind reader, you and all of us, whirling along in this
magnificently conducted express train called the earth--whirling
onward to a destiny worthy of our habitation--are so many poor
little pug dogs looking out at nature's marvels and looking out
with less than pug-dog appreciation.
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