the ships of England set their sails to catch the roaring forties both
going and coming. They accomplish this by sailing past the Cape of Good
Hope on the outward voyage and coming home by way of Cape Horn, thus
circling the globe with every trip. In the North Atlantic, traffic is
now mostly carried on in vessels driven by engines, not by sails. Yet
the westerly winds that blow from the West Indies diagonally across the
Atlantic are still useful to all sailing craft that are making for
British ports.

From the north and from the south cold air flows down into the regions
of warmer climate. These polar winds are not so important to sea
commerce, but they do a great work in tempering the heat in the
equatorial regions. We cannot know how much our summers are tempered by
the cool breath of winds that blow over polar ice-fields. And the cold
regions of the earth, in their brief summer, enjoy the benefits of the
warm breezes that flow north and south from the heated equatorial
regions.

The land, north and south, is made habitable by the clouds. They gather
their burdens of vapour from the warm seas, the wind drifts them north
and south, where they let it fall in rains that make and keep the earth
green and beautiful. From the clouds the earth gathers, like a great
sponge, the water that stores the springs and feeds rivers and lakes.
How necessary are the winds that transport the cloud masses!

The air is the breath of life to all living things on our planet. Mars
is one of the sun's family so provided. Plants or animals could probably
live on the planet Mars. Do we think often enough of this invisible,
life-giving element upon which we depend so constantly?

The open air which the wind purifies by keeping it in motion is the best
place in which to work, to play, and to sleep, when work and play are
done and we rest until another day comes. Indoors we need all the air we
can coax to come in through windows and doors. Fresh air purifies air
that is stale and unwholesome from being shut up. Nobody is afraid,
nowadays, to breathe night air! What a foolish notion it was that led
people to close their bedroom windows at night. Clean air, in plenty,
day and night, we need. Air and sunshine are the two best gifts of God.

THE WORK OF THE WIND

When the March wind comes blustering down the street, rudely dashing a
cloud of dust in our faces, we are uncomfortable and out of patience. We
duck our heads and cover our face