Marshall County Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1855-1859, 1856-01-03
From Chambers Journal
Mr.. BROWNS LAST ASCENT.

Mr.. BROWN 5 LAST ASCENT.
One fine summer morning, few years
since, there was wonderful excitement in
the Irish village of Bally dooly. All the
idle men, women and children in the neigh
borhood, comprchending about nine tenths
of the popuIation--were assembled on the
large level common which served as race
course and CALLING green; ana all throngei
towards some objec. III lhe center, which
formed the nucleus of he crowd.
Yea, then, what's the name of i. all, at
all?' demanded one ragged goSSon.
Is it tied to the tail of it he 5 going to 90
up? asked another.
All, don't be foolish.' exclaimed an old
man, the sense carrier of the district,
don't We see the long ropes he's going to
hold on by?'
We'll, WELT groapcd an old woman, ia
king her dudecn, or short black pipe out of
her mouth and stickingit, lighted as it was,
within the folds of her cross barred nccker
chief; them English are mighty quarc peo-
pie. I'm sure when we heard that this Mr.
Brown, with his sacks of gold was coming
to Ritclarm, after buying out the stock of
the Dcasys, we thought he'd have carriages
and horses galore, ,and may be a fine yacht Ill
the harbor; but it never entered the heads
of any of us that nothing less would serve
him than going coorsing through the air
like wild goose at the tail of ballone, or
whatsomcver they call it.
For some time past the process of infla
ting the balloon had heen going on; and
now the great gayly painted orb lowered
tremulous above the heads of the gaping
spectators, and pressing against the cords
by which it was held down, it seemed only
10 await the arrival of the bold aeronaut
to dart upward on its way.
Here he is!' exclaimed the stragglers of
the crowd; and presently carriage drew
up, and out stepped Mr. Brown, the English
millionaire, who had lately become an Irish
landed proprietor. Mr.. Brown was little
dapper man, whom very small amount of
pugilistic force would have sufficed to lay
level with the soil of his adoption. He was
one of those unlucky individuals who meet
an accident at every turn who, in enter
ing room, invariably slip, tumble knock
down some piece of furniture, or sit down
beside their chair instead of upon it. He
seldom escaped upsctting his inkstand:
sending his meat and diink the wrong
way and then coughing and choking for
half an hour; cutting his fingers, tearing
his coat, or knocking his forehead against
door, so he rarely appeared in society
without scars, plasters, or bandages. In
practicing gymnastics he had Knocked out
three teeth; in yachting at Cowes he had
been four times nearly drowned; in shoot
1 ing Sn the moOrs, III Scotland he had left
the grouse anharmed, but had blown off
two al his fingers. A taste for,pvrotechny
bad singea- handsomely his eyebrows, hair,
and whiskers; and as to railway travelling,
his hair breadth 'scapes and moving acci-
dents amid collisions, upsets and explosions,
would have served to fill two or three vol
ume Of the English Ra'iwoy Library, or
the French B;6iioshsque des Chemius de
Fer.
At length having tried the three elements
of earth, water and fire, it occurred to Mr..
Brown that the remaining one of air, as
medium Of locomotion, might be more a.
greeable, and could not be more perilous,
than the others. He accordingly the year
before. when residing oD his estate in Dew
onshire, had purchased an excellent bal
loon, and, strange to say, had made sever
al ascents, and had come down again in per-
feet safety. On this occasion he meditated
a flight over the green Isle, and intended
to come down at Belfast; but the best in
formed members of the crowd asserted that
he was going every step of the way to
Ameriky.'