The Democratic press. (Eaton, Preble County, Ohio) 1860-1865, 1863-06-04
Bombarding a Balloon.

The professor" aroused me at tlIrs,
10 clock, when found the canvas straihins
its bonds and emitting hollow sound, 4 4 4
escaping gas, The basket was made fslt, 4
rectly, the telescopes tossed into place; tht
professor climbed to the side, holding by tn
network, and l coiled up in a rope at th,
bottom. ..4....... IN I'd. n..u.w 3
''Stand by your cablesl'' he said, aud the
bags of ballast were at once cut away
Twelve men took each a rope in hand and
payed out slowly, letting us glide gently up
ward The earth seemed to be falling away
and we poised motionless in the blue ether
The tree-tops sank downward, the hills drop
ped noiselesSly through space, and directly
the Chickahominy was visible beyond us
winding like ribbon Of silver through the
ridgy landscape. o.tl 30 -gws
Farand wide stretched the Federal camps,
We saw faces turned upwards gazing at our
ascent, and heard clearly, as in a vacuum,
the voices Of soldiers. At every sec
ond, the prospect widened the belt of hori'
zon enlarged, remote farmhousCs came in
view; the ealth was like perfectly fiat sur.
face painted with blue woods, and streaked
with pictures of roads, fields, fences and
streams. AS we climbed higher, the river
seemed directly beneath US, the farms on
the opposite bank were plainly discernible,
and Richmond lay only a little way off, en-
throned on its many hills, with the James
stretching white and sinuous from its feet to
the horizon. We could see the streets, the
suburbs, the bridges, the. outlayng roads,
nay, the moving masses ofpeople. The cap
itol sat white and colossal on Shockoe Hill,
the dingy buildings of the. Trcdagar works
backened the riverside above, the novels Of
Rockets clustered at the hither limits, apd
one by one we made out famili ar hotels, pub.
lie edihces and vicinities. The Notifications
were revealed in part only for they took the
hue of the soil and blendedwithtit; bit many
camps were plainly disccrniblO, and by means
of glasses we separated tent from tent and
hut from hut The Confedcrates were seen
running to tie cover of woods that we might
not discover their numbers, but We knew the
location of their camp,frcs by, the smoke
that curled towards us. .''. '' '
"Guess got EN- now. jest where lwant
EN- said Professor Lowe, with n laugh; jest
keep still as you mind to, ard squmt your
eye through my glass, while make q sketch
Of the roads and the country. Hold hard
there and anchor fast he screamed to The
people below, Then he fell imperturbly)to
work, sweeping the country with bis hawk
eye, and escaping nothing that could contri-
butte to the completeness of his joting.
Wehad been but fcwminutes thus poised,
when close below, from the edge Of timber
stretch, puffed volume Of white smoke, , A
second aftervard the air quivercd with the
peal Of cannon A third, and we heard
the splitting shrek of a shell that passed o
little to our LEFT, but in exact range and burst
inihe ploughed field, hea0ingr up
the clay as it explodei. . ,,. III
F'IIaW said lowe, "they have got us foul
Haul in the cables-quickl' he ishoutedin a
fierce tone. ...............
u AT tic same instant the puff, the report
pndt Shrek were rcpcateG but this time
the shell burst to our right in mid!air and
scattered Fragments around and below us!
"Another shot will doIpur business" " said
Lowe between his teeth; "it isn't 4 mile and
they have got the range. "uvhiii'' ihu
~ Again epuF and the whizzipg shock ]
closed my eyes andheld my breath hard. The
explosion was so close, that the pieces of
shell seemed driven across my face, and my
ears quivered with the sound. ] looked at,
Lowe to see fhe was stmehT Heb Sprung
to his feet and clutchcd the corlqge tranti-
cally e'.' '''' ~ ''i'o''' o-'' '0''
yc pulling in there, ye .men2S he bel
lowed, with loud imprecation. ...
RP1ffl bang iwliiz-z!z-E spiutten1 Broke n
third she'll, and my heart was wedgsd in,myl
threat
/ sawiat a glimpse the wholebfightlahd-
scape again. | heard the voices of soldiers
below, and saw them running across fields,
fences and bitches, t6IfeatRouF ahchdrage! |,
saw the waving Of signal hags,2 the fpmmo-
ton through the camps-Olfcers galloping
thcirhetses, seamSters whipping their mules,i
MISUNDERSTANDING outydrums beaten and bat
teries limbered up: j remarked last Of all,
tbn siuht of the buttpry that alarmed us, and