Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1869-02-02
Five Miles Above the Earth.

One dull day in August, just after noon.
balloon rose in the air at the foot of Cloet
Hills, on the western edge of the central
plain of England. 1t was inflated with the
lightest gases which chemical skill could pro.
duce, and it arose with amazing velocity
A mile up, and it entered stratum of cloud
more than a thousand feet thick Emerging
from this, the sun shone brightly on the air
ship; the sky overhead was of the cIearest
and DEEPEST blue, and below lay cloud -land-
an immeasurable expanses of cloud whose
surface looked as solid as that of the earth
not wholly lost to view. Lofty mountains
and deep, dark ravines, appeared below the
peaks and sides of these cloud-mountains
casting shadows as if they were solid rock
Up rose the balloon with tremendous velocity.
-Four miles above the earth pigeon was let
loose it dropped down through the air as if
it had been stone. The air was too thin to
enable it to fly. 1t was as if bark laden to
the deck were to pass from the heavy waters
of the sea into an inland unsaline lake; the
bark would sink at once into the thinner
water. Up, up, up. still higher What
profound! The heights of the sky were as
still as the deepest depths of the ocean,
where, as was found during the search for the
lost Atlantic cable, the fine mud lines are as
unstirred from year to year as the dust which
imperceptibly gathers on the furniture of a
deserted house. No sound, no life-only the
bright sunshine falling through sky which
it could not warm
Up-fve miles above the earth higher
than the inaccessible summit of Chimborazo
or Dawangiri. Dispute the sunshine every
thing freezes. The air grows too thin to sup
port life, even for few minutes. Two men
are only in that adventurous balloon-the
one string the ship, the other watching
the scientific instruments, and recording them
with rapidity bred of long practice. Sud-
denly as the latter looks at his instruments,
his sight grows dim he takes lens to help
his sight; and only remarks from the falling
barometer that they are testing rapidIy. A
flask of brandy lies within foot of him he
tried to reach it, but his arm refused to obey
his will. He tries to call his comrade, who
has gone up into the ring above; whisper
in that deep silence would suf6ce-but no
sound comes from his hps-he was voiceless.
The steersman comes down into the car he
sees his comrade in a swoon, and feels his
own senses failing him.
He saw at once that life and death hung
upon few moments. He seized or tried to
seize the valve, in order to open it aud let
out the gas. His hands are purple with in-
tense cold-they are paralyzed, they will not
respond to his will. He seized the valve
with his teeth it opened littIe-once, twice,
thrice The swooned marksman returned to
consciousness, and saw the steersman stand
ing before him. He looked at his instru-
ment but now the barometer was rising
rapidly; the balloon was descending. Brandy
was used. They had been higher above tho
earth than mortal man or any living thing had
ever been before. One minute more of inac.
tion-of compulsory inaction-on the part of
the steersman; whose senses were failing
him, and the air-ship with its intensely rari-
fed gas, would have been floating unattended,
with two corpses, in the wide realms of space.