Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1873-08-02
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Mister Ssar. Your article on trans Atlantic
hallooning has s'awakened q chord m memory
ii has carried me back 20 1.-THE light OF other
Gays Nov You are glad you wrote i'll You
SCI m very much exercised, aud % are q good
to eros the ocean IN balloon Far rom s Ssns
OF sea, and where no sound can reach him
beg ond the eagles shrek. the curlews wall OF
oiI ocean rSsrShe b 70 pursue his trsckicss
course across the Vastly deep and land some
Now, don't believe that wise or any other
man VIII DO any such thing. BELIEVE that the
discovery Of q northwest passage 20 the onen
sea beyond the north pole viii yet be a sneorss
after . few more daring spirits like Fraakiip'
heve, too, that the Hrisl passage betwfxt TIE
two continents ~ Q northeast current viii re-
main an undiscovered wonder b all giseacres
But let me reflect '.the light OF other davs.o
Some twenty five or thirty years ago, when \
vas juvenile in quiet suburban village 10
nually large placards reading aProf. Wisen-he
wG Irofessor then and BY all accounts he
still professes-"vtll make an ascent in his ire
ON such day and hour-"beins his lssf ssrs,
nautical excursion previous % crossing The
broad Atlantic. Come one, come ALI"
and near. The country people would s.ths,
from "sll the world suld Perry County too
ana u was astonishing 10 see the quantity Of
small beer and gingerbread de molished on such
occasions. IL was q gala day for town and coun-
try when Wise went up in his balloon, and IL
was particularly ~ 20 us boys, who did not care
how often he went positively the last time
previous TO crossing the ocean, We were like
good many grown people are now-so we got
our ginger cakes aud email beer we did not care
much What became OF Wise. or the farewell. or
the trip across the ocean.
Well, he would 80 up in the balloon, and not
dssppotnt the numerous collection who paid 20
see him 90 the ascending part of the pro-
As an ordinary seronaut he probably has no
superior Then the eager crowd would STAGE
heavenward as the balloon assembled and grew
"smal by degrees and beautifully less until
II finally disappeared behind O. hlrizOn, or a
cloud, or something else. To Ia iellows who
drank whisky instead of email p T he disap-
pesred mighty soon-in fact, the appearance
occurred 20 readily that they tho ut they had
not got their moneys worth. & - that was
owing to their short-sightedness. their having
looked Through glass dsrkene.i.'
Then we would all surmise and ronder as 20
where the aeronsut would land, "a speculate
on what might happen. 1 remember one
poor woman telling her friends Nhcn the bal
loon was touching the clouds-t that ii she was as
near heaven as Mr.. Wise was they would never
see her any more-'cause she would jump right
in. But she was either a discarded old maid or
an unlucky Betsy Jsse.whose Jacob liked ben
zine better than he did her. / know some fell
lows around here that wouldn't mind letting
their wives try such an experiment Just 20 facili.
tate their eternal happiness, and don I believe
they would care much IL the females Jumped A
leetle short and fell 10 t'other place.
In about an houror two who should reappear
put the yer1able (now venerable) RrOnaut-
himself and balloon piled upon some good
natured farmers wagon-the balloon minus the
ballast and gas. Wise was not ditto. He gem
orally got ballast at the nearest house after
landing and the way he blowed showed no lack
Of gas. He always had such miraculous escapes
and met with such fearful dangers that Il was
wonder he did not quit the business. The
amazed country people were told how in lati-
tuce forty thousand and longitude forty
eight hundred, while eleven thousand five hun
sd wTN
that he could hear the grating of the rusty
hinges, for, as angels were "few and far be-
tween" ST. Peter did not have many callers,D
he encountered q fierce tornado, which was
raging in the grand vacuum between the clouds
and the next place above, and after fierce
contest with the elements. including innumera-
the balloon, the latter finally collapsed, spread
out Ike huge umbrella, and landed safely in
an open field near a large farm house. At the
later place he got bis bsllast-the gas he did
not need to get. lie had that.
Well. every year it Was the same old story
about going 70 Europe IN a balloon. Some OF
the people became little incredulous about
this across the ocean business. u got 20 be
about as common a. Dan kce's farewell tour
or the last appearance OF Bsrnum s hippodrOme
So, Mister Star, hope that you nor any Of the
people who readyour good article on the bal
loon question will have any feverish anxiety
over what might happen in case anybody at
tempts-a trans Atlantic voyage through the air.
don believe that we viii ever be furnished
with a graphic account of the~aerOnaut having
hsnd-to-h hand encounter with Neptune, Mars
and Jupiter in the aeriel regions mid way be-
tween this and Greenwich, aud of his having
broken old Nep's nose, put Mars ''Out on a iiy, y
and knocked Jupiter into cooked hat Just as
Minerva bud him 20 in peace or he would be ap
10 60 in pieces.
Ii the balloon ever starts from Central Park
II will land either at Castle Garden or son Lon,
Island : sea grit shore Something musehap
pen TO save the seriel explorer and cheatsom
shark-out OF breakfast. If.Wise tries 70 eros
the oceanic s bigger fool than think he il
besldes, We cannot spare him, for he is a very
good aeronaut. But he saws he will 90, and +
willing TO take couple Of other fools with him
AS like TO keep on a firm footing, and have NJ
desire to 20 cup in q balloon, boys, up in a bal.
loon, = you can just bet your bottom dollar tina.
one of them fellows will not be
MIKE CORDUROY.