The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1873-07-22

OOPntt th4Cdt VI muS1C, uuuGE Tue HulO
ance of Miss Sarah Hoke. the director of
music. We were charmed with the ex-
ccllent rendition of each piece, and i'm.
pressed with the conviction that Miss H.
is beyond mere ordinary attainments.
On the whole, from the perspicuous
answers and thorough aptitude dis.
played, all present must have concurred
with your correspondent in attributing
their success to cultivated and we'll
arranged methods, together with close
application, both on the part of pupils
and teachers.
THE BALLOON MANIA. If Prof Wise
IS successful in crossing the Atlantic in a
balloon, the newspapers will have to add
to "marino news '';erial news," and
will be relative as the steam car is to the
telegraph. Carrier pigeons, it is stated,
find no trouble in flying from balloons
three miles high, but above that point
they die. The balloon ascension made in
September, 1864. by Professor John La
Mountain. (not the one who was killed
on the 4th.l accompanied by John A.
Haddock, Of Wntertown. N. Y, turned
out In very perilous manner for tho
two voyagers .Befors they were aware
of it they were drifting over IN immense
extent of wilderness in Canada, which
stretches away to regions of endless cold
and night. SO they concluded to come
down. The balloon had to be abandon
cd, and after two days of wandering nnd
extreme hardships, they encountered u
party OF men from Ottawa. who were
hunting timber tracts. They there
learned that the balloon had taken them
15O miles beyond the boundaries of
civilization. One who has been up in u
balloon thus describes the sensation:
II could not realize that 1 was moving.
l seemed to be standing still, and the
earth to be falling away. As we rose
higher, tho illusion was lost, though
there Was still no consciousness of mo-
ton. The objects below dwindlel, until
the men and women, horses and vehicles
in the streets Of the city looked like pig
! mics, then insects, aud then faded from
sight. Tho trees and houses looked like
toy Villages; the river appeared CORFU
gated, the waters boiling. The towns on
both sides of the river becnme invisible
We steadily mounted, and noated to the
East, over fertile fields and rich farms.
Vast enclosures seemed like small gar
den beds, rs regularly laid out as checker
boards. We we're now Il mile high. but
we could hear very distinctly the cries of
the persons below u.s.
The greatest height evor attained by
AN ;oronaut was in 1852, when NJ Gla-
shier reached IN altitude of $1,000 feet,
nearly seven miles. The absence of q
sense of motion in balloon travelling,
either up, down, or sidewise, even though
the ''vessel" is moving ut Ia speed Of
100 miles an hour, is distinctive pecu-
liarity OF this mode of travel. Upon
this point, u balloonist who has tried it
says
I'VE could not tell whether we were
going up or down, except by tearing bits
of tissue paper and dropping them out
Of the car. If we were ascending, the
paper would fall. if descending, it would
mount. We saw the sun set thrco or
four different times, our steady ascent
giving Us new points of vision. We be-
gan to feel chilly and donned our over
coats. Tho mercury had fallen twenty
five or thirty degrees. We were over
two miles high, and we could plainly
perceive the earth's sphericity."
The first fire balloon went up ninety
years ago, last month, in France, and in
the same year two men made successful
asconts. The "fever" for balloon nsccn.
sions broke out also i'll England aud
HAAnIAAoi9 tho ohuo your, uuO III cHcu
country men went up in gas balloons. A
year or two later, tile English Channel
was safely crossed in balloon. The
distance in air line is fifteen miles, and it
was then thought wonderful achieve
ment. Balloons were used with great
success during the siego OF Paris, often
carrying several hundred pounds weight
In dispatches.
INTERNAL REVENUE DECISION.
Attorney. General has decided that no
particular form for the presentation of n
bona f,ls claim to the Commissioner of
Internal Revenue for the refunding of
taxes illegally assessed is necessary 10
prevent the statute of limitation from
running against it, but that the presents.
ton OF claim to Collector of Internal
Revenue is not presentation to the
missioner, within the meaning OF
the statute.
Two murders were perpetrated in New
Orleans on Saturday. Joseph Lametta,
an Italian, and Joseph Walker, New
Yorker, were the victims.