The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1874-11-01
Above the Clouds.
ihE EARTH AS SEEN FROM A BALLOON AT THE
HEIGHT OF SIXTEEN THOUSAND FEET
From an Account OF an Ascension with Prof Do,.,d
son, in the Baltimore American

From an Account OF Ascension with Prof Donald
| son. In the Baltimore Americana
| Now came the most stirring incident of n,
TRIP. From the height of four thousand fee
we steadily assembled, the country dwarfin,
,nto panorama of toys below us. had tb
our progress upward. At six Thousand si,
hundred feet our breaths became visible ina
as they would be frosty morning. w,
already began to feel cold in the body, but til,
rays OF the sun beat in upon MS with a fierc,
intensity. The index of the barometer steadily
cfept around the dial, marking off the thon
SANDS until it reached the fourteenth, ther
lying Dack again and starting from zero, from
diai, until IL halted on the verge of the two
tnousandth, telling us that we were only about
O hundred feet less than sixteen thousand feei
above the earth.
U.S. vapory haze shut il out from our view
and we could detect nothing of it but the
snver lines that marked the great bays and
rivers. From contemplation Of the indistinct
scene revert to my own feelings The air
Was very cold and-the sun was very warm.
ihe Thermometer stood at 81 deg, the sun was
Intensely hot, as it's rays fell upon us, but for
all that We might as have been in an Arctic
region. This is one of the most cnr;nns me.
nomena of life above the clouds. The rarefao.
zion OF the air hardly accounts for the chilIinp
oG si which psnetrates you through and through,
solar rays are indicating a high summer tenn
Perature: At heigat of fifteen thousand feet
! was sbivering, while my head seemed to be
burning up, and all the blood in my body rush
ing toward it. felt q very slight difficulty in
breathing. but my ears were stopped nm. and T
could hardly hear what Mr.. Fox was saving to
me when he was standing by my side.
we dld not remain long at this tremendous
elevation. We slipped down through the at
mosphere to between eleven and twelve thon-
sand feet above the earth, and it was there
mat we had our grandest view. We had with
II! IL. our range OF vision at the same moment
philadelphia, Baltimore and Harrisburg. the
Chesapeake and Delaware bays, and ali their
upper tributaries, and also Annapolis and the
most of the smaller towns were included with
IN TINS extended vision. But the grandest
feature Of all was when gazing eastwardly, we
very plainly perceived the Atlantic Ocean.
mere was no mistake about it; the mist had
lifted little, and we could plainly see where
Inc. .he waters OF the Delaware bay mingled with
, Inc view at this time was above the posi-
bilities of language to picture. The peninsula
OF land between the Chesapeake and Delaware
pay was but thread of dark green upon the
the Susquehanpa- river was hardly
perceptlble, except for the dark line which we
knew to be the great bridge across it the
country below us was but checker-board of
green and white squares; Baltimore
and Philadelphia were only masses of shade
upon the map; but the great ocean was q re-
atty, and to view of it we constantly turned
our eyes, with feeling that here was some-
ming everlasting and enduring. The piano.
rama that came within our scope of vision was
prot ably not less than two hundred square
miles, but from our height of sixteen thousand
rect 1t seemed to be dwarfed to a space you
might cover with your handkerchief. It seemed
70 us as If we were looking through the wrong
snd of q field glass.
When at this height ofsixteen thousand feet
or over three miles above the earth, Professor
donaldson told us that the balloon had OBJ
aimed its equilibrium that it was poised on
N exact balance, and that as soon as the gas
commenced to condense, even in the slightest
egree, we would descend rapidly. And It was
precisely in this .fashion that we did 20 down.