The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1875-11-12
Mr.. Potts Story.
Max Adeler has the following


While was over at Pcncader, the other
day, called on the Potts. Mr. Potts is
liable to indulge in extravaganza in his
conversation, and, as Mrs. Potts is an ex-
tremely conscientious woman where mat
tiers of fact arc concerned, she's obliged to
keep her eye on him. Potts was telling
me about an incident that occurred in the
town, few days before, and this is the
way be related it:
Potts-"You see old Bradley over here
is perfectly crazy on the subject of gases
and the atmosphere, and such things
absolutely wild and one day he was dis
putting with Green about how high up in
the air life could lie sustained; and Brad
ley said an animal could live about forty
million miles above the earth, if"
| Mrs. PINOT forty million, my dear,
only forty miles, he said"
P.-"Forty, was it Thank you. Well,
sir, old Green, you know, said that was ri
diculous; and he said he'd bet Bradley
couple of hundred Thousand dollars that
life couldn't he sustained half that way up,
and So
Mrs. P.-"William, you are wrong; he
only offered to bet fifty dollars"
P.-"Well, any, how, Bradley took him
up quicker'n wink, and they agreed to
send up cat in balloon to decide the
bet. SO what does Bradley do but buy
balloon about twice as big as our barn,
and begin to"
Mrs. PIT was only about ten feet in
diameter, Mr. Adeler; William forgets."
P.-"Begin to initiate her. When she
was filed, it took eighty men to hold her,
and"
Mrs P.-"Eighty men, Mr.. Potts. Why,
you know Mr.. Bradley held the balloon
himself"
Pile did, did he? o, very well, what's
the odds And when everything was ready
they brought out Bradley's tom-cat, and
put it IN the basket and tied it in so that
it couldn't jump, you know. There were
about one hundred thousand people look
ing on, and when they let 60 you never
heard such "a"
Mrs. P.-"Thcre were not more than two
hundred people there. counted them
myself
P.--"O, don't bother me I say you
never heard such yell as the balloon was
scooting up into the sky, pretty near out
of sight. Bradley said she went up about
1000 miles and-now don't interrupt me,
Henrietta; | know what the man said-and
that cat, mind you, a bowling like hun
dred iog-horns, so you could heard her
from here to Peru. Well, sir, when she
was up SOS she looked as small as pin
head, something or other burst. l dunno
now 1t was, but pretty soon down came
that balloon tlickering toward the earth
at the rate Of fifty miles minute, and
old"
Mrs. P-"Mr. Potts, you know that the
balloon came down as gently as"
P.-"O, DO hush up Women don't know
anything about such things. And old
Bradley, he had kind Of a registering
thermometer fixed in the basket along with
the cat. Some sort of Il patent machine;
cost thousands fdollars, and he was expect
ing to examine it, and Green had all idea
he'd lit out dead cat, and scoop in the
stakes. When all of sudden as she came
pclting down tornado struck her-now,
Henrietta, what in thunder are you staring
ut me in that way Tor 1t was u tornado
regular cyclope-and it struck her and
jammed her against the lightning-rod on
the Baptist church steeple, and there she
stuck-stuck on the spire about 800 feet
up in the air."
Mrs. P.-"Iou may set just as mad as
you please, but am positively certain that
steeple's not an inch over % feet"
P.-"Henrietta, wish to gracious you'd
go up stairs and look after the children
Well, about half minute after she struck,
out stepped that old tom-cat onto the
weathercock. 1t made Green sick. And
just then the hurricane reached the wealth
ercock, and 1t began to revolye six hun
dred or seven hundred times a minute, the
cat bowling until you couldn't hear your.
self speak. (Now, Henrietta, you've had
your put, you keep quiet) That cat staid
on the weathercock about two MONTHS
Mrs. P.-"Mr. Potts, that's an awful
story; it only happened last Tuesday,"
Z. OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES mind her.
And on Sunday the way that cat carried
on, and yowled, with its tail pointing due
east, was SO awful that they couldn't have
church. And Sunday afternoon the preach
Ell told Bradley if he didn't get that cat
down he'd sue him for million dollars
damages. So Bradley got gun and shot at
the cat fourteen hundred times. (Now you
didn't count EN-, Henrietta, and did.) And
he banged the top of the steeple all to spln-
tiers, and at last fetched down the cat shot
to rags; and in her stomach he found his
thermometer. She'd ate it on her way up,
and it stood at eleven hundred degrees, SO
old"
Mrs. Pho thermometer ever stood at
such Il figure as that"
p. Gndignantly)-"O, well, if you think
you can tell the story better than ] can,
why don't you tell itl You're enough to
worry the life out of a man"
Then Potts slammed the door and went
out, and l left. don't know whether
Bradley got the stakes or not.