The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1886-09-23
A Balloon Experience.

From an article on Amateur Bal
looming in the Century we quote as
follows: "As nearly as could be Judged
+ was more than 4 mile high, and all
sounds from the earth had ceased.
There WAS a death-like silence which
was simply awful. 1t seemed to my
overstrained nerves to forebode disaster
The ticking OF the watch i'm my pocket
sounded like trip-hammer 1 could
feel the blood as it shot through the
veins of my head and arms. My straw
hat and the willow car snapped and
cracked, being contracted by the evapo
ration of the moisture in them and by
the fast-cooling temperature. l was
compelled to breathe a little quicker than
usual ON accounta OF the rarity of the
atmospho.c. l became sensible of q
loud. monotonous hum i'm my ears,
pitched about on middle C. of the pia-
no, which seemed to bore into my head
from each side, meeting in the center
with pop; then for an instant nv
head would beselear when the same ex-
perience would be;repeated. by throw-
ing eSout small pieces of tissHe2paper
saw the balloon was still ascending.
While debating with myself as to the
advisability of pulling the valve-rope O
was afraid to touch it for fear it would
break} and discharging some gas, the
earth was lost sight Of, and the con.
viction was forced upon me that this
must be the clouds! 1t made me dizzy
to think of it Above, below and upon
all sides was dense, damp, chilly Jog.
Upon looking closer large drops of rain
could be seen, silently falling down out
OF sight into what seemed bottomless
space. ~s+ i H.. FD
Il was alone, a mile from the earth,
IN the midst of rain-cloud and the
silence of the grave. Moreover, had
sole charge of the balloon; if it had not
been forthis> fact, / could have taken
little comfort, as 1 had no confidence
in my ability to manage it. A rain
storm upon earth is accompanied by
noise; the patter of the rain upon the
houses, trees,zand walks always attends
the stormf while here. ealtheugh the
drops were large. they could not be
heard falling upon the balloon or its
belongings. Silence reigned supreme.
The quiet2spoken of by DR.. 'KaueAand
other Arctic explorers, as existing in the
northern regions. was q fubbub beside
this place. More tissue-paper was
thrown out; seeing that it seemed to as
cend, j knew thatsthe apparatus was
slowly descending. being brought down
by the weight upon it. Soon the earth
was in Riew-0 How peaceful and quiet
it lookedt Immediately the whistling
of railroad trains could be heard.
'Now mountains could be distin-
guished from valleys, and the cxwing
of frightened crows and the shouting OF
men could be heard. i passed imme-
diatel over DaAcotts Mountain tower.
where there were some two hundred
people enjoying the day. could plain
ly hear one blowing horn. As the
balloon slowly descended men could be
seen running from all sides toward the
place Of landing. Now the hum of in
sects could be- heard, and 4hs erapnel,
with o hundred feet Of rope n sttaehed,
was thrown out; it struck the ground
and dragged lazily along through the
turf and over the stones without getting
secure hold a approached man
weighing 800 pounds, who Was sitting
upon q stone wall all out of breath from
running. Without the formality of an
Introduction asked him to catch on to
that anchor and stop the business
With woe-begone look upon his honest
face, and an luminous shake of the head
he replied. Its no use, young fellow;
l can't work my bellows But rs the
rope twitched along near him, he
fell upon it, and my journey was end
ed" -