Telegram-herald., 1890-02-27

lose D1s stoieaz cain
Amid a tarilling silence the big hag
rounded out fuller and fuAer.
who wants tas nrst rldeT" asked
Len. in aashsd voice.
~ cried Bobby Fischer, wishing an
instant later that he had let somebody
else Try Il FIRST Bat having spoken be
would not back out
Come on. them continued Lem, still
in the same hushei tone. There's Two
rope handles right there's they won't
hresk
He gave the drawing-strings sn awful
tug. tied them rapidly over and over.
and Bobby. with his freokles standing
out like blunt, terra Gotta Quills upon
the fretful porcupine-s very white por-
cupine- took hold Of the handles, while
the bag did. indeed. move up and down
like a genuine balloon.
A cry OF terror burst from the boys
They had not thought that heavy boy
like Bobby could indeed bs borne up
ward by Lens balloon. bat II shot up
ten feet or mors at the hrst bound. Lem
gave an awful jump, but be could not
quite reach Bobby's kicking heels
Climb the pear tree, quick" shrieked
the young inventor, now thoroughly
alarmed. Catch him when he goes by"
But over the very top of the pear tree
sailed Bobby, uttering the most blood
curdhng yells, while the other boys
several of them sobbing as they ran
gave vent 10 the very loudest noises they
knew how To make
Over the very top OF his own fathers
house also sailed Bobby. And over the
trees in the village green Then he be-
gan TO feel that his support MAS weaken
ing. Softly as = thistle-down descended
the wool sacks and Bobby with them.
His own mother, dumb with horror. was
there TO pick him up, needless that her
sleeves were rolled up and her gown
pinned to her waist. His own mother
could not have laid him down to rest
more tenderly than did the big bal
loon"
How she prayed and wept over her
frightened little eight-year-old, so
miraculously returned TO her alive after
his perilous adventure. Lem was ju-
diciously watching the proceedings
from behind an angle of his fathers
barn. The other boys were trying to
Tell how it all happened without MAX
| ing out too bad case against their fa-
vorite leader, whom every body was just
now ready to fall upon and punish.
Look here. look herel" cried Hoddy
Atwood amid the universal hubbub,
wasn't every body in town scolding be-
cause there was going to be a balloon
ascension last Fourth of July, and then
| it didn't come OFF"
| "Yes," said several voices.
"And the selectmen were going to pay
$500 for that balloon, heard
That's what was said, admitted sew
eral bystanders.
well, think Lem had orter have
the pay you was going to give that man,
instead of getting scolded."
"He might have killed Bobby" cried
Mrs. Fischer, Indignantly.
| Hoddy swallowed n little hard as he
reflected on that awful moment when
Bobby sailed over the top of the pear
tree, but he collected himself sufficient
ly to reply:
HE didn't, though; Bobby just had
| good ride"
Bobby groaned. He wondered II Hod-
dy would have liked that good ride"
That groan was more expressive than
an epic would have been just then and
there and not another word was spoken
in defense OF the clover and naughty
Lem.
Before nightfall every farmer within
ten miles of Canedy's Corners had for
bidden his children, under threats of
the most awful penalties. TO have any
thing TO do with Lem Purdy's balloon. :"
Lem would have had 70 go up himself If he
wished to experiment again AS he did
not care to do this, the wool sacks and
the mysterious crucible have lain idle
| ever since.
And all of this really happened dur
ing the summer of 1880 in a little Con-
necticut town. Kate Upson Clark, in
| nafrof+ E-oo