The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1891-05-01
ABOVE THE CLOUDS.
Strange Sensations Called Up by IA Journe
Through the Air.

Strange Sensations Called Up by Il Journey
Through the Air.
/ have sometimes stood with friends
upon the summit of some lofty noun,
tain where, beneath the clear skies OF
summer. there has been spread out in
front Il thousand square miles of rolling,
fOrest-clad, tumultuous wilderness and
far-reaching cultivated plains | have
listened to their rapturOuS ordinations
upon IT, noble scene. and have smiled
gently TO myself upon rejecting that |
have sailed over mountains as high as
the cOign of vantage u2On which we
then stood, and so great was our eleva-
ton that the vast storm-Swept crags
seemed to us but as the haystaclls far
down in yonder valley. No ingenious
combination of words can convey an
adequate idea of a day spent in the
basket of a balloon three miles above
the earth. No view that rewards the
climber of Alpine peaks can rival the
vastness of the panorama seen from
such an airShip as King and Donaldson
and Wise have commanded. The abso-
lutte silence in the awful utter depths,
ON,bCIlu lIlt uJIIOSJ SOunu waves Oh
earth, impresses one more than any
other element of journey out of the
world"
More than once I have prevailed upon
my fellow-voyagers to fOrego that live
ly chatter which seems to be inspired
both by the dry atmosphere of the up
per heavens and the excitement of a
new experience, and to remain perfect
ly silent for five minutes by the watch.
And then what did we hear? At an ele-
walton of two miles. the running of
many rivers. and cascades leaping over
rocks. the signing of the gale through
the forest, the roar of breakers upon
PARKWAY shores. the clangor of bells
and the faint scream of steam whistles
were yet to be distinguished, but at
three miles what may one hear?
The stiffness is more absolute than
that of the grave, for even there the
number of passing wheels. the rounds
of human effort and of nature pene-
trate, but disturb not the still sleeper
The silence smothers and chokes the
human mites that dare to enter its cold.
pitiless depths. We listen, immovable
We distinguish the metallic ticking of
our watches, buried beneath our thick
wrappings. We hear the revcrberations
of mental processes within our heads.
Our heart-beats are accelerated and are
the strokes of great engine. There is
no signing of Il gale through the rigging
above as in a ship, for we are borne
with the wind. and. although. perhaps.
rushing on with the speed of the fastest
express. we seem in the midst of d great
calm.
In such place and time, once drift
ing above a great siivery sea of clouds
rift appeared in the mass below, and
through it we saw the picture of a river
and the white dots of village homes. 1t
brought us back to life and its affairs.
but while my senses were excited with
the experience of the hour, actually
felt pang of regret that must again
go back to the earth, to creep along
with its creeping multitudes and bear
once more the black burden of care. and
in that brief period of eXaltation. and
its following regret, believe there was
something of that ecstacy which must
be the share of angels, a foretaste of
the joys of another life
No person having witnessed or par
ticipated in the vicissitudes that very
often accompany the return of a balloon
to the earth, especially if there is any
ordinary wind driving it along, would
be likely to credit the idea that the air
ship, rugged with various complicated
machines and gearings, would ever be
fit for second journey into the Skies
PHILADELPHIA LEDGER.