The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1896-07-08

course, / knew that the professor was
in no danger of falling down. What he
wanted to do was to avoid falling up.
whenever it should become necessary
for him to let go his hold. l saw that
the thing to do was to get rope to him
as soon as possible, calculating that he
would have sense enough to know how
to use il. The difficulty was how TO get
the rope to him, for the steeple was per-
fectly smooth on the outside, so shat
nobody could possibly climb it, and
there was no ladder in the town that
would reach half way up TO the pine
apple. Pretty soon / saw my way. /
sent a man to get two hundred feet OF
stout line, and then found boy who
was flying kite, and bought out his
whole stock for fifty cents. fused TO be
middling good kite flyer when was
boy, and il didn't take me very long to
maneuver that kite SO that the string
fell across Van Wagener's shoulder, and
saw him seize it with one hand. Then
/ bent the two hundred feet of line to
the kitestring, and shook il as signal
to The professor to haul away. He did
so, and in a little while he had one end
of the line in his possession, and he cast
the kite adrift, string and all.
Any man who wasn't scientific per-
son would have known that l expected
Van Wagener to tie the line TO his
ankles, and let me pull him gently down.
Hut the professor never thought of that.
He tied the line fascto the lightning rod,
and started to slide down it. Naturally,
hiG inflated shirt made that impossible.
We could see him hanging on to the line
with both hands, and with his body
swinging out at right angles, but in
spite of all he could do he couldn't man
age To climb down the line single foot.
The public got more excited than ever,
and the betting on the professors ulti-
mate fate was lively. But after time
he came TO the conclusion that he had
made a mistake, and l was never more
relieved in my life than when saw him
climb back to his perch on the pine
nipple and begin to unfasten the line. He
kept me on the anxious seat for the next
ten minutes while he waited to rest,
and then / was delighted 10 see him
make the line fast to both his ankles.
/ hauled away on my end till the line
was taut, and then Van Wagener let go
his hold, and / began gently TO gather
him in. The crowd cheercd when they
saw what was going on. and though
tnere was good deal OF wrangiin8
about the bets. which some people
cmiued that had interfered with 10y
providing Van Wogener with the means
OF escape. or course, there was some-
thing TO be said in support of this view
of the matter. for if ii hadn't been for
nut the men who bet that Van WAGNER
would fall and kill himself must have
won. However, the dispute was settled
by arbitration, and Deacon White, the
arbitrator. declared all bets Off, in conse-
qucnce Of my interference, which, he
added. was entirely justifiable in the cir
cumstances lie wasn't very sociable
sort Of chap, but he was a perfectly
square man i'm all business dealings,
and the public had confidence in him.
IL was n beautiful spectacle the way
In which the professor came down as
hauled in on the line. lie kept perfectly
erect. but he also kept slowly revolving
on his axis, as you might say. llisarms
were stretched out at right angles 10
his body i'm order to steady himself a
little, and the general effect Of him was
that OF an angel without wings in the
act of blessing the public. There wasa
sweet smile on his face when he came
neur enough for us to notice IL. and his
eyes were closed, probably because ne
felt little dizzy, and that gave him