The Bryan daily eagle. (Bryan, Tex.) 1895-1898, 1896-12-09
Above the Clouds.

pect man when telling n story orally
% confne himself strictly to the truth.
while no one ever demands anything
Of the sort from a writing story teller.
Il isn't fair. Besides It Is based on
wrong principles when a man tells a
story, he ought to make II just as inter
estlng as he can regardless Of an con
alterations Of truth
Dangerous doctrine. Might b. OK.
tremeiy demOFailEiHg. observed the
dominic.
Il can't think 20. returned the Judge.
Take the case Of n host for instance.
! hold that Il Il not only his privilege
but his duty 20 entertain his guests
with the best stories he can tell. and
give no thought 10 truth. And III un.
dertake 'oashOw you that II II not de-
moraliiing In any way. You remember
having heard me mention the tramp
trip which / took around the world
when was a young man. presume"
Il believe %" answered the major
doubtfully.
Il wasn't Of course. exactly what We
picture when We think 81 n tramp. but
didn't have much money. aud natur-
ally fell IN with all sorts and cOndl-
tl0ns OF men. I reached my lowest
ebb financially IN sydney Australia.
AZ a cheap boarding hOus / became ac-
quainted with a man who was by pro-
fesslOn an aeronaut. Ills name was
midget. though on the bills he scln-
tlllated as Signor Campanella.
He was an excellent story teller and
good fellow. though like myself, he
was passing through a regular Oak
hurstian streak ~ bad luck. lie had
lost his balloon. II seemed that the
thing had blown away one particularly
windy afternoon Just before the as
cent, and the poor fellow was waiting
IN hopes that Il would be found out In
the bush somewhere and brought In.
II used 10 be quite pathetic TO see him
search through the want advertise.
ments IN the morning papers looking
for the heading OF 'Found-BallOof
but he never came across H. He
advertised Il himself. giving a full a.
scriptlon OF the balloon and Offering n
rcwnm Of 40 FOR its return. but In
this he was equally unsuccessful.
AT last he gave up al hope. Some
woman found that balloon, he would
say. and couldn't resist the tempta-
ton 10 cut Il up for silk dresses. Wei,
she's fixed FOR a good while anyhow;
that balloon ought 20 make an ordinary
sized woman about 200 dresses, though
I'll bet a shilling she'll get tired Of the
color along on the last half ~ the sec
ond 100. Il was before the day Of big
sleeves. 20 ] dare say be was night
about the number.
But my friends fortunes changed
finally. temporarily az least He found
n man willing 90 furnish money Tor a
new balloon. aud after Il was finished
he made regular daily ascents for d
fortnight He asked me 20 accompany
him. and I did so several times. How
ever. ill-luck stlll pursued Campanella,
and two weeks after be got his new
balloon he one day had n row with q
drunken sailor and went 20 the hospital
with broken head.
The manager came 90 me IN despair
Could not ! make the ascenti | agreed
and went over to the grounds. Here
put on the signor's gorgeous apparel
and climbed Into the basket. Their,
was q trapeze below the basket on
which the signor was won't 10 hang by
his toes and otherwise 20 playfully dis
port himself while going up, but
| iudlciously kept on and stuck 10 thu
[ basket.
The crowd made a great uproai
about this. feeling that they were moi
getting their moneys worth unless
I they saw a man cndangcr his life.
/ could hear the manager explaining that
I would begin 60 perform as soon as
/ was up hlgh enough 90 make Il worth
/ while. and later ] understood that aft
or had passed out u sight above Oh,
I buds be- assured them that wal
| IA M doing the most hlood-curdllng
I feA ! on that trapozc that any human
being ever attempted
There was a rather stln breeze blow
/ Ing and sailed along az good rate
I had shot up G0oO or 1000 feet. ans
[ FAR below was a mighty ocean Of whit
cloud. Where / was the sun shon'
| brightly. and Il was cool and pleasant
I hut could soon see the lightning thun
/ der grOwl. I had no desire 90 20 dow
/ into thunderstorm. 80 / sailed on.
AT the end Of two hours ] was still
| driving along az the rate. ! estimated
Of fifty or sixty miles an hour has
grown tired Of watching the ragini
storm below and looked on towar
what suppose may call the horizon
Far away against the sky saw
spcck. thought Il was n bird a
nrst. but ns we approached neare
what was my establishment 20 see thu
Il was another balloon.
I'VE were being driven by current
blowing NJ right angles and were raT
idly coming closer together. Som
could make out another person IN III
other balloon. | waved my hand n
him. and. NJ he was a hundred Zee
above me- threw ont few handful
% ballast rose aud instantly "a,
that we were going 60 meet. PR
pared n roRc. and as the sides of on
great bags touched | threw one cnl
Into the oncoming basket. As the 9th
or aerOnaut stralghtcned up from max
, Ing the end fast | was further aston
lshoi when my eyes met those Of
beautiful young woman.
THE line was holding ms only 10 o
, Il feet apart took on my hat alid
, MS a total stranger. apologizcd Tor nd
/ dressing her. hut hoped that the an
q usual circumstances u our mectin
, would excuse my apparent rudcness
, Resides. fancied that her face seemc
, familiar. though this. of course, was
, dat lic. She smiled and graceful aC
ccptcd my apology. She was young
bright. and. ! thought. the handsomes
Girl I had ever seen. She was taste
fully dressed IN a fancy costume. wit
b skirts rcachlng just below the knee
, I'VE were soon chatting pleasant
! together aud learned that she Ia
, gone up COR como up, rather. that az
. crnoun from Melbourne and had bee
driving before the wind above On
storm. rs | had myself hcen doing.
was. she said. only her third asccn
but she was perfectly cool and laughc
gayly over our somewhat strange NEE
= Ing. l happened 10 look closely ~ h,
|, balloon. and suddenly Il struck me thi