Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1897-02-08
UP IN a BALLOON.
The Aeronaut Tells a Story Out OF His
Experience In the Profession.


Experience In the Profession.
Something III other suggested the SUBJ
iect, and the tall man, who sat at the
hotel table where he couldn't see the
man opposite owing to the caster which
stood between, stuck his fork into po-
tato and began talking.
II suppose, he said, that when
Elijah went to heaven in a hand basket,
he liked it and It was al right; but, as
for me, I'd rather go by land. -
The man at the foot of the table look.
ed up questioningly.
by the graveyard, Of course, I
mean" hastily explained the talker.
'sYou see this aerial navigation business
amt any good after you've had a 'ras-
sle' with ii that pulls all of mans
nerves out by the roots, twists them
around a stump and then begins to yank
and saw on them. You understand what
J. mean? used to be an aeronaut, 1 did.
I guess / must have made 1000 ascen-
sions Out in my state for long time
no county fair was complete without
me, and I got the Typography of the
state down SO fine from my birdseye
view of it that I could draw map of
the whole layout with my eyes shut.
Great thing it was to be sailing through
the air in them days, and I thought 1
never would get enough of it until one
fine afternoon a rope broke in q ticklish
place, and it gave me a kind of nervous
fit, just as it does railroad engineer
when he has an accident and isn't hurt
that anybody can see. Just the same, he
is hurt, and SO was /, but / kept on SO
does the engineer.
'sAfter that, though, I didn't go up
feeling quite as sassy as I used to feel,
and sometimes as / would go shooting
upward I'd wonder how hard the ground
was in case q man had to light sudden.
I always done a trapeze act III connec-
ton with my performance. and, if do
say it myself, it WASH t any SLOUGH of
trapeze show. And / didn't like that
half as we'll after the rope broke as 1 did
before either. Indeed, l begun to think
the whole dern balloon business wasn't
what it was cracked up to be. was
thinking about tying a rope around my
waist SO as to catch hold of things if /
fell, but I didn' It like to do that, though
there was about 100 feet OF rope / had
hung out as an anchor or grab with
hook on the end to help mo to land
when the show was over.
''The day I retired from business
there was a state fair going on that
week, and I went up every day. 1t was
fine day, with just enough wind to
move the balloon along majestic, as the
papers said, and when 7 shot up was
so nervous that actually said my pray
ers as / saw the ground dropping away
under me- But took brace on my
self and begun my trapeze act, the
balloon going up faster than I ever
felt it. By this time was up half
mile, and my turn was to swing with
my knees around the bar, which looked
mighty dangerous, but it really wasn't
any worse than if I had been in the
alter with a net Well, give myself the
swing. and I never did know why, but
/ lost my grip, and with swish felt
myself fly out into space. The Lord
knows what I thought about, but it
WASH for long, for I didn't know any
more until / came to in the room at the
hotel whcro I was stopping"
s'Come off, interrupted the man at
the foot of the table. "You can't tell
this crowd you fell half a mile and
didn't get killed. You are a plain, I'M
vanished liar, that's what you are. -
'You re another if you say 1 said
fell half a mile, - responded the retired
@ronaut, and it looked as if there might
be a scrap.
sWhat I did do, +" he continued when
peace was restored, twas to strike that
anchor line within ten feet of the end
of it as it trailed under me, and by some
act of merciful Providence the anchor
flew around my body and caught the
rope above, thus looping me in. There
I hung until the balloon came down,
and as everybody below saw the acct
dent you may imagine that 1 had big
reception when landed, though didn't
know anything about it. / did know,
though, that 1 couldn't tempt Provi-
dence twice, and so I quit and went to
editing country newspaper, which is
more lingering than falling out of
balloon. New York Sun.