Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1899-05-25
Toms Experiment
By Sidney Dayre
nIIIHAT do You think Of this,

WIZ do you rd think rsn OF dnt this in
great excitement to the garden, where
his mother was busy. "In a great
storm, lately, man was blown off High
Bridge at HarlSm; and he had an UNI
brella, and held on to it tight, and went
down e hundred feet and came down
safe and easy. A hundred feet, mother"
at was surely very wonderful es-
cape, Tom"
"Well, it seems so. But after all,
when you think of it, it's just what
might have been expected. l wonder
how he felt. 1t must have been u jolly
kind of thing to happen to one"
81 think 1t must have been very ter
rible experience"
"Why, he didn't get hurt bit, moth
er."
mo, but no one could anticipate be-
ing 80 mercifully preserved, and such
an adventure must have been attended
with a severe shock and fright. Will
you get your hoe and help me with
tlese puuslSS'
Tom willingly gave the desired as
sistancc, for he dearly loved every flow
er which grew, and took as much pride
as his mother did in the neatness of the
garden and the thrifty growth of It's
treasures.
"But, mother" he went on, st seems
TO me it was not such dangerous thing
as you think. If the man knew any
thing about the laws of natural philos-
ophy he must have known his umbrella
would net as a parachute, and keep
him from coming down too fast. Did
you ever study natural philosophy,
mother?"
"a little" she said, with a smile.
Then of course you know that the
pressure of air is equal in every direo-
ton, and it's support would hold up the
umbrella. Why, don't think it was
wonderful escape at all, but the most
natural thing in the world. I could
show you how it was done myself, moth
err, just as easy as not, by taking an UNI
brella and going out on the upper piazza
and jumping off No; think T'd-g go up
to the garnet window and try it FROM
there, so as to have greater distance.
You see"
Don't hoe quite so vigorously, my
DEAR" interrupted his mother, as Toms
energy increased with his interest in
the subject under discussion. "Of
course you would not think of doing
anything so foolish"
'But perhaps girls, when you were
young, didn't 60 far enough in philos-
ophy to be Sc sure Of things as we are
in these days. Now, I think it would be
a very pretty little experience to try.
You see, mother, Nature never makes
mistakes. She is always the same, and
can always be relied upon"
"Yes, dear, am sure of that-so sure
that think I shall transplant few
seedlings from the hotbed, confident
that she will not fail me in the wealth Of
sunshine and soft rain which 1 shall
expect from her. They are well grown
and 1t is quite late enough in the sea-
SON."
81 guess she won't" said Tom, with
smile, ready to fall into his mothers
fancy.
"Now, mother" he went on, as, hav-
ing raked o bed of the warm, moist
earth, he proceeded, with very gentle
and painstaking hands, to set in the
dainty morsels of delicate green, "you
can easily understand how perfectly
the resistance of the air would bear
me up if I tried it, I don't know but
you are right in thinking it wonderful
that the man should come down all
right when the wind was blowing and
might whisk him about here and there
md everywhere. But on quiet day
like this it would be sure, for the dis
placement of the air under the um"
brella would be so gradual as to make
it quite impossible for anything to ga
wrong. Why"-Tom waxed more and
more enthusiastically would be just
splendid to feel nothing under your
feet, and yet to have perfect con-
adence in what you are about eh,
mother?"
"Indeed, Tom," she said, laughing,
"I think my confidence in what l an
about and in things in general, is mucF
more perfect when feel the solid
ground under my feet"
Chats because you're not boy"
said Tom, with look of commisera-
ton for his mothers forlorn condition,
as he went to put away the rake.
He was just nearing the age when
boys begin to think they know more
than their mothers, or, indeed, than
anyone else in the world. What spe-
cial age that may be, mothers are prob
ably best able to determine; but their
opinions may be likely to vary, for it
is certainly comprehensive one.
The first peeps gained by lively boy
into the precincts of the wonders Of
nature and art usually serve to fill him
with exalted notions of himself in be-
ing able to take that peep. But 1t is
always observed that the further he
advances into the sacred domain, the
more reverently does he tread, until at
length the really knowing stand mute
and humble in view Of the vastness of
the yet-to-be known.
Tom, resting with happy confidence
in his knowledge of the laws of nature,
which knowledge he rated far higher
than his mothers Judgment and eau
ton, based upon years of actual ex-
perience in life, called upon his near
est friend, Phil, to share his interest