The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1899-04-19
Toms Experiment
BY Sidney Dayre
AhVHTHAT do YOU think of this.

e
his mother was busy. ''In great
storm, lately, man was blown off High
Bridge at Harlem; and he had an UNI
brella, and held on to it tight, and went
down 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 a jolly
kind of a thing to happen to one.''
4 think it must have been very ter
rible experience"
"Why, he didn't get hurt bit, moth
err"
''No; but no one could anticipate be-
ing so mercifully preserved, and such
an adventure must have been attended
with severe shock and fright. VIII
you get your hoe and help me with
these pansies?"
Tom willingly gave the desired as
sistance, 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, sit 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 act as parachute, and keep
him from coming down too fast. Did
you ever study natural philosophy,
mother?"
"a little" she said, with smile.
"Then of course you know that the
pressure of air is equal in every direc
ton, and it's support would hold up the
umbrella. Why, don't think it was a
wonderful escape at all, but the most
natural thing in the world. 1 could
show you how it was done myself, moth
er, just as easy as not, by taking an UNI
brella and going out on the upper piazza
and jumping off. No; think I'd 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 go far enough in philos-
ophy to be so sure of things as we are
in these days. Now, I think it would be
very pretty little experience to try.
You see, mother, Nature never makes
mistakes. She isalways the same, and
can always be relied upon"
Eyes, dear, 1 am sure of that-so sure
that I think 1 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 it is quite late enough in the sea-
son."
81 guess she won't" said Tom, with
smile, ready to fall into his mothers
fancy.
Snow, mother" he went on, as, hav-
ing raked a bed of the warm, moist
earth, he proceeded, with very gentle
stul pains " oCC Ill lhS
dainty morsels of delicate green, ''you
can easily understand how perfectly
the resistance of the air would bear
me up if / tried it. / 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
and everywhere. But on quiet day
like this it would be sure, for the dis
placement of the air under the UNI
brella would be so gradual as to make
it quite impossible for anything to go
wrong. Why"-Tom waXed more and
more enthusiastically would be just
splendid to feel nothing under your
feet, and yet to have a perfect con-
fidence in what you are about, eh,
mother?"
Indeed, Tom," she said, laughing.
ST think my confidence in what L am
abouS and in things in general is much
more perfect when L feel the solid
ground under my feet"
That's 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-