New-York tribune., 1901-12-20

Mr NofSett deals with the perils Of ten ordi-
rarv caIffngs-oriinary in that there Is none
Of the glamour OF war. none OF the exClteineit
Of hunting big game or anything Oh lha' ~
about them. The experiences OF men WHO o-iii-'
TO dizzy heights in the air to repair steeples afe
told in dramatic fashion, with those OF the olner
brave men who risk their lives day after day
by going down into the sea in diving sults-
c;rinv engineers tell of accidents on the rails
and modest city fren1en recount the heroism OF
their brothers Bridge builders, who trust thelr
lives 10 tiny threads of rope and walk beams
and girders on which the slightest miss1ep
would mean death. laugh at the danger con-
nected with their everyday work. The VIII
beast tanner, the aerial acrobat and the oai-
loonist follow caIlings which can hardly ne
classed as ordinary. but there are many OF
them in this strange world, ana the author
has found interesting examples Not satisfied
with accounts which came second hand MI
Nfoffett has experimental with the dangers
which he is describing He surmounts hish
steeples. chambers over half built bridges, acts
the part Of the diver to the extent Of going
down a time CT two and faces wild beasts in
a cage. His ina agination helps him to see many
things which the regular workers along these
lines would never notice.
He had no trouble in getting permission to
put on diving suit and go down to the wreck
Of a coal barge which was sunk in the Hacken-
sack River. 1t seems that g great many people
imagine that they want diving experience just
for the fun of the thing, but few, very few, have
the courage which is needed at the last moment
It was for his that the manager OF
the diving company gave his permission SO
readily. A night Of conflicting emotions passed
before the appointed time, but the author finally
put on the suit. They asked him II he wanted
TO leave an address, and he watched the lads
at the pump wheels though they were his
executioners. At last the helmet was screwed
on and they tapped its copper top as a signal
that he was to descend. This is how 1t felt:
I pause a moment to see if l can breathe,
and find I One step downward, and
feel a tug at my trousers as the cir feed pumps
them out Step by step I the water; foot
by foot the river rises TO my waist. to my shoul-
ders, TO my head With roar in MY ears and
a fash OF silver bubbles, sink beneath the sur
face: I reach the ladders end. loose my hold
il. and sink. sink through amber coored
region. SLOWLY, easly, ana lana saleIy on tns
harges deck just outside Of her combings, and
can reach one heavy foot over the depth OF her
hold, where tons OF coal await rescue. A jerk
the life line, and l answer that all
is well: indeed I pleasantly disappointed,
thus far, in my sensations II is true, there is
a pressure IN my ears, but nothing of conse-
QUence (no doubt deeper 1t would have been
differently, and 1 feel rather a sense Of exhilara-
ton from my air supply than any Inconvenience.
ties with the lift and fall of my lungs. l carry
my armor easily II seems as If I have no
weight at ALL yet the scales WOULD give more
than four hundred pounds.
7 stood UP again and shuff1ed TO the edge OF
the wreck. Strange to think that II stepped
off I should fall TO the bottom Just as surely
as q might fall to the ground from a
housetop. I would not rise as a swimmer does
And then felt the divers utter helplessness;
he cannot lift himself; he cannot speak; he
cannot save himself. except those lines save
him Let them part, let one of them choke and
ne dies instantly.
The author describes the braying OF the air
pump. which caused his ears to roar. and the
bubbles which he believes is the divers safe
guard against creatures of the deep And then
they pull him to the surface none the worse
for the little excursion.
There is a balloon farm at Frankfort n Y
presided over by Carl Myers. who has been
dabbRng in ballooning for many years. It is
joke in the neighborhood that the professor"
as he is called. plants his balloon crop in the
fall and gathers it in the spring. In the spring
thousands Of yards OF balloon cloth are put out
to dry, and other fields are made to look like
Esquimau villages. with half inflated balloons
looking like the huts Of the Northerners
Myers knows all about balloons, and he has
'skycycle' in which he has travelled many
miles going with wind currents Of which he
has fear. What he does not know about
ballooning is hardly worth knowing. and he
told Of strange discovery he made Lake
Ontario:
In sailing over the lake on one occasion.
remarked the number of small shaded spots
which puzzled me- could not imagine what
they We're. Finally, with the help of powerful
field glasses. made them out to- be wrecks sunk
at various depths. and 1 realized that Lake
Ontario. and indeed all of the Great Lakes.
abound III vessels which have gone down during
centuries and have never been recovered. No
estimate the treasure which lies there
waiting for some one TO reclaim It And saw
that il is a perfectly simple matter to locate
these wrecks from a balloon, and to prove this
I organized modest wrecking expedition and
indicated TO the diver where he was to go down
Down he went that point, and found the
wreck had seen. and We pumped good coal
cut OF her by hundreds of tons. What l did
a small scale might be done on a large scale
by any one willing to undertake It
When he has worked through the long line of
dangerous careers the author is led TO make
several observations. He finds that the divers.
steeple climbers. powder makers and the rest
are little different from their fellow men. except
as they have developed certain faculties by their
exercise. and established in themselves the
habit OF courage Most Of them not
born TO do these daring acts and have no par
ticular aptitude for them The drift Of life and
opportunities presented have been the guiding
forces "As TO fear, they have the same capa-
city for it that ell have. and are. serene in
their peril only because they feel themselves,
by their patience and skill, well armed against
il The steeple climber would be afraid to go
down in diving suit, the lion tanner would be
afraid to go up in balloon, the pilot would be
afraid TO swing the flying bars and so on.
The average good citizen has great a capa-
city for courage as any OF these men. and could
develop 1t II he had to- These men must be
brave. must conquer their fear in order to do
their work. and they do it