The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1907-11-12
I'll The Ualth.

Let go, yct!}d the boss. and my
balloon started skyward. Following
instructions, l ran q few steps to-
ward the rising bag, holding the rig
@ing taut. Then my feet were gent
ly swung off the earth, and without
the slightest jerk I found myself in
midair. The band was playing, people
were yelling and waving their hands.
all their faces turned upward, and it
seemed that I was hanging station
ary couple Of hundred feet above
them. Then they began to get small
ler without seeming to move further
away. The race track looked like
somebody's small back yard and the
main fairbmlding like hen-house.
Smaller and smallcr they became
and l knew although there was scarce
ly any sensation Of motion thataI
must be going nearly straight upward
at an immense rate of speed.
Where was that sick "unsettlcd
insidc' feeling one always expert
cnces in elevators, and which I had
imagined was going to partially spoil
the fun7 1t was absolutely absent.
There was 10 dizziness, scarcely any
feeling of movement, except an inde-
scribablc floating in the mist of a
perfect calm. But things below kept
getting smaller and smaller, and the
distance l could see ia every direc-
ton began to widon proportionally.
The entire 1anscape seemed composed
of little geometric splotcha3 Of color,
all Of either shades. The liver SEEM
ed strip Of heavy FURNISHED cop
per wire, stretching away to hazy in
finity in both directions. Houses,
mills, whole solid blocks Of buildings
in Augusta, looked like childrcn's
playthings.
A Beautiful World.
What beautiful world! But by
some peculiar mental freak I seemed
in those three or four minutes TO
have lost my identity with the scene
below. !ne houses l saw were really
toys. The river was but strip Of
shining vine, the fields no more than
squares Of boundless chccker-board.
Why, it wasn't even so real as that,
it was Il picture, painted panorama,
a kindergarten landscape. I wasn't
high in the air at all, I was in anoth-
cr world that had no position in
space, either high or low, relative to
the little picture that looked SO pref
ty and unreal. did .not feel the
dizziness that often comes with
height because I had absolutely lost
the mental conception of height.
In this dream ! had Forgotten all
about Br"adwick, The balloon. the
fairgrounds, myself. everything. But
when | heard his revolver pop once
and then a second time | rccollcctcd
that he had told me he would signal
in that way the time when reached
Il sufficient altitude to begin looking"
for place to make the parachute
drop.
OF course. the spell once broken, I
came back TO reality with Il rush,
took tirmer grip on the ropes,
squinted upward at the ballon, and
with this sudden relaxation Of my
forgotten position came the first and
only moment Of fright I experienced
during the entire trip. Tn a second it
had passed.
The air at that altitude is absolute
ly pure, and just sufficiently rare to be
cXhilirating. The sky is blucr be-
cause it is seen undimmed by he dust
That hovers just above the earth and
obscurcs ordinary vision. This same
dust gave to the circle Of The horizon
border Of gorgeous color, which
changed to brilliant flame at the
point where the sun was dropping to-
ward the hills.
But Broadwick, on whose judg-
ment and equipment I had riskcd my
neck, had given MS signal, and it was
time to "cut,' that is to part COM
pany from the balloon and trust to
luck and the parachute.
I felt decided hesitancy in COM
plying with this part Of the program.
My teacher had told me the chute was
rugged to drop three hundred feet like
a bullet before opening. That wor-
ricd me some. But | got good grip
on the parachute ring above my head,
settled into the little trapezc seat, and