The Washington herald., 1907-04-28

nerve atingle You were honored above all
imagining when this fellow let you hold
one Of many ropes that held the STIR :ning.
swelling jinnee to earth. The ramp look
ing chap stepped into the barn, shed his
rough clothes, and stepped forth in dirty
purple tights. or pink. much bespangled.
He hitched another collapsed thing to the
impatient balloon. This was the para
chute.
What the Small Boys said.
MY" you breathed. TN bet I
wouldn't dast do THAR
Huh! I'd just as lief" boosted Wilb
Parks.
You looked with awe at Wilb Parks.
He wasn't afraid of nothin'.
The crowd pressed in. Everybody
breathed short
Let go" cped the man in tights,
grasping the short bar suspended from
the parachute. Up scared the balloon.
"Good-by. everybody" cried the man
In tights. grandiloquently
But just as his feet left the ground.
and the people cheered. the parachute
fastenings broke and the hero dropped
to earth, while tbs balloon went right
on. The hero fell IN eyerybody's esti-
nation just ike that, too.
Fake cautiously whispered people
to each other. for the man was a stout.
scrappy looking fellow in his tights.
But you did not stop TO see any more OF
this. Your interest lay in the balloon.
You ran beneath IL as II slowly floated
away. You ran ard ran and ran, until
your lungs seemed ready % burst. You
fell over fences and stumbled through
pl0wed fields, and skinned your nose,
and barked your shius, and heard the
straining breath of Wilb Parks close
( behind. But you were there when the
softly collapsing thing sank huttering
down In kimballs cOrnheld. just MISS
ing the wood lot where the trees would
have torn il to shreds You were in at
the death and you had a glorious hour
in the twilight helping the balloon
man, who had arrived, squeeze cut the
gas and fold his bag.
George Il. Cox an AeF0naut.
Then you dragged yourself home, late
for supper. but not caring then for thar
or the scolding that came, too. Wasn't
il fuu2 Wen. / guess! George p. Cox was
one Of those professional aeronauts in his
day. Balloon ascensions were not only
Fourth OF July and county fair features
but they We're used TO advertise patent
medicine shows and Uncle TOMS Cabin"
companies. Some times the parachute
went back on the Snowman I.0o0 feet IN
the air instead Of at the start. Then there
was a tragedy for this countryside to talk
over for months. and IL was even worth
an item in the city papers.
Now all this game I have been descrih-
ing has been taken up by milliOnaires and
scientists and soldiers, who have made
/ il an expensive and aristocratlc and seri-
Gus business But the story OF their as
/ tensions is the same story when you boil
is down. They hang Il basket on the
car instead of q parachute, and they FIJI
the basket with food and barOmeteTs and
scientific instruments. and they ride safe
ly and comfortably instead of clinging 10
a bar In mid-sir, as the professional did.
I They wear fur-lned coats instead OF
tights Racing automobiles start with
the balloons 20 try and bee on the spot as
they come down. Everybody's picture is
in all the papers, and il IS very exciting.
Sometimes they stay up all night, and
sometimes their floating ships cover sew
/ eral hundred or a thousand miles before
they bring them 10 earth. But. except for
raising the balloon by dropping ballast
sand lowering IL by letting out gas, they
have no more control over il than did the
professional aerOEauL They have added
rip cord, which will empty the bag almost
at once a thing analogous TO the auto
emergency break. except that the rip
cord can be used but once Their gas
bags are much mere expensive, being
manufactured from a specially prepared
cotton, and the army balloon is always
silk But the army balloon IS enlarged
10
charged with ordinary illuminating gas
from the mains Of some city. Do they
get any more fun out of il all than the
small boy did from that one breathless
Let go" moment and the mad race 10
KimbalFs cOrnfeld? I doubt it. But, then,
they are ennuied milli0naires or scientists,
or serious army officers, and probably
they don't get much fun out OF life any
way.
An Exclusive Pastime.
They have this pleasure. BaHoonng. as
they have made the sport, is an exclusive
pastime. The apparatus is very expen-
sive. and every ascent costs nearly as
much as a Cooks tour Of Europe Gam
blers own race horses. and run them, IN
I'll the sport Of kings" has degenerated
to a very unkingly level. A private yacht
is no longer a novelty. Chorus girls
possess just as big. and just as red, and
just as deYilish automobiles as anybody
in New York's Four Hundred. But gen
tlemen who can, or care to, or dc own
private balloons are few and far between.
TIE Aero Club has a small membership.
Such men as o. II. 2. Belmont
the Vanderbilts, Goulds. Colgate
Hayt, and Col John Jacob Astor
are the sort who belong for the fun Of
the thing. Alexander Graham Bell is in
as a scientist and a flying machine chap.
Rnabenshue, and the Wright brothers
COME IN the latter category. Capt Chand-
Ter and Maj Rober are members because
army officers are welcome everywhere,
and, as Signal Corps men, they really
know something about ballooning; and
Lahm, although cavalry officer. because
he started the whole show
BailOoning is a serious business with
Signal Corps officers, although the Amer
lean army, slow IN this as IN everything,
has only just started to take up balloon
ing in a practical way. The contrary inn
preston has got abroad recently, much
to the disgust of the head of the Signal
Corps and his staff for their mail Is sim
ply loaded with offers from inventors
cranks, and all kinds of people 10 sell
balloons. flying machines, aeroplanes. and
every imaginable variety of their appara-
tus for song, 81. 200. 900. or prices ranging
between. Many inventors call in person
The Signal Corps wants it understood
that it has no money to buy anybOdys
balloons or anything connected Herewith
The Signal Corps does own some twenty
silk balloons. which are useless without
a hydrogen gas plant. By economy else
where the corps has managed TO save
$4,000 necessary to build such plant,
which viii soon be set up at Omaha