The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-04-12
VOYAGE IN A BALLOON

be heard even from this comparatively puny height yet men in balloon tray cling in the same strata would hear you five miles away.
 If at 200O feet your pilot has found a satisfactory current that waits him fast enough in the proper direction, he main tains his height and proceeds. Otherwise he rises, seeking other slants of wind. To send the balloon POO or 300 feet upward the pilot takes a sort of gravy ladle full of sand and scatters it overboard h. stantly, as you gaze below, you can see what enormous effect this insignificant loss of weight has on the buoyancy of the balloon. and by what hair trigger del- icacy the bag over your head suspends you between heaven and earth, for at once the earth, already so distant, be- gins to recede even more.
 Weight of a lead pencil dropped over board will send you upward.5O feet. Noth- ings seems easier than to handle craft so readily balanced; yet 1t is this enor- nous sensitiveness that is the balloons most serious weakness. A slight cloud between the balloon and the sun, and in- stantly the gas Is cooled and, shrinking in volume, causes the balloon to drop at alarming rate. so that ballast must be sac rif1ced. Next minute the sun peeps forth. hot and warm and the gas is restored to it's original volume, and the balloon being short of ballast discharged minute be- fore. darts upward to all sorts of heights unless the pilot pulls the rope regulating the valve that emits gas from the top of the bag. Sometimes a balloon chilled by a cloud will fall 1000 feet minute, yet, barring the recording of the instruments and the frightful rapidity with which the earth then comes into view, those in the car have no sensation of the drop.
 The sensation of nearing clouds at 25Oo or 5000 feet is a startling one. Like gigantic snow mountains clouds hang overhead as if ready to fall upon you, and. as you soar upward, envelop you in mist so dense that you cannot see the pilot alongside you. Some of these clouds are warm, others intensely damp and. chill. Rut it is net until you have darted upward through them that you feel you have seer the land of dreams. Far as the eye can sec beneath is an impenetrable haze of fleece lighted in the sp1endor of the golden sun. On all sides are snow moun- tains. fluffy avalanches floating, now blending into each other, now parting company while overhead Is crystal clear azure scintillating, tingling with golden beams.
 It is when you ascend to a height like 10000 feet that you get the full benefit and excitement of ballooning. The tenn perature at 10000 feet on a hot sum- mer's day Is frequently below zero, so that furs and ear tabs must be worn, but the atmosphere is so rare that 1t causes an exhilarating feeling. resembling mild in- toxication. At this height eye and att mosphere are so clear that you can read fly see at a distance of five miles the occupant of rival balloon, and con- verse with them if desired.
 Sunset Is one of the marvels to behold from a balloon 10000 feet up. Below lies a land hidden in inky darkness; to the west is flaming, seething crimson, green coppery crater, blazing the farewell of day to humans several hundred miles away