The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-10-26
BEAUTIES DID NOT LAST

'tDds enchantment' truer than viewing
 ae earth from the sky
 BEAUTIES DID NOT LAST
 We did not have long to admire the
 f,.uties of nature before the sun sank
 "neath the western horizon, and the iong ride till break of day was begun. The coming of darkness had no terro-s Tor us, however, for our "stateroom" along with other modern conveniences was equipped with a perfect lighting system It is true that this system consisted of one tiny bulk connected with storage battery but for all that sufficient light was had for reading the statoscope.
 This wonderful little instrument was our lifesaver. It is used to indicate the gain or loss of altitude By it's reading and the sitting of a little sand the pilot was able to keep the balloon at an equilibrium at any desired height. When for any reason the bal loon would begin to descend, this in strument would indicate the change and a few shovels full of sand thrown overheard would send us back to the height desired.
 To one who had never been in a bal loon before it seemed wonderful the effect that slight loss of weight would make. Just little sand thrown off was sufficient to send the gas bag skyward for several hundred feet. When it was necessary to descend the escape of little gas was all that was necessary. In this way our pilot would. ascend or descend to any altitude that he thought would give him the best current.
 Mir. Donaldson was a delightful trav- cling companion He took a great deal of interest in explaining the workings of the balloon. He never seemed to tire of answering questions. although some of them must have seemed to tire of answering questions, We were at a loss to understand was vshy he should throw off sand when he wished to descend This he said was to prevent our going down too rapidly. Had it been possible for us to understand how quickly we often dropped or arose we would have known that, but the basket moved so evenly that it was hard oftimes to ealize that we were falling much faster than an elevator travels.
 SAND BAGS
 We left the ground with 27 baks of sand for ballast and at least 10 must have been used in the early part of the journey getting equilibrium from time tc time Our pilot told us that dur irg the night it would not be hard to maintain an equilibrium, as the gas would not be effected by the sun. We found our best speed at an altitude of 1900 feet during the early part of the right. Donaldson, who is a strong be- lieyer in 13 as a lucky number, took that as a good omen.
 About 7:30 the moon broke through the clouds, to the delight of us all Not only was the scenic effect greatly beautified. but it was a great deal of satisfaction to stand at the edge of the basket and watch our shadows glide over the tree tops. The wind, we knew. to be taking us to the northwest, according to the compass, but the speed and exact To- cality was matter of conjecture until we reached the Tennessee river. We had several arguments as to just how far we could be from Birmingham.
 It was the fear of the three passen- gers that we might make no respectable distance and be disgraced for life by descending the next day only a few miles from our starting point. Donald