Year: 1879

Little Johnny Green of Louisville, KY,
was the happy owner of u very strong
flying kite, made by his father, and
very strong flying he-pigeon, both white
as snow. A short time ago Johnny be-
gan to speculate as to which of the two
was the stronger flyer, and being unable
to decide the question in his mind, he
pitted them against each other in test
of strength. Arriving at the commons
near by with the pigeon in basket and
a kite in his hand, he soon sailed the
kite before a stiff northeasterly breeze,
to the limit of his two hundred yards of
cord. He then tied the end of the string
to one of the legs of the bird, and, turn
ing him loose, the contest began.


The pigeon, feeling half free, flew to-
ward home, which was directly against
the wind. The resistance of the kite
caused his fight to tend upward, and, in
turn, the efforts of his wings caused the
kite to sail higher in the air. For a
while the bird seemed to have the best
of the struggle, making slow progress for
at least a square, but, in spite of all eff
forts to take a direct course, flying
higher and higher.


After the bird had reached an altitude
of perhaps four hundred feet, the kite
being about one hundred feet higher
still, it was plain that the latter had
greatly the advantage. 1t was flesh,
blood and feathers against the untiring
winds. Unable to continue the strain,
the pigeon changed his course to one
side, thus Stacking the string and caus-
ing the kite 70 fall, slanting from side to
side in helpless sort of q way. But
feeling free again, the pigeon once more
made break for home, when the string
being pulled taut, the kite, with a spring,
glancing in the sun a thing of life. rose
rapidly and gracefully to its former level.
These movements were repeated again
and again. the bird and kite In the mean
time drifting before the breeze more and
more rapidly to the southwest. The boy
watched it all with intense eagerness.


When the snowy cCnte'tants were
above the Eclipse park, where the
shooting tournament was in progress, a
gentleman, who looked up after wild
pigeon who had escaped the gun, espied
the kite, which, as such, was barely dis
cernible. The pigeon had then quite
vanished into the blue. The attention
of several had been drawn to the curl
Gus sp ectacle, and some doubt was eX-
pressed as to whether a kite could be
string" suggested an observer, "must
w OAs WoJ uP III lllO SlJJs
But the wonder grew as the kite gradu-
ally rose higher and higher, and sailed
further to the southwest, and it finally
vanished into the sky over the lower
bend of the Ohio, or high above the blue
line of Indiana hills.


In the meantime little Johnny Green
stood gazing after his vanishing prop
erty. He stared at the empty skies long
after both bird and kite had darkened
into specks and then into nothing. 1t
was after sundown before he fully real
lied not only that his kite and favorite
pigeon had carried each other away for
ever, but that the momentous question
that he put them together to settle
would reach n solution far beyond his
observation. Only half satisfied with
his experiment he started home. AS he
entered the house he turned his eyes
sadly toward his pigeon boxes, when,
what should he behold but that same
strong-flying pigeon, quietly resting in
front of his hole, with piece of the string
still hanging to his leg!