Year: 1879

Little Johnny Green was the happy
young owner of very strong-hying
kite, made by his father, and very
strong-fiying pigeon, both white as
snow. A few days ago Johnny began
to speculate rs to which of the two was
the stronger flyer, and, being unable to
decide the question in his mind, he yes
terday afternoon pitted them against
each other in a test of strength. Ar
irving at the common near by, with the
pigeon in a basket and the kite in his
hands, he soon sailed the latter before
north-easterly 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, turning him loose,
the contest began.


The pigeon, feeling half free, flew
towards home, which was directly
against the wind. The resistance of
the kite caused his fight to tend up
ward, and, in turn, the efforts of his
wings, caused the kite to sail upward in
the air. For awhile the bird seemed to
have the best of the struggle, making
slow progress for at least square,
but, in spite of all efforts 20 make
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-
inc the kite to fall slanting from side to
side in a helpless sort of way. But,
feeling free again, the pigeon once more
made a break for home, when, the
string being hauled taut, the kite rose
rapidly 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 ca
gerness.


When the snowy contestants were
above the Eclipse Park, where the shoot
inc tournament was in progress, a gen
tleman who looked up after wild
pigeon that had escaped the gun, espied
the kite, which, as such, was barely dis
cernible. The pigeon had then quite
vanished into the blue. The atten-
ton of several persons was srawn to
the curious spectacle, and some doubt
was expressed as to whether kite could
be flown so high. "The other end OF
the string,' suggested an observer,
- must be two miles off. !" But the
wonder grew as the kite gradually
rose higher and higher and sailed
further and further to the southwest,
until 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
ertv. He stared at the empty skies long
after both bird and kite had darkened
into nothing. 1t was after sundOwn be-
fore he fully realized not only that his
kite and favorite pigeon had carried each
other away forever, but that the mo-
mentous question that he put them to-
oether TO settle would reach a 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-fying he-pigeon, qui-
/ etIv resting in front of his hole, with a
! piece of the string still hanging to his
! leg Louisville Post.


/