e wind was favorable to her purpose, and by
the same tactics of seeking the right wind-currents and by the same
clever foot-board tipping she reached the point she was steering for, to
the general wonder and admiration.

My acquaintance with Professor Myers has given me some light on a
question often in my mind; that is, what kind of children these men have
who follow careers of danger and daring. Will the son of a
steeple-climber climb steeples? Will the daughter of a lion-tamer be
afraid of a mouse? And so on. Of course, with both father and mother
aeronauts, as in this case, it would be strange indeed if their child
did not love balloons; and so it has turned out, for Miss Aerial Myers,
now a girl in her teens, has already made various ascensions, and enjoys
nothing better than soaring aloft on her father's skycycle, which she
steers skilfully. Her first experience of a voyage in the air is
memorable for two facts, that it nearly brought destruction to herself
and her mother, and drew attention to an important but little-known fact
in ballooning science.

It was some years ago, at the Syracuse County Fair, and a balloon race
had been advertised between Carlotta and young Tysdell, an assistant of
Professor Myers. For this event an enormous crowd had gathered on the
grounds. And now (by what tears and pleadings who can say?) Miss Aerial,
aged eleven, had persuaded her too fond mother to take her along, and
off they went, amid cheers and wavings, with a strong breeze blowing,
and the child peering down at the dwindling earth over the basket-side.
She watched the roads change into yellow streaks, and the hills swing up
from back of the horizon, and the clouds spread away below them like a
sea. She watched her mother take readings of compass and barometer, and
as the wind swept them along to new view-points she would cry out, "Here
comes another town, mama!" and clap her hands as the town raced by.

[Illustration: MME. CARLOTTA CALLS FOR ASSISTANCE FROM ANOTHER
BALLOONIST THREE MILES AWAY.]

Tysdell won the race, having ballast in plenty to throw out, while
Carlotta had little, since the extra lifting-power of her balloon was
needed for Miss Aerial. Now, the difficulty of managing a balloon is
much increased if you have no ballast, for then you cannot rise at will
to enter a higher wind-current blowing the way you want to go, but must
drift where the current you are in may take you. And the current they
were in took t