Sanders' Union Fourth Reader Part 57

12. The whale becomes exhausted from the blood which flows from his deep and dangerous wounds, and the two hundred fathoms of line belonging to the overturned boat, which he is dragging after him through the water, checks him in his course; his pursuers again overtake him, and another harpoon is darted and buried deeply in his flesh.

13. The fatal lance is, at length, given; the blood gushes from the nostrils of the unfortunate animal in a thick, black stream, which stains the clear blue water of the ocean to a considerable distance around the scene of the affray. The immense creature may now again endeavor to "sound," to escape from his unrelenting pursuers; but he is powerless. He soon rises to the surface, and pa.s.ses slowly along until the death-pang seizes him, when his appearance is awful in the extreme.

14. Suffering from suffocation, or from the stoppage of some important organ, the whole strength of his enormous frame is set in motion, for a few seconds, when his convulsions throw him into a hundred different contortions of the most violent description, by which the sea is beaten into foam, and boats are sometimes crushed to atoms, with their crews.

15. But this violent action being soon over, the now unconscious animal pa.s.ses rapidly along, describing in his rapid course the segment of a circle; this is his "flurry," which ends in his sudden dissolution. The mighty rencounter is finished. The gigantic animal rolls over on his side, and floats an inanimate ma.s.s on the surface of the crystal deep,--a victim to the tyranny and selfishness, as well as a wonderful proof of the _great power of the mind of man_.

QUESTIONS.--1. How are whales generally discovered? 2. Why do they come to the surface of the water? 3. How far do they sometimes descend in the ocean? 4. Describe the manner in which they are captured.

LESSON LXXVIII.

A'ER O NAUT, one who sails in the air.

RE DOUB LED, repeated.

MAG NIF I CENT, grand; splendid.

EL' E VA TED, raised; excited.

GON' DO LA, small boat.

BE GIRT', surrounded.

RO TA RY, turning; revolving.

IN TEN' SI TY, extreme degree.

A' ER OS TAT, air-balloon.

IN TER MI NA BLE, boundless.

VA' RI E GA TED, diversified; varied.

VERG' ING, tending; inclining.

OB LIQUE' LY, slantingly.

RES PI RA' TION, act of breathing.

ZE' NITH, point in the heavens directly over head.

MAN' DI BLES, jaws.

EU ROC' LY DON, tempestuous wind.

LEAVES FROM AN AERONAUT.

WILLIS g.a.y.l.o.r.d CLARK.

1. My hour had now come, and I entered the car. With a singular taste, the band struck up, at this moment, the melting air of "Sweet Home." It almost overcame me. A thousand a.s.sociations of youth, friends, of all that I must leave, rushed upon my mind. But I had no leisure for sentiment. A buzz ran through the a.s.semblage; unnumbered hands were clapping, unnumbered hearts beating high; and _I_ was the cause. Every eye was upon me. There was pride in the thought.

2. "Let go!" was the word. The cheers redoubled; handkerchiefs waved from many a fair hand; bright faces beamed from every window, and on every side. One dash with my knife, and I rose aloft, a habitant of air.

How magnificent was the sight which now burst upon me! How sublime were my sensations! I waved the flag of my country; the cheers of the mult.i.tude from a thousand housetops, reached me on the breeze; and a taste of the rarer atmosphere elevated my spirits into ecstasy.

3. The city, with a brilliant sunshine striking the spires and domes, now unfolded to view a sight incomparably beautiful. My gondola went easily upward, cleaving the depths of heaven like a vital thing. A diagram placed before you, on the table, could not permit you to trace more definitely than I now could, the streets, the highways, basins, wharves, and squares of the town. The hum of the city arose to my ear, as from a vast bee-hive; and I seemed the monarch-bee, directing the swarm.

4. I heard the rattling of carriages, the hearty _yo-heavo-s!_ of sailors from the docks that, begirt with spars, hemmed the city round. I was a spectator of all, yet aloof, and alone. Increasing stillness attended my way; and, at last, the murmurs of earth came to my ear like the vast vibrations of a bell. My car tilted and trembled, as I rose. A swift wind sometimes gave the balloon a rotary motion, which made me deathly sick for a moment; but strong emotion conquered all my physical ailings.

5. My brain ached with the intensity of my rapture. Human sounds had fainted from my ear. I was in the abyss of heaven, and _alone_ with my G.o.d. I could tell my direction by the sun on my left; and, as his rays played on the aerostat, it seemed only a bright bubble, wavering in the sky, and I, a suspended mote, hung by chance to its train. Looking below me, the distant Sound and Long Island appeared to the east; the bay lay to the south, sprinkled with shipping; under me, the city, girded with bright rivers and sparry forests.

6. The free wind was on my cheek, and in my locks; afar, the ocean rolled its long, blue waves, checkered with ma.s.ses of shadow, and gushes of ruby sunlight; to the north and west, the interminable land, variegated like a map, dotted with purple, and green, and silver, faded to the eye. The atmosphere which I now breathed, seemed to dilate my heart at every breath. I uttered some audible expressions. My voice was weaker than the faintest sound of a reed. There was no object near to make it reverb or echo.

7. My barometer now denoted an immense hight; and, as I looked upward and around, the concave above seemed like a mighty waste of purple air, verging to blackness. Below, it was lighter; but a long, lurid bar of cloud stretched along the west, temporarily excluding the sun. The shadows rushed afar into the void, and a solemn, Sabbath twilight reigned around. I was now startled by a fluttering in my gondola. It was my carrier-pigeon. I had forgotten him entirely. I attached a string to his neck, with a label, announcing my hight, then nearly four miles, and the state of the barometer.

8. As he sat on the side of the car, and turned his tender eyes upon me in mute supplication, every feather shivering with apprehension, I felt that it was a guilty act to push him into the waste beneath. But it was done; he attempted to rise, but I out-sped him; he then fell obliquely, fluttering and moaning, till I lost him in the haze. My greatest alt.i.tude had not yet been reached. I was now five miles from _terra firma_. [Footnote: Solid earth.] I began to breathe with difficulty. The atmosphere was too rare for safe respiration.

9. I pulled my valve-cord to descend. It refused to obey my hand. For a moment I was horror-struck. What was to be done? If I ascended much higher, the balloon would explode. I threw over some tissue paper to test my progress. It is well known that this will _rise_ very swiftly.

It _fell_, as if blown downward by a wind from the zenith. I was going upward like an arrow. I attempted to pray, but my parched lips could not move. I seized the cord again, with desperate energy. Blessed Heaven! it moved.

10. I threw out more tissue. It rose to me like a wing of joy. I was descending. Though far from sunset, it was now dark about me, except a track of blood-red haze in the direction of the sun. I encountered a strong current of wind; mist was about me; it lay like dew upon my coat.

At last, a thick bar of vapor being past, what a scene was disclosed! A storm was sweeping through the sky, nearly a mile beneath; and I looked down upon an ocean of rainbows, rolling in indescribable grandeur, to the music of the thunder-peal, as it moaned afar and near, on the coming and dying wind.

11. A frightened eagle had ascended through the tempest, and sailed for minutes by my side, looking at me with panting weariness, and quivering mandibles, but with a dilated eye, whose keen iris flashed unsubdued.

Proud emblem of my country! As he fanned me with his heavy wing, and looked with a human intelligence at the car, my pulse bounded with exulting rapture. Like the genius of my native land, he had risen above every storm, unfettered and FREE.

12. But my transports were soon at an end. He attempted to light on the balloon, and my heart sunk; I feared his huge claws would tear the silk.

I pulled my cord; he rose, as I sank, and the blast swept him from my view in a moment. A flock of wild-fowl, beat by the storm, were coursing below, on bewildered pinions; and, as I was nearing them, I knew I was descending. A breaking rift now admitted the sun. The rainbows tossed and gleamed; chains of fleecy rack, shining in prismatic rays of gold, and purple, and emerald, "beautiful exceedingly," spread on every hand.

13. Vast curtains of clouds pavilioned the immensity, brighter than celestial roses; ma.s.ses of mist were lifted on high, like strips of living fire, more radiant than the sun himself, when his glorious noontide culminates from the equator. A kind of aerial Euroclydon now smote my car, and three of the cords parted, which tilted my gondola to the side, filling me with terror. I caught the broken cords in my hand, but could not tie them.

14. The storm below was now rapidly pa.s.sing away, and beneath its waving outline, to the south-east, I saw the ocean. Ships were speeding on their course, and their bright sails melting into distance; a rainbow hung afar; and the rolling anthems of the Atlantic came like celestial hymnings to my ear. Presently all was clear below me. The fresh air played around. I had taken a n.o.ble circuit; and my last view was better than the first, I was far over the bay, "afloating sweetly to the west."

The city, colored by the last blaze of day, brightened remotely to the view.

15. Below, ships were hastening to and fro through the Narrows, and the far country lay smiling like an Eden. Bright rivers ran like ribbons of gold and silver, till they were lost in the vast inland, stretching beyond the view; the gilded mountains were flinging their purple shadows over many a vale; bays were blushing to the farewell day-beams; and now I was pa.s.sing over a green island. I sailed to the mainland; saw the tall, old trees waving to the evening breeze; heard the rural lowing of herds, and the welcome sound of human voices; and, finally, sweeping over forest-tops and embowered villages, at last, descended with the sun, among a kind-hearted, surprised, and hospitable community, in as pretty a town as one could desire to see, "safe and well."

QUESTIONS.--1. What demonstrations were made by the people as the aeronaut began to ascend? 2. How did the city and other objects appear to him? 3. What could he hear? 4. Describe the appearance of the ocean.

5. What did he do with his carrier-pigeon? 6. How high did he ascend?

7. Describe his descent. 8. What is said about the eagle that came near him? 9. Describe the appearance of the clouds beneath him.

LESSON LXXIX.

BOUN' TY, charity; favor.

FRU' GAL, prudent; economical.

FLOUR' ISH ED, thrived; prospered.

DIS CHARG' ED, performed.

BREED' ING, education.

EM BRAC' ED, accepted.

MAIN TAIN' ED, supported.

TRUDG' ED, traveled.

BE GUIL' ED, amused.

LE' GAL, lawful.

TWAIN, two.

BE WITCH' ING, charming.

YOUNK' ER, lad; youngster.

MED' I TA TIVE, thoughtful.

PRO VOK' ED, (PRO, _forward, forth_; VOKED, _called_;) called forth; excited.

IN CLUDE', (IN, _in_; CLUDE, _shut_;) shut in; inclose.

IN SERT', (IN, _in_; SERT, _join, set_;) join, or set in; put in.