Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 November 1876 — A Balloon Inventor. [ARTICLE]

A Balloon Inventor.

Not Montgolfier, nor any other man, invented this balloon; but a tiny insect which makes no noise In the world. A friend of mine watched her at work making a balloon, then saw her take her children and begin a journey in it. She was a mother spider; whose family name I do not know. Apparently she bad become tired of her old home and wanted to move elsewhere. So she spun a little gossamer balloon, shaped somewhat like one of the natural divisions of a walnut-shuck. As it grew in in size it would have floated away without her had she not fastened it by ropes of gossamer to the branch of a tree. By and bye, when all was done, she seemed to by saying something to the cluster of tiny baby spiders that were clinging to her, probably assuring them that there was no danger. Then she again examined her balloon, to make sure that all was right, and then- broke off the gossamer rope. The little balloon gently rose before the breeze. My friend wished the skillful maker and bold navigator of the air a successful voyage, as she sailed out of sight, and he never saw her more. — Si. Nicholas for November. —Almost anybody can have a barrel of apples now, they cost so little.