62 FIELD, FOREST AND FARM 



superb audacity to evoke the lightning from the 

 midst of the thunder-clouds, to direct it according to 

 his wishes, and to bring it to his feet that he might 

 study its nature. One stormy day in 1752 he went 

 out into the country near Philadelphia in company 

 with his young son who carried a kite made out of 

 a silk handkerchief tied at the four corners to glass 

 rods. A pointed piece of metal terminated the ap- 

 paratus. A long hemp cord, with a shorter cord of 

 silk tied to the lower end, was fastened to the kite, 

 which was then sent up toward a black thundercloud. 

 At first nothing happened to confirm the previsions 

 of the American sage, and he was beginning to de- 

 spair of success when there came a shower of rain 

 and with it a flash of lightning. The wet cord 

 proved a better conductor than when dry. Without 

 thinking of the danger he ran, and transported with 

 joy at having brought within his reach that which 

 causes thunder, Franklin put his finger near the cord 

 and made little spurts of fire dart out, lighted brandy 

 from these sparks out of the sky, and only brought 

 his perilous experiment to an end when he had fully 

 determined the origin and nature of thunder and 

 lightning. This was the way he studied the mys- 

 tery at close quarters, discovered its nature, and 

 finally succeeded in protecting buildings by means 

 of a pointed iron rod. 



"Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston, North 

 America, in 1706. He was the youngest * of -seven- 



i The author is not quite accurate here. Franklin was, as he tells 

 us, "the youngest son, and the youngest child but two." — Translator. 



