MY FAIRY SHIP 



"By GEO. T. TOMLINSON 



I do not know why the pleasure-in- 

 clined public have so long neglected the 

 spherical balloon as a means of recre- 

 ation. No doubt, other and apparently 

 safer sports have divided the attention 

 of our sportsmen and women, and to- 

 gether with the accounts of the 

 performances of the always 

 dangerous hot-air balloon, with 

 its ever present and more 

 dangerous parachute, the likely 

 air navigator has "passed-up" 

 gas balloon riding. 



And vet, our French cousins 

 have taken to ballooning with 

 the same spirit that marks their 

 entry into other sports, and 

 now the balloon in France bids 

 fair to rival the automobile as 

 a means of pleasure travel in 

 the near future. And why not 

 in our country ? 



Surely we have as keen 

 sportsmen as France, but per- 

 haps we have seen too much of 

 the parachute jumper to give 

 balloon riding much serious 

 thought. But what has the 

 bag of hot-air, rising because 

 of its expanded, therefore, 

 lighter air, and soon falling 

 because conditions are equal- 

 ized with the cooling of the 

 contained air, to do with the 

 thought, since we can ride a 

 ship, the vertical movement of which 

 we can control ? 



The gas balloon, although a large 

 body, is very sensitive and easily put 



out of balance and made to rise or fall 

 at the wish of its captain. Think of 

 the untold pleasure of an afternoon ride 

 across country with ten whole counties 

 passing in review, dressed in their soft- 

 ened grandeur. No hills to climb, no 



Mr. Tomlinson is an enthusiastic balloonist and 

 for the last five years has been taking most en- 

 joyable pleasure trips with a gas balloon. With his 

 small "Fairy Ship" he succeeded in making an 

 American record at the World's Fair, by remaining 

 in the air twenty-three and one-half hours and was 

 awarded a gold medal in recognition of this feat. 

 Mr. Tomlinson hopes that he may be instrumental 

 in popularizing his favorite aerial pastime and place 

 "balloon riding" for amateurs on the same founda- 

 tion as wheeling, motor boating and automobiling. — 

 Editor. 



READY FOR THE TRIP BACK TO TOWN 



dusty roads or wind to break my dream 

 as I survey hundreds of thousands of 

 acres from a practically unknown point 

 of view. From my throne I see a beau- 

 tiful carpet below, with a variety of 

 colors and patterns upon it. Shades 

 of green from the wind-stirred willows 

 to the dark and closely placed pines, 

 with rivers and lakes as silver threads 

 and spangles to outline the pattern and 

 perhaps mark the boundary line of a 

 county or state. 



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