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Off on a Shoreless Sea.

About the middle of April appeared the following in one of the leading papers:

"Last night our citizens, and a tremendous overflow of visitors were treated to the most magnificent sight their eyes ever beheld. The great aluminum globe, about which all the world has been agog for so long, arose and stood for three hours above the city, some two hundred and fifty feet. The whole mighty sphere was ablaze with myriads of electric lights, from the ball of the tapering flagstaff to the beautiful cabin below. As it hung suspended above the city, connected with the earth by but a slender aluminum chain that looked like a thread of silver piercing the skies, a great hush fell upon the hundreds of thousands of gazers below. All Nature seemed auspicious to the occasion. Scarcely a zephyr was stirring, and the stars shone brightly down upon the scene from cloudless skies. One hundred people, consisting of the President and cabinet, senators, congressmen, editors, scientific and literary men and women, were the favored party who occupied the gigantic ship.

"Suddenly there fell upon the ears of the waiting multitude the glorious soprano voice of Mrs. Jones. So far above, yet so thrillingly sweet and distinct, one could scarcely refrain from imagining that the Pearly Gates had opened, and we were listening to the voice of one of the Redeemed. But that illusion was soon dispelled, and we recognized the familiar strains of "Star Spangled Banner." And when the whole hundred voices swelled the splendid chorus, a great shout arose from the multitude like the sound of many waters, beginning directly beneath the globe, and spreading away in every direction like billows from a great rock, dropped into the center of a quiet lake.

"And so, under the direction of Professor Marsh, brother of the architect of the globe, a beautiful and appropriate musical program was rendered, lasting nearly an hour.

"We venture the assertion that no performance was ever rendered to so great an audience, and certainly not to one more appreciative. And we predict that there will be a great demand for liniments and plasters for some weeks to come. For standing two hours or more with the back of one's head resting upon the cervical portion of one's spinal column, and screaming at the top of one's lungs a good portion of the time, with eyes unblinkingly and unwinkingly set upon the inconceivably splendid globe, all this we assert to be highly conducive to stiff neck and sore throat. And it is a question whether many of that innumerable, entranced audience will be able to keep their hearts and minds upon things terrestrial for a considerable time to come. From the bottom of our hearts, we commiserate every member of the race who missed the sights and sounds of last evening.

"All arrangements are now completed, and day after to-morrow, weather favorable, Dr. Jones and party expect to sail at the hour of noon, away for the North Pole. Nothing has been omitted that could insure the success of the expedition, and we feel confident of all that could be hoped for, or desired by the enterprising Doctor and friends."

The hour set for sailing had arrived. The day was beautiful, and a moderate breeze was blowing toward northwest. With proud, happy hearts the party of navigators stood upon the balcony that ran about the four sides of the cabin. This balcony was one of the chief embellishments and conveniences of the cabin. It was five feet wide, and extended, as before said, about the four sides of the cabin. A balustrade four feet high was built along its outer edge. A more exhilarating promenade could not be conceived, and right well did our friends enjoy it during the notable voyage which we are about to record.

The party consisted of Professor J.Q. Gray, the scientific representative of the Smithsonian Institute; Miss Mattie Bronson; Professor Fred Marsh; our four friends with whom the reader is acquainted; and last, but not least, so far as bodily comforts were concerned, Ah Sing, the cook.

As the globe arose slowly to the length of its cable, five hundred feet, it seemed to the little company upon the balcony as if the universe had assembled to see them off. On the streets, public squares, housetops, decks of all ships upon the river, were crowds on crowds of people; people anywhere, everywhere; far as the eye could reach was one vast, countless host. What wonder that the heart of the Doctor swelled and quickened as he looked upon the ocean of upturned faces below, and realized that from his fertile brain had sprung the mighty object of all this attention. How it pulled and surged at its silver-like cable, as if it were a thing of life, and desired to be away toward its destination, the North Pole!

The hour of noon was announced by hundreds of bells and whistles. The Doctor waved a flag over the balustrade, the anchor was cut loose from its fastenings, and away bounded the colossal sphere toward the ethereal blue. Upward and still up it arose to the height of three thousand feet, trending slowly toward the northwest.

The voices of the multitude sounded like the roar of the sea, and as it grew fainter and fainter, the stout-hearted little party realized that they were effectually cut off from the world—off on a limitless sea, alone with God.