"Very well," replied his mother, "you may sit down here upon the sofa."
So the boys sat down upon the sofa. They put Nathan between them, so that he might look over. Rollo and James took turns to read, and they continued reading about balloons for more than an hour. There was one story of a sheep, which a man carried up in his car, under a balloon, and then let him drop, from a great height, with a parachute over his head, to make him fall gently. And he did fall gently. He came down to the ground without being hurt at all.
QUESTIONS.
How was the subject of balloons introduced into the conversation? What was Nathan's opinion about the possibility of being carried up by a balloon? What was the dispute about the size of balloons? What was Nathan's evidence? What was James's evidence? What did Jonas say when they appealed to him? What was the story that he related? Which of the boys did he finally say was wrong? Whom did the boys appeal to afterwards? What did Rollo's mother say about the size of balloons? How did she say that large balloons were filled? How can they make the balloon come down? How can they make it go up again, if they wish to do so?
CHAPTER VIII.
TASKS.
A few days after this, there commenced a long storm of rain. Rollo and Nathan were glad to see it on one account, for their mother told them it would melt away the snow, and bring on the spring. The first day, they amused themselves pretty well, during their play hours, in the shed and in the garret; but on the second day, they began to be tired. Nathan came two or three times to his mother, to ask her what he should do; and Rollo himself, though, being older, his resources might naturally be expected to be greater, seemed to be out of employment.
At last, their mother proposed that they should come and sit down by her, and she would tell them something more about the air. "How should you like that, Rollo?" said she.