“Has the kite ever been applied to any useful purposes?” asked Tom.
“Certainly,” answered his father. “It was by means of the kite that Dr. Franklin was enabled to demonstrate the identity of electricity and the cause of lightning, and thus to disclose one of the most awful mysteries of nature.”
“Pray do tell us something about this electrical kite, papa,” said Louisa.
“Not at present, my love; it would divert us too much from the subjects in which we are engaged: at some future period I shall have much pleasure in introducing you into these fairy regions of philosophy.”
“I just now remember reading in Miss Edgeworth’s Harry and Lucy,” said Louisa, “something about a kite and Pompey’s pillar.”
“I am glad that you have reminded me of that story,” replied Mr. Seymour: “I will relate it to you. Some English sailors laid a wager, that they would drink a bowl of punch on the summit of Pompey’s pillar. Now, that pillar is almost a hundred feet high, and it is quite smooth, so that there was no way of climbing to the top, even for sailors, who are such experienced climbers: so they flew their kite exactly over the pillar, and when it came down on the opposite side, the string lay across the top of the capital. By means of this string, they pulled a small rope over, and by this a larger one, that was able to bear the weight of a man; a pulley was then fastened to the end of the large rope, and drawn close up to the upper edge of the capital; and then, you perceive, they could easily hoist each other up. They did more, for they hoisted the English flag on the top, and then drank the bowl of punch, and won their wager.”
“That is a very good story,” said the vicar; “but I cannot help regretting that so much ingenuity and labour should not have had a nobler end to accomplish.”
“There is some truth in that observation,” said Mr. Seymour, “and I will, therefore, relate another story which shall be more congenial to your heart, and in which the kite will present itself in a more interesting point of view; for, instead of enabling the sailors to drink a bowl of punch at an altitude otherwise inaccessible, we shall find it engaged in rescuing them from the horrors of shipwreck.”[[45]]
“Pray proceed, papa.”
“No, my dear, upon reflection, I think it will be better that we should postpone the story, until your return to the lodge, when you shall read it in ‘Harry and Lucy.’ I will also point out to you, in the same work, an account of a new and useful application of the messenger, which will prove to you how successfully the faculties of youth may be increased and improved by those very amusements which are too generally regarded as idle and unprofitable: I shall at the same time exhibit one or two experiments in illustration of the nature and causes of wind.”