Then he gave me such a detail of misfortunes now existing, or that were
soon to exist, that he left me half melancholy. Had I known him before
I engaged in this business, probably I never should have done it. This
person continued to live in this decaying place, and to declaim in the
same strain, refusing for many years to buy a house there, because all
was going to destruction; and at last I had the pleasure of seeing him
give him five times as much for one, as he might have bought it for when
he first began croaking.
* * * * *
From a Letter to Peter Collinson.
=_14._= FRANKLIN'S ELECTRICAL KITE.
As frequent mention is made in public papers from Europe of the success
of the Philadelphia experiment for drawing the electric fire from
clouds, by means of pointed rods of iron erected on high, buildings,
&c., it may be agreeable to the curious to be informed that the same
experiment has succeeded in Philadelphia, though made in a different and
more easy manner, which is as follows:
Make a small cross of two light strips of cedar, the arms so long as
to reach to the four corners of a large thin silk handkerchief, when
extended; tie the corners of the handkerchief to the extremities of
the cross, so you have the body of a kite; which, being properly
accommodated with a tail, loop, and string, will rise in the air, like
those made of paper; but this, being of silk, is fitter to bear the wet
and wind of a thundergust without tearing.
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