author,
after all. If he have the courage and enthusiasm to plunge into the most
untried and dangerous of life's paths, and the skill to transcribe his
impressions in the freshest and most vivid colors, he possesses one form
of the only valid plea for a man's asking the world of readers to listen
to him--unhackneyed experience.

One of Mr. Holden's adventures has been described above. After
Tissandier, he is doubtless the veteran journalistic aeronaut of the
world. Beginning in 1861, he has made in all twenty-six voyages, some of
them perilously eventful, including several night-flights of hundreds of
miles. Most of his experience has been gained with Mr. King, though he
accompanied Donaldson on several occasions. At the request of Professor
Abby of the Signal Service, Mr. Holden took frequent barometrical and
hygrometrical observations in his later excursions. He has made no
ascensions for some years, his surplus time and enthusiasm being
diverted to European travel. The following bit of description admirably
illustrates his style: "It is a strange scene that bursts upon the
vision of the balloon-passenger as he rises above the housetops and
trees. There is a moment when he beholds the thousands of upturned
faces, the throngs of people in the street, at the windows and on the
housetops, teams moving lazily hither and thither, and amid all a
confused fluttering of leaves, frightened birds, waving flags and
handkerchiefs, and a general commotion quite indescribable. But in
another moment the men become mere black spots on a field of green, the
horses and carriages are reduced to toys and the houses to the
dimensions of the blocks children use at play. While all detail is
disappearing there is a seeming contraction of larger objects. Streets
have drawn nearer to each other: it is but a few steps from one
extremity of a town to the other, and remote places are brought within
slight distances of the objects beneath his feet."

Mr. Frank H. Taylor, of _Harpers Weekly_, has an aeronautical record
second only to that of Mr. Holden, having been basketed on several trips
each with Wise, Donaldson and King. Mr. Alfred Ford, of _The Graphic_,
who with Donaldson and Lunt started on the disastrous Transatlantic
voyage in the Graphic balloon, and Rev. H.B. Jeffries, of the
_Pittsburg Leader_, who officiated at the balloon-wedding over
Cincinnati, are also entitled to rank as veterans. The European
literature of ballooning, with it