soon dangling in space. My
sensations at this momentous instant must have been much like those
which thrilled Newton when he solved one of the riddles of the
universe. Indeed, they must have been more intense, for Newton,
knowing, had his doubts; I, not knowing, had no doubts at all. So
epoch-making did this discovery appear to me that I noted the exact
position of the bed so that a wondering posterity might ever afterward
view and revere the exact spot on the earth's surface whence one of
man's greatest thoughts had winged its way to immortality.

For weeks I believed I had uncovered a mechanical principle which would
enable man to defy gravity. And I talked freely and confidently about
it. That is, I proclaimed the impending results. The intermediate steps
in the solution of my problem I ignored, for good reasons. A blind man
may harness a horse. So long as the horse is harnessed, one need not
know the office of each strap and buckle. Gravity was harnessed--that
was all. Meanwhile I felt sure that another sublime moment of
inspiration would intervene and clear the atmosphere, thus rendering
flight of the body as easy as a flight of imagination.

XX

While my inventive operations were in progress, I was chafing under the
unjust and certainly unscientific treatment to which I was being
subjected. In spite of my close confinement in vile cells, for a period
of over three weeks I was denied a bath. I do not regret this
deprivation, for the attendants, who at the beginning were unfriendly,
might have forced me to bathe in water which had first served for
several other patients. Though such an unsanitary and disgusting
practice was contrary to rules, it was often indulged in by the lazy
brutes who controlled the ward.

I continued to object to the inadequate portions of food served me. On
Thanksgiving Day (for I had not succeeded in escaping and joining in
the celebration at home) an attendant, in the unaccustomed role of a
ministering angel, brought me the usual turkey and cranberry dinner
which, on two days a year, is provided by an intermittently generous
State. Turkey being the _rara avis_ the imprisoned, it was but natural
that I should desire to gratify a palate long insulted. I wished not
only to satisfy my appetite, but to impress indelibly a memory which
for months had not responded to so agreeable a stimulus. While
lingering over the delights of this experience I forgot all about the
ministering ange