{"product_id":"2940013654846","title":"Up In The Clouds","description":"CHAPTER ONE.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBALLOON VOYAGES.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTREATS OF EARLY EFFORTS TO FLY, ETCETERA.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt is man's nature to soar intellectually, and it seems to have been his\u003cbr\u003eambition from earliest ages to soar physically.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEvery one in health knows, or at some period of life must have known,\u003cbr\u003ethat upward bounding of the spirit which induces a longing for the\u003cbr\u003epossession of wings, that the material body might be wafted upwards into\u003cbr\u003ethose blue realms of light, which are so attractive to the eye and\u003cbr\u003eimagination of poor creeping man that he has appropriately styled them\u003cbr\u003ethe heavens.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMan has envied the birds since the world began.  Who has not watched,\u003cbr\u003ewith something more than admiration, the easy gyrations of the sea-mew,\u003cbr\u003eand listened, with something more than delight, to the song of the\u003cbr\u003esoaring lark?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTo fly with the body as well as with the mind, is a wish so universal\u003cbr\u003ethat the benignant Creator Himself seems to recognise it in that most\u003cbr\u003eattractive passage in Holy Writ, wherein it is said that believers shall\u003cbr\u003e\"mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they\u003cbr\u003eshall walk and not faint.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOf course man has not reached the middle of the nineteenth century\u003cbr\u003ewithout making numerous attempts to fly bodily up to the skies.\u003cbr\u003eFortunately, however, such ambitious efforts have seldom been made\u003cbr\u003eexcept by the intellectually enthusiastic.  Prosaic man, except in the\u003cbr\u003ecase of the Tower of Babel, has remained content to gaze upwards with\u003cbr\u003elonging desire, and only a few of our species in the course of centuries\u003cbr\u003ehave possessed temerity enough to make the deliberate effort to ride\u003cbr\u003eupon the wings of the wind.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNaturally, the first attempts were, like most beginnings, simple and\u003cbr\u003eimitative.  The birds flew with wings, therefore man put on artificial\u003cbr\u003ewings and essayed to fly like the birds.  It was not until many grievous\u003cbr\u003edisappointments and sad accidents had befallen him, that he unwillingly\u003cbr\u003egave up wings in despair, and set to work to accomplish his ends by more\u003cbr\u003ecumbrous and complex machinery.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eVery early in the world's history, however, \"flying machines\" were made,\u003cbr\u003esome of which were doubtless intended by their honest inventors to carry\u003cbr\u003emen through the air, while others were mere shams, made by designing\u003cbr\u003emen, wherewith to impose upon the ignorant for wicked ends of their own;\u003cbr\u003eand some of these last were, no doubt, believed to be capable of the\u003cbr\u003efeats attributed to them.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47180226691312,"sku":"2940013654846","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013654846_p0.jpg?v=1763583914","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013654846","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}