same casing with more sand; and so continually offer
surfaces of sand and woollen, till we had five separate
layers between the parcel and the air. Our calculation
was that a perceptible time would be necessary for
the burning and disintegrating of each sand-bag. If each
one, on the average, would stand two-fifths of a second,
the inner parcel would get through the earth's atmosphere
unconsumed. If, on the other hand, they lasted a little
longer, the bag, as it fell on B. M., would not be unduly
heavy. Of course we could take their night for the
experiment, so that we might be sure they should all be
in bed and out of the way.

We had very funny and very merry times in selecting
things important enough and at the same time bulky and
light enough to be safe. Alice and Bertha at once
insisted that there must be room for the children's
playthings. They wanted to send the most approved of the
old ones, and to add some new presents. There was a
woolly sheep in particular, and a watering-pot that Rose
had given Fanny, about which there was some sentiment;
boxes of dominos, packs of cards, magnetic fishes, bows
and arrows, checker-boards and croquet sets. Polly and
Annie were more considerate. Down to Coleman and Company
they sent an order for pins, needles, hooks and eyes,
buttons, tapes, and I know not what essentials. India-
rubber shoes for the children Mrs. Haliburton insisted on
sending. Haliburton himself bought open-eye-shut-eye
dolls, though I felt that wax had been, since Icarus's
days, the worst article in such an adventure. For the