kinds have been used to get a line from a stranded vessel to the
shore, and engineers have used them. They did it when the first
suspension bridge was built at Niagara, to get a line across the
chasm, which gradually grew into the great suspending cables.

Kites have been used to draw light vehicles over smooth ground, and
they make good sport when made to draw sleds over the ice, or as "top-
loftical" sails for small boats. I have seen in New York a tandem team
of ten kites used for advertising purposes.

The Star Kite is easily made and is well worth doing. Get three sticks
or sections of light string, both of equal length. These are fastened
in the center, so that, with the ends of the sticks equal distances
apart, they will form a six-pointed star. The covering should be of
thin, close cotton cloth, or, better still, of light, strong paper,
which must be pasted so as to present the side of greatest resistance
to the wind, else it will soon be blown off. The tail band is simply a
loop fastened to the sticks at the bottom so that it will hang below
the kite, and balance it when it ascends. The belly-bands for support
and steering--in the latter case two lines are used--must never be
attached below the central cross-piece.

Boys often find fun in sending "messengers" up the strings to the
kites. After the kite is up a good height, round pieces of colored
paper with a hole in the center and a slit by means of which they are
slipped on the string, are sent up. They travel with the speed of the
wind till they reach the kite, where they stop. If too heavy, or too
many, the messengers may get the kite out of balance.

A messenger has been sent up 6,000 feet, or over one mile. That is the