The story is a familiar
one, and should be repeated here.
He believed that lightning and electricity were identical. Experiments
for six years had led him to this conclusion. But how could he prove
it? He conceived the idea of an electrical kite by which he could
settle the truth or falsity of his theory. Having prepared the kite,
he waited for a thunder-shower; nor did he wait long. Observing one
rising, he took the kite, and with his son, twenty-one years of age,
stole away into a field near by, where there was an old cow-shed. He
had not informed any one but his son of his purpose, because he wished
to avoid ridicule in case the experiment proved a failure.
The kite was sent up in season for the coming storm to catch, and,
with intense anxiety, Franklin held the string, which was hempen,
except the part in the hand, which was silk. He was so confident of
success that he brought along with him a Leyden bottle, in which to
collect electric fluid from the clouds for a shock. It was a moment of
great suspense. His heart beat like a trip-hammer. At first a cloud
seemed to pass directly over the kite, and the thunder rattled, and
the lightnings played around it, and yet there was no indication of
electricity. His heart almost failed him. But in silence he continued
the experiment as the storm increased and drew nearer, and the
artillery of heaven grew louder and more vivid.
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