"Yes, Uncle Philip; it is a French kite that we have been making, and we have come to ask you to go out with us this morning and see us fly it." "Very good, boys; I will go. I am an old man now; but I remember that I was a boy once, and loved to make a kite sail. It always makes me happy to see boys and girls playing about in health, provided they are not wasting time, and their play is not to do harm to anybody or any thing. So come on; we will go out upon the green common yonder, behind the church, and I think we shall have a grand kite-flying, for the wind is about right. "There, boys! up she goes! Let out the string. I think she behaves very well; there, she is done pitching about: now she is steady; see how she mounts. Ah, that is a very good kite." "Uncle Philip, I was reading a book yesterday which said, 'A philosopher once found great help from a kite.' What did it mean?" "Do you know what a philosopher is?" "Yes, Uncle Philip; a philosopher is the same thing with a very wise man, is it not?" "That is pretty near the meaning. Philosopher means a person who loves wisdom; and such a person, you know, will always be trying to get knowledge; and a person who is always trying to get knowledge is apt to be a wise and learned man." "Well, how could a kite help a man to get learning? Did he read the old newspapers it was made of? I cannot see any other way." "But there may be another way without your seeing it, you know. The philosopher whom your book meant was Dr. Franklin. Did you ever hear of him?" "Oh, yes; he was born in Boston, and was a printer, and afterward became a very great man." "That is true. He was a man of excellent sense, who both read and thought a great deal; and in the war which the people of this country had with England to get their freedom. Dr. Franklin's sound sense was of great use to his countrymen." "But, Uncle Philip, how did the kite help him?" "I will tell you. If you take a proper piece of glass, or sulphur, or sealing-wax, or rosin, and rub it for some time, and then hold it near to small bits of thread or paper, the thread or paper will fly towards the glass or sealing-wax, and stick to it for a short time. That which makes them fly to the glass and stick there, is called _electricity_. After this was found out, men went on slowly finding out more and more, until at last a man named Hawksbee made a large machine with a glass barrel, which could be turned around by a handle like that which you see to a grindstone; and with this machine (which I will show you at some other time) he managed to get a great deal of this electricity, and it would shoot off in sparks, which appeared like little lightning.