Page:Travels in the Air, Glaisher, 2nd ed.djvu/16

viii Northern; each method had its advantages, the one affording greater speed, the other better work. After the sewing was completed, the balloons were varnished and filled with air for the purpose of searching out defects or flaws which might have been overlooked; while thus inflated the varnish dried most rapidly. The network, made of tarred flax, the car, and all the other appurtenances, were manufactured at these establishments.

Each of the two railway stations during this time of activity presented an extraordinary scene, the Orleans Station in particular. There women were engaged in the various branches of the work, drying and ironing, or carefully examining the materials to ensure their soundness. The calico was washed to destroy the acridity of the dye, and hung up to dry upon the woodwork of the station, ready to be cut up on the ground-plan. This operation, which required accuracy, was performed by numerous workwomen, under the personal direction of M. Godard; there might be seen every day nearly a hundred women, silent and attentive, marking with mathematical precision, by means of a pin and card, the distance between each point: this part of the work was shown to but few visitors. If time permitted, a second coating of varnish was applied: and this work, as well as all that followed, was performed by men, chiefly sailors.

It is stated that the sailors seemed to be quite at home with their work, painting, varnishing, weaving nets, twisting cables, and finally taking charge of the balloon on its journey.

The use of sewing machines rendered the activity at the Northern Station less remarkable, but these works also were full of interest. The endless pieces of calico hanging from wooden rails, the numerous work-people all busy with their needles, and the swollen shapes of the nearly completed balloons, are said to have afforded an extraordinary spectacle.

At the Northern Station the work-rooms were divided; but at the Orleans the enormous Salle d'attente was occupied, and the long row of coloured fabrics—yellow, blue, black, and green—suspended from the roof to dry, and occupying the midst of the immense nave, are described by visitors as being strongly suggestive of the interior of the Chapel of the Invalides.