Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 288, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 December 1910 — Page 2

AERIAL NAVIGATION NOW A REALITY.

THE problem of aerial navigation has appealed to the mind of man for centuries. In no branch of scientific investigation has man been so enthusiasEso daring and so willing to risk his to demonstrate the validity of his tries, whose unsoundness has been proved, in many cases, by the injury (or death of the misguided theorist The evolution of aeronautics, from the winged flight of Daedalus and his son Icarus to the triumph of the Wright (brothers, Is a history full of failure •nd discouragements that tells the .story of man’s unceasing and stubborn fight to conquer the elements. The men who devote their lives to the study of aviation have met with many and various obstacles which tend to place them In the eyes of the public as visionaries held in the spell of a foolish dream. The deception of the public by charlatans, the impossible claims of cranks, the use of balloons and parachutes for spectacular leaps for life to attract the bucolic (multitude to country fairs and clr<uses, together with the failure of (many projects of real scientific value, have, until the last decade, caused the generality of thinking mankind to look somewhat askance on aeronautics as • science. The scientific investigation of aerial conditions has been one of the main ■factors in the success of aerial navigations and the epoch-making researches of the late Professor Langley, which tn 1891 he published in a book entitled Experiments on Aerodynamics, have "been the foundation upon which our (present day system of aerial flight is based. Aerodynamics as a science is C. In Ms Infancy and has not emerged m the experimental stage, while the •theory of air pressures and resistances •on moving surfaces Is little understood. The problem of maintaining

A WRIGHT AEROPLANE

stability In artificial flight has been only approximately solved First Efforts to Fly. In ancient times it was believed that to fly was, by divine decree, impossible. The Greeks and Romans held that the power of flight was an attribute only of the highest and most powerful divinities. During the middle ages there were many myths and fables in circulation of certain favored Individuals who had flown for great distances on wings. Frair Bacon claimed that he had discovered the art of flying and Albertus Magnus, the noted phiolospher, in his work, Mirabi--Ins Naturae, gave a recipe for aerial navigation. From the sixteenth to the eighteen century there were numerous enthusiasts who, thinking they had discovered the secret that would render them masters of the air, flew forth from the tops of buildings only to be dashed to their death. Efforts to fly by means of flapping wings were the chief causes of the slow progress of the flying art Once the Idea of soaring through the air—a theory arrived at by Professor Lillenthal in 1891— was discovered to be productive of success the science of aeronautics advanced by leaps and bounds. The first successful attempt at aerial flight was made In the eighteenth century by a French marquis, who endeavored to fly across the Seine from an upper window of his house in Paris. He succeeded In getting almost to the opposite bank when he fell Into a boat and was rescued. In the seventeenth century Borelll calculated the strength of the pectoral muscles of birds and laid down the postulate that It was Impossible for man to fly by use of his muscular strength. This doctrine seems to have been accepted, and no attempts at ar- . tifldal flight were made until toward

the close of the nineteenth century. The Invention of the balloon by the Montgolfier brothers, and their first public ascent in 1782, directed the attention of the world to this new means of aerial navigation, and in less than three years after the Montgolfiers’ first ascension was made the English channel was crossed in a balloon from Dover to Calais by Blanchard and Doctor Jeffries, in 1785. Professor Langley the Pioneer. In the same year that Professor Lilenthal made his soaring experiments Professor Langley, in a steam driven aeroplane model, flew across the Potomac river, a distance of threequarters of a mile. Later when he had received appropriations from the government for the perfection of his machine he attempted a second flight across the Potomac. He flew tor a distance of 90 feet, when something went wrong and the machine plunged into the river. Further experiments on the part of the government were discontinued, and while it is known now that the principles of the learned professor were correct, Langley, at the time, received nothing but the severest criticism and ridicule. Professor Langley was probably the first one to experiment with an aeroplane driven by steam or any like force and his experiments proved conclusively that with sufficient speed-producing force behind it an aeroplane could soar great distances through the air. He, is the pioneer of the aeroplane and recent aviators owe their success to the principles which he set forth. In Dayton, 0., there lived two young men known as Wilbur and Orville Wright They were Interested in the bicycle industry. In the early ’9o*s they became interested in aviation and reading up the theories of Lillenthal they became very enthusiastic over the art of artificial flight In 1900

they constructed a machine and during their summer vacation on the coast of North Carolina they began experiments with a gliding aeroplane. In 1903 they added a 16-horsepower motor to their glider and In December of that year uucceeded in making flights of 850 feet In 59 seconds against a 29-mile wind. In 1905 they made a flight of 24 miles in 38 minutes and from that time on were hailed as the first real conquerors of the air. A New Era. The year 1909 will go down to posterity as the beginning of a new era In the art of aviation. The records made show an enormous advance in lengths of flights, heights and feats of daring. In this country Curtiss flew for 67 H minutes In July, and at the official trials at Fort Myer, Orville Wright remained to the air for one hour and 21 minutes, covering 50 miles with a passenger. Curtiss won the Bennett speed contest at Rhelms, bringing the contest this year to this country. Bierlot made his historic cross-channel flight on July 25, making a distance of 31 miles In 37 minutes. Farnham made a duration flight of four hours, 17 minutes and 35 seconds, covering 137 miles. Orville Wright, Latham and Paulham reached altitudes exceeding 1,500 feet The events of this year are so fresh in the memory that it is unnecessary to recall the numerous and almost dally conquests that occurred during Its Span. The wonderful achievements accomplished in this year were due not so much to a more perfect mechanism In the aeroplanes but to the increased confidence and skill of the aviators: During recent aviation meets the mile point In altitude had been reached by the skilful and daring Brookins.

SAYINGS FROM THE TALMUD

The soldiers fight, and the Ungs are heroes. The World is saved by the breath of school children. Turn the Bible and turn it again, for everything is fn it The camel wanted to have horns and they took away his ears. If a man divorcee his wife, the altar itself sheds tears over him. An honorable man honors his wife; a contemptible one despiseth her. The' loss of a first wife is like the loss of a man’s sanctuary in his lifetime. The man who marries a woman congenial to himself is loved by the Almighty. When the thief has no opportunity; of stealing, he considers himself an honest man. He who has no wife lives without comfort, without help, without joy and without blessing. If a word Is spoken its time is worth one piece of money, silence in its time is worth two. Man and wife well matched have heaven's glory as their companion; man and woman ill matched are encircled by a devouring fire. When a man loseth his wife, the world around him groweth dark, the light in his tent is dim and the light before him is extinguished.

TEXAS SNAPSHOTS

Even a narrow-minded man can carry a vast expanse of bald head. An independent woman is one who Is agile enough to button her waist down the back by hook or crook. One reason it makes a woman mad to be thought older than her husband Is because all husbands look old. It has just about gotten so in this country that when a boy sticks a splinter In his foot he calls It a puncture. It takes the modern mother almost as long to bathe the baby as It took her grandmother to make her father a pair of pants. One of the surest things In this world Is that the kind of man who thinks he Is “burying his talent” by living In a small town could carry It to the city In the corner of his eye.— Galveston News.

OF WOMAN.

Few women look their age—straight tn the face. A man’s wife may agree with him much better than her cooking. Circumstances over which we have no control frequently take the form of wives. * ■» Girls say that men, like mosquitoes, are easier to catch after a full meal. Some women hold their husbands up as a model —others merely hold them up. - - --K . Next to knowing how to manage a husband a husband Is knowing how to manage without one. Some women remind us of phonographs—they go around and make a lot of talk.—Boston Transcript.

THE RAINY DAY.

Then you utilize’the rainy day. You are pretty sure not to be disturbed. Few friends are likely to make you visits. Therefore the rainy day is the time to “get busy.” One woman usually makes a fruit cake When thus “Immune.” Or she makes it a point to get to the bottom of her mending basket. Or she may straighten out a closet or a bureau, and do a little amateur “French cleaning” on evening dress or other article.

A LOVE FOR NATURE

Keep It alive. Oh, you materialists! Pity the slave to sidewalks. To lose one’s love for nature Is to lose beauty. Lie down in the grass, oh, you dwellers In the city! Make the chance for yourself to do it at least once a year. There is nothing like freeing one’s brain from things material and soaring away under nature’s espionage.

FROM THE BOOK OF BILDAD

The humor of a woman lies not so much in the tales she tells, my lad, as in the way in which she tells them unto thee. Love laughs at locksmiths, oh, my son, because, being blind, he has nd use for keyholes. When thou at last hast won the Only One, my boy, heed not the cynic’s jeers, for two hearts that beat as one beat all. In building character avoid veneer and let thy mortar be well mixed of equal parts of high resolve and virtue. A poet hath said that a drop of ink may make a million think, but more often doth it prove the incapacity for thought of him who uses it. Restitution does not always cure a wrong. Eve brought the world about our ears when she gave the apple unto Adam, and in another age, when Paris gave it back to Venus, war broke out again. It is probably true, as the sage hath said, that “Love wil find a weigh.” The scale is oftenest found upon some lover’s knee while he is making experiments to ascertain if he can support the lady of his choice.—Judge.

POST PHILOSOPHY

Most popular tunes die whistling!' A sharp turn is very helpful in backing out gracefully. •■■l* Good old people die young by living to second childhood. The best way to get a run for your money is to run along with it. Generally at night the louder the noise the more reassuring it is. There is many a but between getting and not getting a man’s goat. One indigestible family can make a whole neighborhood sick and tired. You can’t judge the Inside of a man’s wallet by the size of his purse proudness. Men don’t win women by dressing up for them, as women do by dressing up for men—Houston Post.

BORROWINGS.

Some people are always grumbling because roses have thorns. I am thankful that thorns have roses.— Alphonse Karr. And what is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not been discovered.— Emerson. For he that wrongs his friend Wrongs himself more, and ever bears about A silent court of justice In his breast. Himself the judge and jury and himself The prisoner at the bar, ever condemned. —Tennyson. "You cannot prevent the birds of sadness from flying over your head, but you may prevent them from stopping to build their nests there.” The responsibility pf tolerance Iles with those who have wider vision.— George Eliot.

EVERYDAY PHILOSOPHY.

It’s cider, not turkey in the straw. It is most time for “East Lynne” to come around again. Wet weather has its place, but not on the aviation ground. Some men think their trump card Is a big, brawny fist. Anyway, burning a candle at both ends is hard on the candle. We don’t object to big hats being bigger if they won’t be bigger still. The flies have had a pretty hard summer, but it looks like a still harder winter. ~ There is only one thing that makes a bad song worse, and that is when folks In the audience insist on joining In and humming the chorus.

SMILE.

Be affable. ( You won’t,break. Act as If ft were natural. Don’t be afraid of being pleasant. Especially if you have a family skeleton. What if you do think yourself superior to others? Is bad breeding to placard yourself by a freezing countenance. A haughty manner 11 no hall mark of respectability and Is a direct bld to the vest of the world to hold an inquest over your feelings when you die.

Andrew’s Ancestors

“Genealogist. P. O. Box 172: "My Dear Sir;—ln answer to your advertisement in the Saturday Review, I wish to make some Inquiries concerning your genealogical work. I should like to have my family traced down to my grandfather. In his father’s time, I believe the records were in the family, dating back to the sixteenth century in Scotland; but party owing to fire, partly owing to indifference, these records have been lost. I should like to restore them. “If you will undertake this work for me, let me know your terms and I will forward whatever information I have. Very truly yours, “Andrew MacPherson.” Celia Dale began to read this note with the interest she always felt in a possible order for work, but when she came to the signature she exclaimed in surprise: “Andrew MacPherson!" she said to herself. “If that isn’t queer! I sha’n’t let him know who I am, though. Of course, he’s well to do, or he wouldn’t have been at the mountains last summer, and if he knew I worked —” Celia smiled. She would have thought the coincidence still stranger if she had known that Andrew MacPherson had had her in mind when, he answered the noncommittal advertisement inserted in the magazine by “Genealogist, P. O. box 172.” Andrew was a newspaper man. The shiftlessness which made it so easy for his grandfather to lose track of family records, the fire which destroyed thousands of acres of lumber land in Michigan when it burned his grandfather’s house and possessions, were still a heavy drain on the young man’s energy. His father, as energetic as Andrew, had devoted himself body and soul to his work as a backwoods Presbyterian minister, and family pride and possessions had dwindled even as the spiritual life of the community where he labored increased. Andrew, at thirty years of age, was still working to care for his mother, to see a younger brother through college and to keep the Michigan property until the new growth of timber was ready to cut ' Hence Andrew was poor. Until the preceding summer he had not cared. Then one day he had been sent to interview one of the big trust magnates who was staying at a fashionable mountain resort, and there he had met Celia Dale. He had seen her three or four times in the course of the following fortnight, for he thought it necessary to take unusual pains in submitting the article he had written as the result of the Interview for the capitalist’s approval. For Andrew, confirmed bachelor as he thought himself, had fallen in love. He tried to find ouF where Celia would spend the winter, but although she was friendly enough, she grew cold and distant when he pressed this point. But she told him she would be in the mountains again the following August, and he determined to live somehow through the winter, work harder than ever before, and then indulge himself at all costs in a two weeks’ vacation the next summer in Celia’s company. Then it was that Andrew’s poverty began to bother him. He was making a good income, to be sure, enough even with his heavy expenses to support a wife simply. But Celia, who was used to spending her summers at one of the most fashionable mountain resorts in the country, could never be expected to accommodate herself to a five-room apartment in New York, with an occasional weekend out of town and a fortnight’s vacation each year spent quietly in the country as diversion. So Andrew, dejected and helpless, fell on his family, in a rash moment of foolishness he chanced to see Celia’s advertisement "It’s something to have a family that stretches back for centuries,” he said to himself. “If I can’t offer her money I can at least offer a name that she can be proud of.” And with a vague idea of falling on his knees and begging her to accept a typewritten account of the lineage of the MacPhersons for generations back Andrew answered the advertisement. Celia, it chanced, lived for eleven months out of the twelve in a small room not far from Andrew. She was an orphan, and - although she had a rich aunt, she insisted on supporting herself, boarding with friends in the city and looking up genealogies. Once a year she spent a gay month in the mountains with her aunt, who begged Celia never to speak of her work and to do her best to make a suitable match. But Celia’s ideas of a suitable match did not agree with those of her aunt, and after four summers of gaiety Celia still dug away in musty library books and ancient records. Celia went to her task of finding Andrew MacPherson's lost ancestors with enthusiasm. She liked tracing genealogies, and there was an added zest in tracing, under safe cover of P. O. box 172, the lineage of some one she knew—and Andrew MacPherson at that With the information which Andrew, unsuspicious, forwarded to her Celia managed to trace his ancestors from the pioneer times in Michigan back to a landing In Virginia, and then over the seas and back to the

By JANE OSBORN

days of one Andrew, laird of the MacPherson ancestral hall in the Scotch. Highlands. It was really a very interesting line of ancestors that she arranged In neat, typewritten array over several sheets of foolscap. But the end of her search Celia came upon trouble. At first she thought she had made a great find, for in an old record she came across a verse of many stanzas about a bold Scotch knight named Andrew, of the house of MacPherson, and a fair lady whose name and history nobody knew, but who captivated the bold knight They were about to be married when one moonlight night at the edge of a lake the knight asked the lady who she was. The lady’s eyes were ocean blue; her brow was liliep fair; Her lips gave forth the rose’s hue, and sunlight was her hair," sang the ditty. But when she .opened her rosy lips and told the knight that she was a humble peasant maiden he was so enraged that she should think of marrying a knight of his degree that he clapped his hands and nummoned a mystic boat, which carried her over the ..lake into darkness and oblivion.

“What an awful man to have for an ancestor,” thought Celia. "The story would be good reading, but It’s only a legend, I suppose. I just won’t put it in.” So without this romantic addition Celia forwarded the genealogy of the proud house of MacPherson and waited for summer. In radiant expectancy Celia went to the mountains, and took all her aunt’s advice and scoldings with laughing good grace. Andrew arrived as he had planned, and the two weeks of his vacation were even happier than he had dared hope. Celia welcomed him frankly, and as the days passed their' friendship progressed so far that Andrew took heart. He had the modesty to leave his family tree at home, for he realized that It would seem like idle boasting to show It to Celia. But he never told her how poor he was. He knew it was cowardly, but he could not tell her—Celia, who seemed to have everything that money and riohea could give her. Celia remembered her aunt’s advice, and guiltily kept still about her work. How could a man like Andrew MacPherson, prosperous and well to do as a man must be to spend hl* vacation at such a place, take any Interest In a girl that had to look up other people’s genealogies to support herself. The last day of Andrew’s stay came, and he and Celia spent the evening canoeing on the lake. “Celia,” said Andrew, as they stood together at the water’s edge, taking * last look at the moonlit lake, “I am going back tomorrow. Before I go I must tell you what I came up-here to tell you. I dldm suppose there was any hope for a man like me—you, with money, and friends, and everything any one could have. But you are so different from every one else up here; you’re so. genuine and honest. As you stand there In the moonlight, Celia, you’re like the sunshine and the ocean and everything that is wholesome and true.” Celia stood rigid. A moment before she had known what she would say when Andrew made his plea. The fact that he did not know she was poor and worked did not seem to matter. But the words sunshine and ocean brought back the untimely fate of the poor little peasant girl, and Celia seemed to see, not a pleading young American lover, but a grim Scotch knight before her. The lapping of the waves seemed to be the oars of the mystic boat which was to bear her to oblivion once her Identity was known. “Don’t,” said Celia. “Oh, please take care of me,” she whispered as the wind blew the water splashing on the shore. “Don’t you see, I cannot listen to yours? I’ve been deceitful. I'm dreadfull poor, and I have to work to take care of myself, I do genealogies. I did yours. I’m P. O. box 172. But I didn’t want you to know I was Door.” "Celia,” said Andrew, taking her in his arms, '“Celia, you're not poor!” Then, as she struggled, sobbing, to free herself, “Celia, I’m glad, I’m poor, too.” "Some day," said Celia, a few hour* later, “I’ll tell you a story of * knight and a lady that belong to your genealogy.” ’ .

When Booker T. Washington was in England in 1899 he found the average Englishman very stolid. * “it was hard for me to get accustomed to speaking to English audiences,” he writes. ”Tfir average Englishman is so serious and is so tremendously in earnest about everything that when I told a story that would have made an American audience roar with laughter the Englishman looked me straight in the face without even cracking a smile.*’ And the London Chronicle explains: “The trouble is not that the Englishman does not see the American joke, but that he saw it before the Mayflower sailed, and no longer thinks it new and funny* .. ■o'. ’- '

Englishman’s Defense.