The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-10-08
h-FlYing and It's Dangers,

arguement will avail to keep some peO-
pie from risking everything they have in
Aigh-fying ventures. The experience of
others will be vainly cited to persons
who are for the time so far controlled by
an illregulated ambition as to be unable
or unwilling to recognize the need of
special skill and training for reaching
the heights of worldly success, or of
maintaining their co uilibrium when
they get there. " Pigmies are pigmies
still, though perched on Alps" and the
same intellectual weakness or want OF
balance which makes person undertake
a task for which he is untitled dlsquaI-
ifies him for prOfiting by any temporary
success which he may happen to attain.
In fact, this very success is apt to hasten
his downfall by wholly unsettling his
Judgment and leading him on to greater
recElessness.
The experience of most persons who
have made fortunes or regulations sud-
denly by a single lucky hit, instead of
by long, and IabOriOus, and intelligent
exertion, attests the justice of this view.
The great railway kings, as they are
sometimes called, the monarchs of spec
ulatiOn on the stock-eXchange, usually
die poor. This was shown not long ago
by reference to numerous cases in this
country confirming the conclusion drawn
from the career Of Hudson and other
great operators in England. q 1t takes, J"
said shrewd old Nathan Rothschild, "a
good deal of wit to make money, but
infinitely more to keep it." Men like
Rothschild, and the Earrings, and Van
derbilt are something more than spec
ulators in the securities in which they
deal and the ample knowledge which
they possess of the intrinsic value of
their property distinguishes their oper-
ations from the gambling ventures of
mere stockholders, no matter how ex-
tensive.
1t is curious to see at how early a pc
Rod in human history the passion for
high-fying was developed, and how the
merely physical aspects of it were only
one phase of the ambition to soar. Is
not the myth of DRdalus and his son
Icarus g most felicitiOus illustration of
the way in which such undertakings ORR
cinate, and some of the participants in
them come to grief? They sought to
escape from the anger Of MinOs as 50
many people try to escape from the UNI
pleasant surroundings for which they are
/ themselves so largely responsible. Those
/ wings which DSPdalus made were lngen-
/ ious cOntrivances, no doubt, and enabled
| him to arrive successfully at Cume. He
knew the dangers of high-fying, and kept
| within prudent distance Of the earth
/ but his less discreet son Icarus flew so near
/ the sun that the wax which fastened his
wings to his body melted, and brought
/ him down, not to the earth, to be sure,
! but to what was nevertheless damper OF
/ his hopes and extinguisher of his life
| the sea. The youth had been warned by
his father of the danger of high-fying,
/ but to no purpose. Judged by recent Oc-
/ currenccs, the young fellow, overcome by
/ the vertigo Of high regions" had that
morbid and uncomfortable impulse to &C
/ higher to which NJ. Tissandier attributes
| the fate of his associates in the Zenith
| balloon Whether we regard the story
/ form the view of Pal8phatus as meaning
| the invention of sails, or look upon 1t III
the less practical aspect suggested by Lu-
/ elan as a case of intellectual high-tlying,
matters little as to the lesson to be de
rived from it. The reckless sailor, whether
| in air or water, runs a similar risk as the
Young Icarus, when, on Lucian' showing,
| learned astrolOgy from his father, but,
| not having the masters skill and knOwl-
/ edge, "soared above plain truths into
! transcendental mysteries, lost his reason,
and was drowned in the abyss of Difficult
| ties" In any aspect of the affair, 1t IL
Illustrates the dangers of high-fying,
whether incurred through cOngenial
weakness, lack of proper parental educa-
| ton or supervision, or the headstrong
| folly Of youth, which of itselfm must have
some antecedents in a defective training,
whether by individuals or society, to ac-
count for it.
A very curious feature of high-flying
ventures is the way in which persons OF
marked ability are sometimes led into
them, although the goal of their ambl-
ton is in an opposite direction from that
where they have achieved reputation and
success. The Iaurels of Miltiades keep
awake youths whose capacities are any
thing but warlike. Frederick the Great,
on the other hand, thought more of his
execrable verses than of his splendid vic
tories, and Richelieu was eager to be es-
tcemed a poet, Notwithstanding his pre-
eminence in craftsmanship.
As a general rule, in high-fying ven
lures. whether in real or ideal balloons,
it is the coming down that is the most
! dangerous part of the business. In as
cending everything is attractive up to
! that height at which d descent is rendered
necessary by the impOssibility of keeping
! human nature in equilibrium i'll the thin
atmosphere. The insufficiency of pressure
! from the outer air which at great eleya-
! tions is not enough to counterfeit the
| distention of the liquids or fluids in the
aeronaut's body is paralelled in the case
Of the high-tlier in everyday life by the
| absence Of that common sense the pres
| ence of which is so necessary to keep hui
man beings from soaring to too g1ddy
| heights or to preserve their strength and
vitality when they get there. OF course
| there is reason for risking something in
/ in these upward flights, but only when
| the value of the object to be attained is
| commensurate with the danger incurred !;
! if the interest of science or Of humanity
| demand the venture, the lives, reputa-
| tions or fortunes of individuals should
not be regarded as of paramount import
ance. Yet even in such cases the danger
should be lessened by every precaution
which knowledge and skill and training
can suggest.
Experience shows that it is only when
daring dcgeneratcs into fOolhardiness that
serious accidents are likely to occur
High hiers in everyday life are like
Pilatre DIES Roziers, who had a ntong0Lfere
or balloon filed with hot air from
fire suspended underneath the balloon,
filled with hydrogen gas, in which he
made his final and fatal ascent. He
knew, as Prof Charles, a distinguished
brother aeronaut, told him, the danger
of thus putting fire beside powder, but
this did not prevent him from taking his
life in his hands. How many people
there are who, like Roziers, carry with
them the fire that destroys their for
tunes. or. like Icarus, fly so near the sun
Of their hopes that the wax that fastens
their wings mclts and brings them to
speedy ruin, 1t seems delightful, of
course, to soar away above the earth,
and. doubtless, the thought Of rising so
high as to make other people and their
concerns dwindle in the distance has
much to do with the desire which prompts
so many high-Aying ventures. To tighten
ones airy craft by precipitating the sand
bag of criticism or satire upon those be
low IS not the least part Of the satisfaction
which many persons take in getting up
in the world. This was lust the feeling