The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-04-15
AN EARLY MYTH.

TIC llIIIllSIoS capacity VI lIlS ]AhiSll-
can people for relishing joke and
getting the most out Of it even when
it is not a particularly good one is seen
in the gusto with which they have
taken up the air ship sensation that is
the topic of the hour. They are en-
gagged in this bit of pleasantly just
now purely for the fun of the thing,
at time when congresses andslegis-
latures are on their hands, freshets
are devastating hundreds of square
miles Of territory, spring elections are
in progress tariff bills are threatened,
international conferences are prepar-
ing for work and all sorts of public
questions command their attention.
There is a streak of boyish lightness
in a people that even adversely cannot
subdue, when in a busy time, at the
end Of trials such as those through
which the country has passed recently,
we can forget our difficulties and push
! along a merry jest like this air ship
! business. 1t is an early myth, be-
cause this sort Of fooling belongs prop
! erly to the hot months Of summer,
| when business languishes and people
need a great amount of diversion. The
sea serpent has not yet put in an ap-
pearance even at the southernmost
watering places, the day Of the fakir
is still afar off, but the columns of
newspapers through a large section
of the West TEEN with stories of fabu-
lous vehicles floating through the upper
air.
The curious part of this discussion
is that there are actually large num-
! Der of people who take it seriously. The
merry special correspondent who is
working for string" and the jocund
reporter find it just in their line. They
can reel you off paragraphs or columns
at will about the signal lights in the
heavens and the number of people who
have actually seen the aerial visitor;
can even give you the general outline
of it's figure, if not furnish a diagram
of its construction complete. But
among the multitude of readers there
are really great many who sit down
with you quietly and discuss the plaus-
Utility of the occurrence. For a great
many the age of miracle has come
again. The remarkable achievements
of science have prepared them to be-
lieve that what was once called the
supernatural can be achieved by nat
ural means. The marvels of an eIectri-
cal age have prepared them to accept
anything as within the bounds of pos
! sibility. Why they ask you soberIy.
might not an airship be made work
able? Why not, indeed? We know
that flying machines have been built
that were successful on a small scale.
and why should not some gifted in
| ventOr, holding his secret safe within
his own breast, have solved completely
| the problem on a larger scale. and
built vessel in which he is now soar
ing above our heads, making ''the gap
| ing fools below" as Darius Green said.
believe that he is a chap from the
moon.
The wit Of the event lies just in this
fact, that it possibly anticipates
future fact. There is not one Of US.
probably, who does not believe that
some day the problem Of navigating the
atmosphere will be satisfactorily solv-
ed and that air ships will actually ira
verse the spaces above our heads with
something of the ease with which YES
sells now plow the ocean. Those whom
this idea catches do not stop to con-
slider the present improbability of the
case, nor the chances of this dream be-
ing realized without a suspicion by the
outside world, nor the necessity for the
existence of a whole fleet of air ships
in order that they might be seen, as
the reports state at the same moment
by crowds of observers at points sew
eral hundred miles from each other
The quick imagination of the American
public catches at the mere suggestion.
| and the fake is a success. A national
temperament that can amuse itself, in
stern and trying times like these. with
an invention so palpable and so slight
accounts for the facility with which
the plausible. but empty theories of
politicians acquire a certain vogue:
| while. at the same time, it is a defense
against the terrible strain that the af-
fairs of life bring upon people less
able to vary their troubles, cares and
duties with a passing jest.