The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1901-12-21
GREAT KITE FLYERS.
JAPANESE OF ALL AGES INDULGE
IN THE AIRY PASTlME.
Astonishing Discoveries Mado BY Amateur
Kite FIyers-Of What Complete Outfit
Conssts-Effect Of Kites Flown During
the Night

i Japan is now the real home OF kite
flying, even more SO than China. Here
young and old, rich and poor, fly kites
of every shape and size, from enormous
structures as large as a iair-sized room
to miniature paper representations OF
dragon flies or bees, flown with goss-
! amer silk wound on spndles Of ivory or
tortoise shell.
/ Japanese kites are adorned with long
brilliantly colored paper tails, which
look very quaint and picturesque as they
trail in the air. The kite is symbolic
of soaring ambition and many other SEN
timents. When a child is born, little
kites are sent up by modest households,
10 announce the arrival. while great FAM
lilies fly huge kites. with tails hundreds
of feet in length, to celebrate a birth
day. To lose kite is considered an
omen of ill-luck
During the late presidential election
kites were flown in every State by cleo
tioncering agents as a novel means OF
canvassing votes. kite-hying stations
were established in the large towns,
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outfits, and in paying experienced men
to fly the kites.
Not until cutie lately. however, has
the kite-fying craze reached Britain, but
when it arrived thousands were capt.
waited, and at the fashionable seaside
resorts kite-Aying bids fair to oust all
other pastimes. There are signs OF
gland this summer.
Kite-fying, like opium smoking, has
all insidous fascination. In almost
every case the man who buys cheap
box kite. and flies it successfully once
or twice becomes hardened kite man
lac. The more expert he becomes the
greater grows the fascination. 1t is
pleasant enough to send single box
kite up in the air i'll a steady breeze
to feel the pull on the string as you
work the kite higher. and to watch the
little bright patch of color against the
deep blue sky-but there are no words
to tell of the JOY man feels when for
the first time he sends a strong team
of large kites on one strirg soaring up
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some appear above, some are lost IN the
mist. and others are seen below, all toss
| ing various ways in varying wind cur
rents. However man may scoff at
kite flying, he will yield to its fatal fas-
cination when he has once watched the
! kite team mount to such a height that
the leader is lost to sight in the bright
ness of the sky.
One of the first things that the anna
teur kite-hyer discovers is that his pre-
conceived notion OF wind is entirely er-
roneous if he thinks, that is to say, as
most people do. that wind consist of hor
izontal strata of air. The behavior of a
kite in the air soon dispels thi. illusion.
making it clear that wind consists Of
vertical currents, as we'll as of horizon
| tai. Just as one large wave is made up
| of innumerable little waves, so strong
wave is made up of innumerable little
! breezes. moving at different speeds in
different directions, upward and down.
ward back and forth. These facts
which kites movements in the air dis
close Enthusiastically, account largely for
| the soaring and flying powers of birds,
who make instructive use of the varying
currents of every wind. soaring upwards
on upward air currents. and flying
against the main current of the wind
on breeze flowing against the general
| drift.
For the amateur to enjoy scientific
kite-fying on a small scale it is quite
unnecessary for him to have an expen-
sive outfit of kites, windlasses, recording
! instruments, wire, with one or two good
six-foot kites, box and Eddys. and lit
tic ingenuity, great many scientific
wonders may be explored The ANA
teur. for instance, may become his own
weather prophet by sending up thermo
meters to TIE clouds; he may tell OF the
coming of thunderstorms, he may draw
lightning from the clouds, photograph
in midair. signal with flags. and make
| joyful celebration by sending off fire
works high in the air, 50 that they fall
in flaming arc.
Kite photography has ROW reached
such stage Of perfection that it is pos
sible to send up camera and take a
photograph of any particular building or
object with but a small margin of un-
certainty Mr. Eddy has arranged 4
contrivance for taking complete views
of the horizon. He arranges eigh. or
more cameras back to back on circular
platform, send them high into the a:r
with kites, and snaps all their shutters
by pulling string simultaneously.
Many successful panoramic views OF
large cities have been taken with kites
flown from the tops of high buildings
dangerous vantage points, however
Kites, by the way, flown from the roofs
to their strings, have very striking ef-
feet at night. with colored lights attached
as they hover over a town. In pho
tographs taken in midair buildings the
scenes appear much nearer than they are
in reality, and there is often curious,
mirage-like effect, and the distant land
scape. which is invisible from the ground
appears as though rising up into tn:
sky
And now the kite has been used for
| fishing. The advantage of fishing from