The sun., 1901-12-12
NAVIGATES THE AIR.
Feats of M. Santos-Dumont In HIS
Hazardous Pursuit.
Early Training and Education OF the
Most Daring and successfui
Aeronaut of Modern
Times.

lillian aerOnaut, M SAINTS
appears in the Century from the pen
Of Sterling Heilig:
This young Brazilian inventor WORKS
for the love Of the thing, not Tor lucre'
He has never felt moved to apply for
a single patent. lie is son OF the
coffee king" Of Brazil, the proprietor
of the Dumont plantations OF
sac Paulo, the friend Of the former
Emperor Dom Pedro and the bene-
factor and adviser Of whole popula-
tions. Santos -Dumont, the father, al
though Brazilian BY birth and ma
tionality, WAS French by descent, ana
had his technical education at the
Ecole Centrale carts and INDUSTRIES
in Paris. Thanks to his education,
he WAS the first to apply scientific
methods to brazilian coffee-culture,
81 that his plantations became the
most fourishing in the land, having
100000 coffee plants, occupying 9,ooo
lahorers, comprising towns, manufac-
tories, docks and steamships, and
served by 140 miles of private rail
roads. II was on these railroads that
the young Santos-Dumont, before he
was l2 years Of age, drove locomotive
engines for his pleasure, and devel-
uped the taste for mechanics and IN
vention which saved him, coming
Young and rich to Paris, from . life
of mere sporting leisure. Until ~
years of age, when he completed his
education ut the University of Rio
de Taneiro, he remained in Brazil, al
ways returning in vacation-timr to
the wild back-country of the planta-
tion, where he became a mighty hunt
er, killing wild pigs and small tigers
by preference, and great snakes out
Of a sense of duty.
Arriving in Europe in 1891 he made
tourist trip, and assembled Mont
Blanc. A part Of 1891 and 1892 he
spent between London and Brighton,
pcrfecting his English, which he now
speaks as well and as often as French;
but he always returned to Paris, where
in 1899 he was already driving auto
mobiles. In 1894 be made short trip
TO the United States, visiting New
York, Chicago and Roston. He did not
begin ballooning until 1897, in the sum
mer of which year he made his first
ascent in company with the late NJ.
Machuron. In the same year he made
20 other ascensions, q number OF them
and became reliable
pilot of spherical balloons. He has,
indeed. an ideal figure for he sport,
uniting remarkable strength, agility
and GOODNESS to his Jockeys weight of
scarcely 100 pounds. For this reason
he was sble to lower the volume OF
the BRAZIL" his first spherical bal.
loon, to the unusual minimum of ia
cubic meters. The little "Brazil'' was
always filed with hydrogen, and after
each ascension he never failed to bring
1t back with him in his valiSe.
This Brazilian has neither the struc-
ture, the complexion nor the exuberant
gestures Of tho men OF his country.
He is pale, cold and phlegmatic, even,
# the words may be applied to one so
active In his moments Of greatest en-
thusiasm and OF most lively diSap-
pointment he Is always the same; and
he Is az free from affectation as n
chl4d. II. has weakness for driving
dog-cart tandems, and r. something
which has had vital influence over hts
career as a balloonist--he has been nm
intrepid automobile chauffeur from
the first.
lie began with Pcugot roadster Of
.i@ horse power. He has since owned
and driven half a dozen automobiles az
continually increasing speed and power.
his longest "trip without stop beinp
taken in 1898, between Nice and Paris
and accomplished with six horse
power fanhard in "a hours. Latterly
NJ ha~ abandoned petroleum in favor
nf electricity, in = dainty lipht-ruu
nm" Nnrrican buggy manufacture in
'hl"a9o. i serves him, he saws. better
than the more troublesome teuf.teuf
ior III morning spin through the Rois
ana ms afternoon errands from The
halIonn-maker's at Vanguard TO his
apartment in the Avenue des Champs-
Eiysee, and from the Aero cluh's
ground NJ st. Cloud to the Automobile
club N the Place de lis Concorde ~
wa once enamoured Of petroleum au-
loih'niles, because of heir freedom" !"
he explains. 'You can buy the esSence
eVcrywhere: and so. at moments no
tie", one i AT liberty 10 start off for
Rome or ST Petersburg. Bnt when /
discovered that did not want in 90
- Rome Or st. Petersburg. but onlv ~
take short trips about Paris. went
IN f"r 'he electric buggy
y got my first dea of putting an
automobiles motor uudrra cigar-,haped
ba loon filled with hydrogen ga< wbi,s
returning from the Paris Amsterdam
automobile race in 1897" ne ,afa. \ hen
he beean giving me this interview
"frih he beginning everybody was
against The idea. | was told that an
explosive gas-cngine would iynite +ba
hydrogen in the balloon above r. and
'hat the resulting explosion would ana
me experiment with my life. Lacham.
Pre- my balloon constructor. went ~
work without enthusiasm. So far from
oihcfS convincing me that thcir no.
mons were worth taking up. as has
betn said, ! met with nothing b,1t die
conragment."
Fixing the Limit.
he Cra'her dltliden) .r now that
we are engaged, ! suppose yGtl er--
wont object to my kissing ,ou.
2h' (mneh less Certainly not;
help yourself. And when mamma
comes IN want you . kiss her also.
lie Say, lets b break The en-
sasemrnt.- Chicago Da,ly News