The Washington times., 1901-11-10
M. SANTos-DUMoNT.
Something About the Acronnut and
the Countess d'Eu.

Santos Dumont has an amazingly gooc
| figure for ballooning. He is 1.-THE as
| growing sugar cane, and jumps with the
| light agility of a squirrel. Most Bra
| zilians are sober. He is not an excep-
| tion: he Is water and coffee drinker
| does not like wine, and eats to live. His
! abode is roomy. airy. and plainly furnish
! ed. Though he has the n0lchalant air OF
the tropics. this hero of the hour has the
| quick grasp of facts of a Yankee. and. II
! a good fellow, is no "sof.y, and has
| clear notion of the value of money. This
preserves him from being prey to the
sharpers, which, with his hobby, he could
not fail to be, were his generosity not
controlled by a good Judgment, great
shrewdness. and thorough technical
knowledge of his subject.
He is a bachelor and likely to remain
So a wife would be fearfully in his way.
He said to friend of mine that he was
lucky I'm having taken up science with a
view to aerial navigation. otherwise 1
might have gone the way of other young
men. The money ! have spent in bal
looming is nothing to what 1 might have
thrown away on cocottes." l need not
repeat the rest. save that My passion
for ballooning fills my life and keeps me
in tone" He must be abstemious in ev-
cry respect to keep slender and physically
active and think strenuously all the time.
NJ. Santos -Dumont does not set up to be
an inventor, only to be a judge OF the
motions" and inventions of other ergi-
neers who work for him. He is of a sin
gularly open mind and candid soul. If he
likes applause, he is not vain. The truth
is not in the vain fellow. Santos is of
rare truthfulness.
His next move will be to the Riviera,
where ne will have n wide space in front
for the evolutions of his steerable bal
loom He says that it is not nearly so
dangerous to drop into the sea as to be
wrecked on housetops and entangled In
trees. To cross from Nice to Corsica
seems to him within the range of easy
possibility.
The Comtesse d'Eu (ex-Princess lmpe-
rial of BraziD takes an almost maternal
interest in her venturesome countryman.
She gave a lunch In compliment TO him
since her return from Chamonix, sent
him a medal OF St. Benedict, and never
hears the name of Cantos-Dumont with
out mentally invoking that saint in his
behalf The office OF St. Benedict is to
presarye people from dangerous falls.
The comtesse received a scientific edu-
cation from her father. the late Emperor
of Brazil He was himself her tutor.
She has had time since she lost him
to grow rusty" Still, she knows a
lot, and quite understands the principle
of steerable balloons on which the San
tos-Dumont, No. g has been built. As
she says, when he is high in air the
science of his friends is powerless to aid
him. II il their faith in St Benedict that
consoles. Dom Pedro. IL appears, was an
enthusiastic patron Of aeronauts ana one
Of his cherished day-dreams was of steer
higher air above the insect and dust
plaques of South America. The Comtesse
d Eu holds his memory in affectfonate
reverence. She is a very sweet woman,
and is always lin petto' pracucing the
virtue of humility. | suppose this was
what the Preacher on the Mount meant
by being poor in spirit
There is an extraordinary freedom from
bitterness in her disposition Her high
education and the moral and pious dis
cipline to which she subjects herself
rather paralyze ambition to recover the
imperial standing from which she has
fallen. Following the injunction that Ma
ria Teresa gave her children, she devotes
her thoughts, once a day at least, to her
neYer-deceaSed relatives and to the idea
Of death. She was never known to miss
an opportunity to attend Il funeral
Somehow she has escaped being esthetic
though so loosely bound to the things
pomps. and vanities of the world. She
looks very much the lady, aud-a circum-
stance to remark-the more So for being
plainly dressed. Her faVorite art Is nu-
sic, for which one may without eXaSger-
alton say she has genius. Her greatest
ambition is that her sons should seek an
grandfathor.-Paris Letter in London
Truth