Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-03-29

his "Roze No. H. and Senior Severe with
his Severe No. 2'-but the confidential
truth Is they are one and all afraid to go
up in them, Santos Dumont was never
afraid when he knew the machine and his
own skill to handle it.
so he would drive the snorting Panhard
monster down the Montmartre hill when
the street was wet with mud and filled
with vehicles at such a speed and with
such deft turns and dartings in and out
as to cause his passengers to gasp with
apprehension. He knew that his brake and
rubber tires would hold That faculty of
making quick decisions which is essential
TO the automobile driver came to him nat
urally. But how could you possibly know
there would be room to turn?" exclaimed
one of. his American girl passengers, trem-
ping with indignation, fright and admra-
ton as he had brought her laundering
down that very Montmartre hill Instead
of crashing into the cross traffic Of the
Place of the Trinity, he had turned sharply
to the right-seemingly saved by auckland
was now threading his way in the press.
How dared you.'' she whimpered, while L.
too, was asking the same question mental
~. He laughed, embarrassed. saying: But
l saw that l could do it. There was no
doubt" Then he grew very much embar-
raised, fearing he had frightened the young
creature. Later, when alone he said to me
IN a hurt, self-excusing way: Il thought
it would amuse her"
Not Ladies' Man.
I think that I have already said enough
to indicate that, in spite of a true kind of
gallantry and a great deal Of careless gen.
erosity, Santos-Dumont is not a ladies'
man. There is too much of the boy in him
still and will be ever-the boys inability
to understand fear in others, the boys
knot-cutting Impotence in solving little
d1fhcultieS, the boys essential interest in
realities. When Santos wanted to please
a new girl he would take her to Lacham-
bres balloon works or an automobile salon.
never doubling it would interest her quite
as much as mullins and tea at Colombn's.
One exception to this sort of thing, how
ever is the personal pleasure he has al
ways taken in the Bots de Boulogne, the
noble and aristocratic park of Paris. In
these days, when bicycling has become the
inheritance of the unlovely, it's greater ar
teries, especially of afternoons, have
grown sadly common; but it still has not
only hooks, but whole stretches that are
mild, calm and serene in the deWy morn
ing stiffness, where smartly dressed groups
stroll in peace beside their carriages, where
rich and fashionable young people sit in the
shade of sylvan cafes, while their riding
horses, tandems and automobiles are being
rubbed down. In his earliest experiences
as a Partisan Santos-Dumont was given to
dogcart tandems, and won certain prizes in
flower battles both in Nice and Paris.
When petroleum tricycles We're fashionable
he was among the first to come putting up
to the Pavilion d'ArmenonvilIe, the Cascade
and the Chateau de Madrid, to order the
syrup-and-bitters he did not care to drink
and to take mild satisfaction in being in
the swim. 1t was thing one ought to do,
and so he did it; but his true pleasure was
to dash through lonely, shady alleys and
out into the straight sunny roadway, on
ward, onward like a cyclone. (Thirty miles
an hour was like cyclone then.)
His Tastes Are Simple.
In this way Santos has always been will
ing to take pretty girl to the Bots in his
automobile. He is at home there. and au-
tomobiling is more fashionable than ever.
1t is the same with his dress. I think no
one cares less for dress in itself than San
tos-Dumont. With all his money he never
keeps a valet; yet few men in Paris take
more pains in being essentially correct. For
years he left everything to Dusautoy, one
of the old-time fashionable Partisan tail
ors; but now he goes to Poole. He will
never turn up at a luncheon in anything
but frock coat and high hat. He has al
ways dressed in evening clothes for din
ner; indeed, his example in this respect
constrained others to correctness. even in
the lazy springtime evenings at the Hotel
Powers. But just as the world best knows
him in his little ballooning jacket suit,
steamer cap and turned-up trousers, so
Santos himself feels freest. All the rest
is duty.
In the same way he has always done
mere duty only by the fashionable night
life Of Paris. Two highly refined and
dainty establishments Of the Champs Ely
sees-the Ice Palace in autumn and winter
and the Folies- Marigny in spring and sum-
mer-were almost favorites with him until
he became so we'll known as to be embar-
raised by the crowds attention. At the
Ice Palace at one time he even skated on
its real ice-an unusual length for an hab-
itue to venture. At the Folies- Marigny he
never took numbered seat to watch its
vaudeville performance, but like other
young men, contented himself by stroling
through its pretty tiower-hung promenoir
or "proWl." MaXims and the Cafe de
Paris often saw him to superhero, too,
specifically correct with cold fowl instead
of gourmandizng on lobster a IAmeri-
caine-but of late he has left these halls of
mirth for the calmer (but no less eXpen-
sive) supper room of the Hotel Ritz. Now
as ever he is more likely to be seen alone
or in mems company than as a squire of
DANES; and when there are young ladies
they are pretty likely to be Americans
When the Automobile Club was organ
lied, on a liberal sporting basis and free
from all gambling, Santos Dumont became
one Of its earliest members. He had begun
taking his lunches in it's congenial society
while still living in the Avenue d'Antin,
and when he installed his present apart
ments, opposite the Elysee Palace Hotel
in the avenue of the Champs Elysees, he
began dining at the club as Well Yet
when, on the merging Of the automobile
with the Yacht Club, the question of
"baccarat no baccarat?" came I'D for
discussion, Santos-Dumont showed that he
did not favor club gambling, and l have
heard it said that he has never entered
the baccarat room.
AS he lives at present in the avenue of
the Champs Elysees, you would say that
such an existence must take money to
maintain it, but you could not accuse him
of extravaganza. His bachelor apartment
on the ground floor of a paIatial apartment
house, until recently occupied on it's third
floor by Mr.. Rodman Wanamaker, consists
of library-study, bed room, a dressing
room and a large bath room. lavishly fitted
with showers, douches and other modern
details. He eats at the club. He has 10
valet for his personal service, but on the
other hand, the mere salaries of his bal
looming aids would keep an ordinary young
man about town. This. too. is chara ctar-
istic Of the man. He has spent a fortune
in the dangerous career that he has
taken UP. -. II
Has Many Dangers.
Those who, through familiarity with
Santos-Dumont's numerous trips, have
come to imagine guide-rope dirigible bal
looming to be close1to-the-ground affair."
and not particularly dangerous, have only
to read the following plain account of one
of his earlier adventures before the world