The Democratic advocate., 1909-06-11
THE WRIGHT BROTHERS.
BOyhOOd Of the Men Who Are Now
Famous.


'The Interpreters House" In the
June American Magazine" contains
an interesting account of the boyhood
of the Wright Bros. Following is an
extract:
Take the Wright Brothers. doubt
If they would ever have made flying
machine II 1t had not been for the SYM
pathy and good sense of both their
father and mother. Mrs. Wright was
one of those rare women who can do
things with her hands. She used to
make both sleds and Dlaythings for the
boys, and of course assisted them with
what they we're trying 70 make. Every
sign of mechanical talent which they
showed pleased her Orville Wright
as a little boy was always trying to
work out some kind OF contrivanee
and his mother encouraged him.
ut seems to me 1t was the most
natural thing In the world that they
should become interested In flying. II
happened in this way Wilbur, al
ways q great reader, and 0rville. all
ways an enthusiast. got interested, in
the summer of 1896, In the experi-
ments OF Lilienthal, a German fore
runner OF successful. siaiion who
died that year. They read everything
they could lay their hands on.
"They took hold Of the thing togeth-
er. They had done everything togeth-
er--from the days OF their childhood,
when Wilbur the older by four years,
used to make up stories and pour
them out in a stream for the enter
tainment of Oryille. each separate
story ending. And then the boiler
burst, For five years they studied
the theory OF the fiying machine at
odd times. But still for fun And
still no machine of any kind.
1T was not long after they took up
the study before every movement OF
their leisure was given 20 IL. In 1900
they decided they must have an ex-
pertinent station. SO they decided 10
go down to KIN Doyii Hill in North
Carolina and establish an experiment
tatlon camp. One can Imagine how
many father would have disconr-
aged these strenuous absorbing efforts
given to a mere amusement. would
have advised sticking to something
that paid In 1901. the year after
they had begun to experiment in
North Carolina with a gliding ma
chine. they returned pretty we'll playt
ed out On that trip they discovered
that the tables OF calculation previ-
ously made by all the authorities up
on whom they had depended we're
wrong. and that. II they were to sue
coed. they must work out the whole
theory from the bottom up. At that
time Wilbur Wright, expressed his
solemn conviction that man would
not ny for a thousand years. But
that belief did not detain him and his
brother from tackllng the job This
Il the point In their career where they
best showed the stun they are made
OF. They not only worked out a
scheme for balancing and controlling
the machine, hut they developed pro-
pellerB for their machine on iuforma-
ton which they had discovered for
themselves. Further than this, and
more important, they had 10 work out
new tables showing the pressure OF
the air against various surfaces At
various angles.
"on the 18th of December 1903.
after the boys had made hundreds and
hundreds OF experimental Sights In
their gliding machine tnearly thou.
sand I'm September and October Of
1902 alonsl. their firet machine 10 car
~ gAsoiene engine made success
full flight This was al KIN Devil
4oll. In the presence OF FIVE persona.
and It was the FIRST time In the his
tory OF the world that a power-driyen
heavier than-a air fiying machine, with
a man aboard. ever left this planet IN
successful fight. The first flight
lasted only twelve seconds. but later
the same day the machine few for
fifty-nine seconds, covering dis
tance OF $50 feet against twenty
mlle-an-hour wind.
"The time TO celebrate had arrived,
SO the boys went TO q telegraph office
and wired the news home with dol
lar which the good Bishop had given
them to spend for that purpose II they
met with success