The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-06-01

connection with The Midget, except
an unsuitable curiosity about the
printing plant which the other two
boys had set up. A little later, in
1889, the Wright Brothers, together
with OrVille's early partner, started
a three-column, four-page weekly
which they called The West Side
News. They We're the editors, type
settlers and press1nen on this paper.
On Saturday nights, at ten o'clock,
they themselves delivered the papers
to their fOUr hundred subscribers. The
press on which The West Side News
was printed was made by the boys
themselves, n it did such good work
that it attracted the attention of more
ambitious eWSpap men, and even
was examined once by a salesman
from Of the greatest printing press
houses.
In this newspaper undertaking the
father was an interested spectator
the boys, too, when a little later they
were carried away by the bicycle
craze, ard gave up their printing bust
| ness, and set Up a little shop for re-
pairing and making wheels. 1t must
have gwen the good gentleman a
great deal Of satisfaction to have
watched these boys working out their
own tools, even the larger n COM
plicated ones like the lathes. AS a
matter of fact, l find that the Wrights
i1oN ~ nan l1lS1l -" looAo.
They seem to ave more faith in that
which their own hands have fash
ined. rs is particularly true, | am
told, of the delicate parts of their
machines. There is no doubt that they
made good wheels in those early days.
A man in Dayton once showed me a
bicycle he bought from the Wrights
which had given him six years ser
vice. 1t was one of the last bicy--
cles they ever made he said. And
rl,o +hny- ,,n10 - +Io.r l, - vY-nro
full of fiying-nachines.'
You would expect boys so cou
aged to Sc in for all the fun there was
to be had out OF their business, and
they lie 50. Both We're good bicycle
riders. Wilbur was not a racer. but
lean, and full Of endurance. Orville
was a husky amateur racer. He won
an occasional prize. He was very dar-
in when it came to getting O. Of
plucky when he took a tumble &C
cording to one who used to race
against him. one of the most anus
ing pictures OF the Wright Brothers
which one picks up in Dayton today
is the story Of a huge tandem bicycle
they rode all over West Dayton. 1t
was made out Of the old high wheels
which were connected by a gaspipe
fifteen feet long. 1t was a better
III 10 SEE lItdI q I IL plolio
toWnsman tells YOU.
How the Nriehts Got Started.
It seems 70 me it was the most nat
ural thing in the world that they
should become interested in flying. 1t
happened in this way: Wilbur, always
a great reader, and OrVille, always an
enthusiast. got interested, in the sum-
mer OF 1896, in the experiments OF
Lilienthai, a German fO~rerunner of
successful aviation vino died that year.
They read everything they could lay
their hands on. 1t is possible that
| the memoir Of the flying toy which
their father brought to them from
/ New York in childhood, and the recol-
lection OF the great kites which they
built and flew all through boyhood,
NAV have had a share in attracting
them to the subject. 1t is much more
probable. however, that their eager
minds were simply SEEING upon a
new idea. as the case has been so
They took hold Of the thing to-
gether. They had done everything
together-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 Tor
the entertainment of tOrV1lle, each
separate story ending, And then the
boiler bust" For five years they
studied the theory of the fying-ma-
chine at odd times. But still for fun.
And still no machine of any kind. In
the meantime they kept up their bl-
cycle business, earning a air income,
| living regularly everyday,
lives.
Watching the Birds and the
Nhirlwinds.
Although the most useful informa-