The San Francisco call., 1910-01-25

objects within the earth'S sphere of
attraction to the ground and holds
them there" declared Sir Isaac New
ton. He struck the apple from its
limb and it dropped into the dust.
It's fall startled a lark. which left
the ground and few up toward the
stars. But Sir Isaac's eyes were
glued to his preeiods apple. Louis
Paulhan looked up in time to see the
bird, and yesterday he. too, went up
the winding course to the clouds.
There is natural law of gravity
but even the blind man who begged
aims at \Tanforan gate yesterday
can tell youithat it is insqperable no
longer.
If God hid the secret of flight in
birds wing, he hid the thirst 10
solve the secret in mans heart. oh.
that l had wings like Bird cried
the psalmist David. Even in his
day the wish was mere quotation.
The will to fly is older, probably,
than language-it is as old as the
race. In that inexplicable state
called sleep, when the body loses its
material weightiness and remem-
brance of the limitations that keep
it groveling, men have always
flown. Did you not dream it, and
dream it long before the days of
Farman, Wright or Maxim? AS Paul
han left the ground yesterday at
sunset the throng broke into very
scream of cheers more exulting than
any other sound 1 ever heard. Men
saw their dreams coming true. From
its outset they recognized the thing
which generations of ridicule had
made them believe they never would
see done except by the angels of
heaven.
But that Frenchman, He flew
with an insouciance, with gaiete
de coeur that gave the lie 70 all the
difficulties and all the perils of his
flight. He himself is the most dar-
ing, the most romantic, perhaps also
the most fortunate, of the IL men
who he says know how to fly. He
has flown higher than any of the
others have flown, and his laugh has
fioated down from the clouds. Edison
says the flying machine is not yet
a success because fight is still one
quarter man and only three quarters
machine. Paulhan draws hard at his
cigarette and says Edison has mis-
judged. Machine and man are half
and half, says he The thousands
who watched Paulhan yesterday as
he challenged a gale that rocked the
ferry boats, was tossed by it and at
last sailed the air in spite of 1t, were
sure that Paulhan is too modest
were convinced that flying, under
such conditions at least. is full
three-quarters man.
1t is hard to determine the point
at which man and machine merge,
because the machine, too, seems
possessed of life. 1t quivers, it
sings, it sweeps up and along, and
these characteristics bespeak vital
ity. This biplane bird, hatched by
Henri Farman, on which Paulhan
traversed the open sky, is naught
but skin and bones. OF flesh and
blood 1T carries not an ounce or a
gill. 1t looks trained to fineness
that is absolute. The refinement OF
it's mechanism is such that the, snip
put 1t out of commission. 1t is so
frail that 1t could be utterly demol-
ished by year old boy with a
hatefet. Its bones are thin strfns
OF polished eve or ash. Its skin is
oiled silk. Its heart, more wonder
ful In driving power than its human
prototype, is a marvellous thumping
motor that is lashed upon its back.
Now here is the crux and iov of
yesterdays exhibition what ono
man mas done, sooner or later any
man may do. Today Paulhan flies.
In the figurative tomorrow YOU will
hy-with safer wings than his. And
soon thereafter will come machine
TO enable even fat men like me TO
forswear the slavery that has
chained their footsteps to the
ground. Listen to the humming of
Paulhan's propeller. 1T sings a song
in a universal Esperanto that men of
every nation understand. The bur-
den and inspiration of that song is
Come on up; the atmosphere is
nne You go to Tanforan disbe-
lieving the statement Of men who
spent week or more at Los An
eles watching the birdmen-the
statement that they are eager to f1y.
The biplane is trundled out and Won
swear you will never risk your life
upon a thing so frail. You watch it
fly. you note the perfect control. Won
catch the voice or the propeller and
you come home with that cheerful
song of invitation sinking deep and
deeper into your heart. You are
inoculated-in the end you may ex
pect to yield to the germ Natural
timidity is not rated as an ADEQUATE
antitoxin. 1t is said the germ will
have overcome that by the time a
machine is perfected for the anna
teur Louis Paulhan has carried up
many passengers. and NJ. Paulhan
says he has never carried one who
failed to lose the last vestige of his
fright the moment he tasted the
strangely reassuring sweetness of
the upper air.
How does it feel to fly? In reply
to that question NJ Paulhan has this
to say: .C'est sans aucune doute Ia
plus grande sensation du monde" and
in plain San Francisco that means;
: Beyond any doubt it is the great
est sensation fn>the world"
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a letter appearing today in Ioc
French weekly paper.