The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-02-23

noses showing beneath their huge hats, pretty girls in clinging sweat ers' and natty worsted caps, old wom- en and young women. old men and young men, and 1,350,967 "kids."- all were present.
 The advance brigade of this army of people arrived at the park shortly after the noon hour and from that time the procession toward the park was unbroken. When the whistles blew, about o'clock in the after noon, the promised signal for the flight, practically the entire town suspended business and hustled down to the park.
 By that time Bridgeport's show spot contained the greatest swarm that ever had gathered within it's Him. its. with no signs of a let-up.
 Wise ones who had come early and cornered benches in advantageous positions clung on for dear life, while the rest of the crowd good-naturedly jostled its way around the sea vail and those on the edge of the wall hung on by their teeth.
 The flying machine was stationed at the bath house. To most of the crowd 1t was invisible. From the bath house one could see three miles of humanity. all faces turned in the di- rection of the aeroplane:
 Perhaps only few hundred per sons were near enough to watch the flyer Itself. All the rest of the crowd focused its attention in that general direction. A thousand false alarms kept the spectators on the edge for whistled and cut its way, and the icy walks sent their numbing influence through 5o,000 pairs of shoes
 And Seaside park wasn't the only place that was crowded. Over in the vicinity of Steepiechase Island there IL . If Seaview avenue was black with people and one of the "hostelries" over there sold every drop of stimu- lant in the place 50 it is rumored, restoring the circulation in the chilli ed populace.
 As the afternoon wore on and the sun sank behind the clouds, and the chill wind grew chillier and the cold walk grew colder, blue faces bluer and red noses redder, the weaker ones began to vince and leave. This af- forded ample amusement for those who elected to ''stick it out"
 They would wait until a. goodly delegation of spectators had started plodding through the snow en route for home, and then would sing out, There she goes"
 At that magic cry, there would be and good laugh at the expense of those who had been "stung."
 Eagled eyed spectators perched cn benches would see puffs of smoke far away in the direction of the aero- plane: !.ls,I Again the cry would go up. would say. wildly for a moment, necks would crane, and then there would be another wave of disappointment
 Two or three wandering sea gulls came in and looked over the mob with blase indifference.
 Wharavor bo h;rdc cou,l the shore they were greeted with cheers as the only real aviators of the afternoon.
 Every little incident afforded amusement for the crowd, which pre- served remarkable good nature. con- and the equally bitter disappointment when the whistles blew at 5 5:30 o'clock announcing that the attempt to fly had been given up.
 The Bridgeport navy, represented by Harbor Master Morris ironclad scout, Major Taylor" paroled the Sound in the vicinity of the aeroplane, tackled back and forth, took sound lngs, and scurried around anxiously, but in vain.
 The dozen policemen assigned to keep the crowd back had the greatest difficulty in keeping the people away rom the aeroplane,-but that wasn't the real obstacle. The wind. which at times was down to a whisper, at other times blew a gale, and was treacherous, gusty, and uncertain of direction. To attempt to fly under such circumstances would be court ing death, and that's probably the real reason why the people weren't treated to an exhibition of aviation yesterday afternoon.
 About 5:3O o'clock the recall whis- ties sounded, and the people grimly turned about and started to trudge hOmeward.
 As one looked over the vast multi tude stretched along the miles of sea wall, the most spectacular sight was giant statue looming out black against the setting sun-P. T. Barnum the man who said:
 "The American people likes to be humbugged."