The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1912-07-02

playing ball
And it was this very attitude, this
very quality, whether temperamental
or purposely assumed, that appealed to
the fancy of the volatile Partisan.
His Indifference, his honesty and
simplicity were to them incredible but
fascinating, so that the spectacle of
Wilbur Wright, our one time citizen
playing circus with other boys of the
town, standing alone while royalty and
the great in every phase of human &C
tivity sued for his favor and his not
ice, was one of the most impressive.
and also one of the most delightful, of
a modern day.
"Vilbare Reet-Americaine," as the
French fearfully pronounced him, was
placed on a pinnacle by the sophisti-
Gated of all Europe. But he refused to
remain there.
He climbed down and proceeded to
| lay ball.
The picture of Wilbur Wright, seat
ed on the edge of his aeroplane side
| by side with King Alphonso, of Spain,
with his impertubabilty and Alphonsos
complacent grin in being photograph
ed with such a celebrity as Wright
! fingers longest in the writer's memory.
That this great man attended our
public schools and played about town
with his fellows is, naturally, the
| thing in his career that takes the
| fancy Of the citizens of Richmond.
| Wilbur and Orville Wright lived in
Richmond from 1880 to 1884, and, as
has been repeated many times were
the sons of Milton and Susan koer-
ner Wright, the latter Virginian, who
cane to this city to reside, the former
native of Rush County, Indiana, VIII
bur Wright having been born near
Millville, this state, north of this city,
Orville in Dayton, where the Wrights
again went to live and where the sur
viving brother now resides.
1t may be interesting to know that
while residents of this town they liv-
ed on the third block on North Four
teenth, the fourth on North Twelfth,
next to the old home of Mr.. and Mrs.
Daniel Johnston, whose daughter is
Mrs. E. B. Grosvenor, and on South
18th near Mr.. and Mrs. T. w. o. Brat
felt
While here both attended the public
schools, Orville having been a pupil of
Miss Sarah Hill, at that time teach
er and whom he holds in the highest
regard, and Wilbur the high school in
a class, a number of whose members
still live here
While standing third in this class,
! hn
its form.
The Wright boys were.great friends
of Rush Miller, the son of Colonel
John F. Miller, now deceased, both
holding Colonel Miller in the greatest
affection, and with the former and the
Johnston boys, held a number of cir
cuses and animal parades that were
of such proportions as to be celebrated
in the local press, Mr.. Isaac Kline,
the first owner and editor of the Item,
giving one of these an extended write
up in the peculiarly vivacious style
for which he was noted at the period
of his newspaper activities in this
city.
These parades were made extraor
binary by the fact that the Johnston
boys father was taxadermist and
lent them various specimens of the
animal kingdom" which naturally add
ed to the bizarre effects in which they
all delighted.
Wilbur Wright had a great affection
and esteem for DR.. Zachias Test, for
mer member of the high school facul-
ty no longer living, and one of the
most erudite scholars in the Middle
West, and whose learning was so
great, but so little exploited, that he
was denominated a literary miser"
by one of his friends. The genius in
Wilbur Wright, however, recognized
that in the scholar, the boy stating
that "Dr. Test was fine to get things
from'-an end not always accomplish
ed by others.
} Wilbur Wright was fortunate in hav-
ing cultured parents for although they
lived modestly they were interested in
all the activities of the day, both poll
teal and artistic and discussed them
with their children, Mr.. Wright, a
minister in the United Brethren
church, having been the editor of the
church paper for an extended period.
Wilbur Wright's mother was a re-
markable woman.
She was a mathematical and me-
! chanical genius. 1t is told of her that
; she never called in anyone to adjust
J her sewing machine. When it got out
of order she pulled it apart and RENE
died the difficulty herself although in
) way which was sometimes deprecat-
ed as not the right one by other mem
bers of the family.
But as the results were all that
could be desired. the means through
which they were accomplished were
negligible. In other words, she origin
ated mechanical methods which were
better than those discarded.
Theirs was not a home" said Mrs.
David w. Dennis, of this city, wife OF
Professor Dennis of Earlham college
and niece of Wilbur Wright's father
Gin which you heard the little tattle of
the neighborhood. But a cultured
household where art. literature and
politics were discussed and good books
read. While living unpretentiously
they possessed library of over two
: thousand volumes and the family was
of an unusual order of intelligence"
His forbears, therefore, give some