The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-10-10

Up in the air This Is to be story not of high finance, but high flying. am lust from the fair, where had the pleasure of sitting in the press box with Ruth Law. You will have to ad- init that I hit it in high places yes- terday. In the morning was address, ing 500 college girls at Montevallo in the interest of the Red Cross work, and in the afternoon I was chatting with the famous aviator. Please do not call her an aviatrice or even an aviatrix, for it gets on the nerves of her man ager, who says she is Ruth Law, the aviator, for there is none other in her class.
 Now it may seem far cry from a bunch of college lassies to a profess sional woman aviator, yet the biggest hit I made before the college gather ing was my reference to Ruth Laws marvellous flight in her world-renowned machine that carried her from New York to Chicago and to fame and for- tune A funny thing, you say. to be talking to serious young college wom- en about, but wait a moment, for there was a reason,' as I stood by and saw her gradually rise from the ground in her airplane like a giant bird and sail away, it was more than mere amusement performance, for in her ability to fly. I saw in vision Americas supremacy in the air, when at last the American eagle. the un- caged bird of democracy, was going to win the battle against the shackled imperial eagles of Germany.
 The first afternoon as I watched her climb higher, and even higher, I held my breath, for a strong wind was blowing. and her manager, who was al my side, was worried about her ascen- sion, but confessed that he was pow erless to keep her from giving an ex- lhibition if her engines were working l properly. As she swayed here and there lin powerful air currents he was visi- bly, uneasy, but when she got the wint to her back and the machine shot for ward at terrific pace, he clapped hi hands in joy like 1t was the first tim' he had ever seen her fly. Several time' he called to my attention that she wal
 making over 100 miles an hour.
 LIKE A WOUNDED BIRD
 At first I thought perhaps he wa
 giving me some press dope. and mad up my mind that I wouldn't fall for 1t but when she had reached an altitud of several thousand feet and looked like big bird, and then began t loop the loop in what at her neigh was a driving gale I thought he woul' die of heart failure at his distress owe |her foolhardiness. She just kept ol tumbling down like wounded bird lower and ever lower until he erie out she dare not make another looI she Is too low she must be crazy t attempt in this wind, but she wa high above sitting firm and fearless and after he had called my attentio to her nearness to earth turned owe again just as though she had overhear him and wanted to show him that sh knew what she was about and to lul making a fuss over nothing.
 He says she Is just daffy about fly ing, that when she gets set in her ma chine she Is ready to SCOUT the heav ens and no one knows what she going to attempt. Not long ago. up i l Indiana, she was doing stunts and a of 8 sudden she pointed her machin
 skyward and kept going until she wa out of sight for nearly 10 minutes while those on earth held their breati
 not knowing what had happened. Afte
 awhile the machine. a speck on tn
 horizon. began to grow bigger and big
 ger. until she was seen with her hand
 on the levers coming erathward A
 she was gracefully lighting. for sh
 lights bird-like, there was rush
 her car. and with great anxiety h
 asked her. what went wrong?" to !
 answered: "Why, nothing at all, look
 ing above me saw a cloud hoatin
 high and lonely. and just had an II
 sane desire to poke my head throus
 1t, and did. and oh. it was such run
 But to do 1t she had made new hie
 record, having reached height
 lnearly 15.000 feet.
 A man who can't get a thrill by se
 Iing Ruth Law GoinE through aeri
 gymnastics thousanda Of feet in tl