Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1917-11-28
A True
FOreCaStel
By ETHEL HOLMES

education my father said to me one
day:
Louise. am going TO bring home
guest to dinner today"
l was the housekeeper and this
meant that the meal should be served
for an extra person.
"who is itf" / asked.
"Langford is his name he is twenty
five years old, and-well, you can judge
for yourself. He is either a fool or
genius, / am not certain which; you
may give me your opinion after you
have seen him"
When Mr.. Langford came / saw
nothing unusual in his appearance. In
deed he was rather plain. He was GER
tainly not up to the ways Of society
for instead of appearing in evening
dress he wore business suit. He took
very little notice of me. addressing his
remarks to father. They were chat
/ ting when dinner was announced and
! when the guest was introduced to me
he gave me a nod without pausing In
what he was saying evidently more In
terested in it than in me. The subject
/ on his mind was engines, about which
| ] was absolutely ignorant.
During the dinner he hoped about
from one subject to another like bird
In a tree At one moment ii was
"heavier than air." the next something
that would go hundred miles an
hour. and the next--heaven knows
/ what. think IL was about gas bags.
| I don't believe father understood half
| of what he said and 1 didn't take in
word of 1t. l was certainly very much
bored and glad when the dinner was
over. As father rose he said to me:
Louise. / shall have to ask you to
entertain Mr.. Langford for awhile;
have some letters to write that can't
be put off,
Great heavens / entertain Mr..
Langford, with his "gas bags" and
.'heavier then air" talk. gave father
an annihilating look. but it produced no
effect He went upstairs to his den
and led Mr.. Langford into the draw
ing room. He came down from his gas
bags and became for a few minutes a
very different person.
81 must apologize" he said, "for talk
ing about matters that you cannot be
expected to understand"
"what in the world were you talk
ing about anyway" asked.
Navigating the air; expect to see
the day when q man viii fly like q
bird"
I made up my mind at once that If
| lee f,f,
was q fool.
II am looking forward" he con-
tinued, ito the day when man will
fly from New York to Chicago in much
less time then would be required by
railroad train. He will soar over
| mountains. In war there will be no
need for scouts to report on the posi-
ton and strength of an enemy. Men
viii go up in flying machines and take
photographs of whole battlefield. OF
course, there will be men on both
sides, and they will fight to drive each
other away"
There was a far-away look in his
eye when he said this and began to
suspect that he was insane.
81 can see," he went on, thousands
of these flying machines pitted against
thousands on the other side firing at
one another, now and again one drop
ping to the earth, some Of them max
ing gradual descents either on a slant
or in circles. These battles above the
clouds"
evil you excuse me a moment, Mr.
Langford" / interrupted, Il wish to
speak with my father"
I fed from him upstairs to father,
'sPapa," said, out of breath, II dare
not stay one moment longer alone with
that man. he is lunatic."
"Why do you think thatT asked
father.
I told papa what the man had said
about men fighting up In the air.
| "He is an enthusiast, my dear; ]
don't think his mind is affected"
at am not going back without you.
papa; when he was talking about
those battles in the clouds he fright
ened me-"
'DelI, go down again; when l finish
this letter I'll join YOU"
returned to the drawing room. ]
fancied Mr.. Langford had surmised
that he had gone too far with his non,
sense about going up in the air. AT
any rate he talked to me delightfully."-
on other subjects. forgot his weak
spot and enjoyed the rest of the time
spent with him immensely. That
night / went TO bed with my brain in
whirl and dreamed that was fitting
about up in the sky.
All this happened, as / have said,
years ago. / was recently invited to
| an aeronautic exhibition and was in
| troduced to a man who had been prom
| inent in airplane inventions and had
fought in the air on the Belgian battle
/ front. / did not hear his name when
he was presented to me, but there was
something about him that was familiar
to me. He was very enthusiastic about
airplanes and had brought down many
/ Germans.
Before the navigation OF the air
had become an accomplished fact" he
said looking at me quizzically, 81 met
young lady TO whom / impaired my
expectations. and I am quite sure
convinced her that was lunatic.p
lyon are"
George Langford.n
He doesn't bring down any more
Gorraonc DONE lee r,g~,. W. -.