The sun., 1918-12-08

from the Hudson's Bay Company, one
the head man from Revillons' North
west brigades. That canoe with our
own weight and dunnaRs took q ton.
You could stand on the gum and not
rock It. You could slip a steamer
trunk athwart under the thwartsL At
a pinch II could have carried twenty
two people-two abreast for every two
feet OF its length.
1t felt. to me much safer than any
row boat or raft have ever been In.
After counting twenty-five rapids We
lost count Of the rapids run. with
proper handling felt safer In those
rapids than l often feel In New York
streets in a taxicab when the wheels
skid on greasy pavements or pedes-
TRANS dodge in front.
Yet here Is a flying boat to run the
rapids OF the air. to course the seas,
or course the clouds. or leave both
thousands Of feet below, which Ii twice
the size Of that Klondike canoe, broad
enough inside for four men to stand
abreast, long enough 70 carry nfty
passengers with ease, deep enough for
II man to seand upright and not
each the ceiling Of what look like
mica windows. but are really made OF
an altogether different substance
neither glass nor mica, and which can
carry eleven times the weight Of that
klondike canoe. .,
have done some mountain climbing
in an amateur way for the pleasure
Of II. not for records, though I have
never to my knowledge gone above
$4,000 or $4,000 feet. which record
climbers would sneeze at; and when
saw the giant flying boat I began
TO grasp what climbing mountains and
running rapids and canoeing a thou
sand miles ell on wings would feel
like, II you know the game II n
safer than the city streets.
And what do you get out Of it3 Ask
the mountain lover what he gets out
Of it. THE light that never was on
land or sea" Champagne that never
came from any vintage Of the grape
A color pageant that pigments never
painted. A lift to the soul that beggars
any other inspirational thing have
ever known.
/ know now why an prophets Of an
religious faiths have come out Of the
desert where they got their first con-
ception of Oneness in the unbroken
ring Of the horizon. know also why
all peoples Of all races, when deeply
moved by sorrow or Joy, have left the
confines of temple walls and gone UP
to worship God on high places. All
the young aces OF the aviation army
have confessed to this feeling Of soil
tude. Of prayer. OF inspiration, when at
great altitude in flight. All mountain
climbers know the same feeling Of ex-
chisement Of the human spirit from
earthly care when they have scaled the
heights Of the Hottest peaks.
That is the real lure OF the noun
tain madness. 1t is for something
similar to this that look for the
human race in this our new century
OF conquering the air. When Column
bus discovered the new world the
whole human race took leap forward
In freedom and progress a thousand
years. The discovery of a new world
opened new vistas Of freedom for the
human soul
Imagination burst all shackles. The
best literature Of the world broke In
an effulgence never known before or
since. II was the crest OF one OF the
great tidal waves carrying humanity
to . new era. Remember the world
passed through a lot OF tribulation. a
lot of bloodshed In that progress also,
but the human race leaped forward a
thousand years when Columbus dis
covered q new world.
should 10 aOrru
human race had gone through the last
four years OF he'll for nothing more
than an Intoxicated jubilation or ma
terial victories. And It seems to me
this conquest OF the air. this discovery
OF an aerial world. is ushering In a
new era for the human race. Just as
the discovery Of a new world did those
old centuries ago; only our writer's ana
artists haven't embodied the new
'piritual concept yet in a form articu-
ate for US common landlubbers and
foot sloggers. At least II thought
the world could go through four such
years OF hell as It has suffered and
! then come out none the better except
for a drunken Jubilee OF victory I
should ask Glenn Curtiss to send me
up and keep me going up till I
reached Mars or dissolved in nothing
ness from lack OF air pressure.
In order to prove that I am not
rhapsodizing and to get our feet down
to earth again want to quote the
words Of one OF the worlds greatest
scientific aeronautical engineers. I
am not going to give his name, though
he invented one OF the highest. fsst-
est monoplanes ever devised-another
Of those plagued step softly military
secrets. am not going 70 give his
name because he would not stand
sponsor for any guesses as to the
future.
He is a mathematician. He is also
an engineer. He is also horribly big
bug-almost a June beetle-in the
United States Army. Well, here is
what he says. so guarded you have to
get a gimlet to bore down to what he
means; "Structurally. the air boat
type can be built stronger for the
same weight than hydro or pontoon