The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1920-03-02
THEHASKINLETTER
SUPERSTITIONS OF THE AIR
BY FREDERIC ]. HASKIN.

| some individual avators who took veri-
table menageries to the front with
them.
Among the latter was Vernon Castle
who had, in addition to a large supply
of cats, dogs and birds a pet monkey
that accompanied him on most of his
flights. Jeff as the monkey was call
/ ed seemed to like flying and was able
to stand very high attitudes
1t has often been stated with great
authority that dogs can not be safely
carried above an altitude of 5000 feet,
| and that eats will die If carried above
| 5000 feet. This may be true regarding
some dogs and cats, since it Is now
Wen known that animals vary quite as
much as human beings in their ability
to Withstand high attitudes and the
| corresponding loss Of oxygen, but the
statement, certainly does not hold good
concerning all dogs and cats
Mr. Henry Woodhouse, the Well
known author of several books on fly
ing, tells the story of a remarkable dog
! named jim, belonging to Maurice Hew-
! lett, Jr., son of the English novelist,
who not only enjoyed flying in high
| attitudes, but who appeared to be gifted
with real air sense" That is, he
seemed to possess an intuitive feeling
| while he also exhibited an uncarny
: knowledge of the airplane itself IF
| anything We're wrong with the meChan-
| ism, says Mr.. Woodhouse, Jim SEEM
ed to know it and would jump about
and bark until the necessary repairs
were made" Hewlett took the dog
! with him almost constantly, even on
| several trips across the British chan
/ mel ON the few occasions that he left
/ him behind Jim lay forornly where
/ the machine had started, refusing to
! move for anybody until his master re-
! turned.
one Of the first aviators to take a
pet with him as mascot was John
! y; MoiSsant, who carried kitten
/ when he made the first air crossing
| OF the English channel. Just as he
was about to start on what was then
! considered an extremely difficult flight
Il SinaH basket, containing an even
| smaller kitten. was presented to him
| by young lady, The kitten protested
! piteouslp against flying al first. but
eventually settled down and tpok il
! calmly even though it did not appear
| to be ENJOYING it.
After this, it became the custom Tor
| aNlators to take their pet animals wi h
/ tnem as mascotS, so that today there
| is scarcely an animal, with the possible
exception Of the giraffe and the ele-
| phant, that has not been given an air
| trial. Some such as the lion and the
| pear appear to possess an uncpntroll-
! "plt dhllpTIUy To Tying, ana have been
reluctantly relinqushed as lucky tray
eIlng companions 10y their airmen own
| ers, but others such as the fox. the
| turtle, the raven, the antelope ahCp the
jay, seem, to take Kindly to the cloud.
and do their best to make the trip a
cheerful If not a lucky one.
one war aviator succeeded in stra n
! plrs goat TO his aerial chariot and
Flew over the enemy lines with It, hui
Mhen re returned TO the airdrome and
| lifted the animal out. it whirled dizziiy
round as if it knew naught of prohi-
| hltion. SO that the aviator was forced
TO decide that flying was one thing
that a goat could sot get away with
While animal mascots are now recog.
wed as almost essential to the snort
| OF Tying, and few aviators 90 aloft
without them, it Is really the luck token
which Is held TO WELD the strongest
influence over the course of The ma.
chine, Thus. one famous aviator. who
always carries two dogs and a family
clock with him. and wears his fiancee's
sine "r%"irl a'Uund his cap as d
luck token attributes to these Interest
/ y g accessories the fact that he has
never had serious accident