The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1927-05-31
Proud Mother Tells Story Of Capt Cllas. A.

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self-reliant!
1t was merely the normal course
of his nature to fly alone across a
continent, then over a trackless
ocean.
After "Slim" Lindbergh, hero OF
the New York-Paris nonstop fight,
! decided he no longer cared to till
the soil, he matriculated at the
University of Wisconsin at Madi-
son in 1921. Since from early child
hood he had shown talent along
mechanical lines, he enrolled to
take mechanical engineering
course.
ellis mother, sitting on the porch
at the Detroit home, telling me of
her boys life, permitted tone Of
pride to enter her voice)
Still adhering to his resolution
to accept no financial aid, Charles
worked his way through Wiscon-
sin. He had no time for social life,
nor had he the inclination to at
tend functions of any sort. He
had come to the university to learn
all that it could teach him. Just
as IN ms earlier school years,
Charles pored over the subject in
which he was interested and neg
lected the others.
English was bugbear the first
semester, but in his second term
Lindbergh earned an "a" his
mother, Mrs. Evangeline l.. Lind
bergh, tells.
One of his college friends says:
81 never worked with a smarter
man, yet he continually got fail
ing marks.
He did more than the required
amount of experimenting for his
engineering course, but when he
had finished he Immediately lost
interest and would not even hand
in a report"
A Champion at Workmanship, too
One of Lindbergh's most cher
ished possessions is trophy he won
in a craftsmanship contest at Wis
consin, his mother relates. He was
very fond of shooting and he was
considered an expert marksman
even at Brooks-kelly aviation
school, San Antonio, Texas, which
he later attended and shot in com
petition with seasoned army men.
He was one of the crack shots
of the Gun and Pistol Club at the
University Of Wisconsin.
1t was while he was student at
Wisconsin that "Slim" felt the urge
! tosfiy.
/ One day an airplane made land
ing on the campus and a short time
later Lindbergh returned to his
home announcing, much to the
amazement of his mother, There's
nothing in this mechanical engi-
neering game. Two or three hun
bred dollars a month at the most"
Flying was great deal more
hazardous then than it is now, but
Mrs. Lindbergh gave her consent.
That's what he wanted to do
and l never have interfered with
his Plans" she explained and
added: "The remainder of his his
tory, aviation and flying, is all his
own. | had nothing to do with it,
any more than l had with his other
tinkering. l never sought to in
terfere."
Whatever may have ben her mis-
givings, Mrs. Lindbergh never
once attempted to sway her boy
from his determination to become
an aviator. Even during the ter
rife strain of the days just before
! Charles took for Paris there was
mo weeping or wailing.
She knew and understood his in
tense love of the air and she be-
lieved whole heartedly in the abil-
! ity Of boy called Lucky" to &C
complish what no man had done
before.
instructors at the Lincoln, Ne,
braska, flying school who gave
"Slim" Lindbergh his first flying
! lessons, little realized the blonde
rangy youth who rode into Lincoln
one morning on a dilapidated mot
orcycle was in a few years to be
come internationally famous as the
first man to make a nonstop flight
from New York to Paris.
One Of his instructors there says
"Siim was natural born flyer. All
he had at the time was a battered