The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1929-09-18
The Life Story of
Dr. Hugo Eckener
Continued From Page II

| Continued From Page II
the woods rather than do my school
work.
I'VE often made exciting sail trips
on the Fjord of Flensburg up to
the Danish islands. or we strolled
through the vast woods where we
knew the location of every owls nest
Il was graduated from the gym
nasium in 1888 and matriculated at
the University of Munich in order to
take up some kind of study. My ro-
mantle disposition, however, pre-
vented me from making any definite
decision, and without considering
my later profession I-took up at
first the study of pure philosophy,
and especially metaphysics and
ethics. Besides, I was an enthusiastic
Alpinist, and strolIed whenever pos
sible in the Bavarian Alps.
nNE year later I went to the
~ University of Berlin to devote
myself fully to the study of the arts,
especially music. After being one
year in Berlin I moved to Leipzig.
Il chose the university of this
city since I had developed taste
for special branch of the study of
philosophy, namely experimental
psychology, which had its most IA
nous exponent in Professor Wundt
of that university. / also took a
great interest in social problems, and
took up eagerly the study of polit-
ical economy and social politics"
FlenSburg is almost as far north
as one could be born and still be
German. AS a matter of fact, but
for the driving energy and ambition
OF Bismark DR.. Eckener might have
been born a Dane instead of
Teuton.
For the quarrel of three centuries
between the Danish and German
states as to the sovereignty of the
border provinces had been ended
but two years before his birth.
After the six weeks war and the
Austrian defeat at Sadowa, .Prus-
sian sovereignty over Schleswig-
Holstein was finally established in
1866. So while the blood of the
north flowed in nis veins, he was
legally of German birth.
DIR. Eckeners father, as a dealer
in leaf tobacco, was well-to-do. He
was ambitious for his son, who he
realized had an excellent mind. He
could be a good scholar if he would
settle down to his books.
But the boy was FESTIVE. He pre-
ferred setting out in a sailboat.
mapping out the fjords and islands.
AND this fact, as one looks back on
1t years later, gave the first real clew
to his future career.
HUGO ECKENER, the boy. be-
n A. came an expert sailor and navi-
gator. He mastered handling a boat
In storm. He developed a sailors
instinct for reading the weather
from the skies.
CumuluS and cirrus. bright sun
and dull sun, clear skies and glow
erlng skies, were always more than
scenery to him. For they could tell
man, If man were clever enough to
interpret the signs, what the weather
would be like.
And nothing escaped young Eek
ener's observations. He analyzed
asked many questions of
sailing men, grew extraordinarily
weatherwise.
1t became a proverb in FIensburg.
even While he still was a boy, that
If any one planned a sea journey or
sailing expedition, he should first
consult young Eckener.
If Hugo said the weather would
be fair, people took off in their boats
with full confidence. If he shook his
head, they postponed their sailing.
DERHAPS it was some obscure
l. instinct, some throw-back to a
remote ancestor, some distant call of
the sea that Hugo Eckener felt in
his blood.
In any event it was hard for him
to leave the romance and adventure
OF the sea for the monotony of
books. He was 20 years old when
he graduated from the gymnasium,
which corresponds to our high school
still restless and unsettled.
Then came the years at Munich
and Berlin, as described by DR.. Eek
ener.
Bismarck had been dismissed the