HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1928-03-29, Page 2British Air Ace, Sir Alan Cobham,
Out Travels the Famous Lindeb
Knowledge of Flying. Together With Careful Thought
Attention to Details Overcomes the Usual Dangers
STUPENDUOUS DISTANCE
th
and
National; Geographic Magazine Carries, Wonderful Story
While the American press is full of
the exploits of Col, Charles Lind•
burgh it is interesting to read in the
current number of the National Geo-
graphio Mel:eine au article from the
peu ot Sir Alan J. Cobham, England's
peerless ail' pioneer, who at present
is etrcumnavigatieg the African .00n-
tioeut to plan airroutes for England,
Sir Alan Is accompanied by ills wife,
Lady Cobham, and four assistlmnts, in
an' all steel sea Plane aha is;'biaziug
new and progressive air petite which
will forerun the establislune1it,of per-
manent air co°n munications t�dtii the
vast, British possessions in the e Daily
• eoi'ltineut. His article tells the' story
of air development in pert • ie follows:
In the course of my work during the
past Ave or six years I have seen
many parts of the world.
My waudetings have taken me over
every capital In Europe and over the
length and breadth of the great Atei
can continents 'e '
More then 'once I have traveled
over the great Syrian Desert to Iizdia,
Berne and back, and only repentlY I
Journeyed all the way to Australia
and return via Rangoon, Singapore,
and the Dutch East Indies.
Yet with all these wanderings it
was not until a Sew mouths ago that
I made my first steamship voyage,
when I crossed front Southampton to
New York.
Hitherto my journeys had been
made in the air; and my mode os
transport was an airplane or `seaplane
and when I reflect on my various ex-
ploits, somehow I feel that.my mem-
ories and Impressions of the coun-
tries I have visited are far more vivid
and realistic than are the memories
of the individual who has traveled by
steamship, train, or motor car.
Studying Archeology By Air. -'
Early in 1923 I made a circular
tour, covering about 12,000 miles,
over Europe, Egypt, Palestine, Al-
geria, Morocco, 'and Spain. _iy pas-
senger was an old frietnd whose great-
est hobbies 7 were . travel agd Fthe
study of ancient
o> izations.
We had. flRvnth i
ond o
P
miles together on previous occasions,
but this trip was a little more ambiti-
ous. From- London we ffew to Pari?,
through France, along the Riviera
then over the Mediterranean to Africa
coast litre, across Italy to Greece, and
and Egypt.
Then, for the first time in history,
we flew we rpss the whole breadth of
Africa, from Egypt to _Morocco, after
which we crossed the Strait of Gib -
ratter and by way of Spain and
'mace returned to London, `
The final stage of our journey. from
Madrid to London, was made in one
day. We breakfasted in Madrid, had
lunch in Bordeaux, sipped afternoon
tea on the airdrome of Lympne, thus
completing with a wartime machine a
tour of more than 19,000 miles with
out any preliminary organization or
set route.
Planning a Flight tq India,
of Expert Marksmen.
On our homeward journey through
India we were the guests of the Ma-
htiraja. of Datia,.where we stayed a
t few days. The Prime Minister told
lits `that, whoa he had arrived in Datia
some years before, he had found the
piece infested with monkeys,' whloh
were rapidit destroying the roofs of
all the buildings. These cunning
creatures "were addicted to the de-
lightful pastime of 'tearing heavy
tiles off the roofs of the houses and
throwing them down on the passers"
by in the streets, sometimes with fa-
tal results..In the course of time they,
had developed' a breed of monkey
marksmen who seldom missed.
. Now Datta is a Hindu state, and
the followers of this religion have a
tenet which forbids the taking of life
of any sort; so title monkeys were left
unmolested. The ziew Prime Minister
decided that something must be doom;
and'so he advised the Maharaja to of-
fer s rul,ees as reward for every mon,
key captured and brought alive to the
cages outside the palace.
The 'news of this drastic action
spread all over the countryside and
was Strongly coudenumed by the Ma-
haraja
aharaja or a neighboring state. The'.
critic even went so far, as to say that'',
he was fond . of monkeys, and that
they were allowed to roam about his
domain unmolested.
.In the n eantime+oat-Datia hundreds
monkeys were., bei'ug captured daily,
and very soon there was not a simian
left roaming -free, The Prime Minis-
ter was now faced with the problem
of disposing of them. He hit upon
the bright idea of having them packed
in baskets and loaded on board a spe-
cial train which was dispatched to the
neighboring state of the Maharaja.
who professeda liking for monkeys.
When the train arrived in the chief
town, several hundred ?Hiles from
Datta, the animals were unloadeti and
'let loose as a special gift to the pb-
tentate.
It was a huge practical joke, and
was talked' of all over India, The poor
Maharaja, who had condenmed Detia's
action could say nothing, although in-
wardly he must have been furious.
A Longltudinal-•Servey bf Africa
By Air.
After more than three months away
from home l' landed on the Croydon
airdrome in the early spring, com-
pleting the first °f e. series of three
big eights of survey of Empire • Air
Routes.
Our next big light was front Lon-
don to Cape Town and back, For this
trip I selected the identical De Havil-
land type 50 plane:that had taken us
to Rangoon and back, but instead of
the old -type engine, , we installed a
Jaguar, In order to negotiate easily
the high-altitude airdromes in the
Tropics, where the atmosphere is
much rarefied, it was necessary to
Ave the extra horsepower.
We had traveled ,nearly 3,000 miles
up the Meier •ih'lie from thei'Mediter-
ranean co -este yet at Mongalla we
were only about 1.,000 feet above sea
level. Ti;the next two or three hun-
dred miles, howeyer, the ground rose
suddenly, and at JInja, on the shores
of Lake Victoria, we found ourselves
on the high plateau of central Africa,
more than 4,000 feet above sea level.
Owing to the heat, the altitude and
other local conditions, the density
of • the atmosphere was very different
from that of northern Europe. At
times the air in central Africa on
some of the landing grounds was
equivalent to the atmosphere at 10,-
000 feet in England, and it was here
that we found the need for our extra
horsepower in order to take off and
climb away on the rarefied air.
Near JInja we saw the Ripon Falls,
the source of the White Nile ,and the
only outlet to the great Lake Victoria,
Flying Through the Mists of Victoria
Falls 50 Feet Above the Brink.
•
In the autumn of 192- Air Vice -
Marshal Sir 'Sefton Brancker ''tad' to
make a journey- to India in connection
with the allotting of a port of call and
the building- of a mooring mast for
the future airship service that may
eventually run through to Australia.
As Director of British Chll Avia-
tion. Sir Sefton Branckner maintain-
ed that he ought to fly to his destina-
tion: but the Treasury urged that
Government officials should travel by
the cheapeest route, and as the cost
of a special airplane to dy to India
and hack was far in excess of the
cost of a first-class steamship passage
and return, the Treasury could not
see its way clear to grant the sum of
money necessary. However, on learn-
ing that the aviation industry was.
willing to support the flight, the
Treasury became more lenient and a
good portion of the expense of the
journey was allotted.
The Director decided that, as we
were going to fly to India, 'and pos-
sibly beyond to � Rangoon; in Burma,
he would make it a flight of survey
and would endeavor to ascertain the
best air route. ;
We had a depressing and tedious
journey through Europe in the win-
tertime, for we left London in 1y ovem-
ber, and it was not until the Isers'ian
Gulf was reached that . we met the
sunshine. I was greatly impressed
by the many weird and wonderful
rock formations along the hundreds
ofmiles of forbidding coast line from
Iraq down the Persian Gulf, then over
the Gulf of Oman to India.
It was winter in India and the
weather was perfect., As . Sir. Sefton
Brancker wished to visit one .pr .two
places where it would , be impossible
to laud an airplane, ha went on by
train from Karachi, which 'wasour
first port of call: in India. Here a big
mooring mast is being erected for the
future airship service, and this port is
also the terminus of the air Bee - that
is now in .,operation between Egypt
and India.
Our flight from Karachi to Deihl
was via the Thar, or Indian, Desert
and Jodhpur, On the first day we but-
eessluliy crossed the desert, a journey.
of several hundred, miles,' and,' having
located a big river, -I began to look
air Id for the town of Jodhpur.
Lece�lceys of patia Developed a -Breed
Of our journeys through Tanganyi-
ka and Northern Rhodesia there is no
space to tell in this article. oDut we
cannot pass by the Victoria Falls
without describing how the Zambezi,
which is a mile and a quarter wide at
this pointy flows,., ently on its -e-ay
and when. seen /from ale airplane
seems suddenly- t6 disappear into a
crack in the earth,
This great African river falls for
360 to 400 feet into a narrow chasm.
In the center of this deft is the only
outlet, a narrow gorge through which
all the mighty 'waters have to escape.
On this flight. to Cape Town I had
with me a professional cinemato-
grapher, Emmott, in addition to my
engineer of the England-to-Indfa trip,
and while Emmett` took the motion
pietnrda, Elliott used to try to take
the still pictures. When we bad
flown beyond the falls the sight was
so magnificent that we decided to
come down low and take a close-up
picture of the brinit.
This manoeuvre was interfered With
by the continual banks of `spray,
which kept rising and completely, en-
veloped our machine in heavy clouds
of mist as 'we skimmed along only 50
feet above the, brink,
While we were flying at this low
altitude over this perilous country,
our engine falteredand started to
splutter, Elliott and I both realized
1'
u
r.
a. , x; -
-.t .
•
Gt:
We had been' sigzaggiug over the
ewaznp fpr some time and were near.
inF"tho •niereieer lose definite southern
coast when," 'While hying at a height.'
of about 20 feet from the water, we
passed ever a low, strip of land that
jutted out tut° the lake. At that leo-
menE there was a violent explosion
in the cabin!
:Instantly,' thought of fire and sur-
sed that, owing le the great beat in
which we' were flying, one of the cart
ridges for our rocket pistol had ex-.
ploded ,,,Tye would be very. serious,
for it vypula Meet uerfainly have set
;Isstoir';dtelf1;i'beina.tekizi-
I,ed•. thiough - the . cetweeting'' infrom my cockpit toElliot and
we were on`fire. 'He
"Ng, but a gee niperbas buret end,'
hit rap on the arm..,
I'dould see that he' loolcod•very pale
and ie was difficult to shout aboi'e'the
' THE MAKER OF SOUTH.AFRICA ,i
The new statue of ,Cecil Rhodes upon -which John Tweed has worked for
months in England. It will tie erected' in Salisbury, Rhodesia, South, Africa.
what had happened! the spray was so
heavy that water had entered -the car-
buretor. • •
It was an unpleasant nmoment, -fol'
beneath us was the dteep'cltasm and
the turmoil of waters, while- on the
one side we had the River Zambezi
'flowing toward the brink, and on the
other' a dense ,forest jungle; and for
miles' around 'no earthly chance of.
finding a cleared space on which' to
land. ,
I gave the engine full throttle, and
while it banged and spluttered, we
climbed away and headed for our ale-
drome at Livingstone. Fortunately
the carburetor cleared itself of the
drops of water, and ..once 'more our
motor began to purr smoothly.
All the way through Africa we sur-
veyed the possibilities for air routes,
and finally reached Cape Town with
the first airplane to make the cross -
continent flight. Then , after a brief
overhaul of the motor, we turned
about and flew home, making the re-
turn trip in 15 days. '
It "was barely three months later
whin we again set out on another
within a few feet of the river bank.
We flew for‘many miles los this fas-
hion, skimmifig low over the river and
taking our direction from the • bank
which showed up a little.more cleam'.
ly than anything /else through the
dust -laden air-' . e
Dust•Storm Forces a River Landing.
At last, the .air got so thick that I
decided to land on the river and 'wait
for a little while with. thehope that
the storm mightclear. As 'soon as we
alighted,: I turned the- machine to-
wer' the 'bank and. beached it hi- the
soft zuud. Whall always remember
Elliott a enthusiasm for the seaplane
at that 'moment, because, as' he re-
marked, it was sb practical :end safe;
we could take refuge at any moment
on the water beneath us. •
There was a police but near by and
the nature sergeant in charge, after
putting a guard in aur machine, tool;
es inside where, sheltered from the
dust, we rested on native beds that
were quickly put up for us..
l He then sent a horseman off, with
' the note that I gave .him, to the near-
est telegraph station, so that the
long flight of survey. This time it 'authorities would know of our where -
was to be Australia and return, but l abouts and progress. After this where -
was
instead of going =with an airiilane we ! slept from 9.30 to noon, then enjoyed
decided to do the'job with a seaplane.; a refreshing- meal of .tea and melon.
A Fight to. Australia With the Engipe At about 2; o'clock the, storm had
cleared somewhat; so we decided to
make another. attempt.
Sky and Water Melt into One.
We took:, off safely and continued
down the Euphrates, but after about
the,Rangoon and Cape' flights, and fit 50 miles we ran into another bad
it out with a pair of Shorts' duralu- dust storm. As we neared the head of
min all -metal floats. Using the same the great Hammer Lake I could see
Siddeeley Jaguar engine that had that ltwas going to be most difficult
done the Cape flight, we took off from for me to find my way, especially if
the River Medway at Rochester, 33 I went over the open' water. The air
miles east of London, on our 28,000- above me, owing to .the -sand storm,
mile cruise to Australia and back. was a dirty mud color, and the 'water
It was difficult to get pictures on beneath was the same. In fact, all
tillAustralianflight, because we bad around there was sand and one could
purposely chosen to fly through the mot see more than 100 yards ahead.
dry weather period—that is, the hot An Explosion to the Cabin.
Weather in Iraq and India, combined With this poor visibility, 3t was
;with the monsoon in India, Burma, most difficult ' to fly ,especially as ive
and the Malay Peninsula. We wanted were traveling at abdnt 100 miles an
to find out whether it would be pos- hour. I felt that 1f• I went out over
Bible to fly through the torrential the open lake.I might run the risk of
!raids of the Burma coast, thus mak- flying into the water, owing to the
'lug' our survey report alt - the more, similarity acolor in every direction
sound. and the absence of. any visible hors
Tragedy Mars the Australian Flight. ' eon.. Under these conditions it was
The Australian flight was marred
-That Flew to the Cape.
This meant very little alteration in
mire outfit, however, for all we did
was to- take our identical De Havil-
land type 50, that had already done
by disaster, Arthur Elliott my me -necessary for me to hug the swampy
'able and ever loyal engineer, lost his shore line of the lake, so that 3 might
life$ dying in the hospital at Barsa, in hate a view of some sort of Iand that
Iraq: I would give ime my :equilibrium,
Por some unknown reason, possibly: And so we found oursel}es zigzagg-
the! result of overwork in preparing ing in and out along this swampy
for; the flight, I had been suffering shore, feeling our way around the
from depression, 'both mental and. southern edge of the lake in an en-
phyisioal, ever since the start at deavor to get through that dust storm
;Rochester. NElliott, on the other band, !and hoping there would be clear air
!bad been most cheerful, I beyond;
We took off from Baghdad in the ,
early damning, with the iatention of
!following the course of the Euphrates
to Basra—near the Tread of the Per -
sten Gulf. I had not felt lit to start
I,
at {lie early hour of 5 a.m. Elliott and.
!several of the Air ,Force boys had
been looking over the machine while
I endeavored to pull myself • together.'
By18 o'clock I was able to climb luto
!the ship, but was feeling very weak,
See- headed southward from the
River Tigris, seeking the Euphrates.
" It was fair weather when we start.
ed, but after we had gone about 150
miles we ran into a dust storm, which
became worse and worse as we lire'
ceeded Finally, in ordessto find my
way, I was forced to came 'down to
'Home Accident Deaths
Exceed Moth!' ' Car Toll
-
More people are killed and -in-
jured by Balls, burns suffocation
anis poisons in their homes every
year than suffer death or injury in•
autonmobiie accidents, according to,
figures compiled by the National
Safety Council. This was especial-
ly .emphasized last January, when
a total of 1,700 persons were killed
by and in auto ncbiles in the Un-
ited States and 2,020 met their
deaths in home accidents,: accord-
ing the council's figures.
noise of the engine, which I could'no
shut off to glide, gas i'wat, liyidg n1y
20 feet-..•frofit the earth'ssurface,
handed, him a pencil, and paper. H
banded me back a message writteneiu
a shelty hand' to say.the: gas pipe 'ha
burst and hit him in the'arin and the
he' wag bleeding a pot mf .blood.
"What's' Seat .f`dr' k Iliot, "
I had to decide what rte dot . If.
landed -to' render him" first aid .I: ran
great riske: first, of getting stook in
the mud, in whiah=ease we shout& b
unable to get -off again; second, o
being unable to start the engine sin
gle-handed, owing to the terrine hea
of 'the district. ._
I could see that if I lauded in this
wild and desolate..spot, scores of'miles
from any..sont of 'habitattfon,' it would
be a very serious matter if I were- u
able- tc start up and get: away from
it again. I'could ,not lobk around me
I had, to ceneentrate every • second
while I was• fiWing, owing to .the den
sit'.. of the dust 'storm.'
I decided the best'thing,Icould do
w•onld be to race on to Basra'; ;whit
was• about 101), miles farther on, where
I knew, there would be hospitals
white people, and proper orgenizatio
Soon after this we got through Ili
storm and I was able to give the e
gine full' throttle, so that we covere
that 100 miles in about 45 minutes.
When I arrived at Basra I searche
A dience and Stage
" Revolve in Theatre
Berlin -4'111e theatre of the fu-
ture will have not only a revolving
stage, but a revolving audienocras
well, in the opinion of Walter
Gropius, noted architect of Dessau,
He le at work devising a' new type
of theatre to . 3?dWin 'lseetcr, et
Berlin,. director of the only. Com,
mu 1st theatre In Germany.
Gliioplue plans t- tvi d. 1t eft re
in-ww1ihich the pare, ,,v,itlt it au lle
encer can be 'turned at an angle of
180 degrees.' The spectators will
thus suddenly find themselves
tranpported to another part of the
round theatre, whera they 'a' i ,see
e different etage setting from that.
upon which they gazed at the pre-
vi°lie angle,
t.
nside,' and when I, climbed! on board
and idspeeted thealnslde wait• I eu'lled
e; out - a mail bag and a' dispatch ease
each of which had been drilled -by .a
missile, -
t It suddenly' dawned upon me •tl}at
we had been shot at and that it:was
o not a burst gas pipe that had wound-
ed ,Elliot A .bullet had passed
through the dispatch, ,case . right
through the gas'pipe,",t?hea�, had enter-,
e' ed Elliot's left arm, shattering the
p bone,- passed en into his left sideg,
_: pierced both lobes of •the, left lung anti
t 'finally buried itself in his back.
We had been shot' at by an Arab
' and the noise of the "'explosion 'that
we hadlheard;•had been the aring'.of
the gun at close range,__
un I received an .order from the, Air
Porge dlredting me:to go: out to the
airdrome, •'about 20 miles away, so
that on the . foilowing':.inorning, ' et
• dawn; I could lead a squadron of air-
plane's to the -place where the tragedy
had occurred.
h About twelve '. -o'clock that nl'ght
there was a telephone call front the
, hospital. When I answered it I"could
n, not understand, or, at .least, could not
e believe what the. operator • was telling
n- me, and so• handed the receiver lover
d to the: commanding officer, who 'port-
ly repeated the words:" Elliot passed
d' away at 11.45."
for a urud bank where I might beach
the machine : without damaging the
floats, but I. knew that it was goin
to be a one-man job.
I spotted. a. place, came . down, and
the moment 3 touched 'the water
made straight for this bank andira
my •floats high and dry on the - shore.
Elliot, Mortally 'Hurt, Thinks Fitrst
Of the Engine. .
I climbed out of the cockpit and
lifted 'the lidof 'the cabin.
• Elliot ;nos in a terrible .conditipn
He sat huddled in the corner, So pale
that he was almost green. He could
hardly speak. He ` just murmured to
me that' he was sure that he had
hole in his side from which he was
breathing.'•
I managed to lift him in my arm
but of the cabin, then on to the wings
and so down to the floats.
There is one little episode which I
shall never :forget; it goes to prove
grow devoted •Elliot was to his job. •,
It so happened that, with our air
cooled engine, the bottom cylinder
were upside down In prder to pre
vent the oil from draining into them
when• the engine. wasn't running It
was. necessary to turn' the oil off im
the engine stopped: There
fore, one of Elliot's jobs on landing
was to turn the ofI off when the mo-
tor stopped. As3 had him. '10 my
arms, staggering' down on the floats,
he turned to me and said,t"Doa't for-
get to turn the oil off." ` `
Here was a man, suffering `agonies,
hardly able to breathe, and yet he
could remember to' tell me to perform
the routine necessary to maintain
that aircraft!
I had to lay Elliot down on the mu
bank and get him some cotton woo
from our first-aid. bag.. I did what I
could to dress his wounds. There was
a hole in his left side beneath.the
arm, as well as in the arm itself.
I wanted to get a stretcher and
ran 'to a house` where the natives
closed the door in my face. Just at
that moment: a, launch came along
and in it were some officials of the
Anglo -Persian Oil do.-
Quickly
o -
Quickly we went to 'another native
house, and. this time I put my foot in
the door and took the first bed that I
could find.
I think the natives were frightened
at the sight of blood,, -as wer had dif-
ficulty in getting them to help us.
Very soon we had lifted Elliot on to
the improvised stretcher and bad' him
on board the launch, and tali minutes
eater he was Inside the manager's
bungalow, with cool air and all hands
working.
The doctor arrived and'all, that
could be done was done. It. could not
have been more than an hour and a
half after the accident that Elliot was
in 'the 'hospital and all help possible
was being rendered.. Then I turned
to my machine, which had been tow•
ed up into a backntater near the Air
Porte depot in Basra:,
The Mystery Solved—A Bullet,
• The news was a terrible shock to
me, .for I had no idea that -he, would
g succumb to the -wounds.: . '
- The' Arab'Apsassin is Captured,:
I waited until 4 a.m.,' and then, as
I dawn. came; we took off, and by re.
n tracing my route of the preyioiis day
I came to the spot where -I felt sure
the gun had' been fired, •
One, of the 'officers/ who was .in an-
other :machine, on a 'signal :from the
commanding, officer, landed. He its-
•- certalned from a-aocal encampment
that- tribes had been'thei.'e -the pre-
vious day. That started the investiga,
tion which resulted in the nitimate
a
capture of.the culprit; wlio later oou-
fessed, .his ,only excuse being that he
wouldn't have: committed the crime if
s he -had had any idea that he was go-
ing to be found out.
Some of these tribes have beten in
the habit ot raiding the. villages in
that part of -the ;world for centuries, -
but
that, part
have ,had their ac-
• tivities. curtailed by the :Royal Air
s Force, Thus ,many have no love for
• airplanes, and this,:I suppose, was
the animus -back of the action. ,
After ,this terrible 'tragedy,, ;which
m meant the loss'of.,one of the world's
finest aircraftniaiutenance• engineers,
I did not want to continuetthe flight,.
but cables received from England, ea-
pecially those front Sir Samuel Hoare,
Sir Charles Wakefield, and from my
-wife, all expressing sytnjiathy, urged
meto,pioceed-' I decided that I would
complete the job.
The Air Porte sent hie a substitute
mechanic; Sergeant; 'Weide of the.
Royal Air •force;: who was serving
with his squadron near Basra. And
flso, a fortnight Tater, we continued the
journey. .,
Owing 'to the lack of sunshine be-
yond Iraq, we found.it.diffcult to get
any aerial pictures on the Australian
flightLand it was u'ot until 'ire arrived
-in.Java that we met•with regular sun-
shine.
I shall always have .a vivid memory
of our arrival in Melbourne, where
mere than 150,000 people had gather-
ed to meet us. It was with difficulty,
that we. could find space euough to
get down on the airdrome, for we had
changed over from a seaplane • to
wheels on arrival at Darwin, in north
ern Australia.
IL it load not been for the polico
and the Australian Alr Forget shud-
der to think of .what might have been
our fate had the enthusiastic crowd
got hold of us.
The ,commanding officer,. asked me
1.'5 relate the experience and I told
him exactly; what had happened, and
before!"finished my story two young
officers left the room, Soon they re-
turned and asked me to folio* them
down to the machine.
"First," they asked, "why should a
gas pipe, with no pressure in it what-
ever burst?"
I couldn't imagine how it, had oc•
Ctirred,
Then they pointed to a hole in the
side of the cabin and told me to look
Torr;entlal' Rains Iniptcls Return
i to London.
The homeward journey, when our
craft was .oneei more converted.ba;dk
to a seaplane, was beset with tlifficttt-
ties, especially when we were caught
in the monsoon storms in the region
of Victoria Point: Here the rain fell
live inches a day, and at times It was
impossible to, see. more• than 20 yards
ahead. Whereas 'the rainfall in 80 Eng-
land averages about Inches) Over
the twelve months, the annual raid-;
fall along the Burma coast, where 1t
all comes within a period of about
five months, is anything up to 900
Indies!
At last, we got back to London, and
ended our 28,000 -mile flight of stu•vey
by landing on the Thames opposite
the Houses of Parliament.
I look forward to the day when It,
will be possible for all mankind to
enjoy the delights of flying such as'
'have been my privilege during the
past $even year's.
No One in -Trinidad
Inteeste+cl ' in Gold
Loaded on Ship There by Lone
Negro—New York Met
' It With "Army"
,New /York' A' lotetetoly negro
trundled a sgtiealtiag wheelbarrow.,
with 8100,000 In "gold specie through,
the streets of Trinidad a tele days ago
and no one paid upy a•M)to •tion le trim,
The 'go'ld has 01191 arriVetjr' °litre on
boarethe Vauban of the Lamport & t
Bolt Trine.' A halfkdozen cleteectives
tcamg eboard in Itoboken. Capt. E,- It,
Williams was puzzled,
altl e't;e conte V guard your gold," °
er lneormed hien, adding that more
guarde would arrive soon -to safe-
guards the money on he trip to the
New York banks to which It Is con-
signed, '
That drew "a smile from';p aptain
Wiliibms wRh,o ex launed' lioe Lhw
shaky wheelbarrow ,had made six
tripe'tlii'ough the streets of Trinidad,
transporting the poxes.. plainly mails•
ed "Gold ' with no one to guard it , ,
h '9i• Hie= oo-e er i
other tan 'the no t u get a,-../'�--
iportei�•• ,..
"Waat a difference!"'i'he "added,
n;imt t think a;nlee 4p money up
he When you sei'rd out•trtn army to
guard 'it."—'Chrisden Science Monitor.
Cans You ,Trust Men?
'v
You.don't lam*lam*hom`you ban trust
these days, do Yen? Every fellow out.,
for himtiself, willing to cut under you,•
for his own;persoual,gain, ego
Well, let's, get out of 'here.
somewhero., where you can trust' your
fellow man, But it'e a bad night to.
go out: Dari{, stormy and' windy. •_.
What's the big line ,overhead? Oh,
merely se high-tension wire with thou
-
sande of volts of electricity in it. But
you didn't think anything of walking
under dt. ,f:.+Y u'ienew the linema h5d •
made it safe./" e"� l I-1
Now we'll get ni •e4exi ant ridd toy:
the etation. Got to hurry,'if we're 18
catch the' train.. This f�.tiowcertainly
knows: how to drive, Takes'' a steady
hand tp keep qut of a crash; but we'll
not worry about that. -
Bumb! Big hole in the stree t.'•
Terrific strain on the springs and the
car. But nothing breaks. :Sweating
men at forge and lathe lied done their -
work `well. 'The others who fastened_,•
the nuts':and bola -when the car was
'assembled'•did their work. ' '
• Web, here"zva are at' Ole station.
We crawl into our ' berths' .and go •
.peacefully to sleep. ' The train plows
on through the darkand storm. One •"
man at the throttle' holds the wellebe- . ,
ing of hundreds in his hand. Water •
streams against the , glass- through
which he peers out„ at the. fight of
way. One signal missed and destruc-
tion awake, Yet some other man,' a
nonentity in the cosmic sphdvne, has
seen. to' it that all signal lights are
hauling. • '
And other obscure toilers who have
repaired the track that day have (:
gauged' it and tasteied' it in its proper
place, . .And so it. goes. Every, day we
trust our fellow men, men in far-off
places, men whom we never see, men "
who, in the routine of their bread -
winning, are their brothers' keepers.
Oli,'yes, thefei are. men .you -can•'
trust!—Pittsburgh Press.
TREES GREAT DRINKERS
But They Have'Per'iods When
They "Cut It Out" '
Trees are confirmed drinkers. No
solids for them; .They have no tem-
perate habits. They drink continu-
ouslr or not at ail. Thus' they live
and grow as '.extreiniste' and are
'either destroyed or die of old age un-
reformed. In fact, the Voider they,
are the harder they drink and' the
greater'their thirst. But no tree was,.
ever fond the worse for drinking.,
When timet' sleep in Winter they go,
to the other 'extreme and are tetotal
ere, but with the first sunshine and
thawuloous haf Sbits. pring hey their
resumtheir'bib
The liquid food oe the sea is brew-'
ed in this ground. Meter, is they im
portant ingredient, Billions ot.bae-
teria work t° make soluble many cub- '
stances .ho theli maybe dissolved by •
water and taken into the , circulatory
system of the tree-- The tiny roots
of the tree diink this life fluid; which
is lifted hundreds of feet as if by a,
miracle, defying the lawsof gravity
without any moving machinery. This
fluid is distributed to the branches,
thence to the leaves„ tap stomaoh`lof
She tree, where another oracles per-
formed when the 110114 is digested
and made ready to'1IO formed"..Into
wood, 1
The tree grows yea,• by year, like
a periOpz 111 height an girth. If the
ices /alis in lire forest billions. of
bacteria will get !told of It, and with .,
the help of air end strn and mofliture
Ite substance will eventually be trans
formed,„into Ole 11051(13 -foot! for other
trees;
The pen 1s mightier than the sword
iiecetue6 l.t ip neer. tri sign contracts
for building anneal euis.
Few middle.aged,moi, take up the
bareheaded fad bota.ure they realize
it is easier to check a hat, than 0 cold.
ProblbitfoI'may' have removed. ono
rail from sone old-time saloon, hilt ti
pieced one mere cit the volitical fence