Deckmbkr, 10 19 



GI. KANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Joltiii^:, as tluMo is in an autoinobilo on a 

 roug-li road. It was so smooth that it was 

 impossible to tell exactly when we took the 

 air. It was glorious. It excelled all my 

 dreams. Language is totally inadequate to 

 describe the wonder of rushing thru the air, 

 gradually circling higher and higher. I re- 

 member thinking, "If I never get down 

 alive, at least I shall have been blissfully 

 hajipy in my last moments. ' ' 



Presently the pilot turned aroun<l, smiled 

 sociably thru the celluloid wind shield and 

 started a conversation. I wanted to tell him 

 that altho his jiassenger might look insignifi- 

 cant, four people on the field below^ valued 

 her highly and he better watch his driving. 

 His voice came back quite distinctly above 

 the whir of the motor, but when I attempted 

 a polite reply there wasn't the slightest 

 sound. That rushing wind must have forced 

 my voice right down my throat. He had the 

 advantage because his back was to the wind 

 when he s{)oke to me. "Now we are going 

 over your home," he told me. Sure enough, 

 there was our house, directly beneath. We 

 were flying comparatively low at that time 

 and everything was beautifully distinct and 

 distinctly beautiful. Sometimes I fret be- 

 cause the lawn is not mowed as often as it 

 should be; but, from above, it and the shrub- 

 bery looked as trim and neat as one could 

 wish. In fact, the town and surrounding 

 country with its forest trees were more 

 bcautilul than I had imagined they could 

 look. 



Mrs. Einehart said the California land- 

 scape was not beautiful from an airplane, 

 that towns were hideous from above. Oh, 

 Mrs. Einehart, do come to beautiful Ohio to 

 fly next time. You went up in the wrong 

 state, or was it state of mind? Maybe that 

 banana lunch gave you indigestion. I 

 imagine I know' where j)art of the difference 

 was. Going up in an airplane flattens out a 

 landscape amazingly. The beauty of Ohio 

 will stand the flattening process. Her beau- 

 ty is in her complexion, so to speak. Cali- 

 fornia, whose beauty is largely in her eon- 

 tour, her mountains and valleys, probably 

 suffers much from the flattening. Also I was 

 fortunate enough to go up after an unusual 

 amount of rain, for the season, and every- 

 thing was luxuriantly green. California, 

 after her rainless summer, w^as dry and 

 brown except in irrigated spots. 



And whatever may be said of other towns, 

 iledina was anything but hideous from 

 above. The houses were nestled among 

 trees; the lawns were green velvet; shrub- 

 bery softened outlines; and if there were 

 any untidy back yards, they w^ere not in evi- 

 dence. The farms cut up into fields of dif- 

 ferent colors and the roads converging in 

 the little town gave the landscape a maplike 

 look, it is true, but such a glorified map. 

 Even foundries and manufacturing plants 

 looked different and interesting. They tell 

 me that, altho I was not quite the first Me- 

 dina County woman to fly, I was the first 

 to fly over my own county. I imagine flying 



over a country with wliicli you are familiar 

 is much more interesting than flying over a 

 strange region. It is such fun to try to pick 

 out familiar landmarks from above, and to 

 watch them draw up together as you climb 

 higher. 



After being in the air some minutes, per- 

 haps when we were at the highest (wasn't it 

 a shame I never knew the altometer was 

 right in front of me until I came down!), we 

 seemed to be suspended motionless in space, 

 between earth and sky, the landscape slip- 

 ping smoothly beneath us, turning in an ac- 

 comodating way to show its different beau- 

 tics and occasionally tilting up on the right 

 hand or left. It was difficult to realize we 

 were rushing thru the air and the old earth 

 was just as steady as usual. About that 

 time the pilot said, "Now we are going over 

 the field where we started." It occurred to 

 me to gracefully wave my hand to let my 

 friends know I had not slumped down in a 

 faint. By that time I had discovered it was 

 not necessary to keep my 117 pounds avoir- 

 dupois rigidly motionless in order to pre- 

 serve balance. The machine seemed every 

 bit as steady and dependable as our old fam- 

 ily automobile. But as I attempted to wave 

 my hand that afore-mentioned rushing wind 

 carried it clear around back of me. It did- 

 n 't matter. If I had waved a bedspread I 

 don't suppose those little human insects on 

 that field far below could have seen me. 



The pilot seemed anxious to instruct me. 

 He said, "Now watch the tail while we 

 turn. ' ' I did. Then he showed me how he 

 went up or down. Finally he said he was 

 going to stop the motor. That was the cul- 

 minating bliss of the whole 15 minutes. The 

 swoop thru the air without the loud purr of 

 the motor is like the soar of an eagle. If 

 ever the Puerden family owns an airplane, 

 I hope mufflers will be fashionable and the 

 boys will not want to use the cut-out when 

 they take mother for a ride. 



One always has to come to earth after a 

 beautiful experience and this was no ex- 

 ception. And I can bear w^itness that while 

 it is joyfully thrilling to fly yourself it is 

 not exactly joyful to stand on the field be- 

 low and watch your husband and children 

 fly, one at a time. Then is when your 

 imagination misbehaves. When the great 

 bird carries off your little twelve-year-old 

 daughter, turning to smile back, you feel 

 like Heroil. 



But they all came down safely, and if the 

 family purse was light the family heart was 

 still lighter. 



Twenty years from now it may be as dif- 

 ficult to find anyone who has not been up 

 in an airplane as it is now to find one who 

 has not ridden in an automobile. Travel by 

 water is necessarily limited to certain re- 

 gions. Eailroads cannot cross the ocean. 

 But air encircles the earth and offers un- 

 limited possibilities to travelers of the fu- 

 ture, and I believe the time is not distant 

 when we shall all consider air travel not 

 only the most delightful but the safest. 



