Santos

“ One evening I was at El Ombú, and was just starting for home, when Santos saw me, and cried out, "Get off and let your horse go, Nicandro. I am going to the monastery to-morrow, and you shall ride the laden horse, and save me the trouble of leading it. You will be like a little bird perched on his back and he will not feel your few ounces' weight. You can sleep on a sheepskin in the kitchen, and get up an hour before daybreak." ”

“ The human voice cannot mount up into these boundyless solitudes. Human beings are like ants along the white lines that represent roads. The rows of houses are like playthings.
“SANTOS-DUMONT NO. 1” While my gaze was still held fascinated, a cloud passed before the sun. Its shadow cooled the gas in the balloon, which wrinkled and began descending, gently at first, and then with accelerated speed, against which we strove by throwing ballast overboard. ”

“ He, Santos Ugarte, was older, I know, greyer, when that great misfortune and calamity came to one whom God had created [Pg 19] so strong, so brave, so noble. And all on account of a slave, a youth born at El Ombú, who had been preferred above the others by his master. For, as it is said, we breed crows to pick our eyes out. But I will say nothing against that poor youth, who was the cause of the disaster, for it was not wholly his fault. Part of the fault was in Santos—his indomitable temper and his violence. ”

“ The newspaper men of Paris would be my Scientific Commission. As I had excluded myself from trying for the Santos-Dumont prize I naturally wished to show that it would not be impossible to fulfil its conditions. My "No. 5"—composed of the enlarged balloon of the "No. 4" and the new keel, motor, and propeller already described—was now ready for trial. In it, on the first attempt, I fulfilled the conditions of my own prize foundation. ”

“ Santos-Dumont, without ceasing his work on the "lighter than air" also makes very important studies on the "heavier than air", and it is him who managed to "fly" in this memorable day, in front of a numerous public.
... it remains a fact that it has risen in space, without balloon, and it is an "important" victory for the supporters of the "heavier than air".
It is now (October 23) the complete victory of the "heavier than air: Santos-Dumont has demonstrated in an indisputable way that it is possible to rise from the ground by its own means and to maintain itself in the air." ”

“ From my round bay window at the corner I looked down upon the air-ship. Were I to receive the municipal permission it would not be difficult to build an ornamental landing-stage out from that window.
"No. 9." M. SANTOS-DUMONT LANDS AT HIS OWN DOOR
Projects like these will constitute work for the future. Meanwhile the aerial idea is making progress. A small boy of seven years of age has mounted with me in the "No. 9," and a charming young lady has actually navigated it alone for something like a mile. The boy will surely make [301] an air-ship captain if he gives his mind to it. ”

“ But we might as well say that because men have gone to their deaths in unsafe vessels, a Columbus should not be encouraged to sail out upon unknown seas.
↑ In the early morning of May 12, 1902, M. Augusto Severo, a Brazilian like M. Santos-Dumont, accompanied by his mechanician, Sachet, started from Paris on a first trial trip with the dirigible ‘‘Pax,’’ the invention and construction of M. Severo. The ‘‘Pax’’ rose at once to a height almost double that of the Eiffel Tower, when, for reasons unknown, it exploded and came crashing down with its two passengers. ”

“ All at once, while over the fortifications of Paris, near La Muette, the screw-propeller touched and cutthe suspension-cords, which were sagging behind. I was obliged to stop the motor instantly; and at once I saw my air-ship drift straight back to the Eiffel Tower. I had no means of avoiding the terrible danger, except to wreck myself on the roofs of the Trocadero quarter. Without hesitation I opened the manœuver-valve, and sent my balloon downward.
SANTOS-DUMONT NO. 4 At 32 meters (106 feet) above the ground, and with the noise of an explosion, it struck the roof of the Trocadero Hotels. ”

“ You must not risk your life again by taking a petroleum motor into the air.’’
I said to myself: ‘‘Errors do not count. Little by little I shall correct the defects that have been revealed by my accidents; and I shall end in complete success.’’
The First Flight Around the Eiffel Tower
Accordingly, during the same year, I built a new balloon, the ‘‘Santos-Dumont No. 3.’’ Its principal measurements were: Capacity, 500 cubic meters (17,655 cubic feet) ; length, 20 meters (66 feet) ; middle diameter, 7 meters. 50 (25 feet) . The basket and machine remained the same ”

“ The air-ship, carried by the impetus of its great speed, passed on as a racehorse passes the winning-post, as a sailing yacht passes the winning-line, as a road racing automobile continues flying past the judges who have snapped its time. ”

“ Who knows when a European power will threaten an American state? Who can say if in the present war we won't see a European power come to take over a South American territory? Is war between the United States and a European country impossible? ”

“ Nothing is more delicious than lunching like this above the clouds in a spherical balloon. No dining-room can be so marvellous in its decoration. The sun sets the clouds in ebullition, making them throw up rainbow jets of frozen vapour like great sheaves of fireworks all around the table. ”

“ In the long, sun-bathed Brazilian afternoons, when the hum of insects, punctuated by the far-off cry of some bird, lulled me, I would lie in the shade of the verandah and gaze into the fair sky of Brazil, where the birds fly so high and soar with such ease on their great outstretched wings, where the clouds mount so gaily in the pure light of day, and you have only to raise your eyes to fall in love with space and freedom. ”

“ And he sent some wicked soldiers to this holy father, and they seized him and brought him to him, and they beat him, as they dragged him over the ground, and he arrived in the presence of the governor with his blood dropping on the ground. And the governor said unto him, “Deny Christ and worship the gods.” And the saint answered and said unto him, “I will not worship filthy stones, I will worship only my Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God. Cursed art thou, and thy filthy idols, and cursed are those who worship them.” ”

“ Mighty, virtuous, and esteemed lord, the great cacique of Tascaluca, my lord, sendeth by me to kiss your lordship's hands, and to let you understand that he hath notice how you justly ravish with your perfections and power, all men on the earth and that every one by whom your lordship passeth, doth serve and obey you, which he acknowledgeth to be due unto you, and desireth, as his life, to see and to serve your lordship. ”

“ It is incredible and yet true that, in the kingdom of the wise, to which all of us flatter ourselves we belong, it is always the fools who finish by being in the right. I had read that Montgolfière was thought a fool, until the day when he stopped his insulters’ mouths by launching the first spherical balloon into the heavens. ”

“ Today, when aviation is recognized as one of the main weapons of war, when every European nation possesses tens of thousands of aircrafts, when the American Congress has just ordered the construction of 22,000 of these machines and is already drafting a law ordering the construction of a new, even larger series; when Argentina and Chile have a splendid air fleet of war, we, here, still do not face this problem with the attention it deserves! ”

“ To those watching my return, from the terraces of Monte Carlo and Monaco town, as they told me afterwards, the air-ship increased in size at every instant, like a veritable eagle bearing down upon them. As the wind was coming toward them they could hear the low, crackling rumble of my motor a long distance off. Faintly, now, their own shouts of encouragement came to me. Almost instantly the shouts grew loud. Around the bay a thousand handkerchiefs were fluttering. ”

“ Let us hope, then, for the victory of the allies; may the ideas of President Wilson triumph, and may Prussian militarism be extinguished on earth. Just as with present-day Poland society has suppressed the armed citizens, the desired Army of Nations will suppress the killings of war.
Confident in this future, I was comforted by the message from the President of the Aeronautical Club of America, in which I heard, again, of aeronautics for peaceful purposes, realization of my innermost ambitions, dream of those inventors who only saw in the airplane a collaborator in the happiness of men. ”

“ Villages and woods, meadows and chateaux, pass across the moving scene, out of which the whistling of locomotives throws sharp notes. These faint, piercing sounds, together with the yelping and barking of dogs, are the only noises that reach one through the depths of the upper air. ”

“ Of this glory, most Christian king, God Almighty gives you so large a share in this life that all the enemies of the holy catholic church of Christ our Lord tremble at your exalted name; whence you most justly deserve to be named the strength of the church. ”

“ Prize or no prize, I must work, and I shall always work in this my chosen field of aerostation. For this my place is Paris, where the public, in particular the kindly and enthusiastic populace, both knows and trusts me. Here, in Paris, I go up for my own pleasure day by day, as my reward for long and costly experiment.
In England and America it is quite different. When I take my air-ships and my employees to those countries, build my own balloon house, furnish my own gas plant, and risk breaking machines that cost more than any automobile, I want it to be done with a settled aim. ”

“ No, we mourn for Santiago, and pray our dear Lord to compassionate a country so piteously torn by revolutions, and abandoned by those who should be first to hear the cry that comes over the land to all Catholics, "Send us priests who have an apostolic spirit, good judgment, and tact!" ”

“ Then for safety we throw out more ballast, and rise through the black solitudes of the clouds into a soul-lifting burst of splendid starlight. There, alone with the constellations, we await the dawn.
And when the dawn comes, red and gold and purple in its glory, one is almost loth to seek the earth again, although the novelty of landing in who knows what part of Europe affords still another unique pleasure. ”

“ So it is to-day with the automobile. Imagine the united labours and financial sacrifices of the engineers and manufacturers that led, step by step, up to the road-racing automobiles of the Paris-Berlin competition in 1901—the year in which the only working dirigible balloon then in existence won the Deutsch prize against a time limit that was thought by many a complete bar to success. ”

“ One is alone in the black void—true, in a murky limbo, where one seems to float without weight, without a surrounding world—a soul freed from the weight of matter. Yet now and again there are the lights of earth to cheer one. ”

“ It was on this day that my great popularity in Paris began; therefore, I also take the occasion to pay tribute to the people of Paris.
It was thanks to the constant applause and encouragement that my colleagues and I received that we found the strength, in the face of so many failures and dangers, to continue the fight. It is therefore to the farsightedness of the people of the City of Light that the world owes air travel.
Not only the people encouraged me in my experiments, but also society, the high authorities and all the writers. ”

“ On such a cross, he continued, the Lord of heaven and earth suffered death, we believed in him only, and prayed to him as the only true God, Jesus Christ, who [Pg 94] suffered death for the salvation of the human race; who rose again on the third day, and ascended into heaven, that he would again appear to hold judgment over the living and the dead. Upon this followed everything that was edifying, which the Indians comprehended well, and which they assured us they would relate to their monarch. ”

“ Like all human devices, however, the guide rope, along with its advantages, has its inconveniences. Its rubbing along the uneven surfaces of the ground—over fields and meadows, hills and valleys, roads and houses, hedges and telegraph wires—gives violent shocks to the balloon. Or it may happen that the guide rope, rapidly unravelling the snarl in which it has twisted itself, catches hold of some asperity of the surface or winds itself around the trunk or branches of a tree. ”

“ What is the difference between a worshiper who thus seeks indulgence through the worship of an image in Brazil and a like worshiper with a like soul need bowing before a similar wooden image in Africa or China?
CHAPTER VII. PENANCE AND PRIEST.
Confession and penance play a large part in the religious life of the common people. The priests exercise great ingenuity to preserve the confessional. The better educated classes have long ago deserted the confessional, but it still holds sway over the common people and hangs like a dark shadow over the immoral deeds of the priests. ”

“ A few years ago the submarine-boat occupied the same category as the air-ship in our consciousness ; and it is only yesterday that a British submarine-boat drowned its entire crew while under cautious experiment in protected waters! Yet there are few who doubt to-day that hostile submarine-boats rather than inexplicable carelessness with respect to their own mines destroyed the Russians' men-of-war and cruisers.
So it will be with the air-ship in war. The first successful one has but to appear, and the world will forget all its unfavourable judgments. ”