Newspaper Page Text
VOL. XVI. NO. 22
WON BRIDE
WHILE IN
“THE MB”
EW YORK. — “I needed
about 100 pounds or so ex
tra weight, and so, when I
saw her in the crowd as we
were getting ready to
go up in the balloon, I ask
ed her to take the trip
with me —I had known for
a long time that she want
ed to have a flight in the
air.”
And so Dr. Sidney S.
Stowell took Miss Blanche
Edith Hulse “up in a balloon, boys,”
proposed to her when they were 10,000
feet in the air while the other man in
the basket was looking the other way;
and now they are married!
Dr. Stowell tried something differ
ent. He might have proposed to her
in an automobile, or on the deck of a
yacht by moonlight, or even in the
hammock on the back porch; in other
words, he might have proposed just as
millions of other men have proposed.
But on the spur of the moment he
chose the air as the scene in which
to bring his wooing to a climax —and
won out.
When his good airship landed in a
rocky pasture he had the promise; the
rest was easy, thanks to this new way
of winning her. "The 100 pounds or
so of ballast” is now Mrs. Stowell.
At the beginning it looked as if Dr.
Stowell stood little chance. Miss Hul
se, daughter of Schuyler Hulse, of
Pittsfield, Mass., was one of the belles
of the Berkshires. Dr. Stowell prac
tised in Pittsfield too, and one day he
met Miss Hulse.
Lure of the City Felt.
At length he gained the coveted in
vitation to call. The handsome young
physician took the very first oppor
tunity. The visits continued until one
day the young woman remarked in a
very off-hand manner, “I’m going to
New York to study nursing.”
“What!” answered Dr. Stowell, bare
ly stifling a gasp.
“Yes,” rattled on Miss Hulse, “it’s
all arranged. I’m going to Bellevue
hospital there and I shall take the full
course. Won’t it be fine?”
Miss Hulse left Pittsfield soon after
ward and Dr. Stowell never got the
chance he longed for. He stayed at
home while Miss Hulse went to New
York. Automobling had always been
his hobby, but folks had the balloon
fever in Pittsfield just then and Dr.
Stowell got it, too. He joined the
Aero Club of Pittsfield —the premier
place for the sport in the east, with
its big gas works and its host of aero
sharps. Soon he had the “bug,” as
they say.
“Pm going to qualify as an air-pilot,”
declared Dr. Stowell to his friends, and
he went about it in a matter-of-fact
formal way, with each flight, making
his records and studying the science
of aeronautics as if he intended to
make it his life work.
He essayed the air for the first time,
going up as a passenger with William
Van Sleet. The wind was high and
the pair were blown to Tyngsboro,
Mass., but they landed in safety after
a wild trip through the clouds. That
started his qualification for air-pilot.
Under the rules of the Aero Club of
Pittsfield a candidate must make six
flights with at least one passenger,
and one of the flights must be at
night. All these Dr. Stowell made,
but not without peril.
Peril in Night Flight.
The night flight was punctuated by
a terrific thunderstorm in which the
balloon was in momentary peril of be
ing struck by lightning. In another
flight he was blown across the State
of Massachusetts, dipped down till he
hit the waters of the Hudson river,
only to rise again and bang against
the rock-bound sides of the Palisades.
But, one by one, the flights were made
There was but one left, ant} then he
would become a full-fledged captain of
the air. He could fly alone now, if he
chose, or take a person.
He decided that his first passenger
should be John P. Manning of Pitts
field. It chanced that day that Miss
Hulse was in Pittsfield too, on leave
of absence from the hospital in New
York. She went to see the balloon
flight and was in the crowd that gath
ered about the tugging thing of silk
and gas that half a hundred men could
barely hold down.
They had chatted and laughed to
gether before things were ready, and
Miss Hulse stood close to the basket
to see the cast-off. Dr. Stowell was
busy setting things to rights and get
ting everything ship-shape when he
noted that his airship seemed even
too buoyant. It was plain to his ex-
She Jlnmntim Wlktrn.
perienced eye that she would shoot
up in the air like a rocket —something
that every aeronaut dreads.
He glanced about. There was no
more ballast —yes, there was Miss Hul
se, who stood smiling by the side of
the basket to watch Dr. Stowell make
his upward shoot into the air. Per
haps something else beside mere bal
last was in his mind too.
Perhaps there was something in a
pair of merry eyes!
Invitation Accepted.
Anyway, the budding man of the air
made up his mind right then and there.
The helpers were ready to let go and
cast off.
“Oh, Miss Hulse,” sang out Dr. Sto
well, “just a minute, please. Remem
ber what you asked me the other day?
Here's your chance. We need a little
ballast. Want to come along?”
“In a minute!” laughed Miss Hulse.
Her mother was there, and several
of her friends. They protested. Why,
there were two in the basket of the
balloon already, and a trip in the air
was most dangerous, and the sky
looked threatening and—oh, it was al
together too perilous.
For answer to all these objections
the pretty girl let herself be helped
into the wicker basket that hung un
der the swaying bag of gas, and in a
minute more the lines were loosed.
Up, up, shot the airship into the blue.
The crowd cheered for a moment, but
held its breath when the baloon hit
into a cross current and barely missed
ending its trip then and there. It
missed the tall chimney of a factory,
just escaping disaster by a foot or
two. Then began in earnest the flight
into the turquoise of the sky.
In a jiffy the balloon was only a dot
among the clouds. The last of the
crowd saw them, the new-fledged
pilot and his two passengers were
leaning over the side of the basket
waving their hands at the people be
low—three midgets moving under a
big blue bowl.
Landing Safely Made.
That night a wire to the club
brought the news that a landing had
been made safely 25 miles away, at
Shelburne Falls, but nothing was said
of the really important feature of the
trip. Nor was Dr. Stowell’s “ascen
sion card,” any more enlightening. In
view of subsequent events, however,
this card, which he filed with the rec
ords of the club as required by the
rules, is of interest. If an airman
of the future were to find this card
in looking up the records of balloon
ing in the early twentieth century he
would find that it was to all appear
ances a most uneventful trip.
As the card runs:
“Ascension, No. 7.
“Balloon, Pittsfield, Heart of Berk
shires.
“From, Pittsfield.
“To, Shelburne Falls.
“Time up, 10:25 a. m. Down 1
p. m.
“In air, 2 hours 35 minutes. Miles,
25.
“Altitude, 10,000 feet
IRWINTON. WILKINSON COUNTY. GA.. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24,1911.
“Weather, fair. Temperature, 78.
“Wind, southwest.
“Course, northwest.
“Passengers, Miss Blanche Hulse,
John Parker Manning.
“Pilot, Dr. Sidney S. Stowell."
As far as ballooning went, that gave
Dr. Stowell an ample record. The
miles made, the hours of flight, the
carrying of passengers were now all
down in black and white, but certain
details quite important, were wholly
omitted.
“I was too busy leaning over the
side of the basket taking my photo
graphs,” said Mr. Manning, “to guess
what was going on. But I could di
vine without more than a look that
my attention to things on earth be
low would be appreciated by the other
passengers.”
Os this Dr. Stowell says:
“Whatever John Manning may say
about It, if he admits he looked over
the edge of the basket, that eliminates
him as the only witness of whatever
proposition I submitted to the then
Miss Hulse. We were up about two
miles, and so with his observation
accounted for I think we can safely
say we were beyond the attention
of unsympathetic third parties.
Just “Ballast.”
‘As for inviting Miss Hulse, that is
simple enough. I needed about 100
pounds or so extra weight, and so
when I saw her in the crowd as we
were getting ready to go up I asked
her to take the trip with me, for I
had known for a long time that she
wished the experience of a flight. It
was an ideal day for it, and we sailed
over some of the most beautiful spots
in the Berkshires, including the es
tate of Senator Crane, in the town of
Windsor.
“The most interesting part of the
flight? Well. I dropped from the alti
tude of 10,000 feet by loosening the
appendix cord instead of pulling the
rip cord, and let the balloon come
down in mushroom shape as a para
chute. My passengers didn’t mind,
and we landed gently on the Nelson
farm, only seven miles from the rail
road station at Shelburne Falls. Miss
Hulse was a first rate air sailor, and
as Mrs. Stowell she will accompany
me on flights this summer.”
The marriage was performed by
Rev. C. Rexford Raymon, pastor of
the South Congregational church in
Brooklyn. As for the honeymoon, the
bride says:
“I shall be glad to go up again with
the coming of warm weather. I enjoy
flying. Afraid? Why. that never en
tered my head when Dr. Stowell was
the pilot.”—New York World.
Not as Bad as He Had Feared.
“You are as false,” she cried, “as
false as —as —”
“As false as what?” he tauntingly
asked.
“As false as hell!” she hissed.
“Oh. I was afraid you were going
to call me as false as the complexion
you are wearing.”—-Exchange.
Back From New
York--Our Buyer
We are pleased to state our buyer has return
• ed from New York and other Eastern markets.
He states that this has been his most success
ful trip made in his six years’ experience. The
market on all lines was found to be at alow ebb.
Prices Were as Low as They
Were When Cotton Was
Eight Cents Per Pound.
The reason of this is not known; all seem to
think we will soon have big advances in all lines;
but we are protected; have bought the largest
stock ever brought to Milledgeville. Our prices
will be low—lower than you could reasonably ex
pect. We have the goods, not in New York, Phil
adelphia or Boston —but right here in Milledge
ville in our
Two Big Stores
We also wish to announce to the ladies of good old Wilkinson coun
ty, our addition of a *‘LADIES’ REST ROOM,’’ with toilet and lavatories.
This room we have long needed, and we are pleased to invite you to feel
at home here. We expect in a few days to tell you some very interesting
store news. YOUR FRIENDS,
W. S. MYRICK & CO.
“The Store Where Shopping is E&sy”
SI.OO a Year.
