Farmington High School - Laurel Yearbook (Farmington, ME)

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THE LAUREL 23 a chance to see an airplane, no matter how rusty it was. The next airplane she saw was at the ex- position hcld at Toronto, Canada. Some war heroes were giving exhibitions. In 1918, to relieve the monotony and to make life more exciting, pilots would dive on crowds at beaches and fairs. Today the De- partment of Commerce frowns upon such antics. Miss Earhart and a girl friend were in the middle of the Held, somewhat sepa- rated from the crowd. The pilot, seeing this tempting target, dove on them for the fun of seeing them scamper. He tried several times. One of them rang the other, later to achieve world fame as an aviatrix, stood her ground, fascinated. On a summer vacation in California she became very much interested in air meets. It was at one of these that she took her First ride, with the then unknown barnstormer, Frank Hawkes. With this trip her flying career began. Helped by her mother, she bought a little second-hand plane and learned to Hy it. While working in a social settlement in Boston, she received a surprising message asking if she would like to ily the Atlantic. She went to New York to see if she could meet the requirements. The man who was searching for a woman to make this trip was George Palmer Putnam, whom she later married. In Iune, 1928, after having been accepted and after many weeks of preparation, her plane, the Friendship, with mechanic Lou Gordon, pilot Bill Stultz and passenger Amelia Earhart, took off from Boston Har- bor for Newfoundland. After thirteen days of tiresome waiting at Trepassey, Newfound- land, conditions became satisfactory for the crossing. The Atlantic flight began. Twenty hours and forty minutes later, they tied up to a bouy off Burryport, Wales. Four years later in a three year old Lock- heed she made a solo flight across the At- lantic. The bad storm, the flames leaking out around the exhaust collector ring, and the spin caused by heavily iced wings were the high-lights of the trip. When she arrived at Londonderry, Ireland and landed in a cow-pasture, not knowing the proper words to say at such a time, she merely stated, I 'm from America. In April, 1935, upon an official invitation from the Mexican government, she Hew from Burbank, California, to Mexico City. There a superb Fiesta was staged for her. Regret- fully, because of not having so much time there as she would have liked, she set out for New York. Upon landing at Newark airport, she was mobbed by a crowd from which a couple of husky policemen tried to rescue her. The only difliculty was that they lacked co-operation, and in the melee one grasped her arm and the other her leg. Then, to make matters worse, they started in opposite directions. Miss Earhart was connected with Purdue University as a faculty member in the new aviation department. One of her pet schemes, which seems entirely logical, was to have a miscellaneous workshop, labeled Tinkering: For Girls Only. She believed that girls who have mechanical ability and who don't have a chance, as boys do, to tinker with machines should be encouraged. She often said she was as much concerned with the problems and opportunities of her Purdue co-eds as with aviation. Mr. Putnam, who practices as well as approves of the theory that wives should do the work they are best fitted for, was a help- ful and approving partner in all her projects. Knowing her desire for a bigger and better plane which would allow her to pioneer in the held of aviation education and technical experimentation, he started the wheels mov- ing to get it for her. ChieHy through the Purdue Research Foundation and the generosity of manufac- turers who seemed to think her activities were helpful in furthering aviation and also in overcoming feminine sales-resistance to air travel, she came into possession of her two-motor Lockheed Electra, her Hying laboratory.

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272 THE LAUREL The years passed swiftly for the flourish- ing little town, and then a new need arose. This need was for military organization. Under the state law of that time, each town was obliged to provide its own military stores and equip its own militia. The train- ing of this militia created a new diversion for the people who whole-heartedly supported the proposition. A few years after the militia was formed, a cavalry was organized. This was done only when rumors of a war with England were in the air in 1812. How- ever, when war was Finally declared, so far as can now be ascertained, only two Farm- ington men, David Bump and Elisha Iewett, enlisted in the United States army and per- formed actual service on the Held. The military organizations were maintained and a brigade review was held in 1827 with Governor Lincoln and his staff present. However, a few years later the only material remnant of Farmington's military glory was a few stones on a hill, the remains of a build- ing for storing ammunition built in 1817, and the abstract remnant, its name, Powder House Hill. Before many years had elapsed, churches were established, railroads were chartered, schools were built, and then came the crisis which split the country into two divisions, both embittered by sectional antagonism. Farmington was definitely loyal, meeting all her quotas of soldiers, nursing the wounded, and raising money. However the years fol- lowing the opening of the war were anxious and troublesome times for the town. When the news of the assassination of President Lincoln reached Farmington, it was a signal for mourning throughout the town. The years rolled on with the first public library being built, a Franklin County Sav- ings Bank organized, and then a real dis- aster struck. It was the great fire of 1886. This destructive conliagration started in a stable on Pleasant Street and swept away nearly every building on Main Street down to South Street. It was a calamity that will long be remembered by those who wit- nessed it. Farmington at the present time is deh- nitely an educational center. The Farming- ton State Normal School was established in 1864. The high school was completed in 1906 and has been enlarged since, the last addition was in 1936. The Training School building was built in 1931. Now the town has within its limits an admirable public library, built in 1901 in memory of Nathan Cutler, and the Franklin Memorial Hospital, opened in 1929. The personage of whom Farmington is the proudest is Madame Lillian Nordica, a famous opera singer who was born in this town. Madame Nordica made her debut in Italy and later appeared in London and in the New York Metropolitan Opera House. Her home, which has been kept as nearly as possible as it was when she lived, is one of the most interesting spots in this vicinity. All in all, Farmington is a town of which its citizens may be justly proud. Undoubt- edly, because distance lends enchantment, if Farmington were situated some 30 or 40 miles from here, we would all be anxious to visit itg but because we live in it, we are less likely to realize what a truly beautiful and interesting place it is. Norma Vose 138. TT COURAGE T0 DARE HE interest of the people of today in aviation is increasing by leaps and bounds. The airplane is taking an important place in business and recreation. Because of this, many high-school graduates are planning to make one of its many branches their life work. Such a pilot as Amelia Earhart serves as an inspiring example to American girls. At the age of ten, when at the Iowa State Fair, she saw her First airplane. It was a thing of rusty wire and wood and did not look a bit interesting. No wonder that she was much more absorbed in an absurd hat which she had just purchased. Regardless of what psychologists might have said, in later years she hated hats and would not miss

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24 THE LAUREL The original plans for her round-the-world flight were to fly from Oakland to Honolulu, from there to Howland Island, and then on to Australia. Establishing a record for the east-west crossing of 15 hours and 47 minutes, she landed at Wheeler Field, Hono- lulu. Bad weather conditions caused a long delay here, and then the giving way of a shock-absorber crumpled one wing and wiped off the landing gear at the long awaited take-off. Undiscouraged, Amelia took the plane back to Oakland to be re- stored to its proper state. Then, because of weather conditions, she decided to reverse the direction of the flight. On May 19, with Fred Noonan, her navi- gator, she hopped off from Oakland on the Hrst lap of the flight. Tuscon and New Orleans to Miami took her across the continent. At Miami the Electra had a thorough going-over. At this point she made the statement that she in- tended to give up her hazardous flights, that she had a growing conviction that she was getting old, and that now was the time for her to make way for the younger genera- tion. The world watched by newspaper and radio the Hight of the daring woman, fol- lowing her daily on her dangerous journey. The route lay along the South American coast, and then across the South Atlantic to a French colony on the African shore, across Africa, and along the coast of Arabia to India. The next stop was Australia. The following wireless came from New Guinea, her last stop before crossing the Pacific. Amelia Earhart departed for Howland Island at ten o'clock, beginning a 2,S56mile flight across the Pacific along a route never before traveled by an airplanef, Somehow she missed the island. So ended the earthly career of an inimitable and courageous woman, a true pioneer of the ever-advancing frontier of aviation. Miss Earhart has been severely criticized for taking such a dangerous flight. I want to give an excerpt from a letter to her hus- band, which was written before a perilous flight, to be read if it proved to be her last flight. H Please know I am quite aware of the hazards. I want to do it because I want to do it. Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others. In closing, may I also quote this poem written by Amelia Earhart herself, on Couragef' ri Courage is the price that life exacts for grant- ing peace. The soul that knows it not, knows no release From little thingsg .4 Knows not the livitl loneliness of fear Nor mountain heights- where bitter joy can hear The sound of wings. 4. How can life grant ns boon of living, compen- sate For dnll gray ugliness and pregnant hate Unless we dare The soul's dominion? Each time we make a choice we pay With courage to behold resistless day And count it fair. Iacquelinc Greenwood '38. TT' GALLOPING AWAY ON A HOBBY ES, a hobby is the kind of a nag you Want to ride. It gives me the greatest pleasure to tell you how to break one in and go galloping over hill and dale on it. The trite saying that All work and no play makes Iack a dull boy gives the reason for a hobby in a nut-shell. More than ever before in this age of speed and nervous tension, one needs relaxation and the uplift that is gained in the riding of a hobby. Many a tired business man returning home after a hard clay at the oflice finds rest and relaxation for tired nerves in work- ing in a vegetable or flower garden. Al- though few ever become Burbanks by fol- lowing this hobby, many do become interested in growing some particular plant