Farmington High School - Laurel Yearbook (Farmington, ME)

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24 THE LAUREL The original plans for her round-the-world Hight were to Hy 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 first 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 flight 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 2,556-mile Hight across the Pacihc along a route never before traveled by an airplane. 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 Hight, to be read if it proved to be her last flight. 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 othersf' In closing, may I also quote this poem written by Amelia Earhart herself, on Couragef' n Courage is the price that life exacts for grant- ing peace. The soul that knows it not, knows no release From little things, ir Knows not the livid loneliness of fear Nor mountain heights, where bitter joy can hear The sound of wings. ri How can life grant us boon of living, compen- sate For dull gray ugliness and pregnant hate Unless we dare fi The soul's dominion? Each time we make 3. choice we pay With courage to behold resistless day And count it fair. Iacqueline Greenwood '38, 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 lack 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 day at the oflice finds rest and relaxation for tired nerves in work- ing in a vegetable or Bower garden. A1- though few ever become Burbanks by fol- lowing this hobby, many do become interested in growing some particular plant

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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 held 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 ran, 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 fly 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 Friendshipf, 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 lm from America. In April, 1935, upon an official invitation from the Mexican government, she flew 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 dilhculty 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 donlt 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 field 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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THE LAUREL U 25 or Hower. Gardening is one of the hobbies that bring us to a closer communion with nature and with God. Generally speaking, the kind of hobby you ought to mount should be quite different from the work you do. If your profession is chiefly mental, you should take up a hobby that calls for physical exercise, and likewise, one whose work is physical gener- ally enjoys an intellectual or brain-teasing hobby. Children should have their hobbies as well as Mother and Dad. Boys especially like to collect small things, such as stamps, marbles, pebbles, and small animals. A striking example of this is Tom Sawyer and his pet toad. Radio appeals to young and old alike. One of the first acts of a radio enthusiast is to build a one-tube radio set. What a triumph it is after hours of intensive work to hear distinct voices penetrating through the ether. And sometimes very unexpected things result from ones hobby. A man told me the other day what his radio hobby did for him. He built his own two-way trans- mitter and in using it contacted a young lady in a neighboring foreign country. After talking back and forth each day for some time, he visited her and returned with her as his bride. Hobbies of prominent people are. doubly interesting. Everyone is familiar with Pres- ident Roosevelt's hobby, deep-sea fishing. He finds relief from pressing national affairs by retreating to his yacht for a week or two of tranquil deep-sea fishing. Perhaps a most unusual hobby for a man is that of the Duke of Windsor. He knits and crochets scarves and muliiers. When a youngster he learned this skill from his royal mother. This hobby is not so unprecedented as it seems. For generations the shepherds of Scotland have whiled away the long hours by knitting. Almost any kind of hobby you adopt will cost you money, a little or a lot depending on what it is and the thoroughness with which you ride it. Therefore, one should choose one that is within his means. Garden- ing, wood-work, and reading are inex- pensive, while photography, music, aviation, and travel are considered among the more costly ones. Oftentimes it happens that what one chooses for a hobby may later become a vocation. Henry Ford was a machinist by trade and his hobby was making things. He conceived the idea of building a gasoline buggy, or automobile as it is now called, merely as a hobby. He was prevailed upon by his friends to build similar cars for them. He finally went into the business of manu- facturing and marketing them to such an extent that the slogan now is: Watch the Fords go by. Among the hobbies which interested me was that of a country doctor who brought forth from the depths of his pockets samples of tatting in three threads. He declared that he was the only tatter in the world that could use three threads at once. He invented his own shuttle for the purpose while re- cuperating from a long illness. Then there is the dentist who is the creator of some magnificent hooked rugs. He volunteered that he was only one of many men who have reached prominence in an art usually considered the field of women. Aviation is a very recent hobby. We modems learn to fly ships of the air much easier than did our ancestors learn to sail their ships of the sea. We cannot think of the speed and comparative safety with which these winged couriers travel over land and sea without realizing that it is the coming means of travel. You perhaps know the lines of one of Robert Browning's poems where he says, Grow old along with me, the best is yet to be,,' but I would change this and say, Grow young along with me, the best is yet to be.', And how can you do this? Why, by galloping away on a hobby. Glenys L. Gould '38.