| Summary: | Newsletter of the North Dakota School for the Deaf. THE NORTH DAKOTA BANNER 7 (Continued from page 2) “Hardship will be your lot, but trust in God will give you comfort; temptation will befall you, but the teachings of our Saviour will give you strength. Let your valour as a soldier and your conduct as a man be an inspiration to your comrades and an honor to your country.” He is fifty-nine years old. He has much respect for himself, and his habits are the natural manifestation of a clear mind, a clear conscience, and a righteous aim in life. —Frank Kovar. AIRPLANES AND THEIR USES. AIRPLANES were first invented in America by the Wright brothers. They proved to be a success, and since then they have developed rapidly. The importance of the part which aviation has played in the World War attracts attention, for it is one of the chief weapons that helped win the war. The airplanes proved useful in the army and navy for carrying soldiers from place to place and mostly, over mountains to the battlefield, and also for, dropping food to the soldiers that were- surrounded by the Germans, thus keeping them alive until help arrived. In the war the airplanes and; captive balloons were used in watching the doings of the enemies below. They were the eyes of the armies and navies. By means of airplanes all objects on the battlefield which cannot be reached by guns can easily be attacked by the airplanes. The allied raids against Germany were numerous. Out of a hundred and forty flights the British great bombing planes have destroyed ninety-five German planes on land and six on the ocean and driven forty-six others out of control, and besides this, they made thirty-eight raids in Germany and dropped over the country forty-eight tons of bombs,—all with the loss of only ten planes. Just before the outbreak of the war an attempt was made to cross the ocean by airplanes, so a special flying boat was built for this purpose, and it was said to be one of the best built flying boats in America, but before it was completed war broke out, and then the plane was forgotten. Some time ago a prize of $50,000 was offered to the first person who succeeded in crossing the Atlantic in an airplane. That prize will no doubt be awarded to Lieutenant Commander A. C. Read and his crew who recently completed the flight in less than fifty-five hours actual flying time, the distance being about three thousand nine hundred miles. The airplane was the Naval Curtiss four, and the route was from Rock-away, N. Y. to Plymouth, England, by way of Newfoundland, the Azores and Lisbon. The speed was over eighty miles an hour. The same airplane will probably attempt a non-stop flight back from England to America. In Texas a new use has been found for airplanes, and that is to spy out secret and forbidden cotton fields, as there is a law forbidding the planting of cotton in the countries that border on the Rio Grande, the purpose of the law being to keep out the Mexican cotton boll worms. They may be far from roads and surrounded by woods, which makes it difficult to detect them, so the planes are really a godsend for that purpose. The airplane has proved successful in locating forest fires, making maps of unsurveyed countries, and discovering schools of fish at sea. Troops can be easily attacked by airplanes. Airplanes have been tested successfully as ambulances for carrying wounded soldiers to the hospitals. In France the airmen dropped Christmas presents tovthe soldiers. A new method of committing suicide was found by a French airman who, being discouraged because his fiancee turned him down, sailed up into the air, brought the machine to a stop and let it fall to the earth killing him in the crash! Another use of airplanes is to take snaps of views for the movie firms. The experiment of carrying mail between Washington and New York by airplane has been a great success and later this service will probably be extended to other points. Airplanes can be employed in saving lives on the ocean, in patrol work in the harbor, and on the coast, in hunting game, etc. Congress has been roused by Great Britain’s efforts to lead the world in aviation, but at present no plan has been made to encourage flying in the United States. Plans are, however, being made to establish landing places for the airplanes in all parts of the United States where they can stop for fuel, repairs, etc. The Curtiss factory has purchased from the government between one thousand, and one thousand two hundred planes which have been used in the war. They will be put into use by former army officers and others and a number of army men intend to open flying schools. A physician in Nebraska who does his practicing in one town will purchase an airplane so he can practice in seven other towns. A farmer in Montana has hired an aviator to look over his ranch in his airplane. It has a wireless telephone which is in touch with all parts of his farm at once. There was an airplane invented recently that broke the world’s record, having a speed average of one hundred and ninety-seven miles an hour. The airplane is the king of speed having three times the speed of railway trains, but at present its usefulness is limited by lack of proper space, and it is said that two or three years will lapse before the airplane can be of commercial value. The airplane has shown its usefulness in the European War by crushing the power of the kaiser and thus makitig the world safe for democracy. —Orra Kinyon. CHRISTIANITY. CHRISTIANITY is creeping invisibly and silently over all the world. It was first introduced into Bethlehem where Christ was born in a manger of a stable. When he became a man, he chose twelve humble, common men, nearly all of. whom were fishermen, as his apostles, and after his death, they went in different directions to preach the Gospel to all nations. Their lives were full of perils and they suffered for Christ’s sake, but it seems that the greater the suffering the. more Christianity spread over the world. Christianity was introduced into Great Britain soon after the Roman conquest, but not much can be learned of its advent, as it crept so silently, into the country. The Christians were often treated with cruelty and attempts were made to prevent the spread of the faith, but the attempts were futile. Many of the- Christians were killed by the Romans and many of the monasteries were destroyed. The Christian religion that was introduced was of the Roman Catholic denomination. In England, as well as in some other countries, there were religious wars. The Pilgrims, who wanted a place where they could have political and religious freedom, built their homes in the northern part of North America. After a while Catholic priests were sent over to convert the Indians to the Christian faith. The priests’ lives were full of perils. Last fall, the British troops, headed by General Allenby, captured Jerusalem in Palestine, which had been controlled by the Turks for over four centuries. .When the news was announced to the world, it delighted the Hebrews as they had longed for the Holy City as their own,. In the coming of the Christians to Jerusalem there is every hope of its restoration. The government of Great Britain has expressed its generosity in favor of the return of the Hebrews to their homeland, with the privileges of free citizenship. “The best preparation that you can give to an American soldier going into battle to sustain his magnificent ideal and his faith is certainly the Bible.” The American Bible Society received this message from Marshal Foch in appreciation of the copies of the New Testament distributed among the soldiers abroad. Besides this, the society supplied thousands of copies every week to men in the embarkation camps just before they sailed to Europe. The war (Continued on page 8)
|
|---|