My father was the most rational and the most dispassionate of men.

The reports of the eclipse parties not only described the scientific observations in great detail, but also the travels and experiences, and were sometimes marked by a piquancy not common in official documents.

My father followed, during most of his life, the precarious occupation of a country school teacher.

Aerial flight is one of that class of problems with which man will never be able to cope.

Though born in Nova Scotia, I am of almost pure New England descent.

When about fifteen I once made a great scandal by taking out my knife in prayer meeting and assaulting a young man who, while I was kneeling down during the prayer, stood above me and squeezed my neck.

Construction of an aerial vehicle which can carry even a single man . . . requires the discovery of some new metal or force. Even with such a discovery, we could not expect one to do more than carry its owner.