'"
quoted Anne Blythe dreamily.
"I wonder," said Miss Oliver, "if humanity will be any happier because
of aeroplanes. It seems to me that the sum of human happiness remains
much the same from age to age, no matter how it may vary in
distribution, and that all the 'many inventions' neither lessen nor
increase it."
"After all, the 'kingdom of heaven is within you,'" said Mr. Meredith,
gazing after the vanishing speck which symbolized man's latest victory
in a world-old struggle. "It does not depend on material achievements
and triumphs."
"Nevertheless, an aeroplane is a fascinating thing," said the doctor.
"It has always been one of humanity's favourite dreams--the dream of
flying. Dream after dream comes true--or rather is made true by
persevering effort. I should like to have a flight in an aeroplane
myself."
"Shirley wrote me that he was dreadfully disappointed in his first
flight," said Rilla. "He had expected to experience the sensation of
soaring up from the earth like a bird--and instead he just had the
feeling that he wasn't moving at all, but that the earth was dropping
away under him. And the first time he went up alone he suddenly felt
terribly homesick. He had never felt like that before; but all at once,
he said, he felt as if he were adrift in space--and he had a wild
desire to get back home to the old planet and the companionship of
fellow creatures.
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