Judge, 1920-04-03 · page 5 of 36
Judge — April 3, 1920 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# "Volting Ambition" - Analysis This story by Keble Howard satirizes early aviation enthusiasm. The narrative concerns a small boy who wants to "volt" (fly) across the Atlantic—a feat considered impossible in the early 20th century when airplanes were nascent technology. The satire mocks both the boy's naive ambition and contemporary debates about aviation's feasibility. The father's skepticism reflects realistic concerns: early aircraft were indeed unreliable, crashes were common, and transatlantic flight seemed fantastical. The illustrations show people ice-skating and flying side-by-side, visually equating these activities—suggesting that powered human flight was as fantastical as skating in mid-air. The story uses the child's innocence to gently ridicule the era's aviation dreamers while acknowledging the genuine innovation occurring around 1920.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Drawn by Causexr Surv Suor Volting A Tale of th By kent Author of “ Potted Brai Cheerful K SMALL boy, kept indoors by the weather, was turning over a very ancient and tattered volume of an illustrated paper. “The date of the volume was 1920. “Daddy,” said the small “what's that thing “Bring it here, my lad. Carefully! Those old volumes are valuabl picture you want to know about hat funny thing there wi ‘an’t you read, my boy? Yes, of course, daddy Don't drop it! w, which is the ha long tail.” But it doesn’t say what Quite true, it doesn’t! In those everybody knew an airplane when they saw on “Airplane? daddy? What's that? “Well, before human beings learnt to volt, which was about 1965, the only way they had of getting through the air was on one of these machines. Pretty clumsy affairs, aren't they?” The small boy, hugely lighted, shouted with laughter. “Oh, daddy! You are funny! You're making it up!” “Not at all, my son. I’m tell- ing you the actual truth. In those days, the airplane, that great ugly thing you sce there, was consi ered a wonderful invention. got a history of it which I'll let you read one day if you wash your hands and promise not to tear the leaves. It tells you how two men days, you se de- Drawn by Dox Hermon He—Soue ov These Oveut to co B Lanter © Leave Ambition e Next Century Howakp Lord London, tried to fly the Atlantic, and came down in the midd and were lost for days, and suddenly turned up, having been rescued by a small ship without wireless. Wh they got to London, the people were so excited they went nearly mad and the airmen were presented to the King, George V. Ain’t it funny! Think of trying to n thing like that fly all across the Atlanti small boy again relapsed into laughter. “Yes,” said his father, gravely, “it was very brave. But in those days there were thousands of these ma- Even ladies and old people used to go up in vt nave, ele. Forked Lightning, ake a heavy And the chines, them.” “Weren't there lots of accident “Oh, yes, lots. But the sensation of traveling through the air was so novel and so fascinating that nobody minded the risk.” “Tocan’t understand,” mused the small boy, “why they didn’t volt.” “The science of volting hadn't even been discovered. Indeed, it hadn't even been spoken of except as a joke. I have read ancient novels in which people described how they floated downstairs in their dreams, and the mere notion was received with roars of merri- ment. They hadn’t realized, you see, that the power to volt was all the time lying dormant in their own personalities.” “Daddy, what does that word ed, ‘downstairs,” mear Movixe Picture Actors ACK TO THE Macrc Leacur x you u 5 comicbooks.com