Coming now to particulars I would say that one of the distinguishing features
in the American people which I much admire is their
earnestness and perseverance. When they decide to take up anything,
whether it be an invention or the investigation of a difficult problem,
they display indomitable perseverance and patience. Mr. Edison, for example,
sleeps, it is said, in his factory and is inaccessible for days
when he has a problem to solve, frequently even forgetting food and sleep.
I can only compare him to our sage Confucius, who,
hearing a charming piece of music which he wanted to study,
became so engrossed in it that for many days he forgot to eat,
while for three months he did not know the taste of meat.
The dauntless courage of the aviators, not only in America,
but in Europe also, is a wonderful thing. "The toll of the air",
in the shape of fatal accidents from aviation, mounts into the hundreds,
and yet men are undeterred in the pursuit of their investigations.
With such intrepidity, perseverance, and genius, it is merely
a question of time, and I hope it will not be long, when the art of flying,
either by aeroplanes or airships, will be perfectly safe.
When that time arrives I mean to make an air trip to America,
and I anticipate pleasures from the novel experience such as I do not get
from travelling by land or sea.
The remarkable genius for organization observable anywhere in America
arouses the visitor's enthusiastic admiration.
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