We often receive letters from young people or their parents asking where the best opportunities for the future lie. Our answer is that special oppor­tunities do not exist in the particular industry or profession - they exist within men themselves.

     On December 17, 1943 the world celebrated the 40th anniversary of the first successful flight of a self­powered airplane - and I can think of no better time to review some of the highlights in the early career of the inventors­ the Wright broth­ers. After you have heard the simple story of their lives - I wonder if you will think they were conscious of what Destiny had in store for them?

     Wilbur Wright was born on a farm near Millville, Indiana - in 1867 - and Orville was born four years later in Dayton, Ohio. Their father was the Reverend Milton Wright. In this period - just after the Civil War - there were yet no electric lights, telephones or auto­mobiles, and their home town, Day­ton, was a typical American town of about thirty thousand people. The Wrights were not wealthy people and the boys had no special advantages, except their home en­vironment. Their parents encour­aged them to investigate whatever aroused their curiosity, but urged them to try to earn enough to cover the costs of their experiments. The boys tried many things, and to fi­nance their experiments they sold kites, folded papers, and collected junk. When bicycles became the fad, the Wright boys each saved up enough money to buy one. This was a new field to them and, after a thorough job of investigation, they went into the bicycle business. Business grew; they not only sold several makes but repaired them, and in 1895 even brought out a custom model of their own make - the Van Cleve.

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