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Elizabeth Hiatt Gregory
317

condition was attributed to caution on the part of the women in not attempting to preform spectacular feats, or to go up in unstable winds. With more practice in the air, however, the women became overconfident and soon were taking as many risks as the men pilots.
Both Miss Quimby and Miss Moisant had been exceptional pupils.  Each had received her graduation papers without a single accident in the air to mar her record. The adverse attitude of the men, it was said, had some bearing in the matter. The women said: "We will not take chances, but will show them that we can fly and we will not break either the machines or our necks in doing it." Anyway, they could not see any practical good in performing spirals, turning figure eights or achieving altitude records. The men intimidated that the women lacked courage, but they were not stirred by the accusation. They went on about their "grass cutting," continuing to go up when it suited them.
Mon. André Houpert, the instructor, who had first objected to women in the school, was so impressed by the record of these two that he said he believed a flying machine was safer in the hands of a woman than it is with a man. But, alas, that impression did not last ling. No sooner had the women begun to take part in the exhibition, work than there were the usual accidents, just the same kind that the men had.
Then it was that Miss Moisant experienced a series of accidents that put an end to her flying career. She was lost in cloud banks, several times had her machine reduced to a junk heap and once set a fire. But despite these hair-breadth escapes it was only after much persuasion on the part of M. Houpert that she was induced to retire. After he had watched this daring little woman cheat death by a shave time and again he swung back to his original opinion that woman's place was not in the air. He thought she was better suited to almost any other occupation. 
     Miss Quimby was more fortunate, and while she sometimes found herself facing perilous situations, by her skill and cool head she always managed to glide safely back to earth, until that fatal flight on July 1st. Once while giving exhibitions in Mexico her engine went out of commission at a height of 150 feet in an awkward place for making a safe landing. It was only by accurate calculations that she managed to glide over several obstacles and come down on clear ground. The same thing hap-


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Transcription Notes:
[[image: compilation of women's profiles in front of persons gathered around an airplane]] [[caption: Portrait by Paul Thompson, N.Y. Congratulations for Miss Harriet Quimby at the finish of her flight across the English Channel last April. Above is a striking portrait of Miss Quimby, and below is a portrait of her devoted, aged mother who was very proud of her daughter's accomplishments]]