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THE NEW YORK SUN, TUESDAY, JULY 12, 1932. 23 --- News and Views of Interest to Women in Professional and Domestic Fields --- Ruth Law, Pioneer Woman Flyer, Had The Courage to Become a Legend She Deserted the Clouds for Domesticity in a California Bungalow Because Her Husband Requested It. By HENRIETTA GEE. WHEN Amelia Earhart came home from Europe everybody wanted to know her future plans. Would she continue flying? Or would she settle down to domesticity? For answer we have had Miss Earhart's own statement that she intends to go on. And, on the other hand, we recall with interest the story of Ruth Law-the only other woman whose achievements in aviation can be compared with Miss Earhart's. Ruth Law will always be one of aviation's heroic figures. From 1911 to 1921 she was this country's premier woman pilot and she ranked during that decade with the greatest birdmen in the world. In the frail planes of pre-war days she made endurance, height and speed records that never have been surpassed for courage and daring. For ten years she was a headliner at aviation meets in America, Europe and the Orient, performing the hair-raising stunts that were the vogue of the day and then soaring above her rivals to still more daring triumphs. Then, at the height of her career, when she was being paid $1,500 a day by her admiring countrymen for exhibitions, she suddenly stopped flying to please her husband, Charles Oliver, to whom she had been married ten years. She Has Retired. They are living now in a Spanish house in Beverly Hills, Cal., enjoying the color and rich beauty if the Southwest, giving occasional barbeques for their friends and infrequently making trips back East and to Europe. It is doubtful if many of her neighbors realize the identity of this celebrated woman, so completely has she foregone her claim to the limelight. But Miss Law admits that it was a sudden transition from a life filled with danger and excitement and worldwide admiration to the placid routine of the suburbs that marked the high point of courage in her career. Although in no sense a sentimentalist she will tell you that it was only possible because she was very much in love. Charles Oliver, Ruth Law's husband, interested her in flying back in Boston where they lived in 1911. He was a business man, devoted to automobile racing, and although he had neither the inclination nor gift for flying he realized that his wife had been thus favored. He presented her with a plane and she asked permission of the Wrights to enroll in their Ohio school, but these gentlemen did not believe in women pilots and refused her admission. Her first teacher was a seventeen-year-old lad from Los Angeles who had cracked up his own plane and was willing to teach her for the privilege of using hers. Within a month she had won a license, the fourth American woman to qualify. Ruth Law's exhibitions began almost at once. Flying was the most hazardous adventure of the day and women were still considered enough of a clinging sex for it to seem doubly perilous for them to undertake it. Crowds paid their money to see stunts that might reasonably prove fatal, but from the first Ruth Law had the knack of pleasing the public and emerging unscathed. She Made Eyelets. All aviators in those days sat well out in front and looked as if they were piloting animated orange crates. It was in one of these wonder ships of 1915 that Miss Law looped the loop, the first time the feat was accomplished by a woman. This inspired a tour of the country as the head of the Ruth Law flying circus with her husband as business manager. "The nervous strain of exhibition flying in those days was intense," said Miss Law. "I counteracted it by doing fancy work. I kept embroidery hoops and scissors and floss in my plane, and when I wasn't in the air I made eyelets. It was very soothing." Her big flight, the sensation in aviation of the day, was made between Chicago and New York in 1916. Any one who takes for granted either aviation or feminism should consider Miss Law's account of the trip. "Before that trip I had never flown more than twenty miles," She said. "My plane had a hundred horse power engine and a wing spread of twenty-eight feet. The 800 miles between me and New York seemed and interminable distance." An entry made in her diary on November 20, 1916, the day after the flight, tells the story. "I was up Sunday morning about 5 o'clock Central time. I ate a light breakfast, then put on my suits-first a woolen suit, then a leather suit, then a second leather suit. I also wore a helmet of leather and wool and face mask of wool-and googles. Then I went to Grant Park on the shores of Lake Michigan with my manager. We got there at 6 o'clock. It was so cold the engine wouldn't run. Finally I got off at seven-twenty. "I took off the skirt I had been wearing over my flying suit and stored it behind the seat." Sixteen years ago even a courageous woman did not appear for a record flight without her skirt. What Miss Law did not record was that her map had been rolled up and put in a neat little box with a glass top and strapped to her leg. As she went along she unrolled it. In those days no one had dreamed of closed cockpits, illuminated dashboards and the multitude of instruments and charts that have made flying an exact science. After she had gone 590 miles the gas gave out and she landed at Hornell, N. Y., with a stupendous non-stop record of four hours and seven-teen minutes. Refueling she went on to Binghamton, where darkness forced her down. Here the chairman of the local glad hand committee providentially was driving along the race track and welcomed her. She tied her plane to a tree, asked a fat policeman to mount guard and, after putting on her skirt over her flying suit, went to town for a meal. New York was hysterical with joy when she landed the next day, having made the trip in 8 hours 55 minutes all told, with an average of 103 miles and hour. Honors were showered on her. The Aero Club gave her $2,500 and the notables of the country gathered at a dinner in her honor at the Astor. She was seated on a dais between Admiral Robert Peary, discoverer of the south pole. Did War Work. When America entered the war the following spring, Ruth Law, denied admission to the army, sold Liberty bonds, went France, where she inspected the war zone, and at the end of three months Congress brought her back to America and put her in army uniform - except for a skirt - and set her to recruiting and doing propaganda. They even let her fly without the skirt, but at no time was successful in persuading them to allow women to enlist for army service. After the war ended she flew in Japan, in China and in the Philippines where she carried mail. Ovations awaited her in Europe, where she made new speed records. Barnstorming was at its height when she got back to America, and with her reputation for daring she was able to earn $1,500 a day making exhibition flights. She really didn't need the money, for already she had earned a fortune which had been invested prudently. She had reached the stage when she was flying from force of habit, because she loved the excitement, and for that reward which was perhaps the greatest of them all - contact with the leading figures of the day. Then, one morning, ten years after she had taken up flying, she opened the morning newspaper to read that she would never fly again. The announcement had been made by her husband. "The statement is bona fide," he told her. "I can't stand the strain of seeing you in danger. You've tempted luck long enough. To please me, give it up!" What Could She Do? "What else could I do," said Ruth Law. "He had been my backer, my manager and my staunchest supporter all these years. I, too, realized that perhaps the strain of watching had been greater than the strain of stunt flying. If I had gone on he would have a nervous breakdown. I stopped, but I stopped too suddenly. Living on excitement for ten years is like living on a stimulant. You shouldn't give it up abruptly, but I did. I kept my nerves under control for two years and then I had a nervous breakdown. "Just the sight of good looking aviation clothes makes me homesick for the flying field. Sometimes the sight and sound of planes overhead is maddening, but my flying days are over. I sold everything I had that pertained to flying. My only keepsakes are a propeller from my ship and the map I used on the Chicago to New York flight." Mrs. Charles Oliver's hobby is a large rock gardent at the rear of her house. Here she has planted every known variety of cactus, including rare, imported species. Overlooking the garden is a big stone porch with a fireplace, covered by a red and yellow striped marquee. Here the Olivers give their barbecue parties and their bridges and live in greater contentment than when life was filled with royal presentations and triumphal progresses. Ruth Law, idolized for a decade for her bravery, and achievements, really had the courage to become a legend. [[1 image accompanying article]] [[Caption: Here is Ruth Law in her biplane on November 16, 1916, just before she hopped off for that record flight from Chicago to New York. This machine had a hundred-horse power engine, but think how the wind blew through that open cockpit, and imagine the thrills of flying with only a small map for guidance.]] Red and White There's one color combination which till midnight: red and white. you find this bright idea in pajamas, morning frocks, yachting togs, tennis dresses afternoon out-fits and evening costumes. Needless to say, you find it also in shoes, hats and hand bags. Smart Paper Picnic Set Speaking of picnics, as everybody is these days, have you seen the very attractive picnic set of paper which gives you everything you can possibly need for a crowd of ten or twelve for $1.25? Included are three dozen waxed bags for sandwiches, a dozen cups which may be used for hot or cold liquids, a dozen plates; a dozen small cups for salad and the like, forks, spoons, thirty napkins, three salt and three pepper shakers and a big tablecloth. The set is neatly boxed for convenience or for a gift, and may be had in shades of red or green. Similar sets in red, white and blue sufficient for a party of eight may be bad for 95 cents.
