With a competent teacher and if ever competence was necessary it is here learning to fly is neither difficult nor dangerous. Six weeks ought to be time enough to teach one to fly, provided the pupil knows something about motors and is apt in other ways. Contrary to popular belief, reckless daring is not one of the requirements for success. Indeed, a man who applies for a position as aviator with the announcement that he is a daredevil afraid of nothing under heaven, is very likely to be rejected for this very reason, and a pupil who has the common sense to know that there is no especial point in defying a quite impersonal force like gravitation will get up a much better start than one who has so little caution that he wants to get up in the air too soon. Caution is the great thing for the beginner. Let him learn the machine first from the ground and on the ground, learn the controls and find out what to do when he shall be up in the air. Then let him learn how it feels to run over the ground on the wheels. Then he will begin to make "jumps," little ones, then longer and longer, until he is free of any fear of the air. This comes sooner with some than with others, and it is said that in some rare cases fear of the air never exists at all, for the great aviator, the star performer, like any other great man, has to be born with certain qualifications and a good many of them. There is no reason, with the advancing improvement in the flying machine, why almost every one with a real desire to fly should not be able in a comparatively short time to learn to do so.