Thoughts and Confessions.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 289, 5 December 1936, Page 7 (Supplement)

Thoughts and Confessions.

To what extent "tlie boy was father to the man" can be gauged from many known incidents of Charles Kingsford Smith's early life, and to these it is interesting to add the "Thoughts and Confessions" given in his own handwriting at the age of 13. We see, for instance, that his ambition in life was to he an engineer. Wo should know less of just what the lad thought about things if he had not won a running race towards the end of 1910 and received for it, as a prize, a little album, typical of the period, with the title "The Thoughts and Confessions of My Friends." It sets out a string of questions, some rather naive, and Charles had begun it by writing out his own "thoughts and confessions." (The replies by Charles, 13, follow the interrogation marks.) The thoughts and confessions of Charles Smith. Dated December 23, 1910: — What is the finest line in poetry?— '•'They also serve who only stand and wait." ■ Who is your favourite poet?— Longfellow. Should bachelors be taxed?— Yes (over thirty). What is your favourite song?— "Because." Who is your favourite actor? —Oscar As cli e. Who is your favourite actress? —Lily Bravton (Asche). At what age should a man marry?— Twenty-five years. At what age should a woman marry? —Twenty-one years. Are you in favour of "votes lor women" ? —Yes. What is your life's ambition? —To be an engineer. Do you object to women smoking?— Yes. What is your favourite outdoor pastime ?—Running. What is your favourite indoor pastime I—Runningl—Running my motor. Who is your favourite author? — Ernest Thompson Seton. Which is your favourite book?— "Animal Heroes." Sport Loving Healthy Harum-Scarum. Take another instance of this frank boyishness of character.

It was four years before the war. In St. Andrew's, the Anglican Cathedral of Sydney, morning service had. begun. Among the white surpliced. young choristers was one, 13 years old, with reddisli-brown hair and grey eyes that looked devoutly down a lean nose that was already taking on aquilinity. The chorister's complexion might have been described as sandy, with freckles. The young voice was good and glorying in the canticles and hymns. Then the eyes were raised and sighted his mother stealing a prideful glance from a pew. One eye closed in a solemn wink. The line of the mouth twitched in a smile. But the eyes were looking down the nose again, so very devoutly. Charles had not been long in the choir when his voice began to "break." From the Cathedral School he went to the Sydney Technical College. Here he studied, keenly, electrical engineering. Here he laid 'the foundations of that mechanical knowledge which was to stand him in such good stead in after years. Outside the Technical College he was an average, healthy youth, sport-loving, rather harum-scarum, his wiry-built body abounding with energy. Charles had, too, the vitality that went witli leadership in active spheres. Tennis held his interest for a while, and although he lacked the patient concentration which must be allied to energetic brilliance in the make-up of a tennis star, he was soon captain of his club at Mosman. Fond of jumping over the tennis net, instead of walking around it, he one iloy badly tore his only pair of white

garbardine trousers. Finances did not allow of an immediate new pair. The affair of "Chilla" Smith's trousers was viewed with gravity, for the following week a visiting team was to play a match against his club. It would not be good for the prestige of the club for the captain to appear in mended pants, the club decided. The committee held a meeting about it. Finally, a deputation approached another club member who had not been picked for the team —later he became a famous cricketer— and he was induced to lend his "creams" to "Chilla" Smith. First Thrill of the Air. This was not the only occasion when aviation's Francis Drake experienced trousers trouble. Nearly 20 years later he needed a presentable pair, when "Smithy" and Charles Ulm were "broke" in Los Angeles, so that he could accept the invitation to a yacht cruise with Captain G. Allan Hancock. During that cruise Hancock decided to finance the A/istraiian (with the borrowed trousers) and his colleague, for the first flight across the Pacific Ocean. His family gave scope to Charles' fondness for outdoor life. They would spend his school holidays camping on the Hawkesbury River. Their favourite spot was at Flint and Steel, where there were two commodious caves. One of the brothers had a sailing boat. It was with this sailing boat that Charles Kingsford Smith first felt the thrill of the air. Not the being borne aloft on the air, but the keen pleasure of handling a boat in the winds, with the Hawkesbury rippling along the gunwale. He never lost his love of sailing, which is more closely akin to flying than is usually realised. Sailing holds something of the same elemental pleasure associated with airmanship, as well as its appeal to the navigational urge. Airmen take to it readily as a hobby, and sailing men to the air. Some of Britain's most notable aircraft makers are keen yachtsmen. Charles' love of sailing was allied to his interest in power mechanism. This, and the promise of exhilaration which it held, led him to purchase a second-hand motor cycle. A Motor Cycle "Terror." He gloried in the bike's full-throttle roar. His cloud of dust often left in its wake: "That's 'Chilla' Smith for sure. He always goes flat out like that." He was even known as "The Terror of Mosman." Those were wrong, however, vpho said that he would "break his neck on that thing." But he did break the bike up— in a spectacular fashion. It was on a day when he was giving a friend a pillion ride. Scorching along the hot, dusty road, a soft-drink shop seemed irresistible. Charles decided to stop for refreshment. He did so with a twist of the handle-baps, which wrenched them right off. The bike plunged into the shop, scattering Charles and his pillion passenger on the floor. It was a remarkable thing to-wrench handle-bars off motor cycles, but Charles Kingsford Smith had exceptional strength in his hands. He liked to tear packs of cards in two, which is partly a trick feat, but nevertheless a convincing demonstration. His electrical engineering course at the Technical College completed, 17-year-old Charles had to seek an apprenticeship. He found one with the Colonial Sugar Refining Company. Among the names of youths who in 1913, just before the world had rumbled into war, entered the engineering shop of Colonial Sugar Refining Company, of Sydney, was Smith, C. K. He started at ten shillings a week in the clcctrical fitting branch, doing armature winding and similar work. Then came the war. Charles surged with desire to join in this great "adventure." His parents said that he was too young for war. Perhaps when he was 18. . . . He promised to do nothing about it until then. On his eighteenth birthday Charles enlisted. (To be continued.)