Of all that was reported or said by way of ridicule nothing evoked such widespread delight, or would be so long remembered and quoted, as a comic poem titled “Darius Green and his Flying Machine.” Written by a popular New England author, J. T. Trowbridge, it had been a favorite for public readings and recitals at family gatherings the country over for more than thirty years. Darius was a slow-witted farm boy who pondered: “The birds can fly and why can’t I? Could blue-bird and phoebe, be smarter than we be?” In secret in the loft of a barn, he set to work . . . with thimble and thread
