"Stone, Leslie F - Men With Wings" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stone Leslie F)

Men with Wings
by Leslie F. Stone
"His wings were snowy white and he smiled brightly appearing very curious about
the plane. Mureno thought of taking him back as a prisoner, but the other
laughed and dropped from the plane."



THE present story is quite an extraordinary one, and aside from adventure,
suspense and interest, it contains excellent science.
A well known evolutionist once said that if it were absolutely necessary for
humanity to have four arms and hands instead of two, the extra members would in
time be evolved. Nature always keeps pace with necessity, particularly if this
necessity is vital. Once a member is no longer vital, it promptly is discarded,
such as for instance, tails in human beings. It may not be known generally, that
among the human family, there are so-called "throw backs," which still have a
prehensile tail.
The author has made use in this tale of an evolution of a most remarkable
character and carries the reader on from chapter to chapter with never ending
suspense.
Sketch of the author, Leslie Stone



FOREWORD
IT was in examining the precious stack of documents that lay carefully wrapped
and ticketed in the old-fashioned vault that our ancestors called a "safe" that
I came across this manuscript, which in view of its great historical worth, I
feel obliged to publish that all men may read.
We, today, being a race possessing wings, know the few facts of our peculiar
evolution. But cold facts like a cold egg do not attract our attention or pique
our appetite. And so in order to give more vivid understanding of what actually
took place, I am presenting the story of my ancestor who, to use a quaint idiom
of his day "typed" these chapters of the great and most picturesque period of
world history.
Almost five hundred years have passed and the pages of the manuscript are
yellowed by time, but it is possible in reading them for one to relive the tale
in its colorful telling. One has only to lift his eye to the air above him and
see his fellow-man flying as the birds fly with wings outspread, to become
thankful that he is not like his ancestors of centuries ago who had to depend
upon a poor sort of flying contraption that had been handed down to him. They
did not know the pure joy of soaring above the eagles' heads and adding voice to
that of the meadow lark. And realizing this the world can bow heads in reverence
to the Martyred President of America and send up a prayer of thanks to our
common ancestor, Howard Mentor!
One could write at length on the advantage of having wings, in fact, our
literature contains many such extravaganzas. In fact some of our humorous
writers have pictured how we would have to live if we reverted back to our poor
earth-chained ancestors of the early twentieth century. They must have lived a
pitiful existence.