Kid Stories

Have you ever watched a bird flying gracefully through the air and wished that you could do the same?   Some years ago two American boys dreamed of flying, too. Today because of their hard work, you can fly much faster and farther than any bird in a machine much heavier than air. This machine is called an aeroplane.   Wilbur and Orville Wright had always wanted to fly. As children they loved the old story about a Greek boy, Icarus, who flew with wings that were held to his arms by wax. But, so the story goes, he flew so high that the wax melted in the heat of the sun. His wings fell off and he dropped into the sea.   "What we need to fly are wings with a machine," said Wilbur. And so the young Orville Wright brothers began to think about how they could build an aeroplane. They owned a bicycle shop. All the money they made from selling and mending bicycles was used in trying to build aeroplanes.   In 1896 a german man named Otto Lilienthal was killed while gliding i

"Be a lady dear. That's what we want! " How many times pretty young Florence Nightingale heard these words from her father and mother! But for her, being a lady was not enough. She wanted to do something for others. Florence's father was a very rich man. Florence took lessons in music and drawing, and read great books. She could speak French, German, and Italian as well as English. And she travelled a great deal with her mother and father. As a child she felt that visiting sick people was both a duty and a pleasure. She enjoyed helping them. As often as she could, she visited hospitals in others countries. She saw so much suffering that she knew she must help. At last her mind was made up: "I'm going to be a nurse," she decided. "Nursing isn't the right work for a lady," her father told her. "Then I will make it so," she smile. And she went to learn nursing in Germany and France. When she returned to England, Florence,