The Democratic advocate., 1878-09-21
From The Washington Sunday Herald.
THE GREAT SCIENTIST.

On the Train with Him-what He Did and Our I'M
pressions OF Him-Throw in More Coal; We Are
Three Minutes Behind Time.
1t was on the halfpast 8 o'clock p. NJ
train that left Boston, via the Boston and
Providence railroad, one day towards the
last of July, that the writer happened to
be an eye witness to a strange and singular
proceeding, which terminated in a most
wonderful discovery. Having related the
incident to few of my friends and ac-
quaintances, all of whom appeared to take
such deep interest in the matter, am
constrained, at their solicitation, to give
the readers of the Sunday Herald an ac-
count of the affair.
was comfortably seated with my little
boy in a reversed seat in the rear car, and
was perusing one of the New York daily
papers, waiting for the train to start, when,
CHANGING to raise my eyes, saw a gentle
man fquite ordinary appearance leisurcly
and with careless gait approach near the
seat in which / sat, cast his eyes to first
one side of the car and then the other, and
at last take a seat on. the same side Of the
car with myself and Immediately In front
of me. There was nothing wonderful or
extraordinary in this alone, and I contin-
ued the perusal of my paper until the train
had started and we were some distance out
of Boston, speeding away toward Provi-
denee, r. l., when all of a sudden my lit
tie boy cried out, "Papa, see what that
man is doing r. and raising my eyes be-
held the gentleman just mentioned engag-
ed in attaching one end of small, ordina-
ry looking wire to the parcel rack over the
seat in front of him. Having fastened it
to his satisfaction, he turned around and
fastened the other end to the rack over the
seat Immediately behind him. My curl
osity was by this time aroused sufficiently
for me to fold up my paper and await fur
ther developments
Having arranged this wire, which ran
horizontally, across the top of the window
by his seat, the gentleman took from his
pocket small coil of wire, from which |
presume he had cut the horizontal wire
while was absorbed with my paper, and
having cut piece off in sufficient length
to suit his purpose, he attached one end of
it to the horizontal wire and brought the
other end down in perpendicular manner
and fastened the same to the arm of his
seat nearest the open window. l was now
much interested, and was wondering what
manner of man he was, when to the per-
pendicular wire / saw him fasten another
piece of wire, say about foot above the
sill Of the window, about one foot Of which
extended out of the window, and about the
same length extended in the opposite direc-
tion towards himself; all in horizontal man
ner. To the perpendicular wire he then at
tached one end ofanother short piece of wire
Just above the last mentioned piece, and
fastened the other end to the wire that ex-
tended out of the window, and thus made
a sort of an arm that would swing to the
! right and left on the same principle as an
arm to derrick He then took out of
his pocket silver half dollar, about which
he wrapped and twisted wire to properly
secure it, leaving an end of about seven
inches in length, which he fastened to the
outer end Of the arm above described, and
then the coin hung oscillating like pen
dulum, owing to its contact with the air,
as we were rushing along at the rate of
about thirty-fve miles an hour. He then
attached to the other or inside end of the
arm wire small instrument, which he af-
forwards said was q miniature phonograph,
and brought it up to his left ear, where he
keptit for few seconds, apparently in great
expectation. Suddenly he took the pho.
nograph away from his ear and began to
re-arrauge some of the wires at the win
dow, as though something was wrong.
When he had re-arranged the wires to
his satisfaction, he again applied the pho
nograph as before and held it to his ear
for perhaps a minute, during which time
my curiosity was excited to the highest
pitch Soon gentle smile crept over his
countenance, and then a broad grin suf-
fused his whole face, which ultimately
broke out into q chuckle of satisfaction.
He now looked up-for up to this time he
had been absorbed in his experiment-and
seeing that was staring at him with great
intensity, and probably elated at his sue
cess, he motioned me to the seat beside
him. / did not expect this, and ever hav
ing the fear of pickpockets and sharpers
on my mind when travelling, hesitated
about accepting his invitation; but as my
fears were soon dispelled by the good ma
ture beaming from his counenance, | took
courage and seated myself beside him,
when he said, at the same time handing
me the little phonograph, "Please hold this
to your ear.
Having buttoned up my coat to more
securely protect my ticket and what little
money l had about me-for / could not
help thinking Of pickpockets-I grasped
the instrument and placed it to my ear
and kept it there for a few seconds, all the
time keeping my eyes upon his as he sat
apparently watching the movement of ev-
cry muscle of my face. Not feeling or
hearing anything unusual, l took the in-
strument away from my ear, when he said
"What did you hear ?" And as replied
that l had heard nothing, he remarkd =
"Place it again to your ear and keep it
there till you do hear something" /
readily complied and soon / began to smile,
when he eagerly asked -"What do you
hear?" l replied that / had heard -
"Throw more coal on; we are three minutes
behind time" Immediately the gentleman
said 81 thought l could not be mistak-
en-, and in reply to my inquiry as towhat
it all meant, he informed me that / had
heard the engineer in the engine tell the
fireman to put more coal on, as the train
was behind time could hardly believe
my senses, and thought at first that he was
humbugging me, but my doubts were soon
set aside, as, after applying the little in
strument to his ear again, he handed it to
me and asked me to place it to my ear.
I did so, and plainly heard footsteps, and
upon asking for an explanation, was in
| formed that l had heard some person walk
| ing on the track some distance ahead, and
before had fully recovered my surprise,
sure enough we passed a man on the side
track, and whose footsteps had undoubt
edly heard. / was both delighted and
amazed, and Immediately asked the gen.
tleman for his name. He smiled and said
that he was called Edison; and as he men
toned the name l felt greatly honored
and looked around me at the other staring
passengers, as much as to say y:-"Don't
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