St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1883-04-21
Coming Inventions.


"What more can be inventcd?" asked
an enthusiastic citizen on Saturday,
after listening to the talk over the line
from here to New York.
why, we have only begun" replied
gentleman who had paid some atten-
ton to the subject. ITO talk six hum
dred miles or so is nothing. Why, you
Just wait ten years and well tell you
what you will see."
ssWell, let's hear you now
sin the first place the present Morse
system of telegraph will have entirely
passed away. Taking will be SO much
more rapid and accurate.
Eyes. / admit that. -
sWell, that is not all. There will be
perfect network Of telephone commu-
nication, and it will be very cheap
But that will not be all. By the pay
ment of very small sum the father in
Northern Ohio can stepto the telephone
station at the township center and call
up his married daughter, who many
years ago ennigrated to Dakota. AS he
talks he will look into fnely-adjusted
mirror that stands before his face, and
in that mirror'he can see the face of his,
beloved daughter as she talks to him.
She, at her end of the line, of course,
will observe the countenance clearly and
distinctly also. The conversation will
run something. like this:
.fsYou seem to be little pale to-day,
father. Are you as well as usual?'
Why, yes, | guess | am all right
How are the babies?
"sOh, Sally was sick all night and
don't seem to be just right this morn
ing. Here she is (holding her up to the
telephone). You must excuse her APP
pearance. Her face is not very clean;
have been so busy that have not had
time to wash it, and she has been play
ing around and got this apron very dirty,
too.
"..sally is all right, amt she, little
one? How grandpa does wish he could
take her in his arms. He can see her
very clearly, though. I think she looks
more and more like her mothers folks
as she gets older, don't you?
e Yes. we all agree on that; Williams
has insisted almost ever since she was
born that she was mothers girl. But
here is Henry and. John; both want to
see and talk with grandpa minute this
morning.
"'BlesS their. souls, grandpa wants to-
see them, too.fs Let them come to the
phone fs3a q: jea3 4ss
ssAnd SO the conversation will go on,
and all for ten cents. -
..But that will spoil the United States
mail. What will be the use of writing
letters when we can talk that way?n
;ssThere will be none at all. But this
( 4n1o l<, lY-f bsD
Government, and the price of commune
cation win be kept down to the mini
mum. When we think that we can now
talk over line six hundred miles long,
and hear what is said, do you think that
j is expecting very much? Who would
have, believed that such a thing as o.
telephone was possible ten years ago?
Itell you, am not speaking at random
in what have said above. Through
with wonders are we? Why, man, we.
have only just begun. We have got to-
study up some means Of rapid transit
by which newspapers at any rate can be.
sent from one part of the country to an
other much faster than now. News.
viii get very old before a full descrip
ton Of it can be sent from one part of
the country to the other by telephone.
Men are now studying the problem of,
electric .locomotion, and in ten years it
will be an accomplished fact. This is a
fast age? Ha, ha! This is an ox-team-
and-covered-wago age compared to,
what is coming. Twenty five miles per
hour for an express train! Bah! who
will be willing to wait for that; we
shall spin along at least at the rate of
thirty or forty miles a minute when
there's any necessity for SO doing. Not
possible? Why, man, you are a
skeptic! any thing is possible to the
modern Yankee mind and genius. We
can, do anything we have a mind to and
we will. =
The man who thought the inventors:
had got to the end Of their string
walked away in a reflective mood
i Cleueland Leader