The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1888-05-17
ELECTRICITY EXTRAORDINARY.
Bill Sye Pictures the Wonderful Possibili-
ties Of the Great Modern Force An
Entirely New Device.
New York World


baited his pin-hook with a good con-
ductor and tapped the low-browed and
believing nimbus with his buoyant
kite, and the pickle jar of electricity
thus crudely acquired, would be the egg
from which inventors and scientists
would hatch out a system which could
not only encircle the globe with mes
sages swifter than the flight of Phebus,
but that anon the light of day would
be filtered through cloud of cables
loaded with destruction sufficient for a
whole army, and the air be filled with
death dealing, dangling wires.
Little did he know that he was bot
Ting the genii which would one day
pull out the stopper with his teeth and
grow till it overspread the sky, planted
its bare, bleak poles along every high
way, carrying day messages by night
and night messages when it got ready,
darkening the air with it's rusty wings
provided, of course, that the genii
wear wings-and with the harsh,
metallic, gouldish laughter of a single
key with one foot on the neck of the
sender and one on the neck of the
recipient, with one hand on the throat
of the convention and the other in the
pockets of the world. defy aggregated
humanity to do its worst and command
all civilization in terse, well-chosen
terms, to either fish, cut bait or 60
ashore.
Could Benjamin have known all this
at the time, possibly he might have
considered it wisdom to 60 in when it
rained.
I am not an aid fogy, though may
have that appearance, and I rejoice to
seethe world move on. One by one have
laid aside my own encumbering pre-
judices in order to keep up with the pro-
cession. Have I not gradually adopted
everything that would in any way en-
hance my opportunities for advance
ment, even through tedious evolution,
from the paper collar up to the finger
bowl, eyether and nyether?
This should convince the reader that
I am not seeking to clog the wheels Of
progress. I simply look with apprehen-
sion upon any great Capitalization of
wealth or power in the hands of any
one man who not only does as he
pleases with said wealth and power,
but who, as I am informed, does not
read my timely suggestions as to how
he shall use them.
To return, however, to the subject
of electricity. I have recently sought
to fatho1n the style an6 motif of new
system which is to be introduced into
private residences, hotels and police
headquarters. In private houses it
will be used as a burglars welcome.
In hotels it will take the mental strain
off the bell-boy, relieving him also Of a
portion of his burdensome salary at
the same time. In the police depart
ment it will do almost everything but
eat peanuts from the corner stands.
The system is on exhibition in large
room down town, with the signals OF
boxes on one side and the annuciatol
or central station on the other. BY
walking from one to the other, a dis
tance in all of thirty or forty miles,
was enabled to get slight idea of the
principle.
1t is certainly very intelligent sys
tenn. I never felt my own inferiority
any more than l did in the presence ot
this wonderful invention. It will dc
almost anything, it seemed to me, anC
the main drawback seems to be its
great versatility, for it thereby become:
so complex that in order to become al
all intimate with it a policeman ought
to put in two years at Yale and at least
a year at Leipsic. An extended course
of study would thus perfect him il
this line, but he would not then be con
tent to act as policemen. He woulC
want to be scientist, with dandruf
on his coat collar and far-away look
Then, again, take the hotel scheme
for instance. We go to dial which i!
marked Room 81. There We find tha
by treating it in certain way it viii
announce to the clerk that Room 8:
wants fire, ice-water, pens. ink, pa
per, lemons, towels, fire escape Mil
waukee Sec, pillow-shams, New Yorl
World, menu, Croton frappe, car
riage, laundry, physician, sleeping
car ticket, berth-mark for same. Hal
ford sauce, hot tlat-iron for ironing
trousers, baggage blotter, tidy for chair
or any of those things. In fact l hav'
| not given half the list on this baromete
because 1 could not remember them
though may have added others whicl
were not on the indicator. The mes
sage arrives at the office, but the clerl
is engaged in conversation with lady
He does not jump when the alarm
sounds. but continues the dialogue
Another guest wires the office that ht
would like a copy of the Congressiona
Record The message is filed away au
tonatically, and the thrilling conver
sation goes OH. Then No. i asks tc
have his mail sent up. No. 25 wants
to know what time the 'bus leaves the
house for the train going East, anG
whether that train will connect at ALI
ence, o., with q tide-water train fol
Cleveland in time to catch the Lake
Shore train which will bring him int
New York at 7:30, and whether al
those trains are reported on time o.
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