The Arkansaw traveler., 1889-09-14

apartment very high up and overlook ing the river and the Brooklyn bridge. On the wall there hung something that looked to Ward like telephone. De- pending from that were certain wires attached to what appeared to be the mattress of bed.
 "There's the instrument" said Rodgers.
 "Looks like a telephone"
 "The reason for that is," said Rod gers, Airily, "is because 1t is a tele- phone-A telephone without connec- tion to the central station. Now, here is my idea want you to get up pamphlet which will describe the scheme in scientific phraseology. That's where I am lame. l can furnish the ideas, but can't put 1t in a plausible way SO that the general darn-fool pub lie will bite at 1t. am the bait hook you will be the bait. Now, the idea Is this, we want pamphlet that will start out with this: 'Talk Is hfe.' This is the great talk cure. We will cure every disease under the sun, or the moon, either, for that matter. We will have the regular physicians against us, of course, but that will be a great feather In our cap, and we want to make the most of that. You want to write a separate chapter going for the physicians and their old fogy ways showing how all the great discoveries of science have had the physicians dead against them at first. It's always 6 popular thing to go for the physicians, anyhow. Lay 1t on to them thick. Say that they would rather see their patients die than accept the new inn provements of science which come from outside of the schools"
 "What's the principle of the cure?" said Ward.
 "Principle2 Oh, it ain't got no principle"
 "Well, but we will have to have some principle to put before the gen. eral public"
 "Why, certainly. The principle Is this: That talk is life. You can do good thing by showing how eloquence has stirred up people to riot or to anything else. Whats the reason of it7 Some people say it's eloquence. Well, we admit that partly, but it's the words, the thoughts, it's the life- giving principle that's in words, and which heretofore has never been recog- nized in science. This is the grand discovery of the nineteenth century, and will place the name of Rodgers side by side with those of the philoso- phers of all ages. You see, we hitch this wire on to the ordinary telephone that's :n every house. We have aspe- cial silver woven mattress which we sell to the public. The wires are attached to the different corners of the sheet and that is placed on the bed, and the patient lies thereon and covers himself up just as he would for an ordinary nights rest. What Is the consequence? Through his body from north to south-by the way, that's 6 good point, we'll have to fix the bed with . compass directly north and south and run in something about the magnetic current assisting the tele- phone work, then, you see, we'll have 6 new -fangled switch that nobody will see the inside of, which is supposed to turn all the talk that goes on over the telephone of the night through the patient. In the morning he arises electrified with talk, thoughts that burn, words that have flown through him all the night. All this thought power which has been going to waste on the telephone wires is thus col lected and concentrated on to 6 human body, and the result is that he has