Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-12-27

once associated with boat named the Moni.
tor; but just what kind of boat it was, oil
precisely what service it performed, people
remembered but vaguely. Old men knew
we'll, and young boys and girls who were
studying the history of the United States at
school knew, but few others could
pass much of an examination upon the
achievements of John Ericsson. Ericsson
was himself responsible TOR much OF his late
obscurity. He was eccentric, and excessively
fond of work. and he had an objection
(Which he had no hesitation in expressing
TO the conversation of bores.
But behind that locked door, and in that
queer house in Beach street, in New York,
lived genius, one of the great men of the
century, whose name will endure as long as
our history continues to be read.
Il queer house it was, and most
characteristic of the man. Ericsson was in'
DEPENDENT to the last degree. 1t was impos-
sible to work with him. The fact that a
thing had always been done in q certain
way was, with him, an argument for doing
it in some other and original way. He asked
no suggestions. He wanted no help. In a
doorway in his bed room, he had two shor;
ropes, with nippers at the ends, to hold his
coat for his rheumatic arms. Nobody
should hold coat ior himl Eighteen hods
of coal stood always in fre-weather
beside bis chamber door. The handle
of the tin cup in which he heated his shaw
ing water was four feet long, that he might
not burn his face. Summer and winter he
wore vests and stocks of buff pique, having
once bought 150 yards of 1t to last the rest OF
his natural life. So with everything else.
There was never but one man in the world
like John Ericsson, and that was John
Ericsson. And he was proud of it.
The story of a great and useful life
is told in this book. The geniuses,
as Mrs. Carlyle said, are pretty
hard to live with; but genius they have. for
all that. The caloric ship. the caloric en-
gine, the solar engine, the Monitor, are
notable accomplishments. Tipped back
against the wall, with shut eyes, as if
asleep, John Ericsson thought out things
whose end is not yet. Mr.. Church's book
is minute, clearly divided, interesting and
fair. q. r. Weldin & Co., S6.)
Electricity in Daily Life" (Charles
Scribners' Sons. J. r. Weldin & Co.,
So, is a capital handbook of progress up
to this date in the wonders of this new force.
Mr.. Howells calls this the neo-electric age,
when new element enters into human life,
as significant as the discovery, several
milleniuDs ago, that weapons could be man
ufactured out of stone. The papers which
compose the book have appeared in Serb.
ner'S Magazine, and are here reprinted with
all the excellent illustrations. A flash
of white electric light goes zig
zaging along the cover. The tele-
graph and telephone, the electric railway.
the electric light, the uses of electricity in
fighting and in heating, are all considered.
From Faraday to Edison, what a record of
progress! And, one day, how antiquated
all these bright pages will be, in the face of
the wonders which await discoveries in the
luture! With what patronizing interest
will these first usings OF this wonderful
force be commented upon several decades
further on by some successor of
The CRITIC.