The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1890-11-20
Charles Mhe.,ts.one.

The great electrici m. intgiis0r and
professor of experimental philosophy at
Kings College. Sir Charles Wheatstone,
was from his buyhood resolute, ingen.
ious. ard remarkably ersevering in his
sc entific undertakings. He believed,
AMI acted on the belief. that whate yer
was worth doing at all was worth doing
we'll; that few fiji ulties " ere too great
to be overcome and no hitch too small
to be investigated. contributor to the
Leisure Hour relates AN interesting and
characteristic incident which occurred
when he was between IL and ID years
old
His mother was an invalid, and his
father, though proud of his Clover son,
was too careless to trouble himself about
him, so that lie and his brother William
were left unliindered to pursue their
rather perilous experiments i'll the labo-
ratory. They escaped without serious
injuries, though their researches in
cluded one experiment which blew out
a part the roof with a loud report.
One day Charles saw on an upp II shelf
i'm look store work describing some
of Volta's discoveries. He gazed long
1t the fascinating volume, and finally
far above his :ceans. and greatly disap-
pointe I'll he turned hon ward in the iii
rection of Pail Mall.
lie went 1T o..ce 10 what he consid-
cred tie best and most interesting part
| of the house. the laboratory, on which
he and William spent all their time and
pocket money. There was their cruel
BILE, made entirely by themselves,
| wherein they compounded the most ap-
palling smells, and there, as a sort of
offset to it. was the still in which they
were able to distil perfumes. a work
| which Charles particularly liked.
William believed his brother to be the
cleverest boy in the world, and had lis
tened sympathetically while Charles de.
scribed the wonderful book, which he
declared that he meant to have if he had
| to go without sweets for month.
Day by day. as Charles passed the
| book store. he locked anxiousIy to see if
| the volume was still there in its place.
| 1t would lie cruel if some one else should
| buy it. The moment he had saved money
enough, he hurried away and bought it.
But here a terrible disappointment
met him. The ork was written in
French, and neither of the boys knew a
word of the language.
"Wiat will you do now?" asked lis
| faithful satellite.
Buy a dictionary as soon as can af
ford it, replied Charles promptly.
He did not regret having bought the
b ,ol. After all, French was a language
luat could BE- learned, if one only set
| about it in earnes:.
Charles had again to save his scanty
pocket money. Having bought the die
tionary, he applied himself to the wora
| of reading Volta's discoveries. The
| task would have been difficult for a
grown man; but the boy of Is finished
it at last. not only mastering the words,
hut understanding what lie read.
Then he wanted to make the expert
| ments for himself. I'VE must have a
battery" he observed to William
But where are we to getit? 1t would
cost an immense deal of money, and we
have next to none, replied the younger
| brother
| "Of course we can not buy one, Lut we
can try to make one, was the answer.
| If Charles had proposed to put CIR
| die round the earth. feat which he
| really accomplished afterward with his
|
| seen nothing out of the way in the prop
osition. He knew that the thing would
| be done
The battery was begun forthwith. The
| materials were of the toughest, the boys
| knowledge Vas rudimentary, and their
progress slow. They were prepared to
| wait patiently, however, provided the
| work was satisfactory in the end. But
there came a bad day when money and
| supplies faile,i altogether. The copper
plates of the machine were still want
ing, and the boys fund was reduced to
| a few pence. T"o,e pence were not
such as are in use now, but clumsy
| pieces of nearly twice the present size.
William eyed the coppers, us if by
hard staring he mig t convert them into
| silver But Charles, now as ever. rose
above the difficulty.
1--WE must use the pennies themselves,
and see how that will answer, sail he.
The battery was successful, as William
knew it would be- They used it for
years to their own intense delight, and
the great qualification of their father.
What became of it is, unlappilv, not
known. Probably it was an ugly I'M
couth thing, but it is doubtful if in the
eyes of those two boys anything in the
world possessed greater beauty. Out of
experiments upon it, we may believe,
came the germs of some of Sir Charles
Wheatstones's greater achievements III
later wears.