The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-02-10
Wonders Of the Electricity He Dis
covered illustrated at =
Rare Banquet.
Though Dead for Years Franklin
Repeats Poor Hichard Max
inns Between Courses,


SAVV -
says the New York World. II was the
weirdest affair Of the kind that was ever
given, and q society reporter would have
been at his Wits end to write IL up. There
were fish and fruits and fowl In plenty, ia
be sure. But those were only incidentals,
strange o. II may seem. The piece dc re-
~sistance Of tho banquet was cooked by elec-
tricity, before the eyes Of tho thirty-Avs
guests. There were phosphorescent entrees.
blue light entremets, Z magical dessert
and electrical hors d'nuvres. II
wasn't precisely o Barmecids feast, for
there was enough to eat and drink svery-
where. hut there were people present
whose mouths were Watering after q tempt
ing-looking Wand just within reach Of their
hands, and who, when they attempted TO
take q bite Of II, found II shoot up into yell
low, green or sclrlet flames, bite theis I'm
gers with a smarting blaze, or melt away
into the thin air of q tinted smoke.
The dinner was partly a joke, partly q
genuine feast ana PATTY z scientific demon
stration. The Franklin Experimental club
Is now only In its swaddling clothes, but IL
js growing fast and working AWAY In ear-
nest to populatize electric experimentation.
The dinner last night was given to celebrate
its first birthday, to amuse its guests and it,
members, and to present s0me Of the results
that have been accomplished In tho past
twelve-month.
William j. Hammer, Who was Edison's
representative at the Paris Exposition, was
the primo spirit In the enterprise, and no
one can discredit the fact that the dinner
was the most original ever given. Only
think Of this; II was presided over by Hon
full speech, and welcomed tho guests. He
sat at the head Of the board. his long white
hair hanging over his shoulders, dressed in
q suit Of brown bToadcloth, with lace At his
neck and wrists-a fashion strangely out Of
date at present, It 10 true-and he talked IN
q way that sounded something like Old
Richards almanac and something like the
language of the court Of Louis XVI.
The laboratory had been transformed
from its workadav world appearance a. II
by magic. In tho centre Of tho room there
was . long, narrow table, the ordinary
workbench Of the place, covered with snow
white drapsry and adorned with what
looked like luscious fruits, fresh flowers
and sparkling glass. Some Of tho fruit and
flowers were real enough, tits certain, but
what was true and what was artificial it
would have taken solomon to ascertain.
The guests sat down and were served
with the first course. There was no chef
employed. II Was cooked by electricity,
and in fact SO was everything, down to the
coffee, which was made over wires. Tho
OIUcIb uhO no bOOuCk RUb tuoAL Uectu IuLO
samples from = deliciously stewed dish Of
oysters, when bang! out went the incandes-
cent lights and arkness reigned. Then
there appeared out Of the shadows q couple
Of hideouS grinning skulls. Thor eyes
shone fire, their mouths shot forth flames.
Their jaws moved with a swapping like a
c~rocodile's, and from their invisible throats
there came forth two sepulchral voices in
unison:
As re are now 40 once were We:
As we are now 70 ye shall BIO.
II was q pleasing appetizer. Mr.. Ham,
mel had, as II by magic, brought them out
of space somehow. and had by the subtle
use Of q battery and a monograph made
eyes CLEAN where in reality only sockets
we're and their Heshless jaws move as II
alive. Nj. Hammer has q friend who has a
deep bass voice which seems to issue from
his feet, and he it was who was pressed into
service for the manufacture Of the phono-
graphic sound. Of course, after the
mechanism Of the thing was explained
every man had a good laugh OF his neigh
Dor. But the apparition OF the grinning,
speaking skulls, one of which in life had
been detached from its body by the guillo-
tine, WAS CHASTITY in the extreme. II was a
sort Of reminiscsnce Of the old Egyptian
"skeleton at the feast"
The lights were turned up again and an
other course WINS introduced. All unsus-
pectinQ, the various guests began to en-
joy the product cooked by electricity. But
with Ben Franklin at the table there was
small chance for sybaritic enjoyment of
the meal. He sat smiling an oily, benig-
mani smile, when suddenly there issued from
his waxen Rullet the following sententious
maxim:
"a fat kitchen makes q lean will; il you
would know the value of rooney try and
borrow some"
And all the time the old philosopher sat
smiling. imperturbed. 1t was q mean trick
for the frugal old philosopher OF colonial
days to play on the degenerate pleasure.lov-
ing scion Of the present time.
And 10 the dinner went on! In the midst
OF it suddenly there burst forth the sound
of q delicious voice. 1t was Nine. Adini's,
of the Grand Opera in Paris. She a q
few notes, and then suddenly there merged
into hers the deep notes of q rich basso.
That was Melchissedec's. Together they
were pouring forth the inspiriting music Of
the ''Matse,llaise." Next there came ths
booming Of cannon, the thrilling notes of a
grand bugle solo, with it's echoes against
the buildings Of Paris, and finally a mans
voice again making q graceful little
address. Yor could hear the plaudits Of
a crowd, the "ali hail" Of a populace which
E Eu: crying " e. With b ,as, voice: "Vi yv; 10
Carnotv
By the dextrous placing of n photograph
the guests at the strange little dinner in
Newark had been transported away ncroas
the Atlantic and were listening to the last
closing exercises of the Paris exposition,
The mans voice distinctly heard making a
speech was M. Eiffei's.
In the place that a sorbet would naturally
occupy in an ordinary dinner tho lights sud-
denly went ont again and q strange thing
happened. Near the middle Of the table
there had been throughout the dinner a
great globe of gold fishes through which
flashed the varied colored lights that had
been turned on from time to time. All Of a
sudden, az IL a magician had waved his
wand, the globe became illumined with a
monochrome. In the globe of glass were
seen swimming about the little live fishes
Of gold and silver, which were as
transparent as those tiny affairs that
fakirs sell In the street for the amusement
of children. All tho anatomy Of the shiny
fishes was plainlg discernible. And they
SWAN and swan about AZ il nothing more
unusual had occurred than was natural with
the finny folk. Yet each one Of thess fishes
had inserted down his throat-down into
his stomach-a miniature electric light
about the size of q big pea and was sailing
about with = thin. hair-like wire In his
gul:st that was almost invisible to tho naked
eye. This of course was attached to a
dynamo which produced the light that
trans6gured their little bodies, and the
effect that the display produced was Won
derfuI.
70 the dinner went on, and with every
course, with every other minute, some
strange, uncanny thing was done by the
magical intervention OF electricity. Tho
OVetcfe we're DteWed by the 0Am0 mvatical