Democratic messenger., 1894-12-15
THEY WERE GREAT
WONDERFUL BOYS.
Calculated Instantly the Number Of Sc.
ends In Forty-cight Years.

Calculated Instantly the Number Of See
ends In forty-ciGht Years.
There are Of course many excellent
books which deal with boys i'll fiction,
and there are also actual biographies
which narratc what promising young
persons certain individuals were who in
after life achieved greatness, but i'll the
latter case the prophecy is made after
the event, and somehow or other the
youth thus culogizcd has generally too
little of the boy about him To be quite
believed in What venture TO propose
is that some sympathetic writer should
tell us what boys have done" when
they were boys.
This is by no means so small matter
as may be supposed.
There are of course the musical boys.
Handel. who at years old composed
a church service for voices and instru-
ments every week" and at Is brought
out three successful operas, and Mozart.
who also at had reception in Lon
don such as the curious give to novel
ty. the scientific to intelligence and
the great TO what administers to stately
pleasure At 10 he composed a mass
for the dedication of the Church of the
Orphans at Vienna and acted ms director
III person.
These were certainly boys who made
some noise in the world
Then there were the calculating boys.
who. it is noteworthy. distinguished
themselves as Juveniles much more than
as grownups-Zerah Colburn. who as
tonished the scientific world of London
as child by raising the number S
progressively up to the tenth power. !"
and whose mind was fertile soil for
cube roots when his contemporaries
were learning addition.
One gentleman. by way of side dish
during a feast of figures asked him how
many seconds there were in IS years, and
before the question could be written
down he answered it correctly.
George Bidder made even this youth
take back seat, for, at IL years old,
when taken to the stock exchange. he
was asked this little question, and an
swered it in one minute: IF the PEN
dulum of clock vibrates the distance
of %, inches in a second, how many
inches will it vibrate in the course of Z
years IA days hours minute SO sec
onds:"
Even with pencil and paper know
persons, who shall be namelcss, that
could not answer this in seven years.
Then there was Chatterton. 1.-THE mar
velous boy. who perished in his pride. "
and in quite another line of business
Thomas Malkin. who died not "a do
tard at T.. but undcniably the greatest
scholar of his age. He was an "all
around" genius He knew more about
Greek at 1 than some people. again ]
forbear to mention names. at IL.
At ha made copies of some OF
Raphael's heads so admirably that con-
noisseurs prophesied he would be Il great
artist His most remarkable feat. how
ever, because il showed imaginative
powers of high order. was his descrip-
tion of visionary country called ALE.
stone, of which he considered himself
king.
He wrote its history in number of
tales and letters and drew maps of it,
giving names Of his own invention to
its mountains. rivers and seaports.
He was probably the most remarkable
boy. though indeed he was but child.
who ever lived.
The most excellent boy from the
financial point of view was. however,
undoubtedly William King West Betty.
better known as 1.-THE young Roscius. p"
who at Is years of age retired from the
stage. having made something like $50.
600 for his family.
Here was something like" boy.
though. i'll fact. he was not i'll the least
like one. and happy should be the father
who has his quiver full of such. james
Payn in London Illustrated News.