Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1894-11-05
WONDERFUL BOYS.
Calculated Instantly the Number OF Sec
onds In Eorty-eiglat Years.

ends In Forty-eight Years.
There are Of course many excellent
books which deal with boys in fiction,
and there are also actual biographies
which narrate what promising young
persons certain individuals were who in
after life achieved greatness, but in the
latter case the prophecy IS made after
the event, and somehow or other the
youth thus culogized has generally too
little OF the boy about him to be quite
believed i'll. What I venture to propose
is tl-c5 Go1nc sympathetic writer should
tell is what boys have done when
they were boys
IhiS Is I9y' 10 means SO small d matter
as 1noy BE supposed.
There so OF coT1rse the musical boys.
Handel, who 1T years old "coTnposed
q church service for voices and instrUl-
nlents every week. and at 5 brought
out three successful operas, and Mozart,
who also 1t 8 had @ reception in Lon
don E'such az the curious give to novel
u, the scientific to intelligence and
the great to what administers to stately
pleasure. " II 10 he composed q mass
for the dedication Of the Church Of the
Orphans at Vienna and acted as director
III person. -
These were certainly boys who made
some noise il 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 q child ''by raising the number
progressively up to the tenth power, -
and whose mind was q fertile soil for
cube roots when his contemporaries
were learning addition.
One gentleman, by way Of o side dish
during q 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 q back seat, for, at 10 years old,
when taken to the stock exchange, lie
was asked this little question, and an
swered it in one minute: eff the pen
dulum Of q clock vibrates the distance
OF 90 inches in second, how many
inches will it vibrate in the COURSE Of z
years Il days 2 hours minute SIS sec
onds?"
PERSONS who shall be nameless, that
could not answer this in seven years
Then there was Chatterton, the mar
velous boy, who persisted "a his pride, .
and in quite another line Of business
Thomas Maxim, who died not "a do
tard at IT, but undeniably the greatest
scholar Of his age. He was an ''all
around" genius He knew more about !
Greek at 4 than some people, again I
forbear to mention names, at H.
At he made copies Of some Of
Raphael's heads SO admirably that con
noisseurs prophesied he would be a great |
artist His most remarkable feat, how
ever, because it showed imaginative |
powers of q high order, was his descrip- |
ton Of q visionary country called Ale
stone, Of which he considered himself |
king.
He wrote its history in q nu-~ her 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 d child |
who ever lived r.
The most excellent boy from the |
financial point Of view was, however,
William King West Betty,
better known as ''the young Roscius, .
who at 5 years Of age retired from the
stage, having made something like ESQ.,
600 for his family.
Here was something like boy,
though, in fact, he was not in the least
like one, and happy should Be tho father
who has his culver full of such. james
Payn in London Illustrated News