Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1893-1895, 1894-11-01
WONDERFUL eoys.
calculated Instantly the Number ot s...
ohds In Forty-eight Years.

N"''"'a'ed instantly the Number Of 60,
"hds In Forty-eight Years.
lnere arc Of course many excellent
DOCKS which deal with bows in fictio,,
onu mere are also actual Geographic,
winch narrato what promising youne
persons certain individuals were who il
al1er life achieved greatness. but in tbr
ia'Ver case the prophecy is mado ofto,
inc event, and somehow or othor tbc
youth thus eulogized has generally foe
hVIie OF the boy about him to be quite
oelieVed III. What l venture to pronose
Is that some sympathetic writer sllpId
tell us what boys have done" when
they were boys.
Ihls Is by no means so small = ,pattor
as may be supposed.
Ihere are OF course the musical bows
handel, who at years old "cornnoSed
church service for voices and instrn.
ments every week" and at Is bronpht
out three successful operas, and Mozart
VINO also at had reception in Lon.
don such rs the curious give to novoI-
w. the scientific to intelligence and
tne great to what administers to stately
pleasure. " AT 10 he composed n mass
Tor the dedication of the Church of the
Orphans at Vienna and acted as director
i'll person.. "
These were certainly boys who made
some noise in the world.
linen there We're the calculating bows.
VINO, 1t is noteworthy, distinguished
themselves as juveniles much more than
as grownups-Zerah Colburn, who as
tonlshed the scientific world of London
as a child 'by raising the number g
progressively up to the tenth power "
and whose mind was a fertile soil for
cube roots when his contemporaries
were learning addition.
One gentleman, by way of o side dish
during feast Of figures, asked him how
many seconds there were in Is years, and
before the question could ho written
down he answered it correctly.
George Bidder made even this vouth
take back seat, for, at 12 years old,
when taken to the stock exchange. he
was asked this little question, and an.
swered 1t in one minute: "If the pen
dulum of a clock vibrates the distance
Of O4 inches in a second, how MANY
inches will it vibrate in tho course Of 7
years II days 2 hours minute So sec
onds?"
Even with pencil and paper 1 know
persons, who shall be namoless, that
could not answer this in seven years.
Then there was Chatterton, "the mar
Velous boy, VINO perished i'll his pride, "
and i'll quite another line of business
Thomas Maxim, who died not "a do |
tard at T., but undeniably the greatest
scholar Of his age. He was an "all
around" genius. He knew more about |
Greek at than some people, again | |
forbear to mention names at II.
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 high order, was his descrip-
tion Of visionary country called Allie
stone, of which he considered himself
king.
He wrote its history in a number of
tales and letters and drew maps of it,
giving names Of his own invention to
is mountains rivers and seaports.
He was probably the most remarkable
10Y, though indeed he was but a child,
yho ever lived.
The most excellent boy from the
point Of view was however,
William King West Betty,
Detter known as "the young Roscius, "
Who at 10 years Of age retired from the
tage, having made something like $50,
90 for his family
Here was something like" boy,
hough, in fact he was not in the least
Ike one, aud happy should b. the father
'ho has his quiyer full Of such james
ayn IN London Illustrated keWa