The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1896-02-21

else he had to put on his hat Now he
Lad a fashion Of reading in bed, and he
found it mighty awkward to go to bed
with his hat on, which was whathe had
to do if be wanted light to read by.
One day happy thought struck him,
and he told his wife that he had solved
the problem Of his headlight at last.
"a glass eye isn't of very much use
except for show, and this was a reAec-
ton that had always annoyed the pro-
lessor ever since ne began to wear a
glass eye. He now saw his way to make
the eye useful and to give himself the
most convenient light that a man ever
had. His idea was to make q glass eye
with an ineandescent fiber in the mid
die Of it, and to run it by a storage
battery in his waistcoat pocket. So he
went to work and, being a very ingen-
ious workman. as well as man brim-
full Of science, he turned out glass
eye that couldn't be distinguished from
q natural one, so far as appearances
went, and that had an electric light OF
siX-candlc power in the middle Of it.
at was the biggest success that the
professor had ever had. Wherever he
went after dark that eye was blazing
away and lighting up the path. When
he wanted 10 read there was his light
in just the handiest place it could pos
sibly have been. The fine wires that
ran from it down TO his waistcoat
pocket were concealed under his hair,
so that hardly anybody would notice
them, and when he wanted to put his
light out or to turn it on, ali ne had TO
do was to put his finger and thumb
into his pocket. Then again the thing
operated like dark lantern, for when
ever the professor wanted to turn his
light of in hurry and without fun
bling for the button in his pocket, all
he had to do was to shut his eye. The
light would keep on burning behind
the eyelid, but it wouldn't be bright
enough to attract attention.
Thedaytheprofessor got hisnew eve
light intoworking order his wife wasn't
at home, having gone out to spend the
dag and evening. He lit himself IN
early in the evening, and, keeping in his
room, he wasn't seen by anybody. When
night came on he went to bed early. so
as. to enjoy the luxury of reading in
bed. He took the storage battery out
Of his pocket and put it under the
pillow, and, when he stretched himself
out in bed, with a book in his hand and
his eye blazing away with six-candle
power, he was about the happiest man
in all New BerlinopolisviiIe. He read
and read, until he began to get sleepy,
and then he put down his book and
thought over q lot Of scientific things,
till he accidentally fell asleep. told
you he could close the lid over the
illuminated eye if he wanted to, but as
a rule he didn't close that lid, but slept
with it open. Mrs. Van Wagner came
home in the course of time, and natural
ly went up to her bedroom. She was a
strong-minded woman, who was about
as likely to steal sheep as to faint away,
but she admitted afterward that when
she entered the room and saw the pro-
fessor's eye blazing at it's level best she
came nearer dropping on the floor than
she had ever done before. However,
she pulled herself together and woke
the professor up. She never said Just
how she did it, but it's my idea that he
was walked up more sudden than man
was ever walked before. She told him
that this time he had gone too far; that
his illuminated eye was simply bias
phemous, and she wouldn't stay in the
same house, much less in the same
room, with it. It's bad enough for
man to sleep with glass eye wide
open, says she, but when it comes to
an illuminated eye it is more than any
Christian woman is called to bear
"The professor was ordered to turn
his eye out at once, which he naturally
did, being a small as we'll as a peaceful
man, and he was told that he must
never wear an illuminated eye again.
This didn't suit him, for he was proud
of his new eye, and, then, there was no
denying that it was a very convenient
thing So he said that he really couldn't
afford togiveupone of the most impor-
tant inventions of the age just because
Of q womsn's within, and he stuck to
this view of the case all through the
night The next morning Mrs, Van
Wagner went home to her mother. and
brought suit for a divorce against the
professor on the ground Of cruel and
inhuman treatment. When the case
came on to be tried the professor was
compelled to show the practical work.
ing Of his illuminated eye to the jury,
and they found a verdict for the plain
tiff without leaving their seats.
''The professor didn't seem to care
very much about this, for the only
thing he did care much about was SCI
ence, and now that he had his house to
himself, he had nobody to interrupt
him in ais experiments. But he never
could 20 into the street with his eye lit
up without causing a crowd to collect
and follow him. and presently there
was an injunction got out against him,
foTbiding him to wear his eye in public,
on the ground that it constituted q
nuisance and led to breaches Of the
peace. The poor old gentleman got
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