The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1896-02-21
THE PROFESSORS EYE.
By ". L. ALDEN.


'There is one thing, said the colonel
as we were walking along the Strand
one evening, Gin which London is be,
hind the age, and that is in the matter
OF electric lighting. Take my OWL
town Of New BerlinopolisyilIe. 1t hasn't
more than $4,000 inhabitants, but there
isn't q gas lamp in the whole place, ex-
cept in few houses. The streets and
most Of the houses are lighted with
electricity, and l shouldn't be sur.
prised to find when I get home again
that our people were doing all their
cooking and hOusewarming by electric
heat. Why you Britishers still stick
to gas as you do is something that can
not account for.
did / ever tell you about old Prof.
Van Wagner and his electric inven-
tons? Well, this looks like a respect
able barToom, and if you say so, wei
stop in and have little something, and
I'll tell you about the professor. He
was one of our most remarkable men,
and though the general public doesn't
know it, he did more for the cause of
electricity than almost any man in
America, except Edison.
about two years ago." began the
colonel as he slipped his hot Scotch and
tried in vain to tilt back on its i'm
aginary hind legs the sofa on which he
was sitting, "Prof. Van Wagner went
crazy, as most folk thought, or the sub
jet OF electricity. Incandescent lamps
we're his particular style of lunacy, and
he made up mis- mind that he wouldn't
have any other sort of light in his house.
You see, his sight was beginning to get
q little dim, which made him dissatis-
fed with gas, and then he had knocked
ever his kerosene lamp-parafin, I be-
lieve, you call it over here, though I
don't see what right you have to invent
new names for things we Americans
have named-half a dozen times, and he
had come so near 10 setting the house
on ire that he was anxious to get rid of
kerosene altogether. Then, again, he
believed that electricity would be a
good deal cheaper than gas, provided it
was properly managed. And I'm in
clined to think that he was right. ANY
way, be told Mrs. Van WAGNER that he
was going to furnish the house with in
candescent lights, and that she might
sell her kerosene lamps and gas fixtures
for what they would bring.
snow this old professor was not only
an ingenious man, but he was a prac-
tical man, which is something that a
professor very seldom is. He saw that
1t was oil mistake to have lights fixed
in one place, as gas burners are, or to
have them carried about by hand like
ordinary lamps or candles. 'Peripatet-
ie lamps are what we want said he,
which, / suppose, means lamps fastened
on the top OF our heads, though l adj
NIT that don't know any German to
speak Of. So the professor, as soon as
he had taken the gas fixtures out Of the
front hall, fitted an incandescent light
on the top of the head of the house
maid and supplied it from a storage
battery that was concealed under the
girls back hair. When there was no
need for light in the front hall il was
left in darkness, but whenever anybody
rang ct the front door the maid Just
turned up her light and answered the
bell. She was a rather pretty girl, and
she made a fine effect with the lamp
glowing on the top of her head and
lighting up her face in way that
would have made an ugly face pretty
hard to bear. When she showed Wis
itOFs into the parlor she would walk
In front of them, lighting the way, and
everybody declared that she was a long
way superior to the hest light that had
ever been previously known.
sThen the professor fitted light in
the inside Of his six hat and cut open.
ings in the hat to let the light shine
through. In front Of the hat was a
window Of plain glass; on the right
side was one OF green glass, and on the
LETT side one Of red glass. You see the
professors idea was that his lights
would show which way ne was heading
when he went out on the street after
dark. ANY man who knows the rule
OF The road said be, will know by the
color Of my lights which way an
heading, and can keep out OF my way.
This was very convenient for the ole
gentleman for, as / have said. his sigh
was rather dim, letting alone the fac
that be had one glass eye, and this be
ing the case ne often ran into people
saad horses, aud things, when he wal
sat after dark. he made a good des
81 3 sensation the first time he up
nad on Broadway with his head
: tight and bis side lights burning then
5E:ghtes5, and. as was natural, he ha,
pretty be szowdiollowfag him, fh'
ee5srn Was -slHsYs little DOUBT 3