The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-10-20
1 WONDERFUL BOY
IS THE LITTLE THREE-YEAR-
 OLD OF DETROIT.
Possesses e Remarkable Memory. Some of the Startling Mental
 Feats He Performs.
Detroit CMieh.l Journal.

Detroit CMich,) Journal. ,..,..
 Infant prodigy" is a much misused term, and, besides 1t seems a very TOT midable expression to apply to such 2 diminutive, quiet, blackeyed fellow, but still that is what Rubin Suttkus, in the absence of a better descriptive phrase'
 Tbreeyvear-old Rubin is unquestion- ably a prodigy. and he is an infant. The child has a memory which Tn grown up person would be considered xe- sixth child of John Suttkus, carriage maker. and has been brought up Just like the other children, and 1t was purely by accident that his extraorol- nary mental attachments were aiScosr
 It was about a year ago when the child began to show his singular devei. opment. MT. Suttkus had constructe9s his older children. It consisted or ood- shaped pieces of wood, which, linked Io- gether, would show a large picture, the parts of which had been pasted on one
 1t was rather intricate affair and puzzled the ingenuity of the whole ram ily, Little Rubin became interested III it. Creeping on the noormne ,o coudo get hold nH of the box containing the puzzle ana for hours amuse himself with attempts at solving the problem. Where ms old- CT brothers and sisters failed he sue ceeded, and he soon had mastered the difrlculties involved in putting the pieces together. + ,,,.,,ra once or twice he was able to accom- plish the task without hesttaung. lie had memorized the location or every piece and was able to place each Tn Us proper place with unfailing certainty. DO sharp was his memory that finally ne could correctly solve the puzzle Wlth the picture side of the pieces downward
 Last Christmas Rubin got another pug gN fafA eighteen square blocks with the component parts of a picture. large design, on one side and letters and numerals on the other side The tot knows by heact what IS on each block. You show him one block with. for instance, 'V" on me side and he will tell you without hesitation what is OH the other; He will say Hos head" or "Flowers" just as the cfss
 on the other hand. if the side with the letters or numerals on 1t IS con ;ealeo and he Is shown the side representing a part of the general design or the puzzle as a whole, he will instantly tell you the characters appearing on the reverse or this particular block: "u. V. and C. he will say, or T, J, or any one or the eighteen different combinations that ap- pear on the eighteen blocks.
 Surely 1t is far from being an ordi. nary feat for any one to retain In mino the precise combination which spect- fled one of the eighteen blocks may bear and when the part of the general design on the reverse which this particular block is merely a portion of is part of the border, or the almost unrecogniz- able fragment of a flower worn by the hard usage the children have given It, the fact that this little one can unhesi- tatingly name the combination of letters and numerals which he cannot see in- spires amaZement.
 He knows the alphabet by heart and can read many printed words. He will go to the blackboard, draw a pig and write "P I C. on it. And yet he is but 3 years old. Nobody has taught him. Nobody has told him. He has picked 1t up by observing the other children doing their school work. In every other way the little fellow is thoroughly childIike and not different from any other child of his age. He is playful and full of pranks. In memory, however, he Is far beyond the ordinary, and his perform ances excite the astonishment or the en- tire enighborhood.