The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-10-23
KNOWING HOW


 Among the many inhabitants of the earth just preceding the flood there may have been many ingenious men. better mechanics and designers than Noah was, but they didn't build an ark. Noah knew how and did it. He may have been divinely instructed in the details of the work. as he was in its general form and size ,or he may have been better gifted than those around him Nc doubt many of those who hewed the timbers. fashioned the blanks and drove the nails laughed at sidered him, but he knew what he was doing and why he was doing it. The result was completed ark of safety and the salvation of remnant of the human family.
 And all the way down the line we find the same principles at work Steam had been observed from the time that human beings first saw boiling water. If they had such a thing as a kettle or pot with a lid on 1t they saw that the steam coming out of the vessel caus- ed the lid to tremble or rise slightly, but that was all. They did not know what caused it ner how it coud be made useful. In the earlier superstitious days they thought 1t was a little imp who was trying to get out. That was what they knew about steam.
 In the fullnes of time there came a Watt and Stephenson who were not satisfied with the imp theory, nor were they satisfied to go on in the old way without learning something more. Con- sequently, they set to work to find out something about the mysterious power that could even raise the lid of tea kettle. They studied and tested and experimented until they not only learn ed what steam was, but how to control it, and make it the servant of man. They knew how. and as result of that knowledge we see the world filled with steam machinery greet railroad trains and steamships and other evidences Of the almost unlimited power of steam. It comes about because the Englishmen knew what to do and how to do it.
 And from the beginning of time, so far as we can know, men were famil- far with the lightnings of heaven. They saw the vivid flash, heard the mighty echoes of the thunder, saw great trees torn down and men and animals kill ed, but knew nothing further. To them the lightning was q mysterious
 1e1 Hnxy expressed it, but that was about the extent of their knowledge. What i was, whence 1t came, how it was pro- duced, and how 1t did its devastating work, was all hidden mystery to them. When the great love was angry he sent his lightning and his thunder and they let it go at that.
 But again the time was ripe and old Ben Franklin was it's instrument. He went to work in the right way. and he demonstrated to a wondering world not only what lightning is. but made 1t plain that 1t was in mans power to control it. He did not proceed very far, 1t is true, for he was a busy man and the times were not propitious for scientific investigations. Even wher i he made his kite experiment there were mutterings in the air which already | foretold to observant statesmen tho beginning Of the mighty conflict Ht | was a philosopher but first of all ht was a patriot, and his life was devoted 1 to his country. What he might have done had the last forty years of his long life been spent in the pursuits o science no one may know. But ht showed that he knew how to tame tht 1 lightning.
 And later We have men like Edsor and Bell and their compeers, who knew how to harness and control the won derful steed that Franklin was tn. first to put a halter on, as we ma! express 1t. They have studied ant thought and experimented until thu once mysterious and dreaded power hal become mans slave. All over the civ ilized world the electric fluid is light ing cities. driving heavy machiner. and drawing heavy trans. Men hav' done all this because they knew how.
 And so it Is in all the walks an' occupations of life. A great railroa' ! system IS to be devised and laid out a mighty bridge to be erected. or an, other great task is to be done and tn man who knows how will come on tn scene and accomplish the work. Som men fail as commanders, some fail a | business men, some as farmers, an' so on through life. They fail becaus they do not know how, while other who do know succeed. Knowing hoy is great factor in life. -..