The Utah County Democrat. [volume] (Provo City, Utah) 1898-1909, 1908-10-03

departure from the empty shell of
what had been a home. Little more
than a three months camplng-place
that dingy half.house in suburban
limbo had seemed to us two young
people, busted by day in the nearby
city. But the mind reaches out un-
conscious tendrils to material support.
Ten minutes with blank floors and
walls put us so nearly into the mood
OF castaways that we fed to the door
steps to watch an unsuccessful sunset
and grasp at the first subject that pre-
sented itself for conversation. This
CHANGED to be the color of great cities.
1t was fact, SO my brother said, that,
seen from a sufficient height. each
showed its own individual tint
Like the years of ones life" com
mented a voice from the other side OF
the slender railing that divided our
scrap of yard and doorstep from those
of the other tenant. Evening after
evening that frail little elderly man
had sat out watching sunsets, sepa-
rated from us only by line hardly
more substantial than the equator.
But never before had he acknowledged
our presence save by an occasional
courteous bow.
Now he continued as though taking
up the thread OF nightly converse.
tion:
But perhaps ! am alone in that
Idea. ] forget, when ! express myself
in terms of color. that all are not. as
Miss Elite would say, a little NJ, my
dears, on that subject"
A certain melancholy in the quota
ton from Dickens most lovable &C.
centric, an appeal like that of a lone
ly child in his pale, widely set eyes,
drew me to cry out:
What a pity we had not known II
before We. too. are scientists" And
then l stopped short. blushing at the
thought OF how recently the ink had
dried on our diplomas from the city's
famous technical school.
But with perfect gravity our neigh
Dor responded:
Yes, have heard you here even
ings talking of your ambitions. A
dozen times have been on the verge
of speech. All well-the fear with
which the young may inspire the old!
Now there remains only the hour that
travellers, well met, spend together
In a railway station before two trains
bear them In opposite directions. But
VIII you not give that time to a visit
to my workshop? There is apparatus
that might be worth your while"
1t did, quite literally. lack about an
hour of our train time-an hour that
my brother signified we would gladly
give to this belated neighboring.
Did you ever on a ramble afield
crack open a rough. dingy stone and
find yourself dazzled with its lining of
rainbow-hashing crystals? II was with
just such a GREATNESS wonder that we
stood In the entrance OF our neighbours
workroom. Without the house. like
ours, had presented bleak, drab un.
lovely wall. But here was color every.
where-a splendor Of varied color,
flashing from prism-hung chandeliers,
cleaning from glass cubes and globes
and multi-angled crystals, shimmering
from heaps of spun glass, glancing
from wondrously woven irldescent
silken scarves, glintlng from racks of
jewel-tinted porcelain, playing over
wall surface that glistened with what
seemed a mineral hoar-frost.
And not merely color was here. but
every device for the mingling. refiec.
ton and intensifying of hues Besides.
there were huddled upon floor, chairs,
tables, stills, instruments whose use
we could only guess; bottles OF un.
known chemicals. scientific works in
English, French, German, all relating
to optics and spectrum analysis. In
fine, for three months we had been llv-
ing almost in the same house with a
scientist whose laboratory betokened
an awe-inspiring degree of specializa-
ton.
The wonder OF 1t all. together with
a vain regret for lost opportunity,
must have spoken in our eyes. for our
host. pushing forward two unoccupied
chairs, bowed deprecatingly.
Yes" he said, leaning back against
his workbench, 1T is as you see: my
apparatus is as nearly complete as
may be in an incomplete world. Color
--color-that is my fixed idea. Even
as child | could distinguish tints
as a viollnist can musical notes. An
extra fineness OF eye corresponding to
the musicians ear my professors
told me when entered college. Linn.
tied they were, very limited. those
men; but they helped me to the best
of their ability to analyze color-its
cause, production, elements-tech-
nique as complicated as that by which
the tone masters acquire the theory
Of their art.
And just as the real musicians
thoughts translate themselves into
terms Of music, TO me life came TO
express itself in terms of the prism.
There were the rosy years of child.
hood; there were student years gol.
den through good companionship and
unbounded ambitions; there we're the
sober plodding. working years all
quiet greens and blues.
And my goal2' The mans figure
appeared to settle into itself. Upon
his face fell the brooding, absent gaze
OF those who live much in the past.
Even his voice seemed TO recede into
years gone by as he continued:
You know, Of course that color.
like sound, Is the result OF air waves
or vibrations, the red at one end of
the prism representing the slowest
vibrations, the violet, at the other end,