Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1908-02-28
A WONDERFUL Doa.
6omc Of the Almost Unbelievable
Tricks One Roger Does.

Tricks One Roger Docs.
Then / resolved to teach him to
spell his name. 1 drew the letters
Of the alphabet on square bits OF
cardboard and laid them in front OF
him. the letters Of his name mixed in
with others which he was not to use.
] did not teach him the names Of the
letters but simply said: Let me ses
you spell your name. Where Is tho
first letter? The second let
ter?" and so on until he had spelled
the word. spent FIVE or six lessons
teaching him, but he learned very
rapidly. | thought, however. that
when taught him another word, and
asked for the letters in order. he
would not know which first letter.
to choose. For this reason drilled
him very carefully in his name. and
did not teach him anything new for
several months, Then / taught him
TO spell his last name. He seemed to
learn It as fast as / told him the let
ters, and did not confuse the two
words in the least. More surprised
Nt-t%AA NfNtf tsAAt AAAAA GtAAA AAAgtAANA
word. with the same result.
Next decided to try arithmetic.
taught him to add every combination
Of two as far as twelve. Fer instance,
would say. Show me six and two.
at the same time putting his foot on
eight. He seemed never to forget
after had once told him. Later
taught him to add the @threes.7
Suddenly one day ! noticed that when
said for the first time. -Whese- IS
seven and three?" he put his foot On
the correct answer before / showed it
to him. I thought It was only an ac-
cident, but | said, Show me three
and eight He put his test at once
on eleven. gave hin problems tn
multiplication and division. He got
them all right The problems were
entirely new to him and in no ca
did / indicate the result to him b.
forehand Not knowing what TO
think, : took out the letters and said
Spell dog. This was a word which
he he never spelled before, and |
gave him no clew whatever, yet he
spelled 1t correctly and without hesi-
tation. ] said, Translate It into Ger
man, Roger" and he spelled it
"hund." Then l said. Spell it in
French, and he spelled ~chien.
merely placed the letters Of the words
before him, mixed in with others, aud
he put his foot on the correct letters
in turn. | showed him playing cards
which he had never seen and he
picked them out correctly. Not once
did 1 previously indicate the proper
cards. He seemed to know them
without even being told. 1 resolved
to experiment a little, so took out
thu figures again and said, SHOW me
two times three" at the same time
fixing my attention on the eight. He
put his foot firmly on eight. Here
was the clewl All this time when
he seemed to be learning SO rapidly
he had been simply getting the cards
OF which | thought.
10 further education was neces
sary. lie could spell anything which
l could spell without being taught
l asked for "Constantinople. 'c
"phthisic, pneumonia and for
problems like two times three plug
four divided by two minus one. IIo
never made a mistake. Fractions
presented no difficulties to him. He
selected colors correctly the first tina
he saw them and made change %
quickly as any cashier. also found
that he would do his other tricks for
me without being asked. If merely
thought Of him as he looked when hs
was a dead dog he straightway te.
came a dead dog At first he Wouli
not perform at all for any one else.
but sometimes when another person
was working with him and several
other people were present he got the
cards | thought Of when was out Of
sight in the farther corner of the
room. Now, however. he will per-
form for several Of my friends, when
am not present. selecting. the cards
OF which they think OF course, he
does not do quite SO well for them
as he does for me, and if I am pres
ent he gets the card | think of re
gardless of any one else.-From B. 2.
E,'s Roger" in The Century.