The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-07-16
THE HUMAN PROCESSION

When the first telegraph message was sent over the wires, Alfred Vail
 was the operator at the receiving end
 And when Alexander Graham Bell
 constituted his first crude telephone
 line in Canada, and then went to the
 States to seek capital, Theodore New
 Son Vail. nephew of Alfred, was one
 of the few men who were from the
 first convinced of the utility of Bells
 toy. The last-namedt Vail, now
 president of the Bell hello trust and
 the Western Union Telegraph Com
 pany. will celebrate his sixty eighth
 birthday to-day. He was born in
 Carroll county, Ohio, July Is, 1S45,
 and as a boy eraigrated to Iowa, where
 he worked as a telegraph operator,
 pounding the brass in the so-called
 Morse code" that was in reality in- vented by Uncle Alfred. A little later
 he entered the railway mail service,
 and rose to be the general superinten- dent at Washington. In the meantime
 he met Bell, and in 1878 became gem eral manager of the infant telephone corporation. He travelled all over America. coaxing reluctant capital out of it's hiding places, and installing ex- changes in many cities. Later he went to South America to introduce the telephone, and also inaugurated the American electric railway system in Buenos Ayres. MT. Vail owns a big farm in Vermont, which he pr oposes to turn into an agriculture college for New England youths Strange to say, MT. Vail does not be- lieve iii government ownership of tell egraph lines.
 'sEurope's most tactfuI man" is, by common consent. Viscount Francis Knollys, first Baron of Cavarsham, who to-day passes his seventy sixth milestone. For over forty years he was private secretary to British roy aIty, the friend and councillor of three monarchs. and his recent retire ment was considered in court circles to be little less than calamity. It has been said of him that stno other man ever knew so much or said so lit7 tie ]" The tribute is deserved, for Lord KnOl1ys was always a human Sphinx. Shrewd insight unfaiIing tact and courtesy, and the rare ability to hold his tongue, enabled him to win and hold the esteem and respect Of not only those he directly served, but of cabinet ministers diplomats, and the people at large. Only the reporters disliked him, for never a word were they able to get out of him. It was in 1868 that Francis Kno1lys. then merely 8 s.Mr." entered the ser. vice of royalty as gentleman usher to Queen Victoria. Two years later he was appointed private secretary to the Prince of Wales, later King Edward and continued in that capacity until Edwards death. He succeeded to the same post under King George, who made him a viscount. Incidentally. his name is pronounced to rhyme with poles" or Acoals.''
 Capt. RoaId Amundsen. the Nor wegtan who put the South Pole on the map was born in SarpsburE. Norway, forty-one years ago to-day, July 16 1872. His youth was spent in Chris tiania, and on board sealers and whalers commanded by his father. Captain lens Amundsen He was twenty-five when he entered on his first south polar trip as first officer of the Belgica expedition. This Journey lasted two years. and filled the young sailor with aspirations for further ex- p1orations in the frozen regions. His parents wanted him to become a phy- slc1an, and he spent year in a med lca1 college. Later he went to Ger many to study sciences that would aid him as an explorer. His first not able feat was to take a ship through the Northwest Passage, and on this voyage he twice wtntered in the ice.