Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-09-24

The fascinating story of how he
came to be an inventor was charming
ly recorded by DR.. Alexander Graham
Bell in the course of his last published
article, prehistoric Telephone Days.
contained in the National Geographic
Magazine last March.
Especial interest attaches to this
article, not only because of its historic
value as relating the steps leading up
to the invention of the telephone, but
because it is one of the few occa sions
when DR.. Bell, in his many writings,
engaged in personal "reminiscences.
Il will have to go back to my grand
father, Alexander Bell of London, Eng
land" DR.. Bell wrote.
Studied Speech Mechanism
"He was an elocutionist and a cor
rector Of defective utterance. He was
the first in the family to take up the
study of the mechanism of speech with
the object of correcting defects of
speech by explaining to his pupils the
correct positions of the vocal organs
in uttering the sounds that were de-
fective.
MY grandfather took a great deal
of interest in my education. My school
life has been characterized by great
indifference to the usual school studies
and | took q very low rank in my
classes. The subjects in which / real
~ excelled, such as music, botany and
natural history, formed no part of the
school cirruculum.
Music His Earliest Hobby
Music especially was my earliest
hobby. / learned to play the piano at
such an early age that | have no rec
election now of a time when / could
not play. / seem to have picked it up
by myself without any special instruc-
ton, and although 1 knew nothing of
written music, | could play anthing |
heard by ear and could improvise at
the piano for any length of time
II am inclined to think, however,
that my early passion for music had a
good deal to do in preparing me for
the scientific study Of sound.
"As a child, | took a great deal of
interest in flowers and plants and
formed a large herbarium, arranged
according to the Linnean system of
botany.
my collection of plants gradually
gave way to collections of shells and
birds eggs. Then came butterflies and
beetles and finally the skeletons of
small animals. like fro- and toads,
mice and rats.
Got Pig for Dissection
ION one occasion my father present
ed me with a dead sucking pig, and
the distinguished professor of anat-
omy' was called upon for a lecture. So
q special meeting of the Society for
the Promotion of the Fine Arts Among
Boys was held in my study. the attic
of my fathers house (l3 South Char
lotte street. Edinburgh. This was
sacred to me, and there my collections
presented an imposing array of anat-
omical specimens.
Il can see in these natural-history
collections a preparation for scientific
work. The collection of material in
volved the close observation of the
likenesses and differences of objects of
very similar kind, and the orderly ar
rangement, as in a museum. stimulat-
ed the formation of congratulations of
various kinds.
MY father encouraged me in max
ing collections of all sorts and in ar
ranging the specimens in accordance
with my own ideas rather than in con
formity with the ideas of others. |
am inclined to think that the making
of these collections formed an impor-
tant part of my education and was re
sponsible for my early bent toward sci
entific pursuits.
Had to Learn Shakespeare
MY grand father was well known
as a Shakespearean scholar and a pub
lie reader of Shakespeare's plays; so,
of course, | had to make myself fla
miliar with the plays of Shakespeare
and commit to memory long passages