Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-06-16

councils Of wisdom from unseen viSitants
and were fed by ravens
I always uscd IN bn struck nv the calm.
ness of these favored mortnis who answered
the voices and crossed tbc rivers and ate
the ravens food and went their ways elated
but not too frightoned hv tho miracle. in.
tent upon finishing fbe particuar errand
upon which they had set out. Yet the other
evening. when somatbino mite as inexplica-
bic as some miracles and ali fairy tales
occurred in INV presence I inst sat still and
went on with the conversation with my
neighbor as tbomeb motb;np mysterious.
nothing so wild no Arabian Night genii
wonders was hein, opacteJ before INV ewes.
WE HAD been talking at dinner of aero.
w phones in general and the newer devices
that are portable I'm nnrticulnr. and two of
us comprising the small compnny confessed
20 not having seen or heard one of any
description. Perhaps because the other per.
son who confessed Ignorance and at the same
time an interest was Mrs. Pnchot, there
was an Immediate desire on the part of
others present TO make good that deficiency.
| noticed that the Younger of the two men
who were our hosts Left tbe room for a few
turning md settI;no Tim "iS down to his belated
dessert was n mixt,,re M nlntion and mis-.
chief
,fhe talk was pood and amusing-as It is
apt TO be when that eager and quick .witted
woman. Mrs, pinchot 10 on hand TO give
and return yolleys-nnd we fingered perhaps
twenty more minutes over thc coffee and
dessert. and then, still pursuing our dis
cussion at full tilt. we drifted casually and
Some one was playing a violin as we
entered. and Of co,irss / looked for n Vic.
tor machine not seeing tbe nloycr There
was a case about twice the size of an ordi-
nary Victor pbonograph nnd beside It was
stringed spindle that was about as biph
as n harm. n delicate woodpn frame thnt
looked like an old fashioned towel rack
strung with thin wires The thing was what
is called technicallv aerial antennae of a
loop variety, and the small cabinet was the
one of the department stores on Chestnut
street. and the sound had travelled about
eight blocks west. kent itself distinct from
all the other city noises in between, besides
going through two thicknesses of stone wall,
entered the drawing room where we sat and
sounded clearly and with deliberate sweet
ness in our ears. At the same second it was
perhaps sounding in the ears of persons in
Pittsburgh. in Newark in hundreds of
places to the north, south, east and west of
them and of us.
n L "A quarter to 8 big voice doomed
n out message of good night and for a
moment there was no sound Then some.
body. turned the antennae slightly to the
north and quite a different voice began to
speak to us in the room and to all those
listening hundreds up and down the world
The man who was speaking might very
we'll have been coming through the portieres
into the room from the hall, He called each
one of us by name, beginning with Mrs.
pinchOt, and said that he hoped we would
enjoy his program. And then the Schubert
Serenade began.
That greeting. the pause before each
name and the amused note of banter in the
voice. and then the different and more public
tone with which he announced the program
made me distinctly aware of a new sensa-
ton.
There were four or five stations from
which that sound might have come. n do
pended upon the time of day and upon the
direction in which the antennae were
pointed: The Westinghouse at Pittsburgh
and at Newark, the General Electric at
Comnanv here and locally also var;o,,s ipnSae Jae
partment stores
Each of the recognized stations has its
own time for sending out n program and
its own type Of program The baseball news.
the stock quotations. political propaganda.
press news for some and music and orntorv
for others. Once learn those times md sea.
sons and the delicate pointer can no moved
an inch in this direction or that and beor
only from the station that is chosen n few
inches off from that direction and the sound
is shut off as though it did not exist With
the ampliier turned off there is ONLY the
very shadow of sound one. indeed. that the
ordinary ear could not translate as n sound
let alone sequence of sounds making words
Or a tune. All one hears is the multiplicity
of sounds of great town with the hang md
lar of passing trolleys and the whirr ~
motors. and-then--iust touch on the
antennae and the other faint articnIate sound
from far away dominates the room That
very afternoon as it happened I had haen
the inventor of the telephone, and about thn
telephone he made for the Centennial here
in 1876, and had recalled what nv father
fold me of the incredulity concernino - g.
the time. Well. here was n thing With even = a.,
greater implications than the telenbnne We"
If the telephone and motors have charood
civilization to quite another pattern siSca
1876, what will this wireless phonopranh
not achieve?
THE quick, clever chap who had devised
/ this little miracle for his two ,rost. ons
had carried il out nil in tho snooo os t,. ahu
minutes or 40 had used both Tho =. to,avtS smten.S
and motor TO aCcomplish his snrnr;sp ;sp'vns tne
The instrument wos nnt in tbe %o,'so ior