Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-02-28
BY GEORGE PORTER

strument-that almost indispensable
adjunct to modern civilization-is
approaching its fiftieth birthday.
Within the memory of many now liV-
ing the much ridiculed and highly
Knocked Scientific toy of Alexander
Graham Bell has grown into COM
moEplacc convenience that Weaves
magic web of speech around the
world, carrying all manner of voices
and languages, and bringing the
people of the world together more
effectively than any political pact
yet devised.
The story OF the telephone is the
story of achievement against odds 1t
:, is story that involves determination,
devotion, announcement and develop
ment. 1t is a tale of three cities
Boston, Philadelphia and Washington
which carries the assurance of
happy ending after drama in which
heartleSS circumstances combine near
ly to crush the hero, but, once having
been conquered by him, those same
circumstances turn into a powerful
ally with which the hero conquers
the world
1t will not he until the tenth of
March that the telephone will actually
reach the tiftieth milestone which
commentaries the first words spoken
over an electric wire, but it was half
century ago last June that the first
sound was similarly sent That sound
was the twang of a reed and it reached
the attentive ear of Alexander Graham
Bell in his Boston laboratory on the
afternoon of June =, 1875. 1t was so
faint that only a student OF acoustics
such as was Mr.. Bell would be likely
to hear it. Yet il was undeniably
sound; a sound that announced the
birth of a revolutionary invention; a
sound which, in the succeeding years,
was destined literally to echo round
the world.
During the nine months following
the transmission of that first twang
Mr.. Bell labored increasingly to make
his queer instrument speak. Finally
one day he connected his apparatus
and, sending his assistant, Thomas
a. Watson. to the receiving end of
the worlds first telephone line. ut
tered the well known sentence:
Watson, come here; I want YOU"
Mr.. Watson, who was listening in
the basement of the building at 109
Court street. Boston. dropped the
instrument and ran up three flights
, of stairs to the room wherein Bell
was talking, there to announce to
his co-worker that his speech actual
~ had been heard. Those two orig
iral telephone pioneers of America
had carried their experiments to
successful conclusion and had proven
that their ideas were more than mere
dreams. They were entitled to their
hour of eXultation.
x * *
THOUGH they had mastered cleo
tricity and sound in such way
as to make those elements do their
I bidding, there still remained cynical
world, which had only ridicule for
any one so foolish as to suggest that
voice could be heard over a wire.
Mr.. Bell came to know how hard 1t
is to introduce new idea 10 the
public. Like Mccormick, whose first
reaper was called "a cross between
an Ashley chariot, a wheelbarrow and
a fiying machine: like Howe, whose
first sewing machine was wrecked by
Boston mob like Cyrus Field,
whose proposed Atlantic cable was
called "a mad freak of stubborn ig-
norance," and like Westinghouse,
swho was regarded as totally imprac-
teal for planning to stop tram
with wind: Bell received little but
unfriendly criticism whenever ne
spoke of the possibilities of mis- tele-
phone.
The 90 years of his life I'm to this
time had been largely spent in an
unflinching struggle against adverse
circumstances He had early been
forced to leave his native home, IN
Edinburgh Scotland. because the
Fearful hand of the white plague
had invaded it and taken away his
two brothers and was ghouhshlf
reaching for him. To strengthen
himself. Young Bell removed to On
tario. Canada. and there found health
and the necessary occupation by
teaching visible speech" an educa-
tional system for deaf-mutes invented
hv his father, to tribe Of Mohawk
Indians.
Because of his facility as teacher.
Of acoustics, Bell was shortly there
after called to introduce his fathers
system into a newly opened school IN
Boston. In that capacity he gained
local renown and was awarded pro-
fessorship in Boston University. All
went so we'll that he opened a school
of his own.
Rut in addition to having heart,
Bell had the inventive instinct FOR
a long time he was a man dlVldeu
against himself Instinctively he
wanted to experiment with the ideas
his native mind was constantly Great
ing. He was fascinated by the pan
Dramas of the Impossible that were
ALWAYS before him. On the other
hand. he was always in possession OF
AN abiding sympathy for those OF MS
fellow men who were so unfortunate
as not to have the gift of speech.
The desire to help them was Unborn:
His family for three generations had
taught the science of speech In the
universities Of Edinburgh and London.
He was only following the family ira
dition when he did the same thing
himself
For years Bell solved the problem In
the sensible manner that many men
have employed when confronted with
the same difficulties. lie made teach.
ing "visible speech his vocation, ana
irving out his ideas his avocaion.
But the avocation was not to be de-
MED. It proved so thoroughly en-
crossing. especially after Bell had
made sufficient progress to receive
the commentator of several promi-
nent scientists. that II firmly and in
evitably occupied his whole time.
After living for some time in Bos-
ton. he took up his residence In the
Salem. Mass. home of one or ms o.
year-old pupils. George Sanders was
sfhe name of the lad whose parents
were so grateful to Bell for having re-
stored the power To talk to their son
that they permitted the young pro-
fessor to live with them and to carry
on his electrical experiments in the
basement of their house. Bell Is said
to have worked at that time mostly
at night, without regard for the neces-
sity of sleep. either to himself or to
Mr.. Sanders. whom he frequently
aroused out of a sound sleep to help
try out an experiment. II the test
4 was successful, Bell would go happily
TO bed. but in the event it failed he
would return to his workshop and
plan a new method.