Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-08-04
BERLINER, OBSCURE
IMMIGRANT, WON
PLAUDlTS OF WORLD

Continued From First Page.)
wrote to friend observing the sew
entieth anniversary of his birth:
And when the end cometh they shall
walk down flower bedecked slope and
meet the smiling old ferryman at the
foot of the hill, who will beckon them
to follow him to the blissful abodes
where dwell the serene and gentle souls
that preceded them into world Of
Sunlit golden dreams.
There they shall listen to the music
of the spheres, filling all with their
bewitching harmonies. Time has lost
its measure and its meaning, space is
pierced by the spiritual eye.
And, beholding world of splendor
and of glorieS, from the watch towers
of eternity, glistening in the tremulous
rays of celestial fires. they shall hear
the Tar cry OF the venerable MuezSin:
Peace be with you, fighting Is over,
and all Is WE'LL"
Born in Hanover.
Emile Berliner was born in Hanover
in l851-the son of Samuel Berliner, a
storekeeper and Talmudic scholar. He
was the fourth Of IL children. He was
educated at boarding school at VOL
fenbuttel near Hanover, from which
Ae was SAduudleo III 1000 Wucl IA. nc
received there thorough elementary
training. He was a good, but not bril-
liant pupil. His greatest proficiency
was In drawing and penmanShip.
After leaving school, his family be-
ing in Strengthened circumstances, he
entered printing establishment in
Hanover as printers devil" to learn
the trade. He received no pay, except
experience. This soon became dis
tasteful to him and he found q Job
as clerk IN a drygoods store.
Here his inventive genius first mani
tested itself. All day long he was han
ding bolts OF colored fabric. He be-
came interested in the way they were
woven and in his spare time evolved a
weaving machine. It was technically
correct in principle, but the idea was
not new. He had no technical educa-
ton.
Friend Causes Trip to U. S.
When he, was 10 years old, still a
dry goods clerk, there came to Hanover
an old friend of the family, Nathan
Gotthelf, who had immigrated to the
United States many years before and
was then the proprietor of a small store
in Washington. He was full of the OPP
portunities offered by America. The
story fascinated the dry goods clerk.
Gotthelf promised to give him work in
his dry goods store Immediately when
he reached Washington.
A few months later he bade farewell
to his family and left Hanover for
Hamburg to take ship for the New
World. Landing in New York he came
to Washington Immediately, reporting
to Gotthelf May IL, 1870. He set about
diligently to learn English, listening to
it intently in the dry goods store and
studying in the old Y. M. G. A. reading
rooms at Ninth and D streets. He
worked here three years, saving little
money. Then, seeing little opportunity
of advancement, he went to New York
with his slender hoard. Here he lived
for a time teaching German, painting
in backgrounds for enlarged tintype
photos and other piece-meal jobs.
Worked As Drummer"
Finally he obtained a job as drum
mer" for a Milwaukee clothing house.
For nearly a year he visited river COM
munitieS along the Mississippi between
st. Louis and st. Paul, but met with
little success. firing of the job he re-
turned to New York without friends
and without prospects.
For some weeks he was without job,
and finally got work in the laboratory
of Constantine Fahlberg, an analyZer
of sugar. Fahlberg still was an I'M
recognized scientific genius, afterward
the diScoverer of Saccharin, the in
tensely sweet crystalline substance de-
rived from coal tar, which has extern
sive use in industry and medicine.
Berliner knew nothing Of chemistry.
He was employed as a bottle washer
and handy man. But he was inspired
by contact with the chemist to improve
his education. He learned to analyze
sugar, and he spent most of his eve
acquired an increasing fondneSS for
scientific books and publications. Per-
haps turning point in Berliner's life
came when the proprietor Of a corner
drug store loaned him physics text
book in German. The subjects OF
acoustics and electricity were treated
exhaustively, so far as the knowledge
of the day went.
Still Was q Rolling Stone.
But his days as q rolling stone were
not over. He quit the chemical labora-
tory for a job as clerk in a feed store
at $12 a week. While there he met on
the street B. j. Behrend, who had been
Gotthelf's assistant in the Washington
dry goods store. He now was the pro-
prietor. He prevailed on Berliner to re-
turn to Washington to his old job. That
was in 1876.
The year Of Berliner's return to
Washington, the United States Patent
Once issued what has since been de-
scribed as "the most valuable single
patent ever issued" to a young man
from Boston named Alexander Graham
Bell for ian improvement IN tel
egraphy." It was device by which, as