The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1929-07-02
Edison Is
GrOCerBOy

VI ONolC do SuOOCOoOi
to Wizard, Works in
Store Owned by Dad
FV Tfmes hBecioI
D UTLER, Ind, July BERNARD
ID Sturgis. the Indiana boy best
fitted to follow in the footsteps of
Thomas Edison, knows quite bit"
about batteries, ever so much more
about groceries-but never even
heard of Edison'S famous question
naire.
Further than that he isn't greatly
concerned about the matter of the
QUESTIONABLE even after it was ex-
planned that it was a list of ques-
tons in which Edison challenged
the intelligence Of the millions of
boys, who admit that they we're
educated in the better colleges.
His chief concern at present IS in
better, coffee and beans.
Bernard is II. and rather tall for
mis- age
He had to think for a moment
when asked his height
I'm FIVE feet nine incheS-no-I
guess I must be taller than that
nov"
He gave himself over to a minute
OF calculating as to how fast a boy
should grow in the "sprouting' age.
L guess I'm five feet ten inches"
he concluded.
Boys in the sprouting age never
are fat. Bernard weights 1876
pounds.
HIS father, George Sturgis.
Il L owns the grocery store in But
Ter. Bernard decided after winning
the state Edison contest that he'd
rather work in the grocery for the
summer until he goes east in Au-
gust to take the final examinations
at the Edison laboratories in East
Orange, N J.
He went out for sports while he
was in high school, but never made
the varsity in any branch
And of course on Saturdays he
worked.
Up to that point Bernard is pretty
much the average boy that you find
in any little Hoosier town with a
population OF las
But from that point on Bernard
is anything but average.
WTHEN the little group of boys
w and girls had their COM
mencement exercises at the Butler
high school last month, Bernard de- /
livered the valedictory address. Why
shouldn't he?
He had an average grade for the
full four-year course of 98 per cent.
That 98 per cent rather bothered
him and it took quite bit of ques-
tioning to bring out the fact that he
finished "on top of his class.
His victory over the hundreds OF
boys who sought to present IN
diana in the national contest for the
four year course offered by Edison
he took as a matter of course
The questions weren't very hard
I had a little trouble with one on
biology, but I hadn't studied that
for four years so I forgot it.
We've got a pretty good labora-
tory at our school and good teach
ers." he added in explaining his
victory over boys from the big cities
who came from schools with more
students thar there are people in
Butler
- ALWAYS liked the science
courses better than the others,
he continued. Especially physics
-pFvsics deals with mechanical
changes. you know-and that in
cludeS electricity Chemistry is in
teresting, too.
Did I ever invent anything? Yes.
did.
1t was a chronograph. Il had
some special little features that I
thought up and
What is a chronograph?'
Wei it's an instrument for
measuring very small standards Of
time. It's operated by electricity
and it makes it very simple to regis
b ter such degrees as one siXtieth of
Asecond. It's more efficient than
stop watch would be in such mat
tiers"
I made our own radio. But, of
fcourse. that's nothing nowadays.
You can't go wrong"
fCTUDY isn't going to worry Ber-
y nard a great deal during the
hummer. He intends to spend most
: df his time in the store and at
home and take the final examina-
ton when it comes with just as
much ease as he can command.
of course it would be great to
work under Mr.. Edison and get
that scientific training. But there
will be forty-Seven other boys at
that examination who want it as
badly as I do.
I'm reading about Mr.. Edison's
life now.
I never knew much about 1t be-
fore except what you read in the
histories about him as the inventor
of the incandescent electric Light
and the photograph"
TRAINMEN WALK OUT