MESSAGES
Doctor Field, much interested, accompanied the boys to the school
broadcasting room, and after determining from some data at hand the wave
lengths that would be receivable on the Marconi yacht, Tony began
talking earnestly, almost too rapidly, into the horn, the crack and
buzzing of the battery charges making a sound like that of a rifle
gallery. The president, Bill and Gus also had receiving 'phones clamped
to their ears.
"If he doesn't mind, you might ask him to reply in English, please,"
requested the Doctor, and Tony nodded.
And presently a reply did come, though in Italian. Tony got it, at some
little length; then with a gesture of disappointment he turned to the
others:
"It is an attend--an assister. He informs me that the wireless wizard,
Signor Marconi, whom I explain is a friend to me and my family and he
know our name, that the signor is away on the earth--no, on land, you
say it,--attends some occasion, or is entertain of American friends and
he will not return this many hour. So that it is no value, or you say
useless, to cast wide to him again now at this moment and I am, as you
say, deject?"
They all laughed and cheered Tony with the assurance that there would be
another occasion. Then Bill offered his idea to the president:
"Doctor, we have a notion that this radio business right now ought to
have a sort of celebration 'most everywhere; and our school might set
the example. Radio is getting to be an awfully big thing, nearly as big
as the movies. And now here's Marconi. Couldn't we start a general
hurrah for radio, bring the apparatus down to the assembly room, have a
big concert, send out some messages and get Tony here, who knows
Marconi, to give us a talk on the inventor of the wireless when he was a
boy, and that sort of thing? Of course, if this would interfere with
studies, or----"
"It need not, Brown, it need not in the least," agreed the president. "I
like your idea immensely and I foresee some features that we can add.
Suppose we fix it for the latter part of this week, handbill it in the
town also and make it a gala occasion. It is another way of calling
attention to the school and the kind of work we do here. You will all
help Professor Grant and the janitor with the mechanical details, which
should not take long. And if Sabaste will communicate with Marconi so as
to make sure we can get a message from him, that will be the climax."
The idea proved immensely popular. There are many such plans for calling
students together to instil interest in various things that prove "wet
blankets" when put into operation, but radio, as elsewhere, had taken
the school by storm. Separate departments had been organized this year
for it. It was equally an interesting plaything and a source of mental
gymnastics. It was a matter of curiosity, and not to be interested, was
to be out of the swim.
Bill got busy, as hardly ever before in his strenuous career. Because of
his uncertain English, Tony balked at giving an address on Marconi, so
Bill copied facts and wrote the whole thing out for Tony to memorize,
putting in many of the Italian's phrases, corrected. And getting the
_Elettra_ again, Marconi's former and youthful neighbor was able to make
a date for a message from the wireless wizard on the evening of the
radio celebration.
That night there was a crowd in the assembly room. Every student was
there, half the town, many people from the country around and a few
friends of the school from various distances. Doctor Field introduced
the occasion briefly. Professor Grant gave a talk on the history and
rapid growth of radio communication. Professor Judson, assistant in
physics, talked on the "little bottles," as the vacuum tubes are often
called. Professor Search talked on the possible future of radio. Then
the Doctor arose again and said:
"We want to have members of our student body, also, express to you our
interest in this great subject. We are fortunate to have this year a
pupil who, though yet a freshman, has shown an unusual grasp of the
technicalities of radio. I am going to ask Mr. William Brown to explain
briefly some of the methods employed in building, or selecting, a radio
receiving set, such as those he has been engaged in making here at the
school. His associate, Mr. Augustus Grier, who is an artist, in
mechanical matters at least, will aid Mr. Brown at the blackboard."
Bill laid aside his crutch and hobbled forward to the platform, followed
by Gus, whose easy motions were in direct contrast. A round of applause
greeted the boys. This was increased and a burst of laughter added when
Gus took a piece of chalk and with a few quick strokes made what suggested
a broadcasting station, with a rooster shouting "cock-a-doodle-doo" into
the transmitter. Then he drew a lot of zigzag lines to indicate the
Hertzian waves, and at the other end of the board, a hen listening in and
registering horror when she hears the sounds translated into "quack,
quack." Meanwhile, Bill had plunged headlong into his subject.