Evening Star Newspaper, August 21, 1921, Page 53

BY HAMILTON PELTZ. AS Caruso's life prolonged or shortened by his leav- ing New York for Italy? Only = few days after Naples had knelt ut the bier of the greatest of tenors and all the world was mourning him, Antonio Scottt his beloved comrade of a quarter of a century, sald: “I believe. that if he had remained here in New York, under the watch- ful care of his splendid physician, instead of journeying to Sorrento. | my dear comrade, my more than, brother, Enrico Caruso, might be yet alive. What I mean is I fear he pre- sumed too much upon his conva- lescence and in his zeal overexerted himself. “Did you observe what the news cables said immediately after his death? It was not enough that he should visit the famous sanctuary of Our Lady of Pompeli to make & thanks offering for his recove but the dispatches added that ‘aft- erward he visited the excavations at Pompell’ We were informed that he ‘went to the Island of Capri, where he attended a luncheon given in his honor. All this he did just “a few days before his final prostra- tion, and we Know. too, that he had been receiving and entertaining guests. “One cannot visit the e-cavations at Pompeil. you know, and do it in an automobile or a comfortable car- | riage. It is_necessary to climb herej and there. It is a task for a sound| man. What I fear is that all this| exertion, which he apparently was permitted to indulze unchecked, was too severe a strain upon his only rtly recuperated strength. His; vatchful physicians. had he still been here, probably would not have permitted this to happen.” Mr. Scotti expressed this opinion toward the close of a chat of nearly two hours. It was replete Wwith reminiscence of his dead friend. He and the writer sat in Mr. Scotti's study on the tenth floor of the Van- derbilt Hotel. The famous baritone was in mellow mood. He had just come from the Church of Our Lady of Loretto, in New York, where. with bowed head, he had listened to the celebration of a solemn requiem mass for the ‘Tepose of Enrico Caruso’s soul. Memories of Caruso filled his mind and his heart. He talked freely. albeit at times in a voice choked with emotion. He talked of their mutual triumphs in opera, but even more of Caruso's man: sided character, of his habits, of his rare artistic gifts outside the realm of music. But most of all, Mr. Scotti's reminis- cences dwelt upon their flawless friend- ship, a manly, mutual love like that of Jonathan, “passing the love of women."” Do vou balieve Caruso, when he left New York last spring, felt any misgiv- ings that he might be leaving _Ame!lcfi for the last time?" Mr. Scotti's guest ventured toask. ¢ think that. Indeed. “*Ah, no: I do not 1 have seen letters written only a short ‘before his death which convince e hat he was looking forward optimis- tically to recovesy. But I do think he feit serioun doubts whether he might re- gain his voice in time to take part in the next New York opera season. think his removal of nearly all of his al effects from his apartments in | tel suggests his idea that his stay Was destined to be longer than mirers among the public i pe Toa ‘most o‘d""" ads !“'ll:‘al.r! wlistened in the eyes of the Fandsome baritone as he paused, invok- ing memory, and then continued. ‘How well I remember on the night before he salled, just a few of ruso and his wife and a few personal friends and myself—had a little informal dianer in an Italian restaurant. And when the time, had come for parting I kissed him with 2 good Itallan embrace and said: “Enrico, my dear friend, I_wish you 1l the health in the world.. T'm sure you will get strong very quickly and will come back here tp sing better than ever t season.’ l“5\'0\! see, I wanted to encourage him, though 1 was none too sanguine myself. But Enrico just looked at me, a little sadly, but with all his affection beaming from his eyes, and said softly: ‘T think T may stay away a little longer than that, my dear Toto. I realize that I must take it easy, amigo, and that it may take me a long time to get well. * % x % TO" He always called me that from the very béginning ‘of our friendship, twenty-four years ago. It was what you Americans call his ‘nickname’ for me. God! I seem even now to hear that dear voice, as he used to slap me on the back in one of his jocular moods! Yes, it was twenty-four years ago. Both of us are native sons of Naples, but it was in Milan we met. I was singing in Ja Scala, my first sesson there. Curiously enough, it was the first year of Giullo Gatti-Casazza .as_director of La Scala apd also the first sea- son in which“Arturo Toscanini. con- ducted in that opera house. We were producing ‘Diedeistersinger.” a Ger- man opera, but we sang it in Italian. “Caruso ‘'was yet a long way from being world famous. He had made his debut in 1894 in ‘L'Amico Fran- cisco,’ in the Nuovo Theater, Naples, but without ‘scoring any outstanding triumph. He was littie more than a boy, anly about twenty-two years old. "Then he had toured Sicily and other places with only indifferent suc- cess. He has told me since that in those days his' compensation in Italian lire wes about the equivalent of $10 a night, “Finally he came to_Milan, and it must have been late in“the year 4898, I should say, thet he sang Marcello in ‘La Boheme’ in the Teatro Linicio, Milan. 1t was a part he had at fivst refused because he thought it illy fitted for him, but he awoke the next | morning to find himself famous. Then followed for Caruso four seasons’at | La_Scala, | “Our warm friendship had dated al- most@rom the moment of our meeting. It was a boyhood alliance of love that ever matured and strengthened with the passing of the years toward maturity. During that perlod in Milan I learned to appraise Enrico's| volce and his character both at some- thing like their true, pure gold value. “From Milan 1 had gone to Covent | Garden, under the direction of Henry | Higgins. That impressario was look- | ing for a tenor who, as he expressed | it. would be adapted to London's tastes. From the first moment he broached the subject to me I began singing the praises of my friend, Caruso. 1 Ah. my dear Higgins.' T would say, | ‘you do not yet know this Caruso, but he is going to be the greatest tenor the world has ever heard! Is he ad: pted to London? Truly. yes. he adapted to every place ere one knows-what is divine music “In_my second year at Covent Gar- den T still was begging Higgins to bring Caruso fo England. Enrico then was singing in La Scala and was drawing 2,500 lire—about $500 a night, which was a very considerable salary for those days. - “Higgins said he fedred Caruso wouldf exact too high a price for an initial engagement, but I told him we were great friends and I thpught I could get Caruso to come to London on reasonable terms. So finally the im- pressario asked me to go to Milan as his ambassador to bring Caruso to England. “And so, with joy in my heart, I o to Milan to see my dear brother again and to persuade him to come back with me to London, so that again we may be close to one another. Weli, we embrace each other, and Enrico says: ‘But, Toto, I don;t want to go to to London; London may not like me, and I am doing very well here.' Then I went after him hard. ‘My God. man! eald I, ‘don’t you know this is the opportunity of your lifetime? Don't be a fool and toss it over. Lon- don will rise to you like a trout to the fiy. and after England, then Amer- ca ‘Well, T don’t remember all I said, but I used all my diplomatic arts, and into the scale also I threw the make- weight of our affection.. And what do you think? Finally I was 8o suc- cessful that he came to Higgins at 2,000 lire a night, which was about $400, or $100 a performmance less than he already was receiving at La Scala. obody needs to be.told, of course, how Enrico made a tremendous hit in London right from the start. Hig- gins made good. After that Caruso just about named his own terms. Dur ing that London period in Covent Garden we sang_together in ‘Tosca.’ ‘La Boheme,’ ‘T Pagliacci, “Fraviata, ‘Un Ballo in Maschera’ and other op- ¢ arpso as Known by, His Lifetime C 1 | in the Metropolitan Opera House. No- vember 23, 1903. His engagement was for fifty performances at $1,000 a night. . “No need for me to speak of the period that followed. It was a suc- cession of triumphs for my dear En- of which all the world know Before he came to New York I ha been something of what you call a ‘matinee idol' myself in a smallish, baritone way Mr. Scotti said this with one of the chuckles which now and then, at spme humorous recollection, broke, like dun- shine after cloud, through the nar- rator's more somber mien. “But I knew. well how it would be. Caruso became the idol of the music- Toving world, as I knew he would. No longer was there any pedestal for my- self, but none ever rejoiced more sin- cerely in his successes than I. Indeed, I shall always love to recall that often the public kindly coupled my name with his and spoke affectionatély of ‘Caruso and Scotti.’ c “But his ‘New York debut reminds me of a humorous episode that illus- trates the impulsive side of Enrico’s character. In all the years I knew him he was temperate in his induls gence in wine. But he often laughed with me over his own story of what I believe was the only time that Enrico Caruso ever was hissed from an oper- atic stage. As Enrico himseif told it, during_ his youthful singing period, when he was_ touring small towns in Sicily for $10 a performance., the heady wine of Sicily, with which he had not yet become familiar, disturbed his after-dinner poise 8o erratically that when he essayed to-sing fo his prown- cial audience, and fuddied the job, he was greeted with shouts which were the Sicilian equivalent of ‘Rotten, rotten! Get _the hool “Well, they booed him off the stage. The country manager the next night had substituted a new tenorh but when the latter had begun to garol eras.” Scotti preceded Caruso in New York, as he had preceded the tenor in Lon- don. Telling of Caruso's debut in Anterica, the baritone recalled that Maurice Grau, who had heard the great tenor in Milan‘and in London, had made overtures to bring him to the Metropolitan Opera House. but at first nothing came of it. Then Grau's health failed and the directorship of the ‘Metropolitan fell upon Heinrich Conreid. * % ¥ *x «(~ONRIED," said Scotti, “simply did not know Caruso. He had to get his information at ‘second hand. So. whenever he began talking of tenors with me, as he often did, I praised Enrico, just as I had done to Higgine at Covent Garden. “Heavens, Mr. Conried,’ } used to tell him, ‘you have never heard any tenor like this one! He is wonder- ful, the greatest in the world. Bring him to New York and you will have all America at his feet in a fort- night!" 2 “Conried was not keen for it fof some time, but eventually he engaged him and, as you know, Caruso made his first appearance—in ‘Rigoletto'— OF HIS COMRADE SCOT'TI, DEVELO! BITS OF WORK. his first aria the Sicilians grdaned and hissed worse than before and shouted, ‘For God's’ sake, send us back the drunken one!" “Enrico used to love to tell this yarn at his own expense among close friends. When he came to New York it was arranged by Charles Henry Meltzer, who was publicity secre to the Conried management, that NTIMATE Recollections of the Great Tesor From His First 'gv;ccess in Milan Until His Death—Opera Idol Possessed Rare, Talent as a @ricaturist and Sculptor—Early Career in Italy Singing for $10 a Ni’ght—Ti‘rJflb Attention to | | Details in Perfecting Himself for His Roles—Designe t |'Won\dei'f-u1 Memory. = . PED FROM THE LETTER S. Caruso should mtet the New York newspaper critics for a friendly little getting-together symposium In the Metropolitan. Enrico begged me to. go with him. He spoke .practically no English then and asked me to help him out with the critics, upon whom he naturally was anxious to make a good initial impression. “So we attended together, and I THE CENTRAL DRAWL 2 CHARACTERISTIC SKETCHES BY CARUS0. THE TOP STRIP IS OF HIMSELF, DEVELOPED FROM THE LETTER C; THE BOTTOM STRIP 18 IS OF SCOTTI AND ONB OF CARUSO'S FAVORITE | o was making a nice little speech in' English, sketching the career of my friend, who stood blandly smiling upon the critlcs. Caruso became more and more restive, not under- standing my English eloquence. At last he nudge@ me and interrupted. “Tell them about the time they hissed me off the stage in Sicily, Toto,’ he demanded. I complied to the extent d ‘His Own Costumes—His | | of proffering a somewhat discreetly | censored version of the episode. But| Enrico, seemingly sensing that I w: not doing my theme full justice, in- terpolated in=italian, ‘Tell them all | of it. Toto. Tell them they hissed me | off beeause I was drunk !’ “I managed to dodge the issue, prayiog that my hearers’ knowledge of the Italian language might be slender. But Cariso took me to task privatelyilater. He wanted to know why T:4ld not enthuse over the idea of telling these New York eritics the Sicilign incident in all its full dra- matic values. - g *“‘You great big fool boy, I’ said, ‘don’t ;¥ow know that if 1 had told it the Way vou wanted me to these men would have printed it all over the world, you would have been dis- graced among people who do not know your true worth, and Conried, his patrons: would say, has had the impudence to bring a drunkard to sing leading parts in the Metropoli- tan Opera House! * % %k X % AH. yes” commented Mr. Seottt,! “that almost boyish impulsive-| ness was just one phase of a many-| sided character. His propensity for playing jokes was another. “Perhaps because of our intimac: 1 suppose. 1 was the butt of his jests | perhaps more often than others. | “But these Incidents ‘illustrate the lighter side of the man. I wonder if; the world realizes that, quite apart from that God-given voice and the use he made of it, Caruso in many other respects was extraordinary? A only a thorough knowledge of his na- | tive tongue, but-could sing and write and speak acceptably in French and had a fair working use ‘of English. Everybody knows how clever he was in caricature. Doubtléss, he could 1 little bronze about eight jmches high | poor oy, with little early oppmunny,;':.',’,’i,‘ Sl he educated himself until he had not,out having the score in front of him Caruso had great natural talent for sculpture. Mr. Scotti raised from his table a and gazed at it with an expresfion in | which were mingled sorrow and amusement. The bronze, in.its idoNike pose and its seraphicaliy broad grin, suggested the conventjonal “Billiken. But as one inspects It mqre closely he realizes that the grotesquely grin- ning smile s u caricature of the smil- ing features of Enrico Caruso himself «~xaggerated to the nth degree. “There is a specimen of his handi- craft.” said the baritone, a8 he passed the “Billiken” to* his guest. “It was wonderful to me to watch Enrico when he modeled the clay image from which were cast these bronzes, which he gave away as souvenirg to close friends. He did this in the old Hotel Knickerbocker, where for twelve years he lived in a suite on the ninth floor, and 1 for thirteen years otcupied one on the eighth. First he made several pencil sketches of the expression he| sought to catch, after distorting his{ features to the required grin, while( gazing at his face in a mirror. ' Later. when he was actually modeling the clay, he did it while studying his own features in the glass, his busy fingers flying over the work while he never faltered in the satyric smile into which he had frozen the face that peered into the mirro “Again, his artistic as the thoroughness with which he addressed himself to every task. found illustration in his designing many of his own most elaborate op- eratic costumes. 1 think it is not generally known that Caruso was a master at this particular branch of art. Among others he designed his costumes for his role of John of Levden in ‘Le Prophete, and for the opera of ‘Samson et ~Delilah.’ When he undertook this kind of work he studied zealously beforehand. He scanned the authorities on the cos- tuming of the period depicted. He delved into cotemporary history. “To Caruso's artistic nature an hachronism in phrase or in outline | or coloring of costume would have | been as unpardonable as to sing off the key. Before he consented to essay the role of the noble old Eleazur in ‘La Juive' he insisted upon having himself schooled in Jewish patri- archal customs and manners by one of the foremost Yiddish actors in the city. nrico was exceptional, t0o,” the faithful frisnd continued, “in the rare facility with which he could master an operatic part. I have known him to achieve that within a period of two days. It was not his custom to take the book of the opera to bed | with him. as I hive done often. His | habit, was to go over the score once | or tivice at the piano with his ac- companist. Salvatore Fucito, usually in the afternoon. After a good night's sleep he would run over the book and the score again the next morning. | Sometimes for him that was suffi- rf‘ what stage folk call ‘a duick study.’ As is the case, I think, with most of us, he found the memorizing of the words came more easily than that of the musical score. “His memory was marvelously quick ! and tenacious. He was excelled in that particular by only one other | human being whom I have known. was the conductor. Toscanin has conducted with- ture, as well i | 1 cient. not only at performances, but re- hearsals of works by such widely di vergent composers as Wagner, Verdi, 1 Strauss, Donizetti, Bellini. Mozar: Gounod, Charpentier and Massenet. * % x % £ VWHEN Mr. Scotti was Asked, “Did | Caruso have any operatic parts | which he particularly favored and,| which he especially loved to portray? he replied: “If you had asked him | that question—and for publication— he would have told you, as he often told inquirers, ‘T lgve them all; to me they are all very real when I am singing them.’ “A diplomatic answer, that was’ commented Scotti. “But now that one may speak the very truth about it I think his favorite parts included that of the clown Canio, in ‘I Pagli-" Samson and Eleazur, in ‘La I think he felt that in these later parts, rather than in those iden- tified with his earller yéars of fame. in | the“first” twelve vears since {recorded it had an average sale of i ship Duet rose to | he was orhrade, Antonio Scotti am actually on the stage do I succeed in pulling myself rogether.” “Yes\ah, yes. he was like that,” said Mr. Scotti, when his guest asked him if he knew also the Caruso there de- scribed. Then the baritone told in- stances of emotion, causing the great star to give an inferior performance, while at other times, raised again by emotion to heavenly heights, he soared to musical glories new even to his closest friends. “Often at the e of a perform- ance,” said Scotti. “he wouid collapse Into a chair in his dressing room like a man stunned. “I admitted to Enrico once that 100, experienced these extremes nervous depression or exaltation. He shook his head and said: ‘Ah, my Toto. we remain noc s ung as once we were. What a strange thing, Toto that while we are young and have our carcers to achieve and all to lose or all to gain at a cast of the dice. as it were, we are not troubled at all with nerves, though so much we have at stake. Eut now, as we grow old. we know assuredly that we have our dear public with us, that ours is a substantial success already won. and yet. forsooth, we are at the mercy of our bundles of nerves every time we open our harmonious mouths. The writer mentioned to Mr. Scotti his admiration of the phonograph rec ord of the great duet sung by Caruso and Scott! from the opera “La Forza del Destino.” Hundreds of thousands of persons who never heard the tenor and baritone in the flesh have lis- tened entranced 1o the heartrending melody of that last battleficld good- ve between the soldier and his stricken comrade who lies dying of his woun Again Scott’s with emotion. “Yes, that,” said he. “was our great- est duet. though we sang many others in opera together. it m seem strange to you. but we never sang it in the ope a ¥orza deb Destino’ The opera itself did not particularly appeal to us. but the dust Became one of our great features in concert. “The people went crazy over It. In London we had to sing it before the king and queen and the royal court And the people! Why, when we sans it in public we had to repeat with encores four or five times! “That was why, when C. G. Child director of the recording laboratory of a talking machine company, made with me a contract for a series of duct records, 1 suggested that our first be what had come then to be known as ‘The Duet Amicitiae’ the ‘Duet of Friendship.’ Mr. Child demurred. “‘You say the opera ‘La Forza del Destino’ is not very well known.' said he. 't you think we had better begin with a duet by vourself and 1. of eves became moixt | Caruso from one of the better known ‘ wait untll you hear the Friendship Duet, Mr. Child,’ I saic ‘Thep vou will agree with us that w have nothing better to offer you.' An S0 it was agreed.’ It is a strange fact that in the process of recording w never had to repeat that record. Ordi- narily several trials must be made before the approved result in- delibly inscribed upon the gold wurface of what they call the mas"+ record. “And has had! “I suppose the leader in all the catalogus vhat a history that record said Scotti contemplativel u know that it easiiv is For Witk it 12,000 records a year. Then last vear. when the price reduction went in effect, the annual®sale of the Friend .000_copie: ““The Duet of Friendship, " com- mented Scotti after a long pause. And now a tear was stealing ur mistakably down the classic face 1 the baritone star. As he essaved speak his voice shook. his lips trem bled. I could see that in retrospect ain blending his mellow voice with she despairiug tenor wail of Caruso as they used to soar i gether through the exquisize har- monies of that battlefield parting— ‘Adio. adio! Good-bye, good-hye, for- ever!” “Oh!" sobbed Scottl, vielding now unrestrainedly to the stress of his grief, “you say you. too, loved that record and that on your paocnograph you and your family plaved it de- lightedly again and again. Then vou must know the story of that song. “Don’t you see why it ould not help being the greatest, the wost convincing of our duet racords? It was because into it each of usx breathed our- sincere devotion, one he had found a vehicle more worthy f his matured powers.” Caruso has been quoted since his| death as having oncé said, “Do you krow that before each performance I spend a sleepless night and long hours of indescribable mental anguish? I have never been able to get familiar have been a successful artist, had he s0 elected: “Less well known than his bur- lesque caricatures is the fact that with the public; every time for me is a debut. In my dressing room in the Metropolitan Opera House when wait- ing for my call I tremble IMe a child trightengd by a ghost. toward the other. We were enactins no part. We were singing forin the real lovalty of each heart. “And now, don’'t you see this as | see it, man? The thing has come true. Alas, ‘one of us has been taken and 1 am the one left! I am the poor sur- viving soldier, while more than halt my life-went from me when h> was stricken down! 2 “I loved the ‘Duet of Friendship.' S0 did he. But I mever want to hear it sung again, 4nd I am sure I should never be able to sing again my part Only when Ifin it” Despite Mathematics and| phy!ic!' New SChCmea to Get Something for Nothing Are Submitted Continually. Strange Waking Devices. Novel Method of Shaving Patented. BY REX COLLIER. ITH the passing of world hostilitles, inventors more or less eccentric mind are abandoning ef- forts to help win the war with strange explosives and remarkable submarines, and are turning their at- tention to devising equally curious peace-time devices, thus adding to the tasks of Uncle Sam’'s already overworked patent office. Many and varied are the plans sub- mitted for official scrutiny, and many are the rejections meted out to the sincere - but unfortunate applicants for patents. Apparently the favorite piece de re- sistance for inventors possessed of miore ingenuity than knowledge of the Jaws of physics and chemistry is the subject of perpetual motion. Since that day when the waters engulfed the earth, men have been searching fruitlessly for a way to obtain some- thing from plain nothing. Education of recent times has to a great extent dispelled this obsession among sane persons, but there are yet many other- ‘wise intelligent beings who hope to be able ,to discover the mystic for- mula whereby one can be made to equal two, or even three. Some of these perspiring persons proceed so far in attempting to de. velop this idea and become so e tangled in the maze of machinery and processes connected with it that they come to believe they have solved the unsolvable. At this point the patent office is sought and then trouble be- gins for the poor “inventor.” ‘When he applies at the patent offic for protection in his “discovery” he is usually advised first of all to secure the services of a competent attor- ney. Patent attorneys, many of them ¢previously examiners in the patent oifice.” ald in diverting the overenthu- siastic applicant away from the gov- ernment, either by refusing to assist in applying for a patent, or by show- ing’ the aspirant for fame the utter |ing ~ with. the of | m, TUncle Sam Still Must. Contend ‘With Perpetual Motion “Inventors” lack of feasibility of his idea. The number of persons who are thus con- vinced, however, is relatively small, attorneys declare. Occaslonally an application for a patent on perpetual motion devices reaches the patent examiner under the guise of a “power-producing ma- chine,” an “energysmultiplying mech- anism,” or the like. Accompanying the inevitably leAgthy specifications and description of the machine are drawings of trains of gears, wheels, springs and similar mechanical com- binations, to show “how it works.” A number of these peculiar inven- tions actually have received limited patent rights, covering certain fea- tures of the mechanism comply- legal requirements that to be patentable an invention ust be “new and useful” Most of the devices readily qualify as to novelty, but few meet the utility edict. Complete lack of utility in even the most complicated system of levers or train of gears, on the other hand, is not easily proved. The in- ventor may claim that his ievers will produce more power at one end than is put into it at the other, and re- main unchallenged in his_assertion. He forgets, however, that the in- crease in power is gained only at the expense of a loss of speed and dis- tance. His levers may be patentable, rovided_he does not contend _that e gets more of all three factors out of his system of levers than he puts in. The same principle applies to gears and wheels and similar con- trivance OUT of sympathy for persons who think they have discovered the secret of perpetusl motiof, the patent office has adopted the practice of sav- ing the applicant the fllln( cost of $15 by returning a)l petitions involving this will-o’-the-wisp scheme without formal examination by officjals of its merits. If the applicant still persists in asking for consideration his ap- plication is received and examined, and, if perpetual motion is claimed: rejected. In the early days of the patent office many machines for producing continuous energy found their way into the light of official-approval. The most common device took the form of a gravitational wheel, with pock- ets or receptacles into,which weights were introduced on one side g0 as to swing the center of gravity continu- ally to une side and produce motion. Various means for recovering the ‘welghts and elevating them again to the top of the wheel by -the force created in turning were provided. Charles Batcheller, an Iowa in- ventor, was ted patent rights in 1870 on what. he describes as “a sys- tem of levers, weights and gearing,” * * k% creating a “compound power.” Batch- eller claimed that his apparatus, per- fectly balanced when at rest, after be- ing started would “accumulate pawer mare rapidly than an ordinary balance wheel.” Mr.@Batcheller claimed in his patent that in addition to a gain in power he also obtained an increase in peed, pointing, out that while his ‘compound lever makes one revolution the inside shafts and wheels make two revolutions.” This ambitious machine would not work, however, because of frictional and gravitational factors which the inventor fgiled to take into consideration. Of more recent date is the patent ob- tained by Horace Wickham, jr., of Chi~' cago, on his “machine for motive power.” This “machine” had the ap- pearance, in the drawing submitted in connection with specifications, of a rocking beam on an antiquated steam- boat, only of smaller dimensions. On the beam were mounted runways, in which, it was declared, a hollow ball, partly filled with quicksilver, would cavort in such a manner that the beam ‘would be put in motion like a seesaw, transmitting power to a flywheel ar- rangement. ‘This invention, although glven several years' handicap, ‘appar- enfly has not revolutionized .industry. Clergymen in times past have found time to probe for the mystic formula for creating limitless and endless en- ergy. Conradis Schweirs patented a form of gravity wheel in 1796. The wheel was provided with pockets for receiving balls, with an elevator for raising’ the balls to the top of the wheel, dumping them into the pockets in rotation and recovering them at the bottom. The movement of the wheel caused by the addition of weights to onej side was supposed to ‘operate the ele- vator and thus continue the process Indefinitely. As an inventor, Dr. Schweirs was a good preacher, it has been remarked by persons examining his “inventign.” Another variation of the weighted gravity wheel device is shown in a patent numbered 133,139. Metal balls were allowed to enter a runway which fed them into receptacles on a-wheel, shifting the center of grav- ity. On turning, the balls would be precipitated into a lower runway which conveycd them to & vertically operating Dbelt conveyor, elevating the balls again to the upper runway. * ok Kk K VIOST of these gravity wheel aj rangements are patented after the celebrated wheel devisea by ‘thel German\ mathematician, in 1717 A publication of that date asserts that this wheel moved con- tinually without visible motive pow- er-from November, 1717, to Januury, 1718.' The wheel was twelve fest in ing Orphyreus, | ically T diameter, with an axle six feet long and eight inches thick; the frame o# oak. The wheel was divided into a number of compartments, each con- taining a heavy ball, which, cotem- porary reporters state, would roll to the outer circumference on one side and roll to the innnermost part of the recess on reaching the other side. The owner of’ the Castlc .Wessensfein, near Bassel. where the machine was sealed up during its alleged period of operation, declares that this self- turning wheel would last “as long as the materials composing it lasted.” Scientists of today laughingly at- tribute the mysterious motion of the Orphyreus wheel to a concealed mech- anlsm worked by an sccomplicg. In some of the inventions on ‘which patents are sought the same prin- ciple of overbalancing 'a wheel is worked out by utilizing water in- stead of weights, and by pumping the water back to the height from which it had fallen. Some of the contrivances at first appear to be so feasible that even the ‘expert examiner would be *taken in" were it not for his knowledge of the law that “work in equals work out” The safest reputtal for examiners to give persons’who have genuine faith ‘in their invention is to demand a working model. Per- haps when a working model of a per- petual motion machine is produced the government will'see fit to patent it. Mathematicians declare that day will never come. - All the interesting inventions are| not confined to the fleld of perpetual motion, it is disclosed. One inventor applied for a patent on a “machine for breaking cakes, foods and other materials” and he ,furnished the atent office with a sample of his “cake-breake: It looked like a bell- clapper, with a detachable steel head, or “breaker,” and a steel handle. Ap- parently the handle was made re- movable in order that particles of broken “cakes, foods and other ma- terials” might be removed with fa- cility. This instrument shoul find favor with bridegrooms about to tackle their wives' first biscuits. A patent was granted in 1909 for a ‘novel shaving apparatus, consist- ing of. an emery-coverdd disk re- volved by hand labor, and which, it was clalmed by the dinventor, would remove the beard without the aid of soaps and lather. He did not state If other parts of the. physlognomy ‘were immurie to the removing process. The desire of some inventors to meet the demand for a machine which w.ll make pleasure out of work has led to a number of pecu-|)\ lar innovations. One of the earliest patents, designed to appeal to the housewife, was on a washing ma- chine opérated by the motion of a rocking chair on top. This was ex- pected to turn blue Monday: into a holiday from kitchen dgrudgery. ‘A rocking chair which should fine favor in these hot days and which re- ceived a patent some years ago was equipped with a leaf fan, auttomat- set into motion when the 'oc- cupant of the chair nonchalantly ked away. \ ] 'here has been much activity amowg Inventors catering to the market for sléep interrupters, and patents have but the; difference i been taken out on devices lqrht‘?.w- the . rehder the sleeper' bodily from bed ®:in ‘oné . T at the, proper hour in the morning, for snatching away the bed covers, permitting collapse of the bedstead, ote. 5 S An earl¥ patent, jssued in civil war days, was for a combined plow and cannon, by which agriculture and war might be agreeably intermingled. The plow beam was of steel and was made in the form of a small cannon. £ There are at the present time a number of applications for patents on perpetual motiog machines and other freak invention@ pending before the patent office. It is up to the patent oxaminers to decide whether or mnot these “brafnstorms” are new ' and Novelty is easy to ascextain in most of them, but when it comes to utility, of science as Uncle Sam employs in his big, Self-sustaining patent office. " Jokes in Architecture. HE builders of the old churches ous but that they now and then perpetrated a joke, even in creations they carved in relief a scene representing a monk preaching sol humorous spirit is sometimes to be detected in the domestic architecture Just upen the boundaries of Bed- fordshire and Hertfordshire formerly living room was long and low, and on the enter beam thit went across “If ygu are cold, go to Hertfordshire. ThYs’seemmgiy inhospitable invita- one-half of the room was In one county and one-half in the other. The useful. that is a problem only for such mer in_England were not so serf stone. On more tnan one of their emnly to a flock of geese. The same of early times. Here is an instarce 8tood a rambling old farmhouse. The the celling was inscribed this legend tion was explained by the fact that fireplace was in .Hertfordshire. . . » Nerve-Timing. "CURIOUS instance of the care and minuteness with which the human bedy is now studied, in the effort- better to under- stand its powers and functions, is fur- nished by & paper read at a meet- ing of the Royal Society in London on \The Rapidity of the Nervous Im- puise in Tall and Short Individuals.” Even the difference in time required for a “n€rve telegram” to traverse the bodies of-different persons is regarded s a matter of scientific importance. A setles of observations has shown that the length of the nerves does affect the velogity with which an im- pulse passes between the brain and the extremities, and consequently thal more time is needed if“fhe path & long than if 4t js short. It follows that & t should feel a step on his corns guicker ‘than a tall map, by HE room was large and lux- I urioksly furnished. The big and lace, was pulled out from the walls and stood on a heavy car- Mme. Pelletier, however, was not lying in it, because such show beds quire constant attention. Nearby they had put up another bed, a simple iron move at her’ease. Isabelle lay there, her cheeks a lit- brilliant. Alice Soccard, her intimate friend, been there only five minutes, but she got up to go. Isabelle protested: you “Yes, yes. You know that I musn't T'll come back every day.” Then Isabelle grew irritated. lous. ‘What a fuss .over nothing at all! I'm-not so sick—" ! “It's &11 this'extra care. This array of bottles, the nulse—they give me The whole thing Is 50 exaggerated.” “It's more prudent. Mile. Margrave Isabelle Jaughed. “She certainly does. There's a per- o'clock he medicine, at a quarter past i the temperature, at 2 another po- WILLIAM L. McPHERSON. bed, with its coverings of silk pet. are inconvenient when sick people re one, about which the nurse could tle too red and her eyes a little too sat beside her. Mme. Soccard had “Oh! You're not going so soon, are tire you. I'llscome back tomorrow. “But you don’t tire me. It's ridicu- “¥ou still have a fever.” theYever. Why should I have a nurse? takes good care of you.” son who. Bever forgets anything. At 1 tion, at & quarter past 2 an injection.” ‘;Bn he.doctor has prescribed these thing: 2 “Evidently, ‘And MRe. Margrave's manune is_dry; it is cold; it is professional. She mnever smiles. She opens mouth only to give me e order. ‘Madame, it's time for your ll{)lnl rub.’ Listen, Alice. It's ‘clock. . Mlle. Margrave is at her inner.. We are left here in peace. Dow’'t g0..-Don't leave me alone. Tell me'somethipg interesting.” e Tnt ‘dsor opened nolsdlessly and ~ Georges Pelletler, the husband, I e < brightened. e‘lnp?y ~ " THE. INTRUDER By Pierre Valdagne l ile framed itself on her lips. She gave him a caressing glance. Georges bent down. He kissed his wife’s white hand. She said: “Sit here beside me. You're not going to run away, too, are you?" But Pelletier became grave. “Yes! Yes! You know that Mile. Margrave doesn't want me to stay too long.” g 3 “She wearies me—Mille. does.” ‘But it must be as she says, my dear. She demands quiet and isola- tion. We have to obey her. She takes very good care of you. I would stay here with you—but it is forbid- den. And then I would feel strange in the company of all these bottles. After a while, my dear. I shall be next door in my workroom. I'll come again in an hour.” Georges Pelletier went away. T belle seized Alice’s hand and said, this time imperiously: “Stay!” She looked so vexed that Mme. Soccard tried to calm her. “Come! You mustn't hold - it against Georges that he obeys the nurse. He adores you. You have the best husband in the world.” Isabelle didn't answer at once. She settled herself in the narrow bed. She burjed her pretty head in her pillow. For an instant she closed her eyes. Finally she said: “All this irritates me. Everything here irritates me. I know that Georges loves me. I know that 1 love Georges. Thirteen years of constant affection and complete un- derstanding! But the life we are leading now will end by destroying all this happiness. See if it doesn't “What life?” asked Alice. 'What have you to complain of? You are rich, you have everything you could want!” “Yes2 Have I? It's alPthis money which T dont like. It's this sudden excessive fortune which, is upsetting my life” “: Ylou find the war bride too beau- titul?” “Yes. Georges has made too much money, and made It too quickly. At first 1 was delighted. 1 was wrong. I didn't know.” She began again: “Listen to me. The second year of my marriage I wi taken ill. That time it was serious—much more seri- cus than it is now, I assure you. ‘They thought I was going to die. We weren’t rich then. We lived in a lit- tle apartment and I had only ome servant. I was treated by a very Margrave young doctor, a friend of Georges'.|S! When' the fever was at its height he came to see me three times a day. ‘His practice gave him the leisure to do s0. But what devotion! As for Georges. he mnever left me. It was Decessary for some offe to be wi me constantly. The poor fellow! was sublime. Every minute there was He scmething to do. He gave me water. he prepared my milk, my cold appli- cations—everything. He mever went to bed. He walked & thousand times trom my bed to our little kitchen. He Icoked after gll my wants. And to see the anxiety in his face when he read the thermometer! * ¥ * % “AND do you think he didn't talk to me? Do you suppose that Georges ever thought then of Miie Margrave's edict: ‘Silence and isola- tion'? He talked with me all the time. He encouraged me. He told me that I was getting better, even when it wasn't true. He made mag- nificent plans for a trip\to the coun- try when I should be able to get up. “I recovered my heaith, little by lit- tle, under his eyes, under the inspira- tion of his words, because I felt his presence there, because he hung over me, because it wi his hands that touched me, not the hands of a nurse. Qur little doctor didm't forbid our conversatfons. He even said, ‘Sick people quickly dese heart; it is neces- sary to divert them! *“Today I am delivered over to sci- ence, pure, dry and cold. I am taken care of as a very rich woman by peo- ple who are paid to do it—scrupu- lously, conscientiovsly, but without tenderness. If Mille. Margrave re- turned at this moment——" Mile. ‘Margrave did return that |moment, all white in her nurse’s lress and apron. She saw the two women talking together and a look of dis- pproval eame into her face. Shesaid to Mme. Soccard, in & voice full of re- proac! “Madame! Madame! Our patient is talking much to much. We shall glve her a fever tonight.” At the same Instant Georges Pelle- tier arrived, as he had promised. He had hardly put his head through the door when the nurse rushed toward him and said peremptorily: “Oh, M. Pelletier; no! You mustn't come in. We can’t have so much dis- turbance about a sick person's bed. It is time to give her her last treat- ment before she goes to sleep. You must leave us. I am here. The pa- tient belongs to me. I'll be with her all night. I'll report to you tomor- row morning—about 11 o'cleck.” Pelletier timidly withdrew. Isabel lared savagely at the nurse. She was totaly unable to understand why her husband had not been allowed to kiss her or why such extraordinary rea- sons should be given for chasing out of the room. -