APRIL 15, 1913 



273 



Our Homes 



A. I. ROOT 



A BRIEF MENTION OF SOME OF THE GOOD MEN 



AND WOMEN WHO EXTENDED TO ME A 



HELPING HAND IN MY CHILDHOOD. 



The article following was given in our 

 local paper, the Medina Gazette, in answer 

 to a request from the editor that I give 

 Iiim soraething in regard to my childhood. 

 Before starting off for Florida I told our 

 good people here that, in ease a Home 

 paper should not be on hand, as has hap- 

 pened several times during the winter, they 

 should use this in place of it. 



When I was nine or ten years old I climlied iip 

 to the top shelf of our bookcase and got hold of an 

 old doctor book. I think the title was "Domestic 

 Medicine" or something like that. The reason why 

 I tackled the "doctor book" was because I had 

 read and reread almost every thing available in 

 that frugal home in Mogadore, Summit County, O. 

 There was a family of seven children — three older 

 and three younger than myself. I had read all the 

 schoolbooks, for the younger and older ones, all the 

 newspapers I could get hold of, the family almanac, 

 and a good part of the dictionary. Well, the fore 

 part of this old doctor book did not interest me 

 particularly ; but along toward the last part of 

 it was an article on "electricity." It was ahnost 

 mv first glimpse of this strange force that has in- 

 terested me more or less from that time to the 

 present. This old book, among other things, fold 

 me how easily this wondrous power could be in- 

 voked by means of a roll of brimstone or a stick 

 of sealingwax. At that early day (about 1850) 

 what few letters were written were mostly sealed 

 with wax. Later, wafers were used. By rubbing 

 sealingwax or brimstone with a piece of warm 

 woolen cloth, especially in frosty weather, I made 

 my first acquaintance with electricity and electrical 

 attraction and repulsion. 



After I had read over and over all the doctor 

 book had to tell me I questioned my father and 

 mother, and everybody else, about electricity until 

 I fear I was a nuisance. Finally an aunt of 

 mine, who was attending "high school," informed 

 me that her "philosophy book" told a good deal 

 about it. It was then that I made my first ac- 

 quaintance with "Parker's Natural Philosophy;" 

 and over and over I scanned the pages that gave 

 information in regard to this subtle element in 

 nature. A little later on, in order to supplement 

 the funds of our humble home we commenced to 

 keep boarders. One of them was a schoolteacher, 

 and another was a miller. Of course those two 

 good men had to be "pumped di-y," on electricity. 

 Mr. Fairbanks, the school teacher, said I ought to 

 study chemistry. 



"What is chemistry?" I asked. 



Well, this particular friend, whom I shall always 

 remember, replied something like this : 



"Why, my young friend, chemistry not only tells 

 about electricity but discusses the nature of the 

 elements of which this world is composed. I have 

 an old chemistry somewhere that I will look up, and 

 you may have it if you care for it." 



The book was entitled "Conversations oh Chem- 

 istry," or something like it. I not only devoured 

 this book from cover to cover but a neighbor's lad 

 of about my own age took it up with me. He 

 lived about a quarter of a mile away, and we two 

 each had a "laboratory" off in a shed or r^me base- 

 ment, and the experiments we performed with our 

 rude home-made apparatus were surprising. 



This neighbor's ^oy was named Corwin Purdy; 

 and when Corwin had made some "great discovery" 

 he would run as fast as his legs would carry him 

 after me, and we two would go back again in 

 breathless haste. I had been trying to make a 

 voltaic pile of copper, zinc, and moistened cloth, 

 using the old-fashioned copper cents. But my vol- 

 taic pile- did not "materialize" very much. But 

 Corwin found an old copper teakettle, ripped it 

 open, and hammered the sheets out flat. Then he 

 cut them up into pieces about two inches square 

 or more, and made his pile of copper, zinc, and 

 cloth. These squares of woolen cloth were soaked 

 in slightly acidulated water; and when he suc- 

 ceeded in getting a real electric shock he ran for 

 me so much out of breath that he could scarcely 

 talk. 



Our craze for chemistry soon brought us in con- 

 tact with the village doctors, and they loaned us a 

 helping hand. I remember distinctly Dr. Ferguson 

 and Dr. Parleyman. The Rev. Mr. Hughes, the 

 minister, also encouraged us, and placed his whole 

 extensive library at our disposal. The village miller 

 took the Scientific American; and when the boy of 

 only nine years of age wanted to "borrow" his 

 back numbers he demurred a little. Finally he 

 said, "Why, my young friend, if you are really 

 going to be a reading man, I have a whole year's 

 back numbers of the Scientific American bound up 

 after a fashion, and I will loan them to you." 



I have been in close touch more or less with 

 the Scientific American now for more than 60 

 years ; and I can tell you it has been worth to 

 me a great deal by way of posting me in regard to 

 true science and better methods of sifting the wheat 

 from the chaff. 



But chemistry and electricity were not my only 

 craze. I seem to have been a natural explorer. 

 I watched the hens and chickens as well as nature's 

 display whenever there was a thunderstorm. 



Let ^ me digress a little right here. My love for 

 books, and my extensive reading, enabled me to 

 read, write, and spell, without giving very much 

 thought or care to either unless it was the writing. 

 In those old days we learned spelling in a long 

 class, the best speller going up to the head. Well, 

 while the other pupils were poring over their spell- 

 ing-books I had no spelling-book at all. I did 

 not need any. It seemed to be a natural gift for 

 me to be able to spell. I not only loved books 

 but I loved the queer crooked spelling that fixed 

 itself in my mind without any effort. Of course, 

 we all know about the cranks on spelling, and 

 sometimes they can "spell" without being able to 

 do much else. Well, on the last day of the school 

 I was at the head as a matter of course. The 

 trustees or directors were on hand on examination 

 day ; and after hearing me spell, one of those 

 dignitaries made a remark something like this, 

 pointing his finger at me : 



"There's a boy who studies his spelling-book." 



At this sally there was a queer smile, not only 

 on th| faces of the pupils in the class but on the 

 teacher's face also; and I do not know but there 

 was almost a titter among all the children. It was 

 because they all knew that I had no spelling-b ■'k 

 and had never looked into one during the tei 

 Well, notwithstanding the above, I was awardi ' 

 the prize — a "two-shilling piece." Ntowdays u 

 would be called a "quarter." 



After school was out I told my good mother I 

 wanted to invest my prize money in something that 

 would grow, and finally we decided on a couple 

 of laying hens. In those days they were only a 

 "shilling apiece," Now, my goold grandiaother, who 

 lived two mJH^s »nd » half south nf Mogadore, 



