GLEANINGS IK BEE CULTURE 



954 



MY friends, 

 I have ii 

 long story 

 to tell you. Now 

 do not be in a 

 hurry to say it 

 is something I 

 have told you 

 already, and 

 please do not be 

 in a huiTy to 

 say that what I 

 a m telling i s 

 away behind the 

 times. It may 

 be so on the 

 start; but be 

 patient and fol- 

 low me, and I think you will agree that it 

 finally comes clear up to the present; and, 

 most important of all, it looks out ahead of 

 the present, and suggests that, instead of 

 worrying' about the high i>rioe of gasolii;e, 

 coal, etc., the great loving Father has a 

 great unexplored miniei of fuel just over our 

 heads only awaiting the time when poor in- 

 firm humanity shall waken up, rouse up, 

 and clivib a little higher than it has over 

 done before. 



Almost if not quite 70 years agp I ran on 

 to something about electricity in an old 

 doctor book. I think I was not over ten 

 years old at that time ; but I did the best I 

 could to construct what was then called a 

 " galvanic battery." After much fussing, 

 and perhaps some crying over it, my good 

 mother suggested that I consult our family 

 physician; but the po'or fellow did net k .uw 

 much more about electricity than I did. 

 Some time after, a traveling lecturer came 

 along. He told me how to make a battery. 

 I saved up my pennies, went, to the tin-shop, 

 and asked the price of sheet cop])c>r. I had 

 the tinner cut out a pieoe and roll it up so 

 as to make a copper cup. I was going to 

 have a tin bottom put in because it was 

 cheaper; but he said I had better have 

 bottom and all made of copper; and I am 

 very glad he gave me that advice, or I 

 sliould have had another failure. This cop- 

 per cup held perhaps three pints. Well, 

 inside of it we put a bottomless cup of sheet 

 zinc. Three wires were soldered toi the top 

 of this zinc cylinder, and bent over so the 

 three wires would su])port it insida of the 

 copper cup. After I had slipped a cork on 

 to each one of the thiee wires so as to in- 

 sulate it from the copper, my battery was 

 complete. To use it, I simply filled it with 

 a solution of blue vitriol, they now call 

 it copper sulphate. But even this battery 

 did not work (at least I thought so) until 

 soms time after. Finally one of the school- 



OUR HOMES 



A. I. ROOT 



The lightnings lightened the world. — Psalm 77:18. 



Who hath gathered the wind in his fists? — rROv. 

 30:4. 



And God said, Let us make man in our image, 

 after our likeness; and iet them have dominion over 

 tlie fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and 

 over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over 

 every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. — 

 Gen. 1:26. 



December, 1917 



books, Parker's 

 Natural Philoso- 

 phy, gave me 

 some needed in- 

 s t r u c tion. It 

 stated that a 

 current of elec- 

 tricity, if passied 

 thru a wire, 

 dose to a mag- 

 netio needle, the 

 needle would be 

 deflected from 

 its course. I 

 well remember 

 the evening 

 when (by the 

 light of a tallow 

 candle) I stretched a wire north and south 

 on top of the dining-table of our humble 

 home. Being unable to possess a compass, 

 I supported a magnetized steel pen (largiest 

 size) on top of a needle near the middle of 

 the table. The steel pen promptly pointed 

 to the north ; but after I connected the wire 

 that lay just under it with my battery, the 

 pen, ijistead of pointing north, prom"ptly 

 flopped around east and west. I think 

 I gave a shout of delight, and announced 

 to all the family that my battery worked. 

 I soon got enough wire to reach to the 

 further corner of the room; and by making 

 and breaking contact I could keep the steel 

 pen jumping back and forth, and finally 

 made it revolve Avith considerable rapidity 

 by '- making and breaking " the current. 

 This schoolbook said, furthermore, that a 

 coil of insulated wire around a soft-iron 

 core would make a temporary magnet. At 

 that date, no such thing was known in the 

 market as insulated copper wire. For in- 

 sulation I used candle-wicking, and soon 

 had an electro magiiet that would pick up 

 tacks and nails, and drop them again as I 

 made and broke the circuit by detaching the 

 Avires. 



About this timle anjotliier " electrical 

 show " came to our town of INIogadore, 

 Summit Co., Ohio. I soon scraped up ac- 

 quaintance Avith the professor, and he gaA'e 

 me quite a little encouragement as AViell as 

 instruction, I AA^ent to our blacksmith, who 

 Av.as a friend of mine, and asked for the 

 largest Avorn-out file he could possibly hunt 

 up. I had him heat it and draAV it out and 

 bend it in a U shape so as to makei Avhat is 

 called a horseshoe magnet. Then I patiently 

 ground oPf the file-marks on a grindstone, 

 and had the electrical professor magnetize 

 it. I think it Avas strong enough to pick uj) 

 a small flat-iron. This, of course, Avas a 

 permanent magnet. By keeping the arma- 

 ture across the poles it would preserve its 



