ball, and may both see and hear grand opera broadcast from anywhere. "The motion pictures at the fireside will be evenings' entertainment and the daily source of news. The long day of the sick and shut-ins will be more endurable, and life in the far places will be less lonely. "The time for such development is at hand - it is just a matter of months before they will be under way. It will not be long before we will see a football game played in another city on a screen in our own homes while we listen to the cheering of the crowds. "The experiments in sending facsimile messages by radio photography are also of great importance. The value to the business world of a device that will instantaneously flash a photograph of the signature on a check or contract from London, Paris, Berlin, Tokio, or any other city in the world to New York is obvious. It means a new era in business communications. Undreamed-of Possibilities "We are also working on a machine for transmitting typewritten news copy from city to city. When this is perfected, newspaper copy of all kinds can be transmitted as radio photographs over any distance at the rate of 1000 words a minute per machine. A Presidential message of 50,000 words, for example, could be broadcast by a Washington correspondent to his newspaper in New York in one minute, using fifty machines. We have already had a successful test of this machine over a distance of seven miles at the rate of 150 words a minute. This copy is sent on long strips in a continuous process. We have sent strips up to 23 feet long, containing single-spaced typewritten lines." The steam locomotive, telephone, electric light, automobile, and airship are now real achievements, indispensable in the serious business of mankind. If we could go back a hundred years and come down the century, we would pass through a period when each seemed as unreal and fantastic as this "radio vision" now seems to us. In 1870 Jules Verne wrote the story of Captain Nemo's adventures, "Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea." This book seemed so fantastic that anxious mothers burned it so that their children would not read unbelievable tales. Today it seems a very mild story because of the actual exploits of the submarine. In the old Greek legend Dædalus made wings of feathers fastened on with wax for his son Icarus; the boy flew too near the sun so that the wings melted and he fell into the sea. Today men fly high and far with perfect safety. So successful has man been in conquering time and space with his inventions, that nothing seems impossible. Make a list of special terms used in connection with the radio and be sure you can explain them. Start your list with tune in and broadcasting station. EXPLANATORY NOTES Shenandoah. This was the largest airship of the United States Navy at the time it was wrecked in September, 1925. Professor Langley, the American scientist who made the first airplane that proved to be capable of flight. His machine is now preserved in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. Bell. Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. Philadelphia Centennial, a celebration held in 1876 to commemorate the centennial (hundredth anniversary) of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Unlimited frequencies, a term descriptive of radio waves. NOTEBOOK 1. Select and cut from a newspaper an account of an important current event. Write suitable sub-titles for the several parts into which it may be divided. Paste it in your notebook with the sub-titles written in at the proper places. 2. What is the most important "conquest of science" in your community? 3. Think of another "conquest of science" and find a well-written account of it. L'ENVOI RUDYARD KIPLING WHEN Earth's last picture is painted, and the tubes are twisted and dried, When the oldest colors have faded, and the youngest critic has died, We shall rest, and, faith, we shall need it - lie down for an æon or two, Till the Master of All Good Workmen shall set us to work anew! And those that were good shall be happy: they shall sit in a golden chair; They shall splash at a ten-league canvas with brushes of comets' hair; They shall find real saints to draw from Paul; Magdalene, Peter, and They shall work for an age at a sitting and never be tired at all! And only the Master shall praise us, and only the Master shall blame; And no one shall work for money, and no one shall work for fame; But each for the joy of the working, and each, in his separate star, Shall draw the Thing as he sees It for the God of Things as They Are! During his schoolboy holidays in England, Kipling lived with an aunt who was the wife of one of the most noted artists of his day. Possibly it is because of this that Kipling chooses in his "L'Envoi " to use the life and trials of the artist as typical of those of all men everywhere. L'Envoi is a French word meaning farewell. Kipling wrote a poem of farewell to conclude each series of poems which he published in a volume. This one is the concluding poem of the collection called The Seven Seas. 1. What is Kipling's poetical way of representing the end of life? 2. Why do you think he says, "We shall rest, and, faith, we shall need it"? 3. Note that the kingdom of the future to which he is looking forward is not one of rest alone. It is to be an ideal place for work - for continuing under ideal conditions the work which has been so discouraging under earthly conditions. 4. What things in this painter's heaven do you think would appeal most to a painter? The real saints would probably be a relief after the long hours of copying paintings of saints by Old Masters of the Middle Ages. 5. In what ways may this picture be made to represent the future of a person who is not an artist? 6. What are some of the best motives for work which the poet mentions in the last stanza? Perhaps he is thinking here, as in stanza 1, of the many critics who have criticized his own work severely. 7. What do you like best in the poem? GLOSSARY For words not found in this glossary the reader may consult a dictionary. The pronunciations here given follow Webster's New International Dictionary (1926). The words are defined with special reference to their use in the selections in this book; other meanings are given in the dictionary. Words defined in the glossary of Book One are not included here unless they are used with a different meaning in the text of Book Two. The figure before a word indicates the importance of the word for general reading. The values are based upon a Word Book by Edward L. Thorndike 1 in which he lists the 10,000 words that are most frequently used in the English language, according to extensive investigations. The figure 7, for instance, means that the word is in the first thousand of Thorndike's list and is a very important word to know. 7 means the first thousand. 5 means the third thousand. 4 means the fourth thousand. 4 abandon (i-băn’dũn): a complete surrender to natural impulses; to leave; quit. abet (ȧ-bět'): to support; uphold; aid, as by approval. abhorrent (ǎb-hor'ĕnt): hateful; detestable; disgusting. 4 abide (a-bīd'): to continue; last. accelerate (ǎk-sĕl'ēr-āt) : to has ten; quicken the speed of. accentuate (ǎk-sĕn'tû-āt): to bring out distinctly; make prominent; emphasize. accessible (ǎk-sěs'ĭ-b'l): easy to reach. acetate (ǎs'ê-tāt): a salt of an acid like that found in vinegar. acumen (å-kū'měn): quick understanding; sharpness of mind. adamant (ăd'à-mănt): anything The Teacher's Word Book by Edward L. Thorndike, published by Teachers College, Columbia University, New York City. |