f a new idea in the
business world.

"Now the business world is not a tranquil place and as soon as the new
invention began to prosper, every sort of difficulty beset its path.

"There were those who denied that Mr. Bell had been first in the field
with the telephone idea, and they began to contest his right to the
patents. Other telephone companies sprang up and began to compete with
the rugged-hearted pioneers who had launched the industry. Lawsuits
followed and for years Mr. Bell's days were one continual fight to
maintain his claims and keep others from wresting his hard-earned
prosperity from him. But in time smoother waters were reached and now
Alexander Graham Bell has been universally conceded to be the inventor
of this marvel without which we of the present should scarcely know how
to get on."

"I don't believe we could live without telephones now, do you?"
remarked Laurie thoughtfully.

"Oh, I suppose we could keep alive," laughed Mr. Hazen, "but I am
afraid our present order of civilization would have to be changed a
good deal. We scarcely realize what a part the telephone plays in
almost everything we attempt to do. Certainly the invention helps to
speed up our existence; and, convenient as it is, I sometimes am
ungrateful enough to wonder whether we should not be a less highly
strung and nervous nation without it. However that may be, the
telephone is here, and here to stay, and you now have a pretty clear
idea of its early history. How from these slender beginnings the
industry spread until it spanned continents and circled the globe, you
can easily read elsewhere. Yet mighty as this factor has become in the
business world, it is not from this angle of its greatness that I like
best to view it. I would rather think of the lives it has saved; the
good news it has often borne; the misunderstandings it has prevented;
the better unity it has promoted among all peoples. Just as the
railroad was a gigantic agent in bringing North, South, East, and West
closer together, so the telephone has helped to make our vast country,
with its many diverse elements, 'one nation, indivisible.'"

CHAPTER XII

CONSPIRATORS

With September a tint of scarlet crept into the foliage bordering the
little creeks that stole from the river into the Aldercliffe meadows;
tangles of goldenrod and purple asters breathed of autumn, and the
mornings were now too chilly for a swim. Had it not been for the great
fireplace the