could attract the attention and the
friendship of the Emperor. The Emperor had attended Bell's school for
deaf mutes in Boston when it was at the height of its success, and
had conceived a warm admiration for the young man and taken a
deep interest in his work. The Emperor was ready to examine Bell's
invention, though the judges were not. Bell showed him how to place
his ear to the receiver, and he then went to the transmitter which had
been placed at the other end of the wire strung along the room. The
Emperor waited expectantly, the judges watched curiously. Bell, at a
distance, spoke into the transmitter. In utter wonderment the Emperor
raised his head from the receiver. "My God," he cried, "it talks!"

Skepticism and indifference were at an end among the judges, and they
eagerly followed the example of the Emperor. Joseph Henry, the most
venerable savant of them all, took his place at the receiver. Though
his previous talk with Bell, when the telephone was no more than an
idea, should perhaps have prepared him, he showed equal astonishment,
and instantly expressed his admiration. Next followed Sir William
Thomson, the hero of the cable and England's greatest scientist. After
his return to England Thomson described his sensations.

"I heard," he said, "'To be or not to be ... there's the rub,'
through an electric wire; but, scorning monosyllables, the electric
articulation rose to higher flights, and gave me passages from the
New York newspapers. All this my own ears heard spoken to me with
unmistakable distinctness by the then circular-disk armature of just
such another little electro-magnet as this I hold in my hand."

Thomson pronounced Bell's telephone "the most wonderful thing he had
seen in America." The judges had forgotten that they were hungry and
tired, and remained grouped about the telephone, talking and listening
in turn until far into the evening. With the coming of the next
morning Bell's exhibit was moved from its obscure corner and given the
most prominent place that could be found. From that time forward it
was the wonder of the Centennial.

[Illustration: PROFESSOR BELL'S VIBRATING REED]

[Illustration: PROFESSOR BELL'S FIRST TELEPHONE]

[Illustration: THE FIRST TELEPHONE SWITCHBOARD USED IN NEW HAVEN,
CONN, FOR EIGHT SUBSCRIBERS]

[Illustration: EARLY NEW YORK EXCHANGE

Boys were employed as operators at first, but they were not adapted to
the work so well as girls.]

[Illustration: PR