a matter of days, but is
the development of months of the hardest kind of work and experiment. We
have had to test, reject, and sift all possible suggestions in order to
reach perfection. I don't mean by that to say that we have reached it yet,
but we're on the way. New problems are coming up all the time, and we are
kept busy trying to solve them.

"It seems a simple thing," he went on, "to talk or sing into that
microphone," pointing to a little disk-like instrument about the height of
a man's head. "But even there the least miscalculation may wholly spoil
the effect of the speech or the music. Now, in a theater, the actor is at
least twenty feet or so from the nearest of his audience and the sounds
that he makes in drawing in his breath are not perceptible. If he stayed
too close to the microphone, however, that drawing in of breath, or some
other little peculiarity of his delivery, would be so plainly heard that
it would interfere with the effect of his performance. So, with certain
instruments. A flute, for instance, has no mechanical stops, so a flute
player can stand comparatively near the microphone. The player of a
cornet, however, must stand some distance back or else the clicking of the
stops of his instrument will interfere with his music. These are only a
few of the difficulties that we meet and have to guard against. There are
dozens of others that require just as much vigilance to guard against in
order to get a perfect performance. It's a pleasure to explain these
things to you, boys, for you catch on quickly."

"We're a long way from being experts," said Bob, "but we've done quite a
good deal of radio work and built several sets of our own, so we can at
least ask intelligent questions."

"Well, fire away, and I'll try to answer them," replied Mr. Reed. "You may
be able to stick me, though."

He said this as a joke, but before they had completed a tour of the
building the boys had asked him some posers that he was at a loss to
answer.

"I almost think you fellows should be taking me around," he said at last.
"Blamed if I don't think you know as much as I do about it."

CHAPTER XXIII

THE FIRST VENTURE

"They're regular sharks, those boys," said Larry, who was thoroughly
enjoying Mr. Reed's discomfiture. "I think they'd be able to stick Mr.
Edison, I'll be blest if I don't."

"Nonsense," laughed Bob. "We're only asking about things we don't
understand ourselves. You know the did saying,