radio business right now ought to
have a sort of celebration 'most everywhere; and our school might set
the example. Radio is getting to be an awfully big thing, nearly as big
as the movies. And now here's Marconi. Couldn't we start a general
hurrah for radio, bring the apparatus down to the assembly room, have a
big concert, send out some messages and get Tony here, who knows
Marconi, to give us a talk on the inventor of the wireless when he was a
boy, and that sort of thing? Of course, if this would interfere with
studies, or----"

"It need not, Brown, it need not in the least," agreed the president. "I
like your idea immensely and I foresee some features that we can add.
Suppose we fix it for the latter part of this week, handbill it in the
town also and make it a gala occasion. It is another way of calling
attention to the school and the kind of work we do here. You will all
help Professor Grant and the janitor with the mechanical details, which
should not take long. And if Sabaste will communicate with Marconi so as
to make sure we can get a message from him, that will be the climax."

The idea proved immensely popular. There are many such plans for calling
students together to instil interest in various things that prove "wet
blankets" when put into operation, but radio, as elsewhere, had taken
the school by storm. Separate departments had been organized this year
for it. It was equally an interesting plaything and a source of mental
gymnastics. It was a matter of curiosity, and not to be interested, was
to be out of the swim.

Bill got busy, as hardly ever before in his strenuous career. Because of
his uncertain English, Tony balked at giving an address on Marconi, so
Bill copied facts and wrote the whole thing out for Tony to memorize,
putting in many of the Italian's phrases, corrected. And getting the
_Elettra_ again, Marconi's former and youthful neighbor was able to make
a date for a message from the wireless wizard on the evening of the
radio celebration.

That night there was a crowd in the assembly room. Every student was
there, half the town, many people from the country around and a few
friends of the school from various distances. Doctor Field introduced
the occasion briefly. Professor Grant gave a talk on the history and
rapid growth of radio communication. Professor Judson, assistant in
physics, talked on the "little bottles," as the vacuum tubes are often
called. Professor Search talked on the p