Mr. David Charles Bell was a very handsome man, but very irascible, and the young people were quite afraid of him. He and his brother had numerous vehement arguments as to whether Shakespeare or Bacon wrote Shakespeare's plays. My grandmother was eleven or twelve years older than her husband, so my grandfather did most of the marketing, and I understand it used to be quite a sight on Saturday morning to see the two old gentlemen, Mr. David and Mr. Melville Bell, going to market with baskets over their arms. Notwithstanding all their arguments, they were very devoted to each other. Miss Aileen Bell was very musical and was one of the founders of the Friday Morning Music Club and other musical clubs. She was the organist and choir leader in Christ Church, Georgetown. She was always very punctilious in her attendance and I remember her talking about her church. Mr. and Mrs. Charles Bell and their family also used to come out on Sundays to see their parents, but they usually came to supper. The family as a whole were very devoted. Mr. Chichester Bell, you may recall, was the co-inventor with my father and Mr. Tainter of the phonograph. The wax records that are used today are their invention and their company, the Columbia Phonograph Company, operated under their patents. After my grandfather's death, the house came into my father's possession, and he gave it to the American Association to Promote the Teaching of Speech to the Deaf, now called the Volta Speech Association. It was used for a time as the home of the Superintendent. My father still continued to use his laboratory. Some years later, when the Association needed money, it was sold and the proceeds used to carry on the work of the Association. My father was very much interested in the work of the Volta Bureau and one winter, when my mother was away, he lived at the Volta Bureau, compiling some of his scientific data. He had a way when he became absorbed in work of forgetting to eat or sleep, and the person that brought his dinner tray would often find his luncheon tray untouched. [Illustration: JOHN THRELKELD]