"I was in the boy's room the other day," continued Paul, meditatively,
"and he had the floor and his bed and the chairs covered with models of
electrical machines. I was afraid to sit down or lean up against
anything for fear it would go off and give me a shock or something.
While I was asking questions, what did the boy do but start a
contrivance that hung from the ceiling and it reached down a metallic
arm that grabbed my hat off and began to comb my hair. I yelled,
naturally, or unnaturally, and tried to get loose, but another
contrivance shot out from the wall somewhere and clutched me by the leg
and began to make frantic gestures at my shoes like a wild boot-blacking
emporium. I decided to stand still rather than run the risk of getting
hit somewhere else. Meanwhile Walter was laughing so hard he couldn't
answer my emphatic request to know what the thing was going to do. He
finally explained that it was a new device he was experimenting with to
give the patient head treatment for nervous prostration, and black his
shoes while he waited. I made him turn off the power and then I
cautiously backed out of the room and gave him my testimonial on the
efficacy of his invention adapted to give anyone nervous prostration and
general paralysis who never had them."
Esther laughed, the same good, generous, contagious laugh she had always
known, and Paul had always loved to hear.
"Walter is a genius. I always said he would make his mark."
"I was afraid he would make several on me before I could get away," said
Paul, smiling. "Well, of course, we have really decided to let the boy
go to Burrton. If he is going to have a thorough course in electricity,
I want him to have the best there is."
"I shall miss him dreadfully. O, dear, my darling!" Esther suddenly
yielded to a good cry that somewhat upset Paul. Only once in a while in
their married life had Esther given way to such a display of feeling.
But before Paul went down to the office that morning she had dried her
tears and with a hopeful smile prepared to make out a list of Walter's
school necessities for the eight months he would be away from home.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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