“All right,” agreed Walter. “When’ll you send it?”
“At 4 o’clock tomorrow if he’s home.”
“Good. I’ll watch for it. I’ll call V T and tell’m you’re coming. Good luck. Good-by.”
This hearty exchange of parting cheer between the sturdy, bright-eyed Walter and his equally sturdy, but “sick-eyed” brother was one incident in a general round of farewells that marked the departure of Guy Burton and his mother for England. Guy had been suffering several weeks with a severe infection of the eyes, resulting from the “flu,” and it was decided to put him under the care of a London specialist as the most hopeful move for saving his sight.
A local physician advised that this be done, and the boy’s father resolved to waste no time. Urgent business made it almost impossible for him to accompany his son, and a family council resulted in the selection of Mrs. Burton as traveling companion for Guy.
During a period of more than two weeks the latter had been unable to endure the optical strain of light, and most of this time he remained indoors with his eyes bandaged. Meanwhile Walter did all he could to cheer his “blind” brother. He read to him a good deal and in other ways endeavored to make his own eyes do the work of four. Every day he led Guy to their attic “den” where one of their wireless sets was installed, and then he would proceed to the other radio station over their workshop, and in these positions they would send and receive radio messages, not only between themselves, but in communication with other amateurs near and far away.
The Burton twins were 16 years old. Their father, active in two professions, banking and farming, was one of the leading business men in the New England community in which he lived, but he found time to exercise real interest in the sports and aspirations of his two sons. Both of the latter were mechanically inclined, and this inclination was encouraged by the busy business man in many practical ways.
Walter was ambitious to become an electrical engineer. There was hardly anything in popular electrical affairs that he did not know something about. It was he who first suggested that they take up the study of wireless and install radio instruments in their home. Guy’s ambition was not so definitely formed as that of his brother, but his enthusiasm over the proposition was scarcely less than that of Walter. They had an ideal boys’ workshop, which they built themselves, and on the roof of this 15×20 frame structure was a cupola-like inclosure, which they used as one of their wireless stations. The other, it has been noted, was in their attic den. The aerials over these two stations, by their conspicuous loftiness, advertised the brothers widely as the “wireless twins of Ferncliffe.”
The workshop of the twins was equipped with an outfit of tools and machinery that might well arouse the wonder and admiration of any ambitious boy. The machinery consisted principally of turning lathe, scroll saw and drill, operated with belts, pulleys, shafts and electric motor. The boys not only planned and constructed their shop building, but they wired it electrically and installed and connected the machinery. And when completed, it proved to be no mere toy shop, but a very useful boy institution for repair and construction work about the Burton home.
The boys had received their wireless apparatus as Christmas presents a little more than a year before and immediately set them up. They learned the radio alphabet and soon were laboriously spelling out words to each other. In a few months they had acquired a considerable addition to their vocabulary and spoke of spark gaps, aerials, transformers, keys, helices, tuning coils, condensers, and detectors with something of the ready familiarity of old timers. They were especially elated when they found themselves catching signals from distant wireless operators. This became more and more frequent, as they lived on the coast and not a few passing ships were supplied with radio outfits.