"Oh, I don't want anybody to give me the money, Uncle John. I want to earn it. Don't you know of something that's more profitable than berry-picking?"
This conversation took place in 1878, when Dora's Uncle John, who was a high school principal in New Jersey, was spending his Christmas vacation at Dora's home in a little village on the Maine coast. Nothing more was said about the college money then; but when Uncle John came again in February, he showed that he had interested himself in the ambitious plans of his little niece.
[Illustration: WELLESLEY COLLEGE IN 1886.]
"Dora," he inquired, "do you want to go to college as much as ever?"
"Yes, more, Uncle John. Have you thought of anything for me to do this summer?"
"I know something you can do, Dora, if you want to."
"I should like to ever so much. But I don't know enough yet to correct high school papers. All I can do is housework."
"And that's just what I want of you, Dora. You didn't know I had leased the Atlantic House, did you?"
"No, indeed, Uncle John. Do you mean you're coming here summers to manage that hotel?"
"Yes, for the next ten years, anyway, I expect. Do you like to fill lamps and clean chimneys, Dora?"
"Why, that's the part of the housework I can do best."
"That's good. Will you work for me twelve weeks this summer for three dollars and a half a week?"
"Oh, Uncle John, of course I will. But isn't there gas in that hotel?"
"No, just kerosene lamps. I know some people like gas better, but I don't. It's too dangerous and it's bad for one's eyes. So even if I could spare the money this summer, I shouldn't pipe the house for gas. It can't be many years before there will be a cleaner and better light. The Wizard will soon attend to that."
"What do you mean, Uncle? Who is the Wizard?"
"The most wonderful man in America, Dora. His name is Thomas Alva Edison, and he lives in Menlo Park, New Jersey, not far from where I teach. I know him a little. He is the man who, I think, best represents the scientific spirit of the nineteenth century. He's an inventor, but a systematic one. He doesn't trust to chance."
"What has he invented, Uncle? I don't think I ever heard of him."
"I fancy not, Dora. So far his work has been largely improvements on inventions already made. Just now, as I said, he is experimenting to find a way of lighting buildings by electricity. He will succeed, I know; and I shall wait for his electric light. I expect, though, to wait a number of years yet, for even though he should discover the secret within a few months, no one can supply the necessary apparatus. It will take years, I'm sure, before electric lighting is cheap enough to be common."