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1. Rob's Workshop

When Rob became interested in electricity his clear-headed father

considered the boy's fancy to be instructive as well as amusing; so he

heartily encouraged his son, and Rob never lacked batteries, motors or

supplies of any sort that his experiments might require.

He fitted up the little back room in the attic as his workshop, and from

thence a net-work of wires soon ran throughout the house. Not only had

every outside door its electric bell, but every window was fitted with a

burglar alarm; moreover no one could cross the threshold of any interior

room without registering the fact in Rob's workshop. The gas was lighted

by an electric fob; a chime, connected with an erratic clock in the boy's

room, woke the servants at all hours of the night and caused the cook to

give warning; a bell rang whenever the postman dropped a letter into the

box; there were bells, bells, bells everywhere, ringing at the right time,

the wrong time and all the time. And there were telephones in the

different rooms, too, through which Rob could call up the different

members of the family just when they did not wish to be disturbed.

His mother and sisters soon came to vote the boy's scientific craze a

nuisance; but his father was delighted with these evidences of Rob's skill

as an electrician, and insisted that he be allowed perfect freedom in

carrying out his ideas.

Electricity," said the old gentleman, sagely, "is destined to become the

motive power of the world. The future advance of civilization will be

along electrical lines. Our boy may become a great inventor and astonish

the world with his wonderful creations."

And in the meantime," said the mother, despairingly, "we shall all be

electrocuted, or the house burned down by crossed wires, or we shall be

blown into eternity by an explosion of chemicals!"

Nonsense!" ejaculated the proud father. "Rob's storage batteries are not

powerful enough to electrocute one or set the house on fire. Do give the

boy a chance, Belinda."

And the pranks are so humiliating," continued the lady. "When the

minister called yesterday and rang the bell a big card appeared on the

front door on which was printed the words: 'Busy; Call Again.'

The Master Key