and opportunity was largely inspired by the Boy Scouts and the Girl
Scouts and it will interest you to know that the presidents, secretaries
and many of the executive officers of these splendid organizations are
now here with us in person to inspire the occasion. They have asked me
to express to you the hope that every Girl and Boy Scout--and I add
every other self-respecting girl and boy--has access to a radio receiver
and is now listening in to catch these words. I will now reproduce for
you a message from one of the world's foremost citizens and greatest
men, one who has brought more joy and comfort to civilized millions than
any other man of his time, and therefore the greatest inventor in
history; Mr. Thomas Alva Edison will now speak to the boys and girls of
America through his constant associate and devoted friend, Mr. William
H. Meadowcroft."

There was a slight pause. The silence in the hall was most impressive.
Bill cast his eyes for a brief moment over the waiting throng. There was
in the eager faces, some almost wofully serious, some half-smiling, all
wide-eyed and with craning necks, a tremendous indication of an almost
breathless interest. Then, from the horn came slow and measured accents
in a loud voice, perhaps a trifle tremulous from a proper feeling of the
gravity of the occasion, but it was perfectly distinct:

"Young people, I--"

"_That's_ Bill--hello, Bill Medders--when did _you_------?"

And the startled company, staring about, saw Mr. Hooper stumbling
forward in the aisle toward the trumpet.

"You win, me lads, you--"

Bill Brown could not help laughing at the impetuous honesty of his kind
old friend. Pointing to the horn, and placing his hand like a shell
behind his own ear, the amused boy signed to the excited old man to
listen.

"The old geezer looks like 'His Master's Voice,' don't he?" came like a
sneer from the background.

During the pandemonium, the voice in the trumpet was proceeding quite
unperturbed.

"Silence!" shouted Bill, looking severely in the direction of the "seat
of the scornful." "All please listen in on this. Mr. Meadowcroft is
speaking." The confusion subsided and they heard these words:

"--sometimes impossible to get Mr. Edison's attention for weeks at a
time. He has his meals brought in and sleeps in the laboratory--when he
sleeps at all--and so intense is his interest in his work that it is
useless to attempt to disturb him even for what seems to me to be