hat
these two men asked could scarcely be denied, as one of them was his
best-paying patron and the other was the father of the girl whom he
hoped to marry. "If you wish my daughter," said Hubbard, "you must
abandon your foolish telephone." Bell's "School of Vocal Physiology,"
too, from which he had hoped so much, had come to an inglorious end.
He had been too much absorbed in his experiments to sustain it. His
professorship had been given up, and he had no pupils except Georgie
Sanders and Mabel Hubbard. He was poor, much poorer than his associates
knew. And his mind was torn and distracted by the contrary calls of
science, poverty, business, and affection. Pouring out his sorrows in a
letter to his mother, he said: "I am now beginning to realize the cares
and anxieties of being an inventor. I have had to put off all pupils and
classes, for flesh and blood could not stand much longer such a strain
as I have had upon me."

While stumbling through this Slough of Despond, he was called to
Washington by his patent lawyer. Not having enough money to pay the cost
of such a journey, he borrowed the price of a return ticket from Sanders
and arranged to stay with a friend in Washington, to save a hotel bill
that he could not afford. At that time Professor Joseph Henry, who knew
more of the theory of electrical science than any other American,
was the Grand Old Man of Washington; and poor Bell, in his doubt and
desperation, resolved to run to him for advice.

Then came a meeting which deserves to be historic. For an entire
afternoon the two men worked together over the apparatus that Bell had
brought from Boston, just as Henry had worked over the telegraph before
Bell was born. Henry was now a veteran of seventy-eight, with only
three years remaining to his credit in the bank of Time, while Bell was
twenty-eight. There was a long half-century between them; but the youth
had discovered a New Fact that the sage, in all his wisdom, had never
known.

"You are in possession of the germ of a great invention," said Henry,
"and I would advise you to work at it until you have made it complete."

"But," replied Bell, "I have not got the electrical knowledge that is
necessary."

"Get it," responded the aged scientist.

"I cannot tell you how much these two words have encouraged me," said
Bell afterwards, in describing this interview to his parents. "I live
too much in an atmosphere of discouragement for scientific pursuits; and
suc