Skepticism and indifference were at an end among the judges, and they eagerly followed the example of the Emperor. Joseph Henry, the most venerable savant of them all, took his place at the receiver. Though his previous talk with Bell, when the telephone was no more than an idea, should perhaps have prepared him, he showed equal astonishment, and instantly expressed his admiration. Next followed Sir William Thomson, the hero of the cable and England's greatest scientist. After his return to England Thomson described his sensations.
"I heard," he said, "'To be or not to be ... there's the rub,' through an electric wire; but, scorning monosyllables, the electric articulation rose to higher flights, and gave me passages from the New York newspapers. All this my own ears heard spoken to me with unmistakable distinctness by the then circular-disk armature of just such another little electro-magnet as this I hold in my hand."
Thomson pronounced Bell's telephone "the most wonderful thing he had seen in America." The judges had forgotten that they were hungry and tired, and remained grouped about the telephone, talking and listening in turn until far into the evening. With the coming of the next morning Bell's exhibit was moved from its obscure corner and given the most prominent place that could be found. From that time forward it was the wonder of the Centennial.
[Illustration: PROFESSOR BELL'S VIBRATING REED]
[Illustration: PROFESSOR BELL'S FIRST TELEPHONE]
[Illustration: THE FIRST TELEPHONE SWITCHBOARD USED IN NEW HAVEN, CONN, FOR EIGHT SUBSCRIBERS]
Boys were employed as operators at first, but they were not adapted to the work so well as girls.]
[Illustration: PROFESSOR BELL IN SALEM, MASS., AND MR. WATSON IN BOSTON, DEMONSTRATING THE TELEPHONE BEFORE AUDIENCES IN 1877]
[Illustration: DR BELL AT THE TELEPHONE OPENING THE NEW YORK-CHICAGO LINE, OCTOBER 18, 1892]
Yet but a small part of the public could attend the exposition and actually test the telephone for themselves. Many of these believed that it was a hoax, and general skepticism still prevailed. Business men, though they were convinced that the telephone would carry spoken messages, nevertheless insisted that it presented no business possibilities. Hubbard, however, had faith in the invention, and as Bell was not a business man, he took upon himself the work of promotion--the necessary, valuable work which must be accomplished before any big idea or invention may be put at the service of the public. Hubbard's first move was to plan a publicity campaign which should bring the new invention favorably to the attention of all, prove its claims, and silence the skeptics. They were too poor to set up an experimental line of their own, and so telegraph lines were borrowed for short periods wherever possible, demonstrations were given and tests made. The assistance of the newspapers was invoked and news stories of the tests did much to popularize the new idea.