Extremely Bright Boys
"Extremely Bright Boys"
Storybooks tell of curious old King John of England, who once amused himself by posing this question to the Abbot of Canterbury: "How soon can I ride around the world?" A clever shepherd, substituted by the baffled Abbot, answered: "You must rise with the sun and you must ride with the sun until it rises again the next morning. As soon as you do that you will have ridden around the world in 24 hours." For this stroke of sagacity the shepherd's reward was four pieces of silver per week for life.
A monarch in his way, Inventor Thomas Alva Edison can also indulge his propensity for asking trick questions, rewarding him who gives the wisest answers. Nine years ago he compiled for his prospective employes a list of puzzlers which provided table talk in U. S. homes for weeks afterward. Last year he gathered 49 handpicked boys just graduated from their high schools, offered a prize of expenses and tuition to any college for four years to the one who did best in an examination he submitted to them . Last week 49 more boys journeyed to West Orange, N. J., to compete in the second annual Edison Scholarship Contest. Theoretically each was the brightest boy in his State, plus the District of Columbia's brightest.
Two days of fun preceded the test. The boys were shown through the Edison laboratories, shook hands with Henry Ford, Harvey Samuel Firestone, Lewis Perry , Hubert S. Howe , William Lowe Bryan . During this ceremony each boy was permitted to step up to a microphone and speak his name and State. There was a banquet at which they formally met last year's winner, Wilber Brotherton Huston of Olympia, Wash., M. I. T. sophomore. There was also a dance to which the Edisons invited 52 of New Jersey's nicest young ladies. "Alabama" picked out the one he wanted from a newspaper picture the day before.
A preliminary "horse sense" examination given by Professor Howe counted 15% on the final grade. After his inquisition, Professor Howe enthusiastically applauded this year's examinees: "They are extremely bright boys and it is a pleasure to see them and how excellently they show up. They are far above the average in intelligence."
Two days later the "extremely bright boys" filed into a room in the Edison plant, sat down at broad desks, began frowning and screwing up their mouths over the questionnaires. Sophomore Huston looked over the test, appraised it as no harder than last year's, promised to try his hand at it later, settled down to read a tabloid newspaper.
Half of the examination was composed of questions on chemistry, physics, mathematics, general information which every high school boy is supposed to know and to which definite answers could be given. But Part II was full of characteristically Edisonian posers. Almost as whimsical as King John's query were, among others, these:
Nine competitors who received honorable mention: G. Dudley Mylchreest of Hartford, Conn.; Gordon K. Burns of Maplewood, N. J.; De Wolf Schatzel of Findlay, Ohio; Frederick C. Roop of the District of Columbia; Charles H. Cloukey of Lansdowne, Pa.; Walter Wrigley of Haverhill, Mass.; Gordon K. Carter of Charlottesville, Va.; James H. Compton Jr. of Wichita, Kan.; Royal E. Peake of Detroit, Mich.
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