Little Willie

“ I gave up my goat on the spot. If he expected me to get anything at that speed, he was booked for a disappointment. The machine buzzed around so fast that you could not tell an H from an S to save your life. A J. and a figure 1 were absolutely alike, and what all the rest of the stuff was, was Greek to me. Then he pulled out his watch. I thought this was the sign to get ready, and I got, but noticing me, he said to wait a minute he was not ready yet. Then he screwed the business down and to my intense joy, the speed came down to something human. ”

“ With the phones, and nobody around, and if the pencil is sharp and nice and soft, we can handle twenty easy, especially if we know what is coming. The latter makes a lot of difference. But when a half dozen disinterested and wholly unsympathetic critics stand around and watch you, and you have no idea as to what the stuff is that is going to come, and you also have a feeling down in your midst that you are almighty likely to flunk anyway, it is some job getting twenty, or even eighteen. ”

“ The first question suggested that we might draw, a complete diagram of a ship’s radio equipment, showing the complete transmitting equipment, receiving equipment, auxiliary emergency equipment,explain the object of all parts, give their names, and use symbols to your heart’s content. We had heard of this question, and we had crammed up on motor generators and storage batteries and wave meters, and decrement dingbobs, but when we came face to face with this diagram business, it seemed like quite a contract. ”