ALS signed “Your loving son, Alec,” eight pages on two adjoining sheets, 5 x 8, June 10, 1878. A rare and lengthy letter to his mother and father. In full: “Your letters dated May 25th were received this morning – but your proposed names for baby came too late. Mabel has been anxious to give baby a distinctive name of her own and finally has decided upon ‘Elsie May.’ Your little grand-daughter has acquiesced in this decision—so I shall register it shortly. Elsie has been improving rapidly and has now developed into a healthy-fat-nice-looking baby with tremendous eyes—and a clear and light complexion. The body however is so dark that nurse says she will grow up a brunette.
Mabel herself is well—and happy in the new duties of mother. She has enough food for baby and to spare. We all hope to get out to the country in a few days—We had hoped to have left town some days ago—but Gertrude has been too weak to be moved. We are so distressed on her account. She now seems better & now worse. There is however too hectic a look about her brightest turns to give us much encouragement.
We have tried to take her out occasionally for little drives—but have invariably been alarmed by her faintness & weakness afterwards and we are almost afraid to remove her to the country for fear the journey alone would kill her. We expect Berta [Mabel’ s sister Roberta] next week and hope that her bright cheery nature will do Gertrude good! We all need cheering sadly.
I spent Saturday evening with the Cathcarts. Rollie is her old self but all the little ones have changed so much that you would not know them. Mariette a tall handsome girl;—full-grown—Widdy—a second edition of her mother and Ettie a reproduction of Mariette as she was when you saw her last. Percy—I have not yet seen. Madge is just as good as she was when we knew her. The Harwoods were at Oakley Square too—just the same as ever—excepting that Mr. Harwood has aged and has now snow-white hair. I called in to see our old neighbours in Harrington Square the other day—the Harrisons I mean—and found them exactly as we saw them last—not one bit changed. Mr. & Mrs. John Milne called upon us about six weeks ago—and spent one evening with us. They were well & looked as usual excepting that Mr. Milne was whiter & older looking. Mr. Pass—I saw in Edinburgh & I think I told you a long time ago that he had had a paralytic stroke and was then just recovering from it. He looked very well otherwise. Mr. William Milne you know is dead. Mrs. William and John Milne have quarreled over the property and are no longer on speaking terms. Sophie seems well & prospering. We occasionally see her—but more often hear from her then by that Telephone. You know our houses are connected. Chester well too.
Lewis [cousin] has received a very important appointment on board the Gorgon. The duty of navigating this Turret ship devolves upon him. He does not like it at all. I rather think that Uncle David [Lewis’ father; Bell’s father’s brother] does not know the details of Lewis’ appointment & Sophie [Lewis’ sister] asked me not to give particulars for fear of frightening Uncle & Aunt. The Gorgon is simply and purely a fighting vessel and is so unseaworthy for sailing purposes that the crew cannot get either a steward or a cook to remain on board – so that the officers at present have to dine at a hotel on shore.
I am quite troubled by your account of the lightning accident at Tutela Heights. The accident shows that the earth terminals of your telephone line are defective for the current found a shorter path to the ground through two of your poles than by the proper path.
How do you make earth at either end of your line? I presume that the town end of the line is connected with the gas or water pipes and that your end is attached to the lightning rod of the house. As I do not know your connections I shall merely state what connections I should advise in order to prevent a repetition of the accident—which might have been more serious had the poles not been struck and thus afforded a partial passage to the earth.
For safety your earth wires should consist of very thick wire about a quarter of an inch in diameter. If you have not wires of this thickness a bundle of wires should be employed. In the town-house let the earth wire be soldered to both gas and water pipes. In any case let the wire be connected to the water-pipes. Instances have been known in which a lead gas-pipe has been fused by lightning & the gas set on fire. Water-pipes should always be preferred—but both water-pipes & gas-pipes are best.
At your end of the line it is necessary that communication should be established with the moist earth. This is absolutely necessary for safety from lightning—Whenever lightning does damage you have conclusive proof that there is no metallic pathway to the moist earth—Your earth connection is therefore defective. Lightning-rods are often carelessly put up & in your case I have no doubt that the lower terminus of the lightning rod fails to reach a permanently moist stratum of earth. I would advise you to carry good thick wires or bundles of wires to your various rain-water cisterns.
Attach to the end of the wires a piece of metal having large surface—such as a large plate of tin—or—an old chain—and drop it into your rain water cistern. The water in the well would form a beautiful path to the earth but I don’t advise you to make connection with it for in the first place the metal terminal would oxidize & cause your drinking water to taste badly— & secondly the water of the well would probably have a sulphurous taste after each thunder-storm.
It is not absolutely certain that your rain-water cisterns make connection with the moist earth in dry weather. If they hold water well in dry weather they are probably pretty well insulated from the moist earth which is not desirable. If you want to be absolutely sure of reaching damp earth carry a wire over the hill down to the neighbourhood of your duck-pond and having attached to its end a large metallic surface—bury it as deeply as possible in the mud.
If you have a good connection with a permanently moist stratum of earth—you need never fear lightning and your posts will be safe. I suppose you have Magneto call-bells.”
On the lower half of the last page, Bell has sketched two telephones, one identified as “Town house,” the other as “Tutela Heights.” He’s drawn and labeled “Gas pipe,” “Water pipe,” “dip into rain-water / well,” “tip into / rain water / well,” “Lightning / rod of / house,” “Bury in / duck-pond.” Bell adds, “Don’t forget to put a metallic plug in the holes marked A [the hole labeled “A” is marked on each telephone sketch] if there is danger of a thunder-storm. This is not necessary for safety – but advisable as a protection for the Telephones.” In the lower left, Bell has written his father’s name, “Prof. A.M. Bell Brantford.”
Accompanied by a mailing envelope addressed in Bell’s hand to his father, postmarked “Washington, Dec. 30.” In very good condition, with partial separations along fragile central horizontal and vertical mailing folds, scattered toning and soiling, and a couple extra horizontal folds to second set of pages.
In 1870, the Bell family left London for “the new world,” where they purchased 10.5 acres of land at Tutela Heights, near Brantford, Ontario. By 1874, Bell’s work on the harmonic telegraph was quickly advancing; by 1875, he had developed an acoustic telegraph, and on March 7, 1876, Bell received his patent. The date of this letter, merely two years after the patent was obtained, demonstrates the exceptional progress of this fledgling invention.
Already functioning and in practical usage, the early mechanics of the telephone were complicated and required extreme attention to detail and assemblage, without which, disastrous—even fatal— results could occur. Bell writes that he is “quite troubled by your account of the lightning accident at Tutela Heights. The accident shows that the earth terminals of your telephone line are defective for the current found a shorter path to the ground through two of your poles than by the proper path,” and goes on to draw a remarkable diagram—two telephones—showing the correct mechanical assemblage to ensure proper function and above all, safety. “As I do not know your connections I shall merely state what connections I should advise in order to prevent a repetition of the accident—which might have been more serious had the poles not been struck and thus afforded a partial passage to the earth.” He provides in-depth instructions, “Don’t forget to put a metallic plug in the holes marked A if there is danger of a thunder-storm. This is not necessary for safety – but advisable as a protection for the Telephones,” and assures that, “If you have a good connection with a permanently moist stratum of earth—you need never fear lightning and your posts will be safe.” Bell then signs the lengthy letter using the moniker, “Alec,” a name used exclusively by his wife and family.
Only a century after Benjamin Franklin harnessed the power of lightning, Bell took that electrical pulse, launched it through a copper wire, and in that one instant, changed the way human kind would communicate...forever. An exemplary letter from the iconic inventor, dating from the very formative years of the invention that would literally connect the world. Pre-certified John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and RR Auction COA.
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