PART IWO "
EDITORIAL
PAGE3 ONE TO TWELVE
W Hi'
" Part two '
SOCIETY.
PAGES ONE TO TWELVE
VOL. XLII NO. 12.
OMAHA, SUNDAY MOKNIXG, SLTTEMBKR 8, , 1912.
SINGLF, COPY. FIVE .CENTS.'
Omaha
etter
Boy's Brain B
Here is a Little Tot Who Performs Some of the Same. Feats that Made Young Sidis Famous
Than
a
Perpeiial Galehiar
r-
v..-
, Five:Yearr01d, Will Tell
You Promptly the Day of the Week for Any
Date or the Reverse His Mind Turns to
Figures as Other Boys' to Play, and Parents
Allow Him Full Scope for Hist Peculiar Gift
iIGHT off hand, now, ' on , what day
does December 30, next, fall? .'4
No doubt, you do not know, unless
. it happens to be . your birthday and
you have looked it up; but ask little
. 5-year-old ' Edward Rosenthal, who
lives right hare in Omaha, and von
will, see him catch on your words excitedly, his .
deep brown eyes will .slowly scan the ceiling and ,:
then, with the enthusiasm of one who is holding
up a . rich treasure, . Just found, he Will explode, "
"Monday!" ':. ; ;
An easier one still: What day of the week waa
the Fourth of July?
i
!:.
Not one person in a ' thousand can tell unless ",
some special happening linking Jhe day with the;
date and stamping it indelibly on the memory;
occurred to him, V- J , ' ., ,, , " .' - , :L
. Ask , Uttle ; Edward f Rosenthal, and he wili tell ,'
you before you can ' say Jack Robinson that July 4
A, mil, fell on'Thursday; .'and 'any. other 'date of :
any year you may mention will bring 'from him 5;
the day of the week' on which ' it fell quickly "
enough to hold you spellbound in awe and won-'
derment. ' , .; .-.
In . the September '""McClure'v H, Addihglon"
Bruce tells a sory of - Miguel Alberto Mantilla,
6-year-old son of a .Mexican, banker, whose ' gift
for relating coinciding dates: and days; has at- .
tracted widespread attention even to the Ameri
can Society for Psychical Research. .
, ' Yet the gift of this lad is scarcely more remark- "
able than that of this Iltitle Omaha1 lad, the son'
of Omaha: parents , who ' reside at ; 538 . South
Twenty-fifth avenue. In fact' their gifts are .
quite similar and singular is the ! fact that each
child's talent was discovered in much " the" same
way. 'v ' v : .v" ;;-"'..,':
"Briefly stated, the story that "had preceded
him to New York," says McClure's of Miguel Man
tilla, "backed by the weight of affidavits' sworn
to by judges, lawyers, educators and prominent :
business men ' of his native town of ; San ..- Juan 5'
Bautista, was as follows: ' -
"Until he was 6 years old, little Miguel's life
had been that of the average child,' 'a .life made
up mostly of eating, sleeping and playing.' ',- No
attempt had been made to' educate, him, except
that he had been given. eome. elementaryJnstruc-
I tion in reading. On the evening of Februaryl,
1D10 that is, two days after his sixth birthday "
his father was discussing with his mother the ad
visabilty of keepng 'open, oii at Jeast one. of the .
three holidays that would occur in February, the
bank of which he was manager. ; ' . . V : : i
; 'VI think,' he observed, 'that. I will close it on .
two of them, but keep It open the third' naming
a date.;-- .'.' ' , ; ' ;, ; '
' "Miguel," playing . on the ; floor, :, looked up
aharply. ' ' ,.-.'.' . -
" 'Butt father,' said he.ypu certainlyrwill have..
to close it that day for it will be Sunday . ,
; 'That-is true,'- responded his father,, after a
' moment's . thought. 'And how did you know; it
would' be Sunday?'. . j ; ' ; : -. 1"'
" 'Why, that was easy for 'me. , I can -guess
many things much more' difficult than that.' '
" 'In that case,' eald Mr. TMantflla, smiling,
'perhaps you can tell; U3 on what date the first
Sunday of April will be . in " 1 0 1 8 ?.' : , V
- ,"To his -amazement, the child after an interval
of only a few seconds named. a- date; which inves
Xigatloit proved to be correct. Other questions b.
a? similar : character followed. ' Always the- right
answer; was' "given." ; . '" , . ,. .-;v
. . Young- Edward Rosenthal of' Omaha was " three
years'; younger than the Mantilla boy when his
parents, 'discovered his remarkable: gift. Like the
Mantilla boy's .parents, they .were mentioning a -date,
stalking about a trip made to. the home of a
relative in .Council Bluffs a fev months before'. )', ''
; The - wee;- youngster ;overheard the' conversation,'
eagerly caught the date and repeated it, giving the
day of Ihe'week.' ' i ' ;
Mr. and .- Mrs. Rosenthal laughed at what they
thought, an'idle childish utterance, but on looking
at the -calendar , were astonished to find the little
fellow-correct. And more amazed and awed were
they on discovering the fact that the lad; could
tell them the day corresponding" to any date of any
year they, might mention. ,;j . .'; . r
; The.-Rosenthals do 'not credittheir childi with
any supernatural power This faculty, they declare,"'
is' merely an indication of a remarkable memory,,
constantly being fed through an insatiable desire
to learn. . ,: --.';.. .i, ,
How he acquired the ability to tell the days of
the week coinciding wfth any date given him is
explained, they say, by his using the calendar as
a plaything. Since a mere baby little Edward has
shown a greater desire to ponder over the calen
dar' than he hai for, hidfr-and-seek with neighbor
ing children; to such an extent, in factr that hla
parents have had to- deprive him of it lest it In
cite over-exertionof his mentality. ' ';' .', ',
Little Edward told The Bee man that he "re
membered. 'one night when he dreamed the whole
year through and back again," meaning, J ho
doubt, that the mental pictures of the days and
months on the calendar had flitted before him in
a dream and he had pondered them, counting
them forward and backward. . , . , ,'
Playing with the calendar, instilled within him
a : remarkable streak ; of curiosity. When his par
ents, took him out on the streets, he would point
to signboards -and ' ask, "What is . that number?"
When tpld,; he -'never forgets it. Fearing , something-
untold would result from this bent, his par-:
ent8 often endeavored to evade his questions.:-If .
tney answered incorrectly what they had answered
correctly before via' matter how long before--the
boy , quickly would "remind them of the "previ-
. i. . wv . :. I " FC'v rf
ous answer and demand which was correct i ', ! "
.' the street, cars that passed the Rosenthal home
' used' to attract the boy's attention. At the end
of .the 'day he could tell the number of every.car
that had passed and. on what line it operated.
' While but 3 years old. too, he learned : the ;al-
i phabet This was in Peoria, 111., where he took
delight in the companionship of a neighboring
florist, who was willing to answer his everyi ques
tion, and .the 'florist "taught .the "child ' the ' alphabet. '
His parents learned of this one time when he had
pointed out and named a letter.' Questioning him,
they found that he knew the whole alphabet, and,,
moreover, could recite It backward as rapidly as
-a grownup. '.;; ' j :
,: This has been followed .by the child's ' learning;
to read, In some way, almost inexplainable; j Now,
"at the Rosenthal home . about ,4. o'clock 1 every
afternoon a. little brown-eyed boy may 1 be 'seen
perched rupon the porch waiting eagerly ior the
paper carrier. The minute the paper arrives the
boy -hurriedly unfolds It, and after. noting that the
date is correct, proceeds to read from front page
to last, all the news of the day that interests him.
.ber and December, February and August; "and
June," May and October, says he, are different from
all the rest, each beginning on' a different-day.
ew persons have noted these ;facis. .'' v . .
, His parents have-allowed the "child f to ''study
, whatever he seeks to know, but. refuse ;to let him ,'
study, long. . When-he( wanted to learn to tell
time, his mother gave him an bid alarm clock. ;
He sat on the floor with it one day;and turned
the hands about, with each new " position asking ,!
"Now what time is It?" He never asked twlce.and.
at the end of that day the boy knewhow .'to tell
time to precision. - ,. . ...
, Another ' item , worth mentioning Mrs. - Rosen
thal never has to look In the telephone book, for .
a number she Is accustomed to use.. Her' baby
boy knows air these numbers and supplies' them
This reading enabled him a few afternoons'ago , When she can't recall the address of a friend ehe
to tell that Chief of Police Donahue had died at
5:10 o'clock Thursday afternoon, August, 28. "At
St. Joseph's hospital," he added, his face; bright
ening. , ; .'. ; . '.':Vf? : - . ,
candy. . , .. , ,
Recently the boy's attention , has been .turned
to the typewriter. He . writes, numerous t letters
and shows in them unusual knowledge In compo-i
8ltioni for a child of his age.. Following. his nat
ural bent, each sheet is. properly dated as are also
1 the answers he gets.'-1: .'.?', ;,:-. v- .. .,
In the following, one may see his spelling abil
ity, and get a gllmpso of his trait for date and fig-
,'re memory. ' The. slight. mistakes In; spelling and
capitalization .are the fault of his typewriter, as
the lad esplains in reading it: - .,' i ..'
...,J,., i.y.lryl:;''. '' - July 31,' 1912. ;
, My dear, daddy "; ' ' ' ' '" "
;- I went to revervlew park with' Grandpa yester
day Afternoon and we toke ore lunch with us
when we came horns he gave ms a Tomato, what
, town are you In now. how are you now. are you
feeling all write now huh? : Will you.be home for
. Likewise, he gave the 'information that two cir
cuses have been in Omaha this eummer. one July
,27 and the other August'9. Another Circus; was
i coming, Edward knew,' August 30. Two circuses
were in Omaha last year, one July 11 and the other
.(of this Edward was not so sure) August 8. His
memory for past dates, his parents say, is gradu
ally. leaving him since they have taken him from
the, field of figures and tried to turn his" mind '
In other directions. , ' f.' 'i , ',
. , He still retains his knowledge of the calendar,
however, and If not deterred will devqte hours at,
a time in studying it. Cover tho name of a month
eo" he cannot-possibly see it , and , the tot." after '
scanning the arrangement ot the figures', will
name the' month unfailingly. '.'; - '; '
He will tell you that January, April ; and - July
begin On the eame'day of the week; that Novem
ber and, March are the same, ''as also are Septeut-
asks, young Edward, and he tells her unerringly. "'the circus August 9th? and talte me? Ive got to
When, she wants to know when she 'visited a cer- ttLk na nw ? !d kby,e, Fn0D? Edw"d-
tatn . . . . ' ; , . P. S. Mother Just took 23 splinters out of my
tain place, when she, received or wrote a certain hand. I got them on a teetertotter and the boards
letter, Edward can tell her. He Is the informa- were rough.- . . , , . . . -
tion bureau of the Rosenthal home. " Ho knows
the numbers on all the houses up and down the
street two blocks either way from hls home and
becan name the streets north . and south - from
Dodge street' to1 the city, limits unhesitatingly. He
knows the names of all the city car lines-nd" on
what streets they run and the places of interest
they pass.. .'., 1 ,- .'.T ;.''':
As the boys parents, Mr. and Mrs.V Rosenthal,
are not experimenting with him, they have tried
every way to Keep him on" a mental plane with his .
playmates. They have taken him-from his study
against the day when ho enters school' and r the
most of , his knowledge he has gained " surrepti
tiously. ,' . .' -
Mr. Rosenthal says it got to bo a' bore, to take
him downtown, where he would meet friends who
would put , questions to ' him ' to , answer .,which .
pleased ' him more than if they had given him
And this, remember, written on a typewriter by
a child of 5!" " .' , ,-.; . -
'He writes , letters galore to his father 'and
friends and relates In them his experiences In play
and, news he has read In the paper.. ', He does not
confine himself to newspapers, however; -: If 'left
alone, he will choose .the '-'grown up" books from
the family library for reading. He enjoys running
across a word that is long. A, word he has not
seen before Interests :and pleases him greatly and '
in,' these, books in the library ; he" finds , many of
them.. Most of the time he pronounces them cor
rectly," giving) each .syllable'' its proper accent.
Oftentimes, .too, he Can' Judge 'their meaning from
the.context, but' if he cannot make'out the'meaa
;ing he is quicktn ask. u : r " .
l'In a word,; an Omaha lad not yet(6 in certain
lines manifests the mind of a grown up whQ has
had -special training" afid'"experience. ' .
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