Two and a Motor

By Robert Barr

"Two and a Motor" is a remarkable tale of J. L. Spofford, a perky young lad who becomes abruptly and strongly attracted to a scientific research which develops into obsession. Spofford meets a young lady whose father works on building an electric car with battery that can run very long. He becomes interested in both woman and the motor, but one obsession is stronger than the other.

• Language: English
• Publisher: DigiCat
• Release date: Jun 13, 2022
• ISBN: 8596547066095

Robert Barr

Robert Barr (1849–1912) was a Scottish Canadian author of novels and short stories. Born in Glasgow, Barr moved with his family to Toronto, where he was educated at the Toronto Normal School. After working for the Detroit Free Press, he moved to London and cofounded the Idler with Jerome K. Jerome in 1892. Barr went on to become a popular and prolific author of crime fiction.

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Robert Barr

Two and a Motor

EAN 8596547066095

DigiCat, 2022

Contact: [e-mail]

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THIS is the amazing story of a frivolous young man who became suddenly and intensely interested in a certain branch of scientific Investigation. Research becomes the most absorbing of purists, and takes hold of a man—especially a young man—like drink, or cholera, or gambling. It may be stated that the particular line of research with which we have to deal was at the same time being followed by a notably beautiful girl; but that is neither here nor there. I insist that it is science which holds us in thrall, so we may treat the girl as incidental.

First let us understand our young man. His name was J. L. Spofford, his age was twenty-six; yet he had already achieved a reputation of sorts in the newspaper and magazine world. Jack Spofford, as his associates called him, was a very modern product, keen in his profession, and up to stuff generally.

Time was when an editor sat in his chair and waited for good things to fall into his lap. He chose the best, or the worst, or the intermediate, and his periodical was good, bad, or indifferent accordingly. His position was a comfortable one, and so was bis chair; but one eager day there arose another kind of editor, and from that moment our slow-going friend was out of date, although he did not recognise this at the time. The new editor was like a commander-in-chief of a hotly contested campaign. He did not wait for things, but went more than three-quarters of the way to meet them; and when an Astonishing Event, emerging from obscurity, met the new editor, the event was forthwith grasped, shaken into shape, dressed in such flowing robes of language that it sometimes was unable to recognise itself, then flung forward and presented to the world as the greatest thing that ever was. Did a doctor in Scandinavia invent a new cure for toothache, the modern editor's man with fountain pen and camera was at his door almost before the first patient's jaw had stopped throbbing. Did an intrepid traveller penetrate to the Forbidden City, he was met by the new reporter on the slope of the pass five hundred miles from the nearest telegraph-office. Was there a rumour that a scientist in France had discovered a ray that would probe to the centre of the earth, the new editor's man had it all in type before members of the Royal Society received their invitations to attend the first demonstration.

Now, Jack Spofford was not a new editor; he was merely one of the numerous talented young men whom the needs of the new editor had called forth. Already an interesting writer, he came, by a sort of instinct, at the popular points of any new discovery—able to write understandingly about it, even though he had never heard about it the day before. It was a modern case of ignorance being bliss, for ignorance was one of the necessary equipments of his profession. A learned scientific man will write accurately enough, but his product will be incomprehensible to the layman, and deadly dull to anyone but his peers.

Ignorance, then, is a necessary part of a young writer's stock-in-trade, because he thus appreciates the difficulties of the unlearned reader; and when he has overcome his own lack of knowledge, he is in a position to present the case lucidly on his pages. It must not be supposed that on account of this first unacquaintance with his subjects his work is therefore full of error. Just the reverse is the case. It must be as accurate as a scientific treatise and as interesting as a detective story. The young man who is able to unite these two requirements may travel all over the world free of expense