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 Artist Management for
the Music Business

Anyone managing an artist’s career needs to be well versed and have a savvy
understanding of the moving parts of the music business. You’ll learn how and
why those moving parts “move,” as well as how to manage and navigate a music-
based career.
Artist Management for the Music Business gives you a comprehensive view
of how to generate income through music and how to strategically plan for future
growth. The book is full of valuable practical insights. It includes interviews and
case studies with examples of real-world management issues and outcomes.
Updates to this new edition include the importance of online streaming to music
careers, how anyone can effectively network, tools for successful negotiation, ways
to identify and manage income sources, and guidance on the ever-changing social
media landscape of the music business.
This book gives you access to resources about artist management and the music
business at its companion website, http://www.artistmanagementonline.com. There
is no login, and the resources are updated regularly.

Paul Allen is Associate Professor in the Department of Recording Industry at

Middle Tennessee State University and co-author of Record Label Marketing,
published by Focal Press. He is also a frequent lecturer at other universities on
artist management and other music business subjects. His career includes service
in the US Air Force, and work in commercial radio and TV, political management,
the music business, academia, and as your author.
Artist Management for
the Music Business
Fourth Edition

Paul Allen
Fourth edition published 2018
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

 2018 Paul Allen

The right of Paul Allen to be identified as author of this work has been
asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or

utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or

registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.

Legal disclaimer: This book is not a substitute for legal advice. Information
presented in this book is intended to be general guidance for the reader, and
is not a substitute for advice and counsel from an attorney.

First edition published by Focal Press 2007

Second edition published by Focal Press 2011
Third edition published by Focal Press 2014

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Allen, Paul, 1946- author.
Title: Artist management for the music business / Paul Allen.
Description: Fourth edition. | New York, NY : Routledge, 2018. |
Includes index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017054718| ISBN 9780815392668 (pbk. : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9780815393993 (hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781351186919
(ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Performing arts—Management. | Music trade—United
States. | Music—Economic aspects. | Performing arts—Vocational
guidance.
Classification: LCC ML3790 .A45 2018 | DDC 780.68—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017054718

ISBN: 978-0-8153-9399-3 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-8153-9266-8 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-3511-8691-9 (ebk)

Typeset in Times New Roman

by Swales & Willis Ltd, Exeter, Devon, UK
Dedicated to Cindy
. . . for loving, giving, and sharing so much.
Contents
Acknowledgments................................................................................................... xiv
Introduction...............................................................................................................xv

CHAPTER 1 Professional Artist Management and

Its Principles.......................................................... 1
Considering Artist Management as a Profession............................1
Be Creative, Informed, and Connected.......................................2
Understand People and Business.................................................3
Functions of Management...............................................................4
Planning.......................................................................................4
Organizing...................................................................................5
Leading and Directing.................................................................5
Controlling..................................................................................6
Artist Management Skills: Networking Is a Key to Success..........6
Other Artist Manager Skills and Traits.........................................10
Understanding Human Nature...................................................10
Leadership.................................................................................11
Coaching....................................................................................11
Communication.........................................................................11
Other Skills................................................................................12
Building a Career in Artist Management......................................13

CHAPTER 2 Preparing to Manage.............................................. 16

Management Is Part of a Big Business..........................................16
Acquiring the Knowledge.............................................................18
Understanding the Nature of Artist Management.........................19
Making Decisions......................................................................19
Managing Pressure....................................................................20
Reality One............................................................................21
Reality Two...........................................................................22
Reality Three.........................................................................22
Reality Four...........................................................................22
Reality Five...........................................................................23
Reality Six.............................................................................23
Reality Seven.........................................................................23
Reality Eight..........................................................................24
Reality Nine...........................................................................24
Managers Are Inconspicuous....................................................24
viii Contents

An Understanding of Power in the Music Business......................25

The Power of Money.................................................................25
The Power of Access.................................................................26
The Power of Your Latest Success...........................................27
The Power of Your Body of Work............................................27
The Power of Hard Work..........................................................27
Power Carries a Responsibility to Give Back...........................28
Code of Practice........................................................................28

CHAPTER 3 Entrepreneurship and Basic Money Management......... 32

The Tools for the Artist Management Entrepreneur.....................33
Education...................................................................................33
Experience.................................................................................34
Vision........................................................................................35
Business Plan.............................................................................35
The Skills and Characteristics of the Entrepreneur Manager........37
Money Management: Yours and Theirs........................................38
Basic Money Management........................................................39
Tracking Your Company’s Money...........................................40
Funding Your Company at Startup...........................................41
Final Thoughts...............................................................................41

CHAPTER 4 The Artist Prepares to Be Managed......................... 43

Being Commercial Is Not Selling Out..........................................44
Know Who You Are Artistically..................................................45
Get Experience..............................................................................45
Social Media and Networking.......................................................47
Be Professional..............................................................................48
Be Prepared for Management........................................................50
Plan to Be Patient..........................................................................52

CHAPTER 5 Lessons in Artist Management................................ 54

Tom Parker: King Maker..............................................................55
Lessons Learned........................................................................55
Rene Angelil: Target Marketing...................................................56
Lessons Learned........................................................................57
Michael Jeffery: Conflicts of Interest............................................57
Lessons Learned........................................................................58
Peter Grant: A Shared Belief Between the Artist
and the Manager........................................................................58
Lessons Learned........................................................................59
Herbert Breslin: Promoting Your Artist........................................60
Lessons Learned........................................................................60
 Contents ix

Joe Simpson: Manage by the Boy Scout Motto............................61

Lessons Learned........................................................................61
Jon Landau: Keeping a Business Focus........................................62
Lessons Learned........................................................................62
Bob Doyle: Using Your Network..................................................63
Lessons Learned........................................................................63
Andrew Loog Oldham: Exploit Your Artist’s Talents..................64
Lessons Learned........................................................................64
Johnny Wright: A Matter of Timing.............................................64
Lessons Learned........................................................................65
Lou Pearlman: A Matter of Trust..................................................65
Lessons Learned........................................................................66
Sharon Osbourne: A Family Experience.......................................66
Lessons Learned........................................................................67
Lukasz Gottwald (Dr. Luke): Having It in Writing......................67
Lessons Learned........................................................................68
Jonnetta Patton: Managing an Artist’s Image...............................68
Lessons Learned........................................................................69
Tohme Tohme: “I Am Not in the Music Business”......................69
Lessons Learned........................................................................70
Scott Hinds: “What Can You Do for Me that I Can’t Do
for Myself?”..............................................................................70
Lessons Learned........................................................................71

CHAPTER 6 The Artist Management Contract............................. 74

Negotiating the Contract...............................................................75
The Length of the Contract...........................................................75
The Manager’s Services to the Artist............................................76
Exclusivity.....................................................................................77
Power of Attorney.........................................................................78
Payment for the Manager’s Services.............................................78
Earnings Following the Contract Period.......................................80
The Manager’s Expenses..............................................................81
Other Sections...............................................................................82
Contracting with a Minor..............................................................83
A Contract Example......................................................................84
Review Michael Jackson’s Final Artist Management Contract.......84

CHAPTER 7 A Planning Primer for the Artist Manager................. 89

Setting and Achieving Goals.........................................................90
Planning a Personal Budget for the Artist.....................................92
Planning and Budgeting an Event.................................................94
x Contents

An Event Plan................................................................................95
When and Where.......................................................................95
Invitations..................................................................................96
Food and Beverage....................................................................97
The Performance.......................................................................97
Promotion..................................................................................98
A Sample Budget..........................................................................98
Planning Tools.............................................................................100

CHAPTER 8 The Artist as a Business and a Brand.................... 101

Understanding Target Markets....................................................102
Defining an Artist’s Target Market.............................................102
Ways to View Market Segments.................................................102
Branding and Image....................................................................103
The Artist’s Support Team..........................................................105
Booking Agent........................................................................106
Attorney...................................................................................106
Publicist...................................................................................107
Manager of Digital Media.......................................................108
Manager of Promotion............................................................108
Business Advisors...................................................................109
Alternative Forms of Business for the Artist..............................110
Proprietorship..........................................................................111
Partnership...............................................................................111
Corporation..............................................................................111
Limited Liability Company or Partnership.............................112
The Internet and Worldwide Web: A Primer for the Artist
Manager and the Self-Managed Artist....................................112
The Importance of a Domain Name........................................112
A URL.....................................................................................114
Web Hosting Services.............................................................114
Content....................................................................................114
Mining Digital Media for Information....................................115

CHAPTER 9 Income from Live Performance.............................. 118

Booking the Performance............................................................120
Business Management of Live Performances.............................122
Tour Management.......................................................................124
Promoting the Performance.........................................................126
The Promoter...........................................................................127
The Performance Contract..........................................................129
 Contents xi

Merchandise................................................................................130
International Touring...................................................................133
College Tours..............................................................................134

CHAPTER 10 Income from Songwriting...................................... 137

Copyright.....................................................................................138
Song Publishing...........................................................................139
Songwriting Income from Sales of Recordings..........................140
Songwriting Income from Song Performance.............................142
Songwriting Income from Streaming..........................................144
Publishing as a Negotiating Asset...............................................145

CHAPTER 11 Income from Recording........................................ 147

Recording for Full-Service Labels..............................................148
Income and Expenses for the Artist from a Recording
Contract...................................................................................149
Creating and Paying for the Recording...................................150
Artist’s Income........................................................................151
The Role of the Producer............................................................153
Other Expenses Charged to the Artist.........................................153
Things for Which the Label Customarily Pays...........................154
360 Recording Contracts.............................................................155
Labels and Artist Management...................................................156
Artists Who Own or Record for Independent Labels..................157
It’s Business................................................................................158
The Role of Traditional Radio in the Recording Artist’s
Income.....................................................................................158
The Business of Terrestrial Radio...........................................159
The Business of Streaming Services and Satellite Radio........161
The Charts...............................................................................161
College Radio..........................................................................162
Sponsorships, Endorsements, Television, and Motion
Pictures....................................................................................163
Unions and the Recording Industry.............................................164

CHAPTER 12 Conducting Business for the Artist......................... 167

Time Management.......................................................................167
Going for the Contract.............................................................168
Know the Purpose of the Meeting and Do the Homework......168
Prepping for the Meeting.........................................................170
Planning for Results................................................................171
xii Contents

Budget the Time......................................................................172

Practice the Meeting................................................................173
The Meeting............................................................................173
Should the Artist Attend the Meeting?....................................174
Ending the Meeting.................................................................175
Negotiating..................................................................................176
Ethics and Payola........................................................................178
Ethics.......................................................................................178
Payola......................................................................................178

CHAPTER 13 The Artist Career Plan.......................................... 181

An Introduction to the Plan.........................................................181
Recording Artist Business Plan...............................................183
About the Artist...........................................................................184
Musical Genre.........................................................................184
Biography................................................................................184
Talents.....................................................................................184
Experience...............................................................................185
Uniqueness of the Artist..........................................................186
Evaluation of the Artist...............................................................186
Strengths and Weaknesses of the Artist..................................186
Opportunities and Threats.......................................................186
Action Points Based on This Evaluation.................................187
Evaluation of the Manager..........................................................187
Strengths and Weaknesses of the Manager.............................187
Opportunities and Threats.......................................................187
Conflicts of Interest.................................................................188
Establishment of Goals and Timelines........................................188
Major Goals for the Artist and Sample Strategies and
Tactics to Achieve Them.....................................................188
Goals Supporting Major Goals (Subordinate to Major Goals)
and Sample Strategies and Tactics to Achieve Them.........189
Setting Timelines.....................................................................189
Development of a Marketing Plan..............................................190
The State of the Industry.........................................................191
The Target Market for the Artist.............................................192
Detailed Plans to Reach the Target.........................................192
Business Framework...................................................................193
Form of the Business...............................................................193
Personnel Requirements..........................................................193
Insurance.................................................................................194
Other........................................................................................194
 Contents xiii

The Financial Plan.......................................................................194

A Personal Budget for the Artist.............................................194
Budget for Career Plan............................................................194
Exit Strategy................................................................................195
The Artist in a Mature Career.................................................195
Planning by the Manager to End the Relationship..................196
The Plan Outline..........................................................................197
Recording Artist Business Plan...............................................197

CHAPTER 14 Coaching, Leadership, and Final Advice................ 201

Coaching......................................................................................202
Leadership...................................................................................204
Final Advice................................................................................206

APPENDIX A Artist Management Contract Form......................... 209

APPENDIX B Partnership Agreement for Members of a Band...... 225

APPENDIX C Recording Contract.............................................. 251

APPENDIX D Kesha’s Artist Management Contract..................... 302

APPENDIX E Code of Conduct: Music Managers Forum

in Australia.......................................................... 308
INDEX ........................................................................... 310
 Acknowledgments
I extend my personal and deepest thanks to industry professionals and colleagues who
helped guide my work on this book. This group of special people includes Cosette
Collier, Mike Milom, John Beiter, Tom Baldrica, David Ross, Hal M. Newman,
Jeff Green, Amy Macy, Christopher Palmer, Paul Fischer, Chad Campbell, Trudy
Lartz, David Bakula, Jeff Walker, Troy Festervand, Geoff Hull, Tom Hutchison,
Chris Taylor, Richard Barnet, Todd Cassetty, Jon Romero, Jeff Leeds, Lee Logan,
Bill Mayne, Larry Pareigis, Mike Dungan, Jamie Starling, Charlie Monk, Gloria
Green, Joni Foraker, Tandy Rice, Denise Nichols, Clarence Spalding, Jim Beavers,
Dan Franz, Nathan Brenner, Paul Stumb, Catharine Steers, David Corlew, Mike
Alleyne, Melissa Wald, Shelia Biddy, John Dougan, David Bowers, Lara Zoble,
Matthew O’Brien, Craig Bann, Stuart Dill, Scott Hinds, Timothy R. W. Kappel,
R. J. Curtis, and career managers in the music business who have been so generous
with their time, their candor, and their insight—plus the countless others I have
encountered during my career who have allowed me to learn by being involved in
their careers, especially Cindy.

xiv
Introduction
This book is intended to be the definitive guide to the student of management of
artists in the music business, those artists who choose to manage their own careers,
as well as to those seeking to become professional artist managers. Some of the tools
developed for this book are found nowhere else, and active artist managers will find
them to be helpful planning and organization tools. The companion website for this
book, www.artistmanagementonline.com, is a continuing resource for both the artist
manager and artists. The site includes a free directory of artist management firms,
advice, and links to help the manager be a more effective manager in the music
business. And most importantly, the website is the portal to an online course on art-
ist management based upon this book. Music business veteran and professor at the
Frost School of Music at the University of Miami Christopher Palmer developed the
course with assistance from videographer Jon Grimson. It is an interactive multime-
dia experience with you as a student. You learn at your own pace. Visit the website
for more information.
Information from this book has been drawn from the experiences of many who
work or who have worked as artist managers, as well as from the author’s career
managing people, assets, companies, organizations, projects, performers, and per-
formances. My wish is that the words that follow will be your guide to a successful
experience and career in the music business.

xv
 CHAPTER

Professional Artist
Management and Its
Principles
1

CONSIDERING ARTIST MANAGEMENT AS A PROFESSION

Whatever your title—manager, personal manager, artist manager, music manager,
brand manager, or representative—managing an artist in the music business means
that you are becoming a part of every facet of someone else’s life. As a self-managed
artist, all of that goes without saying. There is virtually no aspect of the professional
and personal corners of an artist’s life that a manager doesn’t encounter on a regular
basis. Helping direct the career success of an artist requires significant involvement
in their life. A manager who is new to the profession will find it to be immensely
time-consuming and slow to deliver rewards, yet energizing with its fast pace and
regular challenges.
The music business swirls in its own continuous change. Before streaming
became the primary earning source for the recording industry, managers were at the
hub of the artist’s career, providing many of the services formerly handled by labels.
Labels have traditionally cornered the distribution of music and still do, but online

1
2 CHAPTER 1 Artist Management and Its Principles

sales significantly reduced the need for a distribution system designed to deliver
pallets of boxed physical product to warehouses. As traditional labels see their roles
revived, they share a partnership with the artist manager with the goal of success
for the artist in all aspects of their career. A career in artist management requires a
continuing—almost daily—education by paying attention to what is happening in
the music business and other industries and events that affect it, and what that means
to the artists they manage.
Artists in the music business are sometimes managed by attorneys. But there
is a reason why professional managers are the best choice for artists to manage
their careers. A top entertainment attorney once said over lunch that attorneys are
not necessarily the best choices to provide career management to artists, primarily
because of their conservative nature as practicing professionals. Lawyers are dis-
posed to advise their clients on ways to conduct business without creating conflict.
Today’s artist manager, in order to stand as the strongest advocate possible for
an artist in a highly competitive industry, must be able to push that advocacy to
the limit—without overstepping the boundary of business ethics. Attorneys have
become effective managers, but doing so generally requires that they step away
from practicing law.

Be Creative, Informed, and Connected

Today’s artist managers must be willing to encourage their artists to take calcu-
lated risks and then support their clients when they do. This doesn’t mean they take
chances with an artist’s career. Rather, they involve the artist in promotional ideas
that get the artists outside of their comfort zone and encourage them to be open to
opportunities to help them reach their goals.
While you’re managing someone else’s career, you also must manage your
own. That means you must keep up to date on the entire music business. Certainly
technology and changes in the legal environment of the music business create
new directions and challenges for artists, but they also provide opportunities. As
a manager, you must be aware of trends and how they affect artists on your man-
agement roster. That means regularly reading publications and the websites for
Billboard and Pollstar Pro, attending industry conventions, and subscribing to
online industry headline services like those provided by http://Billboard.biz and
http://AllAccess.com.
Veteran artist manager Ken Kragen titled a book he co-wrote Life Is a Contact
Sport; in it, he discusses the importance of developing and servicing a personal net-
work of contacts. Being able to get that telephone call returned is among the most
important assets an artist manager has. Without the connections—either direct or
indirect—it is difficult to get business done on behalf of the artist. For the aspiring
artist manager and self-managed artist, yesterday wasn’t too soon to begin building
that network. We’ll have more on that later in this chapter.
 CHAPTER 1 Artist Management and Its Principles 3

Understand People and Business

Developing meaningful interpersonal relationships can be challenging, but it is more
important for the artist manager than any other skill or talent. The work of an artist
in the music business is a web of negotiated deals that requires the manager to have
patience, an understanding of human nature, great communication skills, and a solid
reputation of dependability. Each of these traits requires cultivation, but each will
also become the foundation of a successful career in management.
Aside from the music, business is the other constant in the career of an artist
manager. As surely as music connects with an individual’s passion, it doesn’t become
commercial until it’s good for business. To conduct business on behalf of the art-
ist, the artist manager must develop an understanding of team-building, marketing,
budgeting, and sales as they apply to the income streams available to the artist.
There are frequent references in this book to a 360 deal, also known as a multiple-
rights recording contract. This term means that a company/label is entitled to a per-
centage of some or all of the income streams of an artist in the music business. It is
most often applied to recording contracts that give labels part of the non-traditional
earnings of new artists that they sign, such as part of their merchandise or ticket sales
in addition to profits from marketing their recorded music. Similar arrangements are
part of some artist management contracts that provide the manager a small percent-
age of ownership in an artist’s songwriting. As you read this book, you will see that
the artist manager in today’s music business is actually in the best position to direct,
profit from, and control the 360 degrees of the artist’s career.
Let’s begin with a look at the business and science of management. For the
reader who is relatively new to management science, this chapter is the starting
point. It puts the balance of this artist management book into the context of the
basic principles of management. As you will see in the chapters that follow, man-
aging an artist in the music industry—whether it is your own band or an artist—
uses science, business, and a good measure of creativity to achieve success. This
is especially true of the music business because of its nature as an industry that
can offer high rewards for those who have a measure of success—where success is
often measured by affluence.
As we consider principles of management, it is important to understand that
the goals of artist management are different from those of other areas of the music
business. Record companies are in the business of marketing and selling recorded
music and related products, and promoting online streams of the company’s audio
products. Traditional radio companies are in the business of building audiences to
lease to advertisers. Advertisers then purchase spot advertising from the radio sta-
tion that airs within the programming. Concert promoters present live entertainment
experiences. Online streaming services like Pandora and Spotify sell access to mas-
sive song databases, and earnings from those subscriptions are shared with everyone
associated with a recording. Artist managers are in the business of developing long-
term careers for their artists, which includes touring, merchandising, sponsorships,
4 CHAPTER 1 Artist Management and Its Principles

licensing, recording, songwriting, and the full exploitation of all of their talents.
Some artist management companies combine all of these functions for the artist
under one umbrella.
As we look at management principles, it is important to understand that the work
of an artist manager in the music business is somewhat different from other kinds
of managers. The traditional relationship a manager has with an employer is one
that has a reporting hierarchy, and by definition is very structured and “corporate”
in nature. For example, a copy writer reports to a creative services manager, who
reports to the director of marketing, who reports to the VP of sales, who reports
to the president; an artist manager only reports to the artist. Traditional managers
use the resources of owners of a company to ultimately sell their goods or provide
services for a profit, and, in many ways, that is what the artist manager does.
Much of the work of an artist manager is product development, sales and promo-
tion, planning, and managing the work of the team around the artist. The relationship
between the artist (employer) and the manager (employee) is considerably closer
than that of typical managers in business, and is much more like a partnership. The
level of trust and the strength of the relationship between the two are often compared
to those found in successful marriages. This kind of association of a manager with
an employer can also be found in politics but is rarely found in the business world.
However, there are times when an artist manager takes on most of the traditional
roles of management as he or she oversees the management of the artist as a brand,
with the artist being a creator of art and entertainment experiences.

FUNCTIONS OF MANAGEMENT
Nearly every text, research paper, and discussion on the topic of management
embraces four classic functions: planning, organizing, directing, and controlling.
These functions all apply to the work of the artist manager in the music business.

Planning
The difference between success and failure in any endeavor can often be tied to
planning. Luck by itself can sometimes deliver success, but coupling it with a well-
designed plan can put the manager in a position to take advantage of opportunities
when they present themselves. It is very satisfying when opportunity opens a door to
implement an active plan to take advantage of it. For example, a young Josh Groban
was asked by award-winning producer David Foster to replace an ailing Andrea
Bocelli in the 1999 Grammy television rehearsals with Celine Dion. His performance
at the rehearsal was powerful enough to help launch his multiplatinum recording
career as an artist. Groban’s planning and preparation for a career as an artist put him
in a position to benefit from the lucky timing of Foster’s telephone call. Eight years
later, he had the top-selling album in the US, and by 2017 the U.S. career sales of his
recorded music were well over a quarter-billion dollars (SoundScan 2017).
 CHAPTER 1 Artist Management and Its Principles 5

When a leader or manager identifies worthy goals, he or she often collaborates with
stakeholders (those who stand to profit or lose from an endeavor) to develop a set of
logical steps to achieve them. Those steps, or plans, become the framework for success-
fully meeting goals. I credit Dr. Carter McNamara with saying, “Planning is identifying
where you want to go, why you want to go there, how you will get there, what you need
in order to get there, and how you will know if you’re there or not” (McNamara 2014).
His ideas on planning in this simple sentence are the best guides you will find. His cur-
rent website is a treasure trove about planning and is listed at the end of this chapter.
It is easy to see why planning is often viewed as a road map that helps define
the route to success. A career plan results from collaboration between the manager
and the artist, which provides direction and milestones to reach goals. This book
frequently addresses career planning essentials.

Organizing
Organizing the manager’s work is closely tied to the planning function. Organizing
is assembling the necessary resources to carry out a plan and to put those resources
into a logical order. It also involves defining the responsibilities of the artist’s team,
hiring those people, and managing everyone’s time for efficiency—especially the
artist’s. The manager allocates the amount of time necessary to follow each step of a
plan to get the intended results.
The manager of any enterprise also seeks the funding or financing necessary to
pay for the plan. The grandest example—long before the great recession—is Chrysler
Chairman Lee Iacocca’s successful plan to pursue hundreds of millions of dollars in
loans from the U.S. government in the late 1970s to save his ailing company from
bankruptcy. It was a never-before solution he negotiated to save the company. The
same creative initiative is often necessary for the artist manager on behalf of artists.
For the artist manager, financing and funding the plan for a new artist’s career could
include a combination of an accelerated touring schedule, finding sponsors, relying
on assistance from fans who offer financial help, asking for help from friends and
family, and helping the artist secure loans. Managers also recruit and employ labor
and expertise to put the plan into operation and to see it through to its success.
The manager of an artist in the music business forecasts the need for members of
the artist’s team, and plans for the time when their services will become an expense
to the operating budget for the artist. The manager also draws any other necessary
resources together, creates a logical structure for the organization of those resources,
develops a career plan, and executes it. An artist looks to the manager to take the
chaos of a prospective career and organize it into the prospect for success.

Leading and Directing

Managers provide a leadership function for the artist and their team by ensuring that
the talents and energy of the team are directed toward the career success of the artist.
6 CHAPTER 1 Artist Management and Its Principles

The work of a manager in directing activities is to take the resources needed to reach
goals and use them efficiently to achieve success. For example, an artist manager
often hires a company or an employee to oversee the successful application of digital
media strategies to the promotional plan for the artist’s career. (Promotion and mar-
keting are elements of the overall career plan.) This means the manager coordinates
the energies of the professional team members working toward the artist’s career
goals, monitors income and the expenditure of funds, and plans and manages time.
All of this work requires that the artist manager keeps everyone directed toward
achieving the career plan objectives.
Some of the team members chosen for the artist are on the active payroll and
others are used to support the plan on an “as needed” basis. The term “team” as
applied to the group of professionals who support the artist is indeed a group with
a common goal: a successful career for the artist. However, it is rare that the team
as a group will assemble for a meeting about the artist. Instead, the artist manager
provides each with continuous communication about the activities of the artist, and
draws expertise or assistance from each member of the artist’s support team as their
help is needed. Members of the team communicate with each other as necessary. For
example, the artist’s booking agent forwards budgets and performance offers from
promoters to the artist’s manager, business manager, and perhaps accountant, and
then waits for feedback.

Controlling
Any manager who has created a plan follows its implementation by controlling all
of the resources required to achieve the goals of the plan. When the resources (time,
people, equipment, financing) have been assembled and the plan is underway, the
manager monitors how effectively the plan is being carried out and makes any neces-
sary adjustments in order to be efficient with the use of resources and to be effective
in advancing the plan.
The business of managing an artist in the competitive world of the music business
means developing plans and an implementation strategy in an effort to control as much
of the artist’s developing career as possible. The manager must be realistic in what he
or she feels able to control, but it also means that he or she must be flexible enough in
encounters with reality to adjust to the circumstances. For example, a manager should
anticipate that a new and promising artist will not be able to give a powerful performance
at each audition, and should be prepared to put the most positive “spin” on the result.

ARTIST MANAGEMENT SKILLS: NETWORKING IS A KEY

TO SUCCESS
Getting any career started—especially as a manager of an artist in the music business—
requires a functioning network of contacts of people who you can do business
with. Without that network, you truly don’t have a path to any measure of success.
 CHAPTER 1 Artist Management and Its Principles 7

You can’t get phone calls or messages returned. People simply are not connecting
with you, your career, or your management company. To build a network, a manager
must be willing to become involved in both the business and the social sides of the
music industry. An Austin, Texas restaurant posted this message on their outdoor
sign: “I’m a social vegan. I avoid meet” (El Arroyo 2017). That amusing message
resonates with more than half of those who read this chapter as well as many stu-
dents of the music business. The thought of entering a business-social gathering and
making new contacts is on par with a visit to your dentist.
But, whether you consider yourself and introvert or an extrovert, you will learn
specific strategies in this section to develop the skills needed to build yourself a
useful network as an artist manager or band manager.
Long-lasting business relationships are built on face time, not Facebook, and
a few of those will turn into genuine friendships over time. There is nothing that
replaces building meaningful relationships like eye contact and conversation do. It
becomes very personal on that level, and if there is a meaningful reason to include
that person in your network’s contact list, it can become a lasting relationship. Seek
out those opportunities to network at that level. Social media sites work well when
the objective is to generally keep up with contacts and let them know about what
you’re doing, but they are no substitute for meetings and phone calls that build a
business bond based on personal chemistry.
From your author’s perspective, my personal network has opened career oppor-
tunities in political management, the music business, academia, and becoming an
author. Each of these opportunities came as a result from someone in my network
contacting me about an opportunity. I’ve learned, and you will too, that networking
is hard work. It doesn’t just happen. But . . . it could be the most important element
of your own career development.
Some career networking opportunities can actually become what Rachel Ginder
refers to as “shallow socializing” and small talk (Ginder 2017). This is why you
should be planning your networking time to be in the company of music industry
people who you can bring into your network. Where are they? Among the first
sources I suggest is a book that details over 100 U.S. colleges and universities that
host courses and degrees in the music business, and likely one is near you. They
often have networking events and conferences for students that you (perhaps as a
potential student) could attend for networking. The Directory of Music Business
Degrees by Dr. Richard Barnet on Amazon.com lists those degree programs.
Conventions and seminars have price tags in the US$400–700 range, but have some
of the best opportunities to network. They include the Conclave in Minneapolis;
the Music Biz conference for all genres in Nashville; the Billboard Latin Music
and Touring Conferences; the two annual National Association of Music Merchants
(NAMM) conventions; local songwriter associations in New York, LA, London,
and Nashville; Canadian Music Week; the Canadian Urban Music Conference;
the Canadian Country Music Association convention and awards; and the Country
Radio Seminar in Nashville.
8 CHAPTER 1 Artist Management and Its Principles

As you begin your personal venture into music business networking, a good part
of your development has to do with your mind-set—the way you are looking at the
idea of networking. This means, how are you planning to approach events and meet-
ing people you should know? One of the first things to do is to truly believe that
business networking is an opportunity for personal and professional growth. There is
no risk, just opportunity. It’s an effective way of viewing networking. I’ve found that
being social in the business world is very much like playing a role, and that role in
that meeting, for that moment, is merely a business tool. You look around the room
and everyone else is doing the same thing even though they try to make it look like
they’re having fun. It is work and it is part of the job of networking, bottom line.
Not every artist or band manager enjoys social settings, but being a part of them and
looking the part are the requirements of the job.
Amy Cuddy offers her often-quoted take on business networking: “Don’t fake
it till you make it, fake it till you become it” (Cuddy 2015). She is saying to fool
yourself (not others) in small increments to be in that moment, and grow your com-
fort level with networking with each subsequent opportunity until it becomes part of
your nature. By taking small steps, you actually grow into a comfortable place with
music business networking. I was hired to become the producer for a 2,000-person
annual music business seminar/convention for nearly ten years, and seeing my first
year’s crowd of 2,000 guests at a cocktail reception gave me pause. I welcomed
small groups gathered in parts of the room, but began greeting attendees who were
standing by themselves. I introduced myself to a radio personality named John from
a western state, who I had never met. He told me about his hassles at the airport
Transport Security Administration screening because of the metal pins in his leg
that resulted from an accident. We chatted briefly and I thanked him for being at
the event. He attended the convention for several years, and I thanked him for his
attendance each time I saw him. He once said, “The reason I come to your events is
because you made me feel welcome the first time you introduced yourself.” Over
the years I had often “faked it,” but it was a nice feeling to know that also I had
“become it.”
When you meet someone for the first time, it’s always comfortable to put the bur-
den on them to open the conversation with standard things like, “How are you enjoying
the (event)?” or “Tell me about the best part of your week so far,” or “What are your
takeaways from this event?” Putting them in the position of replying to an open-ended
question gives you the opening to know what’s important to them at the moment.
Likewise, Kio Stark spoke at a TED conference, and gave some good networking
advice on what she refers to as “Triangulation.” She says,

(A strategy) is triangulation. There’s you, there’s a stranger, there’s some third

thing that you both might see and comment on, like a piece of public art or some-
body preaching in the street or somebody wearing funny clothes. Give it a try.
Make a comment about that third thing, and see if starts a conversation.
(Stark 2016)
 CHAPTER 1 Artist Management and Its Principles 9

Nearly everything written about business networking covers the importance of

listening—truly listening—to the individuals you are connecting with. This means
a lot of things. Focus on the other person using good eye contact and don’t let your
eye stray over their shoulder, which sends the message that what they’re saying
isn’t interesting to you. Let them talk so you can discover something you can use to
continue the conversation. Avoid the temptation to begin planning what you will say
next while they are still talking. And wait to talk about yourself until the moment
seems right.
Two things that can be overdone are exercises at remembering names, and
exchanging business cards at networking opportunities. I can always detect a novice
networker when he or she mentions my name a half-dozen times during a brief con-
versation. It is certainly a commonly suggested way to remember someone’s name,
and it is a sure sign someone is new at this—and perhaps at their career. Remember,
you’re playing a role and making impressions. Your success at networking meetings
isn’t scored by the number of new business cards you have collected. Your success
is measured by the cards you’ve exchanged with people who have a purpose in your
network. It is okay when you meet someone, invest a little time in conversation, and
find that there isn’t enough in common with them to go any further. That’s when you
reach for your phone, look at it, and say, “Look, I have to take this. It’s really been
nice talking with you.”
Dave Delaney points out, “Nobody likes the obnoxious guy at the networking
event handing out business cards as quickly as a Las Vegas dealer” (Delaney 2013).
His advice in his book New Business Networking is not to use your card as a pro-
motional tool during a conversation. Rather, he says, ask for a card from someone
you’ve met only if it is truly a connection you want to make and remember. If the
feeling is mutual, the other person will ask for your card. Of course, your card should
have all of your pertinent contact information. Include only the social media sites
that you regularly interact with.
There are a couple of points about etiquette at business networking meetings that
should be mentioned. The music business has a variety of settings for business-social
events, and how you should dress for them will depend on how others are dressed.
Often the event will be the current “business casual,” which the music business rede-
fines every year or two. But other occasions require a bit more formal approach. Keep
in mind that you’re making some important first impressions. Another matter of eti-
quette specifically directed to men is always offer to shake hands with women that
you meet. It’s the world of the music business, not the genteel, Antebellum South.
Be creative and aggressive in building a music business network because the
relationships you develop are keys to your personal career success and to the suc-
cess of your band, yourself as an artist, or your clients. In Chapter 4 we’ll look at the
effective ways to use social media networking to advance music business careers.
An example of a starting place for someone new to artist management is to
join an existing artist management firm as a junior associate, or to join as an
assistant tour manager. You won’t earn a lot of money, but you’ll be exposed to
10 CHAPTER 1 Artist Management and Its Principles

those important people who need to be a part of your network. Drawing from the
networking resources of an established management company is a convenient
springboard for your own independent career.

OTHER ARTIST MANAGER SKILLS AND TRAITS

The other management skills discussed in this section are an indication of the breadth
of the practical understanding of people and the music business required by an artist
manager. For the prospective artist manager and new self-managed artist, these skills
constitute a guide to learning; for the active manager, they are an affirmation of the
truly special talents of management professionals who guide the careers of artists in
the music business.

Understanding Human Nature

Managing an artist’s career requires interaction with people of all personality types
and under many pleasant—and some unpleasant—circumstances. Studying why
people react as they do to events in their lives is the best way for the prospective art-
ist manager to learn. Members of bands who serve as the manager can have an espe-
cially big challenge because of differences in personalities and expectations, and the
fact that human nature isn’t the same for everyone. Among the most challenging can
be those times when it is necessary to manage around the ego of another. The long-
time manager of a platinum-selling, Grammy-winning group tells me of a time when
one of the members refused to carry his bag from the airport, apparently expecting
another band member to carry it. So the manager took it himself rather than have an
argument break out in the next band meeting. Because satisfying the needs and egos
of a band that is also an artist requires so much work, many professional managers
don’t want groups as clients. And frequently a band won’t keep itself together long
enough for a manager to exploit their talent, thus wasting the time the manager has
invested in them.
The music business is one in which egos thrive, with many trying to be “some-
body” or trying to assert that they already are somebody, and often these very
people can be the gatekeepers to the next step in the artist’s career. Carefully play-
ing into the ego in this circumstance is an effective way of using human nature
to the manager’s advantage. Before playing into a gatekeeper’s ego, though, the
manager will need to know enough about the individual and his or her ego driv-
ers. That is, learning about the individual from your network or online search will
give you some insight into his or her human nature. For example, if the manager
is trying to recruit the services of a top publicist who is reluctant to take on an
additional client, that conversation must include references to a specific artist’s
promotional campaign in which the publicist was a key component in that artist’s
success. Explain that you want nothing less for your client. The manager should
also acknowledge any awards or special recognition the publicist has received
 CHAPTER 1 Artist Management and Its Principles 11

resulting from their recent work. An understanding that personal achievement is

important to professionals gives the manager an opportunity to service the gate-
keeper’s ego and open a conversation.

Leadership
Leadership is an important skill, or trait, of an artist manager at the beginning of
an artist’s career or at the beginning of the relationship. The influence of an artist
manager on the early planning and development of an artist’s career is what helps
the artist to develop a focus and an organized purpose. At this point, we are merely
acknowledging the importance of leadership skills to help direct an artist’s career,
but we take a deeper look into both leadership and coaching and how they apply to a
career in artist management in Chapter 14.

Coaching
Coaching skills for the artist manager are closely related to those of leadership.
Leadership seeks to guide the broader, long-term goals of the artist’s career, but
coaching involves short-term work toward an outcome that improves the artistry of
the artist. For example, the manager-coach helps the artist improve a competency
such as being able to develop more animation in his or her stage presence. Acquiring
the skills of a coach requires that the artist manager study others who coach (regard-
less of the sport or profession), and draw from observed styles and techniques.
Certainly, most managers will be unable to coach an artist in all of the creative and
technical areas necessary, so it is important that the manager has a good network
of specialists who might include vocal coaches, physical trainers, stage direction
coaches, interview coaches, and more.

Communication
Having good communication skills means the manager knows how to continuously
connect using the other person’s favorite methods, which are likely a combination
of the written letter, email, tweets, instant and text messaging, telephone, fax, social
networks, and every wireless device that will ever be invented. The manager will be
interacting with all parts of the music business and must understand and be prepared
to use those various communication tools. As an example of an industry sector that
favors certain communication tools, radio promotion people who work for record
labels or management companies depend on wireless devices to continuously com-
municate with their office and the radio stations in their region. Managers must also
be advisors to their artists on which forms of communication they should use, and
how, when, and with whom they should use them.
Each form of communication has its own protocol when used in the business
setting, and the artist manager should be sensitive about when and how to use each.
12 CHAPTER 1 Artist Management and Its Principles

The late Sony music executive Jack Lameier, for example, championed a universal
voice mail courtesy that urges callers to office phones to leave their telephone num-
ber twice to prevent having to play a long message more than once to retrieve the
number. Wireless phones display telephone numbers, but many office systems do
not. If you don’t know which type of device you are calling, leave your name and
phone number twice. Email is another communication tool that sometimes takes
on the loosely written style of a text message, but it is important to understand that
email is a semiformal medium of business communication that doesn’t require smi-
ley faces. As author of this book, I receive frequent emails from aspiring artists, and
it is easy to tell from their email style which ones are prepared for the business of
music and which are not.

Other Skills
Artist managers spend much of their time planning and organizing on behalf of their
artists. Later chapters in this book describe in great detail the ways these skills are
applied to the manager’s work.
The best managers also work creatively. The hugely competitive nature of the
music business requires that managers must push their own creative skills to their
limits in order to advocate on behalf of their clients. Simply doing what every other
manager does is not enough to gain recognition for an artist’s talents and potential.
An example of using creativity on behalf of artists is a bold idea by Big Machine
Records CEO Scott Borchetta. Early in his career, his idea to attract attention for one
of the artists he was promoting at an industry convention was to hire an entire high
school band to march into Nashville’s Wild Horse Saloon. He and his artist received
considerable attention and left much of his competition saying, “Why didn’t I think
of that?” Fast forward to today: his creative skills now guide the career of one of the
biggest stars on the planet, Taylor Swift.
Artist managers are persistent. Persistence in this environment is defined as a
quiet determination without being pushy. Remember that to be effective, the manager
must navigate around gatekeepers, and an overly aggressive style can be offensive
to some of those whose help is needed on behalf of the manager’s artists. However,
the manager who quietly waits for an email or for the telephone to ring has clients
whose careers will never ignite.
The best managers understand salesmanship and use those skills to create the
interest of others in the music business in the manager’s clients. Specifically, they
are the chief advocates, promoters, and cheerleaders in the music business for
their artists. Through salesmanship, they use persuasion to influence and motivate
industry gatekeepers on behalf of their artists.
Artist managers have a good sense of business, and are good at budgeting the
two resources that are not unlimited: time and money. Effective and efficient use of
time can keep goals, strategies, and tactics on track. Planning the financial aspects
Another Random Scribd Document
with Unrelated Content
 CHAPTER XLIV

RAIN

“T HE explanations of this morning account for the formation of

clouds. A continual evaporation takes place on the surface of
the damp earth as well as on the surface of the different sheets of
water, lakes, ponds, marshes, streams, and above all the sea. The
vapors formed rise into the air and remain invisible as long as the
heat is sufficient. But since heat diminishes as the height increases,
there comes a time when the vapors can no longer be kept in
complete solution, and they condense into a mass of visible vapor,
into a fog or cloud.
“When, after a chill encountered in the upper strata of the
atmosphere, the cloud-mist reaches a certain degree of
condensation, little drops of water form and fall in rain. At first very
small, they increase in volume on the way by the union of other
similar little drops. Their size on reaching us is proportioned to the
height from which they fell, but never exceeds the limits suitable to
the part rain is intended to play. If too large, the rain-drops would
fall heavily on the plants they are to water, and would lay them flat
on the ground, dead. And what would happen if the condensation of
vapor, instead of taking place gradually, should be sudden? There
would no longer descend from heaven rain-drops, but heavy
columns of water, which, in their fall, would strip the trees of their
branches, crush the harvests, and make the roofs of our houses fall
in. But, far from taking this devastating form, rain falls in drops as if
passed through a sieve placed by design in its passage to divide it
and weaken the shock. On rare occasions, it is true, rain does reach
us under so strange a disguise as to strike the ignorant with terror.
Who would not be frightened when it rains blood or sulphur?”
“What do you say, Uncle?” interrupted Emile; “rains blood or
sulphur? For my part, I should be dreadfully afraid.”
“I too,” said Claire.
“Is that true?” Jules asked, in his turn.
“True. You know well I only tell you true stories. There are rains of
blood and sulphur, at least in appearance. It is proved that showers
have been seen of which the drops left on the walls, roads, leaves of
the trees, and clothes of passers-by, are red spots like blood. At
other times, with the rain, there has fallen from the sky a fine dust,
of a beautiful yellow, resembling sulphur. Did it really rain blood,
sulphur? No. This so-called rain of blood or sulphur, causing foolish
alarms, is ordinary rain stained with various sorts of dust raised from
the ground by the wind. In the spring when, in mountainous
countries, immense forests of fir-trees are in blossom, every breath
of wind carries clouds of a fine yellow dust contained in the little
flowers of the fir-tree. You can see a similar dust in all flowers,
especially the lily.”
“It is that dust that daubs your nose yellow when you smell a lily
too close,” declared Jules.
“Exactly. It is called pollen. Well, in falling at a distance,
sometimes alone, sometimes accompanied by rain, the pollen
gathered up from the forests by a breath of wind causes the so-
called sulphur-rain.”
“Your rain of blood or sulphur isn’t at all terrifying,” Claire
remarked.
“Of course not; and yet whole populations have their hearts frozen
with fear at the inoffensive fall of a whirlwind of pollen or red dust.
They believe themselves visited with plagues, precursors of the end
of the world. Ignorance is a pitiful thing, my dear children, and
knowledge is a fine thing, even if it only served to deliver us from
stupid terrors.”
“In future,” said Jules, stoutly, “it can rain sulphur or blood; if any
one is afraid, it will not be I.”
“There can also fall from the sky, with or without rain, various
mineral substances, such as sand, for example, or powdered chalk,
or dust from the roads. There is even mention of showers of small
animals, caterpillars, insects, and very young toads. The marvelous
feature of these rains disappears if one considers that a violent blast
of wind can carry with it all light substances encountered in its
course, and can transport them long distances before letting them
fall again.
“At other times a rain of insects is due to something else besides
transportation by the wind. Some kinds of grasshoppers, for
example, gather together in immense swarms to go to another
district when nutriment fails them. The emigrating band flies, as at a
given signal, and passes through the air in the form of a great cloud
that intercepts the daylight. The migration continues for days at a
time, so numerous is the host. Then the voracious swarm alights,
like a living storm, on the vegetation of some distant province. In a
few hours grass, leaves of trees, grain, prairies—everything is
browsed. The soil, as if ravaged by fire, hasn’t a blade of grass left.
Sometimes the people of Algeria die of hunger. The grasshopper has
devoured their harvests.
“Volcanoes cause cinder-showers. Volcanic ashes is the name
given to the calcined dust thrown up to a great height by volcanoes
at the moment of their eruption. These powdered substances form
enormous clouds, which produce in the daytime a darkness like that
of the darkest nights, and which, falling to earth at a greater or less
distance, stifle animals and plants under their showers of dust.”
 CHAPTER XLV

VOLCANOES

“I T is not late yet, Uncle,” said Jules; “you ought to tell us about
those terrible mountains, those volcanoes that the showers of
ashes come from.”
At the word “volcano,” Emile, who was already asleep, rubbed his
eyes and became all attention. He too wanted to hear the great
story. As usual, their uncle yielded to their entreaties.
“A volcano is a mountain that throws up smoke, calcined dust,
red-hot stones, and melted matter called lava. The summit is
hollowed out in a great excavation having the shape of a funnel,
sometimes several leagues in circumference. That is what we call the
crater. The bottom of the crater communicates with a tortuous
conduit or chimney too deep to estimate. The principal volcanoes of
Europe are: Vesuvius, near Naples; Etna in Sicily; Hecla in Iceland.
Most of the time a volcano is either in repose or throwing up a
simple plume of smoke; but from time to time, with intervals that
may be very long, the mountain grumbles, trembles, and vomits
torrents of fiery substances. It is then said to be in eruption. To give
you a general idea of the most remarkable phenomena attending
volcanic eruption, I will choose Vesuvius, the best known of the
European volcanoes.
“An eruption is generally announced beforehand by a column of
smoke that fills the orifice of the crater and rises vertically, when the
air is calm, to nearly a mile in height. At this elevation it spreads out
in a sort of blanket that intercepts the sun’s rays. Some days before
the eruption the column of smoke sinks down on the volcano,
covering it with a big black cloud. Then the earth begins to tremble
around Vesuvius; rumbling detonations under the ground are heard,
louder and louder each moment, soon exceeding in intensity the
most violent claps of thunder. You would think you heard the
cannonades of a numerous artillery detonating ceaselessly in the
mountain’s sides.
“All at once a sheaf of fire bursts from the crater to the height of
2000 or 3000 meters. The cloud that is floating over the volcano is
illumined by the redness of the fire; the sky seems inflamed. Millions
of sparks dart out like lightning to the top of the blazing sheaf,
describe great arcs, leaving on their way dazzling trails, and fall in a
shower of fire on the slopes of the volcano. These sparks, so small
from a distance, are incandescent masses of stone, sometimes
several meters in dimension, and of a sufficient momentum to crush
the most solid buildings in their fall. What hand-made machine could
throw such masses of rock to such heights? What all our efforts
united could not do even once, the volcano does over and over
again, as if in play. For whole weeks and months these red blocks
are thrown up by Vesuvius, in numbers like the sparks of a display of
fireworks.”
“It is both terrible and beautiful,” said Jules. “Oh! how I should like
to see an eruption, but far off, of course.”
“And the people who are on the mountain?” questioned Emile.
“They are careful not to go on the mountain at that time; they
might lose their lives, suffocated by the smoke or crushed by the
shower of red-hot stones.
“Meantime, from the depths of the mountain, through the volcanic
chimney, ascends a flux of melted mineral substance, or lava, which
pours out into the crater and forms a lake of fire as dazzling as the
sun. Spectators who, from the plain, anxiously follow the progress of
the eruption, are warned of the coming of the lava-flood by the
brilliant illumination it throws on the volumes of smoke floating in
the upper air. But the crater is full; then the ground suddenly
shakes, bursts open with a noise of thunder, and through the
crevasses as well as over the edges of the crater the lava flows in
streams. The fiery current, formed of dazzling and paste-like matter
similar to melted metal, advances slowly; the front of the lava-
stream resembles a moving rampart on fire. One can flee before it,
but everything stationary is lost. Trees blaze a moment on contact
with the lava and sink down, reduced to charcoal; the thickest walls
are calcined and fall over; the hardest rocks are vitrified, melted.
“The flow of lava comes to an end, sooner or later. Then
subterranean vapors, freed from the enormous pressure of the fluid
mass, escape with more violence than ever, carrying with them
whirlwinds of fine dust that floats in sinister clouds and sinks down
on the neighboring plain, or is even carried by the winds to a
distance of hundreds of leagues. Finally, the terrible mountain calms
down, and peace is restored for an indefinite time.”
“If there are towns near the volcanoes, cannot those streams of
fire reach them? Cannot those clouds of ashes bury them?” asked
Jules.
“Unfortunately all that is possible and has happened. I will tell you
about it to-morrow, for it is time to go to bed now.”
 CHAPTER XLVI

CATANIA

“Y ESTERDAY,” Uncle Paul resumed, “Jules asked me if the lava-

streams could not reach towns situated near volcanoes. The
following story will answer his question. It is about an eruption of
Mount Etna.”
“Etna is that volcano in Sicily where the big chestnut tree of a
hundred horses is?” asked Claire.
“Yes. I must tell you that two hundred years ago there occurred in
Sicily one of the most terrible eruptions on record. During the night,
after a furious storm, the earth began to tremble so violently that a
great many houses fell. Trees swayed like reeds shaken by the wind;
people, fleeing distracted into the country to avoid being crushed
under the ruins of their buildings, lost their footing on the quaking
ground, stumbled, and fell. At that moment Etna burst in a fissure
four leagues long, and along this fissure rose a number of volcanic
mouths, vomiting, amid the crash of frightful detonations, clouds of
black smoke and calcined sand. Soon seven of these mouths united
in an abyss that for four months did not cease thundering, glowing,
and throwing up cinders and lava. The crater of Etna, at first quite at
rest, as if its furnaces had no connection with the new volcanic
mouths, woke up a few days after and threw to a prodigious height
a column of flames and smoke; then the whole mountain shook, and
all the crests that dominated its crater fell into the depths of the
volcano. The next day four mountaineers dared to climb to the top
of Etna. They found the crater very much enlarged by the falling-in
of the day before: its orifice, which before had measured one
league, now measured two.
“In the meantime, torrents of lava were pouring from all the
crevasses of the mountain down upon the plain, destroying houses,
forests, and crops. Some leagues from the volcano, on the seacoast,
lies Catania, a large town surrounded then by strong walls. Already
the liquid fire had devoured several villages, when the stream
reached the walls of Catania and spread over the country. There, as
if to show its strength to the terrified Catanians, it tore a hill away
and transported it some distance; it lifted in one mass a field planted
with vines and let it float for some time, until the green was reduced
to charcoal and disappeared. Finally, the fiery stream reached a wide
and deep valley. The Catanians believed themselves saved: no doubt
the volcano would exhaust its strength by the time it covered the
vast basin which the lava had just entered. But what an error of
judgment! In the short space of six hours, the valley was filled, and
the lava, overflowing, advanced straight toward the town in a stream
half a league wide and ten meters high. It would have been all over
with Catania if, by the luckiest chance, another current, whose
direction crossed the first, had not come and struck against the fiery
flood and turned it from its course. The stream, thus turned, coasted
the ramparts of the town within pistol-shot, and turned toward the
sea.”
“I was very much afraid for those poor Catanians,” interposed
Emile, “when you spoke of that wall of fire, high as a house, going
straight toward the town.”
“All is not over yet,” his uncle proceeded. “The stream, I told you,
was going toward the sea. There was, then, a formidable battle
between the water and the fire. The lava presented a perpendicular
front of 1500 meters in extent and a dozen meters high. At the
touch of that burning wall, which continued plunging further and
further into the waves, enormous masses of vapor rose with horrible
hissings, darkened the sky with their thick clouds, and fell in a salt
rain over all the region. In a few days the lava had made the limits
of the shore recede three hundred meters.
“In spite of that, Catania was still menaced. The stream, swollen
with new tributaries, grew from day to day and approached the
town. From the top of the walls the inhabitants followed with terror
the implacable progress of the scourge. The lava finally reached the
ramparts. The fiery flood rose slowly, but it rose ceaselessly; from
hour to hour it was found to have risen a little higher. It touched the
top of the walls, whereupon, yielding to the pressure, they were
overthrown for the length of forty meters, and the stream of fire
penetrated the town.”
“My goodness!” cried Claire. “Those poor people are lost?”
“No, not the people, for lava runs very slowly, on account of its
sticky nature, and one can be warned in time; it was the town itself
that ran the greatest risk. The quarters invaded by the lava were the
highest; from there the current could spread everywhere. So Catania
seemed destined to total destruction, when it was saved by the
courage of some men who attempted to battle with the volcano.
They bethought themselves to construct stone walls, which, placed
across the route of the on-coming stream, would change its
direction. This device partly succeeded, but the following was the
most efficacious. Lava streams envelop themselves in a kind of solid
sheath, embank themselves in a canal formed of blocks coagulated
and welded together. Under this covering the melted matter
preserves its fluidity and continues its ravaging course. They
thought, then, that by breaking these natural dikes at a well-chosen
spot, they would open to the lava a new route across country and
would thus turn it from the town. Followed by a hundred alert and
vigorous men, they attacked the stream, not far from the volcano,
with blows of iron bars. The heat was so great that each worker
could strike only two or three blows in succession, after which he
withdrew to recover his breath. However, they managed to make a
breach in the solid sheath, when, as they had foreseen, the lava
flowed through this opening. Catania was saved, not without great
loss, for already the lava flood had consumed, within the town walls,
three hundred houses and some palaces and churches. Outside of
Catania, this eruption, so sadly celebrated, covered from five to six
square leagues with a bed of lava in some places thirteen meters
thick, and destroyed the homes of twenty-seven thousand persons.”
“Without those brave men who did not hesitate, at the risk of
being burnt alive, to go and open a new passage for the stream of
fire, Catania would certainly have been lost,” remarked Jules.
“Catania would have been all burnt down, there is no doubt. To-
day its calcined ruins would be buried under a bed of cold lava, and
there would be nothing left but the name of the large town that had
disappeared. Three or four stout-hearted men revive the courage of
the terrified population; they hope that heaven will aid them in their
devotion, and, ready to sacrifice their lives, they prevent the frightful
disaster. Ah! may God give you grace, my dear child, to imitate them
in the time of danger; for, you see, if man is great through his
intelligence, he is still greater through his heart. In my old age,
when I hear you spoken of, I shall be more gladdened by the good
you may have done than by the knowledge you may have acquired.
Knowledge, my little friend, is only a better means of aiding others.
Remember that well, and when you are a man bear yourself in
danger as did those of Catania. I ask it of you in return for my love
and my stories.”
Jules furtively wiped away a tear. His uncle perceived that he had
sown his word in good ground.
 CHAPTER XLVII

THE STORY OF PLINY

“T O teach you what the cinders thrown up by a volcano can do,

I am now going to tell you a very old story, just as it was
transmitted to us by a celebrated writer of those old times. This
writer is called Pliny. His writing is in Latin, the great language of
those days.
“It was in the year 79 of our era. Contemporaries of our Savior
were still living. Vesuvius was then a peaceful mountain. It was not
terminated then, as to-day, by a smoking cone, but by a table-land
slightly concave, the remains of an old filled-up crater where thin
grasses and wild vines grew. Very fertile crops covered its sides; two
populous towns, Herculaneum and Pompeii, lay stretched at its base.
“The old volcano, which seemed forever lulled, and whose last
eruptions went back to times beyond the memory of man, suddenly
awakened and began to smoke. On the 23d of August, about one
o’clock in the afternoon, an extraordinary cloud, sometimes white,
sometimes black, was seen hovering over Vesuvius. Impelled
violently by some subterranean force, it first rose straight up in the
form of a tree-trunk; then, after attaining a great height, it sank
down under its own weight and spread out over a wide area.
“Now, there was at that time at Messina, a seaport not far from
Vesuvius, an uncle of the author who has handed down these things
to us. He was called Pliny, like his nephew. He commanded the
Roman fleet stationed at this port. He was a man of great courage,
never retreating from any danger if he could gain new knowledge or
render aid to others. Surprised at the singular cloud that hovered
over Vesuvius, Pliny immediately set out with his fleet to go to the
aid of the menaced coast towns and to observe the terrible cloud
from a nearer point. The people at the foot of Vesuvius were fleeing
in haste, wild with fear. He went to the side where all were in flight
and where the peril appeared the greatest.”
“Fine!” cried Jules. “Courage comes to you when you are with
those who are not afraid. I love Pliny for hastening to the volcano to
learn about the danger. I should like to have been there.”
“Alas! my poor child, you would not have found it a picnic. Burning
cinders mixed with calcined stones were falling on the vessels; the
sea, lashed to fury, was rising from its bed; the shore, encumbered
with debris from the mountain, was becoming inaccessible. There
was nothing to do but retreat. The fleet came to land at Stabiæ,
where the danger, still distant, but all the time approaching, had
already caused consternation. In the meantime, from several points
on Vesuvius great flames burst forth, their terrifying glare rendered
more frightful by the darkness caused by the cloud of cinders. To
reassure his companions Pliny told them that these flames came
from some abandoned villages caught by the fire.”
“He told them that to give them courage,” Jules conjectured, “but
he himself well knew the truth of the matter.”
“He knew it well, he knew the danger was great; nevertheless,
overcome by fatigue, he fell into a deep sleep. Now, while he slept,
the cloud reached Stabiæ. Little by little the court leading to his
apartment was filled with cinders, so that in a short time he would
not have been able to get out. They woke him to prevent his being
buried alive and to deliberate on what was to be done. The houses,
shaken by continual shocks, seemed to be torn from their
foundations; they swayed from side to side. Many fell. It was
decided to put to sea again. A shower of stones was falling—small
ones, it is true, and calcined by the fire. As a protection from them,
the men covered their heads with pillows, and going through the
most horrible darkness, hardly relieved by the light of the torches
they carried, they made their way toward the shore. There Pliny sat
on the ground a moment to rest, when violent flames, accompanied
by a strong smell of sulphur, put everybody to flight. He rose and
then instantly fell back dead. The emanations, cinders, and smoke
from the volcano had suffocated him.”
“Poor Pliny! To be stifled to death like that by the horrible
mountain, and he so courageous!” lamented Jules.
“Whilst the uncle was dying at Stabiæ, the nephew, left at
Messina with his mother, was witness of what he relates to us. ‘The
night after my uncle’s departure,’ he tells us, ‘the earth began to
tremble violently. My mother hastened in alarm to waken me. She
found me getting up to go and waken her. As the house threatened
to collapse, we sat outside in the court, not far from the sea. With
the carelessness of youth—I was then eighteen—I began to read. A
friend of my uncle’s came along. Seeing my mother and me both of
us seated, and me with a book in my hand, he blamed us for our
confidence and induced us to look out for our safety. Although it was
seven o’clock in the morning, we could hardly see, the air was so
obscured. At times buildings were so shaken that their fall was
imminent at any moment. We followed the example of the rest and
left the town. We stopped some distance off in the country. The
wagons that were brought away swayed continually with the shaking
of the ground. Even with their wheels blocked with stones they could
hardly be held in place. The sea flowed back on itself: driven from
the shore by the earthquake shocks, it receded from the beach and
left a multitude of fish dry on the sand. A horrible black cloud came
toward us. On its flanks were serpentine lines of fire like immense
flashes of lightning. Soon the cloud descends, covering earth and
sea. Then my mother begs me to flee with all the speed of my
youth, and not to expose myself to imminent death by adapting my
pace to hers, weighed down as she was by years. She would die
content if she knew I was out of danger.’”
 “And Pliny left his old mother behind in order to get away the
faster?” queried Jules.
“No, my child, he did what you would all have done. He remained,
sustaining and encouraging her, resolved to save himself with her or
else die with her.”
“Good!” cried Jules. “The nephew was worthy of his uncle. And
then what happened?”
“Then it was frightful. Cinders began to fall; darkness descended,
so intense that they could see nothing. There was general confusion,
outcry, and moaning. Wild with terror, the people fled at random,
knocking down and treading on those who were in their way. The
greater part were convinced that that night was the last, the eternal
night that was to swallow the world. Mothers went groping for their
children, lost in the crowd or perhaps crushed under the feet of the
fugitives; they called them with doleful cries to embrace them once
more and then die. Pliny and his old mother had seated themselves
apart from the crowd. From time to time they were obliged to get up
and shake off the cinders which would soon have buried them. At
last the cloud dispersed and daylight reappeared. The earth was
unrecognizable; everything had disappeared under a thick shroud of
calcined dust.”
“And the houses, were they buried in the cinders?” asked Emile.
“At the foot of the mountain the dust thrown up by the volcano lay
deeper than the height of the tallest houses, and whole towns had
disappeared under the enormous bed of cinders. Amongst these
were Herculaneum and Pompeii. The volcano buried them alive.”
“With the inhabitants?” inquired Jules.
“With a small number, for most of them, like Pliny and his mother,
had time to flee to Messina. To-day, after being buried eighteen
centuries, Herculaneum and Pompeii are exhumed by the miner’s
pick, just as they were when caught by the cloud of volcanic cinders.
Vineyards cover them where they are not yet cleared.”
 “These vineyards, then, are the roofs of houses!” said Emile.
“Higher than the roofs of houses. The traveler who visits the
quarters not yet uncovered, but made accessible by means of wells
dug for the purpose, descends under-ground to a great depth.”
 CHAPTER XLVIII

THE BOILING POT

A S their uncle finished speaking, the postman came with a letter. A

friend advised Uncle Paul to go to town on pressing business, and
he wished to take advantage of the occasion to give his nephews the
diversion of a little journey. He had Jules and Emile dressed in their
Sunday clothes, and they set out to wait for the train at the
neighboring station. At the station Uncle Paul went up to a grating
behind which was a very busy man, and through a wicket he handed
him some money. In exchange the busy man gave him three pieces
of cardboard. Uncle Paul presented these pieces of cardboard to a
man who guarded the entrance to a room. The man looked and let
them enter.
Here they are in what is called the waiting-room. Emile and Jules
open their eyes wide and say nothing. Soon they hear steam hissing.
The train arrives. At its head is the locomotive, which slackens its
speed so as to stop a moment. Through the window of the waiting-
room Jules sees the people passing. Something preoccupies him: he
is trying to understand how the heavy machine moves, what turns its
wheels, which seem to be pushed by an iron bar.
They enter the railway car, the steam hisses, the train starts, and
they are off. After a moment, when full speed had been gained:
“Uncle Paul,” said Emile, “see how the trees run, dance, and whirl
around!” His uncle made him a sign to be silent. He had two reasons
for this: first, Emile had just made a foolish remark, and, secondly,
his uncle did not choose to notice the giddy-pate’s self-betrayal in
public.
Besides, Uncle Paul is not very communicative when traveling; he
prefers to maintain a discreet reserve and keep silence. There are
people whom you have never seen before, and perhaps will never
see again, who immediately become very familiar with their traveling
companions. Rather than hold their tongues they would talk to
themselves. Uncle Paul does not like such people; he considers them
weak-minded.
By evening the three travelers had returned, all much pleased with
their trip. Uncle Paul had brought to a favorable conclusion his
business in town. Emile and Jules each came back with an idea.
When they had done honor to the excellent supper Mother
Ambroisine had prepared on purpose to wind up the holiday with a
little treat, Jules was the first to impart his idea to his uncle.
“Of all that I saw to-day,” he began, “what struck me most was the
engine at the head of the train, the locomotive that draws the long
string of cars. How do they make it move? I looked well, but could
not find out. It looks as if it went by itself, like a great beast on the
gallop.”
“It does not go by itself,” replied his uncle; “it is steam that puts it
in motion. Let us, then, first learn what steam is and what its power.
“When water is put on the fire, it first gets hot, then begins to boil,
sending off vapor, which is dissipated in the air. If the boiling
continues some time, it ends with there being nothing in the pot; all
the water has disappeared.”
“That is what happened to Mother Ambroisine day before
yesterday,” put in Emile. “She was boiling some potatoes, and having
neglected to look into the pot for some time, she found them without
a drop of water, half burnt. She had to begin all over again. Mother
Ambroisine was not pleased.”
“By heat,” continued Uncle Paul, “water becomes invisible,
intangible, as subtle as air. That is what is called vapor.”
 “You told us that the moisture in the air, the cause of fogs and
clouds, is also vapor.” This from Claire.
“Yes, that is vapor, but vapor formed only by the heat of the sun.
Now, you must know that the stronger the heat, the more abundant
is the vapor. If you put a pot full of water on the fire, the burning
heat of the grate sets free incomparably more vapor than the
temperature of a hot summer sun could. As long as it escapes freely
from the pot, the vapor thus formed has nothing remarkable about it;
so your attention has never been arrested by the fumes of a boiling
pot. But if the pot is covered, covered tight, so as not to leave the
slightest opening, then the steam, which tends to expand to an
enormous volume, is furious to get out of its prison; it pushes and
thrusts in all directions to remove the obstacles that oppose its
expansion. However solid it may be, the pot ends by bursting under
the indomitable pushing of the imprisoned steam. That is what I am
going to show you with a little bottle, and not with a pot, which
would not shut tight enough and the cover of which could be easily
pushed off by the steam. And besides, even if I had a suitable pot, I
should take care not to use it, for it might blow the house up and kill
us all.”
Uncle Paul took a glass vial, put a finger’s breadth of water into it,
corked it tightly with a cork stopper, and then tied the cork with a
piece of wire. The vial thus prepared was put on the ashes before the
fire. Then he took Emile, Jules, and Claire, and drew them quickly
into the garden, to see from a distance what would happen, without
fear of being injured by the explosion. They waited a few minutes,
then boom! They ran up and found the vial broken into a thousand
pieces scattered here and there with extreme violence.
“The cause of the explosion and the bursting of the bottle was the
steam, which, having no way of escape, accumulated and exerted
against its prison walls a stronger and stronger pressure as the
temperature rose. A time then came when the vial could no longer
resist the pressure of the steam, and it burst to pieces. They call
elastic force the pressure exerted by steam on the inside of pots that
hold it prisoner. The greater the heat, the stronger the pressure. With
heat enough it may acquire an irresistible power, capable of bursting,
not only a glass bottle, but also the thickest, most solid pots of iron,
bronze, or any other very resistant material. Is it necessary to say
that under those conditions the explosion is terrific? The fragments of
the pot are thrown with a violence comparable to that of a cannon-
ball or a bursting bomb. Everything standing in the way is broken or
knocked down. Powder does not produce more terrific results. What I
have just shown you with the glass vial is also not without some
danger. You can be blinded with this dangerous experiment, which it
is well to see once under proper precautions, but which it would be
imprudent for you to repeat. I forbid you all, understand, to heat
water in a closed vial; it is a game that might cost you your eyesight.
If you should disobey me on this point, good-by to stories; I would
not keep you with me any longer.”
“Don’t be afraid, Uncle,” Jules hastened to interpose; “we will be
careful not to repeat the experiment; it is too dangerous.”
“Now you know what makes the locomotive and a great many
other machines move. In a strong boiler, tightly closed, steam is
formed by the action of a hot furnace. This steam, of an enormous
power, makes every effort to escape. It presses particularly on a
piece placed for that purpose, which it chases before it. From that a
movement results that sets everything going, as you will see in the
case of the locomotive. To conclude, let us remember that in every
steam engine the essential thing, the generator of the force, is a
boiler, a closed pot that boils.”
 CHAPTER XLIX

THE LOCOMOTIVE

U NCLE PAUL showed his nephews the following picture, and

explained it to them.
“This picture represents a
locomotive. The boiler where the
steam is generated, the boiling
pot, in short, forms the greater
part of it. It is the large cylinder
that goes from one end to the
other, borne on six wheels. It is
built of solid iron plates,
An old-time Locomotive
perfectly joined together with
large rivets. In front the boiler
terminates in a smoke-stack; behind, in a furnace, the door of which
is represented as open. A man, called a stoker, is constantly
occupied in filling the furnace with pit-coal, which he throws in by
the shovelful; for he must keep up a very hot fire to heat the volume
of water contained in the boiler and obtain steam in sufficient
quantity. With an iron bar he pokes the fire, arranges it, makes it
burn fast. That is not all: skilful arrangements are made to utilize the
heat and warm the water quickly. From the end of the furnace start
numerous copper pipes which traverse the water from one end to
the other of the boiler, and terminate at the smoke-stack. You will
see some in B where the picture supposes a part of the casing taken
away to show the interior. The flame of the furnace runs through
these pipes, themselves surrounded by water. By this means the fire
is made to circulate through the very midst of the water, and so
steam is obtained very quickly.

A modern Locomotive

“Now look at the front of the locomotive. In A is seen a short

cylinder closed tightly, but represented in the picture with a part of
the outside removed to show what is within. There are two of these
cylinders, one on the right, the other on the left of the locomotive.
Inside the cylinder is an iron stopper called a piston. The steam from
the boiler enters the cylinder alternately in front of and behind the
piston. When the steam comes in front, what is behind escapes
freely into the air by an orifice that opens of itself at the right
moment. This escaping steam ceases to press on the piston, since it
finds its prison open and that it can get out. We do not try to force
doors when other outlets are open. So does steam act: the instant it
can escape freely, it ceases to push. The entering steam, on the
contrary, finds itself imprisoned. It pushes the piston, therefore, with
all its strength and drives it to the other end of the cylinder. But then
the rôles immediately change. The steam that hitherto has been
pushing, escapes into the air and ceases to act, while on the other
side a jet of steam rushes in from the boiler and begins to push in
the contrary direction.”
“Let me repeat it,” said Jules, “to see if I have understood it
properly. Steam comes from the boiler, where it forms unceasingly. It
goes into the cylinder before and behind the piston by turns. When
it gets in front, that behind escapes into the air and no longer
pushes; when it gets behind, that in front escapes. The piston,
pushed first one way, then the other, alternately, must advance and
retreat, go and come, in the cylinder. And then?”
“The piston is in the form of a solid iron rod that enters the
cylinder through a hole pierced in the middle of one of the ends, and
just large enough to give free passage to the rod, without letting the
steam escape. This rod is bound to another iron piece called a crank,
and finally the crank is attached to the neighboring wheel. In the
picture all these things can easily be seen. The piston, advancing
and retreating in turn in the cylinder, pushes the crank forward and
back, and the crank thus makes the great wheel turn. On the other
side of the locomotive the same things are taking place by means of
a second cylinder. Then the two great wheels turn at the same time
and the locomotive moves forward.”
“It isn’t so hard as I thought,” Jules remarked. “Steam pushes the
piston, the piston pushes the crank, the crank pushes the wheel, and
the engine moves.”
“After acting on the piston, the steam enters the same chimney
that the smoke comes out of. So you can see this smoke-stack
sometimes throwing out white puffs, sometimes black. These latter
are smoke coming from the furnace through the tubes that go
through the water; the others come from the steam thrown out of
the cylinders after each stroke of the piston. These white puffs, in
rushing violently from the cylinder to the smoke-stack after acting on
the piston, make the noise of the engine as it moves.”
“I know: pouf! pouf! pouf!” exclaimed Emile.
“The locomotive carries with it a supply of coal to feed the fire,
and a supply of water to renew the contents of the boiler as fast as
evaporation may require. These supplies are carried in the tender;
that is to say, in the vehicle that comes immediately behind the
locomotive. On the tender are the stoker, who tends the furnace,
and the engineer, who controls the passage of the steam into the
cylinders.”
“The man in the picture is the engineer?” Emile asked.
 “He is the engineer. He holds his hand on the throttle, which
allows the steam from the boiler to enter the cylinders in greater or
less quantity, according to the speed he wishes to obtain. By one
movement of the throttle, the steam is cut off from the cylinders and
the engine stops; by another movement the steam is admitted and
the locomotive moves, slowly or rapidly at will.
“The power of a locomotive is no doubt considerable; however, if
it is able to draw with great speed a long train of cars, all heavily
loaded, this is due, above all, to the preparation of the road on
which it runs. Strong bars of iron, called rails, are fixed solidly on the
road, all along its length, in two parallel lines, on which all the
wheels of the train roll without ever running off. A light flange with
which the wheels are furnished keeps the train from slipping off the
rails.
“The iron road not having the inconveniences of other roads, that
is to say the ruts, pebbles, and inequalities that impede the progress
of carriages and cause the waste of much energy, the whole traction
of the locomotive is utilized, and the results obtained are wonderful.
A passenger engine draws at a rate of twelve leagues an hour a train
weighing as much as 150,000 kilograms. A freight engine pulls at
about seven leagues an hour a total weight of 650,000 kilograms.
More than 1300 horses would be necessary to replace the first
locomotive, and more than 2000 to replace the second, if they were
employed to transport similar loads with the same velocity and to
the same distances by the aid of cars running on rails. What an army
of horses it would require with wagons running on ordinary roads
having all the inequalities that cause such a great loss of energy!
“And now, my little friends, think of the thousands of locomotives
running daily in all parts of the world, annihilating distances, as it
were, and bringing the most distant nations together; think what a
vast number of machines of all kinds, moved by steam, are
ceaselessly working for man; think how the engine that makes a
warship move, sometimes represents in itself the united strength of
42,000 horses; think of all these things, and see what inconceivable
development of power man’s genius has given to him with a few
shovelfuls of coal burning under a pot of water!”
“Who first thought of the use of steam?” asked Jules. “I should
like to remember his name.”
“The use of steam as a mechanical power was proposed nearly
two hundred years ago by one of the glories of France, the
unfortunate Denis Papin, who, after giving the first suggestion of the
steam-engine, source of incalculable riches, languished in a foreign
land, poverty-stricken and forlorn. To realize his fruitful idea, which
was to increase man’s motive power a hundredfold, he could hardly
find a paltry half-crown.”
 CHAPTER L

EMILE’S OBSERVATION

E MILE’S turn came to tell what he had seen.

“When you made me a sign to be silent,” said he, “it seemed
to me as if the trees were walking. Those along the railroad were
going very fast; farther away, the big poplars, ranged in long rows,
were going with their heads waving as if saying good-by to us. Fields
turned around, houses fled. But on looking closer I soon saw that we
were moving and all the rest was motionless. How strange! You see
something running that is really not moving at all.”
“When we are comfortably seated in the railway car,” his uncle
replied, “without any effort on our part to go forward, how can we
judge of our motion except by the position we occupy in relation to
the objects that surround us? We are aware of the way we are going
by the continual changing of the objects in sight, and not by any
feeling of fatigue, since we do not move our legs. But the objects
and people nearest to us and always before our eyes, our traveling
companions and the furnishings of the car, remain for us in the same
position. The left-hand neighbor is always at the left, the one in front
is always in front. This apparent immobility of everything in the car
makes us lose consciousness of our own movement; then we think
ourselves immobile and fancy we see flying in an opposite direction
exterior objects, which are always changing as we look at them. Let
the train stop, and immediately trees and houses cease moving,
because we no longer have a shifting point of view. A simple
carriage drawn by horses, a boat borne along by the current, lend
themselves to this same curious illusion. Every time we ourselves are
gently moved along, we tend, more or less, to lose consciousness of
this movement, and surrounding objects, in reality immobile, seem
to us to move in a contrary direction.”
“Without being able to explain it to myself well,” returned Emile, “I
see that it is so. We move and we think we see the other things
moving. The faster we go, the faster the other things seem to go.”
“You hardly suspect, my little friends, that Emile’s naïve
observation leads us straight to one of the truths that science has
had the most trouble in getting accepted, not on account of its
difficulty, but because of an illusion that has always deceived most
people.
“If men passed their whole life on a railroad, without ever getting
out of the car, stopping, or changing speed, they would firmly
believe trees and houses to be in motion. Except by profound
reflection, of which not everybody is capable, how could it be
otherwise, since none would have seen the testimony of their eyes
contradicted by experience? Of those that have been convinced, one
sharper than the others rises and says this: ‘You imagine that the
mountains and houses move while you remain at rest. Well, it is just
the opposite: we move and the mountains, houses, and trees stand
still.’ Do you think many would agree with him? Why! they would
laugh at him, for each one sees, with his own eyes, mountains
running, houses traveling. I tell you, my children, they would laugh
at him.”
“But, Uncle—” began Claire.
“There is no but. It has been done. They have done worse than
laugh; they have become red with anger. You would have been the
first to laugh, my girl.”
“I should laugh at somebody asserting that the car moves and not
the houses and mountains?”
“Yes, for an error that accompanies us all through life and that
every one shares, is not so easily removed from the mind.”
 “It is impossible!”
“It is so possible that you yourself, at every turn, make the
mountain move and the car that carries us stand still.”
“I do not understand.”
“You make the round earth, the car that bears us through celestial
space, stand still; and you give motion to the sun, the giant star that
makes our earth seem as nothing by comparison. At least, you say
the sun rises, pursues its course, sets, and begins its course again
the next day. The enormous star moves, the humble earth tranquilly
watches its motion.”
“The sun does certainly seem to us,” said Jules, “to rise at one
side of the sky and set at the other, to give us light by day. The
moon does the same, and the stars too, to give us light at night.”
“Listen then to this. I have read, I don’t know where, of an
eccentric person whose wrong-headedness could not reconcile him
to simple methods. To attain the simplest result he would use means
whose extravagance caused every one to laugh. One day, wishing to
roast a lark, what do you think he took it into his head to do? I will
give you ten, a hundred guesses. But, bah! you would never guess
it. Just imagine! He constructed a complicated machine, with much
wheelwork and many cords, pulleys, and counterpoises; and when it
was started there was a variety of movement, back and forth, up
and down. The noise of the springs and the grinding of the wheels
biting on each other was enough to make one deaf. The house
trembled with the fall of the counterpoises.”
“But what was the machine for?” asked Claire. “Was it to turn the
lark in front of the fire?”
“No, indeed; that would have been too simple. It was to turn the
fire before the lark. The lighted firebrands, the hearth and chimney,
dragged heavily by the enormous machine, all turned around the
lark.”
“Well, that beats all!” Jules ejaculated.
 “You laugh, children, at this odd idea; and yet, like that eccentric
man, you make the firebrands, hearth, the whole house turn around
a little bird on the spit. The earth is the little bird; the house is the
heavens, with their enormous, innumerable stars.”
“The sun isn’t very big—at most, as large as a grindstone,” said
Jules. “The stars are only sparks. But the earth is so large and
heavy!”
“What did you just say? the sun as large as a grindstone? the
stars only little sparks? Ah, if you only knew! Let us begin with the
earth.”
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