he had read about travels through africa, the complete works of alexander von humboldt 's travels in south america and latin america. he was well read. to geta struggle for him a hold of these books because his father preached only one book, and that was the bible. and only the new testament. he had to work out a deal with his dad. this led to his education. the deal was that if he got up early enough in the morning, nonfarm time, he could read to his heart's delight. knowing full well that after a full days of later, a teenager would not want to read anyway. what he did was create an invention, with two large boulders tied to a gear in :00, so that at 2:00 morning, the boulders would raise his bed up and he would go about his inventing or reading. can you imagine that in a household? clang, thump. father would've heard it for sure. but his father was manifest word and allowed him to continue in that reading. ticketention became his to the university of wisconsin, because the neighbors suggested he show the inventions to -- at the wisconsin state fair. as a youngster he went to the f