The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1879-03-01
EDISON AS A NEWSBOY.
now HE STARTED Il PAPER 1ND
WHY USEENDED.

to Dispose Of Old Stock in Trade.
The following characteristic
sketches Of the early days Of Edison
are from the advance Of his biogra.
ghy, now being written:
While running as q Dewsboys on
the Grand Trunk Railway, Edison
started a paper, printed by him.
self. and called "ZHe Grand Zrunh
Herald" It succeeded well for q
time, but auccumbea under igno-
minious circumstances. He had
written something ags inst q store
keeper in Huron named Bockers,
. and the next day Bockers met him
ut the wharf, seized him by the
nape Of the neck and the scat Of
his brecchcs, and gave him swing.
a splash, Il spluttcr, and the head
of the editor appeared again above
the water. He swan out safely but
abandoned journalism.
HOW HE SOLD OUT HIS sTocK.
Not long after the inglorious
downfall of the short lived paper
there occurred an incident in the
train life of young Edison that even
to- day is recalled with smiles by
the old train hands. Among the
passengers one summer afternoon,
on the train from Fort Huron to
Detroit, were four young men, ap-
parently the sons of wealthy fathers,
travelling for pleasure. They
laughed and told stories and en-
joyed themselves as best they could.
Evidently they had plenty of loose
cash, for on one or two occasions in
their hill ii y they exhibited large
rolls Of bills. During one Of their
boisterous paroxysms young Edison
happened to be passing through the
train with u basket of oranges on
his arm. "Here. bub, shouted one
OF the young men, ''whut are you
selling these oranges for?'
''Three cents apiece" readily re-
sponded the boy.
''Lets see what they are good
for" continued the first speaker,
taking the basket in his lap and
scrutinizing the oranges as though
about to pick out one. Young
Edison at once began to expatiate
on the l1sciousness Of the oranges
and their remarkable cheApncss
The boisterous young man, how>
ever, cut him short by saying,
"What will you take for the whole
lot?" The train boy supposed of
course his customer wns jesting,
bat answered, deferentially "Well,
I've got forty five LETT. Ill sell 'em
all for ST." The words were
scarcely uttered before the custom-
er had pitched basket and oranges
out Of the open window. Young
Edison stared at him in astonish-
ment, then his Indignation began to
boil rs he contemplated his loss,
hut before he could speak his
eccentric customer had slipped a
bill into his hands with the words,
There's So for you-S1 for the
oranges and 81 for tho basket"
Then looking Mt the still aston
ished train boy, he said, "Aren't
you satisfied?"
"Sntisted! Lord, yes" said the
boy, his eyes glistening as he again
looked at tho bill and saw to O
certainty that it was genuine. The
incident over, tho young men re-
sumed their hilarity and the train
boy wended his way back to tho
baggage car, evidently in deep
thought.
AND YET ANOTHER SALE.
A few minutes later young Edi-
son was again in the car that con-
tanned tho eccentric customer.
This time he had on his arm q
basket OF apples. They were not
the largest apples in the market,
neither were they altogether free
from defects.
"What are your apples worth,
young feller?' shouted the old GUS
toner.
"Seven cents apiece" replied
Edison, proceeding to dilate on tho
superiority of those particular ap-
Piles above all others in the market.
"How many have you got?" con-
tinued the customer, taking the