The New York herald., 1879-12-29
EDISON'S LIGHT.
Sketch of Curious Visitors
at Menlo Park
TIE ANCIENT kyn 90 wRkEn
A "a - Chnt with the
Ifreat Inventor.
tlvIILERs AND CRITICS ANSWERED.
rlVIlLEr AND CRITICS ANSWERED,


"wondcriull" When you hear this word rolled
out onco in while with the proper intensity Of ac-
cent. as in the grand chorus OF the Messiah" 1t
has lifting effect upon the emotions. When you
hear it three or four hundred times in day
it begins to lose force and you about
the wizard in these times you listen to IL tho
lips of battalions Of visitors. and you sympathixe
with the men of Athens who grew. weary OF hearing
great citizen called "Aristides tho Just" All this
while you are under the influence Of the wonderful
yourself. 1t ia not only the little glowing globes
hung here and there. but thousand and one things
appeal to your sense Of admiration besides. above
all of which towers. % the creator does above his
creature. the man himsalf. ,.i.i
1T is not much of place" said Philadelphia
millionaire to New York capitalist. yesterday as
they looked around at the or so that
dot the otherwise bare hillside that is called Meno
Park. But few thought about such things. though
the view the pleasant. undulating country.
now wrapped in light garment OF snow. with
the brown skeletons Of the woods breaking
came with one passion-the electric light and
its maker. They are of all classes. these
visitors. Of different degrees of wealth and mpor
tance in the community and varying degrees of
scientific ignorance. Few. indeed are they who can
approximately measure what has been done in this
matter. and still fever those who. knowing its
worth admit it. But the homage Of the mass to
genius which they cannot comprehend makes mp in
quantity at any rate for any shortcomings in
quality. 1t s time of rapid conversions. The little
horseshoe holds it's own.
THE GLEAM OF THE LIGHTS.
Outside the building called the Office. on two ordi-
nary lampposts. cleaned, last evening" two little
electric lamps. Afar of they seemed two large
globes of Are. 1t was not till you came close by
that you the little incandescent hoop Of carbon
held up BY its delicate platinum clamps inside the
small globe exhausted OF In the ofice the lights
were all electric In the library up it was tho
same. Over in the laboratory, up stairs and down
stairs it was the same Such volleys Of questions
as were pouring ont! Every assistant and
even every boy examined. All who came were
satisfied. The visitors learned-for It easy as
Hamlet said lying wasto set the little carbon hoops
alisht by laying them down between the two wires
on the main table. And Edison there-a study
to all. but OWNED by none. By and by the visitors
moved of. stopping to look at the chalk tele-
phone that speaks aloud. You hear Of ohms
and circuits, generators and forth. They
have been round the strange, complicated
looking vacuum pumps. made out of glass tubing
twisted up and twisted down. They have been
down where the beardless boy with all the enthus-
asm OF an artist blows the lamps. seals in tho thin
wires and inserts the carbon hoop and leaves II
already to be exhausted of air. There Is fasclna
tion about glass blowing. and this young Mr.. Bohm
while man in his business, is . child in his fancy
and he becomes joyous the delight Of the
onookers was boy in baseball ield He is
blue blood glass blower and tells you his titles to
skill with the conscious pride Of university gradu
ate-for is he not pupil of the late DR.. Geissler.
whose fame is worldwide but whose blowpipe ia
now laid away forever. The visitors have been
to the engine. tho generators. the regulators.
tho dynanometer. Satisfied about the electric
light they have asked about the tasimeter
tho microphone. the phonograph and dozen
other things, as though they wanted to improve
every instant before the train starts At last they
60 twos and threes down the hill to the railroad
track, and they gather at Deacon Davis hotel and
eat cracker drink glass of lager beer and It is
all "wonderful!" .'marvollous!'' wonderful. won
derful I" among them till the train takes them away
and Menlo Park is left to itself.
WIZARD HOME.
Happy inventor in q happy age! is the frat
thought one turns back to tho Of Edison's
labors. The mind unfettered reach its widest
boundaries without intcrposng obstacles. Light
leaps to light. and glows glorifed in the
he himself has made What limit himf But.
softly stub my toe against q stone. You the
whole world has not been lit with the ttic
yet II y0u at all imaginative you nnd
food here You have come dreaming of wizard
tie fluids. You carry something Of tho old idea of
tho magician with you-of the 3dcrlns. tho Fausts
and Invisible agencies At his beck aud
call. He dwells In q cave. aud round 1t are skulls
and Skeletons and strange phials fllod with mystic
fluids whereof he gives the inquirer to drink. Ho
has a furnace and . caldron and him as
he sits swings quaint old silver lamp
that lights up the long white hair aud beard. tho
deep lined irscrutabc faco OF tho wizard but shines
strongest the pages OF huge volume written in
cabalistic characters. He rises you enter tho
cave. He knows your errand. and speaks in hollow
tones that revcrberao family and the voice
come from tho skulls along the walls. and he
raises his hand the skeletons raise their arms The
furnace CLOVIS and small eerie spirits dance among
tho flames. Then you hear the chorus OF villagers
or fctainers outside. and by cnchantment you
away in the heart OF the busy world again.
Mr.. Edison In not such q magician. and yet tho
old wizard to him as the shadow Is to the SUBJ
stance. We have left the old wizards world behind
us. Its pastorals and romsuccs far from our
sensationalsm, our realism. We begin to think that
man the greatest discovery man Is making and IL
does not bring us that Joy which we should imagine
at nrst blush. Happy inventor in happy age
indeed! Happy for moment in his success. but
tomorrow perhaps tonight. he is In the hross OF
some now struggle with tho yet unknown-somo
product Of another brain coll that no Is passonay
striving to set In motion In brass wood or iron;
aud tho day after he will DO striving STILL SO IL is
that amid the stiffness out here. undor the
stars. worn. hard faco OF the zcit-
geist came before tho eyes OF the pilgrim
TO the shrine of science. All the old machinery that
hlcd fathers souls with awe whom they peered
into the unknown has beer put away. Thcn spirits