The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1883-12-18
OUR GREAT INVENTOR.
Soma Interesting Rscoilections OF
Thomas Edison
ais Work as n Telegraph Operator
ellis Personal P~ecuiinritles,
and His B~ashfniness
Among Women
louisville courier,Journai.l


Union operator to a reporter yesterday. 81
boarded In the same house with him for
months and worked at the same table with
him Smartl Well, I should say SO. You
wouldn't think 1t, though, to talk to him. He
Is Ike almost all inventors, q poor describer.
he could make a new machine easier than he
could tell you about it. / remember when he
first came here. He was a modest, shy sort of
a boy, and l took a liking to him He was
baird to get acquainted with, but after you
got to know him he was sociable enough II
you have noticed men much you will find
that they oil have one overwhelming passion.
It may be drink, ft may be cards, 1t may be
Petticoats. But there Is one thing 10 which
they are more strongly addicted than all
the rest put together. Well, Tom was
one Of the few men who never seemed to be
troubled with q vice. He couldn't be in
duced to touch q card He never took a
drink in his life, and the rustic Of women's
skirts, That made many a good man go wrong,
never set his heart a-beating. The man was
wrapped up in machinery He had no time,
no thought for anything else. He and / were
doing day work. and at night, instead Of
going to the theatre, or amusing himself as
the rest of US did, be would go up to his
room and set to work with all sorts of cleo
trical appliances And he used to have the
queerest of rooms 1t looked like an old
junk shop. Dur poor old landlady used to be
in deathly fear of some of them things goin'
of" as she expressed It, and the negro
servants used to give him and his apartment
a wide berth He had a funny habit when
he was studying anything particularly
abstfuse OF wrapping a towel soaked in ice
water around his head and keeping his feet In
warm water.
"He was one of the most superstitious men
/ ever knew. He would always study with
the same coat on-a ragged, torn old vel
yeteen jacket without q button because it
gave him luck, he all He had a moral
aversion TO cats, and swore they were respon-
sible for every mistake he ever made. l.haye
nlown him TO walk two blocks out OF his way
20 avoid seeing an old pussie that used 70 sit
contentsdly on th7 front doorstep of a house
that was on his way home. He used TO Sc
iously talk of %inventing an electric machine
% kill them with, and for ALL know he has,
lor thore isn't u thing that Tom Edison
wanted to DO with machinery thai LIE couldn't
TO.
Like all men of dehcnte nervous organ
cation, he was extremely irritable at times
de had to eschew tea and coffee, and often
aid That he verify believed that a drink of
whisky would have set him crazy.
EDISON was as considerable as a woman of
he feelings of Others, aud ne yer knew him ~
ay a hnrsh word about any one. He was one
ot those shrinking. timid, pale-fnced men
whom you sometimes meet, with the keenest
ensibility and the most retiring modesty.
You could be with him for a lifetime and he
would never allude to anything he did or in
ended to do.
81 often used to wonder what his feelings
were toward his beloved machines. He used
20 hang over a network Of wheels within
wheels. and cogs within cogs, adjusting,
Hanging, fitting IN new ones, and rsnioying
old ONES, and L have sat by the hour watch
ing the rapt, tense look on his face. believe
Ie regarded this cold iron as a living, breath
ing creature, to which all tho love and ten
dernes OF his nature was given These masses
Of inert matter must haYe assumed all sorts
Of fantastic shapes T. his busy mind.
IF Edison was backward among men he
was absolutely helpless among women. Our
landlady had a pretty daughter, who, by the
way, still Lives hero, and that girl, ! think,
caused Edison as much trouble as his much
| Dated feline enemies He used to sit near
her at the table, and she took especial pains
to please him. He got to loving her, as much
az he could love anything that was not in the
machinery line, and 1t was curious to sec his
passion struggling with his dfiidence. The
girl, with true feminine coquetry, would keep
he poor fellow in hot water all the time by
staving off the great confession One day he
met her on the stairs, and nerved himself up
70 go through the fearful ordeal OF having to
tell his love. She was fairly caught, and be-
fore she could escape Edison blurted out the
old story
why, Mr.. Edison, you surprise me- said
the little rogue. 4 like you ever 80 much as
4 friend, but / can't marry you because Mr.
- is going to marry me tonight
Edison just went back to his machinery
with more energy than ever. But l doubt if
be has to this day forgiven the girl for lead
ing him on, though be has q sweet-faced little
woman for a wife and several handsome cbi-
dren. That was his first love, he afterwnrd
told me. And it did not seem to lave much
| OF an effect OF him
"He would have been a fine operator If he
had Kept to his business, but he was forever
trying TO devise methods of shortening the
work. / believe Edison was always sorry
the Almighty didn't call him in at the crea-
ton SO that he could get up an improvement
on the plan of the universe. He was one of
the best receivers l ever saw. He could take
| thirty-five words q minute and think nothing
OF it. But his mind was not in his work, and
II he ever did think of sending or receiving it
was only to plan some scheme by which it
could all be done by some patent arrange
ment. He never made much money here.
Indeed, be didn't care for money. Although
he was as frugal as an anchorite, he never
saved money, for almost any one, on almost
any pretense, could get his last cent from
him.
II never saw him but once since he left
here. wa in New York, and felt myself
suddenly jerked by the coat tail. l looked
around aud there was Edison, a little paler
and thinner in the face, but just as natural
looking as ever. He took me OCT to his little
cottnge home, introduced me to his wife, and,
l suppose, spent several thousand dollars
worth of time on me. He is frightfully busy,
and does more work than ten ordinary men
could do. He is making a barrel of money,
they say"