St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1889-10-26
Edison's Return.
HE TELLS OF THE wONDROUs SIGHTS HE
SAW IN PARIs-HIs EXPERIENCE WITH

| HE TELLS OF THE WONDROUs SIGHTS HE
SAW IN PARIs-HIs EXPERIENCE WITH
DINNERS.
Thomas A. Edison arrived by the French
| steamship La Champagne from his eight
weeks visit to Europe. He brings back
| wsth him the highest honors that France
and Italy can confer upon an American
| citizen.
81 went over to see the Exposition. " said
| he to reporter at his home in Llewellyn
Park, N. j. at was big show. |
| COULD MT begin to see it all. Acres on acres
of things to look at. Of course what |
| wanted to see most was the machinery and
electrical exhibits. 1t would take a man
| weeks Just to cover the ground in those
| two departments"
"What were your impressions of the
electrical exhibits"
81 saw very little that was new. There
does not seem to have been very much
progress made in electricity since the time
of the electrical exhibition several years
ago. One of the best things there was an
electrical loom, invented by Frenchman.
| had twenty-five monographs there, and
&C, 900 people heard them every day. They
were all free. 1t was the first time the
phonograph had been seen in Europe,
with the exception of the exhibition be-
fore the Academy of Sciences. We had
them talking in dozen languages.
"The showing made by the United
States was very poor. Even the little
South American republics beat us all hol-
low. | had fifth of the American
space in Machinery Hall with my things
| alone.
"The Eiffel Tower is wonderful thing.
l was given dinner by the French Society
of Civil Engineers on the first landing.
NJ. Eiffel was there, too. After we were
| done we drank our coffee in his private
room ON top of the highest landing, to
which the public is not admitted. Seventy
five of US did not Fl | the room Eiffel has
piano there. Gounod, the composer of
Faust played and sang, and he did it
splendidly, too, despite his more than
eighty years"
"You were rendered many dinners while
abroad2'
DINNERS? Well, should say so. 1t
was dinners, dinners, dinners all the time.
got to be worse than Chauncey Depew.
They did not get me to make any speeches
though. Once l got Depew to make g
speech for me, and got Reid, our minis
| ter there, three or four times. | could
never get used to SO many big dinners. At
noon | would sit down to what thew cell
'dejeuner.' That would last until 3 o'clock,
and few hours later would come big
dinner. It was terrible. | looked down
from the Eiffel Tower on the biggest din
ner l ever saw, given to the mayors of
France by the municipality of Paris.
saw 5000 people eating at one time. l ate
one American dinner while abroad, given
| by Buffalo Bill" Depew, Reid, John
Hoey and lots of other Americans were in
vited. We had mince pie, Boston baked
beans and peanuts. John Hoey had
| brought over some watermolons, which
we ate. Before went to London l got a
telegram from the Lord Mayor that he
would give me dinner at the Mansion
House, but couldn't make it in time But
| did have lunch with him there
"What cities did you visit besides Parish"
Il went to Cologne, Berlin, Metz Held
elberg, Brussels and London. At Heidel-
berg | met great many of the scientific
men of Germany, men that heard of for
years, but had never seen. monster
meeting was held, over which the Grand
Duke of Baden presided. | exhibited the
| monograph to 1000 people, and they all
heard it deliver speech in good German. !"
did they not make you dukeoor a
count or something over there?'
ssNo, not quite so bad as that. l am
still an American citizen, and wear the
same size hat as when | started. When |
| first exhibited the old phonograph over
| there, France made me chevalier of the
| Legion of Honor. At the time of the cleo
| trical exhibition they advanced me a grade,
making me an officer. This summer they
raised the ante again, and made me com
mandeur, | believe they call it. At all
events, it is the highest decoration of the
| Legion of Honor. Over in France they
think great deal of these decorations.
The Minister Of Foreign Affairs gave me
this one through Mr.. Reid, sending very
nice letter with it. At Mr.. Reds house
| they tried to get the ribbon and cross
around my neck, but / would not have it
| there. While | was in Europe | also had
the photograph exhibited before Queen
Marguerite at Venice and the King at
Rome, and he, too, conferred on me the
highest honor of the Legion of Honor.
don't know yet the prizes at Paris. They
had not been awarded when left
"Did you hear much about the Worlds
Fair of 1892"
"Oh, yes; everybody at the Paris Elk
position is talking about it. The place
Why, New York, of course. Frenchmen
have never heard of Chicago. 1t would
be like holding French exposition in
Marseilles or an English fair in Belfast.
If it is held in New York | know that
many of the Paris exhibitors will send
their exhibits here. They ought to build
a tower 1000 feet high for the Worlds
Fair. But if New York wants the fair
why does she not raise the money for it
When the Paris Exposition is over l shall
bring my exhibit back here and store it
for the! Worlds Fair"
Mr.. Edison found the electrical wires
under ground in London, Paris and Berlin.
They have no trouble with their subways
and have no explosions.