Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-10-12
IN A CAB WITH EDISON.
Observations and Impressions Of the
Great Electrician.

Observations and Impressions of the
Great Electrician.
From the Pail Mall Gazette.
''Come along" said Col. Gouraud to our
representative at the Mansion house yesterday
afternoon. "Come along and get into the
cab with him. He is going all the way to Ar
hngton street, and you can have him to your
SELF"
The cab, four-wheeler, was standing out
side the private entrance to the Mansion house.
and Mr.. Edison was standing in the hallway
with his hat on and cigar in his mouth. Mrs.
Edison and her sister and Mrs. Gouraud got
into one cab. Mr.. Edison and the Pail Mall
Gazette representative got into the other.
'Queer climate, this" said Edison, as much
by way OF beginning conversation as anything;
but l suppose the Londoners are so accus-
toned to it they don't care; they look upon it
as regular thing"
'Oh. we do have fine weather sometimes"
well, it's SO very seldom that when it comes
you tell the whole world about it. I'll give
you credit for one thing" said the electrician
as he bowled along. Queen Victoria street.
you have the finest roadways in the world
but then you have had a thousand years to
make them. That reminds me of the story of
the American millionaire and the gardener at
oxford The American said ne would like to
get fine lawn, such as he saw in Oxford. at
his own home, and he gave the gardener a five
pound note to tell him how it was done. The
gardener took the money and then said: 1t
wants to be moved every day for 800 years,
SIR"
ues our representative, Il could not but be
struck with the modest, unassuming affabilty
OF his manner. Not a particle of swagger not
a hint at the power that exists behind those
wonderfully keen gray eyes"
"He isn't a bit like an American" said two
or three gentlemen to me, '.at least, not like
the received idea Of what an American is He
has none of the bounce and self-assertiyeness,
and at the same time he is smartness itself,
and nothing escapes those eyes," These are
the words OF Lord Brassey and Mr.. James S.
Forbes.
''Look at those Shops" said Mr. Edison. as
we passed along, peering through the rain
spattered windows Of the growler, "all lighted
with gas ,Fearfully unhealthy and badly VEN
tilated tell you, sir, electric lighting has got
to come in England as everywhere else why.
Berlin is almost all lighted with electricity.
Bearer than gas? Yes, when it is done in a
small way Londoners have to thank Cham
berlain for not having electricity. But there
is new act now and electric lighting has re-
ceived the impetus it required. Gas will al
ways be the basis from which cost of lighting
will be reckoned: man who is going to light
his building asks himself first how much will
it cost him to light with gas and then how
much by electricity. Well, if it should cost
SO per cent more he will go in for gas, but if it
is only or 10 per cen. more he will use cleo
tricity, because of the manifest advantages
Heat from the electric light2 Yes, bnt very
little. 1t takes fourteen electric lights to pro-
duce the heat of one gas burner. And look at
the difference in the illumination"
'By the way, I'm not a bit surprised" he
went on, changing his subject without any eff
fort as though simply reproducing the current
of his thoughts, that so many German and
French children have to wear spectacles. Why,
look, they will spend thousand dollars to fur
nish big room in the most luxurious and an
tique fashion, and then will use two paltry lit
tie candles to look at it with. It's enough to
ruin any ones eyes. The funniest thing in
Paris is the announcement in some of the ho-
tells, This floor lighted by gas The other
floors are not lighted at all, and you have to
find your own candles"
As we were passing along the Thames, en-
bankment Edison was loud in its praise and of
the fine buildings which have been and are be-
ing erected upon it. Then again his thoughts
took a strange turn and he referred to the
poor of London.
II suppose it would be impossible to over
state the degree of their Indebtedness" he
said, land yet the same thing exists in all
very large cities was taken by a friend 10
see some of the worst dens of infamy in Paris,
but there are just the same in New York And
they exist in places where you would never
look for them"
"What a lot Of clubs you have in London"
he went on. as drew his attention to the Ma
tional Liberal and then to the Constitutional:
"bachelors in this country live half the time in
clubs, don't they2" '.Well, they pass a good
deal of their time in them, anyway" "Hello,
this is Trafalgar square, isn't it? All, that's
where the riots were." And then noticing
that the fountains were playing, his eyes
twinked, and he said: ''That's a dead give
away; it's no use trying to fool one that this is
fine weather or hot"
He was much pleased when pointed out to
hlm the house in Northumberland avenue
whore Col Gouraud has established the phono-
graph headquarters, and which he has called
Edison house. 1 fancy he did not know it be.
fore and he took it as a great compliment
Again was forcibly struck by the simplicity of
the mans mind
81 don't care much for the English cab" he
said; II like the French ones best. The two
wheeled ones-hansoms, do you call them? I
don't like at all.
Something he had to say about everything
we passed and his memory is remarkable.
''You were the first newspaper man ever
told about my endeavors to get electricity di-
rect from coal, he said That was in Phila.
delphia during the electrical exhibition there
in 1884. l haven't given that up yet. I'm still
working at it, and shall get it one day. But
up to the present 1 am not able to do |. salts
factorily. There Is no reason why it shouldn't
be done, though"
Here our cab drew up in Arlington street,
and as we jumped out Sir John Pender, I think
it was, who had been in the first cab, said to
me, "Well, have you pumped him dry?"
As was about to make reply Edison said
quickly, mo, no; I'm an automatic self-acting
pump; did the talking myself"
And so left him with his wife and her sister
and Mrs. Gouraud, laugh on his face aud
genial smile In his eye, as be grasped my hand.
II am glad to have met you again; hope to
see You again; you are not going to stay in Eng
land always, are your"
North Carolina d building mansion for her i
0ovoruor