Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-09-24
A DRAMATIC CAREER.
The Romantic Story ef Thomas 4. Edison
 Rise to Fame and Fortune.

Special Cc-=esD1ndence.l
 NEW YORK, Sept. 1S.-In England some discussion Is going on about the merit of the claims made in favor of pro- nouncing this or that book as the book of the year. Those who admire Mrs. Ward, for instance, insist that that honor should bc given to her latest novel, 'Marcella. Those who arc fond of tho obscure but melodious style of George Meredith declare that his story, which has lately been run ming in the Pail Mall Magazine, deserves that praise, while others claim that Hall Gaines The Manxman" is the great book of the year.
 It is probably safe to say that thcre Is no greatest book, so far as England is con cerned, but it is also safe to say that if the authors who have been spending much time and patient investigation for the past year or two in preparing n life of Thomas A. Edison have been equal to their oppor tunitics then the book issued from an American press which will bc the most interesting will be this work. If it also have literary charm, the capacity to pic turc and image Mir. Edison as he is, to tell the extraordinarily dramatic story of his early years as it may be told and to set forth his abler achievements with n dig nifty and power that will compare with these things which he has done, then no romance, no history, no biography written in these present times can match this tale.
 In his early life Edison passed through experiences, some dramatic, some humor- ous, which, had they been conceived of by the genius who wrote the tales of "The Arabian Nights, " would have been regard ed as wortsy efforts of that great imagina- tion. The first story that told of these car Tier exploits of Edison has as yet never been matched in vividnCsS of description, pic turesque style and the capacity to see the man as he really was by any of the later and almost innumcrablc sketches of him.
 It was in 1S77-S that report came to one of the newspaper offices in New York that n young man named Edison had in- vented a machine which could talk Edi- son was then known only in the world of electricity. Tho capitalists of the great telegraph company knew him as an cx- ceedingly ingenious young man who had invented n telephone the rights of which they had bought of him, and who had per fectcd that invaluable instrument for stockholders which is called the ticker. The army of telegraph operators knew him as n whole soulcd, companionablc fcl- low, who had beaten tho fastest operator, whose manuscript looked liko print, and who was, as they thought, visionary. But the public did not know him at all. The report of this talking machine came to the ears of q brilliant newspaper writer who has since gained distinction in con | grcss, MT. Amos J. Cummings, and he determined to mako investigation of the machine, caring mt first but little for the | man.
 Mir. Cummings therefore went to n little | workshop and laboratory which Edison had set up in n place called Mcnlo Park, not far from New Brunswick, \. J., and | tho instant he met tho inventor of the ma chine Cummings rcaliZCd that the man | was greater than any implement which 1 he had devised, and that n study of him | would be far mOrc interesting than an in vcstiGatiOn into even so great n mystery as n machine which could reproduce the | human voice.
 The two men found that they were com | panionablc; that they had had many cx- | pcricncCS in common, the ono having | served at the printers case in many states | of tho Union and the other having re ccivcd or sent news dispatches from Mem | phis to Boston. In New York their cxpc. | ricnccs had been in common. They had eaten at the same quaint little all night eating houses, or ''bCancrics," " as they arC colloquially known, and they had many | friends in common. Cummings disCov. cred that, like all men of rral genius, Edi son was as modest and unaffected as a boy and had as genuine n scnsc of humor n. l the most scrviccablc reporter upon n New | York paper.
 The inventor exhibited the phonograpI | to Cummings persuaded him that it was | not magic but science which made it DOS siblc for that whirling thing to talk, and then began to tell the story of his lifc-oi l how he had learned tClegruphy almost bN intuition; of how he footed it from Mem | phis to Louisville; of how he turned up ir Boston and beat the fastest operator, who had been assigned tho task of breaking him down by tine swiftncss with which h' sent him long news dispatches; of how h, invented q machine which enabled him {, take maps in idle moments and yet awak cncd him at the signal of some distan sender; of how he rid the office by clcctrica device of the countless and unwelcomc in trudcrs that came through tho cracks O the floor and wall and by way of the wate pipes. And many other graphic and gro tcsquc stories of his early career Edisor told the writer not dreaming that thcy would be produced.
 They were reproduced with artistic fidcl ity, and very long narrative appeared il
 The Sun, which, while explaining and dc
 lending tho new talking machine whicl
 had presumed before that to be n hum
 bug, also told the romantic and humOrou
 story of the life of the wizard of Mcnl I
 ventiOn had not. It was n description
 worthy of the subject. Thousands of per
 sons laughed over the humorous anccdotc
 and read with trCmulous lips the pathcti
 suggestions, for there was much of patho
 in Edison's carly life.
 Since then Edison's exploits hay
 brought him the highest honors from tn
 scientific world, and kings have dccoratc
 and titled him. He has made forum
 that numbers him among those who pos
 scss more than Sl,O0O, 900, and thcs gravcr and more important achievement of his life, if they arc told as effectively q } was that earlier tale, ought to make stor with all the charm and fascination of bri
 liant romance. Nevertheless it is too 500 :, to write Edison's life, for he believes tha . ! if he is spared to fill out the allotted tcrI of man his greatest achievements arc Vt
 to come. l.. J. EDWARDS. 3 Digestive Action of Vinegar. t \ health writer discussing tho effects (