The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-10-30

sidering II a benefit to the country,
they said it would become curse: for
it would take away the only power
the minority would have in meeting.
The majority would always rule; that
settled it. i made up my mind never
to invent anything the public did not
want and I have held strictly to that
rule ever since"
Mr.. Edison's face lit mp as he said
this reminded him OF a funny story
| which he proceeded to tell with MANY
gestures and a general facial contortion
which wonderfully added to the point
OF the tale: but as it concerned several
public officials he said ii rsust not be
! printed. From this he ranged to dis
cussion on long distance transmission
of electricity Then he branched off
I into discussion OF the commercial
/ possibilities of the utilization of Mag
ara falls as power FOR producing cleo
/ tricity Meanwhile messengers came
! from various parts of the works to re-
eeive directions, or perhaps one of the
company's officials would ask him to
settle dispute. Then he would show
how well he understood the manage
ment OF men by the diplomatic man
Fer in which he received AID settled
the complaint.
And now what Of the man? We have
seen the inventor, the electrician, the
scientist. but what of the man himself?
In spite Of his "eightytwo years" OF
experimentation, Thomas Alva Edison
was born in Is47. He is therefore
forty-seven years old. he is mainly of
Dutch descent and traces his ancestors
back to the men who fought and bled
on Manhattan island when it was a
wilderness. His father was Samuel
Edison, his mother was Mary Elliott.
Their great son first saw the light in
the little town Of Milan, o. 1t can be
located on the map as lying on the thin
lire which indicates the Milan canal
The latter was the scene of much traf-
fic until the Lake Shore road came and
usurped the bulk of the commercial
transportation of the district. The
Lake Shore road did more than this,
however. It caused the elder Edison
to move to Port Huron, Mich, and here
the active career Of "the man of the
century" began.
The story of his life until he began
to startle the world with his discov-
cries has been told again and again,
and always with added CLEANS to the
romance which is more typically Amer
dean than any other. Certainly the
newsboy of twelve, who had, like Silys
Wegg, declined and fallen with Glib
bon," who was passionately fond Of
chemistry, who could publish a news
paper on a train, who devoured Bur-
tons Anatomy of Melancholy" and at
the same time carried on book store
and a vegetable market, employing
eleven boys aslis assistants-certainly
such a boy held out the promise of be-
coming mighty in the time to come.
And his subsequent feats as a railway
journalist and his wonderful per-
formances with the telegraph key con-
firmed the promise. We find him hence
forth travelling from place TO place,
Thin countrified youth, careless Of
dress, unconventional in speech" rest
lessly seeking, without knowing it. the
great opportunities which were to
make him famous. He experimental
with telegraph keys, read Victor Hugo
and dreamed. Once indeed he started
for South America, but missed the boat
when he reached New Orleans. He
compass and then drifted back home to
Port Huron. ''He had been graduated"
says one of his admirers, from the
university of the world"
A series of inventions followed an
engagement in New York which he
obtained some time sfterward, and
finally in the centennial year of the
republic he established and withdrew
to the world-famous laboratory at
Menlo Park. His feats since that time
have been the worlds wonders. The |
incsndescent lamp, the dynamo, the |
the kinetograph, the |
score Of other inventions which make |
his name q household word are rap
idly growing into commonplaces- At /
the Paris exposition he was welcomed |
as the real ruler of the people, the /
greatest benefactor of his race. His
crown was the absolute homage of q
nation that was celebrating the hun
dredth anniversary Of the downfall Of
Its monarchy. The esta blishment Of
the Orange laboratory was another
step in advance. 1t is the greatest lab
oratory, par excellence, in the world,
a temple of alchemy where the magi-
cisn turns all TO gold-gold in it's
truer. wider sense.
And now we End him prophet Of
the hills-a Mahomet gone 10 2 noun
gray with the lapse q
rears, but honored as few men sre
The greatest compliment that ,gus cve
,ald 10 MIN was Jcnderea pv a SIMPLE
rain hand on the little one-track rail-
vay that winds up the hill TO where he
S pltting science against nature. And
low about this tallin' machine o.
lis'n? Wonderful, amt IL? Gosh, he's
lext TO the Maker, isn't hep" and he
aid il with all due reverence.
The personality Of Edison is inter
sting. You recognize that strange,
inexplainable eleInent-force-as soon
s you meet him Yet his attitude is
etiring. He does not seek notOrictv.
anne has come 10 him but IL has not
narred him lie Is not grown out Of
II proportion 70 himself That is evil
ent at once, from his ePigram on con-
cit In disposition he is kindly, I
2 form large. lis face is mobile.
lis features are clear cut. The
standard Of Character
is large The chin matches Il IL pro
-ortion. Time has given him ample 1