The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1895-05-02
THE BABY WOULDN'T CRY.
How Edison Secured the Phonographl,
Record of His First ';orn's Woe.

The BABY WOULDN'T CRY.
How Edison Secured the Phnnographic
Record of His First '3orn's Woe.
Here is a story they tell over the tea
cups in Orange, N. J., where Edison
lives.
The monograph came to the Edison
laboratory and the first baby to the
Edison home about the same time, and
when the baby was old enough to say
''Goo-goo" and pull the great inventors
hair in most disrespectfui manner,
the monograph was near enough per-
lection to capture the baby talk for
preservation among the family ar
chives. So Mr. Edison filed up several
rolls with these pretty inarticulations
and laid them carefully away.
But this was not sufficient. The
most picturesque thing about the ba-
by's utterances was its crying, and the
record of this its fond father deter
mined to secure. How it would enter
tain him in his old age, he thought, to
start the photograph a-going and hear
again the baby walls of his first born.
So one afternoon Mr.. Edison tore him
self from his work and climbed the big
hill aiding to his house. He went in
agy at hurry, for he is man who
Tudges every working moment from
h1s labor. A workman followed at his
heels carrying the only monograph
that at that time had been sufficiently
completed to accomplish really good
results.
Reaching home and the nursery Mr..
Edison started the photograph and
brought the baby in front of it. But
the baby didn't cry. Mr.. Edison
tumbled the younster about and
rumpled it's hair, and did all sorts of
things, but still the baby didn't cry.
Then he made dreadful faces, but the
baby thought they were very funny,
and crowed joyously. So back to the
laboratory went Mr.. Edison in very
unpleasant frame of mind, for the
baby's untimely good humor cost him
an hour of work. The monograph was
also taken back.
But he did not give it up. The next
afternoon he went home again, and
the photograph with him. But If the
baby was good natured the day before,
this time it was absolutely cherubic.
There was nothing at all that it's
father could do that did not make the
baby laugh. Even the photograph
itself, with its tiny, whirring wheels,
the baby thought was meant for its
special entertainment, and gurgled
joyously. So back to work the inven-
tor went again, with a temper positive
iy rufhed. The next day and the next
he tried it, but all to no purpose.
The baby would not cry, even when
walked suddenly from sleep.
But to battle Edison is only to in
flame his determination, which, by the
way, is one of the secrets of his sue
cess. So at length, after much
thought, he made a mighty resolve. 1t
took vast amount of determination
on his part to screw himself up to the
point of committing the awful deed,
but he succeeded at last, and one
morning when he knew his wife was
down town, he went quietly home with
the photograph and stole into the
nursery where the baby greeted him
with customary glee.
Starting the machine Mr.. Edison or
dered the nurse to leave the room.
Then he took the baby on his knee and
barred its chubby little leg. He took
the tender flesh between his thumb and
finger, clenched his teeth, shut his
eyes tight and made ready to-yes,
actually to pinch the baby's leg.
But just at this fateful moment the
nurse peeped through the door, and
perceiving the horrid plot founced in
and rescued the baby in the nick OF
time.
Mr. Edison breathed mighty sigh of
relief as he gathered up the phono-
graph and went back to the labora-
tory. He then gave up the project of
phonographing the baby's crying.
But not long afterward he accom-
plished his purpose after all, and quite
unexpectedly, too. AS soon as the
baby was old enough to take notice,
its doting mother took it down to the
laboratory one sunny day, and when
the big machinery was started a-roar-
ing, the baby screwed up its face,
opened its mouth and emitted series
of woeful screams that made Mr.. Edi-
son leap to his feet.
stop the machinery and start the
photograph" he shouted, and the rec
ord of his baby's crying was then and
there accomplished.-N. Y. Herald.
Reached the Limit.
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