The Washington herald., 1916-09-19
Seen and Heard by George Miner.

lCuuS 10 near great deal tnat ne QocS NOT.
That is the reason why Mr.. Robinson, his con-
hdential manager and secretary, always accom-
panies him and with his finger taps out the
Wizards knee in the Morse code whatever is
being said. This is done so unobstrusively that
few people ever notice it. Meanwhile Mr.. Edi-
son is kept .conversant with what is being said.
The great inventor visited the house of a
friend of mine the other night along with another
deaf man who is prominent in the automobile
world. The host had Edison record which
he was anxious to have the guests hear in the
presence of Mr.. Edison himself So he put it
on the machine and set it going Mr.. Edison
got up and leaned over the record, cupping his
ear to catch the sound
"Oh, don't bother to play that thing" said
the automobile magnate. 81 can't hear a note
of it"
Mr.. Edison whispered back over his shoulder:
Neither l." said he, "but I've got to
keep up bluff"
One of the most peculiar of Mr.. Edisons
habits is his fondness for bad cigars. Many
people say it is because he cannot tell good
cigar from a bad one, but that is not true, for
he has stacks of good cigars in his home which
he never smokes if he can help it. The kind
Of cigar he habitually smokes costs about 50
cents a hundred. The ranker they are the bet
ter he seems to like them
Once of his assistants thought it would
be good joke to try to cure the old man of
his bad tobacco habit. So they loaded lot Of
his cheap cigars and made them unsmokable for
most people by running horse hairs through them.
He never noticed the difference.
The buying of cheap cigars is not matter
of economy with him for he has steady income
Of very expensive cigars which he never touches.
1t came about in this way: He once made a
very valuable lighting improvement for a big
cigar factory owned by a friend Of his. The
owner asked him for his BILL which he expected
would be several thousands of dollars or a good
sized yearly royalty
"Oh, no." said Mr.. Edison, 81 don't want
any money for it. Just send me some cigars"
Every week they send him boxes of the most
expensive cigars He never smokes them and it
keeps Mrs. Edison busy giving them away.
The great profit made from moving pictures
has brought into existence a crop of nouveaux
riches whose performances in trying to live up
to their wealth little more ridiculous than
those of most of the newly-rich folks They
just don't know how to make their money be-
have.
was invited to dinner with one of this kind
He was formerly salesman in a department
store and good salesman, too. He then lived
in a boarding house in Brooklyn and paid IS
Y.
Saturday night he would go out with the boys
and play pool and drink little beer and blow
in 50 cents for late supper. 1t was quite
Bohemian and devilish, and he considered himself
quite about town and knew all the new
Ford jokes Sunday evening he took his girl to
table d'hote dinner where the wine is included
and afterward to movie show. The rest of the
week he worked hard and went to bed early
Life was full and pleasant
Then good fortune swooped down on him
and made him millionaire 1t all came in two
years He married the girl and the next
thing he did to buy i 100000 country place
Then he got a butler-a Japanese butler at that
who is probably a spy.
l noticed that he drank highballs all through
dinner and very rude to his wife They
hardly had civil word for each other and were
on the verge of quarreling all the time. He
talked about himself continuously and in very
bombastic strain. The wife could talk of nothing
but the rows she had had with dressmakers and
tradespeople. According to her they have form
ed league to impose on her. Apparently she
spends her whole time haunting the shops
The service at the table was wretched the
cooking bad. There was cloying abundance Of
all kinds Of things. Four or five different vege-
tables in small dishes herded around your plate
and two or three kinds of meats 1t was simply
mass of food dumped on your plate without
any regard to its relative values
The host asked me if he should open a
bottle of wine for me. He had plenty of it in
the cellar, and mighty fine wine, too. There were
six cases of champagne wine there that he paid
big price for an account of the war. I could
have bottle if wanted it, but he preferred
whisky He believed that wne-drnking stunt
was all put-on stuff anyway. A Scotch highbal
had more go to it than all the wine ever in
vented etc 1t was sickening to see him try to
show off.
When he went to the table I noticed that the
napkins were in napkin rings That tipped me
off to what was to follow
To my way of thinking, the good fortune that
has come to this man has done him a lot of
harm He is now absolutely disconnected with
life. He will soon find out that he is the laugh
ing stock Of every one who knows him, and
that will make him morose and sullen, for he
u y