The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-10-19

The inventor believed In a "su- preme intelligence" they said. And he subscribed to no Orthodox creed" He never was an atheist, they said. And they. referred to this quotation from Mathew XXI:
 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him and saying: Master which Is the great commandment in the law?' Jesus said unto him: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment and the second is like unto 1t. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as myself. On these two command ments hang all the law and the prophets"
 Cdiso-. they said, lived the life that reference suggested.
 It was recalled that once an in- terviewer asked him how he ex- pected to spend his life after death, if any.
 Experimenting, he chuckled.
 West Orange, N. J.-Thomas
 Edison, inventor, violated al-
 most every canon in the typi-
 cal American success formula
 except twO-he was a poor boy
 and he worked hard.
 Some of his violations of the
 code:
 He quit school as soon as ~
 possible and was at the foot
 of the class as long as he re-
 mained.
 He chewcd and smoked to-
 bacco.
 He was careless of his per-
 sOnal appearance.
 He was discharged frequently
 from various jobs.
 He turned his inventive tal-
 ent, in his early years, to get
 ting out of work.
 He scoffed at persons who in-
 sisted on getting the conven-
 tional eight hours sleep a night.
 Edison often neglected to
 buy new suits even when his
 clothing was thrcadbare, but
 insisted on wearing silk night
 gowns and carried India silk
 handkerchiefs a foot square.
 (By United Press)
 Edison was taken i'll during the summer and never completely re- covered. The poisoning of his seeped through his aging system, slowing undermining his strength. despite a long fight to live. In recent weeks he spent most of his time reading. and mo- toring in the vicinity. of his West Orange estate, but in the last few days he could not leave the house.
 Thomas Ava Edison was born in Milan, Ohio. on February II, 1S47, the son of Samuel and Nancy Edison. He was not es- pecially brilliant in school and in his own words was usually at the foot of the class" One teach ef went so far as to call him added" and after year at school his mother decided to teach him at home.
 As a result, before he was 12 he had been made to digest such intellectual fare as Gibbons "De- cline and Fall of the Roman Elm pire," Sears History of the World" Dictionary of Sciences" and Burton's Anatomy of Melan- choly."
 Edison's intense interest in science, however, was noticeable at an early age. He first became interested in invention when at 8 years he discovered what pro- pelled a locomotive. He next be- came fascinated by chemistry af- ter trying an experiment described in a text book. He sold newspa- pers, peanuts and candy as news butcher" on the Port Huron-De- troit line to get money to buy chemicals.
 He set up his first laboratory in a baggage car, without asking per- mission. and did his experiments while on the run. He was permit ted (without formal permission) to go ahead with his tests until one day Q jerk of the train shook a tube of phosphorus from his rack and set the car on fire. This an- noyed the baggageman no end and he cuffed Edison's ears--an act which some early biographers say resulted in his partial deafness.
 Edison for time went into jour nalism as a career. He set up a handpress in the baggage car of the Grand Trunk express and be- gan publication of the Grand Trunk Herald. It was the only paper known to have been writ ten and published on train. He gave this up. however. when q pas senger threw him into the St Clair