Thomas A. Edison was born in Milan, Ohio, February 11, 1847.
There was nothing in Milan to make a boy wish to do great deeds.
There was a canal there.
Thomas had one great help--his mother.
She had been a teacher.
Her greatest wish for her son was that he should love knowledge.
Thomas had a quick mind.
He inquired into everything.
He was fond of getting every little thing well learned.
He never did things by halves.
He loved to try experiments.
When Thomas was a very little boy, only six years old, and still
wearing dresses, he did a very funny thing.
He was one day found missing.
His frightened parents searched for him long and anxiously.
Where do you think he was found?
They found him in the barn, sitting on a nest of goose eggs, with
his dress spread out to keep them warm.
He thought he could hatch some goslings as well as the mother-goose.
He had placed some food near by so that he might stay as long as
necessary.
He went to a regular school only two months.
His father and mother were his teachers.
His father, to encourage him to read, paid him for every book which
he read.
But Thomas did not need to be paid to read, for he read with
pleasure every volume he could get hold of.
When he was ten years old, he was reading such books as Gibbon's
"History of Rome," Hume's "History of England," and Sear's "History
of the World."
Besides these, he had read several books about chemistry.
He loved to read about great men and their deeds.
When he played, it was at building plank roads, digging caves, and
exploring the banks of the canal.
When only twelve years of age, he was obliged to go out into the
world and earn his own living.
He obtained a place as train-boy on the Grand Trunk Railroad, in
Eastern Michigan.
He sold apples, peanuts, song-books, and papers.
He had such a pleasant, sunny face that everyone liked to buy of
him.
He succeeded so well that soon he had four boys working under him.
This was not enough to keep him busy.
He had never lost his liking for chemistry.
He managed to trade some of his papers for things with which to try
experiments.
He found a book which helped him.
He fitted up an old baggage car as a room for his experiments.
He was afraid some one would touch his chemicals; so he labelled
every bottle, "Poison."
Soon this busy boy had another business.
He bought three hundred pounds of old type from the "Detroit Free
Press."
He had gained a little knowledge of printing by keeping his eyes
open when buying papers.
Soon a paper, called the "Grand Trunk Herald," was printed by Master
Tom.
This paper was twelve by sixteen inches in size.
It was filled with railway gossip and many other things of interest
to travelers.
Baggagemen and brakemen wrote articles for it.
George Stephenson, who built a great bridge at Montreal, liked it so
well that he ordered an extra edition for his own use.
Everybody liked it.
The "London Times" spoke of it as the only paper in the world
published on a railway train.
But the "Grand Trunk Herald" had a sad ending.
Do you know what phosphorus is?
It is a substance which will take fire of itself if not kept under
water.
Tom's bottle of phosphorus was thrown to the floor by the jolting of
the car.
Soon everything was on fire.
The conductor rushed in and threw all the type and chemicals out of
the car.
He also gave the young chemist a thrashing.
Poor Thomas gathered up what was left.
He put his things in the basement of his father's house.
Thomas's father now lived at Port Huron.
Thomas always slept at home.
He now printed another and a larger journal.