In this he published an article which one of his subscribers did not
like.
The angry man, meeting Thomas on the banks of the St. Clair River,
picked him up and threw him in.
Thomas was a good swimmer and reached the shore in safety.
But he did not care for the printing business any more.
During the four years in which Thomas Edison was a train-boy, he had
earned two thousand dollars and given it all to his parents.
When in Detroit, he read as much as possible from the public
library.
Once he thought he would begin with number one and read each of the
thousand volumes.
He read until he had finished a long row of hard books on a shelf
fifteen feet long.
Then he made up his mind that anyone would have to live as long as
Methuselah to read a library through, and gave up the plan.
Thomas became interested in telegraphy during the Civil War.
He used to telegraph the headings in his paper ahead one station.
He thought this a good way to advertise.
He finally bought a good book about electricity.
Soon the basement of the house at Port Huron was filled with many
things beside printing presses.
He used stove-pipe wire, and soon had a telegraph wire between the
basement and the home of a boy friend.
Perhaps it was a good thing that all the children in the Edison
family were not like Thomas.
Had they been, the poor old house would scarcely have held them.
But the mother was proud of all that Thomas did.
She did not worry over the bottles, wires, strings, and printing
presses.
About this time Thomas did a brave thing.
The station agent at Mt. Clemens had a baby boy two years old.
This baby crept on to the track in front of a train just coming in.
Quick as thought, young Edison rushed to the track and saved the
child at the risk of his own life.
The baby's father was very grateful and offered to teach Thomas
telegraphy.
Of course, Thomas was very happy, and accepted the offer.
He came to Mt. Clemens every evening, after working hard all day.
He did so well that, in five months, he was given a position at Port
Huron.
He earned six and one-quarter dollars a week.
He worked almost night and day, so that he might learn all he could
about it.
His mother said that the world would hear from her boy some day.
Afterwards he worked in several places.
In Indianapolis, though not yet seventeen, he invented his first
telegraph instrument.
This was thought to be a great thing for so young a boy to do.
He lost several places because he tried new ways.
At last, he was obliged to walk nearly all the way to Louisville
because he had no money.
Here he was given a good position.
He stayed several years.
Under the telegraph rooms was an elegant bank.
One day, while experimenting, he spilled a great bottle of acid.
This acid went through the floor into the bank below.
Of course it spoiled the ceiling, handsome carpets, and furniture.
So the unfortunate inventor had to leave Louisville.
He finally gave up trying to be a telegraph operator.
He opened a little shop.
He invented many things, and kept on thinking.
He could not make his inventions successful, for he had little
money.
He thought so hard that he forgot everything else.
Once he was asked to speak before a company.
He forgot all about it.
They sent for him, and found him at the top of a house putting up a
telegraph line.
He went in his working clothes to make his speech.
He felt queer when he found a room full of elegant ladies.
But he made a good speech.
Then he went to New York.
There he walked the streets three weeks, looking for work.
Nobody wanted a man who experimented.
By chance, he one day went into an office where the telegraph
instrument was out of repair.
He offered to fix it.
They laughed at him, but let him try.
He succeeded in fixing it.
They gave him a good position.
From this time on there were better times for him.
After this the world soon sang his praises; and, in the next ten
years, Fortune poured into his lap half a million dollars.
This was the result of his thinking.
The man who was in charge of the United States Patent Office called
him "the young man who keeps the pathway to the Patent Office hot
with his footsteps."
Mr. Edison believed that two messages could be sent over the same
wire at the same time.
Of course the world laughed at the idea.
But soon our inventor managed to send four messages over the same
wire at the same time.
Then the world stopped laughing.
People said, "This young man is the greatest inventor of his age,
and a discoverer as well."
The Grand Trunk train-boy had proved a genius.
When twenty-six years of age, he married a young lady of Newark,
Miss Mary Stillwell.
Three years later he moved to Menlo Park.
This was twenty-four miles from New York.
It was not a pleasant place, but he hoped to work there in quiet.
He had so many visitors that he could not work.
He said, "I think I shall fix a wire to my gate, and connect it with
a battery so that it will knock everybody over that touches it."
But he was really kind.
He would smile pleasantly, and explain patiently to anyone who
wished to know about his inventions.
At Menlo Park he built a great laboratory.
This was filled with batteries and machinery.
Here all the world came to see his wonderful talking machine.
It is called a phonograph.
What do you think Mr. Edison called this machine?
He said, "I have invented a great many machines, but this is my
baby, and I expect it to grow up and support me in my old age."
Would you like to know the names of some of his inventions.
One is the carbon telephone.
The tasimeter measures the heat even of the far away stars.
The electric pen multiplies copies of letters and drawings.
Over sixty thousand are now in use in this country.
The automatic telegraph permits the sending of several thousand
words over the same wire in one minute.
[Illustration]
There are many others.