He is an early riser, and is ready for work at half-past six o’clock.
His first daily occupation is to read the newspapers. He is anxious to
know if the reporters who interviewed him wrote just what he said, for
he dislikes, above all else, newspaper interviews that are not correct.
He does not like to be misquoted, and is willing to go to any amount of
trouble in order that his statements shall be reported without error.
No matter how busily he may be engaged at the laboratory he will stop
to look over an interview, and no one is more willing than he is to set
a reporter right.
At half-past seven in the morning Mr. Edison starts for the laboratory.
He usually walks, as the distance is short, and his physicians have
ordered that he must take a certain amount of physical exercise every
day. When he reaches the laboratory, he begins with a great rush, and
starts men on certain phases of work which he planned the previous day.
He usually has from fifty to seventy-five subjects on which he puts men
to work. These subjects he prepares at home, between the time when he
leaves the laboratory, half-past six, and midnight.
Every afternoon Mrs. Edison calls for her husband at the laboratory,
and takes him away in her carriage, and they drive about the beautiful
district of the Oranges.
Mrs. Edison has undertaken the task of keeping the inventor healthy.
She will not permit him to neglect his meals, or to work more than she
thinks is good for him. She insists that he shall leave the laboratory
at a certain hour each night, and she undertakes to personally see
that he does so. At times, Mr. Edison objects, but in a very mild way,
to this _régime_. Not long ago, he was deeply engaged in a certain
experiment, when Mrs. Edison called for him and insisted upon taking
him home. After some resistance, he at last consented, saying, however,
by way of a final protest, as he stepped into the carriage:—
“Billy” (his pet name for Mrs. Edison), “you’re a nuisance.”
Were it not, however, for the saving influence which Mrs. Edison
exercises over her husband, it is doubtful if he would accomplish so
much.