Indianapolis Times, Volume 43, Number 151, Indianapolis, Marion County, 3 November 1931 — Page 4

PAGE 4

—Life of Edison, No. 10 — EDISON SHY TO END; MODESTY WAS BAFFLING Tried Best, and Sometimes Succeeded, of Making Bows in Public. Till* I* the tenth of twelve exclusive storiei on Thornes A. Kdiaon bv Mafor William Joseph Hammer, hi* scientific associate and llfelonc friend. BY WILLIS J. BALLINGER As Told hv Edison’* Llfelons: Friend, William Joseph Hammer. (Copyright. 1931. NEA Service. Inc.) Thomas A. Edison was little inclined to reminisce of his youth. That period had been decidedly adventurous and, during it, he had manifested a trait that was to stand out in the inventor all his life—that of poking into anything and everything that aroused his curiosity. But sometimes he spoke briefly of his childhood to his assistants. “You know,” he once said, “when I was in school, the teacher thought I was addled. But my mother didn’t. And I don’t believe I could have gotten a better teacher than she was.” At another date he mentioned an interesting incident of his boyhood. “I was once an editor,’’ he said. “That little sheet I used to set up in a baggage car has endeared the press to me. I was struggling harder then than I have since.” An Editor at 12 Edison referred to the little journal he created in the baggage rnr of the train that plied between Port Huron and Detroit. At that period he w r as a little over 12. He had obtained a small press once used to print menus. Installing it in the baggage car he inaugurated the Weekly Herald. It cost 3 cents an issue or 8 cents for a month’s subscription and, at times, the subscription list was more than 400. In this paper he put the local news. By keeping in touch constantly with telegraph operators along the route, he obtained news items which, if they reached the Detroit journals at all, reached them long after Edison had put them into type while the train was speeding from point to point. Was Tremendous Reader On this train Edison’s regular job was to sell the big papers. But he managed to work in his own little paper to a decided financial advantage. Edison’s relations to the press were not infrequently those of the grand donor. In his latter days, when he had won the sobriquet of the “wizard,” his footsteps were dogged by newspaper men. Anything from Edison was good copy. His advice and opinion was solicited on everything imaginable —even on recipes. Edison was a tremendous reader. On one occasion he said: “If I only had the time I would like to do nothing better than to read through a library.” Edison actually attempted this in his early days. At that time, a fledgling of 10, he had tackled a certain shelf of a library and had proceeded some ten feet when his mother detected his objective and quietly but firmly put her foot down on such a record-breaking absorption of knowledge. Read at Furious Pace In the days of Menlo Park he was at his height as an inventor. Certainly he was busier then than at any other time. Here Edison had little time for reading. He was coping with his greatest inventions. But in his latter days his reading opportunities increased, and what had been always a strong bent in Edison now developed into an ardent passion. His laboratory at West Orange was cluttered up with books marked and remarked; scientific journals read and reread. In the last two decades of his life Edison read at a furious pace. In spite of all the honors that poured in on him during these last twenty years Edison remained to the very end so modest as to be baffling. He seemed to shrink from public laudation. Got Degree in “Loco Remoto” When New York university conferred upon him an honorary degree, Edison received the degree over the phone. On that occasion Dl’. Finley announced to the dis- ! appointed audience that Edison would not receive his degree “in absentia,” but “in loco remoto.” In 1899 there was an exhibition of j

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Author, educator, philosopher—and now a lecturer in America, Bertrand Russell here Is pictured as he arrived in New York. He also is an earl, having succeeded to a title after the death of a brother. Although full of dismal predictions about the fate of Europe, particularly England, he plans to take his new seat in the house of lords.

Edison inventions at the great Paris exposition. One night in a Paris hotel a messenger brought in a card and handed it to Edison. It was from Whitelaw Reid, United States ambassador to France, and it said: “Edison, come up to the embassy tonight. I have something for you.” “What do you suppose it is?” Edison asked an assistant. The assistant replied that he didn’t know, but he surmised that the French government had recognized his work, as shown at the exposition, and was going to present him with a decoration which had been forwarded to the American ambassador. “You go and get it,” said Edison. Not on your life,” the assistant replied. ‘That card seems informal, but it’s a command from the ambassador of your country to appear at the embassy.” Edison asked his companion if he would help him over his shyness and nervousness by going to the embassy with him and, when he agreed, Edison sighed with relief. At the embassy there were numbers of distinguished people. After chatting for a while the ambassador said: “By the way, Edison, I have something here that the French government asked me to hand you.” He produced a large velvet case and handed it to Edison, who thanked him and tucked it under his arm. “Here,” shouted Reid. “Open that up and let’s see what you have.” Edison opened the case and there was the beautiful cross of “Commander of the Legion of Honor” one of the highest honors of the French nation—suspended from a broad crimson sash. Next—-How Edison gave away his original phonograph .... His first laboratory in his mother’s celiar . . Punching the timeclock like any mechanic .... His world’s sleeplessness record. MISSIONARY KIDNAPED C hinese Bandits Abduct American, Consulate Is Informed. By United Press NANKING, China, Nov. 3. J. w Stinson, member of the southern Presbyterian mission at Haichow, Kiangsu province, was captured Sunday by Chinese bandits, the American consulate was informed today. The consulate immediately sent a demand to Yet Chu-Chang, chairman of the Kiangsu provincial government, to obtain the missionary’s freedom as soon as possible. HIGH COUrTTdJOURNS Supreme Bench Ends Sessions Until Nov. 23 With Brief Meeting. By United Press WASHINGTON, Nov. 3.—The supreme court Monday adjourned until Nov. 23, after a brief noon day session. Produces Apples Without Cores MIDDLEPORT, 0., Nov. 3.—Apples without seeds or cores which germinated on a tree that bears no blooms have been grown by T. W. Jones here. The freak of nature was transplanted here from a wild tree at Kenova, W. V., Jones said, and the fruit is produced despite frost or insects, since there are no blossoms to be attacked.

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THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

.NOV. 3, 1931