Arduous Years In The Central West - 4

Arduous Years In The Central West - 4

He had previously been getting $80 a month, and had eked this out by copying plays for

the theatre. His rating was that of a "plug" or inferior operator; but he was determined to

lift himself into the class of first-class operators, and had kept up the practice of going to

the office at night to "copy press," acting willingly as a substitute for any operator who

wanted to get off for a few hours--which often meant all night. Speaking of this special

ordeal, for which he had thus been unconsciously preparing, Edison says: "My copy

looked fine if viewed as a whole, as I could write a perfectly straight line across the wide

sheet, which was not ruled. There were no flourishes, but the individual letters would not

bear close inspection. When I missed understanding a word, there was no time to think

what it was, so I made an illegible one to fill in, trusting to the printers to sense it. I knew

they could read anything, although Mr. Bloss, an editor of the Inquirer, made such bad

copy that one of his editorials was pasted up on the notice-board in the telegraph office

with an offer of one dollar to any man who could `read twenty consecutive words.'

Nobody ever did it. When I got through I was too nervous to go home, so waited the rest

of the night for the day manager, Mr. Stevens, to see what was to be the outcome of this

Union formation and of my efforts. He was an austere man, and I was afraid of him. I got

the morning papers, which came out at 4 A. M., and the press report read perfectly, which

surprised me greatly. I went to work on my regular day wire to Portsmouth, Ohio, and

there was considerable excitement, but nothing was said to me, neither did Mr. Stevens

examine the copy on the office hook, which I was watching with great interest. However,

about 3 P. M. he went to the hook, grabbed the bunch and looked at it as a whole without

examining it in detail, for which I was thankful. Then he jabbed it back on the hook, and I

knew I was all right. He walked over to me, and said: `Young man, I want you to work

the Louisville wire nights; your salary will be $125.' Thus I got from the plug

classification to that of a `first-class man.' "

But no sooner was this promotion secured than he started again on his wanderings

southward, while his friend Adams went North, neither having any difficulty in making

the trip. "The boys in those days had extraordinary facilities for travel. As a usual thing it

was only necessary for them to board a train and tell the conductor they were operators.

Then they would go as far as they liked. The number of operators was small, and they

were in demand everywhere." It was in this way Edison made his way south as far as

Memphis, Tennessee, where the telegraph service at that time was under military law,

although the operators received $125 a month. Here again Edison began to invent and

improve on existing apparatus, with the result of having once more to "move on." The

story may be told in his own terse language: "I was not the inventor of the auto repeater,

but while in Memphis I worked on one. Learning that the chief operator, who was a

protege of the superintendent, was trying in some way to put New York and New Orleans

together for the first time since the close of the war, I redoubled my efforts, and at 2

o'clock one morning I had them speaking to each other. The office of the Memphis

Avalanche was in the same building. The paper got wind of it and sent messages. A

column came out in the morning about it; but when I went to the office in the afternoon to

report for duty I was discharged with out explanation. The superintendent would not even

give me a pass to Nashville, so I had to pay my fare. I had so little money left that I

nearly starved at Decatur, Alabama, and had to stay three days before going on north to

Nashville. Arrived in that city, I went to the telegraph office, got money enough to buy a

little solid food, and secured a pass to Louisville. I had a companion with me who was

also out of a job. I arrived at Louisville on a bitterly cold day, with ice in the gutters. I

was wearing a linen duster and was not much to look at, but got a position at once,

working on a press wire. My travelling companion was less successful on account of his

`record.' They had a limit even in those days when the telegraph service was so

demoralized."