The Social Side Of Edison -16

The Social Side Of Edison -16

 These references to personal pride recall another characteristic of Edison wherein he

differs from most men. There are many individuals who derive an intense and not

improper pleasure in regalia or military garments, with plenty of gold braid and brass

buttons, and thus arrayed, in appearing before their friends and neighbors. Putting at the

head of the procession the man who makes his appeal to public attention solely because

of the brilliancy of his plumage, and passing down the ranks through the multitudes

having a gradually decreasing sense of vanity in their personal accomplishment, Edison

would be placed at the very end. Reference herein has been made to the fact that one of

the two great English universities wished to confer a degree upon him, but that he was

unable to leave his work for the brief time necessary to accept the honor. At that occasion

it was pointed out to him that he should make every possible sacrifice to go, that the

compliment was great, and that but few Americans had been so recognized. It was hopeless--

an appeal based on sentiment. Before him was something real--work to be

accomplished--a problem to be solved. Beyond, was a prize as intangible as the button of

the Legion of Honor, which he concealed from his friends that they might not feel he was

"showing off." The fact is that Edison cares little for the approval of the world, but that

he cares everything for the approval of himself. Difficult as it may be--perhaps

impossible--to trace its origin, Edison possesses what he would probably call a welldeveloped

case of New England conscience, for whose approval he is incessantly

occupied.

These, then, may be taken as the characteristics of Edison that have enabled him to

accomplish more than most men--a strong body, a clear and active mind, a developed

imagination, a capacity of great mental and physical concentration, an iron-clad nervous

system that knows no ennui, intense optimism, and courageous self-confidence. Any one

having these capacities developed to the same extent, with the same opportunities for use,

would probably accomplish as much. And yet there is a peculiarity about him that so far

as is known has never been referred to before in print. He seems to be conscientiously

afraid of appearing indolent, and in consequence subjects himself regularly to

unnecessary hardship. Working all night is seldom necessary, or until two or three o'clock

in the morning, yet even now he persists in such tests upon his strength. Recently one of

the writers had occasion to present to him a long type- written document of upward of

thirty pages for his approval. It was taken home to Glenmont. Edison had a few minor

corrections to make, probably not more than a dozen all told. They could have been

embodied by interlineations and marginal notes in the ordinary way, and certainly would

not have required more than ten or fifteen minutes of his time. Yet what did he do? HE

COPIED OUT PAINSTAKINGLY THE ENTIRE PAPER IN LONG HAND,

embodying the corrections as he went along, and presented the result of his work the

following morning. At the very least such a task must have occupied several hours. How

can such a trait--and scores of similar experiences could be given --be explained except

by the fact that, evidently, he felt the need of special schooling in industry--that under no

circumstances must he allow a thought of indolence to enter his mind?

Undoubtedly in the days to come Edison will not only be recognized as an intellectual

prodigy, but as a prodigy of industry--of hard work. In his field as inventor and man of

science he stands as clear-cut and secure as the lighthouse on a rock, and as indifferent to

the tumult around. But as the "old man"-- and before he was thirty years old he was

affectionately so called by his laboratory associates--he is a normal, fun-loving, typical

American. His sense of humor is intense, but not of the hothouse, over- developed

variety. One of his favorite jokes is to enter the legal department with an air of great

humility and apply for a job as an inventor! Never is he so preoccupied or fretted with

cares as not to drop all thought of his work for a few moments to listen to a new story,

with a ready smile all the while, and a hearty, boyish laugh at the end. His laugh, in fact,

is sometimes almost aboriginal; slapping his hands delightedly on his knees, he rocks

back and forth and fairly shouts his pleasure. Recently a daily report of one of his

companies that had just been started contained a large order amounting to several

thousand dollars, and was returned by him with a miniature sketch of a small individual

viewing that particular item through a telescope! His facility in making hasty but

intensely graphic sketches is proverbial. He takes great delight in imitating the lingo of

the New York street gamin. A dignified person named James may be greeted with:

"Hully Gee! Chimmy, when did youse blow in?" He likes to mimic and imitate types,

generally, that are distasteful to him. The sanctimonious hypocrite, the sleek speculator,

and others whom he has probably encountered in life are done "to the queen's taste."