Plainfield High School - Milestone Yearbook (Plainfield, NJ)

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16 TELE MORK Gis, changed to admiration, as the operators watched this wonder from the West handle the message as easily and rapidly as the most expert man in the office. Occasionally Edison stopped to sharpen his pencil again, and finally he telegraphed to New York: “Say, young fellow, change off and send with your other foot awhile.” This was too much for the dispatcher, and he retired in honorable defeat. While in the Boston office Edison increased his knowledge of teleg- raphy until he knew more of the subject than any other employee. One day a break occurred in the wire. As was the custom, the company was about to send out men on horseback to locate it, when Edison casually re- marked, “I can tell you where that break is without stepping outside this office.” They laughed at him. His experiments had already taught him the amount of electricty necessary to charge one mile of telegraph wire. He charged the wire to the break with electricty, computed the length of wire necessary to hold the charge given, and told them how far away the break was. This was Edison’s first great invention, and his method is still constantly employed by the telegraph company. As Edison has grown older, he has perfected the inventions of his younger years, and has created new marvels, not for the profit that he might make, except as he needed the money to continue his investigations, but because of his genuine love for his work. The thirty thousand dollars that he received for his invention of the method of sending four messages at once on a single wire, he immediately spent in trying to send six. Mr. Edison’s inventions are various as well as numerous; he has invented the duplex and quadruplex system in telegraphy, the phonograph, the micro- phone, the fluoroscope, the kinetoscope, and a cure for the gout. He has even thought of writing a novel. He has taken out more patents than other man in the world. Edison believes that every man has a certain amount of genius. Some inventors are born, he says, but a greater number are made. A man entirely lacking in ideas is generally the man who is too lazy to cultivate them. The art of inventing is, in his judgment, a profession that may successfully be learned. The man who wishes to rise to the heights in this profession, as in any other, must love his work more than ease, he must face obstacles unwearied and undismayed; he must master details at any cost of time and effort. When asked one time wherein his genius really lay, Mr. Edison replied, “Young man, my genius is five percent inspiration, ninety-five percent per- spiration.”

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THE ORACLE: 15 us; the tremendous energy with which he throws himself into his work, and the bull-dog tenacity with which he holds to it until it is done. So absorbed does he often become in his experiments that, for days together, he does not leave his laboratory, but, catching a few hours sleep on his cot, he rises again to renew his work. Edison’s persistence is nowhere better illustrated than in his search for a filament for the incandescent electric light. Thirteen months were passed in tireless investigation of the different metals. One by one they were examined and discarded as useless. Thousands of substances were tested in vain; yet only more keenly did Mr. Edison pursue his search. Three sleepless days and nights were passed in attempting to get a satis- factory test with a piece of carbonized cotton thread. At last the sight met his eyes that he had longed to see, a filament glowing steadily and con- tinuously. Immediately the entire force of the laboratory was set to work carbonizing straw, paper, wood splints, and hundreds of other things. Nothing was safe during these days—walking sticks, umbrellas, and hats all vanished if they were not fastened to their owner. The inventor got hold of a bamboo fan, tore off the rim, and from it obtained a filament which gave the best results of any. He at once set to work to learn all that could be learned about bamboo; agents were sent all over the world, from South America to Japan, and hundreds of specimens were received and tested. The expeditions were gone eleven months and cost $100,000. 3ut at last the most desirable species of bamboo was found. Edison had accomplished his purpose. Perfect mastery of a subject is a part of Edison’s working creed. When hardly more than a boy, he was offered a position in the Franklin telegraph office in Boston. He arrived there from the West after four days and night of travel, wearing a hickory shirt, and pair of butternut trousers tucked into the tops of boots a size too large. With shouts of laughter the operators gathered about the “green-horn” to break him in. He was assigned to a New York wire to take a special report for the Boston Herald. The conspirators had arranged to have one of the fastest operators in New York send the dispatch. The sender started in slowly enough. Edison seated himself comfortably with one leg thrown over the arm of his chair, leisurely sharpened his pencil, and began after about fifty words had been sent. Faster and faster clicked the telegraph key. With undisturbed composure, Edison continued to take the message that was now fairly burning the wire. He had perfected a simple style of handwriting that enabled him to take very rapid dictation. Derision and amusement

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BEES ORs CER: a, The Class of 1908 on Mars Glimpses Thru the Telescope by Sara Louise Sanderson Arrived there on the George H. Fisher, Jr., airship; located on Best Island. What's that elaborate elevation? No, it’s not the new Singer building— only Ray Dutcher. Look out! It might move—Ray may wake up some day. What a large crowd over there! What can be the matter? Ah, I see; Madamoiselle Knowlton, the famous pianist of Best Island is now giving a concert. Well, well, Elsie has stopped giggling long enough to gain a repu- tation for herself. Is that—? Oh, no, it’s not Fluffy Ruffles,—just our own little Laura Baker. Between writing excuses for absences Laura has found time to complete a course in fashion designing. My sight fails me—something so dazzling stands before me—but my vision clears, and I see—it’s only Carola; Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed thus. She is busy, she notices no one—I understand; an expert accountant, after inflicting her vocation on every ordinary thing, she has at last started to count the stars in the Milky Way. Silent, dignified, yet graceful, comes Marjorie Harris down the Appian Way, gowned in her Roman toga as we have seen her before in dear old P. H. S., delivering her prologue to—Julius Czesar—small wonder that she holds herself aloof from the others; her fame is assured since the pub- lication of her wonderful thesis, entitled, “Resolved, That with any other visible means of support, marriage is beneath the dignity of any sensible woman.” But here’s another member of ’08, one of our most popular girls— Elsa Mae Cook. She hasn’t changed much; still serving Sunday night supper to an admiring group of ex-’08 chaps. Watch her as she daintily strawberries, raspberries, and Lounsburys, the serves all sorts of berries latter of which are most ungratefully received by the enterprising young lawyer on her right. Ice cream and candy—Miss Van Tuyl—well, what a glorious outlet for Eleanor’s sweetness! Her heart always with the class of ’07, Eleanor waits in this attractive little store until another WILL come. Augustus C. Nash, lawyer. Well, Gus finished a course in N. Y. U., but he never recovered from the shock when he discovered that he could not keep a COOK.