THOMAS A. EDISON
GREAT AMERICAN INVENTORS
Thomas Alva Edison
SIX
The scene—the Boston office of a great telegraph company. The time—a half century ago. Enter a tall young man wearing a slouchy, broad-brimmed hat and a wet duster clinging to his legs, who marches into the superintendent’s office, and says: “Here I am.” The superintendent gazes at him. “Who are you?” he finally asks.
“Tom Edison.”
“And who on earth might Tom Edison be?”
The young man explains that he has been ordered to report for duty at the Boston office. He is told to sit down and wait. A little while later a New York sender, who is one of the most rapid in the telegraph business at the time, calls up.
All the operators are busy.
“Let that new fellow try him,” says the chief.