“Billy” (his pet name for Mrs. Edison), “you’re a nuisance.”
Were it not, however, for the saving influence which Mrs. Edison exercises over her husband, it is doubtful if he would accomplish so much.
II
A “Down-east” Yankee who Dictates Peace to the Nations.
HIRAM STEVENS MAXIM is a gunmaker and peacemaker, and to-day the terms are synonymous.
Two armed men, although hostile, will hesitate to attack one another; each will be careful to make no false move, lest the other’s hand fly to his pistol pocket. Neither knows the other’s equipment for aggression or defense. So both will smile and smile, and continue to hate.
It is often thus with nations.
When I asked Mr. Maxim how one feels to be in the business of making machines of war,—machines for killing men by the brigade, so to speak, he replied:—
“Men of my profession do more to keep peace on earth than all the churches of Christendom. They beg for peace,—we compel it.”