coast, and as we sailed over the Alleghany Mountains and the
broad plains of the Ohio and the Mississippi, we saw crawling beneath
us from west, south and north, an endless succession of railway trains
bearing their multitudes on to Washington. With marvellous speed we
rushed westward, rising high to skim over the snow-topped peaks of the
Rocky Mountains and then the glittering rim of the Pacific was before
us. Half way between the American coast and Hawaii we met the fleets
coming from China and Japan. Side by side they were ploughing the main,
having forgotten, or laid aside, all the animosities of their former wars.

I well remember how my heart was stirred at this impressive exhibition
of the boundless influence which my country had come to exercise over
all the people of the world, and I turned to look at the man to whose
genius this uprising of the earth was due. But Mr. Edison, after his
wont, appeared totally unconscious of the fact that he was personally
responsible for what was going on. His mind, seemingly, was entirely
absorbed in considering problems, the solution of which might be essential
to our success in the terrific struggle which was soon to begin.

Back to Washington.

"Well, have you seen enough?" he asked. "Then let us go back to
Washington."

As we speeded back across the continent we beheld beneath us again
the burdened express trains rushing toward the Atlantic, and hundreds
of thousands of upturned eyes watched our swift progress, and volleys
of cheers reached our ears, for every one knew that this was Edison's
electrical warship, on which the hope of the nation, and the hopes of
all the nations, depended. These scenes were repeated again and again
until the car hovered over the still expanding capital on the Potomac,
where the unceasing ring of hammers rose to the clouds.

Chapter III.

The day appointed for the assembling of the nations in Washington opened
bright and beautiful. Arrangements had been made for the reception of
the distinguished guests at the Capitol. No time was to be wasted, and,
having assembled in the Senate Chamber, the business that had called
them together was to be immediately begun. The scene in Pennsylvania
avenue, when the procession of dignitaries and royalties passed up
toward the Capitol, was one never to be forgotten. Bands were playing,
magnificent equipages flashed in the morning sunlight, the flags of
every nation on the earth fluttered in the