m an interest in it
if he will work it out. Other people abroad ask help in locating lost
relatives; and many want advice as to what they shall do with their
sons, frequently budding geniuses whose ability to wire a bell has
demonstrated unusual qualities. A great many persons want autographs,
and some would like photographs. The amazing thing about it all is
that this flood of miscellaneous letters flows on in one steady,
uninterrupted stream, year in and year out; always a curious
psychological study in its variety and volume; and ever a proof of the
fact that once a man has become established as a personality in the
public eye and mind, nothing can stop the tide of correspondence that
will deluge him.

It is generally, in the nature of things, easier to write a letter than
to make a call; and the semi-retirement of Edison at a distance of
an hour by train from New York stands as a means of protection to him
against those who would certainly present their respects in person, if
he could be got at without trouble. But it may be seriously questioned
whether in the aggregate Edison's visitors are less numerous or
less time-consuming than his epistolary besiegers. It is the common
experience of any visitor to the laboratory that there are usually
several persons ahead of him, no matter what the hour of the day, and
some whose business has been sufficiently vital to get them inside
the porter's gate, or even into the big library and lounging-room.
Celebrities of all kinds and distinguished foreigners are
numerous--princes, noblemen, ambassadors, artists, litterateurs,
scientists, financiers, women. A very large part of the visiting is done
by scientific bodies and societies; and then the whole place will be
turned over to hundreds of eager, well-dressed men and women, anxious
to see everything and to be photographed in the big courtyard around
the central hero. Nor are these groups and delegations limited to this
country, for even large parties of English, Dutch, Italian, or Japanese
visitors come from time to time, and are greeted with the same ready
hospitality, although Edison, it is easy to see, is torn between the
conflicting emotions of a desire to be courteous, and an anxiety to
guard the precious hours of work, or watch the critical stage of a new
experiment.

One distinct group of visitors has always been constituted by the
"newspaper men." Hardly a day goes by that the journals do not contain
some reference to