s from
great people, and with mementos of travel, all related to some event
or episode. A large cabinet contains awards, decorations, and medals
presented to Edison, accumulating in the course of a long career,
some of which may be seen in the illustration opposite. Near by may be
noticed a bronze replica of the Edison gold medal which was founded in
the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the first award of which
was made to Elihu Thomson during the present year (1910). There are
statues of serpentine marble, gifts of the late Tsar of Russia, whose
admiration is also represented by a gorgeous inlaid and enamelled
cigar-case.

There are typical bronze vases from the Society of Engineers of Japan,
and a striking desk-set of writing apparatus from Krupp, all the pieces
being made out of tiny but massive guns and shells of Krupp steel. In
addition to such bric-a-brac and bibelots of all kinds are many pictures
and photographs, including the original sketches of the reception given
to Edison in 1889 by the Paris Figaro, and a letter from Madame Carnot,
placing the Presidential opera-box at the disposal of Mr. and Mrs.
Edison. One of the most conspicuous features of the room is a phonograph
equipment on which the latest and best productions by the greatest
singers and musicians can always be heard, but which Edison himself is
everlastingly experimenting with, under the incurable delusion that this
domestic retreat is but an extension of his laboratory.

The big library--semi-boudoir--up-stairs is also very expressive of the
home life of Edison, but again typical of his nature and disposition,
for it is difficult to overlay his many technical books and scientific
periodicals with a sufficiently thick crust of popular magazines or
current literature to prevent their outcropping into evidence. In like
manner the chat and conversation here, however lightly it may begin,
turns invariably to large questions and deep problems, especially in the
fields of discovery and invention; and Edison, in an easy-chair, will
sit through the long evenings till one or two in the morning, pulling
meditatively at his eyebrows, quoting something he has just read
pertinent to the discussion, hearing and telling new stories with gusto,
offering all kinds of ingenious suggestions, and without fail getting
hold of pads and sheets of paper on which to make illustrative sketches.
He is wonderfully handy with the pencil, and will sometimes amuse