or whose approval
he is incessantly occupied.

These, then, may be taken as the characteristics of Edison that have
enabled him to accomplish more than most men--a strong body, a clear
and active mind, a developed imagination, a capacity of great mental and
physical concentration, an iron-clad nervous system that knows no ennui,
intense optimism, and courageous self-confidence. Any one having these
capacities developed to the same extent, with the same opportunities for
use, would probably accomplish as much. And yet there is a peculiarity
about him that so far as is known has never been referred to before in
print. He seems to be conscientiously afraid of appearing indolent,
and in consequence subjects himself regularly to unnecessary hardship.
Working all night is seldom necessary, or until two or three o'clock in
the morning, yet even now he persists in such tests upon his strength.
Recently one of the writers had occasion to present to him a long
typewritten document of upward of thirty pages for his approval. It
was taken home to Glenmont. Edison had a few minor corrections to make,
probably not more than a dozen all told. They could have been embodied
by interlineations and marginal notes in the ordinary way, and certainly
would not have required more than ten or fifteen minutes of his time.
Yet what did he do? HE COPIED OUT PAINSTAKINGLY THE ENTIRE PAPER IN
LONG HAND, embodying the corrections as he went along, and presented the
result of his work the following morning. At the very least such a task
must have occupied several hours. How can such a trait--and scores of
similar experiences could be given--be explained except by the fact
that, evidently, he felt the need of special schooling in industry--that
under no circumstances must he allow a thought of indolence to enter his
mind?

Undoubtedly in the days to come Edison will not only be recognized as an
intellectual prodigy, but as a prodigy of industry--of hard work. In his
field as inventor and man of science he stands as clear-cut and secure
as the lighthouse on a rock, and as indifferent to the tumult around.
But as the "old man"--and before he was thirty years old he was
affectionately so called by his laboratory associates--he is a normal,
fun-loving, typical American. His sense of humor is intense, but not
of the hothouse, overdeveloped variety. One of his favorite jokes is to
enter the legal department with an air of great humility and apply for a
jo