The building was wired
from top to bottom, and equipped with all the appliances of the art. The
experience with the little gas-engine was rather startling. "At an early
period at '65' we decided," says Edison, "to light it up with the Edison
system, and put a gas-engine in the cellar, using city gas. One day it
was not going very well, and I went down to the man in charge and got
exploring around. Finally I opened the pedestal--a storehouse for tools,
etc. We had an open lamp, and when we opened the pedestal, it blew the
doors off, and blew out the windows, and knocked me down, and the other
man."

For the next four or five years "65" was a veritable beehive, day and
night. The routine was very much the same as that at the laboratory, in
its utter neglect of the clock. The evenings were not only devoted to
the continuance of regular business, but the house was thrown open to
the public until late at night, never closing before ten o'clock, so as
to give everybody who wished an opportunity to see that great novelty
of the time--the incandescent light--whose fame had meanwhile been
spreading all over the globe. The first year, 1881, was naturally that
which witnessed the greatest rush of visitors; and the building hardly
ever closed its doors till midnight. During the day business was carried
on under great stress, and Mr. Insull has described how Edison was to
be found there trying to lead the life of a man of affairs in the
conventional garb of polite society, instead of pursuing inventions and
researches in his laboratory. But the disagreeable ordeal could not be
dodged. After the experience Edison could never again be tempted to quit
his laboratory and work for any length of time; but in this instance
there were some advantages attached to the sacrifice, for the crowds of
lion-hunters and people seeking business arrangements would only have
gone out to Menlo Park; while, on the other hand, the great plans for
lighting New York demanded very close personal attention on the spot.

As it was, not only Edison, but all the company's directors, officers,
and employees, were kept busy exhibiting and explaining the light. To
the public of that day, when the highest known form of house illuminant
was gas, the incandescent lamp, with its ability to burn in any
position, its lack of heat so that you could put your hand on the
brilliant glass globe; the absence of any vitiating effect on the
atmosphere, the obvious safety from f