does not expect more than one to be successful, and as to that one he
is always suspicious until frequent repetition has verified the original
results.

This patient, optimistic view of the outcome of experiments has remained
part of his character down to this day, just as his painstaking, minute,
incisive methods are still unchanged. But to the careless, stupid, or
lazy person he is a terror for the short time they remain around him.
Honest mistakes may be tolerated, but not carelessness, incompetence,
or lack of attention to business. In such cases Edison is apt to express
himself freely and forcibly, as when he was asked why he had parted with
a certain man, he said: "Oh, he was so slow that it would take him half
an hour to get out of the field of a microscope." Another instance will
be illustrative. Soon after the Brockton (Massachusetts) central station
was started in operation many years ago, he wrote a note to Mr. W. S.
Andrews, containing suggestions as to future stations, part of which
related to the various employees and their duties. After outlining the
duties of the meter man, Edison says: "I should not take too young a man
for this, say, a man from twenty-three to thirty years old, bright and
businesslike. Don't want any one who yearns to enter a laboratory and
experiment. We have a bad case of that at Brockton; he neglects business
to potter. What we want is a good lamp average and no unprofitable
customer. You should have these men on probation and subject to passing
an examination by me. This will wake them up."

Edison's examinations are no joke, according to Mr. J. H. Vail, formerly
one of the Menlo Park staff. "I wanted a job," he said, "and was
ambitious to take charge of the dynamo-room. Mr. Edison led me to a heap
of junk in a corner and said: 'Put that together and let me know
when it's running.' I didn't know what it was, but received a liberal
education in finding out. It proved to be a dynamo, which I finally
succeeded in assembling and running. I got the job." Another man who
succeeded in winning a place as assistant was Mr. John F. Ott, who has
remained in his employ for over forty years. In 1869, when Edison was
occupying his first manufacturing shop (the third floor of a small
building in Newark), he wanted a first-class mechanician, and Mr. Ott
was sent to him. "He was then an ordinary-looking young fellow," says
Mr. Ott, "dirty as any of the other workmen, unkempt, and not much
better