THOMAS A. EDISON.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 324, 12 December 1888, Page 3

THOMAS A. EDISON.

Thomas A. Emsojf, the iv yon tor, has nothing of the look of a groat man about him. Though he is! only 42 years of age ho looks 12 years older, anil his broad shoulders have acquired a decided stoop from lon<| labour in the laboratoiy. He wears no beard, and ha& not always been paiticular to keep clean shaved, while his hands are rough as a farmer's. lie confesses to an ardent hatred of dresa clothes, and only dons them when he must. It is noc generally known that Mr Edison ib very deaf. Edison was originally a telegraph operator, and his children* by the wife of his youth were named Dot and Dash after tho familiar characters of the Morse alphabet. , Da&h and his mother long since passed over the majority, but Dot is now a handsome and vivacious blondo, ' and many years younger than the charming little lady" who became Mrs Edison only three years ago. i The inventor first met his new wife at the house of a friend in Boston. It was an open secrot that she was attracted to him by the* tenderness he always manifested in his contact with others. ''■ > > Mrs Edison was' not a poor girl: Her father is a large manufacturer in Ohio, but she never enjoyed as a girl tho luxury that is hers as a wife. Edison still owns 'hits original laboratory at Menlo Park, but ho does most of his work now at his new • workshop ' on his beautiful estate' on the Orange Mountain, about twenty miles from New York. He also owns a 'large plantation in Florida, where the family spend the 1 winter. ,'<>?,' . He' is worth,' perhaps^ £500,000, but says he ought to have l been much, richer. He foolishly contracted '.his services' to- the "Western Union ' Telegraph Gom^'any for 1 a number of' years, and- that organisation- iiv this way reaped the bulk of the)- advantage' ,accruing from his earlier inventions. The same company be'eame pqsso"s£ed" of' tK« American right .to the Edison .Tolophojie. at too low a figure, and the inventor, has often said that ho.mado loss inonoyjOj.il; of that in-, vention in America .'than ill England. .In the light of this experience he'is reserving all phonograph rights for his own use.