Stock Exchange.

"After he had gotten up a good many inventions and taken out patents for
them, the president of the big company came to see him and was shown a
simple device to regulate tickers that had been printing figures wrong.
This thing saved a good deal of labor to a large number of men, and
prevented trouble for the broker himself. It impressed the president so
much that he invited Edison into his private office and said, in a stage
whisper:

"'Young man, I would like to settle with you for your inventions here.
How much do you want for them?"

"Edison had thought it all over and had come to the conclusion that, on
account of the hard night-and-day work he had been doing, he really
ought to have five thousand dollars, but he would be glad to settle for
three thousand, if they thought five thousand was too much. But when
asked point-blank, he hadn't the courage to name either sum--thousands
looked large to him then--so he hesitated a bit and said:

"'Well, General, suppose _you_ make _me_ an offer.'

"'All right,' said the president. 'How would forty thousand dollars
strike you?'

"Young Edison came as near fainting then as he ever did in his life. He
was afraid the 'General' would hear his heart thump, but he said quietly
that he thought that amount was just about right. A contract was drawn
up which Edison signed without reading.

"Forty thousand dollars was written in the first check Thomas A. Edison
ever received. With throbbing heart and trembling fingers he took it to
the bank and handed it in to the paying teller, who looked at it
disapprovingly and passed it back, saying something the young inventor
could not hear because of his deafness. Thinking he had been cheated,
Edison went out of the bank, as he said, 'to let the cold sweat
evaporate.'

"Then he hurried back to the president and demanded to know what it all
meant. The president and his secretary laughed at the green youth's
needless fears and explained that the teller had probably told him to
write his name on the back of the check. They not only showed him how to
endorse it, but sent a clerk to the bank to identify him--because of the
large amount of money to be paid over.

"Just for a joke on the 'jay,' the teller gave him the whole forty
thousand dollars in ten- and twenty-dollar bills. Edison gravely stowed
away the money till he had filled all his pockets including those in his
overcoat. He sat up all night in his room in Newark,