e his workmen
shaped his ideas into wood and metal.

The books lying about, the designs and placards on the walls, the
draught-board on the table, gave it the appearance of a mechanics'
club-room. The free and lightsome behaviour of the men, the humming at
the benches, recalled some school of handicraft. There were no rigid
hours, no grinding toil under the jealous eye of the overseer. The
spirit of competition and commercial rivalry was absent. It was not
a question of wringing as much work as possible out of the men in the
shortest time and at the lowest price. Moreover, they were not mere
mechanical drudges--they were interested in their jobs, which demanded
thought as well as skill.

Upstairs was the laboratory proper--a long room containing an array of
chemicals; for Edison likes to have a sample of every kind, in case it
might suddenly be requisite. On the tables and in the cupboards were
lying all manner of telegraphic apparatus, lenses, crucibles, and pieces
of his own inventions. A perfect tangle of telegraph wires coming
from all parts of the Union were focussed at one end of the room. An
ash-covered forge, a cabinet organ, a rusty stove with an old pivot
chair, a bench well stained with oils and acids, completed the equipment
of this curious den, into which the sunlight filtered through the
chemical jars and fell in coloured patches along the dusty floor.

The moving spirit of this haunt by day and night is well described as an
overgrown school-boy. He is a man of a slim, but wiry figure, about
five feet ten inches in height. His face at this period was juvenile and
beardless. The nose and chin were shapely and prominent, the mouth firm,
the forehead wide and full above, but not very high. It was shaded
by dark chestnut hair, just silvered with grey. His most remarkable
features were his eyes, which are blue-grey and deeply set, with an
intense and piercing expression. When his attention was not aroused, he
seemed to retire into himself, as though his mind had drifted far away,
and came back slowly to the present. He was pale with nightwork, and his
thoughtful eyes had an old look in serious moments. But his smile was
boyish and pleasant, and his manner a trifle shy.

There was nothing of the dandy about Edison, He boasted no jewelled
fingers or superfine raiment. An easy coat soiled with chemicals, a
battered wide-awake, and boots guiltless of polish, were good enough
for this inspired workman. An old si