e before mentioned field that the idea struck him how all that he
wished might be done by a machine--how tickets might be printed with the
names of stations, the class of carriage, the dates of the month, and all
of them from end to end of the kingdom, on one uniform system. Most
inventors accomplish their great deeds by degrees--one thought suggesting
another from time to time; but, when Thomas Edmonson showed his family
the spot in the field where his invention occurred to him, he used to say
that it came to his mind complete, in its whole scope and all its
details. Out of it has grown the mighty institution of the Railway
Clearing House; and with it the grand organization by which the Railways
of the United Kingdom act, in regard to the convenience of individuals,
as a unity. We may see at a glance the difference to every one of us of
the present organized system--by which we can take our tickets from
almost any place to another, and get into a carriage on almost any of our
great lines, to be conveyed without further care to the opposite end of
the kingdom--and the unorganized condition of affairs from which Mr.
Edmonson rescued us, whereby we should have been compelled to shift
ourselves and our luggage from time to time, buying new tickets, waiting
while they were filled up, waiting at almost every point of the journey,
and having to do it with divers companies who had nothing to do with each
other but to find fault and be jealous.

"On Mr. Edmonson's machines may be seen the name of Blaycock; Blaycock
was a watchmaker, and an acquaintance of Edmonson's, and a man whom he
knew to be capable of working out his idea. He told him what he wanted;
and Blaycock understood him, and realized his thought. The third machine
that they made was nearly as good as those now in use. The one we saw
had scarcely wanted five shillings worth of repairs in five years; and,
when it needs more, it will be from sheer wearing away of the brass-work,
by constant hard friction. The Manchester and Leeds Railway Company were
the first to avail themselves of Mr. Edmonson's invention; and they
secured his services at their station at Oldham Road, for a time. He
took out a patent; and his invention became so widely known and
appreciated, that he soon withdrew himself from all other engagements, to
perfect its details and provide tickets to meet the daily growing demand.
He let out his patent on profitable terms--ten shillings per mile per