ARDUOUS YEARS IN THE CENTRAL WEST(5)

 I got the morning papers, which came outat 4 A. M., and the press report read perfectly, whichsurprised me greatly. I went to work on my regularday wire to Portsmouth, Ohio, and there wasconsiderable excitement, but nothing was said to me,neither did Mr. Stevens examine the copy on theoffice hook, which I was watching with great interest.However, about 3 P. M. he went to the hook, grabbedthe bunch and looked at it as a whole without examiningit in detail, for which I was thankful. Then hejabbed it back on the hook, and I knew I was allright. He walked over to me, and said: `Youngman, I want you to work the Louisville wire nights;your salary will be $125.' Thus I got from the plugclassification to that of a `first-class man.' "But no sooner was this promotion secured than hestarted again on his wanderings southward, while hisfriend Adams went North, neither having any difficultyin making the trip.

"The boys in those dayshad extraordinary facilities for travel. As a usualthing it was only necessary for them to board a trainand tell the conductor they were operators. Thenthey would go as far as they liked. The number ofoperators was small, and they were in demandeverywhere." It was in this way Edison made his waysouth as far as Memphis, Tennessee, where the telegraphservice at that time was under military law,although the operators received $125 a month. Hereagain Edison began to invent and improve on existingapparatus, with the result of having once moreto "move on." The story may be told in his ownterse language: "I was not the inventor of the autorepeater, but while in Memphis I worked on one.Learning that the chief operator, who was a protegeof the superintendent, was trying in some way to putNew York and New Orleans together for the firsttime since the close of the war, I redoubled my efforts,and at 2 o'clock one morning I had them speakingto each other. The office of the Memphis Avalanchewas in the same building. The paper got wind of itand sent messages.

A column came out in the morningabout it; but when I went to the office in theafternoon to report for duty I was discharged without explanation. The superintendent would not evengive me a pass to Nashville, so I had to pay my fare.I had so little money left that I nearly starved atDecatur, Alabama, and had to stay three days beforegoing on north to Nashville. Arrived in that city, Iwent to the telegraph office, got money enough tobuy a little solid food, and secured a pass to Louisville.I had a companion with me who was also outof a job. I arrived at Louisville on a bitterly coldday, with ice in the gutters. I was wearing a linenduster and was not much to look at, but got a positionat once, working on a press wire. My travellingcompanion was less successful on account of his`record.' They had a limit even in those days whenthe telegraph service was so demoralized."Some reminiscences of Mr. Edison are of interestas bearing not only upon the "demoralized" telegraphservice, but the conditions from which theNew South had to emerge while working out itssalvation. "The telegraph was still under militarycontrol, not having been turned over to the originalowners, the Southern Telegraph Company.