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281
Heroes of the Telegraph
·
John Munro
192
What
with
the
money
he
had
lent,
or
spent
on
books
or
apparatus,
when
the
Memphis
lines
were
transferred
from
the
Government
to
a
private
company
and
Edison
was
discharged,
he
found
himself
without
a
dollar.
Transported
to
Decatur,
he
walked
to
Nashville,
where
he
found
another
operator,
William
Foley,
in
the
like
straits,
and
they
went
in
company
to
Louisville.
Foley's
reputation
as
an
operator
was
none
of
the
best;
but
on
his
recommendation
Edison
obtained
a
situation,
and
supported
Foley
until
he
too
got
employment.
The
squalid
office
was
infested
with
rats,
and
its
discipline
was
lax,
in
all
save
speed
and
quality
of
work,
and
some
of
his
companions
were
of
a
dissipated
stamp.
To
add
to
his
discomforts,
the
line
he
worked
was
old
and
defective;
but
he
improved
the
signals
by
adjusting
three
sets
of
instruments,
and
utilising
them
for
three
different
states
of
the
line.
During
nearly
two
years
of
drudgery
under
these
depressing
circumstances,
Edison's
prospects
of
becoming
an
inventor
seemed
further
off
than
ever.
Perhaps
he
began
to
fear
that
stern
necessity
would
grind
him
down,
and
keep
him
struggling
for
a
livelihood.
None
of
his
improvements
had
brought
him
any
advantage.
His
efforts
to
invent
had
been
ridiculed
and
discountenanced.
Nobody
had
recognised
his
talent,
at
least
as
a
thing
of
value
and
worthy
of
encouragement,
let
alone
support.
All
his
promotion
had
come
from
trying
to
excel
in
his
routine
work.
Perhaps
he
lost
faith
in
himself,
or
it
may
be
that
the
glowing
accounts
he
received
of
South
America
induced
him
to
seek
his
fortune
there.
At
all
events
he
caught
the
'craze'
for
emigration
that
swept
the
Southern
States
on
the
conclusion
of
the
Civil
War,
and
resolved
to
emigrate
with
two
companions,
Keen
and
Warren.
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