CHAPTER IX
GUS HOLDS FORTH AGAIN
"Say, old scout," cautioned Gus, in a low voice, "better not tell aboutour job. Let it dawn on them later."
"Righto, Gus. It's nobody's business but ours. But what do the bunchwant?"
Bill soon found out, however, when Cora and Ted came to meet him.
"We've had an argument, Terry and I, about Edison," said the girl, "andI know you can settle it. I said that--"
"Hold on! Don't tell me who said anything; then it'll be fair," Billdemanded.
"'O wise, wise judge!'" gibed Ted. "Ought to have a suit of ermine.Proper stunt, too. Let me put it, Cora; I'll be the court crier. Come onand let's squat on the bank like the rest. Judge, you ought to be themost elevated. Now, then, here's the dope: Did Edison really ever doanything much to help with the war?"
"He did more than any other man," Bill declared promptly. "Positively!Everybody ought to know that. He invented a device so that they couldsmell a German submarine half a mile away, and they could tell when atorpedo was fired. Another invention turned a ship about with her prowfacing the torpedo, so that it would be most likely to go plowing andnot hit her, as it would with broadside on. I guess that saved many aship and it helped to destroy lots of submarines with depth bombs. Itgot the Germans leery when their old submersibles failed to get in anylicks and went out never to come back; it was as big a reason as any whythey were so ready to quit. Well, who was right?"
"I was!" announced Cora, gleefully. "Terry just can't see any good inEdison at all. He says he hires people who really make his inventionsand he gets the credit for them. He says--"
"I don't suppose it makes much difference what he says; he simplydoesn't know what he's talk--"
"You think you know, but do you? You've read a lot of gush that--" Terrybegan, but Gus interrupted him, almost a new thing for the quiet chap.
"Listen, Terry: get right on this. Don't let a lot of foolish peopleinfluence you; people who can't ever see any real good in success andwho blame everything on luck and crookedness. And Bill does know."
"Anybody who tries to make Edison out a small potato," declared Bill,addressing the others, rather than the supercilious youth who hadmaligned his hero, "is simply ignorant of the facts. My father knew aman well who worked for Edison in his laboratory for years. He said thatthe stories about Edison making use of the inventions of others is allnonsense; it is Edison who has the ideas and who starts his assistantsto experimenting, some at one thing, some at another, so as to find outwhether the ideas are good.
"He said that the yarns they tell about Edison's working straight aheadfor hours and hours without food and sleep, then throwing himself on acouch for a short nap and getting up to go at it again are all exactlytrue, over and over again. He said that one of the boys in the shoptried to play a trick on the old man, as they call him, while he wasnapping on the couch. They rigged up a talking-machine on a stand anddressed it in some of Edison's old clothes, put a lullaby record on it,lugged it in, set it up in front of the couch and set it going, toexpress the idea that he was singing himself to sleep. But while theywere at this Mr. Edison, getting on to the joke, for he generally napswith one eye open, got up and put a lot of stuffing under the couchspread, stuck his old hat on it so as to make it look as though his facewas covered; then peered through the crack of a door. When the musiccommenced he opened the door and said:
"'Boys, it won't work; music can't affect dead matter.' Then they pulledoff the couch cover and all had a good laugh.
"Now. you can see," Bill went on, with ever increasing enthusiasm, "justhow that shows where Mr. Edison stands. Nobody can get ahead of him, andthere isn't anyone with brains who knows him who doesn't admit he hasmore brains and is wider awake than anybody else. There's nothing thathe does that doesn't show it. You have all seen his questionnaires forthe men who are employed in his laboratories and you can bet they're nojoke. And his inventions--they're not just the trifling things likeegg-beaters, rat-traps, coat-hangers, bread-mixers, fly-swatters andlipsticks."
"But some of these things are mighty cute and they coin the dough," saidTed.
"Oh, they're ingenious and money-makers some of them, I'll admit, but wecould get along very well without them and most of us do. But think ofthe real things Edison has done. The first phonograph; improving thetelegraph so that six messages can be sent over the same wire at thesame time; improving the telephone so that everybody can use it;collecting fine iron ore from sand and dirt by magnets; increasing thepower and the lightness of the storage battery. And there are thetrolleys and electric railways that have been made possible. And theincandescent electric lamp--how about that? Edison has turned hiswonderful genius only to those things that benefit millions of--"
"And he deserved to make millions out of it," said Ted.
"I guess he has, too," offered one of the girls.
"You bet, and that's what he works for: not just to benefit people,"asserted Terry.
"I suppose your dad and most other guys got their dough all by accidentwhile they were trying to help other folks; eh?" Bill fired at Terry.
But the rich boy walked away, his usual method to keep from getting theworst of an argument.
"Oh, I wish Grace Hooper were here," Cora said. "She's no snob likeTerry and wouldn't she enjoy this?"
"And her dad, too. Isn't he a nice old fellow, even though he's awfullyrich?" laughed Dot.
"He'd have his say about this argument, grammar or no grammar. He thinksa lot of this chap he calls Eddy's son," Mary Dean declared.
"Great snakes! Does he really think the wizard is the child of some guynamed Eddy?" Ted queried.
"Sounds so," Cora said. "But you can't laugh at him, he's so kind andgood and it would hurt Grace. He would be interested in radio, too."
"Wonder he hasn't got a peach of a receiver set up in his house," LucyShore ventured.
"Is he keen for all new-fangled things?" asked Ted.
"You bet he is, though somebody would have to tell him and show himfirst. Well, people, I'm going home; who's along?"
With one accord the others got to their feet and started up or down thestreet. Gus and Bill went together, as always; they had much to talkabout.