One night, while he was working at Port Huron, there was a very severe storm; the ice-jam broke the telegraph cable and there was no communication in the usual way for some considerable time. Edison’s inventive mind got to work and he used the steam whistle of a locomotive to give the long and short signals of the telegraph code. The operator on the other side of the river, three-quarters of a mile away, quickly caught on to the idea and thus messages were sent in wireless fashion across the ice-floes in the river. Edison was constantly experimenting and learning new ways of doing things. Other young men were willing to work along, and as long as they secured results, did not investigate. Not so with him. He was always enquiring and making experiments and very soon he had a knowledge of telegraphy and the underlying principles of electricity, far beyond any of his workmates. In 1868, when he was twenty-one years of age, Edison applied for his first patent for an invention. It was a vote recorder and while it never became extensively used it marked the beginning of that long list of inventions which has earned for him the title of “The Wizard of Invention.” Soon after this Edison went to New York. When he arrived things did not look any too bright for him. He knew no one. He was penniless--in fact, he was in debt. Added to these handicaps was his affliction of deafness which in itself was sufficient to keep him out of most jobs. For several weeks he roamed the streets of New York with actual starvation staring him in the face. One day as he walked along Broadway he turned into Wall Street and entered the offices of the Law Gold Reporting Company. He found that the entire plant had just closed down because of an accident in the machinery which could not be located. The heads of the firm were annoyed and agitated when the shabbily dressed youth walked in. Edison was soon acquainted with what had happened and he mildly remarked that he thought he could put things right. Mr. Law told him to go ahead and try and young Edison immediately repaired the trouble, while the little army of repairers looked foolish. Mr. Law asked him to step into the office and after asking him a few questions he offered him a salary of three hundred dollars a month. That was the turning-point in Edison’s career. After that he worked as hard, if not harder than ever, but he never knew poverty again. Soon after this he invented an improved stock printer for which he was handed a $40,000 check. Soon after his name was known all over the American continent and before long he was almost as well known in other parts of the world as in America.