In conversation Edison is direct, courteous, ready to discuss a topic with anybody worth talking to, and, in spite of his deafness, an excellent listener. No one ever goes away from him in doubt as to what he thinks or means, but, with characteristic modesty, he is ever shy and diffident to a degree if the talk turns on himself rather than on his work. He is a normal, fun-loving, typical American, ever ready to listen to a new story, with a smile all the while, and a hearty, boyish laugh at the end. He has a keen sense of humor, which manifests itself in witty repartee and in various ways. In his association with his staff of experimenters the "old man," as he is affectionately called, is considerate and patient, although always insisting on absolute accuracy and exactness in carrying out his ideas. He makes liberal allowance for errors arising through human weakness of one kind or another, but a stupid mistake or an inexcusable oversight on the part of an assistant will call forth a storm of contemptuous expression that is calculated to make the offender feel cheap. The incident, however, is quickly a thing of the past, as a general rule. If there is anything in heredity, Edison has many years of vigor and activity yet before him. What the future may have in store in the way of further achievement cannot be foreshadowed, for he is still a mighty thinker and a prodigy of industry and hard work. XXVI EDISON'S NEW PHONOGRAPH As related in a preceding chapter of this work, the first commercial phonograph was of the wax cylinder type. Celluloid afterwards superceded wax as a material for the cylinder record, because of its indestructibility. Edison's work on the disc phonograph and record, invented by him in 1878, is related in the following pages. From the time of his conception of the phonograph in 1877 to the present day Edison has had a deep conviction that people want good music in their homes. That this is not a conviction founded upon commercialism may be appreciated on reading his own words: "Of all the various forms of entertainment in the home, I know of nothing that compares with music. It is safe and sane, appeals to all finer emotions, and tends to bind family influences with a wholesomeness that links old and young together. If you will consider for a moment how universally the old 'heart songs' are loved in the homes, you will realize what a deep hold music has in the affections of the people. It is a safety-valve in the home." Throughout the years that followed the advent of the earlier type of phonograph with the cylindrical wax records Edison never lost sight of his determination to make it a more perfect instrument, for, of all the children of his brain, the phonograph seems to be the one he loves most. He is the most severe critic of his own work and is never content with less than the best obtainable.