At the age of twelve he was put to work on a railway. Having a great deal to do with newspapers, he managed to pick up the art of printing, and by and by he printed a newspaper of his own in a luggage van. One day he rescued a station-master’s child which was nearly run over by a train. The station-master, out of gratitude, taught him how to work the telegraph, which had been introduced just then. Young Edison very soon acquired great skill at the telegraph, and was soon employed as a telegraphist. When only twenty-one Edison invented a new telegraph which could print its own message. That invention was found extremely useful, and several telegraph companies asked him to invent other things for them which were wanted badly. Edison set up a factory of his own for making printing telegraphs, but within a few years he sold his factory, which had become too small, and set up a large new establishment at Menlo Park, in the city of New Jersey. That establishment has since grown to a great size, and Edison is still working in it at many wonderful inventions. Edison’s great idea was to use electricity to make life easy and pleasant. In order to do this he proceeded in a rather different manner from the earlier discoverers. In Europe the object of men of science has usually been first to discover a new truth, and then to find in what way the discovery could be made useful to humanity. Some scientific men consider that the first object is much more important than the second. It is told of a certain professor who had made a great discovery in chemistry, that his greatest satisfaction was the thought that it was never to be of the slightest use to anybody. The story, of course, is not true, or at least it is greatly exaggerated, for no great discovery in science can be entirely useless. It enlarges our knowledge of the nature and constitution of the world, increases our power over matter, and with every increase of power we are better able to improve our surroundings and make nature do our will. Edison, however, proceeded in a different way. He first of all asked himself what great problem wanted a solution. Having found the problem, and stated it clearly, he collected all the facts and observations that had any connection with the problem. Then he looked for the best way in which to attempt the solution, and if necessary he made a vast number of new experiments and investigations. In this way he not only made great inventions, but great scientific discoveries as well.