But Thomas did not need to be paid to read, for he read with pleasure every volume he could get hold of.
When he was ten years old, he was reading such books as Gibbon"s "History of Rome," Hume"s "History of England," and Sear"s "History of the World."
Besides these, he had read several books about chemistry.
He loved to read about great men and their deeds.
When he played, it was at building plank roads, digging caves, and exploring the banks of the ca.n.a.l.
When only twelve years of age, he was obliged to go out into the world and earn his own living.
He obtained a place as train-boy on the Grand Trunk Railroad, in Eastern Michigan.
He sold apples, peanuts, song-books, and papers.
He had such a pleasant, sunny face that everyone liked to buy of him.
He succeeded so well that soon he had four boys working under him.
This was not enough to keep him busy.
He had never lost his liking for chemistry.
He managed to trade some of his papers for things with which to try experiments.
He found a book which helped him.
He fitted up an old baggage car as a room for his experiments.
He was afraid some one would touch his chemicals; so he labelled every bottle, "Poison."
Soon this busy boy had another business.
He bought three hundred pounds of old type from the "Detroit Free Press."
He had gained a little knowledge of printing by keeping his eyes open when buying papers.
Soon a paper, called the "Grand Trunk Herald," was printed by Master Tom.
This paper was twelve by sixteen inches in size.
It was filled with railway gossip and many other things of interest to travelers.
Baggagemen and brakemen wrote articles for it.
George Stephenson, who built a great bridge at Montreal, liked it so well that he ordered an extra edition for his own use.
Everybody liked it.
The "London Times" spoke of it as the only paper in the world published on a railway train.
But the "Grand Trunk Herald" had a sad ending.
Do you know what phosphorus is?
It is a substance which will take fire of itself if not kept under water.
Tom"s bottle of phosphorus was thrown to the floor by the jolting of the car.
Soon everything was on fire.
The conductor rushed in and threw all the type and chemicals out of the car.
He also gave the young chemist a thrashing.
Poor Thomas gathered up what was left.
He put his things in the bas.e.m.e.nt of his father"s house.
Thomas"s father now lived at Port Huron.
Thomas always slept at home.
He now printed another and a larger journal.
This was called the "Paul Pry."
In this he published an article which one of his subscribers did not like.
The angry man, meeting Thomas on the banks of the St. Clair River, picked him up and threw him in.
Thomas was a good swimmer and reached the sh.o.r.e in safety.
But he did not care for the printing business any more.
During the four years in which Thomas Edison was a train-boy, he had earned two thousand dollars and given it all to his parents.
When in Detroit, he read as much as possible from the public library.
Once he thought he would begin with number one and read each of the thousand volumes.
He read until he had finished a long row of hard books on a shelf fifteen feet long.
Then he made up his mind that anyone would have to live as long as Methuselah to read a library through, and gave up the plan.
Thomas became interested in telegraphy during the Civil War.
He used to telegraph the headings in his paper ahead one station.