friends on the _Free Press_, the greatest newspaper there. In this he
resembled that other great inventor, also a great worker as a
boy--Benjamin Franklin.

"Young Edison had a friend up in the printing office who let him see
proofs from the edition being set up, so that he kept posted as to what
was to be in the paper before it came off the press. After the _Free
Press_ came out, he had to get an armful and hustle for his train. In
this shrewd way the train-boy was better off than 'he who runs may
read,' for he _had_ read, and could _shout_ while running: 'All about
the big battle!' So he sold his papers in short order. He had learned to
estimate ahead how many papers the news of a battle ought to sell, and
so he stocked up well beforehand. One day he saw in the advance proofs a
harrowing account of the great two-days' battle of Shiloh. He grasped
not only the news value but also the strategic importance of that
victory.

"Running down to the telegraph office at the Grand Trunk Station in
Detroit, he told the operator all about it. Edison has told us himself
about the offer he made that telegrapher:

"'If you will wire to every station on my run and get the station master
to chalk up on the blackboard out on the station platform that there has
been a big battle, with thousands killed and wounded, I'll give you
_Harper's Weekly_ free for six months!'

"The operator agreed and that Edison boy tore back to the _Free Press_
office.

"'I want a thousand papers!' he gasped. 'Pay you to-morrow!' This was