[D0211AAV], Letter from James Symington to Thomas Alva Edison, August 24th, 1902
https://edisondigital.rutgers.edu/document/D0211AAV
Transcription
<Edison marginalia: Johnny send him ten dollars TAE> Port Huron, St Clare Co Michigan Aug 26th 1902 Respected friend — I have once more ventured to write to you — I have entered on my 85th year — I am one of the last of the old generation — While watching the achievements of this mighty generation I am compelled on the nature of things to look backward to other days when life was young and full of hope — Of course I know there is much illusion in this but still it is pleasant — Your father and mother fills much of these memories _ Back of this comes the Hallowed reminiscences of my boyhood days on the land of Sir Walter Scott the land of Minstrelsy of the Wizard of the north who was the head and shoulders above all his contemporaries and maintained his supremacy for more than 25 years He was our Sheriff and though very kindly to the boys we had a secret dread of him for we thought he could put us in jail any time he liked — I happened to get a steel engraving of him which is life itself — It is on a large scale — I have my ambitions yet — I have determined that the Wizard of the north and the Wizard of the world shall hang side together in my [room] so that I can tell my friends that I believe I am the only man in the world who can safely say that I have seen both — The man who was supreme in Literature and the man who seems to be endowed by Heaven with a strange power of exploring the secrets of nature — In short the inventor of the Electric Light the Phonograph the X Rays and scores of other inventions which will send his name down as a phenomenon to the latest ages — In short the greatest of the two — To accomplish this old man's proud project it will require about twelve dollars for I am doing it on a large scale and if you could see your way clear to send me that amount I will feel most gratefull Yours truly, James Symington P. S. I have sued for my services in the Reed estate