"
He is not a mere mechanician, but has great knowledge of men and of
affairs, and an ample fund of information on all subjects. His
conversation is engaging and instructive; and when he seeks to enlist
cooeperation in his mechanical enterprises, few men can withstand the
force of his arguments and the power of his personal magnetism.
Although his earnings have sometimes been large, his heavy expenditures
in costly experiments have prevented him from acquiring wealth. Money
is with him simply a means of working out new ideas for the benefit of
mankind; and in this way he does not scruple to spend to the utmost
limit of his resources. He lives freely and generously, but is strictly
temperate and systematic in all his habits.
The amount of labor which he is capable of undergoing is astonishing.
While engaged in carrying out his inventions, it is a common thing for
him to pass sixteen hours a day at his table, in the execution of
detailed mechanical drawings, which he throws off with a facility and
in a style that have probably never been surpassed. He does not seem to
need such recreation as other men pine after. He never cares to run
down to the seashore, or take a drive into the country, or spend a week
at Saratoga or at Newport.
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