train in Orange, N. J., more than thirty years ago,
he may have resembled a tramp, but his thoughts were
those of a king!
As he made his way from the railroad tracks to Thomas
A. Edison's office, his mind was at work. He saw
himself standing in Edison's presence. He heard
himself asking Mr. Edison for an opportunity to carry
out the one CONSUMING OBSESSION OF HIS LIFE, a
BURNING DESIRE to become the business associate of
the great inventor.
Barnes' desire was not a hope! It was not a wish! It
was a keen, pulsating DESIRE, which transcended
everything else. It was DEFINITE.
The desire was not new when he approached Edison. It
had been Barnes' dominating desire for a long time.
In the beginning, when the desire first appeared in
his mind, it may have been, probably was, only a
wish, but it was no mere wish when he appeared before
Edison with it.
A few years later, Edwin C. Barnes again stood before
Edison, in the same office where he first met the
inventor. This time his DESIRE had been translated
into reality. He was in business with Edison. The
dominating DREAM OF HIS LIFE had become a reality.
Today, people who know Barnes envy him, because of
the ‘break’ life yielded him. They see him in the
days of his triumph, without taking the trouble to