7 Chapter 6 Making Moving Pictures

Chapter 6 Making Moving Pictures In 1884, at the height of his success, Tom suffered a terrible loss. His wife Mary died of an illness. She was only twenty-nine years old. Tom had his children stay in New York City. His electricity business was there. He wanted to spend as much time as possible with Marion, now

twelve; Thomas, now eight; and little William, who was only five. Then, in 1885, Tom met a young woman named Mina Miller. Her family was from Ohio. Mina's father was a millionaire businessman and inventor who had developed a very successful machine for harvesting grain. He himself received ninety-two patents in his lifetime. Tom fell in love with Mina almost at once. She was interesting and educated. He even taught her Morse code so that they could "talk" to each other secretly, even among friends. It is said that Tom tapped out, "Will you marry me?" on the palm of her hand, and Mina tapped back, "Yes."

Mina and Tom were married in 1886 and moved to a grand home, Glenmont, in West Orange, New Jersey. "It is a great deal too nice for me, but it isn't half nice enough for my little wife here," Tom said. Tom and Mina were happy together. He was still at work as much as he had been when Mary was alive. But since Mina's father was also an inventor, perhaps she understood Tom's world better. Still, it wasn't so easy for twenty-year-old Mina to become the young mother of three children. Nor

was it easy for Marion, who was now fourteen and had become a companion to her father. Years later she said Mina "was too young to be a mother to me, but too old to be a chum." Mina and Tom had three children, Madeleine, Charles, and Theodore. Holidays above all were a time when Tom loved being at home with his large family. Mina planned lavish parties for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter, but the Fourth of July was all Tom's. Everyone had to go outside very early—even before breakfast—for the fireworks that Tom had made himself. After breakfast and naps for the younger children, they rushed out for more activities, like picnics of watermelon and ice cream, and so it went on into the evening, ending with another enormous display of fireworks.

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Unlike Mary, Mina loved having company. She gave large dinner parties, which Tom often tried to avoid by pretending to be sick. Their guest book was filled with the names of famous people—airplane pioneer Orville Wright, author and lecturer Helen Keller, who was blind and deaf