Stories of Great Inventors | Page 5

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finely finished, they are much like Mr. Fulton's Clermont.
Who can doubt Mr. Fulton's joy at his success.

At last he had found a way to make all nations know each other.
Mr. Fulton had other troubles after this.
Wicked people tried to steal his invention from him.
But no one else has ever been given credit for it.
Everyone who tried a ride upon the boat found it much nicer than
jolting along in a stage coach.
In two years a regular line of boats was running between the great city
of New York and its capital city.
Mr. Fulton built other boats.
Some of them were ferry-boats.
[Illustration: BROOKLYN BRIDGE AND FULTON FERRY.]
A ferry from New York to Long Island is still called by his name,
Fulton Ferry.
Do you suppose the thousands of people who cross by it, ever think of
patient, industrious, hard-working, Robert Fulton?
In January, 1815, Mr. Fulton went to Trenton, New Jersey, as witness
in a lawsuit.
The weather was very severe.
Mr. Fulton became much chilled.
In coming back his boat was caught in the ice.
It was several hours before it could be moved.
You remember Mr. Fulton was not very strong.

He was ill for several days.
He was very anxious about a boat which he was building.
He left his bed too soon.
He was then taken very ill indeed.
And upon the twenty-fourth of February, 1815, the world lost this great
man.
Everyone mourned his loss.
The great city of New York was in mourning.
He was buried in the Livingston vault in Trinity Churchyard, New
York.
No monument has ever been raised over this great man.
But the boats which every year ply back and forth upon lake, river, and
ocean, are constant reminders of his great work for the world.

[Illustration: ELI WHITNEY.]

ELI WHITNEY.
The war, called the Revolution, was ended.
The treaty of peace had been signed.
America had won her freedom.
Our country then was smaller than now.
It contained only about four million people.

These people were widely scattered.
The world did not think of the United States as an important country.
It was thought to be about as important as Denmark or Portugal is now.
We call one part of our country the South.
The South of this time was very different from the South of to-day.
Fewer cities were to be seen.
Many forests covered the land.
The plantations were few.
Plantation is the southern word for farm.
There were not many slaves then.
People hoped slavery would die out.
They thought it might if it were let alone.
Many people left the South to find other homes.
This was because they could not make a good living there.
Indigo, rice, and cotton were raised.
But only a little cotton was planted.
This was because it was such hard work to get it ready to sell.
Cotton grows upon a small shrub.
People of olden times called it the "wool of trees."
The Germans still call it "tree-wool."

One kind is called "sea-island" cotton.
This is because it grows well upon the low, sandy islands of the sea.
Some such islands are found near South Carolina.
This cotton likes the salt which it finds in the soil.
The herb cotton grows to a height of from eighteen to twenty-four
inches.
The land is made ready for the seed during the winter.
As soon as the frost is gone Mother Earth is given her baby seeds to
care for.
Soon the beautiful plantlets appear.
The leaves are of a dark green.
Then later come the pale yellow flowers.
The plants must then be well cared for.
Toward autumn the fruit is seen.
This looks like a walnut still in its rough coat.
[Illustration: COTTON BALLS.]
Then the pods burst.
The field is then beautiful.
It looks as if it were covered with snow.
Then comes the hard work of the picking.
All hands upon the plantation must then work in the fields.

The slaves of long ago were kept very busy during this season.
The women and children worked.
They have to be careful that the cotton is quite dry when picked.
If it were damp the cotton would mould.
This would spoil it for use.
Can you imagine a snow-white field dotted with black people?
Their bright eyes must have shone still more brightly there.
The cotton does not all ripen at one time.
But it must be gathered soon after the pods are burst.
[Illustration]
This is because the sun injures the color of the cotton.
Or the rain and dews injure it.
Or the winds may blow it away.
So the cotton pickers were kept busy from August until the frost came.
They went over the same fields many