CHAPTER III.

A COTTON FIELD.

One day, one of Mrs. Greene's friends was regretting, in conversation with her, that there could be no profit in the cultivation of cotton. Mrs. Greene had great faith in the inventive powers of young Whitney, and she suggested that he be asked to make a machine which would separate the seed skillfully and rapidly, "for," said she, "Eli Whitney can make anything."

When the workmen in the deep mines of England needed a safety lamp to shield them from the explosions of the damp, they applied to the great chemist, Sir Humphrey Davy, and he invented one. So, these cotton raisers appealed to Mr. Whitney to invent for them a cotton engine or "gin." He knew nothing about either raw cotton or cotton seed. Could he be expected to invent a machine that would separate thecotton seed which he had never seen from the raw cotton which also he had never seen? But Whitney was an inventor. Trifles must not stand in his way. He secured samples of the cotton and the seed; even this was not an easy thing to do, for it was not the right season of the year.

He began to work out his idea of the cotton gin, but met with many obstacles. There were no wire manufactories in the South and he could not obtain wire even in Savannah. Therefore he had to make his wire himself. Still further, he was obliged to manufacture his own iron tools. Step by step he overcame all obstacles, until he had a machine that he thought would answer the purpose.

A COTTON BALL.

Accordingly, one day, he entered the room where Mrs. Greene was conversing with friends and exclaimed, "The victory is mine!" All the guests, as well as the hostess, went with the inventor to examine the machine. He set the model in motion. It consisted of a cylinder four feet in length and five inches in diameter. Upon this was a series of circular saws half an inch apart and projecting two inches above the surface of the revolving cylinder. The saws passed through narrow slits between bars; these bars might be called the ribs of the hopper.

At once the saw teeth caught the cotton which had been placed in the hopper and carried it over between the bars.The seed was left behind, as it was too large to pass through. The saws revolved smoothly and the cotton was thoroughly separated from the seed. But after a few minutes the saws became clogged with the cotton and the wheels stopped. Poor Whitney was in despair. Victory was not yet his.

THE COTTON GIN.

Mrs. Greene came to the rescue. Her housewifely instincts saw the difficulty at once and the remedy as well. "Here's what you want!" she exclaimed. She took a clothes brush hanging near by and held it firmly against the teeth of the saws. The cylinder began again to revolve, for the saws were quickly cleaned of the lint, which no longer clogged the teeth. "Madam," said the grateful Whitney, "you have perfected my invention."

The inventor added a second, larger cylinder, near the first. On this he placed a set of stiff brushes. As the two cylinders revolved, the brushes freed the saw teeth from the cotton and left it in the receiving pan.

Thus the cotton gin was invented by the Yankee schoolmaster, Eli Whitney. Though improved in its workmanship and construction, it is still in use wherever cotton is raised. One man with a Whitney cotton gin can clean a thousand pounds of cotton in place of the five pounds formerly cleaned by hand.

When a safety lamp was needed, Davy invented it. When faster water travel was demanded, Fulton constructed the steamboat. When the world needed vast wheat fields, McCormick devised his reaper. When the time had comefor the telegraph, Morse studied it out. In the fullness of time, Bell, Edison, and others invented the telephone. When a cotton gin was needed, Eli Whitney made it. Here again the law holds that "necessity is the mother of invention."

When a great invention is made, everybody wants the benefit of it, and people seem to think that the inventor "has no rights which they are bound to respect." Whitney secured a patent upon his machine, but, unmindful of that, a great many persons began to make cotton gins. He was immediately involved in numerous legal contests. Before he secured a single verdict in his favor he had sixty lawsuits pending. After many delays he finally secured the payment of $50,000 which the Legislature of South Carolina had voted him. North Carolina allowed him a percentage on all cotton gins used in that State for five years. Tennessee promised to do the same, but did not keep her promise.

Mr. Whitney struggled along, year after year, until he was convinced that he should never receive a just return for his invention. Seeing no way to gain a competence from the cotton gin he determined to continue the contest no longer, removed to New Haven and turned his attention to the making of firearms. Here he eventually gained a fortune. He made such improvements in the manufacture of firearms as to lay his country under permanent obligation to him for greatly increasing the means of national defense.

Robert Fulton once said: "Arkwright, Watt, and Whitney were the three men that did the most for mankind of any of their contemporaries." Macaulay said: "What Peter the Great did to make Russia dominant, Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton gin has more than equaled in its relation to the power and progress of the United States."

COTTON.

Almostexactly in the center of England is the County of Derby. A few miles north of the city of Derby, on a small river called Derwent, a branch of the Trent, is the little town of Belper. This town was noted for its early manufacture of cotton and silk goods. Here, about the time of the American Revolution, Richard Arkwright and Jedediah Strutt were successfully engaged in cotton spinning.

In this town, in 1763, was born Samuel Slater. As the lad grew up, his father, a well-to-do farmer, sent him to school where he received the advantages of a good English education. His school days, however, ended when he was fourteen years of age. He was greatly interested in machinery. The hum of the spinning frame was music to his ears. Therefore, he was apprenticed to Mr. Strutt to learn the business of cotton spinning, and gained a thorough mastery of the process of carding and spinning cotton, and even while an apprentice he made many improvements in machinery.

At the close of the Revolutionary War, the Constitution of the United States was adopted and George Washington became President. We have already seen that England did not permit her American colonies to engage to any great extent in manufacturing. But now, the very first Congress under Washington passed an act to encourage manufactures, and one or two of the States offered bounties for the introduction of cotton machinery.

Young Slater, now about twenty-one years of age, determined to emigrate to America. Since the laws of England did not permit him to take drawings or models with him, he had to trust entirely to his memory to construct new machinery when he should arrive in this country. He landed in New York in November, 1789, and soon after wrote to Moses Brown, a wealthy merchant of Providence, Rhode Island, telling him what he could do and asking his help. Mr. Brown immediately replied: "If thou canst do this thing, I invite thee to come to Rhode Island and have the credit of introducing cotton manufactures into America."

So it happened that on the 21st of December, 1790, Samuel Slater, representing the business firm of "Almy, Brown and Slater," set up at Pawtucket three eighteen-inch carding machines, with the necessary drawing heads, roving cases, winders, and spinning frames, with seventy-two spindles. Here, in an old fulling mill, and by water power, was started machinery for the making of cotton yarn. Mr. Slater had been obliged to prepare all the plans of this machinery, and either to construct it with his own hands or to teach others how to do it. From the first the enterprise was successful. An excellent quality of yarn was manufactured, quite equal to the best quality then made in England. No attempts were made to use water power in weaving the yarn into cloth. This was still done by hand looms in the farmhouses of the country. A second cotton factory was started in the year 1800, and within ten years from that date there were many of them in different parts of the land.

When Mr. Slater came to America, he left at his father's house in Belper a little brother. In 1805 this brother, now grown to manhood, came to America, and went to Pawtucket to find his brother Samuel. Here he found Mr. Wilkinson,a brother-in-law of Mr. Slater. Mr. Wilkinson took him to his brother's house and said: "I have brought one of your countrymen to see you; can you find anything for him to do?" Mr. Slater asked from what part of England he came.

He replied: "Derbyshire."

"What part of Derbyshire?" said Mr. Slater.

"I came from the town of Belper," said John.

"Belper, the town of Belper? Well, that is where I came from. What may I call your name?"

"John Slater."

The boy had changed so much that his older brother did not know him. The interview was a delightful one to both; it was like the meeting of Joseph and Benjamin. Questions and answers flew rapidly.

"Is my mother yet alive? How are my brothers and sisters? How is my old master, Mr. Strutt? Is the old schoolmaster Jackson living?"

The next year the two brothers built a cotton mill in Smithfield, Rhode Island, and in 1808 a large stone mill was erected at Blackstone, Massachusetts.

So the business continued to increase. The power loom was invented, and soon the manufacture of cotton cloth became one of the leading interests of New England. The mills of Lowell became famous. Manchester, in New Hampshire, Lawrence and Fall River, in Massachusetts, were soon dotted with great mills turning out cloth of all varieties by the million yards. The falls upon the rivers of New England were utilized, by means of the water wheel, to furnish power for moving all the machinery used in the making of cotton goods. The song of the picker, the hum of the spinning frame, and the whack, whack of the loom are now heard in a thousand mills in various parts of our country.

Mr. Slater was visited at one time by Andrew Jackson while he was President. It is related that the following conversation took place between them:

"I understand," said the President, "that you have taught us how to spin so as to rival Great Britain and that it is you who have set all these thousands of spindles at work, which I have been so delighted to see, and which are making so many people happy by giving them employment."

"Yes sir," said Mr. Slater," I suppose that I gave out the Psalm, and they have been singing the tune ever since."

PRESIDENT JACKSON AND MR. SLATER.

Samuel Slater died in 1835, leaving a large fortune to his family. John Slater died a few years after the death of his brother. It was his son, John F. Slater, who in 1882 placed $1,000,000 in the hands of a board of trustees, the interest of which was to be used for the education of the freedmen of the South and their descendants. The great Rhode Island orator, Tristam Burgess, said in Congress on one occasion: "If manufacturing establishments are a benefit and a blessing to the Union, the name of Slater must ever be held in grateful remembrance by the American people."

It would be next to impossible to give any adequate account of the improvements which have been made in Americanmachinery for the manufacture of cotton cloth. Beginning with the cotton gin and the introduction of the carding machine and the spinning frame by Slater, we should have to record the great success of the double speeder, the modern drawing-frame, the Crompton and the Whitin looms, and especially the ring traveler spinning frame and the self-operating cotton mule.

THE INTERIOR OF A MODERN COTTON MILL.

In 1791, 200,000 pounds of cotton were exported, very little being used in this country. In 1891, the cotton produced in America reached more than 3,500,000,000 pounds. This cotton is now grown in the Southern States upon more than 20,000,000 acres of ground. The mills of America to-day are using more than 2,000,000 bales of cotton per year. In 1793, Samuel Slater started seventy-two spindles to spin cotton; in 1893, there were 15,000,000 spindles. To such great proportions has this industry grown from the small beginnings of Samuel Slater's bold attempt to bring over from England in his memory the machinery necessary to its manufacture.

WOOL.

Ascivilization has advanced, the clothing of man has improved. To-day a great variety of material is necessary to make up the proper wardrobe for civilized man. Our clothing is nearly all fabricated—that is, manufactured from the raw material into what we call fabrics. We have cotton, woolen, silk, and linen fabrics. The two principal articles used for our clothing, however, are wool and cotton. Cotton and linen are more largely used in warm weather and in warm climates, while woolen has come into general use for wear in colder climates and in colder seasons.

The making of woolen cloth is one of the oldest industries. In the early ages the coarse wool of the sheep was spun into long threads, then woven and made into rude garments for the clothing of man. The dyeing of these cloths, by which brilliant colors were produced, was one of the earliest of the fine arts. Many centuries ago the Egyptians, the Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans made shawls and robes of beautiful texture and brilliant colors. They also made mats, rugs, tent cloths, curtains, and tapestry hangings.

During the last four hundred years steady progress has been made in the construction of woolen fabrics. Long ago England became famous for the manufacture of worsted goods, carpets, and broadcloths. Machinery for making woolen cloth was introduced into England during the latter half of the last century. The spinning jenny came into usea little after 1750, and the power loom was invented near the close of the century.

No machinery for making woolen cloth, except by hand spinning and hand weaving, was introduced into our country until about the year 1800. How do you suppose our forefathers and foremothers managed to make the cloth needed before the introduction of machinery and the building of factories? A single incident may explain how it was done.

Rev. Dr. Eliphalet Nott was president of Union College, Schenectady, New York, for more than sixty years. He was born in Connecticut just before the American Revolution. His father was very poor, but a conscientious, godly man. He lived on a farm four miles from the village and the church. During the early boyhood of Eliphalet his father had no horse, and in bad weather, when the family could not walk to church, they were drawn over the rough and hilly roads of that long four miles by their only cow. Yet they were always at church.

One winter, Mr. Nott's overcoat had become so shabby that Mrs. Nott told her husband it was not fit to be worn to church any longer. He had no money to buy a new one. Should he stay away from divine service? Not he! To this proposition neither he nor his wife would assent. Soon, however, the good woman devised a plan to free them from the difficulty. She suggested to her husband that they should shear their only "cosset" lamb, and that the fleece would furnish wool enough for a new overcoat.

"What!" said the old man, "shear the cosset in January? It will freeze."

"Ah, no, it will not," said the wife, "I will see to that; the lamb shall not suffer."

She sheared the cosset and then wrapped it in a blanketof burlaps, well sewed on, which kept it warm until its wool had grown again. This fleece Mrs. Nott carded, spun, and wove into cloth, which she cut and made into a garment for her husband, and he wore it to church on the following Sabbath.

The first attempt to manufacture woolen cloth other than by hand was made at Newburyport, Massachusetts, by two Englishmen, Arthur and John Scholfield. They had learned the business in England, and now put in operation the first carding machine for wool made in the United States. Upon this they made the first spinning rolls turned out by machinery. The same year they built a factory, three stories high and one hundred feet long, in the Byfield district, at Newburyport. The two brothers carried on the factory for a company of gentlemen who were the stockholders. Arthur was overseer of the carding; John was in charge of the weaving room.

This application of machinery to the making of woolen cloth created much interest in the country, and wool was brought from long distances. People visited the factory from far and near. These visitors became so numerous that an admission fee of ten cents was charged. During the first winter after the factory was opened sleighing parties came from all the neighboring towns.

Some years ago an old lady, ninety years of age, wrote, in "Reminiscences of a Nonagenarian," that she had seen row after row of sleighs pass over Crane-neck Hill, enlivening the bright cold days by the joyous tones of their merry bells. She describes the impression made upon her own mind the first time she visited the factory: "Never shall I forget the awe with which I entered what then appeared the vast and imposing edifice. The large drums that carried the bandson the lower floor, coupled with the novel noise and hum, increased this awe, but when I reached the second floor where picking, carding, spinning, and weaving were in process, my amazement became complete. The machinery, with the exception of the looms, was driven by water power. The weaving was by hand. Most of the operatives were males, a few young girls being employed in splicing rolls."

After this John Scholfield established a factory in Montville, Connecticut. Subsequently Arthur Scholfield removed to Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where he passed the remainder of his life, and not only carried on the woolen manufacture himself, but also built carding machines and set them up for others to operate. Within the next twelve years several woolen factories had been built in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and New York.

The new industry had become so firmly established that when President Madison was inaugurated, March 4, 1809, he wore a suit of black broadcloth of American manufacture. But Washington Irving tells us that Washington, our first president, was inaugurated twenty years earlier, dressed in a "suit of dark-brown cloth of American manufacture."

From time to time the woolen industry has been protected by various tariff bills passed by Congress. This industry to-day is of gigantic proportions. The woolen factories in our country are now using about five hundred million pounds of wool per year. More than half of this is raised in our own country, and nearly all of the cloth produced is retained in the country for home consumption.

Let us see now if we can understand how woolen cloth is made. The father of Dr. Nott had in those early days a single sheep. Some farmers would have half a dozen, others twenty-five or fifty. Now times are changed. We have butfew sheep in the older settled country along the Atlantic coast. Those who raise wool to-day are apt to make it their sole business, doing nothing else. Most of the sheep of this country are raised upon the great plains and in the great valleys of the Western country.

Many flocks of sheep, numbering from five hundred to several thousand, may be seen in Texas, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. There are to-day in Texas more than three million sheep; about an equal number in Wyoming; nearly as many in New Mexico, Oregon, California, and Ohio. We have in our country at the present time more than forty million sheep.

SHEEP-SHEARING.

Let us visit one of these sheep ranches. It is in the spring of the year. The warm weather has come. The sheep have had their thick fleeces to keep them warm through the cold winter. In the summer these thick, shaggy coats would be as burdensome to them as a winter overcoat would be to us. The ranchmen round up the flock, and taking them one by one, cut off with a huge pair of shears the long wool.

The wool is sold to the dealers, and sent away to the market. It finds its way to the woolen mill. It is sorted, washed, and scoured. It is then carded. The cards straighten out the long fibres of wool so that they may bereadily spun. The mule or the spinning jenny spins it into yarn, twisting this yarn like a rope or thread so that it will be strong and will hold together. A part of the yarn is then arranged upon a great beam for the warp. The warp is the threads that run lengthwise of the cloth. The rest of it is wound upon little bobbins to be put into shuttles. The shuttle is thrown back and forth across the warp, thus weaving in the filling. This is done by means of what is called a harness. This harness holds up the alternate threads of the warp and presses down the other threads, so that when the shuttle is thrown through it carries the thread of the filling "under and over"; that is, under one-half of the warp threads and over the other half.

After the cloth is woven, it is put through the fulling mill, which beats it up thick and firm. After this come the various processes of finishing: shearing the surface so as to leave it smooth; brushing it so as to set the nap all one way and give it a smooth, even, glossy appearance. The quality of the cloth depends upon the quality of the wool used, the quality of the machinery which makes the cloth, and the skill of the workmen. A great deal of experience is necessary in making first-class goods.

We are now using the very best machinery in the world in the manufacture of our woolen goods. Possibly in the making of broadcloth and a few varieties of the better class of goods we may not yet be quite up to the older manufactories of Europe, but in cassimeres, worsted goods, blankets and carpets we are already able to compete with the products of the Old World. Although the price of labor in European countries is less than in America, our workmen do more work in a day and our machinery is of such improved patterns that we are generally able to compete in price.

LEATHER.

Inthe colonial days, as we have seen, the traveling shoemaker was abroad in the land. He was accustomed to travel through his section of the country with a kit of tools and bits of leather on his back. He was familiarly called "Crispin," from the patron saint of his craft, and ofttimes proved a "character" much appreciated by the farmers and their families. Sometimes these traveling mechanics were quiet, silent men, doing their work and going on intent only on obtaining their living; but sometimes they were jolly, social people, facetious, even witty.

"Good mornin', neighbor Heyday," said a Crispin to a farmer. "I hope you and the madam and the childers are all very well, the day."

"Eh, purty fair. The woman is ailin' some. She wants buildin' up, buildin' up."

"Well, well," said Crispin, "the Lord has laid His hand of blessing heavily upon ye, so He has that."

"What is the meanin' of that speech?" said the farmer.

"Eh, sorry is it for the joker when he has to explain his own joke. Hasn't He filled your quiver full of childers? and isn't that the greatest blessing the Almighty can bestow on man that is a sinner?"

"But I have only six childers."

"Yes, yes, I see, but the eldest counts less years than the clock tell hours; and I wish ye had a dozen instead of halfas many. Are ye givin' 'em all good healthy understandin'?"

"Well, them that's old enough goes to school, if that's what you mean?"

"Well, there it is again. A man has to interpret his own wit. I mean, have they all good soles on which to keep their bodies healthy?"

"The good Lord gives 'em the souls and their parents are responsible only for the bodies."

"Blunderin' again it is that I am. I mean are ye'r shoes all in a good, healthy condition, so that the brats will not take cold and be carried off by a stout, lung fever, that the doctors call newmony?"

"Well, they've worn no shoes all summer except what the Lord gave 'em, and that's the skin of their feet."

"Well, now, it's a full twelvemonth since I was around here afore, and do ye want me to make up their winter shoes for 'em?"

So the conversation went on until they had struck a bargain, that the Crispin should board with the farmer and make up the shoes for himself and the children, the farmer paying for the leather and so much by the week for the man's work. The shoemaker then made a strong pair of cowhide boots for the father of the family; a pair of kid shoes for the good wife; two pairs of calfskin shoes for the two girls; two pairs of ingrain boots for the older boys; and two pairs of kid shoes for the younger boys. The silver jingled in the pocket of the Crispin when his task was completed, and he traveled onward to the next farm. He had appropriated to himself a certain section of villages and country, and he would treat the matter as a serious misdemeanor should any other Crispin trespass upon his territory.

The Crispins of those days were honest and faithful in their work. Slow they were,—that cannot be denied. Even as late as the early half of this century a good shoemaker has been known to labor from morning till night through the six days of the week on one pair of fine, sewed, calfskin boots, and the entire price which the customer paid for them was $5, which included both labor and material.

What a contrast from the ancient method the present system furnishes! Not long since a wedding was to occur in Salem, Massachusetts. A telegram was sent at ten o'clock in the morning to Lynn, ordering a pair of ladies' slippers made from white kid, to be worn at the ceremony that afternoon. The shoes were cut out and made up complete and forwarded to Salem by the two o'clock train.

Miss Sarah E. Wiltse in her stories for children tells how little Alice was drinking her cup of milk one night when she asked her father to tell her a story about the good cow, for her third finger. She said: "The cow does three things for me now. Here is milk for my thumb, butter for the pointer, cheese for Mr. Tallman, and now my third finger, Mr. Feebleman, wants something. What can the cow give me for my third finger?"

Her father then told her the story of a king in the long, long ago,—I think it must have been in the pre-historic times,—a king who put into one pile the things which he knew, and into another pile the things which he did not know. Now the pile which this foolish king did not know was a great deal larger than the pile of things which he did know. Neither he nor his people knew much about making houses or dishes or even clothes for themselves. They went barefooted and bareheaded all the time. One day the king's horse fell dead and he was obliged to walk a long distance.The sharp stones cut his feet, and the briars and brambles pricked them and tore them. Then the king told his people to put down a carpet for him to walk on. So they all went to work to make coarse carpets for the king to walk upon.

They had hard work to make carpets enough to lay down in advance of the king, day after day, as he traveled across the country. At length one of his servants went away by himself and worked all night. The next morning he came and knelt before the king and said:

"Sire, I have a carpet for the whole earth, though none but the king may walk upon it. Upon this carpet thou canst climb mountains and thy feet be not bruised; thou canst wander in the valleys and thy feet never be torn by brambles; thou canst tread the burning desert and thy feet remain unscorched."

Then the king said: "Bring me that priceless carpet and half my kingdom shall be thine." The servant brought to the king a pair of shoes which he had made in the night. This was a new carpet for the king; and so this was the fourth good thing which the cow gave to Alice; the milk she put down for the thumb, the butter for the first finger, the cheese for the middle finger, and now she put leather for the third finger. What great changes have taken place in the process of making boots and shoes since this witty servant made the carpet for the king's feet!

Let us trace briefly the history of leather and the evolution of a pair of shoes. In the early colonial days the skins of animals were widely used for clothing. Caps were made for the men and boys from bear skins, wolf skins, and the skins of the catamount. Overcoats with sleeves and hoods were made of skins of wild animals properly dressed, with the hair on. Moccasins for winter service were from thesame material. Buckskin breeches with fringed edges were in common use. These costumes in the newly settled regions of our Western country continued until fifty or sixty years ago.

DR. WHITMAN STARTING ON HIS JOURNEY.

In the winter of 1842-43 Dr. Marcus Whitman made his memorable journey from Oregon across the country to the States. On a later occasion he described the dress which he wore on that remarkable horseback ride. He said: "I wore buckskin breeches, fur moccasins, a blue duffle coat, a buffalo overcoat with hood, and a bearskin cap. Rather a fantastic garb for a missionary, wasn't it?"

Inventions and machinery have done much to improve the processes of tanning leather. Tanning itself is a curious process. It changes raw hides into a condition in which the skins are useful in the arts and manufactures. This process renders the skins nearly impervious to water, and makes them so tough that they can withstand the ravages of time and remain firm and strong even for centuries.

It is said that specimens of leather have been discovered in China which are surely three thousand years old. They had been tanned by the process which is called "alum tannage." When Columbus discovered America he found, in possession of the Indians, skins that had been tanned. Their process of tanning, too, was practically the alum method.

Sir Edwin Arnold found a pair of slippers in a sarcophagus in India, and nothing else was present except a small heap of dust. In the huts of the Rock Dwellers in Arizona tanned leather has been found. In ancient Babylon they had a process of tanning, and nearly two thousand years ago the Russians and Hungarians were skilled in the art. The ancient Romans knew how to tan leather with oil, alum, and bark.

Most of the early tanning, however, was without bark. The process was accomplished with oil, clay, sour milk, and smoke. Later, nutgalls and leaves began to be used. Oak bark is the principal material now employed throughout the world in tanning. Besides the oak bark, the barks of hemlock, pine, birch, and willow are utilized.

When the texture of the skin has been so changed by this tanning process as to become tough and durable, then the name leather is given to it. In the days of the Crispins six months was as short a time as the tanner thought needful for the proper curing of the hides. The process was crude, long, and laborious; but the leather, ah! the leather—it was strong and would wear like iron. Even the children did not need copper toes. To-day the methods have changed greatly; in no way more noticeably than in the shorter time required. The modern process must be considered an improvement, even though the leather is not as strong as formerly.

The skins of most animals may be used to make leather The domestic animals, cows, calves, and sheep, are first called upon to give their skins for leather. Glazed kid is made from goat skins. Kangaroo leather is much used for shoes. Considerable use is made of alligator leather for satchels and bags and even for shoes. Skins of lizards, snakes, and seals are used; walrus hides are tanned, and the leather used forpolishing knives and tools. "Patent leather" is made principally of cowhide, horsehide, and calfskin. Horsehide leather is very tough and durable, but is too elastic for some purposes. Harness leather is made from steer and cow hides. "Russia leather," formerly made only in Russia, has been a favorite material for the choicest kinds of pocketbooks and satchels. Bookbinders prefer it for binding their most costly volumes.

Marshall Jewell was a New Hampshire boy. He learned the trade of tanning and worked at it with his father. While yet a young man, he removed to Hartford, Connecticut. There, at first with his father and afterward alone, he carried on a large business in manufacturing leather belting. He was three times governor of the State. The year after leaving the governor's chair he was appointed Minister to Russia. While in that country, through his intimate knowledge of the methods of tanning, he discovered the secret of the Russian process. It had never been known before in our country. Under his direction it was introduced here, and within the last twenty-five years it has come into very extensive use. The process is quite simple. It is thus described: Steep the leather in a solution of fifty pounds each of oak and hemlock bark and sumach, one pound of willow bark and nine hundred gallons of water; heat by steam, and immerse the leather till struck through, and while the material is still damp smear on the outer side a solution of oil of birch bark dissolved in a little alcohol and ether. This imparts to the leather its odor and its pliability.

A boot or shoe consists principally of two parts: the sole, made of thick, tough, strong leather, and the uppers, made of a softer, more pliable leather. By the old process the boot or the shoe was made throughout by a single person.By the modern process, one person cuts out the shoe, another binds it, and a third puts it upon the last; still another manages the machine which sews the sole and the upper together, a different person trims the edges, some one else attends to the next process in the division of labor, until, it may be, a dozen persons have done something to the making of one shoe.

The modern improved machines for sewing on the soles of shoes are wonderful instruments. Upon one machine a good workman will sew eight hundred pairs of women's shoes in ten hours. A great part of the boots and shoes worn by the people of this country are made with this improved machinery in large establishments in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and other large cities, and particularly in several towns in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine. The most important seat of this manufacture is Lynn, Massachusetts, but great quantities of shoes are made in Brockton, Haverhill, Milford, Marblehead, Danvers, and Worcester in Massachusetts, Portland, Auburn, and Augusta in Maine, and Dover and Farmington, in New Hampshire.

NEEDLES.

Inthe earlier times what was the mantle that covered the human person? How was it made? How was it held together? With what was the sewing thereof? When was thread first used for the seam? How early in human history was the eye made for the needle?

From the beginning of history we find references to sewing, even earlier than to weaving. We might naturally suppose that leather was sewed before cloth, and that stout leathern thongs served for thread. The leather string for thread and the awl for the needle must have been in use long, long ago. The stout moccasin, the wolfskin cap, the buckskin breeches were sewed by punching holes and laboriously pulling a leather string through them. By and by, however, some skillful inventor produced the needle. Perhaps the first needles were made of bone or ivory. Then metal was used.

What a great invention was the eye of the needle! No one knows who was the inventor, but we have reason to bless the unknown personage who first devised this ingenious arrangement. Would you not like to see the needles that were in use hundreds of years ago? They were not like the finely finished needles of to-day. Crude and coarse were they, and only adapted to the crude and coarse sewing which could then be performed. To-day the needle-woman is often anartist. Embroidery is done with the needle. The plain seam, the hem, the gather, the back stitch, are simply so many forms of the work of an artist.

Century after century our needle-makers have been improving in the manufacture of this simple but effective little machine. In the complicated civilization of the present time we have an almost infinite variety of needles: the ordinary sewing needle for the making of garments; smaller needles for lace work, the hemming of delicate handkerchiefs and the seam of fine silk goods; and coarse and heavy needles for carpet sewing, bagging, and leather work.

SEWING BY HAND.

All this relates to sewing by hand, with a single needle and one thread. It is stitch by stich, first one, then another; it is like the brook,—"it goes on forever." It is like the clock that repeats its tick tock, tick tock by the hour, by the day, by the week, by the year. Perhaps many seamstresses would not recognize the duty of blessing the man who invented the needle. The poet Hood has told this side of the story in his famous poem, "The Song of the Shirt."

"With fingers weary and worn.With eyelids heavy and red,A woman sits in unwomanly rags,Plying her needle and thread—Stitch! Stitch! Stitch!In poverty, hunger, and dirt.• • • • •Work! Work! Work!While the cock is crowing aloof!And work—work—work,Till the stars shine through the roof!• • • • •Band and gusset and seam,Seam and gusset and band,Till the heart is sick,And the brain benumbedAs well as the weary hand."

"With fingers weary and worn.

With eyelids heavy and red,

A woman sits in unwomanly rags,

Plying her needle and thread—

Stitch! Stitch! Stitch!

In poverty, hunger, and dirt.

• • • • •

Work! Work! Work!

While the cock is crowing aloof!

And work—work—work,

Till the stars shine through the roof!

• • • • •

Band and gusset and seam,

Seam and gusset and band,

Till the heart is sick,

And the brain benumbed

As well as the weary hand."

Indeed, the time had come long ago when some ingenious device was needed by which the seamstress could sew with less wear and tear of nerve and muscle. Efforts were made in England for machine sewing nearly one hundred and fifty years ago, but they were not successful. A sewing machine was invented by Thomas Saint about one hundred years ago which had some of the features of the sewing machine of to-day.

It was left, however, for American inventors to produce machines that would do the work easily and successfully; the machines themselves had such simplicity and were so nicely adapted that they were not likely to get out of repair but would remain serviceable during a long period of years. Sewing machines in large numbers were invented during the period from 1830 to 1860.

As early as 1818 a sewing machine was invented by Rev. John Adams Dodge, of Vermont. He used a needle pointed at each end with the eye in the middle. This machine would make a good backstitch and sew a seam straight forward. Itwas not patented and did not get into use to any considerable extent. In 1832 Walter Hunt, of New York, brought out a machine which used two threads, one being carried by a shuttle and the other by a curved needle with the eye in the point. This machine also was not patented.

Ten years later, J. J. Greenough patented a machine for sewing leather and other heavy material, but this also did not acquire any extended use. About the same time George H. Corliss invented a strong, heavy machine for sewing leather, using two needles with the eyes near the points; this machine was evidently an improvement on previous attempts. Mr. Corliss soon turned his attention to improvements of the steam engine and did not continue his efforts to perfect his sewing machine.

Hence it was that the first really successful sewing machine was that of Elias Howe, patented in 1846. The first form of Howe's machine was far from satisfactory, but it was an improvement on all previous machines. Howe could not induce the people to appreciate the value of his invention, and he went to England and there secured patents. But in England also he became discouraged, and sold out his rights for that country and returned home.

Meantime others had pirated his invention and were making his machines and placing them upon the market. Howe immediately asserted his rights and, after a series of suits in court, he succeeded in establishing them, so that finally his machine came into extended use and its inventor reaped a large pecuniary reward from his genius and skill. Improvements now came forward rapidly. Patents were soon issued to Allen B. Wilson of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Isaac M. Singer of New York, and William O. Grover of Boston. Later, the Weed, the Florence, the Wilcox & Gibbs, theRemington, Domestic, American, Household, and many others were added to the list of successful machines.

It is unnecessary to describe the difference in these machines and the various ways in which the stitch is made. Some of them make the lock stitch, others the double loop stitch, and still others the single chain stitch. The best machines make also a special buttonhole stitch and have particular devices by which they gather and ruffle, tuck, hem, bind, and whatever else is required to be done with thread.

One machine or another can be used for almost any kind of sewing. With them we sew shoes and boots, heavy woolen goods like beaver, several thicknesses of duck, or, on the other hand, the very finest and nicest muslin. Sewing machines are used in the making of gloves, pocketbooks, traveling bags, and other articles of this character. Special machines sew seams on water hose, leather buckets, bootlegs, and other articles which require the seam to be made in a circle.

No other country has so many factories or such large ones for making sewing machines as the United States. The establishments which manufacture sewing machines have a combined capital of more than twenty million dollars, and the value of their annual product aggregates about fifteen million dollars. Meanwhile the price of sewing machines has diminished so that they are now sold for less than one-half, and sometimes as low as one-fourth, of the original price.

In 1830 a Frenchman, Barthélemy Thimmonier, constructed of wood eighty machines which made a chain stitch of great strength. These were used for making clothing for the French army. Laborers were so incensed at this invention, which they thought was contrary to their interests, thatthey raised a riot and destroyed all of the machines. A few years later this inventor made other machines constructed of metal, and these were also destroyed by a mob.

Many times it has happened that laborers have supposed that they would be great losers from the invention of labor-saving machines. Instead of this proving to be true, it would seem that laborers are benefited by the inventions. There is much evidence showing that while inventions greatly diminish the amount of labor necessary to accomplish a certain result, on the other hand they open up new lines of industry which fully compensate laborers for the loss which would otherwise fall upon them. It is to be noted also that, in our country at least, the wages of laborers have increased in the period during which labor-saving machines have been invented.

The modern sewing machine is an inestimable blessing to a family. In former days, the mother of half a dozen children would be obliged to ply the needle night after night until the small hours in order to keep her little ones properly clad. Now, with the little iron machine standing upon its small table on one side of the room, the good mother can make up the necessary garments for her children in quick time, leaving her far more hours for sleep, recreation, and social life than would be possible under the old method. Many a one can now call down blessings not only upon "the man who invented sleep," but upon the man who invented the sewing machine which gives one time to sleep.

THE STEAM ENGINE.

Atthe very summit of a mountain near Pasadena, California, stands a huge windmill, which may be seen for many miles in all directions. Here the wind blows almost constantly, and the great arms of the windmill are employed to lift water from a well in the valley below to irrigate the orange groves on the hillsides. Thus the wind has been harnessed by man to serve his purpose.

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