An enormous sav ing of labor His service to agriculture Older sewing be harvested by the old methods. Now on these great plains huge reapers drawn by engines sometimes cut forty-eight feet of grain in a single swathe. Because of the labor it saves, McCormick's invention has made the cost of bread low for millions of people. With hand-reaping half the people of the country would be busy producing nothing but bread. In the past most nations were never free from the danger of starvation. Now the world produces enough for all. 66 A noted French society, when it elected McCormick a member, said that he had 'done more for the cause of agriculture than any other living man." ELIAS HOWE, INVENTOR OF THE SEWING MACHINE 140. A Time-Saving Invention. Elias Howe was a poor boy who won great riches through his invention, but spent most of his years in a long, dreary struggle with poverty. ELIAS HOWE Elias was born in Massa chusetts in 1819. His father He worked was a poor man. Sewing machines using a chain stitch had already been machines invented in England and France, but a chain stitch ravels easily. Howe invented a lock stitch machine. Like earlier machines, it had a needle with an eye in its point to bring a loop of thread through the cloth. In chain stitching the needle at the next stitch passes through this loop. Howe instead passed a shuttle carrying a second thread through the loop. This made a firm lock stitch. Howe tried to get tailors to buy his machine. He proved that it would sew seven times as fast as the best needleworkers. But they were afraid it would take work away from their men, and would have nothing to do with it. After patenting his machine, Howe took it to England, but there he remained as poor and unknown as before. HOWE'S FIRST SEWING MACHINE His Returning to New York he heard that unscrupulous men had stolen or "pirated" his ideas, and that the sale ideas of sewing machines was now a thriving business. But stolen Howe was determined to uphold his rights. In 1859, after a battle of many years in the law courts, he secured the full and complete title to his invention. His in vention 141. A Turn in Fortune. The man who had faced poverty and rebuffs all his days now came into great brings wealth. His income each year would be equal to-day to great at least a million dollars. wealth Sewing machines have now become almost a necessity in all American homes. It is hard to realize the amount Wideof close, slow, exacting work from which Howe's machine spread has released women everywhere. The work of the most sewing skillful needlewomen is not to be compared in speed and machine use of the Howe's part in the Civil War evenness with machine stitching. Garments now can be produced in vastly greater quantities than by hand work, and machine stitching is much more durable. When the Civil War came, Howe's sewing machine made tents, shoes, and uniforms for the great Union army which would not have had them in time otherwise. Howe himself enlisted as a private and served while his health lasted. He died in 1867 when only forty-eight years old. SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL The Leading Facts. 1. Fulton's invention greatly increased commerce before the coming of railroads. 2. Congress granted Morse money to build a telegraph line, after many delays. 3. Bell and Gray invented the telephone. 4. Marconi invented wireless telegraphy. 5. Cyrus Field after many failures laid a permanent cable across the Atlantic in 1866. 5. McCormick's reaper hastened the settlement of the West. 6. Howe became rich through the invention of the sewing machine. Study Questions. 1. Tell of early attempts to build steamboats. 2. Give the story of the Clermont. 3. Give an account of the steps by which Morse won success. 4. How many attempts did Field make before a permanent cable was laid? 5. What was the great importance of McCormick's reaper? 6. Describe Howe's first sewing machine. Suggested Readings. ROBERT FULTON: Glascock, Stories of Columbia, 186-188; Wright, Children's Stories of American Progress, 104-120; Thurston, Robert Fulton. SAMUEL F..B. MORSE: Trowbridge, Samuel Finley Breeze Morse; Mowry, American Inventions and Inventors, 270-277; Holland, Historic Inventions, 168–188. BELL AND GRAY: Holland, Historic Inventions, 215-232. CYRUS WEST FIELD: Judson, Cyrus W. Field; Doubleday, Stories of Inventors, 3-16; Mowry, American Inventions and Inventors, 278-285. CYRUS H. MCCORMICK: Brooks, The Story of Corn, 218-220; Forman, Stories of Useful Inventions, 91-96; Sanford, The Story of Agriculture in the United States, 144-149. ELIAS HOWE: Hubert, Inventors, 99–110. THE MEN WHO WON TEXAS, THE OREGON SAM HOUSTON, HERO OF SAN JACINTO Houston 142. Sam Houston. Young Houston was born of Scotch-Irish parents, in Virginia (1793). His father had fought under General Morgan in the Revolution. Sam Houston did not have much schooling, and when but thirteen his family moved to east Tennessee. Made among angry by his older brother, he left home and went to the live with the Cherokee Indians. He liked the wild life of the Indians and took part with the Indian boys in their pastimes of hunting, fishing, and playing at games. the war of 1812 General Jackson called the men of Tennessee to arms. Young Houston responded to the call, and fought against the In dians in the great "Battle of Horseshoe Bend." Chero kees After doing heroic deeds, he was dangerously wounded. SAM HOUSTON From a photograph by Matthew B. At twenty-five he began to study law in Nashville and in six months-just a third of the time said to be necessaryhe was ready to practice. Houston's rise in the law and in the favor of the people was rapid. He went from one position to another until the people elected him to Congress. He was in Congress four years. He won many friends by his gracious behavior. The people of Tennessee made him their governor. But suddenly, without warning, Houston re Forsakes signed as governor, and forsook his home and friends. He his home sailed down the Mississippi River to the Arkansas, and up this river several hundred miles to the land of his early friends, the Cherokees, whom the United States government had sent to that far-away country. Returns to the Cherokees The old chief's welcome "My son, My heart heard you Here Houston found the old chief-now the head of his tribe-who had adopted him as a son years before on the banks of the Tennessee. The chief threw his arms around him in great affection and said: eleven winters have passed since we met. has wandered often where you were; and I were a great chief among your people. . heard that a dark cloud had fallen on the white path you were walking, and when it fell .. you turned .. I have |