2. The enterprising spirit of the Americans was not likely to suffer them to be wanting in efforts to bring that to pass which had caused so much sensation on this side of the Atlantic, and which, even at that time, promised such immense results. Accordingly, we find that two individuals, named Rumsey and Fitch, were engaged in active rivalry in the United States, in applying the steam-engine to the propulsion of vessels.

3. The latter of these two gentlemen, as early as 1783, was occupied in the construction of a boat which he afterward contrived to move with paddles, by the aid of a steam-engine, on the Delaware; and, in 1785, he had so far completed his design, that he presented a model of his apparatus to Congress. He was encouraged by the support of several wealthy men, who provided the means for his experiments, and was so sanguine of success, as to express his firm conviction that the ocean would ultimately be crossed by steam-vessels-a declaration which, when it was made, must have appeared to be little else than the notion of a visionary, but which many of Fitch's generation have lived to see so wonderfully realized.

4. Rumsey, his rival, was also backed by a company; and, in 1784, succeeded in the construction of a boat, a model of which, in that year, he exhibited to General Washington. This vessel was about fifty feet long, and was carried along the Potomac by means of a stream of water, which, with a pump worked by a steam-engine, entered at the bow and was carried out at the stern, the reaction of the water being the propelling agent.

5. The boiler only held about five gallons, and the fuel consumed was about six bushels of coal in twelve hours. Yet, with this imperfect apparatus-when the boat was loaded with three tons weight, besides the engine, which was about a third of a ton more-Rumsey succeeded in attaining a rate of three or four miles an hour. He afterward came to England, and, by the assistance of some capitalists, built another vessel, which was tried on the Thames in the month of February, 1793; and in several trials made afterward, one attained a speed, against wind and tide, of upward of four miles an hour.

6. Chancellor Livingston having supplied the means, a vessel was launched upon the Hudson, by Robert Fulton, early in the spring of 1807. Fulton thus described to a friend the disheartening circumstances under which the construction of the first steamboat nicknamed by the Americans "Fulton's Folly"--was patiently persevered in by himself. He records as follows: "When I was building my first steamboat at New York, the project was viewed by the public with indifference or with contempt, as a visionary scheme. My friends, indeed, were civil, but they were shy. They listened with patience to my explanations, but with a settled cast of incredulity on their countenances. Never did a single encouraging remark, a bright hope, a warm wish, cross my path. Silence itself was but politeness veiling its doubts or hiding its reproaches."

7. Fulton's biographer describes the trial: "Before the boat had made the progress of a quarter of a mile, the greatest unbeliever was converted, and Fulton was received with shouts and acclamations of congratulation and applause. The vessel, Clermont, made the first voyage from New York to Albany, 145 miles, at the average rate of five miles an hour, stopping some time at Clermont to take in water and fuel. The whole progress up the Hudson was a continued triumph."

ance.

8. The vessel is described as having the most terrific appearThe dry pine-wood fuel sent up many feet above the flue a column of ignited vapor, and when the fire was stirred, tremendous showers of sparks. The wind and tide were adverse to them, but the crowds saw with astonishment the vessel rapidly coming toward them; and when it came so near that the noise of the machinery and paddles was heard, the crew, in some instances, shrunk beneath their decks from the terrific sight; while others prostrated themselves, and besought Providence to protect them from the approach of the horrible monster which was marching on the tide, and lighting its path by the fire that it vomited.

9. But the Clermont soon had a competitor. Within a few weeks, Mr. Stevens, of Hoboken, launched a steam-vessel, which, as she could not ply on the waters of the Hudson, in consequence

of the exclusive patent of Fulton and Livingston, he took round to the Delaware; and this was the first steamer that ever braved the tides of ocean.--History of Wonderful Inventions.

King Cotton.-Robt. Mackenzie.

1. WHEN Europeans first visited the southern parts of North America, they found in abundant growth there a plant destined to such eminence in the future history of the world as no other member of the vegetable family ever attained. It was an unimportant-looking plant two or three feet in height, studded with pods somewhat larger than a walnut. In the appropriate season these pods opened, revealing a wealth of soft, white fibre, embedded in which lay the seeds of the plant.

2. This was Cotton. It was not unknown to the Old World. The Romans used cotton fabrics before the Christian era. India did so from a still more remote period, but the extent to which its use had been carried was trivial. Men clothed themselves as best they might, in linen or woolen cloth, or simply in the skins of the beasts which they slew. The time was now at hand when an ampler provision for their wants was to be disclosed to them.

3. Socially and politically, cotton has deeply influenced the course of human affairs. The mightiest conquerors sink into insignificance in presence of King Cotton. The English began to cultivate a little cotton very soon after their settlement in America. But it was a difficult crop for them to handle. The plants grew luxuriantly. When autumn came the opening pods revealed a most satisfactory opulence. The quantity of cotton produced excited the wonder of the planters. But the seeds of the plant adhered tenaciously to the fibre. Before the fibre could be used the seeds had to be removed.

4. This was a slow, and therefore a costly, process. It was as much as a man could do in a day to separate one pound of cotton from the seeds. Cotton could never be abundant or cheap while this was the case. But in course of time, things came to pass in England which made it indispensable that cotton should be both abundant and cheap.

5. In 1768, Richard Arkwright invented a machine for spinning cotton, vastly superior to anything hitherto in use. Next year, a greater than he-James Watt-announced a greater invention-his steam-engine. England was now ready to begin. her great work of weaving cotton for the world; but where was the cotton to be found?

6. Three or four years before Watt patented his engine and Arkwright his spinning-frame, there was born in a New England farmhouse a boy whose work was needed to complete theirs. His name was Eli Whitney. Eli was a born mechanic. It was a necessity of his nature to invent and construct. As a mere boy he made nails, pins, and walking-canes by novel processes, and thus earned money to support himself at college. In 1792 he went to Georgia to visit Mrs. Greene, the widow of that General Greene who so troubled Lord Cornwallis in the closing years of the war.

7. In that primitive society, where few of the comforts of civilized life were yet enjoyed, no visits were so like those of the angels as the visits of a skillful mechanic. Eli constructed marvellous amusements for Mrs. Greene's children. He overcame all household difficulties by some ingenious contrivance. Mrs. Greene learned to wonder at him, and to believe nothing was impossible for him.

8. One day, Mrs. Greene entertained a party of her neighbors. The conversation turned upon the sorrows of the planter. That unhappy tenacity with which the seeds of the cotton adhered to the fibre was elaborately bemoaned. With an urgent demand from England for cotton, with boundless lands which grew nothing so well as cotton, it was hard to be so utterly baffled.

9. Mrs. Greene had unlimited faith in her friend Eli. She begged him to invent a machine which should separate the seeds of cotton from the fibre. Eli was of northern upbringing, and had never even seen cotton in seed. He walked in to Savannah, and there, with some trouble, obtained a quantity of uncleaned cotton. He shut himself in his room, and brooded over the difficulty which he had undertaken to conquer.

10. All that winter Eli labored, devising, hammering, building up, rejecting, beginning afresh. He had no help. He could not even buy tools, but had to make them with his own hands. At length his machine was completed, rude-looking, but visibly effective. Mrs. Greene invited the leading men of the State to her house. She conducted them in triumph to the building in which the machine stood. The owners of unprofitable cotton-lands looked on, with a wild flash of hope lighting up their desponding hearts. Possibilities of untold. wealth to each of them lay in that clumsy structure. The machine was put in motion. It was evident to all that it could perform the work of hundreds of men. Eli had gained a great victory for mankind. In that rude log-hut of Georgia, Cotton was crowned King, and a new era was opened for America and the world.

11. Ten years after Whitney's cotton-gin was invented, a huge addition was made to the cotton-growing districts of America. In 1803, Europe enjoyed a short respite from the mad Napoleon wars. France had recently acquired from Spain vast regions bordering on the Gulf of Mexico, and stretching far up the valley of the Mississippi, and westward to the Pacific. It was certain that peace in Europe would not last long. It was equally certain that when war was resumed France could not hold these possessions against the fleets of England. America wished to acquire, and was willing to pay for them. It was better to sell to the Americans, and equip soldiers with the price, than wait till England was ready to conquer. Napoleon sold, and America added Louisiana to her vast possessions.

12. Mark well these two events-the invention of a machine for cheaply separating the seeds of cotton from the fibre, and the purchase of Louisiana from the French. Out of those two events flows the American history of the next half century. Not any other event since the War of Independence, not all other events put together, have done so much to shape and determine the career of the American people.-United States of America.